Our First Home Renovation
All the details from tiles, timber and textures to lessons we learned along the way, things we would do differently and what we will be doing again.
I read recently that every home renovation steals a little part of your soul and let me tell you this one almost unearthed the whole thing! It was a journey we embarked on with so much naivety that I can only now look back and laugh. The plans were loose, timelines were unclear and budget was rogue.
My husband Mitch and I bought our first home in 2018 and we spent the next 5 years in a perpetual state of renovation. I actually never saw the house before we bought it as I was away working at the time. We had just moved home to Australia from New York and we were blissfully unaware of the renovation mountain we were about to climb.
The house was an old weatherboard beach shack built sometime in the 1980’s on quiet leafy street in Peregian Beach. The block itself was a private little oasis with an amazing treetop outlook. The original house had incredible high ceilings and beautiful bones so we kept most of the original floor plan - we went out and up. It was the kind of project that grew as it unfolded. Like many old houses, it was a domino effect once we started - every out of plumb wall led to more work (for Mitch).
Our renovation journey was a slow one. Mitch worked on other projects and would come back to our house at various times so it was hard to get any kind of rhythm. There were many times we didn’t think we would ever finish. It was stressful living in a constant construction zone and also an intense period of transformation - not just of the house but of our lives. We got engaged, launched a business, had our wedding, a honeymoon, a global pandemic and our first baby - all while renovating.
Even with a builder husband, we were over ambitious and under prepared. Annddd guess what - we are in the midst of doing it all over again. You would think we might have learnt from our old mistakes but it seems not. We are currently building a new home in the Noosa Hinterland (more on this coming soon). We have spent the first part of this year excavating through a cyclone and deep in design decisions. The only small consolation is that we aren’t living in it this time. Going from one build into another is as ridiculous as it sounds. As I type this post, Lava is asleep on the couch, Mars’ duplo is scattered all over the floor and Mitch is away on a two week surf trip in Nicaragua. At times, this season of life really does feel like some kind of colossal coordination effort.
Despite still holding a little bit of renovation trauma (torrential rain, tarps and bats will never feel the same), we really did pour our heart and soul into our first home. I know that many of you have had questions and I’m sorry they have gone mostly unanswered. In the beginning, I had planned to share in real time as we did it but honestly most of the time I was drowning in dust and trying to find yet another place to shoot around the house where you couldn’t see any construction.
The reality of renovating means daily decisions, pinterest board problem solving and frequently blowing the budget. In my experience, it’s also an industry that functions with a lack of visibility. Samples are scarce, colours are complex, lead times are long and often you aren’t able to see the finished product until you use it. So this is my offer to redeem myself (better late than never) - all the design details including timber, tiles, tapware, paint colours, floors, finishes as well as all the lessons we (should have) learnt along the way, things we would do differently and what we will be doing again.
