How to start the renovation process?

WEEK 1- FOCUS ON THE SPACE YOU WANT TO UPDATE

Welcome to our new 4-part series: “How to start the renovation process”.  Together we’re going to tackle the reno process step by step from the ideas that strike you in the middle of the night, to hiring the professionals to bring your dreams to reality!  

Whatever it is in life, there is a first time for everything, and renovating is no exception.  Hey, even second or third time renovators can get lost in the Pinterest boards, Instagram feeds, and of course important things like budget and what you’ve got to work with can go right out the window when you’ve got a never-ending stream of pretty things and amazing ideas in front of you!

Where to start?!  Well, we’re going to take this step-by-step and break it down so it all makes sense and loses the “ohhhh, what am I doing???” scary stuff. 

Are you ready? Grab yourself a notebook (the old-fashioned kind!) and let’s go!

Week one: Focus on the space you’re wanting to UPDATE

We can break all renovations down to the seven most important aspects to consider before picking up any tools, or even buying the sample pots:

1.      Are you wanting to renovate a whole house, or just one room?

2.      What is it that you love about the space?  What is it that you dislike?  Make a list of the areas within the space that are not practical, what’s lacking and what does currently work.

3.      Is the renovation small or major?  Think change of colour scheme as opposed to knocking down walls and re-positioning plumbing.

4.      Is your home heritage listed? If it is this will affect what you can (and can’t) do and at this point you’re very welcome to get in touch with us and we’ll step through what you’ll need to take into consideration – the reno isn’t out of the question, but there are factors that must be considered.

5.      What is it about the space that you want to change?  Do you need more living space?  More bedrooms?  Is the colour so depressing it makes you want to close the door and think of happy places?

6.      Look at the lighting of your space: how much natural light do you get?  Where is the sun in the morning or afternoon?  Is there too much light?  Will you need additional lighting or power points installed?

7.      Are you going to need to extend the roofline, or put in additional plumbing?  If you are, you’ll likely need to need to factor in time for council permits.

Your task for this week is to open your notebook and spend some time looking at your space with an open mind - forget the Pinterest boards you’ve been building … this is about what you’ve got to work with.  We’ll get to the Pinterest boards a bit later on!

Now, I totally get that at any time in this process you might feel overwhelmed and find your mind wandering back to that vision you’ve been dreaming about, so I want you to know that if you get stuck and have a question you can shoot me an email and I’ll do my best to help get you back on track!

Next week we’re going to look at budget, and that’s truly not as scary as it sounds!