An Inspirational Coastal Renovation in Brisbane

Cindy and Dan Mead are a young married couple who renovate houses together. These experienced Do-It-Yourself (DIY) renovators renovated their first house in 2014. Now they have renovated their third house, and the results are extraordinary.

 

Cindy comes from a family of house renovators and flippers because her mom used to renovate and sell houses when she was a teenager. It inspired Cindy and her husband to try generating wealth by buying, transforming, and selling houses themselves. After acquiring enough wealth from their house-flipping endeavours, they aimed to purchase their dream home on the Brisbane coast.

It only took a few house renovations and sales before the Meads could afford their dream home on the coast of Brisbane. They didn’t waste time because they entirely renovated and converted the home into their ideal design. And this is only their third home renovation project too.

 

The Design and Structural Renovations

 

The Brisbane coastal home needed work, so they incorporated various design ideas into their dream coastal home renovation project that they had pondered over the years. The Meads published visual examples of these ideas on their Instagram page, such as Italian-style designs, coastal-themed interiors, and white walls and countertops.

The Meads love Italian architecture and décor. In fact, Italy was where they went on their honeymoon, so they often draw inspiration from Italian building designs and styles. It is one of the reasons they installed Olive trees in all their renovated properties. Other Italian-inspired elements include terracotta pots, seascape prints, and Positano-style linen.

 

The Meads also made structural renovations to their Brisbane coastal home. For instance, they eliminated a massive load-bearing wall that split the second-story level into two halves. That created a brighter and more spacious environment for having an open kitchen, dining area, and living room.

The flooring renovation is interesting because they installed hybrid flooring made of two different materials. But since the Meads are not flooring experts, they hired a local installer to install their new hybrid flooring. Once Cindy posted pictures of the hybrid flooring on Instagram, dozens of people requested the name of the local installer who did it. Now that installer has more business than ever before.

 

In addition, the Meads constructed an extension to the ensuite of the primary bedroom in the house. This extension has now created two ensuites for the bedroom, which the Meads believe will be a marketable feature when they eventually sell the home. But first, they still have additional stages of the renovation project that they’d like to complete.

The Biggest Challenges

 

DIY home renovation projects are more complex than you can imagine. It is even worse when you must live in the home while the renovations are actively being made.

 

That was the case with The Meads because it left them in a living environment with tools, dust, and debris everywhere. Sometimes the tradespeople they hired would leave damage behind, and they’d have to fix it. The Meads didn’t even have a functional bedroom, forcing them to sleep in any available spaces around the house they could find each night.

Fortunately, the Meads were determined to stick it out and see their renovation project through to the end. To do this, they focused on the joy they felt each time they completed a newly renovated space in their home. It gave them a sense of pride and accomplishment whenever they successfully renovated anything in their home. With this mindset, the emotional and financial rewards from their achievements were bound to pay off.

 

How to Get Started in a Home Renovation Project

 

Many contractors and DIY builder gurus will tell you to create a budget before starting a home renovation project. However, the Meads don’t care much about budgeting because they believe beginning a renovation project as soon as possible is the best approach, especially for beginners. Start slowly and gradually expand your renovation projects as you make more money and build wealth.

Too many new DIY renovators wait to find the most affordable home on the market before purchasing anything. Because of this, they stress themselves out and don’t purchase a home at all. The Meads would tell you to stop wasting time trying to find the ideal fixer-upper home. Instead, it would be better to enter the market immediately by purchasing any fixer-upper home, even one you may have to live in for a while.

 

The idea is to get experience in fixing and flipping properties. Then you can naturally make better financial and home-purchasing decisions after gaining more experience in the house-flipping market. There is no time limit for renovating a home after acquiring it, so take time to understand the renovation process if necessary.

In fact, it may be a good idea for you to live in the home for several months before renovating it. The extra time will familiarize you with the home and all its faults. Then you can better understand how to renovate every room and space in the home based on your experiences. As a result, you’ll have more time to make mistakes and learn from them to make better design choices.

 

Tips on How to Begin

 

The Meads would offer the following tips on how to begin a home renovation project:

 

• Purchase a fixer-upper home quickly. It doesn’t have to meet all the requirements for your first fixer-upper home. The important thing is to get into the market sooner rather than later.
• Make a checklist of everything you want to fix, remodel, replace, and renovate in your home.
• Start slowly and gradually aim higher as you acquire wealth from flipping houses.
• Research the various furniture, lighting, and cabinetry brands. For example, the Meads use furniture from the Abide Interiors Furniture.

 

Consider joining an educational course on home renovation and remodelling projects. Cindy Mead recently signed up at the Three Birds Reno School, which is even educational for a seasoned home renovator like her. But beginners should definitely sign up to learn more about the renovation process before investing their time and money in a project.