Rescuing a never ending renovation
The Space Invaders team step in to resurrect this failed renovation that has left a family drowning in their own stuff.
The Space Invaders team step in to resurrect this failed renovation that has left a family drowning in their own stuff.
What should be Georgina and Nathan’s dream home has long since become their nightmare.
With four years of reno-related bad luck with builders, certifiers and legal battles, this young family’s home has become little more than a roof over their heads let alone a home.
They’ve completely given up on the house after so many years of trying to turn it into their dream home.
To add to the family’s woes, the house is full to the brim with clutter. The floor in the master bedroom is barely visible and furniture from all areas of the house has been piled up in three-year-old Bella’s room. Georgina runs a side business making cake toppers and that has only added to the chaos in the kitchen.
“I often find that people living in long term disarray have given up,” says decluttering expert Peter Walsh, “and it’s because, when they look around all they can see are problems. Without solutions the problems only become bigger.”
The half-finished reno left this place in shambles. There’s cracks in the plaster and whole sections of painting unfinished. While Georgina and Nathan feel defeated by their seemingly never ending renovation nightmare they can’t afford to cut and run.
“Living in a construction zone is very demoralising,” empathises renovation expert Cherie Barber, “I understand how the place got like this.
The good news is that Cherie can definitely see the positives for the home that had great space and lots of natural light.
Once the house has been cleared of its clutter, Cherie and her team of hipages tradies get started. On their list of rooms to tackle is the half finished kitchen, tired living room, soulless master bedroom and Bella’s room.
On further exploration of the house Cherie discovers that the bathroom is a shocker – the shower is leaking, the vanity is broken, and the walls are covered in mould. It needs to be completely gutted.
The laundry is also in desperate need of repair. With no door it has been exposed to the elements. There is also asbestos present behind the walls that join the bathroom and the laundry. To further complicate things Cherie discovers a termite infestation in both the laundry and bathroom.
Georgina and Nathan’s master bedroom has gone from a cluttered after thought to an incredible a sanctuary of their own. Cherie and her reno team added texture to the new blue feature wall by running timber batons up the wall to elongate the room. They also added new lighting, soft grey blinds and updated the existing wardrobe to match the feature wall.
The bathroom was a disaster zone with leaks, mould and termites throughout. Ripped it all out and started from scratch. Rebuilt and waterproofed it’s now a bright new space from the inside out.
The laundry was open to the outdoors, poorly laid out and with no bench space making it hard to use. It now has new tiling, storage and a door to keep the weather out. Literally everything has been rebuilt – the floor, the walls, the ceiling. Storage, timber benchtop, big sink
Once a dumping ground for the clutter left over from the original renovation, Bella’s room has been transformed into a beautiful and fun bedroom she can call her own.
Not only was the kitchen chaotic and overflowing with stuff the paint job was only half done. After working hard with Peter Walsh to declutter the room and a coat of fresh paint added by the hard-working tradies, Georgina and Nathan can now enjoy this bright new space.
The living room was dull with evidence of the unfinished renovation everywhere with nowhere to sit to eat. There was no storage in this part of the house either and it was almost like everything was thrown on the floor.
After Cherie and the reno team worked their magic, it’s now a modern space with plenty of room for a family of four. There’s a dedicated dining table for the family to enjoy meals together, an by cleverly moving the position of the door there was plenty of room to add storage in.
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