Thinking about renovating your home? Before you pick up your tool belt read the top 5 things you should know before starting a home renovation

Prepare For Everything to Snowball

This may have started out as a low-key, few minor updates here and there, but once the work has started it will be so very tempting to continue with other renovations. While your space is a worksite already it will be all the more enticing to just paint the walls as well, when all you had intended was a fresh coat on the doors. You'll find yourself knee deep in gyprock one day, look up and wonder how you got here - whoops!

There Will Be Unexpected Costs

You might be an excel genius and have prepared the most analytical budget in history but once you start knocking walls down and pulling up flooring, you find problems you didn't anticipate. Whether that is a leaking tap that has rotted away some of the framework or something that has been wired where it shouldn't be, there will absolutely be issues you'll need to address, and more often than not, that will include a tradesman coming to assess the issue (cha-ching!).

Timing is Unpredictable

Always, always leave yourself a buffer to wriggle with. If you're using external trades, it's important to allow time on either side for unexpected delays. This can be affected by elements that are completely out of your control (hello rain!) but what will be in your control is the time lines you set for yourself. This will save you sweating down the track.

You Will Need Work Gear

So perhaps you can get away with revisiting the oldest gym gear you own but at the very least invest in protective gear. Get yourself a pair of glasses (protective work glasses, this is not an excuse to update your Gucci frames!) and gloves. I strongly recommend some level of sturdy shoes. Sneakers, however comfortable will not suffice when you drop a chunk of old tiles on your foot - regrettably I can confirm this from personal experience - safe to say, steel cap boots will become your best friend.

Details Are Everything

A millimetre can be the difference between your brand new fridge fitting into the cupboard you spent days building for it, or not, the details are critical! This reaches beyond simply measurements though, it's important to test and check as much as you can before you go full steam ahead. Get some floor samples before you buy, bring them in and test the colouring at different times during the day to see how it changes with the light. Do the same with paint, if you can allow time to test some different tones then this not only puts your mind at ease but saves you a follow up trip to Bunnings when you decide you hate the paint you've covered half your walls in.  

Rosalie Molloy

Creative Director
www.notsavinglives.com