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.
With open-plan living being popular today, many renovators are eager to knock down walls willy-nilly. But, there are a few things to keep in mind when you are trying to create a more open design.
Too few walls
The most common mistake I see is when homeowners are so enthusiastic about open-plan living that they have not left enough walls. Of course, you have to ensure your design is viable structurally, but that’s not the only reason to leave walls in.
You also have to think about furniture placement. If you’ve got too many windows in the design and not enough wall space, you can have problems with how you layout your furniture, fixtures and fittings.
To avoid making this mistake, it’s a good idea to draw up the shell of the house with all the walls in it. Then draw it up again minus the walls you want to eliminate. Block in your furniture and fixtures, making allowances for wiring and power points
Bad furniture placement
If there isn’t a lot of wall space, make the most of what you have by placing some furniture centred in the room. But, you can’t just plonk furniture anywhere and hope it’s going to work. Each of the individual spaces that form the open-plan area need to be anchored.
For example, if you put a dining table and chairs in an open dining room with nothing to anchor it, it will feel a bit like it doesn’t belong, or that you’re not sure where the dining area ends and the kitchen or lounge begins.
Forgetting to anchor
Anchoring defines each space without detracting from the open-plan look, feel and flow. In the dining room, you can achieve this by hanging a pendant light over the top of the table and adding a decorative feature on top of the table.
Another option to help define the space is to place a rug under the table, but this is not always practical if you have small children. Whatever you choose to do, a good rule of thumb is to aim for two out of the three suggestions here.
In the living area, you can use a rug to anchor the lounge furniture and, if you have a coffee table in the middle, you can put a decorative feature on top of that. This will help create a focal point in the centre of the area.
The kitchen needs less anchoring because it is such a solid entity in its own right, but you can define the space from the rest of the open-plan area through the use of lighting. Not only do pendant lights over the breakfast bar look great, but it gives a line to say here’s the kitchen and there’s the dining room.
Many people planning their renovation begin by gathering pictures from Pinterest and other online resources and from family, friends and neighbours.
While this is a great way to get design ideas, it can also be the perfect way to make your home look like mutton dressed as lamb.
I recently helped some clients with this exact issue. They were about to renovate their bathroom and kitchen and had shown me photos of a renovation their friend had done. They loved the renovation and wanted a similar result.
The friend’s apartment was built in the 1960s or 1970s, and she had done a beautiful job renovating it in a way that perfectly suited the architectural style of her apartment block.
My clients, however, own a Victorian terrace house, so copying their friend’s design was never going to work for their style of house.
One of the key design concepts you should always consider when renovating your home, is to take the original style of the house into account.
This doesn’t mean that if you have an 1980s-style house that you have to renovate it to match the 1980s. What it does mean is that you modernise the majority of the spaces with contemporary colours and materials while subtly linking back to some of the design choices of the era of the house.
It’s essential to the longevity of your renovation to consider the era and style of your home. If you do a super-slick modern bathroom or kitchen in a house that doesn’t have a super-slick and modern style in its bones, it won’t work well design-wise.
It’ll probably look great in the short term, but down the track you will find it stands out because it doesn’t gel with the style of house. You want it to be modern, but also have a “nod” towards the architectural style of the house.
With my client’s house, I ended up using a Victorian-style patterned floor tile and heritage-style light fittings, then juxtaposed these with modern wall tiles, vanity, shower, bath, mirror and accessories. The overall look is modern but there is still a link to the heritage of the home.
No matter what style of home you have, you can avoid the mutton-dressed-as-lamb problem by following this one simple rule.
Have a look at the photos in my Facebook group and you’ll see that I’m creating a contemporary look, but also injecting some of the flavour of the architectural style of the house at the same time.
When it comes to interior design and renovating, there are a few trends and features that designers can’t stand. If you’re planning to work with a professional on your next project, here are a few things to be mindful of.
Design
Designers can’t stand it when rooms are designed independently of one another without considering the effect on the entire house. For example, you might copy the design of a bathroom you’ve seen at a display home, then reproduce a kitchen you fell in love with while watching The Block and style your laundry based on a picture you’ve seen in a magazine. While each room might look fantastic in its own right, as a whole they don’t appear to belong together.
What we do like: Designers like it when you use forward planning and have a cohesive design that flows from room to room. Although each room does not have to match in every aspect, elements such as colours, materials and/or lighting should have a level of consistency and link together in some broader way.
Colours
Most designers despise cream-coloured paint on the walls. There are a number of very popular cream colours that Australians tend to use, but if you ask any designer they will tell you that cream went out in the 1990s. Anything that is cream-coloured or derived from cream is out!
What we do like: We like whites, warm greys and beige colours. Also, pops of darker bold neutrals and accents of timber.
Window dressings
Designers loathe vertical blinds and patterned curtains.
What we do like: The types of window dressings that designers recommend these days are quite linear, such as plantation shutters, wooden blinds, roller blinds or sheer curtains.
Floor tiles
Designers detest terracotta floor tiles, white floor tiles or tiles that are any smaller than 500 square millimetres.
What we do like: We like larger format tiles in a neutral colour.
Splashbacks
Designers generally do not like mirror or glass splashbacks. Glass splashbacks look flat and plain, and both mirror and glass splashbacks show up stains very easily.
What we do like: We like a splashback that has a bit of texture (even if that comes from the grout lines) so that it adds interest to your kitchen.
A common perception is that interior designers are costly and will only give you expensive ideas that they themselves love.
This is very rarely the case, and most interior/exterior designers will give you a look and feel you’ll love for your home – within a fixed budget.
Although you can spend tens of thousands of dollars for design and architectural advice, you can often get minor assistance (for example paint colours) for as little as $500.
Here are some of the ways an interior designer can help you:
They will show you how to create cohesive spaces
Interior designers will show you how to create spaces that look amazing in their own right, as well as being one piece of a cohesive overall look for your home
It’s not too hard to renovate one room in isolation – but problems arise when you have more than one space to pull together.
For example, if you’re renovating your kitchen, bathroom, living room and exterior, these rooms should be cohesive, but not matchy-matchy. Often, renovators do not consider the overall effect of their individual room renovations, so the house ends up lacking a sense of flow and each room feels disconnected from the next.
They make sure your home looks good on the inside and the outside
Some interior designers will also give colour and design advice for the exterior of your home. This is extremely important because it assists with the “visual flow” from inside to outside.
One aspect of visual flow is physical – where the walls are located and how you move within the spaces. The other aspect is how the spaces feed in together visually (from outside to inside) by using the right blend and repetition of colours and products.
Interior designers know what things cost
You might think working out the cost of something is a matter of adding the labour cost and the materials costs. What you may forget, though, are all the steps (and additional costs) in between.
A large majority of home renovators blow their budgets because they underestimate the real costs for their renovation and end up spending much more than they’d anticipated.
An experienced designer will give you estimated figures for your renovation before you go too far down the rabbit hole – and pull you back on areas that look like they’re going to exceed your budget.
Interior designers have a sense of what will stay fashionable
Most home renovators are aware of what’s on trend, but the key is to create something that’s modern and contemporary yet will not date. There’s a fine balance between a look that is fashionable right now and a contemporary design that will last seven to 10 years.
An interior designer will help design your home in a way that ensures you don’t find yourself regretting certain colour or product choices down the track.
Spending a little bit extra on a good interior or exterior designer is well worth your investment and will ensure every part of your home looks and feels exactly the way you want.
