When daydreaming about your perfect home, what kind of images come to mind? Is it a house worthy of a magazine spread? Or is it something a little more homely where friends and family feel comfortable?
In my experience, most people are happier living in a house that feels good to them. They want somewhere that feels like their sanctuary, a place to relax and unwind after a busy day at the grindstone.
At one end of the “minimalism” scale, there are the designer houses that technically look great, but feel sterile and lack personality and heart. At the other end of the scale, there are the houses that look almost too homely and uncared for.
A good rule of thumb is to aim for somewhere in the middle. Ideally, you’ll end up with a home that’s a true reflection of you and your personality and it will have a good amount of character blended with modern, functional, beautiful design. Not too busy, not too minimalist.
The style of your home will come in to play too and it’s essential to consider the aesthetic of the house when choosing materials, colours and products for your renovation.
The two main elements for a well-designed home are the layout and the finishes and colours. Both need to be considered equally as one without the other will give you a half-baked result.
The layout
The most important thing to consider is how you plan to use the space. Before you go pulling walls out, think about where you will place your appliances and furniture. How open plan would you like the house to be, and will this work in practical terms when your family is living in it?
I’ve seen so many people pull out too many walls – meaning they didn’t have enough wall space for even a TV unless it sat in front of a window.
Consider whether the current layouts work or could you make some minor changes to the spaces for dramatic improvement to the flow and feel of your home?
The finishes/colours
The trick is getting the design and layout right first, and then using the right combination of products, colours and finishes to enhance the space. Everything weighs in on it – the colours, the materials, the textures, the furniture, the window dressings, and every other little thing that makes up the renovation, right down to the choice of fixtures and fittings.
Keep in mind that you are not just going for a particular “look”, you are also going for a “feel”.
Are all your choices – colour, materials, layout – likely to be interpreted the way you want them to be? Will the combined effect produce the feeling you are after?
A great renovation requires what I call “layering”. You’re layering the colours, finishes and textures over the top of the layout. Then you’re adding in the smaller details of the renovation to pull everything together.
Remember, it doesn’t matter how beautiful a home looks, if it doesn’t feel nice to be in, you’ve probably missed the mark.
The beginning of a new year is commonly known for personal resolutions like to get fit, start a business or be more spontaneous (that’s always my one!).
Since our homes have such an effect on how we feel, a New Year’s resolution for your home should be on the list this year.
Light, bright and airy spaces are great for mental clarity, so giving your home a new lease on life in the new year could have an incredibly positive impact on not only you but your visitors as well.
A fresh new feel might come from tidying or spring cleaning your home, tending to maintenance issues or perhaps a partial or full-on renovation.
Start with the easy things first:
- What unused items can you throw away that will give you more space?
- What rooms or areas need to be tidied in order to remove the cluttered, busy look in your home?
- What items need maintaining? Maintenance is imperative in order to eliminate future problems in your home. Make these a priority.
If your home needs more than a clean and tidy, it’s a great idea to break down exactly what you want to do room by room. This also tends to make the project feel less overwhelming and more manageable.
For each room, what do you want to achieve?
Could a paint job give it a lift? It’ll not only look better, but really help you enjoy your home more.
What about floors? They often (especially in larger spaces) have more of an impact on a home than walls, so consider if this is one area that you could improve.
Kitchens and bathrooms are areas of the home that can have a drastic impact on how you feel. Do you want open plan but don’t currently have it? Is the cabinetry tired and out-of-date? Is it dark and you want it to be light?
Imagine the effect on you and your family’s well-being of coming home to a house that is lighter, brighter, cleaner and feels more spacious.
I firmly believe that great colours, products, layout and lighting in a home have a significantly positive effect on one’s mental/emotional health and general happiness.
But realise that not all home improvements will have a positive effect. Incorrect furniture placements or bad layouts can have the opposite effect, just as choosing the wrong wall or floor colours can.
Colours/finishes selections and layouts should be based on what’s best for your home, not on other homes you’ve seen online, at show homes, in magazines and so on. Every home reacts differently to different concepts and colours.
There are millions of images online and hundreds of options of what you could do for your home, so before you get started make a plan of what you’re going to do and if/how you’re going to do it.
Hopefully it won’t take until next year to get it all done!
