If you keep it unchanged for a long time, your bedroom can easily fall behind more prominent areas such as the living room or an open-plan kitchen and dining room combo. Luckily, updating your sleeping space is much easier than, for example, renovating a bathroom or making the attic habitable. Improve your comfort and the value of your Melbourne home with these essential remodelling steps.
Plan in advance
Having a solid plan for your bedroom remodel saves you a lot of time, money, and stress. First, you should make it clear why you’re remodelling, writing down reasons your current bedroom setup isn’t working for you anymore. Are you looking to improve its looks, functionality, or both? Here’s where you should determine your style, which will help you with the choice of wall treatments, flooring, furniture, lighting, etc. Finally, if you expect any structural changes, make sure to allocate a sufficient budget.
Demolition day
For a complete bedroom overhaul, chances are that you’re going to have to demolish everything down to bare studs and flooring substrate. Despite being dusty and messy, this phase allows you to reveal any problems that may be hiding under flooring or behind the plaster. If you have an older home in Melbourne, you may want to replace the wiring, especially if you want to add outlets or lighting features to the room.
Fix the floorplan
When the room is down to studs and subfloor, it’s time to make changes to the floorplan. Assess the room from the functional point and see if anything can be changed to make it better. Unless you’re expanding to the outside, your home’s square footage won’t change, so anything you add you must subtract from the adjacent rooms. In most building codes a bedroom must have a closet, and often an exterior window. Check these codes to avoid the situation when your remodelled bedroom can’t be classified as a bedroom anymore.
Replace the old bed
While you’re drawing your new bedroom layout, you should start thinking about the new bed. The bed is where you and your partner spend at least 1/3 of every day, so you don’t want to skimp in this area. On the other hand, many homeowners get carried away by looking only for aesthetics, neglecting the functional and practical features. Consider choosing one of the custom fabric beds; along with the timeless curved headboard that fits in any interior décor, these types of beds provide additional storage, whether you choose a 4-drawer base or a gas-lift storage base. Perhaps the biggest advantage is their customizability, as you can take your pick from a palette of fabric colours.
Improve the bedroom lighting
Bedroom lighting should be a combination of light sources. Start with the ceiling light, replacing the old shade with a new eye-catching fixture. A chandelier with an oversized shade is another hot trend worth trying. Rewire the drywall behind the bed for sconces which come useful for reading in bed, and if you need to get up in the dark, their switches are within your reach. A contemporary bedroom can look amazing with flexible track lighting which allows you to slide and swivel individual fixtures in different positions.
Update the flooring
The idea behind bedroom flooring is all about warmth, safety, and cosiness. Think of soft floor options that are friendly to bare feet, such as carpet, hypoallergenic cork, or a beautiful area rug. With radiant heat coils installed underneath, even engineered wood flooring, which is a hybrid of stabilised plywood and hardwood veneer can feel warm to feet.
Prepare everything
Make sure to purchase all the materials before you throw out or tear down anything. This doesn’t only ensure that you can complete the remodel exactly as you planned but also protects you from delays in the supply chain. If you’re expanding or rearranging the layout by impacting other room, this is the time to see if any Melbourne building permits apply to your project. Finally, make sure the rest of the home is ready for your remodel – prepare alternative sleeping arrangements and protect the floor and walls along the access lane from the outside.
When it comes to bedroom remodels, any delay means delaying a good night’s sleep. If you feel that it’s bedrooms turn for a makeover, there’s no better time than spring to get it done.
About the author: Mike Johnston is an avid freelance writer and blogger. He is a regular contributor to Smooth Decorator and several other online magazines. Mike’s specialty is interior decor and design, but he also enjoys writing about travel, family, sustainable living and other related and unrelated topics. Mike’s goal is to create insightful and compelling content that will help readers navigate through these vast and ever-changing fields.
