When renovating, it’s easy to get so caught up in the design decisions and aesthetic details that you lose sight of the functional aspects.

While choosing paint colours, flooring, tiles and tapware are all important decisions, a successful home renovation comes down to foresight, planning and really thinking about what you want out of the space you’re renovating – before you begin.

As a specialist in bathroom, kitchen and whole home renovations and extensions, we’ve asked Andrew Stenos, founder and managing director of Integriti Projects, to share his top five tips on how to renovate your home.

1. PLAN AHEAD

Although it seems like an obvious one, it is important that you plan ahead and give yourself time to complete the perfect renovation. Look at the practicalities of a new renovation and how this will ultimately impact your day-to-day life, not only throughout the renovation process, but also once it has been completed. It’s important that you are looking beyond just the style and design of the space you’re planning to upgrade, to ensure that it will be both functional and practical in years to come.

Another factor that’s important to consider is creating a flexible layout that is suited to the lifestyle of those who will be living within the home. We always tell our clients that it’s important we create a ‘home’ that is beautiful to live in, rather than something that essentially resembles a display home with limited functionality.

2. MAXIMISE NATURAL LIGHT

When going into a re-build or renovation, we always recommend you take advantage of the natural light wherever possible.

Natural light is perfect for illuminating new designs and features and has the ability to bring a wonderful ambience and sense of space into any room – specifically kitchens and living areas. If there is limited natural light within the space you a re-creating, which is often the case in bathrooms, we recommend addition lighting where possible, whether that be through a sky roof or high window, or simply adding downlights to brighten the space.

How to renovate kitchen window splashback to maximize natural light
Kitchen window splashback introduces natural light. Photo: Integriti Projects Sydney

3. STORAGE IS KEY

Often we see clients coming to us wanting to update and bring new life to their rundown and dated homes, which have little to no storage. Key to this process is to think about what each room will be used for.

If it’s a bathroom, where we see a lot of people wanting more space, try adding shaving cabinets above the vanity, to store your products within. If it’s a kitchen, consider including cupboards on the back of your kitchen island or integrating a bookshelf.

Integrated TV Unit with fireplace, bookshelves and custom joinery.
Integrated TV Unit with fireplace, bookshelves and custom joinery. Photo: Integriti Projects Sydney

Remember the different phases of family life – you can never have enough storage!

4. INTERIOR DESIGN THAT IS TIMELESS

When renovating your home, or a particular space, it’s important to create a design that not only flows throughout the entire home, but also one that is going to adjust with the times.

Whether you want to create a minimalist, clean design or something more luxurious and extravagant, lend yourself to a neutral and clean colour palette, with soft shades and tones to create a timeless look that can be easily updated with different interior décor and furniture in years to come.
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Start with a neutral palette and inject your style with decor and furniture. 

5. INVEST IN PROFESSIONALS

If you want to create the home of your dreams, but the thought of managing your own renovation it is overwhelmingly daunting, invest in professionals you trust to do the job.
We always ask our clients to put together a brief that outlines what their expectations of their home renovation and how they would like to see it come to life.

With the rise in home renovation reality shows, people are often given an unrealistic view of how ‘easy’ big renovations are and they don’t realise that there are many professionals behind the scenes who are still involved. So unless you have prior experience, we recommend using a professional to ensure the job is done properly and safely.

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Wallpaper specialists; choose the right team for the job. Photo: Integriti Projects Sydney

If you would like more information on any of the above or would like to discuss the design of your renovation or building project with Andrew and the team at Integriti Projects then please call 1300 733 578 or check out their listing here.

For more goodness and advice on renovations or design inspiration check out our articles here
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  1. SmartBox Self Storage

    You have an interesting one here Marissa, planning really is the key here together with ideas of what you are expecting and budget. And absolutely a big yes on investing the pros as they can easily visualize the things that you want. And before I go….would love to have a spacious bathroom, but I guess need to save first for it 😀