Bathroom renovation: Couple’s DIY reno rescues dungeon bathroom

After a three-year renovation project, Alex and Georgie are hoping to cash in on all their hard work. But they have a warning for others.

Welcome to Reno-Nation, news.com.au’s home improvement series on sprucing up your home. From the small changes that make a big difference to major overhauls, here is the inspiration you need to get started.

For the past three years Georgie Thomas, 29, and Alex Murphy, 32, have spent their weekends, evenings and spare time renovating their bungalow home in the Adelaide seaside suburb of Somerton Park.

Now, with a pending auction date on June 26, the cottage has been drastically transformed from a run down and dated home to a coastal retreat with Mediterranean and Byron Bay influences.

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The home’s original front was covered in bamboo and messy foliage. Picture: Supplied.

The Sommerton Park home is now gearing up for auction. Picture: Supplied @artdepartmentcreative.

Buying the cottage in 2018, they were attracted to the home by its beachside location and competitive price.

“This came up and it was obviously an absolute dive but when we walked in, you could see it had massive potential. That’s what drew us to it,” said Mr Murphy.

Ms Thomas agrees and says they “just got a feeling” when they entered the home: “We were just like, oh my god, this is it.”

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The couple have been working on their reno project for the past three years. Picture: Instagram @georgiethomas.

With renovation knowledge learnt from his father and trades experience in carpentry, joinery and concreting, Mr Murphy was able to do a lot of the reno tasks without the need to hire tradespeople. Online articles and YouTube were also valuable resources.

“It’s amazing what you can learn these days through the internet. There’s so much information out there now,” he says.

Although they’ve now finished the renovation, with their home currently listed for sale, the couple joke they underestimated the difficulty of some of their projects.

“When you go through (the house) for the first time you don’t necessarily realise that the jobs even exist. Everything seems to take longer than you thought,” says Mr Murphy. “Sometimes the smallest things will stitch you up and you end up spending three days doing something that you thought was going to take two hours.”

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Red brick and wooden panelling gave the kitchen a closed-in and retro appearance. Picture: Supplied.

Although not too time intensive, the colour change has considerably modernised the space. Picture: Supplied @artdepartmentcreative.

Although the couple have been “pretty lucky” and escaped renovation nightmares like termites, rotting walls and asbestos, sanding their floorboards proved to be “a nightmare”. While sanding their floors they found a black, tar-like, “heavy wood stain” on the metre perimeter around their home. Still baffled by the reason for the black border – they think it has something to do with damp proofing, or pest control – they eventually tackled the problem with paint stripper and many sanding discs.

“All these old houses and bungalow character homes, have a metre wide weird black border around the otherwise beautiful timber floorboards,” says Ms Thomas.

“As soon as you hit them with any sanding discs, they just clog up instantly. It took us so long to sand the floors,” adds Mr Murphy.

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The hallway and lounge room in its original space. Picture: Supplied.

The power of paint always makes an impressive change, says Ms Thomas. Picture: Supplied @artdepartmentcreative.

Looking at the finished result, the main bathroom was one of their proudest transformations. Describing the original space as “a dungeon,” Ms Thomas and Mr Murphy completely re-did the area with new tiling and fixtures and used two large skylights to bring natural light into the room.

“The floor-to-ceiling travertine tiles in the shower probably made the biggest difference and I love the textured paint which we used on the other walls,” says Ms Thomas. “We also incorporated a couple of curves into the rooms, like the beautiful arch near the bath and the shower screen as well. The arch mirrors on the vanity also ties it all in.”

The main bathroom felt cold, dingy and sterile. Picture: Supplied.

And it’s now one of the highlights of the bungalow cottage. Picture: Supplied @artdepartmentcreative.

When it comes to their advice for wannabe renovators, the couple have learnt their fare share of lessons.

While it can be costly, investing in a key piece of equipment or a tool (like a paint sprayer) will “save you so much time,” they say.

Their biggest piece of advice, however, is for people to ensure they’re prepared for the large undertaking which can at times be gruelling. This is particularly pertinent if you plan on living at the property, like they did.

“It’s all good loving the end result but you’re going to struggle a lot if you don’t love the whole process,” says Mr Murphy. “There were times when we were living in a house that was dirty all the time and you couldn’t escape it. There was no where to go and relax because you would just see jobs that needed doing.”

The outdoor space was also given a significant facelift. Picture: Supplied.

The perfect place for a sunset drink. Picture: Supplied @artdepartmentcreative.

Continuing, Ms Thomas adds that the biggest elements of a reno, like straightening a wall, preparing the floors and tiling, often go unnoticed but they’re also the most labour-intensive.

“When you see a house that’s been done, you might think that they’ve just put some paint on there or changed the fixtures but there’s so much that goes behind every single project,” she says.

“You obviously make it look pretty after but that’s the easy part of it.”