We commit all kinds of mistakes while renovating our homes. Homeowners shop for renovation finance, they even shop for their curtains and plumbing fixtures but do they shop for design? Somehow, it is always believed to be something that would fall in place automatically. It can’t be otherwise. And yet, it often turns out otherwise. Things can easily go out of hand and a living testimony to this fact is the large number of renovation projects gone sour.
There are a number of beautifully renovated homes but a lot many of them also present an ugly face and are likely to remain so because either the budget is exhausted or the renovation design used is simply irredeemable. Let us take a look at a number of things that can go wrong. Renovation can go wrong because of a poverty of concept or execution and it can go wrong because of something as simple as disproportion or wrong use of light fixtures.
At first glance, we may assume there is nothing an article on home renovation mistakes can teach us. If we look deeper may be we will change our opinion. Here, then, are the 10 deadliest sins of home renovation.
1. A selfish approach to home renovation
Our home reflects our personality but we cannot be selfish enough to think only about ourselves. Our home is a part of our neighbourhood. It has to be renovated keeping in mind the overall look of the neighbourhood. If all the home exteriors around us are done in earth colours, we cannot experiment with bold shades. If there is a pattern used in roof designing and renovation, we cannot kill the homogeneity by designing something completely different.
We also need to anticipate what a future buyer may be looking for. After all, we will be selling our home someday (at least there is a great chance we will). I also feel we have some responsibility towards the guests who visit us. Our renovation model should also be centred on what they may like to see in a home.
2. Not emphasising on the orientation
It is not easy to change floor plans but if we have made an effort to redesign or renovate our homes, we may be feeling something is amiss with the original plan. It won’t hurt to look at the orientation. Living area and bedroom should always face North (remember we live in the Southern Hemisphere). The sun should offer a decent amount of northern penetration. Kitchens suit the north-east. The idea of sipping our tea with the morning sun can be so liberating.
In summer, the afternoon sun on the western side of our house can be brutal. Proper awnings and shades should be used as buffers. In fact, we can also take the wise route of building laundry, store room or garage on this side of home to tone down the impact of the afternoon sun.
When insulating our home for thermal consistency, let us not make the mistake of assuming our ceiling and roof as the one and the same thing. Ceiling insulation is used for keeping heat within our home during winter and sending it out through our roof insulation during summer. Roof insulation is for keeping heat out of the roof area in summer. In absence of roof insulation, our shingles, metal, tile, concrete or terracotta can take a beating.
3. Inconsistent execution
We are often inconsistent in the execution of our home renovation. This can be because of some long-followed idea or because of sheer ignorance. And I can’t even start talking about the problems DIY overkill is bringing to the table. Talking of inconsistency, we mix and match without doing solid thinking.
And when an amateur mixes the ranch style with a colonial style, the results are bound to be difficult to digest. While designing a garage, we should not take the liberty of building it different to our home. If it has been designed that way, our renovation project should work towards restoring similarity to the outward home. The roof of the garage, its siding and its whole look should be in sync with our home exterior.
4. Not researching enough
Human beings have raised their bars intellectually. At no time in the past were we so evolved mentally as we are today and the global Research and Development budgets are only increasing by the year. Why am I saying all this? Just so I point out our casual approach and lack of research when it comes to renovating our houses.
Ideally, we should have checked the slope of the site before buying our property. Among other things, we should have attended to the water-runoff, seasonal water tables, density of vegetation, bushfire zoning (we may fall in the flame zone) and the rockiness (or otherwise) of the substratum more than casually.
Yet, if we have made an error while we bought the home, our renovation project- whether addition, extension or simple renovation- should work towards offsetting the disadvantages as much as possible. While we cannot change the degree of slope or the rockiness of the underlying ground, we can use materials intelligently to have a fair shout against our home’s immediate environment.
5. Disproportion
Proportion is just so important and any designer worth his craft will tell us so. Yet our layman’s eyes can so easily miss the right proportions (and I can again start talking about the perils of DIY here). We try to force too much into too little space. We ignore many ideas of proportions that have been used as rule(s) of thumb; for example, a wall motif uses 3/5th the length of the wall.
In short, we are pretty disproportionate with our extensions and additions on many occasions. Form and scale can be hard to decipher but at least, when we have taken the job upon ourselves, we owe it to the concept of renovation to design with some kind of scale in mind. How can we have a garage that looks very big for our home?
