Living in Caves Beach, New South Wales, it’s hard not to feel like you’re on holiday every day and Jodie and Phil Dunn’s vision for their forever home was to bring the #holidayathome vibes right inside their four walls as well.

We loved watching The Dunn's new home come to life in the Reno School community and asked Jodie to share their stunning abode with the Three Birds world for you to see too.

THE CAVES PALMS RESIDENCE, IN JODIE’S WORDS:

After successfully selling the first home we had renovated, the goal was to create our forever home with all the luxuries and high-end finishes we wanted to enjoy while keeping the financial freedom of mortgage-free living - so no easy task!

To stay in the black, we needed to buy a home that would need a lot of work. It would also mean my husband and I would be doing a lot of that work ourselves to remain within the budget we had set ourselves. While we had some experience renovating, this would be a whole new ball game. I knew we needed help to achieve the dream home we wanted, for a price we could afford.

“I decided to sign up for Reno School. I had a lot to learn and I knew they could teach me!”

We rented a house in the suburb we wanted to ultimately buy in and this gave us time to find exactly what we wanted and recover from our last renovation. We were looking for a house with the right foundations and layout that would lend itself to a transformation fitting our vision.

During the Reno School course, we created our vision board which would lead the direction for our style choices and materials. From the Reno School, we learned the ins and outs of the many materials available that suited our aesthetic and were able to make informed choices with confidence about the materials we wanted to use. The vision board gave life to our design brief - a modern coastal holiday at home. Our dream home would feature raked VJ ceilings, engineered oak herringbone flooring, and an open flow from indoor to outdoor living for weekends spent entertaining around the pool.

Finally, we found the perfect house, and we were ready to make it our home. It was clean and tidy, it had good bones and the layout lent itself to our design plan. With the addition of a 10x7m extension, there would be plenty of space to tick all the boxes for a home that suited our lifestyle.

As we had a strict budget, my husband and I project managed the whole thing, aligning our tradie mates and jumping in to do the majority of the work ourselves. As we got deeper into the reno, we had endless questions and needed advice for troubleshooting problems we ran into or for advice about DIY techniques, this is where the Three Birds Reno School Facebook group is invaluable! I took full advantage of the 24/7 access to fellow renovators, DIYers, home and interiors designers, trades and stylists. That search bar got a frequent SOS workout!

“With the benefit of the knowledge and support from the Reno School and its amazing community, we have finally completed our home. It has taken over 2 years, dedicating every weekend to our project, as well as blood sweat and lots of tears, but we could not love our home more!”

See more of Jodie and Phil’s beautiful home and follow their reno journey: @caves.coastal.renos

If you’d like to create your own holiday at home, get ready to join Jodie and over 17,000 other like-minded renovators and builders in our Three Birds Reno School community. Join the waitlist now to make sure you’re the first to hear when the doors open.

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