Home Improvement & Renovation Ideas
It’s a bit of a kiwi passion, whether you are thinking about ways to increase the value of your home or daydreaming of the house you have just purchased, chances are there is a renovation or DIY home improvement job on the horizon. This generally means you’ll have a lot of things to ponder over, not least among them, can you undertake the DIY work yourself and how do you find a specialist renovation company or qualified builder? What are the costs to renovate?… and how do you get your renovation ideas from paper to project?. Whether you want to refresh bathrooms, simple kitchen makeover or a full villa restoration, Auckland Builders & Renovations Ltd can help and can be your handy guide for all things home renovation.
From kitchens, to bathrooms and every room in-between, we’ve got some home renovation ideas to help transform your house.
INCREASE YOUR KURB APPEAL WITH AN EXTERIOR HOUSEPAINT
There’s no disagree that an eye-catching exterior will immediately make a major impression on your home. Whether you prefer something strikingly different or the standard grey & white house exterior colour scheme, be sure to give your home’s facades a caring coat of paint to make an instant difference.
ENHANCING CHARACTER VILLAS
If you’re working with one of the older Auckland 100yo homes you should try to preserve its original character villa features. The entry facades are often stunning and the original wooden flooring. Big think skirtings, mouldings, and ornate ceiling roses add huge amounts of character in a cookie cutter world.
INSTANT IMPRESSIONS WITH A COLOURFUL FRONT DOOR
Whilst landscaping and a fresh coat of paint will make a world of difference, one of the easiest ways to make an impact is with a front door that’s complete contrast to the rest of the home. A quick design note, some colour may attract or put off potential buyers, so if you home is going on the market, you may wish to check the colours with some Fung Shui advice.
HAVE YOU HEARD OF A MUDROOM?
Something that was normal for your grandparents to have, the humble mudroom is making a comeback. Usually located at a side or back entry of a home, mudrooms add practicality to a home and can provide a functional space to leave those wet coats & umbrellas, muddy shoes and school bags.
NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE WHITE
The characteristic kiwi home has a majority white-on-white palette. However if you already have an abundance of light filling a room, why not use a darker colour feature wall. Darker coloured walls can act as a feature while introducing a depth to a room.
ADD A BOLD COLOUR TO YOUR BATHROOM
The typical kiwi bathroom usually has a substantial amount of white tile for the floors, white walls, a black or white vanity with some non offensive stone top…. same as everyone else in your street. Why not add a splash of colour in your bathroom. Maybe a bold orange or some cyan blue features, a coloured tiles or use under bench multicolour LED strip lighting. You shouldn’t be afraid to add a little colour!
WALK-IN FULLY TILED SHOWERS
Add some serious luxury and create a walk in full floor to ceiling tiled shower. You could even go nuts and install multi heads and even LED lighting to make every shower an experience.
KITCHEN DESIGN FOR ENTERTAINING
Kitchens aren’t just for cooking. Kitchen islands represent a place for the whole family to get others and is a space for entertaining. If you have plans to remodel your kitchen, part of your kitchen design should be installing or improving a kitchen Island. We can bet you have never heard of anyone that has removed a kitchen island
BUTLER’S PANTRY FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND SPACE
If you are lucky enough to have room for one, a butler’s pantry can make a world of difference. These are great areas that come in handy for food preparation, slipping away all your bulky cooking utensils with additional storage and makes cleaning up a breeze when you are entertaining.
CREATE A STUDY NOOK
Do you have a spare and unused space in your home? Old kiwi villas have an abundance of strange nooks and crannies and even newer homes often have unutilized space under stairs. Consider adding a ingenious study nook that uses that space.
SLIDING CAVITY DOORS
As with most homes, making more space is always a desire and maximizing your existing available footprint should be a priority. Cavity sliding doors are a smart way for separating areas without taking up too much space where a door may be prohibitive.
FEEL LIKE A MOVIE STAR WITH A WALK-IN WARDROBE
Looking for luxury and have some unutilized space somewhere around your bedroom? Install a full walk In wardrobe. You can be the envy of your friends when they see the space you have for keeping your clothes and shoe collection. If you have the luxury of a larger space, you can introduce open storage to see your clothes and foot ware at a glance and introduce a nice lounging couch or seating and large mirrors to really enhance your private dressing area.
REDESIGN YOUR LAUNDRY
Often just a functional area without much thought, the humble laundry can be recreated into an unexpected pleasure. Until you have experienced having twin washing machines and a commercial clothes dryer in a purpose built drying room you wont know you needed one until you have tried it!
BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY WITH SKYLIGHTS
Natural light is one of the biggest priorities a house can have, but sometimes designers or architects have got the design wrong and some parts of the house are dark.. If you are renovating why not consider adding in some skylights to brighten those dark spaces.
INCREASE INDOOR OUTDOOR FLOW
Kiwis are increasingly modernising their homes for better indoor–outdoor flow. Open up walls and introduce bigger exterior doors and buy some stylish furniture to blur the lines between the interior and exterior parts of your home. The most popular is the flow between the kitchen and patio/deck areas where you can cook and entertain seamlessly.
INDOOR-OUTDOOR SERVERY WINDOW
So you cant knock out that exterior wall for that indoor/outdoor kitchen to deck flow, so why not add a servery window? A kitchen servery window accessing your main outdoors space can overcome the inability to open up the entire wall for doors
DON’T JUST USE A HOSE, INSTALL A DEDICATED OUTDOOR SHOWER
Most Kiwis will simply use a garden hose, but if you have an area that you use to wash off after a swim, or want to be creative, install a dedicated outdoor shower area. Think tropical rainforest to modern minimalist, the design choice is yours to transform a previously uninteresting function into a feature.
If you are have plans or are thinking of renovating, why not get in touch with Auckland Builders & Renovations Ltd