Welcome to Reno-Nation, news.com.au’s home improvement series on sprucing up your home. From the small changes that make a big difference to major overhauls, here is the inspiration you need to get started.
At the beginning of Maddy and Ben Evennett’s house hunt, the couple – then pregnant with their first child – had a wishlist of just three things: They wanted to be near the beach, they wanted a fixer upper with “strong bones” and there had to be room to accommodate a growing family.
They knew they had found the one after seeing the 1950s red brick home they now call home.
“The house hadn’t been touched for decades and was barely habitable,” says Ms Evennett, speaking to news.com.au. “But it definitely had potential. The overgrown garden, outdated windows instantly gave me butterflies.”
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Living in the coastal NSW city of Newcastle, the family of four have spent the past four years transforming their humble cottage into an airy beach bungalow.
Documenting their extensive project has earned them more than 152,000 Instagram followers but Ms Evennett admits they had their work cut out for them.
“Our first priority was to make it functional before moving in,” she says.
“We pulled up the old carpets, took down the peeling wallpaper, sanded the floors and painted the walls.
“This allowed us some time, when we finally moved in, to just live in our home and see how we used it as a family, before rushing into big projects and making rash decisions.”
Their renovation – which is still in progress – wasn’t without its mishaps. Although living on the property during the upgrade came with its challenges, Ms Evennett says their biggest setback was the discovery of a 22 cubic metre block of concrete they found while landscaping.
“That set us back with time and budget,” she says. “To this day we still have no idea why there was so much concrete buried in the garden.”
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However, as the couple’s first renovation they’ve done together, Ms Evennett is proud of what they’ve achieved. Doing the majority of the work themselves, the biggest transformation the couple made was with their backyard space.
Describing their garden as a “overgrown jungle” prior to the reno, the couple were able to take advantage of wasted space and added in a veggie garden and outdoor seating.
“We were incredibly lucky to find so many plants to salvage, nurture back to life and replant in the garden as we landscaped,” she says. “Fortunately Ben has a green thumb and renovating the garden revealed his passion for landscape design.”
“The garden has evolved immensely over time, from a small and cluttered back yard to a luscious green space for our kids to play, plant veggies and explore.”
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Despite this, simple but effective upgrades like a new coat of paint, shouldn’t be overlooked either, she adds. For the couple, painting their red brick home white was one of the smallest changes that made the biggest differences.
“A new paint job can be one of the easiest, fastest and most inexpensive ways to transform a space or exterior and achieve big results,” she says. “The power of paint will always blow my mind.”
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When it comes to their advice for other renovators, Ms Evennett stresses the importance of planning and prioritising.
“If you are living through your renovations and working with a budget like we have, we’d suggest prioritising the importance of projects and work in stages,” she says.
“(Also) it’s never too early to plan and you will be much more informed about the value of services and items when the time comes and won’t need to make impulse decisions and selections.
Prioritising redoing your bedroom can also help keep you motivated.
“It becomes a sanctuary that you retreat to at the end of each day,” says Ms Evennett. “We spend a third of our lives asleep, therefore its especially important to keep our bedrooms a peaceful place for our bodies to recover so the mind can rest.”
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