Tag: render

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House Tours Interviews RENO ADDICT

A stunning home transformation in Perth

Originally built in the 80’s, this humble Perth home featured (if you can call it that) a façade of dated and uninspiring brickwork. The interior similarly suffered from a disjointed floor plan and boring beige tiles throughout. And then there was the kitchen – don’t even get me started on the woeful state of the kitchen! (I think the before photos speak for themselves).

After
Before (*shudder*)

The brief for Amerex was one of total transformation; the homeowners wanted to completely expand and revamp the space, while adding more natural light to the key living areas.

The result? A spacious family home complete with functional open-plan living and stylishly modern finishes – one that’s up for a HIA award (impressive!).

After
Before

To accommodate the larger living area and provide a space for the stunning new kitchen (seriously, what a transformation!) and dining areas, an extensive structural extension had to be added.

“We also added an entertainer’s alfresco, complete with a wood fireplace – this way the home now had a seamless flow between the indoor and outdoor areas, and the owners could easily transition from indoor to outdoor entertaining,” says Suzanne Burke, GM of Amerex.

A complete reroof and external render of the entire property helped bring the home into the 21st century.

“The render was a no-brainer. We also added stone cladding to the front piers, which has really given the home a whole new look and feel. Finish that off with new cedar wood double front doors and a unique feature garage door and the owners are left with a complete overhaul of the front profile!” says Suzanne.

No room or space was overlooked, with a new master bedroom and guest bedroom featuring huge walk-ins and ensuites, a spacious family study and replacement of the dated timber staircase balustrade with a modern cable balustrade.

From a new storage room in the garage and a sneaky storeroom beneath the stairs, to overhead cabinetry in the laundry and a large walk-in pantry, enough storage space was added to make any storage lover coo with delight.

The team at Amerex specialises in transforming Perth properties with high quality home additions, home extensions, second story additions, and major home renovations.

Want more home transformations?

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RENO ADDICT The Block

Caro & Kingi’s real reno week 4: indoor or outdoor laundry?

Kingi gets to work

By Caroline Tahana

We won our laundry week on The Block so the expectations for our own home laundry will be pretty high! I love to clean and to be organised. I hate to cook believe it or not, Kingi is the cook in our household so when kitchen week comes around, I might get him to blog for us!

Caro & Kingi's winning laundry on The Block
Caro & Kingi’s winning laundry on The Block

In the last two properties we have owned as a family, the laundries were outside. Growing up in my family home, our laundry was always inside. So the great debate begins! Kingi likes the outside laundry whereas I prefer one inside. I think having an outside laundry actually creates more dirt on the clothes and can damage them, whereas Kingi thinks an outside laundry is great for ventilation and less noise. But again I ask…who does the laundry in your house anyway? My point exactly! ME! So after months of arguing I finally won this round! Inside laundry it is!

This laundry had to go!
This laundry had to go!

Now when planning the new position of the laundry, where do you put it? Near the bedrooms so you can access the rooms quickly to put clothes away? Or will that be too noisy? These are the questions you need to discuss when renovating your family home. We want to position it somewhere that’s going to be close to the outside clothes line and also in an area that isn’t wasting space.

When planning a laundry just like I did on The Block, my main goal was to be practical. Think about what you need to do in a laundry. What do you want to store? Will you have a washer and a dryer? In our new renovation, we won’t be having a dryer as we live in North Queensland so that’s our dryer! But we will be having two washing machines. With Kingi’s uniforms always being covered in render, I knew from the start of these renovations that we would be having two!

Kingi gets to work
Kingi gets to work

I want to make sure that there is enough storage for everything: brooms, mops and buckets! This space is purely practical. It isn’t a space the whole family will be spending a lot of time in so don’t overdo it. The laundry shouldn’t take a big chunk out of your budget either. Pick some cheaper tiles than what you would use in your bathroom. Your guests won’t be using your laundry so you don’t need to impress anyone here! But the one component I would spend a bit more money on would be your cabinetry. I would recommend storage with doors, you want to hide all those cleaning bottles! Our laundry will also include a massive sink. We got big points for this on The Block! You need to be able to wash a small dog in there and to be able to soak any sheets (mums, I know you hear me on this one!)

If you’re about to tackle some renovations at home, I would always suggest starting in the laundry. It’s a great area to learn and make any little mistakes in. No one will really see this area too much so if you make a bad choice then it’s really not going to affect the whole house. Doing a laundry first will also teach you the process of what’s involved in a “wet area” and this will be a great learning experience before you tackle your bathrooms!

Caro and Kingi’s top tips this week:

  1. Plan your storage solutions – Think about what you have in your laundry now and how you want to store it better.
  2. Pick cheaper tiles – I would recommend neutral colours as they are normally cheaper.
  3. Research online – you can save heaps when buying online! We recommend www.renovatorstore.com.au

Check out Caro & Kingi’s website | Follow them on Facebook or Instagram

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Interiors Addict

‘Faux texture’ wallpaper from shelf/life

Wallpaper: it’s everywhere right now and whatever pattern you choose, covering a wall, or all your walls, makes a great statement; any kind of statement you like! If you’ve ever dreamed of an industrial chic warehouse conversion but have no such architectural features in reality, online store shelf/life have started stocking some wallpapers which could help!

shelf-life-whitewash-Bricks-Situ

“One of the more recent trends we’ve seen in interiors is that of faux texture wallpaper,” says owner Jess Ibbett. “The main reason for this is probably due to new technology allowing companies to print photorealistic images onto paper, opening up a huge amount of options when it comes to decorating your home.

“All these options can sometimes create rather scary outcomes as companies go crazy thinking of unusual things to slap onto their wallpaper. For instance, I’m not sure I could live in a house covered head to toe with giant realistic bugs. But done well, I think these digitally printed wallpapers definitely have a place in modern interiors and can easily add a point of interest to your home.”

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The Block

Matt from The Block launches polished concrete business Sky High Renders

In a smart move after the popularity of their polished concrete feature walls on The Block Sky High, Matt from Matt and Kim, has launched a new business.

sky high renders matt and kim the block

He wants to make polished concrete finishes both contemporary and affordable. He said: “Until now, renders such as Cement Glassface and Venetian Plaster have been exclusive to the high end market only. There is no logical reason for this. A feature wall in polished render can often be cheaper than wallpaper, tiles or timber clad. The results are more spectacular, more modern, and more durable.”

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