Tag: renovation mistakes

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Decorating 101 Expert Tips

Expert tips: Avoid these five common decorating mistakes

By Liz Hayward

You know that feeling as a kid when rearranging your room made it feel like a completely new space? Well, as we grow older, we never lose that feeling; it just goes from rearranging a single room to a whole house. Redecorating your home helps personalise any given space and gives you complete ownership and pride when you walk into a room.

Redecorating is a great opportunity to make a home feel clean, clutter-free and like an entirely new space. So, to help you out with achieving the right look and feel, I’ve put together a list of mistakes many people make when redecorating and how to avoid them.

Photo: Dominic Loneragan

Stop focusing on the minor details

Not focusing on the big picture is the single biggest mistake people make. Homeowners fall in love with one cushion or one piece of artwork, but don’t think how about how it fits within the rest of the space. If you have already purchased a range of pieces in one style, and then purchase a piece that is in complete contrast, you are going to disrupt the cohesion of the room.

Not budgeting appropriately

I am a strong believer that you can have a beautiful home on almost every budget. However, if you spend a small fortune on a new TV setup, but don’t have a sofa to sit on, the room doesn’t quite achieve its purpose. It is important to map out the space, decide what you need and how much you can afford for each item. It doesn’t all need to be done at the same time, but keep in mind feature items that go hand in hand. It’s like buying a designer top but having no pants to wear it with!

Photo: Dominic Loneragan

It’s not entirely about the visual

When redecorating a room, it is important to think past just the aesthetic, and take the time to contemplate how the space will sound and feel. The acoustics of a room can be altered drastically by having more or less furniture in a room, and by specific materials e.g. timber vs. cement flooring. Music can really help to evoke sensations or emotions in a room, and brands like Naim Audio provide excellent quality sound in their premium music systems.

Choosing the wrong size rug

This one is niche, but imperative. Often people will underestimate what size rug they need to fill a space. 2x2m sounds huge in theory but a perfect sized rug should anchor the room and allow for at least the front legs of all sofas or armchairs to rest on it. A quick guide to work by is to have at least 45-to-50cm of exposed flooring around the edge of your room. 

Photo: Rachel Tagg

Artwork hung at the wrong height

This can make or break a room. The rule of thumb is that the centre of the artwork should be at an average person’s eye level, unless hanging above a mantel or furniture. In this case, you want to leave about 20cm clearance from the bottom of the frame. This creates space for the artwork and helps it not look cluttered. Alternatively, if you are doing a gallery wall it should be treated as one piece and mapped out clearly before hanging. It is almost impossible to build a gallery wall over time and looks much better if you can plan the layout from the get-go.

Liz Hayward is the founder of interior design company Hayward & Co.

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Design DIY RENO ADDICT

Shaynna Blaze’s 7 tips on how to avoid renovation mistakes

Enthusiasm for your DIY projects and renovations is the best attitude to have before beginning any task, but this shouldn’t be at the cost of having a level head. Taking on a project too hastily can often result in costly mistakes. On Selling Houses Australia, I’ve seen the same error made time and time again so I’ve put together my top tips on how to avoid these throughout your next renovation.

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  1. Leave the specialist jobs to the pros

Taking on skills you aren’t trained for is not only risky but also dangerous. Jobs such as plumbing, electrics and construction should never be attempted by anyone other than a qualified professional. If you’re looking to do things like open up a room by knocking down a wall, it’s always important to consult a builder first. A builder will be able to identify if a wall is load-bearing or structural, i.e whether or not it can be knocked down. Not consulting a professional for these major jobs is a mistake many DIYers make, which can result in major damage to your home, turning what would have initially seemed like an easy way to cut costs into unplanned repairs.

  1. Do your research

Google and YouTube have revolutionised the DIY world by showing us what we can achieve ourselves within our homes. It’s important to remember that you won’t always find the right answer from one Google search or by watching a YouTube tutorial. Before starting a task, make sure you research thoroughly and understand what it takes to achieve the best result.

  1. Plan and budget your project

Before you begin any renovation, it’s important to plan out the project and break it up into stages. This will ensure that the project is completed both on time and on budget. Most people have champagne tastes and beer budgets so make sure you do your maths for the entire project and not just the cost per room. Too often I’ve seen walls with no plaster or missing flooring due to a lack of planning that results in DIYers running out of time and/or money to complete the job.

  1. Tackle the project room-by-room

Once you’ve got a plan and budget in place, it’s best to tackle your project room-by-room or stage-by-stage. This will break the job up into easy-to-manage tasks and won’t seem like such a daunting challenge. Also, keep in mind that having a clear design plan to begin with will ensure there is cohesion in the final look, otherwise you could end up with a disjointed disaster.

  1. Preparation is key before painting

Paint can be used to hide a multitude of sins but it can’t hide everything — including cracks and holes. Before you begin any paint job, it’s important to get the preparation right to ensure you get the best result. Filling in holes and sandpapering might seem tedious but if you get it right the first time, you’ll avoid touch-up jobs in the future.

  1. Be budget conscious without going cheap

There is a big misconception that ‘going cheap’ is the only way to be budget conscious. While you’ll always have a budget in mind, which you need to stick to, there are ways of saving money on a project without going for the cheapest of everything. This usually results in using lesser quality products, which need to be replaced or repaired more often, which ends up being a higher cost than if you’d chosen a quality product to begin with.

  1. Create a colourful finish

Once renovations are complete, it’s always nice to polish it off with a healthy dose of colour. Clinical, boring and no personality is certainly not a brief I’ve ever been given by a client and definitely aren’t moods I’d encourage. Before you pick up a brush, it’s important to take your time to choose a paint colour that will complete your look and make you happy with the result. Start off by seeking inspiration for the colour palette you want to create and select tones that will evoke the right mood for you and give your project a great finishing touch – no matter what the room.

– Shaynna Blaze is Taubmans’ brand ambassador and colour creative director, host of Selling Houses Australia and judge on The Block.