Renovating your home is a huge responsibility to undertake, and one that will temporarily displace you and test your patience. The upside is that you finish with an incredible home that is modern in design and completed with a personal flair that you can’t get from a ready-built home. If you are in the planning phase of your renovation, you might be overwhelmed with what to include in the scope and what to leave out, which is why we have put together these 7 tips for adding a personal touch to your upcoming renovation.
1. Don’t underestimate the accent features
It’s not necessarily the size of the bedrooms or the landscaping style that makes a home memorable, but rather those unique accent pieces that make a room striking. You might choose a bold feature wall, an intricate laser cutting or even a bold carpet design. What this looks like will depend on your own personal taste, so get clear on what that is before you conceptualise your accent features.
2. Reassess the style of the home
What can be more personal than the style of the home itself? If your home belongs to a classic style, that’s not to say you can’t enhance or reduce these architectural characteristics – it depends on the style you wish to achieve. If you don’t feel that the structure of your home resembles your style and personality, see what your renovation can do to better reflect you and your family living in it. Is art deco your style, or are you more of a minimalist?
3. Consider a dedicated space for hobbies and recreation
We can get so caught up in the non-negotiable areas of the home, like the bathroom and bedroom count, that we completely miss the opportunity to design a space purely for recreation and fun. This room might be used for a parents retreat, a place your children can get messy with arts and crafts, or it could even be the perfect space for a greenhouse or home brewery. Inside or outside – make sure you are allocating space for your passions.
4. Talk to an architect or stylist
When we plan for renovations, finding a builder and starting the work can happen without a thought to engaging an architect or a home stylist. Your builder is not going to be thinking about how your personality is integrated into the scope of work, so take the reigns and be more intentional and thoughtful about your renovation. If you are unsure where to start, you might even ask your chosen builder if they have an architect they have worked with before and see if they understand your desires for the finished product.
5. Consider your lighting preferences
You might not assign lighting to any part of your personality, but ideal lighting is going to best highlight the elements of your home that champion your style and tastes. Throughout the renovation planning, consider where your lighting is coming from and how much of it you expect to fill the room. You can get more light in your room with skylights, more windows and even through floor-to-ceiling glass walls. You can also increase the number of mirrors in your rooms to introduce light.
6. Consider the flow and narrative of your home
It’s all well and good to weave your personality in your renovation, but you want it to work with the rest of your home, garden or frontage that will not be changing. Consider the flow and narrative of your home – what parts of your personality can be present in each domain, and how can they tie together? When you have established the style you want to be present in your home, it won’t matter if different areas are modern or classic, as they relate to the overall theme of the home.
7. Make your mark
Beyond the foundational improvements, what softer touches can you bring to your home that are quintessential to you and your family? Is it a mural wall that is painted by your little ones, or some wallpaper that is chosen and applied by you? Try to make your mark on the renovation, so you can look at these elements and see what you brought to this home. If you don’t trust yourself to make these big changes inside, you could also test your creativity in the garden and landscape design.
You are well on your way to bringing an incredibly personalised renovation to fruition, and one that will get better with age as you furnish this space with the other bits and pieces that are unique to you. Start planning and conceptualising and don’t forget to follow these 7 tips.
No. 5 is great. changing the lighting really improves the house… I did a couple months ago and it looks amazing now