5 Year Review – West Leederville Renovation

As part of a new blog series we will be revisiting some of our previous projects to get a feel for how our clients have settled in to their spaces and what their thoughts are a few years on from project completion.

First up, we are featuring this lovely West Leederville project we completed close to 5 yrs ago which involved a renovation of the existing kitchen and three bathrooms. For project images please see the portfolio page here.

What have you found to be the most functional aspect of your kitchen?

The drawers, and “drawers within drawers”  – love them!  Also the built in Billi tap (hot/cold & sparkling!) – money well spent for convenience and timesaving – we use it everyday … more value than the main oven which has never been used and was only put in for aesthetics/potential house resale (we only ever use the smaller Meile speed oven and warming drawer – both are great).

Aesthetically speaking, are you happy with the design choices and finishes 5 years down the track?

Yes very much so

Do you entertain in and around your kitchen?

No.  Never.  We only ever entertain outside (where we have another kitchen, cabana and pool) – the design of our kitchen being on a different level (up 3 steps) from our living and dining rooms doesn’t really lend itself to entertaining – it’s just awkward!  This was the case pre-Retreat redesign….

 Are you satisfied with the quality and longevity of the finishes?

Yes absolutely

One of the things people get concerned with is how stressful a renovation can be.. do you have any advice for people about to embark on the renovation process?

1. Make sure all the extras are accounted for (building/finishing touches which may not be specifically mentioned or anticipated as part of planning –  even minor damage done during demolition can be costly … ) and leave 10-20% extra in budget for unexpected items if doing anything structural

2. Move out while reno being undertaken, if you can, there will be way more mess and dust than anticipated!

3. Allow lots of time in the planning stage to consider floor plans, layout and all finishes … think about the little details – it will matter!

4. It will take WAY longer than they tell you (I never believed them anyway) so make sure you factor that in.

We’d like to thank our clients for allowing us to review their renovations and for answering these questions so openly. We hope you find this information helpful for planning any new projects!

To view the full project review and images visit our portfolio page here.

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