Renovation can bring new life to an old or tired home. Many owners choose to stay in their beloved street, and find a builder to modernise their home. The front of a home can be revitalised with a contemporary façade to bring new pride in the property. While the back can be refreshed by opening it up to modern alfresco eating areas. This allows for flexible entertaining zones, where the fun can spill outdoors. And on the inside, bathrooms can be easily updated with clean and crisp tiling, current colours and the latest in tapware and showers.

Renovation projects will often include an extension. Adding new rooms to the building footprint gives families extra space for teenagers, elderly parents or a home office. As blocks get smaller, extensions can get closer to the fenceline, making installation more complex.

New walls

One new wall product from Bondor can cater for close boundary work. Using the Bondor LuxeWall FlameGuard wall system means the wall installation can be done from the inside, giving builders more space to work on small blocks where site access to the boundary is limited. This wall system has a lightweight construction method of prefinished interlocking panels that are dropped into position and fixed from the interior. There is no need for on-ground assembly, additional building material layers, caulking or sealing.

Extending is all about getting more space. The thinner building materials in this wall product will maximise the usable floor area inside.

It might be lightweight, but LuxeWall FlameGuard is made from durable and sustainable materials including prefinished Colorbond steel and a non-combustible rigid mineral wool that forms both a passive fire barrier and a thermal barrier around a home, for the ultimate in fire protection and climate comfort.

This Bondor wall system is a smart wall option for new façades as no exterior finishing or major ongoing maintenance is required. Likewise outdoor entertaining areas need no additional work – the exterior house wall can provide the perfect backdrop for outdoor eating and entertaining, or an outdoor garden room.

Light up the outdoors

Outdoor areas can go from pleasant to impressive with the addition of some luxurious lighting. The styling of an outdoor area can be just as important as the interior when it comes to creating a home for all seasons.

Beacon Lighting has a variety of options for alfresco areas. Outdoor lighting options include black sentinel lights for the trendy terrace, copper steplights for the country courtyard, and silver sconces for a stunning sundeck.

Creative touches of string lighting like the Beacon Copper Wire LED 40 light string set around planters, jars and artwork make for an inviting outdoor ambience.

Beacon also has thermastrip heaters for cooler zones, and alfresco ceiling fans to bring cooling breezes to summer evenings outdoors.

As well as the entertaining area, don’t forget to upgrade the lighting for any paths at the side and near the front door as added security for the homeowners.

Make an entrance

With the right doors, backyard recreation can merge seamlessly with home entertaining areas, creating a fabulous and flexible zone for the occupants to host friends and relax with family.

Fibreglass doors from Distinction Doors are super stylish, and can fill any space, from a single doorway to a wall of doors, opening up the whole backyard to the home. With large glass panels and beautiful finishes they suit any build.

These doors are made of fibreglass sheet moulded compounds (SMC), offering the optimum combination of appearance, performance and durability. With the look and feel of traditional wooden doors, Distinction fibreglass doors need minimal maintenance. The fibreglass doors are precision engineered to provide protection against water infiltration and will look good on the day of installation and for years to come.

On days when the weather is not ideal for outdoor entertaining, Distinction Doors will keep the chill out and the warmth inside, with low-e glass, and a polyurethane foam core to provide superior insulation.

Doors come ready to install and provide complete protection from the elements. Doors and frames are engineered to work together to withstand the harshest environments. Distinction Doors are built to last. They undergo rigorous testing for structural stability, forced entry, water infiltration, air infiltration and energy efficiency.

The options are extensive with hinged or gliding doors to suit any space. Select the full lite door style (with a single large glass pane) for maximum views or choose the three-quarter lite door for added architectural detail. Then enhance the door and increase the indoor-outdoor connection with sidelights and transoms.

You can choose from several glass styles, or even opt for blinds between the glass.

Distinction Doors offer a smooth white paintable finish or a woodgrain option. Just decide which one best complements the home’s outdoor entertaining area.

And complete the design with one of the hardware options. Handle sets and hardware are included with a Distinction Door system. Select a hardware style and colour to complement your home, and your outdoor area.

Bathroom upgrades

Inside the home, the bathroom is an area where renovation with modern products can make a big difference.

Bathrooms have transformed from purely functional zones to stylish rooms for relaxation and renewal. Fresh design and contemporary products can cater for these current tastes.

A compact area can gain a feeling of openness by adding a bigger window. Corner vanities take up less of the floorspace and can maximise those micro bathrooms. Tucking shelving into the wall cavity can also gain back some space.

More space can also be found by taking out the bathtub and modernising the shower well to leave a seamless tiled floor across the entire bathroom. A frameless shower screen contains the splashes and lets all the light through.

Large tiles in pale tones will make a space seem roomier, while one wall, the shower area, or even the floor can be tiled with a dramatic feature tile. Colour is making a comeback for bathrooms in Europe particularly flame colours in reds, oranges and yellows; cool Nordic blues and dark elegant green.

A double vanity adds a feeling of luxury, as well as being practical in a shared space. A stone benchtop will bring that luxe look to any bathroom too.

One product that will suit all bathrooms, from the luxurious to the high tech, is the clever new Therm-Oz shower, which offers a set water temperature, no matter what other water is used in the house at the same time.

Whether you are renovating or reconfiguring a bathroom and using new pipe work, the Therm-Oz Thermostatic Shower has a model to suit. The Therm-Oz Thermostatic Shower Valve is fully approved and manufactured to Australian Standard AS 4032.4, has Watermark Certification and features a three-star WELS rating.

No electrics are involved, the valve simply provides a more efficient way of mixing hot and cold water. Water is mixed to a set temperature of 38 degrees celsius and that is maintained even when other taps, toilets or washing machines are being used. The safety override button on the left side allows the temperature to be easily adjusted between 20 and 45 degrees.

Simply adjust flow or turn on with a quarter turn of the right side. The valve is safe to touch or hold whilst showering as cool-touch technology ensures the surface temperature does not exceed 20 degrees.

Choose the Reno-Kit for a fast, affordable upgrade of an existing bathroom which includes patented fittings required to retro-fit an existing manual two- tap shower into a thermostatic shower, without the need to alter pipework or disturb tiles. The Therm-Oz Reno Valve is available with slide rail, hose, soap dish and three-function handset included or as a valve only (and patented fittings) option, the valve outlet is standard half inch male thread.

For new bathroom configurations, choose the New Build Pack which includes a fixing bracket and is also offered either with a handset or valve only (including fixing bracket) model.

New tiles and a contemporary benchtop will brighten up a bathroom. And a modern shower system and crisp new lighting will make sure the bathroom works like a charm.

This article was compiled with contributions from Therm-Oz, Bondor, Beacon Lighting and Distinction Doors.