ultimate home Transforming your home cost effectively
& garden GIVE YOUR HOME A NEW LOOK… Complete some DIY jobs around the home to reflect the latest trends. Photo: Supplied.
AN increasing number of Australians are being inspired by home renovation television shows to renovate their own home to reflect the trends that most reflect their lifestyle and individualism.
Off the back of renovation ratings successes such as The Block, House Rules and others, Australians are sprucing up their homes with fresh new on-trend designs, including Scandinavian Contemporary and Urban Industrial, to make their homes stand-out. A recent Housing Industry Australia outlook report showed the amount of renovation work nationally will have increased by 1.6 percent this year, with a 2 percent increase the following year and a further 2.7 percent growth in 2018/19 to bring the total value of the renovations market to $34.65B. According to other analysts, the fast-paced property market will slow-down, resulting in greater levels of home renovations. To keep the costs of renovation contained, and encouraged by seeing contestants doing the hard yards, there has been an increase in homeowners doing some of the renovation for themselves.
DO YOUR RESEARCH, TALK TO THE EXPERTS The most important thing to do when DIY tiling is to get expert advice from those in the know. There are many DIY jobs
that you can do with the right know how, but the specifics of a job and the materials to use are best discussed with the experts first.
areas, as well as having extras on hand if one cracks down the track and the tile range is no longer available.
It’s important to know exactly how much of a product you require for your DIY project and order them in one go. For example, if you are retiling a room, make sure you measure the room first. In fact, with tiling it’s also recommended that you purchase 10 percent extra in terms of square meterage of your tiles. This allows for breakage, and filling in smaller contoured
tiling, but try to tackle a more manageable area before you take on larger projects. Areas like kitchen splashbacks are a great place to start for first time DIYers. Smaller spaces are easier to take on and usually don’t require holes and large cuts around fittings like taps, except for the odd power point fitting.
THINK BIG, START SMALL MEASURE AND ENSURE YOU MAKE ROOM FOR The great news for DIY renovators is that with the resources available thanks to the internet it’s easy to learn the basics of WASTAGE
The Adviser. Australia No. 1:1389 Wednesday, January 24, 2018 – Page 27
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