Rendering is the go-to for most people when they’re renovating their brick home. But, depending on your budget and the architectural style of your home, it’s not always the best solution.
If you render an older style home and do nothing else to it, it will look exactly like an older style home that has just been rendered and nothing more.
New, rendered homes – or well-renovated, older style brick homes – have additional design elements that make them look modern. The doors, windows and roof, can reveal the true age of the house if not dealt with properly.
So, what do you do? Well, you could replace these as well as render, but other possibilities can give your home a fresh new look without spending too much.
Repainting
You could revitalise the exterior by painting the trims, gutters, fascia and bargeboards of your home in a contemporary, stylish colour. If your bricks are light to mid-coloured, I advise you go for a much darker colour. If your bricks are darker, aim for contrast by using a lighter colour – but, not white.
You can also update the front door by painting it to match the trims, or you could replace it altogether. A popular option is to paint it in a contrasting colour so that it becomes a focal point.
Landscaping
A brick house will always appear visually heavier than a timber house, so landscaping is an excellent way to soften and balance its appearance. You don’t need extensive landscaping; just choose a few areas around the base of the house or the entryway to plant densely so that the house appears anchored in place.
A great tip when choosing plants for the landscaping is to take a good look at the foliage. Plants that are too dainty and thin will only accentuate the heaviness of the brick, so choose plants with thicker stems and rounded leaves in a range of colours that contrast with the colour of your brick.
Window dressing
Often overlooked is the effect the interior window dressing can have on the appearance of the exterior. Streamlined and linear slatted blinds are good; big blocks of curtains are not.
Fencing
Updating your fence will always help refresh and revitalise your property. If you don’t have a fence, it’s worth looking at the cost of erecting one. It defines a property and will help break up the appearance of all that brick. Ensure the colours and materials you use in your fence visually link to your house, so there is a sense of cohesion. If you can get hold of some bricks that match your un-rendered home, this is an excellent way to make the fence look like it’s always been there and not an add-on.
Repaint, revamp or replace
Finally, take a good look at things like awnings, porticos and porches. Is there anything that could benefit from being repainted, revamped, replaced or even removed? The colour and style of these elements – especially on the facade of your home – can make or break the final look.
Don’t all those renovation makeovers on TV look great? They make it look so simple too, don’t they?
I mean, it seems like all you need to do is give your interior a lick of paint, rearrange your furniture, update a few items and your home will look all shiny and new again.
If you have a good sense of design and you’ve done your research, you might be able to achieve a fantastic makeover like that, but what about the exterior? That’s where things can get a bit tricky.
I work with home owners from all over Australia and the most common thing people come to me for is help with their facade.
While home renovation shows have given home owners more confidence when renovating their home interiors, there’s still a huge lack of inspiration for exterior renovations – in particular, the facades of 1970s and 1980s homes.
Most of these homes need more than a basic makeover (render, paint and landscaping) to really modernise them.
The problem is that many renovators don’t know what other options and materials are available, and they lack the experience to successfully work in new cosmetic or minor structural elements in a way that suits the style of their home.
Short of going to an architect, which many home owners are reluctant to do because of the expense, renovators are often left to go it alone.
So, how to find a good balance between the two?
If you want to change the look of your home’s facade, there are other things you can (and need to) do to create a much bigger impact than a paint job and a bit of landscaping.
Start with gathering some images of home facades you love the look of.
Perhaps you can’t imagine how the design concepts, colours and materials on these houses could be adapted for your home right now. But often they can.
The trick is to blend what you love, with what you have. Respect the architectural style of your home at the same time as modernising it.
It sounds like a simple concept, but it can be difficult to create a look that works in reality. Take your time to work through your options.
Depending on the property, you might be able to make some minor alterations to the roofline, add a new porch or some feature cladding, change the entrance, erect a new fence, do some different landscaping, add a driveway or carport, or makeover the garage doors.
If your home is boxy or flat looking, investigate ways to give it some dimension.
If it’s brick and you want to render it, look at ways to introduce contrasting materials and features to give it some interest and depth. If your home has arches, find ways to either remove them or conceal them in some way.
There are hundreds of ways to improve a facade over and above a paint job and landscaping; you just have to work out which ones to employ for your home.
