Home Innovations Display Centre

Why Renovate?

Renovating can change your outlook towards your home for the better! Renovations enable an outdated, limited or dreary home to become reanimated with style, ergonomics, creativity, value and enjoyment. But before you launch into any tasks you may be interested in, take time to carefully plan and research your project to ensure the best possible outcome for your home and family.

The following tips will help save you time, money and headaches on your big home makeover!

Why Renovate?

There are two main reasons people renovate:

1) To improve the comfort and use of the home.
2) To create a higher selling value.

Improving to Keep

If you are feathering your nest and keeping your home you may want to consider:

• Extending your property outwards or upwards to accommodate a growing family or simply to add a sense of spaciousness.
• Increasing modes of storage to avoid mess, clutter or making a large room look uncomfortable small.
• Adding rooms for special needs such as an office, home cinema or rumpus room.
• Improving the energy rating of your home to reduce power consumption and your carbon footprint.
• The property and its location. If you have a beautiful view, you may want to take down a wall and add a window or french doors. If the blinding morning sun pours into a bedroom, you may want to block the troublesome window with shutters or blinds or even consider covering it permanently and adding a skylight. 
• Updating and remodelling to give the house a fresher, more modern look – this could involve major changes such as taking out walls to enlarge a room, putting in a new kitchen, or installing new wallboards and ceilings. Or it could simply be a matter of painting or wallpapering.
• Restoring the house to its original, classic style (while adding modern features in some areas, like the kitchen and bathroom).
• Adding value to increase your investment.
• Researching the clients who would be most interested in buying your property in the future. If you live in suburbia, you may want to cater to family needs, such as multiple rooms, several bathrooms, outdoor entertainment and a large kitchen. If you live towards the inner city, you may want to cater to renters whether single or couples by soundproofing, enlarging living/rumpus rooms, separating the toilet from the shower/bathroom or adding extra storage in kitchens and bedrooms.

Renovating to Sell

If you are renovating to sell, it is likely that you’ll want to give the house an inexpensive makeover to freshen it up and make it more attractive to buyers. For example, repainting, repapering, or changing dated or damaged fixtures, such as a cracked basin in the bathroom.

You need to consider the tastes of potential buyers, which really means keeping everything fairly neutral to appeal to a wider range of people. Shimmering benchtops and mirrored hallways might not be everybody's cup of tea.

Renovations that will increase the appeal of your home may include painting the kitchen and bathroom or putting in some decking to give an indoor-outdoor flow and an increased sense of space or some landscaping.

Don’t spend money that you won’t get back in the sale price. Ask a real estate agent for ideas to increase the house’s appeal, and how much you should spend without overcapitalising.

Take care to renovate to the existing style of the house and neighbourhood. People search in particular neighbourhoods because they like the age and style of houses found there.

Beware of Overcapitalising

If you don’t intend selling, the money you spend on renovating will be an investment in the comfort and enjoyment of the house. Whether you increase the value of the home may not be an important factor in how much you decide to spend.

However, it is easy to get carried away with the excitement of doing up a home and overcapitalise by spending money that can never be recouped if you do end up having to sell. You may regret the $60,000 kitchen you put into your $200,000 house should unexpected life changes occur. It may be money you never get back if you have to sell and apportion the proceeds.

Doing it Yourself (DIY)

Many take on renovation, decoration and alteration projects in their homes, usually in the belief that it will save them money. How much you can do yourself realistically depends on your skills, time and energy. Make sure that you have or you contract somebody with the right qualifications for each individual task. You need to consider your local building code requirements and getting building approval for structural work.

Many people are very capable of painting and wallpapering, and some straight-forward carpentry work but be sure to out source the more difficult renovations and alterations to avoid costly mistakes. However, before you take on any work around your home, consider all the aspects of DIY.

Remember to visit the Home Innovations showroom in Mornington for all the latest ideas, information & advice before you start any home project.
Or call us now on (03) 5976 4661.

HIDC Exhibitor(s) who specialise in this area;

Blissful Bathrooms

Granite Transformations

Rick’s Home Improvements