5 Steps To Planning Home Renovations
By Zephyr and Stone
Renovating your home is an exciting time — being able to customise spaces and choose finishes that are distinctly your own style. But it also comes with potential pitfalls if you don’t plan and do the right research first. So we’re sharing the five essential steps to planning your home renovation project — so you can put your best foot forward and organise your renovation like a PRO.
Zephyr and Stone • Hamptons Kitchen
Zephyr and Stone • Hamptons Bathroom
1. Inspo + Moodboard
The first step when home renovating is to establish a vision for your home style. Do this by creating a mood board or design brief to visualise how spaces will look and feel. It’s the perfect way to explore ideas and see how they “fit together” before committing to purchasing any products or materials.
How will brass taps look with a timber vanity? Will black accessories work paired with marble?
Simply add those items to your mood board, and you'll have your answer! You can create your mood board online, or by collecting magazine cutouts and colour samples. Once you have a general idea of what you want to achieve, this is the ideal time to engage an interior designer in you’re planning to use one, as they’ll be able to guide you through the next steps for your home renovation.
You’ll also need to consider any floor plan or layout changes — like whether you’ll be adding an extension or making other modifications to floor plans, especially major structural changes like moving walls or re-locating rooms like the kitchen or bathrooms.
Zephyr and Stone • Plans + Colour Schemes for Home Renovating
Zephyr and Stone • Downloadable Renovation Resources for Renovating
2. Renovation Cost + Budget
How to estimate a renovation cost? It comes down to many factors — especially the sqm/sq.ft. area of a home that’s being renovated, the types of finishes and products you choose, even the location of your home site will affect your renovation costs. So start with a ballpark of what you’d like to spend and then do a little research.
Research by window shopping, visiting showrooms and exploring products online, to determine what you like, how different products compare, and how much they cost.
Use a renovation calculator to plan + compare your reno costs — by entering prices or quotes as you receive them. You can then compare your actual renovation cost throughout your renovations, so you know how your reno budget is tracking. It’s the renovation tool designers, builders and project managers use to plan budgets and track costs for their projects, and is a simpler, easy-to-use version of what a larger or Commercial builder might use. This is also the ideal time to get in touch with builder or tradespeople to obtain quotes for any building work.
Zephyr and Stone • Plan Your Renovation Budget
Zephyr and Stone • Project Budget Tracker
3. Find Your Team + Get Quotes
Once you have a clear design direction and an idea of how much your renovation will cost, it’s time to put together the team that will help bring your vision to life! Depending on the scale of your reno, you might need professionals like an architect, interior designer, landscape designer, builder, trades and suppliers. Get several quotes to make sure your budget goes further, being mindful that a “cheap quote” is often cheap for a reason — and can cost you more in the long run.
Once you’ve selected your team, you’ll need to finalise your floor plan and layout first. To do this you’ll need to refer back to your mood board and have a general idea of things like; how many or what sort of kitchen appliances you’d like, whether a bathroom will include a bath or not, and general inclusions that might affect your design.
Z+S Tip • If you're building, extending or completing a structural renovation, you will need a set of plans drawn up by a draftsperson or architect, while an interior designer can draw up internal elevations, cabinetry design and optimise your internal layout as part of their design service.
Zephyr and Stone • Interior Design Services
Zephyr and Stone • Classic Coastal Kitchen
4. Permits + Council Approval
Once you have your home renovation plans ready to go, you’ll need to organise council approval or any permits.
Your local Council website will list the type of approvals you might need before beginning work. Most councils have planning policies that allow non-structural internal modifications to be made without council approval, but it's always best to check any requirements to be sure.
Zephyr and Stone • Bathroom Layout Planner
You’ll also need to check for any overlays on the property, such as Heritage Overlay that can restrict some home improvements, or an Easement which you can check for on your property Survey Plan. Alterations to services such as plumbing, gas, electrical and drainage may also require approval and inspection.
Many builders or project managers will advise you on the permits you need to apply for and may even apply for them on your behalf. This is one of the aspects of home renovations that can take some time, so do some investigating early to ensure it doesn’t affect your project timeline.
Zephyr and Stone • Interior Design Brisbane
5. Finish Selection + Refining Your Design
With your floor plan finalised, permits in order and your design team assembled, it’s now time to finalise your home colour scheme and finish selections. Do this by gathering colour and finish samples and comparing them side-by-side to ensure all colours and textures work and pair well.
Colours are affected by artificial light, so compare colour samples in natural light and where possible in the room you’re renovating, for a true indication of a colour. Always keep your initial mood board handy to refer back to, to ensure your colour selections align with the home style or design you’re looking to achieve. If you’re working with an interior designer, they can either manage this whole process for you, or guide you through selections.
Zephyr and Stone • Contemporary Coastal Ensuite
Once you’ve finalised all your selections, your interior designer will present them in a Finishes Schedule to give to your builder, or you can create your own. Your Finishes Schedule will include all the products, colours and finishes that you’ve chosen, including images, and can be shared with your builder, tradespeople, suppliers (or other half!).
It will list product details including product name, location for installation, sizes, colours, profiles, suppliers and any special installation details. Also called a Schedule of Finishes, it will prove to be a handy reference throughout your renovations, especially if you’re project managing and need to liaise with tradespeople regularly. Once you’ve finalised your finish selections, your Builder will also be able to adjust your final quote to allow for any finishes that were not previously specified.
Check out our Z+S Perks Renovation discount codes for leading suppliers
Zephyr and Stone • Finishes Schedule