Renovation Roundabout

We’ve just jumped onboard!

Builders everywhere

After 8 years of running an interior decorating business and helping over 200 clients (some of them more than once) with their home renovations, it’s time to do my own.

We like playing with ideas of what a house could become. We are serial “Open House” visitors and will often come away discussing options to renovate the home – take a wall out here, put stairs in there, move the kitchen to here and open up the back of the house, etc. So when we bought our house back in 2002, we always knew we would do some form of renovation.

The Auction flyer when we bought our home.

We considered knocking a hole in the wall between the formal living and dining rooms, putting in a new kitchen, leveling the floor of the 1970’s extension and moving the laundry to make room for a bigger bathroom. But as we lived in the house, we could see it had more potential. Much more!

Our home's original floor plan

So……. Back in 2006 we started talking to architects, Playoust Churcher. Our main brief was to ensure the new renovations looked like they had always been a part of our 1920’s Californian Bungalow. Over the next two years, plans were modified and reworked until we had something that suited. Council approved the plans in December 2007.

Yay, approved plans!

Then the GFC hit. Everything was put on hold. But finally the time is right to leap in and whip this old girl into shape.

We’ve spent the last week breaking our backs to have the house packed up so the builders can have an empty shell. It will be more straightforward for the builders, as they can demolish everything all at one time and get their subbies in to do the necessary work.

Ready for renovating

But oh, the pain of it all.  We have relocated to a very small apartment – that would be all of us – two adults, one child, two dogs and a design studio. It’s cosy! What we haven’t shoved into cupboards in the unit, has been moved into three mobile storage containers.

All packed up and ready to go

Containaway left us three containers last Friday and it took us three days to fill them to the brim with furniture and boxes of all our possessions. I’m glad we don’t have a lot of stuff!!!!!

3 x 10m portable containers from Containaway

So while you’ve been enjoying the Easter break and probably thinking I was doing the same, I’ve had my nose to the grind preparing for a mammoth task. Now, let the demolition begin!

I wish!

If you would like assistance with your home renovation, contact us for an online or in-person consultation.