Glen Eden do up

Kitchen & Bathroom Renovation

July-Aug 2023

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This was a 120 year old villa, which had undergone many renovations over the past century. The small kitchen was an add-on originally from the 1940s and showed it. The bathroom was tiny and tired, with a redundant corridor next to it left over from when the building had a stairway to the lower floor. The tenant was there long-term so the healthy homes ventilation for the bathroom and kitchen had to be done soon, so it made sense to move forward with a full renovation.

The project aimed to incorporate the redundant space into a new bathroom, but was restricted by the toilet which could not be moved (and relocating the washing machine into the bathroom). We also wanted to create an unimpeded flow into the kitchen which would enlarge the kitchen area. Then we would install a one-wall kitchen as to maximise the limited space. Also we added a dishwasher, waste disposal, and range-hood, none of which was there prior. Bunnings supplied the kitchen and Tradedepot the appliances.

The key design elements were to cover one window in the kitchen with a one-wall kitchen. Remove the unused hot-water cupboard in order to create flow and bring extra light into the area from the hallway. We also needed to use a sliding door for the bathroom and installed glass bricks into the new wall to bring light into the enclosed bathroom space.

As always happens during the renovation of an older house various issues arose. In particulars the floor between the two room were at completely different levels. Additionally the kitchen floor was sloping 40 mm from one side to side to the other. Fixing this mean a new floor and then raising the ceiling to gain the space back. This also turned out to be much needed as the ceiling trusses were improperly constructed and needed complete replacement. This added a week and another $7,000 of costs to the job.

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The work took 5 weeks while the long-term tenant was out of town. It cost about $37,000 and raised the rent by $50 p.w. for a 7% ROI. Both landlord and tenant were very happy with the result.