TV renovation programs make it look easy to totally reinvent your home with a new colour scheme, redesign existing areas and overhaul furniture.

While a renovation might modernise your home, it’s not always necessary to pay a small fortune for a home renovation.

There are certainly pros and cons when renovating. The advantages of renovating include new amenities for you to enjoy as well as an increase in the value of your property. It’s also much cheaper to renovate than to purchase a new home.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of renovating include potential budget overruns and unexpected costs throughout the renovation, such as plumbing and electrical work. If the property market is slow or stagnant, there’s no guarantee that the renovations will provide a significant return on investment.

So in this blog, we challenge the notion of whether a renovation is needed.

It’s possible that aesthetic changes such as furniture rearrangement, reorienting a room and simple DIY jobs can make a big difference.
What’s more important: Furniture or finances?
In some cases, a home renovation is needed but for lots of others, it’s a vanity metric that probably isn’t necessary.

Think carefully about the reasons for a renovation. And before tearing down a structural wall, think about what else you can do to make the space appear larger.

Another thing you need to consider is your budget. Any type of renovation big or small can become very costly.

A small renovation may seem relatively easy, but unexpected costs such as plumbing or electrical work can arise along the way. It’s these unexpected costs that can blow your budget out of the water but with most renovations once started, there’s no turning back.

You may have just purchased your dream home, but made a compromise on getting that dream kitchen and want a renovation later down the track.

But you need to understand the real costs of a home renovation and the pressure it puts on a budget, especially with a new mortgage and rising interest rates.

You need to factor in things like:

Labour costs (e.g. delivery, installation, etc.)
Unexpected costs
Clean up (i.e. removal of old furniture)
The cost of furniture

It’s important to do your due diligence when it comes to doing a reno. And if you can minimise any costs by careful planning you are more likely to stay within your budget.
A new home could be as simple as rearranging the furniture
There are several ways you can freshen up the look of your home without breaking the bank. Some of these home design trends you could consider include using bold colours, dividing space and bringing the outside in with plants.

Another simple fix is rearranging the furniture in a room to maximise space or give it a better ‘feng shui’, which is the practice of arranging pieces in living spaces to create balance. Little things like moving a couch away from a window for more light to come in or adding large mirrors can make a big difference.

In a world that’s more environmentally friendly, reusing existing furniture is a great way to use less and save money. You could refurbish, reupholster or put a throw over an old couch for a new look.

Also, furniture that you may think is dated can be seen as ‘retro’ instead which will see you on trend.

Repurposing rooms could also improve your home. With more people working from home, the need for a home office is a top priority for house hunters. You can convert a spare bedroom into an office space.

And lastly, when was the last time you had a good spring clean? You don’t need to wait for Spring time to declutter your home.

Clearing out all your unwanted trinkets, broken items that you’ll never get around to fixing and all your outdated clothes (that’s if you can’t pass them off as retro) can do wonders for a space.

It’s amazing just how making these changes can transform your home without having to resort to a reno.
How to determine if you need a renovation or rearrange
We often default to wanting a renovation if a space becomes dated or something needs repairing and it doesn’t help that so many TV renovation programs make us envy the latest trends.

And how many of us have started a renovation on a small area of the house that then spread to another area to then become a colossal project?

When considering a renovation, start with a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves. You’ll need a budgeting checklist to plan your renovation and add up costs such as demolition and tradespeople.

You should also consider the purpose of your renovation. If you’re planning to rent out your property there’s no point in having expensive custom-made cabinetry. It’s more important to have a practical and functional house that entices renters or maybe buyers if you wish to sell.

If you’ve bought your forever home, it’s understandable that you want to customise it to suit your needs and tastes. But remember before going headfirst into a renovation consider whether smaller home improvements can be done.

Renovations are not the only way to revive a property. There are several ways to decorate a space and these small-scale changes can have a big impact. Finding other ways to freshen up your home can require less effort and resources, which means you’ll have more funds for other things like your mortgage.