I recently renovated my own apartment. Like I do with all my clients I clarified my style goal and vision and specified all the finishes, fixtures and fittings. It was a relatively smooth reno, a couple of issues came up but nothing serious. So here are an interior designer’s renovation tips for a beautiful home.
Clear vision
Being clear on what you want your house to look like is important from the outset. I don’t mean copying The Block or a Three Birds Renovation. I mean really understanding your own unique personal interior style.
By defining your interior style from the outset you can clearly communicate with your builder and facilitate your specification decision making process.
For example, I wanted my apartment to have southern European influences. So Greek, Spanish, Italian and French. I wanted Industrial elements, some Mid-Century Modern elements and some vintage pieces too.
Not sure there is a name of this but when I work with my clients we put some words together to describe their own hybrid interior style.
Know where to compromise
As there is no such thing as a perfect space, it’s important to know when to compromise and when not to.
For example, I had selected a feature pendant for my bathroom. I wanted it to go in the corner. I was also going to have down light. But I couldn’t have down lights because of the apartment upstairs so I had to have a surface mounted ceiling light.
The location the electrician indicated for the down lights was in the middle of the space. But with the surface mounted ceiling light in the centre position this would compromise the focus of the feature pendant. So we moved them over.
At first I wasn’t going to move them but didn’t want to compromise on the overall look of the feature pendant.
Double check measurements & open boxes
There are a couple of measurements I didn’t double check. The size of the mixer of the bathroom. We had to position this at 3 o’clock in relation to the basin not 2 o’clock as first intended.
The towel rail I ordered was also smaller than the original, so we had to fill a hole in the tile, which I didn’t want to do.
And I didn’t double check the size of the drawers in my kitchen and they ended up being wider than usual. Not a big problem but not necessarily what I wanted either.
Also, always open boxes of the items you have specified. Check they’re correct, not damaged and all the components are in the box. My shower arm was missing a back plate and I didn’t realise until installation day which couldn’t happen.
But I had the shower arm in the box for weeks. Had I opened it when it arrived, I would have arranged for a replacement so that it could be installed on time.
My renovation was for a two-bedroom apartment. I tried to contain the scope of the project to keep in budget and not over capitalise. So, for example I didn’t change the wardrobe doors, I painted them instead.
My renovation wasn’t as big as some of the projects I work on with my clients. With my clients I am holding their hand through every step to get a successful outcome. Going through the renovation process made me realise how important every single micro detail is.
So this interior designer’s renovation tips for a beautiful home includes all of the above but mostly having a clear style goal and a comprehensive specification list.