My advice is to seek the help of a professional. Let’s face it, if you’re going to spend anywhere from $50,000 – $80,000 or more on your exterior, you really should be doing your best to ensure your plan is going to work.
A good designer will help you find a happy medium between what you have, the kind of look you want and what your budget will allow for.
And with fees for design concepts typically around 5 to 6 per cent of the renovation budget, the cost is certainly affordable.
If you’ve been watching The Block over the past few months, chances are you’ve got the urge to give your home a bit of a makeover.
While it’s tempting to jump in and start renovating, there is one golden rule you need to be aware of: know your costs before you start. If you begin your renovation by just estimating costs, it will be a recipe for disaster. Almost inevitably, your money will run out well before the renovation is finished.
I recently helped a client who was heading for this scenario. He had bought a property and assumed he could renovate it for $30,000-$40,000. With that budget in mind, he expected to have the interior and exterior painted, put in a new basic kitchen, fix up the bathroom and replace the flooring.
Thankfully, he decided to get some advice before starting, and my builder and I went to the property to take a look. As experts in our respective fields, we were able to do a realistic estimate of costs there and then, foresee potential problems and take into account the knock-on effect (and its associated costs) of each area of renovation.
It didn’t take long to work out that, given the state and size of the house, even a very basic renovation would cost closer to $60,000 or $65,000. Painting and prep for the weather-beaten exterior would be $15,000 to $18,000 alone. That’s half his original budget.
What a nightmare it would have been if the client had just put basic figures together, and then jumped straight into the renovation before realising they were too low.
Here’s the advice we gave to this client:
- Refocus the available funds
- Don’t spread your dollar too thinly
- Start with your number one area and go from there
In this case, it made the most sense to focus on the kitchen and living area because this would make best use of the available funds while creating the biggest impact.
Whatever area you decide to focus on, it’s essential that you know what your real costs are before you begin. Don’t assume the estimate you have come up with is correct if this is not something you do regularly.
Budgets aren’t only blown out by expensive product choices, they’re blown out by underestimating the real costs of your completed renovation.
Unfortunately, it’s all too common for people to think they don’t need help with their renovation. But by jumping in head first without taking the time to get accurate costs and sound renovation advice from a renovation expert, you’ll usually over-spend on what would have been that expert’s fee.
When you’re giving the exterior of your house a makeover, the go-to for most people is a fresh coat of paint. That’s a fantastic first step, but it’s precisely that: a first step. It’s certainly not the way to transform your home.
Painting your house and leaving it at that is like putting on a new cardigan but neglecting to change your shirt or add accessories. Just as you would update your outfit with nice cufflinks or to-die-for shoes, so you should consider changing other aspects of your exterior and not just your colour scheme.
While the colour of your home is important, it’s only 50 per cent of the equation. The remaining 50 per cent relies on well-balanced, cohesive features and fixtures that work with the original style of your home — instead of against it.
1. Add or update your fence
Take a look at your home with fresh eyes. What does the fence look like and can you update it? Does it need a coat of paint? Does it need replacing or repairing? Can it be altered or modernised in some way to better link to the architectural style of your home? Fences define a property, so if you don’t have one, you might consider installing one if the budget allows.
2. Change your entryway
Now turn your attention to the house itself. One way to modernise the look (over and above a paint job) is to add a fabulous entry feature that draws the eye to your entrance. You could do something as complex as an entry portico or as simple as a selection of beautiful plants near the entrance or pot plants positioned by the front door.
3. Landscape your front garden
And how about your landscaping? Does it suit the style and scale of your house? Larger, brick and rendered homes require chunkier and more substantial plants, whereas timber homes can get away with using a less dense species.
Ensure the features of your front facade and yard don’t make the property appear smaller than it is. I visited a client’s property recently where they had this exact problem. A hedge separated the driveway from the front yard, giving the illusion that the property was much narrower than it was.
4. Add some outdoor furniture
Redoing an outdoor living space through a change in outdoor furniture and some new landscaping features can go a long way towards improving your home’s new look and feel. If you don’t have an outdoor living space, can you create one?
5. Dress up your driveway
Your driveway is another area that may benefit from a bit of attention. These can be expensive to repair, so clever landscaping to draw attention away from a dated or damaged driveway can be a great short-term fix.
