If experience is the best teacher, serial renovator Claudine Edwards (@claudzgaff) is the undisputed queen of makeovers. She might just have moved in to her 22nd home, but thankfully she’s still documenting her way through renovation mishaps and woodchip wallpaper, all with a healthy dose of humour and glorious before-and-afters.
What’s your decorating style in three words?
Balanced, warm and playful.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about renovating?
Everything costs more and takes longer than you think it will.
What’s the most important piece of renovation advice you can offer?
If possible, live in a space before you renovate it. I think it's really important to experience a property through multiple seasons and get a feel for how you want to use the space before making any major changes.
What was your biggest challenge during your renovation?
Getting a tiler willing to mitre a large volume of tiles. A lot of them were trying to push us towards tile trims and wouldn't take on the job.
Did you have any disasters along the way?
Yes! It was a joint error involving us, our kitchen company and two almost-identical colour codes. Our kitchen order went through but in the wrong colour. Nobody knew until the day it turned up to be fitted. It was a nightmare and there were a lot of tense phone calls that followed.
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What’s a surprising budget hack you discovered during a renovation?
Sourcing everything ourselves instead of relying on trades to supply materials definitely saved us a lot of money – but was also extremely time-consuming.
What stage of decorating do you dread? Which makes you do a happy dance?
I love picking paints – the Valspar sample colour wall hates to see me coming. Dread? One word: woodchip. Whoever invented woodchip wallpaper... it’s straight to jail for you.
What renovation shortcut usually backfires?
Not giving enough time over to preparation and rushing to get to the job finished. It almost always ends with a bad finish that will ultimately need redoing.
What’s the one renovation cost you underestimated before getting started?
Tiling. It was much, much more expensive than we had considered, especially because of the levelling issues that came from knocking two rooms into one.
What does ‘home’ mean to you?
Home is my happy place. As I'm self-employed, I spend a lot of time at home so it's important that the space is comfortable, welcoming and flexible for myself and my family.
