The ordinary homes being turned into luxury havens

Queenslanders are using their Covid-induced travel savings to spend up big at home, with modest dwellings being fitted out with resort-style pools, home gyms and home offices.

COVID has sparked a home renovation and rebuilding boom, with owners turning even modest dwellings into luxury resort-style sanctuaries boasting lavish swimming pools, home gyms and outdoor entertainment areas with fire pits and fancy barbecues.

Experts say lockdowns, working from home and the travel freeze has led many people to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into spectacular ‘lifestyle’ renos and rebuilds.

The booming real estate market and record low interest rates are helping fuel the trend which has exploded in property hot spots including the Gold Coast.

Bryce Rogers, of bespoke Gold Coast home renovation company Ground Control, said he had two clients who were spending about $400,000 each on makeovers.

“They’ve been effectively locked down for two years, they haven’t been able to travel and they’ve decided to transform their old homes into beautiful refuges,” he said.

“One couple is putting in a music room for their child as well as two separate home offices with state-of-the-art technology. People are now saying, ‘why spend a fortune going overseas when we can turn our own home into a resort and entertain family and friends?’.”

Ted and Rada Leaney have just sold this Hamptons-style home on the Gold Coast. Picture: Adam Head

Jasmine Dowthwaite, of boutique Coast interior design firm The Design Hookup and home decor shop Three Balls Red, said Covid had created an unexpected renovation boom.

“Everyone was having a heart attack at the start of the pandemic and then all of a sudden, when they couldn’t go anywhere due to lockdowns and travel restrictions, they started turning their homes into these amazing sanctuaries,” she said.

“Features like beautiful swimming pools, home gyms and meat smokers. They’re bringing in inspiration photos of places like the Calile Hotel (in Brisbane) and saying ‘I want to replicate this at home’.”

Luxury home builder Adam Mullins, of Wave Developments, said clients were going ‘all out’.

“When Covid hit, we all thought we’d go broke but the home building and renovation market has just gone crazy,” he said.

“People are going for full landscape packages, swimming pools with windows, fire pits, architectural screens – you name it.

“Coastal tropical or Palm Springs-style homes are right in vogue at the moment. I don’t do a lot of renovations but mates who do tell me clients aren’t blinking at spending $250,000 or $300,000.”

Gold Coast real estate agent Adam Van Leeuwen, of PRD Burleigh, said many people were renovating or rebuilding homes to resell to the wave of southerners fleeing Covid-ravaged NSW and Victoria.

Rada and Ted Leaney wanted the new home to “feel like paradise”. Picture: Adam Head

A Hamptons-style home on the western side of the Gold Coast Hwy at Miami that he was due to auction on October 24 sold on Friday to Melbourne buyers for what he said was a record price.

Mr Van Leeuwen said the impressive home, built last year on the site of a 30-year-old knockdown, had inspired four of the six neighbours to also renovate or rebuild.

“We wanted it to feel like paradise,” said owner Rada Leaney, who built the house with husband Ted.

“Many people from Melbourne and Sydney are relocating to the Gold Coast to escape Covid and work from home while immersing themselves in the coastal lifestyle.”

Michael Lavery, Queensland president of the Australian Institute of Architects, said Covid had created a ‘genuine boom’ in home renovations.

“It all seems to be based around people wanting to improve their lifestyle,” he said.

“Covid has wrought a lot of unfortunate effects on people’s personal lives but it has also made them aware of the importance of their home environment and local community.”