by Shaynna Blaze
 

Making changes to your home on a Medium level means you need to consider the length of time these changes will be in action for. This stage of alterations tend to happen in the bathroom and kitchen areas when you can’t afford to change the whole floor plan but surfaces and possibly a few walls are needing your full attention. If you are making these decisions, firstly consider the time frame you are willing to live with these changes, as if you are doing this to last less than three years, and it takes a good chunk of your budget it may be worth only attempting some minor modifications and saving a bit longer for bigger changes. If you are renovating to sell your house make sure you are not over capitalizing but putting yourself more in the perfect position to compete in your area and increasing the standard of your presentation.

Let us use this kitchen renovation as an example. In a renovation of Selling Houses Australia this kitchen functions well with its layout but its dated look had turned many people away and affected the sale of their house. As we didn’t have to change the plumbing, gas and electrical works already we were at an advantage to utilise funds elsewhere. The benchtop and doors were where we were able to allocate the major chunk of the budget. A granite ‘sheet’ was used to transform the existing benchtop costing half the amount of a new granite benchtop. The doors were replaced with a low sheen vinyl wrap with new modern handles and the final change were the large format white splashback tiles. Using large tiles not only give a modern look but cut in labour costs as they are less time consuming to lay. But, if you have an area that has quite a few differing heights and angles it will require more cutting then adding back those labour costs. The country scene decals on the existing tiles dated the kitchen just as much as the faux wood doors. If you notice the flooring wasn’t touched, one, due to not fitting in with a Medium size budget and two, as the main surfaces of the kitchen were changed at eye level you hardly notice the dated floor but also the oven and cooktop.

When applying this to your own renovation break down the points that need the most attention, will make the best impact and then allocate the budget accordingly. Remember, as soon as you alter the layout of an existing area such as bathroom, kitchen and laundry there are hidden labour costs that will eat into your funds and limit the final ‘visual’ impact.