Kitchen renovation cost: How to save big on your home transformation with creative ideas

A simple, creative approach to your home renovation can save you some serious coin.

Heatherly Design founder and director Georgie Leckey applied her design know-how to renovating her small bolthole in Melbourne's Toorak. Her favourite space is the dining nook with banquette, which Georgie adapted from a chesterfield bedhead into a built-in leather bench seat. Picture: supplied.

Cast a shrewd eye around a dated kitchen and save serious coin, says designer Georgie Leckey, who overhauled a cosy two-bedroom city pad for her farm-based family.

With renovators wilting beneath the weight of rising material and labour costs, the founder and director of custom bedding company Heatherly Designs says a creative project manager shared the single tip that saved her significant time and money updating the Art Deco-era bolthole in Melbourne’s up-market Toorak: retaining kitchen cupboards even though they were 50 years old.

“It just shows the benefit of being in good hands (with contractors), because I wouldn’t have considered what we ended up doing,” Georgie says.

Heatherly Design founder Georgie Leckey.

“They were all a deep, dark walnut timber stain, but he said, ‘Let’s pull the doors off and powder-coat them, then paint the rest of the kitchen in the same shade (Dulux Tranquility Retreat) around the fixtures’.

“It immediately transformed our ’70s kitchen into something much more modern – just painting the doors and changing the handles. It was incredibly cost-effective.”

The '70s kitchen cupboards were showing their age before a clever and affordable refresh.

Heatherly Design founder and director Georgie Leckey applied her design know-how to give this kitchen new life.

KITCHEN RENOVATION ON A BUDGET

Keeping sturdy cabinetry in a layout that isn’t changing – as in Georgie’s limited kitchen space – is “just a really great cost-saver … and strong, well-made cabinetry definitely worth saving”, says Selling Houses Australia’s Wendy Moore.

“You’re not necessarily getting better quality cabinetry – sometimes it’s lower quality,” Wendy says.

“Honestly, resurfacing gives it a completely new look. Because it’s basically repainting, you can fill all the holes from all your old handles, which allows you to completely refresh and get a completely different style of handle without it looking like it’s ever had anything else on it.

“I’ve done that a few times now just in this last year and it looks like you’ve got a completely new kitchen. Often the structure works, it’s just the style that needs to be updated.”

Wendy Moore from Selling Houses Australia says simple changed can make a huge difference.

Money saved can be directed into a new, high quality benchtop and splashback.

“You get a complete facelift and you can up the quality of the kitchen you have – that’s where you’re probably going to get better investment of your funds,” Wendy says.

Georgie invested in reconstituted stone benchtops and floating shelves to complete the look and says she loves sharing the tip with other people.

“It can feel so overwhelming to walk into a kitchen and think, ‘It’s ugly, and I want to change it, but I don’t have the time or money to embark on a huge, expensive renovation’.”

CREATIVE COST CUTTERS

Like many apartments of its vintage, the space had good bones but was dated and dark.

More clever, creative solutions became the hallmark of the project – and nowhere are they more evident than Georgie’s favourite spot: the dining nook.

“A banquette was a no-brainer, because there definitely wasn’t any room for a dining table in the little space beside the fireplace,” Georgie explains.

After building out a solid timber base with panelling detail, the soft-furnishings expert relished the opportunity to play around in her wheelhouse.

Before - great bones.

After - Georgie adapted a chesterfield bedhead into a built-in leather bench seat.

“I adapted a Chesterfield bedhead to craft a cafe style built-in leather bench seat – the perfect morning coffee spot to plot out my appointments.”

Signature soft furnishing designs grace every room in the home, but Georgie’s two decades of design experience is on full display in the bedrooms.

A custom super-sized plaid bedhead adorns the wall behind two single beds in the guest room with a twist – the beds can be connected to create a king, creating a hosting solution for any scenario.

“You just take the side table out, zip them together and then you’ve completely transformed the room,” says Georgie. “It’s one of the things I love suggesting for clients looking to maximise the use of their guest rooms – and so many people don’t realise it’s possible.”

How to do modern luxe without breaking the bank?

Customise: Georgie’s biggest piece of advice for her Heatherly Designs clients is to get creative to make a space work for them. “Don’t be afraid to customise existing pieces,” she says. “Add that pop of colour or that variation in a piece of furniture that has an element of a different curve, or a different leg – something that is making that off-the-shelf piece look custom-made. That is going to give you a signature style.”

Two single beds in the guest room can be connected to create a double when need be.

Tile paint: Keen to up-cycle existing fixtures where she could, Georgie decided to keep and update her existing kitchen tiles. “They were this hideous cream colour,” she recalls, “but they had a lovely texture. We painted them in Antique White and the change was remarkable”.

Life’s short – choose joy: “So often I see people have an idea that really brings them joy, whether it’s a certain colour they love, or a piece of furniture they’ve fallen for – but then they start second-guessing themselves and choose the safe route, or the option that will ‘stand the test of time’. Really, if you stick to pieces that make you feel happy and comfortable and inspired, you can’t go wrong.”

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Originally published as Kitchen renovation cost: How to save big on your home transformation with creative ideas