For most people, the family home is their most valuable asset and the biggest investment they will ever make.
Fortunately, a house will increase in value over time, unlike other purchases like cars which depreciate rapidly after the initial purchase. Our houses are also where we live and raise our families, so they need to be comfortable and secure with the appropriate accommodation.
Just like a car, the family home needs regular maintenance. Daily living introduces wear and tear on various elements including finishes, fittings and appliances over time.
Deterioration also occurs due to exposure to the wind, sun and rain, so as a minimum re-painting of cladding and external walls is required.
Another associated factor is the evolving technologies and new products that are introduced to the housing market over time which places subtle pressure on homeowners to update to the current products and more efficient technologies.
Regular improvements to the house ensure that capital gain is maximised, as well as ensuring that the house provides the most comfortable living environment for the occupants.
A house left without maintenance will, over time, fall into disrepair, become increasingly uncomfortable to live in and its value as an asset will decrease. In this blog post, we discuss how a home can be reinvented through both interior and exterior renovations.
When is the best time to complete renovations?
It is common for homeowners to complete a series of renovations all at once, especially on an older home that has been recently purchased.
Quite often, the decision to purchase a house is based on the anticipated improvement works that the new homeowners have identified. In an older home, the kitchen and bathrooms in particular often require renovations.
In other cases, the house might need to be made more open with better access provided to the rear yard and outdoor living areas, or there might be a deficiency with the garage or the amount of parking provided.
Interior renovation offers a golden opportunity to refresh your external design
With all of the renovation works, the exterior upgrade is just as important as the internal works.
While the interior spaces provide the areas in which we live, the exterior contributes to the street appeal, protection from the elements and the capital gain. In most cases, if the interior requires renovation, the exterior elements such as roofing, walls and windows will also need some renovation.
This essential external maintenance work presents an opportunity to create either a more contemporary appearance or a refresh of the existing character.
Understandably, most homeowners only see the house as it is and do not have the vision to appreciate how the house can be radically transformed through creative design. These homeowners also don’t have the experience of an Architect and don’t understand how a house can be transformed, allowing for structural, waterproofing and constructional integration.
It is a poor investment to undertake the substantial renovation of a house and leave the exterior still stuck with its original presentation.
Renovating a house is the ideal time to provide a dramatic and totally different presentation to the street with the knock-on effect of increased valuation.
Building elements such as decks, verandahs, entry porches, pergolas, privacy screens, retaining walls and sun shading are all relatively inexpensive ways to dramatically change the exterior of a house.
Replacing external cladding, rendering existing brickwork, painting a house with a new colour scheme, re-roofing, upgraded landscape treatment, replacing old driveways and paving can also add significant improvement to the appearance.
If additions are required to the street façade (e.g. living room extensions or new garage) or at the rear (bedroom or family room additions, outdoor living), these major works offer an ideal opportunity to transform the house.
A house originally constructed in 1958 can look like a house that was built in 2018!
Exterior renovations should compliment your internal design
These external design improvements should be more than skin deep.
External changes should respond to the internal improvements and changes, reflecting the new uses of the space. These external modifications have the added benefit of improving the interior and exterior of the house simultaneously.
For example, new sliding glass doors which open a house to a view of the rear garden might include a deck or pergola to provide sun and weather protection.
These new features can be used to transform the appearance – there are many examples in popular media as home improvement TV shows are showing how houses can be reinvented with interior and exterior renovations or “flipped” to increase the value of the property.
You can achieve a new, architecturally designed home through strategic exterior renovations
The before and after photos in this article indicate the radical transformations that can be achieved when creative design and an Architect’s assistance is used to improve an original, standard residence.
Check out other examples of unbelievable home transformations in our “renovations” section.
The exterior facelift to a house is almost a bi-product of the internal renovations which initiate the project. However, this external facelift can have just as significant an impact on the enjoyment of the house for the owners and just as importantly the contribution to the capital gain of this most important asset.
You need an Architect’s keen creative eye to reinvent your home from the ground up. Get in touch with Mark Lawler Architects.
Image: Unsplash