How to plan your first Reno?
I decided to share some of my renovation tips and my pink basin as I have been shooting newly renovated homes for construction companies and builders. I guess this is the perfect time as most of us are working from home. Some of you may remember, last year I renovated my bathroom, the only part of my lovely home that I was not in love with. To give you a picture, it had a dividing wall between the bath/toilet and sink. The taps were so old they kept coming off and bouncing at me whilst having a shower and the floor tiles, no comment. I wonder if years down the track the next person would say that about my beautiful concrete tiles...
During the 5 weeks of nomad life I stayed at 3 separate neighbors places, I took so many photos of the progress that I completely forgot to post up
images of the final result! And when I did the response was so encouraging, I thought I'll run you through some tips of how to survive and conquer your first reno.
RENO TIP NO 1: All the Myths about Renovations that somehow fell into amnesia are true indeed.
The time frame given, double it.
The initial budget or quote given, don't be surprised, it will go over, just like a wedding!
Your house will be covered in an icing thick layer of dust.
There will be tears or it is not really a renovation.
Get 3 quotes and go for the middle one.
I was super excited, collected inspiration from pinterest and turned it into a collage. It was inspiration overload. Hence I could not make one decision. So next I listed out all the things I needed :
Taps
Shaving cabinet
Tiles
Basin
Toilet...
WARNING> This is not a grocery list that you can simply tick off. No. No. No.
My first trip a bathroom shop. I went in. Told the sales assistant I was after these things and ended up with none.
RENO TIP NO 2: Find someone who can help! What happened was, I had no idea about toilets. How do you pick a toilet?
The first sales assistant told me to sit on one and see how it feels, mate, I am not sitting on a toilet in a showroom. I went to Bunnings first, but you really get what you pay for. When I met Michael from Reece Bathrooms Bridge Road, I got coffee, a seat and he listened to exactly what I was after such as brass taps. He also explained to me the differences in toilets and what to look out for and what sets a $800 toilet apart from a $200 one. Most of my decisions were based on time vs money. I am sure you can renovate a bathroom on a budget. My neigbour with the same size bathroom spent half of what I did.
RENO TIP NO 3: Splurge on the feature items. Renovations were becoming slightly stressful. Expect emotional outbursts, freak out moments, uncomfortable confrontations with your tradie BUT the thing that kept me excited was waiting for that one feature item. Mine was a pink basin from Concrete Nation. It was the last item to arrive the eta for it being made and shipped from Byron Bay was 4-6 weeks and let me tell you it was so worth the wait!
RENO TIP NO 4: Your taste changes over time. What you liked a year ago, you may not like now. So give yourself time and don't rush things. I was so set on a New york loft style with old English taps and black and white tiles. Then a friend gave me the best advice. Just imagine where you would like to have a shower and the minute I closed my eyes, I was seeing myself in a open concrete bathroom. It was probably the gold color that attracted me, not the actual style. So make sure you simmer on your ideas. And get other peoples opinions too. It took me the longest to decide on tiles as looking at one tile is very different from having a whole wall of it. Finally, after many trips to National Tiles, stepping on the tiles with my bare feet to gage the feeling of the tile, I chose light grey, large square concrete tiles for my walls and floor.
RENO TIP NO 5: Don't forget the finishing touches such as the light and power switches. My project manager left my old power switches in my brand new bathroom which cost me $300 to outsource another electrician to come in to replace.
Above images styled by the gorgeous My love Of / Builder Q&J Constructions
Pink basin by Concrete Nation/ Brass tapware by Reece Bathrooms/ Grey concrete Tiles by Nation Tiles Richmond
