Renovating your home, be it a kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or custom joinery project, is a complex undertaking that can be an expensive and stressful. If your thinking about renovating, it's a good idea to factor in potential future lifestyle changes, like having children, into the design. It’s important to ensure the renovation investment your making today will be as relevant five years from now, and that your renovated home will be equipped to cope with requirements of tomorrow.

With smart planning, thoughtful design and a trusted team of renovators like the team at Balnei & Colina, you can create spaces in your home that achieve form, function and are built to last.

Creating a home renovation that is transitional will also help protect your renovation investment, ensuring you don't have to revisit your completed renovation in future years. A home renovation that is able to grow and adapt with you and your family, will help you avoid costly re-design, rip out or replacement of features as your families needs change over time. 

Whether it’s a kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or custom joinery solution, the renovation specialists at Balnei & Colina review current lifestyle trends in conjunction with our clients individual requirements when renovating homes, to cater for how our clients needs may grow or change.

In this month’s B&C Home Journal, we share important tips on how to create a transitional home. We hope this article provides you with everything you need to create a home renovation that evolves with you and your family. Enjoy!

Robert Fonti

Director, Balnei & Colina

Renovating your home? 7 Important Factors to consider.

At Balnei & Colina we know the future is impossible to predict, but rather than be a slave to trends, renovating a room with purpose, whether it be a kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or custom joinery, that is durable, sustainable and flexible is always our top priority.

When consulting with clients during the design process we not only consider the aesthetic of the rooms we renovate, but also their value in terms of practicality, durability, safety and longevity of the installations, and encourage clients to do the same. 

Image via Pintrest

1. Invest in Planning

Plan your renovation months before you start the project, and factor in whether the room can be made into a multi-functional space. A kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or custom joinery solution needs to meet your current needs as well as anticipate your future. Can your bathroom accomodate taking in a parent, will completely open plan living allow for growing teenagers?

Think about your room’s existing footprint and how effective it will be in the longer term. Speak to the renovation experts at Balnei & Colina about creating cost-effective flexible spaces that allow your home to evolve. 

Smart planning will also appeal to buyers, should you wish to sell your home in the future.

Balnei & Colina Kitchen Renovation

2. SAVE on ENERGY

Factoring in energy-efficiency when renovating your home will pay dividends for many years, and is one way we can reduce our impact on the environment, as well as save a small fortune on power bills. Energy-efficient solutions can be as simple as purchasing an oven that doesn’t require pre-heating, investing in kitchen and laundry appliances with the highest possible energy rating, or installing fittings that save on water usage and electricity. 

Balnei & Colina Bathroom Renovation

Image Credit: Fredrico Villa

3. Focus on Function 

When undertaking a kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or custom joinery project, be practical, and give priority to function. Efficient storage, optimum traffic and work flow, and accessibility are all key to creating a successful kitchen design, bathroom design or custom joinery solution.

Remember, bigger is not always better when renovating, and the focus of a good designer, like the team at Balnei & Colina, should be to create a design layout formulated by the way you and your family live. For example - Is a separate study and guest room really necessary? If overnight guests are infrequent but you need a space to work at home, why not install a pull-out wall bed (Murphy bed) inside custom designed cabinetry in an office or study space, to accommodate visitors when necessary.

Balnei & Colina Kitchen Renovation

4. Trust Quality

Investing in a custom kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation or joinery, will have your home looking polished for years to come. The initial investment may be a little more, but in the end will cost less than inferior alternatives if you factor in longevity. Try to incorporate hardworking, easy-to-maintain materials like reconstituted stone tops, polyurethane laminates, tiles and hardwood in interior spaces, like the kitchen and bathroom which, including flooring, suffer the most wear and tear.

Balnei & Colina Bathroom Renovation

Image via Decor Pad

5. Get Wired

We are becoming increasingly reliant on technology in our everyday lives and this is reflected in our homes, too. Smart lighting, heating and cooling controlled by our devices are becoming more mainstream. When renovating your home, consider what smart technology can be incorporated and check your existing electricals can meet new requirements.

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Image Credit: Tech Home Interiors

6. Prioritise Multipurpose

An open floor plan layout concept is the most popular option for today’s modern homes. Open plan living can allow you to keep an eye on roaming children and provides the perfect platform for entertaining or larger gatherings. It is the ultimate multi-purpose room.

A renovated room that is able to perform more than one function allows us to make the most of the existing floor space in our homes without having to invest further in more costly home additions. Rather than increasing a home’s footprint, it’s far more economical to transform areas into multi-purpose rooms that can cope with changes in our lives, from overseas visitors, to teenage parties or new working from home arrangements, saving both time and money.

The renovation experts at Balnei &Colina can renovate your kitchen, bathroom or create custom joinery solutions that perform multiple functions to allow for more than one task, for example a kitchen that also serves as a study area or a home office that doubles as a guest room.

Design Tip: When planning a kitchen renovation consider including a kitchen island, perfect for quick breakfasts and casual meals as well as other activities like homework. 

Design tip: For bathroom renovations, consider the ages of your children when designing the family bathroom. By thinking about how the bathroom will be used overtime by the members of the family, including young ones, you can customise the bathroom design to suit their needs as they grow. Have or planning more that one child? Consider a double vanity and isolate your wet zones (shower and bath), so that the renovated bathroom can be utilised by more than one person at a time.

Image credit: Daily Dream Decor

Image credit: Karo K Martin

7. Remember Resale Value

You maybe thinking your current residence is your forever home, but you can never be sure what the future brings so it’s best to always keep on top of changes in the market, buyer’s demands and your return on investment. It’s all about finding a balance - a renovated home that successfully combines the style preference and needs of its owners with evolving consumer demands. 

Design Tip: It’s also wise to keep colour schemes neutral and inject interest and personality with smaller, interchangeable items.

Thinking of renovating? The renovation experts at Balnei & Colina can help. For more information on our home renovation services, visit us at balneiandcolina.com.au. Book your complimentary design consultation today on 1300 450 320 or send us your home renovation project details via this Contact Us form. 

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Image credit: Oakley Home Builders