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Artist Kimmy Hogan and her husband Nick were told plenty of horror stories before embarking on their first-ever renovation a few years ago.
‘People told us not to or that we would “only ever do it once”, but we had the best experience with our renovation,’ Kimmy says, having spent the last few years transforming their Geelong family home.
Originally from Queensland, the couple moved to Victoria in 2015 and purchased a ‘humble three-bedroom weatherboard’ in an area they loved, thinking they’d revisit their hunt for a forever home later down the track.
Despite being a ‘bit old, daggy, and dated’, the house was filled with ample natural light and featured a large workshop Kimmy knew would be a perfect home studio for her art practice.
They initially refreshed the ‘renovator’s delight’ by painting the interior a clean white before moving in, leaving the rest of the house untouched until deciding to stay for good in 2021.
‘We did look around for other homes in the area, but the tiny bedrooms, small blocks and insufficient storage kept steering us back to improving our own home rather than buying new,’ Kimmy says.
‘We didn’t want to extend into the lawn at all, so instead we consumed the existing covered patio into the new floor plan and added an upstairs level for the main bedroom.’
Kimmy and Nick engaged a local business ARCA Build who drafted up the concept and plans, in addition to managing the project from start to finish — which Kimmy credits as the secret behind their seamless renovation. ‘It made sense to go with a builder who could ‘own’ the entire project,’ she adds.
They also worked with interior designer Your Abode to perfect the house’s warm, lived-in feel. The completely reworked living room is relatively paired-back, painted in Dulux Grand Piano Half, as hints of French and European flair reveal themselves throughout.
‘We didn’t want a stark white house,’ Kimmy says. ‘Artful surprises like the checkerboard tiles and flower-shaped onyx sink in the powder room, the checkered tiles in the pantry, and the striped tiles in the ensuite gave the home that surprise and playfulness we wanted.’
When it came to selecting finishes, the couple decided to invest in handmade tiles to ensure the renovated rooms didn’t feel like overtly new.
A ‘huge part’ of their budget also went towards replacing the paper-thin glass windows with like-for-like double glazed alternatives, which felt like a necessary choice to improve the old weatherboard’s energy efficiency — without losing any charm.
‘The collected vintage furniture, rattan and bamboo light fittings, and mix of old and new pieces throughout the home is where our personality really shines through,’ Kimmy says. ‘Everything in our home is picked to age well with us and our family.’
Safe to say, they have no regrets about renovating!
