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When Trouthouse maker-designer Almo Troup and Tild Simpson (of Minnow Glass) decided it was time to renovate their bathroom and laundry, it was one of those rare times where things went perfectly to plan.
The Preston home was originally built as part of the Olympic Village for the 1956 Olympic Games. The pokey bathroom and laundry were pretty much in their original — dysfunctional — condition until just a few months ago.
‘We are about to welcome our first baby, so that was the main impetus for us to transform the very basic space into a clean, safe and comfortable bathroom,’ Almo says.
No stranger to a good project — having designed and built a clever studio in their backyard, alongside a whole range of timber products for their brand, Trouthouse — Almo was confident about tackling the renovation with a DIY-approach.
Still, even he was pleasantly surprised when they got it all done on budget, and in less time than they thought!
The inspiration for the playful interiors
It all started with a Pinterest photo Tild had kept in her archive. Years ago, she fell in love with the playful Mutina Mattonelle Margherita star tiles and was waiting to hunt them down for the perfect project.
‘We discovered they were being sold at only one location (Urban Edge Ceramics) in Melbourne, so we snapped up the last two boxes and based the colour palette around those,’ Almo says.
‘For the rest of the design, I wanted to utilise recycled timber wherever possible, so I made all the cabinetry in our home studio utilising some unique timber like Himalayan cedar and silky oak from CERES Fair Wood.’
Plus, the checkerboard tiles and blue-star details pair perfectly with the new speckled colours of Trouthouse’s Moon Safari Lamp — a fun new lighting collaboration by Almo and Tild.
How they stayed on budget
The layout for the 4-square-metre bathroom and 3.5-square-metre laundry remained ‘almost’ identical to their existing floor plan.
‘We flipped the shower around to the opposite side, but everything else remained the same to avoid moving services,’ Almo says, noting the solid concrete walls posed an additional challenge.
Beyond enlisting a plumber, tiler and electrician, Almo and his dad were able to do the rest of the updates themselves: including building the new timber joinery with Trouthouse handles, painting, and installing new fixtures.
‘[Doing the work] saved a lot on cost and meant we could experiment on details during the process,’ Almo adds. ‘This was a huge win.’
Almo’s renovating advice
The final renovation set the couple back $25,250 — just slightly over their predicted budget of $25,000.
‘Everything was very carefully planned, there was limited trades, and I made sure that there wasn’t a single moment where no work was happening on site. This helped the budget a lot,’ Almo says.
That’s not to say the renovation didn’t have all the usual logistical challenges. Losing access to the one bathroom in their house, Almo had to shower under a hose after a long day on the tools.
‘Using a portaloo in the middle of the night while pregnant wasn’t ideal for Tild either!’
Luckily, the two-week project only took 12 days to complete. And for such compact functional spaces, they’re now packed full of character and personality!
‘Don’t follow trends,’ Almo says to fellow renovators. ‘Use colours and materials you love, as you’ll be looking at them everyday.’
Budget breakdown
Trades
Plumber: $7200
Tiler: $7600
Electrical: $1000
Materials
Tiles: $2500
Furniture, Fixtures, Equipment: $2300
Cabinetry: $2600
Handles: Free (self made with scrap timber)
Benchtop/splashback: $600
Lighting: $400
Portaloo Hire: $450
Skip hire: $400
Paint: $200
Renovation total: $25,250
Want more renovator’s insights? Find all of our Renovation Diaries here!
