Happy New Year gorgeous ones! Here's hoping 2022 is off to a flying start for you with new adventures, making new memories... and perhaps a new home?!

What’s on your to-do list for 2022? If planning a renovation or a new build is on your to-do list for 2022 (you lucky duck!), there are three things you absolutely must do before you start, no matter how small or big the job.

1) START COLLECTING YOUR INSPO

Creating a vision for your renovation or new build can be one of the most exciting parts of the project. It’s where you can get creative and let your dreams run wild as you scroll or flick through thousands of inspiration pics. It’s the part of the project where it’s all about good looks and great feels, before the reality of practicality and budgets kicks in.

We start every one of our projects by creating a vision board, like the one below which was for House 11, our #colourmehamptons beauty.

Collecting inspiration by pinning or saving pics (or ripping them from a mag) as you find them makes it easier to pull together your favourite inspo images when it comes time to create your board. If you’ve got even a faint inkling of renovating or building your home, then NOW is the time to start being inspired by styles and feels you love.

2) BEGIN YOUR BALLPARK BUDGET

Let’s be honest, creating your dream home vision is one thing but if you don’t have the funds to pay for it, chances are it won’t turn out quite as you expected.

Most people don’t own a money tree (well not the kind that grows $100 bills anyway!), so you’ll need a rough idea early in the process of how much you can afford (or want) to spend on improving your home. Is your ballpark $5k, $50k or $500k? There’s a good chance you’re not sure how much that money will buy you, and that’s totally fine, (we can help you work that out later) – but it’s still good to start with a ballpark figure in mind.

From our real reno experience, combined with the numbers from the construction industry, an average good quality home renovation in Australia costs between A$2000-$3000 per sqm to well above A$4,000+ for high-end homes with high-end finishes. The sky is the limit at this end of the spectrum! Of course, these figures vary from state to state and with the current economic situation (eg. we are seeing rising product, freight and labour costs during the current pandemic).

3) UPSKILL YOURSELF

When we started renovating houses back in 2014, Erin and Lana had no renovating experience so we relied on Bonnie’s knowledge (and a whole lot of winging it!) to complete our first project. Since then, we’ve been transforming a few houses every year and each one of them has presented an opportunity to learn something new. We’re onto House 15 now and we’re still planning and learning every step of the way. We often say that “we’ve made the mistakes, so you don’t have to”… and it’s true! We share all of them in our course The Reno School – the ultimate online course for anyone planning a renovation or new build.

In Reno School, we’ll teach you everything we know about how to design, renovate and style your dream home. We share our years of experience to fast-track your knowledge, build your confidence and get you ready to reno. And what better time to do this than NOW? We currently have over 17,000 Reno School students and graduates and guess what one of the most common pieces of feedback we get from them is?

That’s why, if you’re planning on renovating or building this year, NOW is the perfect time to join the Reno School waitlist. Our next course starts in February 2022 and by joining the waitlist you’ll be the first to know when enrolments open and we’ll send you our very best discount code straight to your inbox.

Whether you’re a rookie renovator or seasoned pro, this home renovation course will give you total confidence, bucket loads of support and all the knowledge you need to plan, design, renovate and style your home.