North Canterbury News: September 16, 2021
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Renovating adream<br />
Renovating is agreat Kiwi passion.<br />
We have all seen TV programmes<br />
about do it yourself disasters, but it<br />
need not be like that.<br />
With abit of careful planning,<br />
budgeting, and making sure you or afew<br />
mates have the right skills, much can be<br />
achieved.<br />
And not only will you add something<br />
to your home, it is highly likely you will<br />
add value, too.<br />
Many Kiwis with afull range of basic<br />
skills have ‘‘renovated’’ themselves into<br />
new homes, simply by doing much of the<br />
work themselves on older homes, and<br />
then reaping the rewards.<br />
And renovation need not mean<br />
‘‘building’’ as such and there are strict<br />
rules nowadays on what can be done by<br />
whom.<br />
Renovation can simply be scraping<br />
back and painting, clearing out over<br />
grown gardens, replacing clogged or<br />
rusted guttering, and relaying paths.<br />
Anyone with abasic do it yourself<br />
knowledge can tackle these jobs.<br />
If you are not sure what to do, many of<br />
the hardware merchants offer free how<br />
to booklets to give you aclear guide to<br />
what is required, and the materials<br />
involved.<br />
Renovation can be doing the jobs you<br />
might otherwise pay someone else to do<br />
and saving you money along the way.<br />
It can be afamily thing. Abrother or<br />
brotherinlaw or sister or sisterinlaw<br />
might have the skills you don’t, and<br />
when he/she wants something done, you<br />
can repay the favour.<br />
If you, say, are looking to buy your<br />
first home, don’t be quick to dismiss<br />
something that looks tatty.<br />
Closer inspection might show that<br />
basic skills could reveal alittle gem.<br />
Remember, though, that if you don’t<br />
have the skills in this area, ask someone<br />
who does. Buying houses is amajor<br />
exercise.<br />
Don’t be deterred if you don’t have<br />
what you consider the necessary skills.<br />
The same merchants that offer ‘‘how to’’<br />
brochures often offer ‘‘how to’’ classes.<br />
Go to one.<br />
For most of the skills you require for<br />
renovation, common sense is the<br />
answer.<br />
If you can drive nails, paint, dig, saw<br />
or run out astring line, you can<br />
renovate. And the good thing is that<br />
renovation almost always adds value.<br />
Tearing up old lino is not everyone’s<br />
favourite job, especially if it has been<br />
glued down by someone with shares in<br />
an adhesive firm, but hard work pays<br />
off.<br />
Take adeep breath and get to it.<br />
There is no feeling like it once it is<br />
completed.<br />
Plan your kitchen makeover<br />
If your home is amap of your world, then<br />
kitchens are the highway.<br />
Making sure there is smooth movement<br />
around the space will avoid roadblocks,<br />
pileups and accidents.<br />
When renovating or building, the<br />
kitchen is akey area to carefully design.<br />
What looks great on afloor plan could<br />
change when you begin to use aspace.<br />
For new buildings it sometimes helps<br />
to physically mark out areas on the<br />
ground, to understand the space needed.<br />
Move around your planned space,<br />
getting asense of how much room is<br />
actually required.<br />
Akitchen that works well for one could<br />
be areal hassle for two doyou<br />
constantly find yourself bumping into<br />
another family member while cooking?<br />
Renovations of kitchen spaces can be a<br />
great opportunity to walk through what<br />
works in your kitchen and where the<br />
roadblocks are.<br />
We are great at adapting however, so<br />
think carefully about the moments when<br />
you are reaching in an awkward way or<br />
have to move items around more than<br />
once during preparation.<br />
We can become very used to having to<br />
compromise, so be mindful of those<br />
moments.<br />
Think about common activities how<br />
many steps does it take to make acup of<br />
tea or coffee?<br />
Where is the cup, kettle, teabag, spoon,<br />
Dream kitchen ... Plan for your ideal<br />
kitchen design.<br />
PHOTO: FILE<br />
milk, sugar and of course the tasty<br />
biscuit to go with it?<br />
How many different places and moves<br />
did you need for this simple daily<br />
routine.<br />
With awell designed kitchen this will<br />
become an easy task that doesn’t cause<br />
problems.<br />
Remember as well to futureproof your<br />
space.<br />
Reaching down for aspoon might be<br />
easy when young but more of apain as<br />
you age.<br />
The fewer obstacles in your path, the<br />
more enjoyable your beautiful new<br />
kitchen will be.<br />
BUILDING &RENOVATING<br />
The <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>September</strong> <strong>16</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
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