When renovating or redecorating your home, there are plenty of awesome tasks you can DIY to add personal touches to your home. But sometimes you need to call in the troops and get professional expertise, skills and labor to get the job done right the first time.

Window Coverings

There’s an increasing market in ready-made curtains and blinds, but there’s always something ‘not quite right’ about the look of off-the-rack window coverings available in Australia, not to mention the difficulty of installing the products yourself. You are almost always guaranteed over or undersized blinds, too-short (or too-long) curtains and limited options for fabrics and hardware.

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Bespoke window coverings, like the ones in this photo mean you can choose from thousands (or millions) of gorgeous fabrics and hardware to suit your dĂ©cor. They will also arrange installation by a qualified installer and (most) will back their products with a warranty. Custom window coverings are also a must if you have ‘tricky’ windows such as shapes, corners and bay windows.

Painting

Repainting is a task that seems perfect to DIY… that is until your architraves, cornices, floor, and perhaps you, are covered in the paint intended for your walls. Suddenly your easy weekend paint job has become a major overhaul that could take weeks (and a lot more paint) to fix. Hiring a professional painter may seem like a large expense, but their expertise will ensure the job is completed with precision and skill, and very little inconvenience to your household.

TIP: If you want to try painting yourself, start with the walls and leave the ceilings and woodwork to the professionals.

Tiling

DIY tiling can go horribly wrong… tiles can break when being cut, measurements can be off, and sometimes tiles can crack even after you’ve put so much time and effort into laying them perfectly (particularly if your tiles are large), not to mention how awful uneven grout lines look! Once this happens, it can be quite difficult (and costly) to fix. If you ask yourself ‘do I know where is the best place to lay the first tile, and how do I get the fall right to a drain?’ and the answer is ‘no’ then hiring a good professional tiler who knows exactly how to best lay your tiles so the grout lines are level and straight with the least amount of wastage and breakage, is the answer that may save you money in the long run. You’ll also get a beautiful bathroom like the one below!

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TIP: If you’re still keen to DIY your tiling, educate yourself with diagrams and tutorials, which are readily available at most hardware stores or online.

Upholstery

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Some upholstery can be as simple as using a staple gun to fasten fabric to a seat. But to reupholster a sofa or a feature chair like the one above is much more complex, and should be given professional care. In many cases, having furniture such as your expensive imported lounge recovered in a beautiful new Italian leather, can be much more cost-effective than buying a new and often more expensive sofa.

Project Management

At first, renovating can seem like a relatively easy task to delegate and manage yourself, but for many it can be like walking through quicksand… completely overwhelming and finally engulfing! You may find you end up with a ‘hotch potch’ of design as different tradies interpret your brief differently to your final vision; meaning you may not get what you originally dreamed of.

An Interior Designer, such as Creative Style, can not only specify colours, finishes, fixtures and fittings, but can also recommend and then manage other professionals who work on the project. This way, you don’t have to repeat yourself to a multitude of different tradespeople with the desperate hope that nothing gets lost in translation (particularly if you’re not fluent in ‘build-speak’)… your designer/project manager will ensure everyone’s vision is on the same page as your own, and the job gets done right the first time!

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If you want to get started on your home renovation with the right professionals, give Creative Style a call on 0416 190 792 or email [email protected] to book an appointment with Jenny.