6. Not attending to the external area (all that well)
Which area of our home first catches the attention of visitors? No doubt it is the external part of our home. Is it not prerequisite that we pay proper attention to the curb appeal, the finish of the exterior, the design and renovation materials used and the style of the project itself? And yet, some of us miss out on doing so despite the fact that the importance of a good exterior is not lost on them.
Use only those materials which are durable. The external area of our home may take a pounding from the reverses of weather. To reiterate, only those materials which age well should be used. Take a tour of the neighbourhood. It will give a glimpse of the most used materials for external finishes. These are being used because they are in sync with the environment of our neighbourhood. A little research on them won’t hurt us or our designer.
Don’t pick a style only because it is in fashion. What is in vogue today may turn redundant tomorrow but our home’s exterior is there to stay. Build traditionally at least where it comes to the structural arrangement. We can experiment with the cosmetic part of it. Even here we have to be a little careful about the general plan of the neighbourhood and how the exterior of other homes have been designed. Get in touch with the local council and more than the Dos; let us learn about the Don’ts so that we are not inundated with penalties on a later day.
7. Not following the home’s immediate environment
A smart home renovation project always follows its environment. How will it look if one designs a tower on a hill? And talking of hills and towers, it can be successfully argued that while we are looking to maximise the vertical space due to space cramps, our home designing is still pretty much about the use of the horizontal area.
Height plays its part but it is width that gives a stability of vision. Without width, height quickly falls out of perspective. we must not expose the foundation area any more than 6 inches and that again only if we have to. Any more than this and we will be wasting our effort in a foundation which is likely to be an eyesore.
8. Putting in way too many ideas into your home renovation project
Most of us are also culprits of using way too many ideas. Modern home design keeps minimalism in very high esteem. We should always think of de-cluttering our home as much as possible. It is not that our living area can only look good if we have a portrait above the fireplace mantel and artwork and motifs on each wall and coffee tables and ottomans full of vases and handicrafts. If anything, it only makes the room look clumsier.
The idea is to think twice or thrice before choosing what is absolutely essential and what can be done without. We have to find a balance and it will help us come up with an endearing renovation project. It works out this way: if the home designer is not surefooted, he sometimes feels tempted to use all his ideas at one go. This mindset crime is enough to give our renovation project a nightmarish turn.
9. Not building green or energy-efficiently
Another mistake that we make is that we do not give enough weight to building green. It is an even bigger sin to commit the same mistake again while renovating our home. It is our second chance, after all, a second go at our home to improve on our earlier errors. If we bypass the need for energy-efficiency and eco-friendly design once again, we will only be left with illusions. It is heartening to note that homeowners across Australia have become wary of the energy crisis.
They are looking towards designing sustainable homes by harnessing solar energy on their rooftops (selling back extra production to the grid). They are using green walls and energy rated appliances in their homes to cut down on energy dissipation, increase indoor environment quality (IEQ) and reduce sick building syndrome (by not using VOC). While renovating our homes, our core idea should be to be among such homeowners. We cannot afford to give efficiency and green designing a slip any further without hurting our prospects terribly.
10. Not assessing needs of the family members
I think sometimes we also miss out on assessing the needs of the family members or perhaps we take such needs for granted. “They are our family members, they can’t possibly be hurt?” is how we justify our move. Think again! A home is our immediate society and each family member is part of the collective. And lest we are forgetting, we love them madly. So why ignore their needs? If we have toddlers, we should focus on a playroom that is visible from the kitchen or the living area so that we can keep an eye on their movements. If our children have turned adolescent we may need an en-suite in the main bedroom to get ourselves some real private space.
Smart home renovation is about executing concepts; just getting the duct tapes right won’t get you there
I won’t say that renovating a home is not about using the right duct tapes and doing the prep works or buying the right tools. But can we succeed with our renovation project if we narrow down our vision to only these tiny aspects of home designing or renovation? The idea, above all else, is to look with a broader perspective and keenly follow the concepts that lie beneath; sometimes hidden from the view.
Perhaps only a seasoned home designer can explain us how renovation can best touch our homes. The above 10 points are my effort to compile some of the most crucial facets of renovation. It was great sharing what I have learnt along the way. It may help us start on a right note and have meaningful discussions with our home designers- so that when we ask them to insulate the western flank of our home from the summer sun, they won’t take us lightly.
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