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Kyal and Kara: Ep 10 - Renovation reveal

24 November 2016


The Block’s Kyal and Kara reveal their completed Toowoon Bay renovation.

Transcript:

Our final episode of Toowoon Bay renovation.  This is it.  The entire external, bathrooms downstairs and the whole studio.  

We've come a long way this year.  We bought a red brick box with visions of  turning this house into a beautiful home.  Most people who were looking at this property were looking to knock it down, but we saw the potential and couldn't wait to get stuck into the renovation.  And at the end of the day, location was everything.

This project was pretty tough for us. I think living here and living in this downstairs area, especially while we had the scaffold and everything up around us, really did  test us at times.  But once we started making progress and we got the studio out of the ground, we were gaining a lot of momentum and we could see the transformation starting to happen.

Once you start to see those changes, you get motivated for the next change. I think one of the biggest transformations initially was putting on the new colour bond sheets.  It really set the tone and the color palette for the rest of the renovation.

Not only that, but the roof line really helps to change that really square box into something which is a little bit more architectural.

From the front of the house you see we've taken down the brickwork and replaced it with a Cemintel Scarborough  weatherboards.  

We extended the front deck out slightly and we built a gable roof over that and that really added that extra little bit of dimension that the flat house was lacking.

Slowly, but surely, we started ticking boxes with this project which meant we could move upstairs.  With the kitchen and the floors down and a fit out done, we were kicking goals.

Being pregnant, having one finished room in the house, made all the difference to the morale of the renovation.  It was like we could see that light at the end of the tunnel.

The last few weeks have been spent finishing off all those finishing touches and they're the things that make all the difference to how finished the renovation feels.  

We've come a long way with our trades, but because we're trying to work to a strict timeline, we've taken on a lot of extra work ourselves.  So I've done the tiling at the front and the entryway.  It was actually quite fun laying all the travertine in that French pattern, but I'm really stoked with how it all looks.  It actually looked really beautiful.  I absolutely love it and I feel like it gives the home that that extra level of sophistication when you walk through the front gate.

While Karl has been pressing on outside I've been tying up odds and ends on the inside.  We've had our carpet laid downstairs now and that looked beautiful in the bedrooms.  And we've had the team from Wideline out to install all our secure line screens. To get the secure line screens into production was pretty simple.  We called Wideline, they came out and measured and then basically ten days later they had them ready to install.  The good thing is they're not your average security screen because they don't obstruct your view.

All along we planned to have rear access for the studio at the back, so we've been able to incorporate a driveway down the side of the house, which is going to make it easy when people come and stay in that studio.

The garage is one of the main things you see when you first pull up to the house, so the garage door had to be something pretty special.  We knew we wanted to thank white to contrast the dark cladding but we wanted to add that interest in the texture.  The cross panels add that extra bit of interest without taking away from anything else that's going on at the front of the house.

The travertine leading from outside to inside creates a really nice flow from that area.up to the kitchen.  Upstairs is essentially the hub of the home and it receives all that beautiful north light.

With the open-plan living, we've got three bedrooms and a beautiful big bathroom.  Moving downstairs through my man cave, past my pool table, into the bathroom.  The hero of this bathroom really is the floor tiles. They create such a statement, but they work so well with the large-format 1200 x 600s on the wall.

We've got beautiful tapware and basin from Beaumont Tiles,and similar to upstairs, we've used a timber vanity.  And I've limewashed some recycled cedar for the mirror frame.

Greg and Lisa came out today and delivered a beautiful hamper to welcome us to RAMS.  It was so nice to have them out because they haven't seen the renovation since the start.  And to show them was a great way for us to see how far we've actually come.

Taking on the renovation itself was such a big job, but building that extra dwelling out the back has been huge.  It's really been exciting to watch that come to life.  I mean the boys stood the frame so quickly and now that it's all done it's got a beautiful feel to it.  

With the studio, our plan all along has been to holiday let that.  We wanted to keep a similar look and feel to the main house.  The studio is a really nice little feature.  You walk up the deck and it's straight away you feel like you're sort of on holidays because you've got this really cool outdoor feel.  And the way I've designed it is that both sliding doors open up to really incorporate that outside inside living.

Once you're inside, we've stuck with the blue coastal palette theme.  Our kitchen is all custom made cabinetry and it is Taubman's Irongate.  The bench tops are beautiful because they're not your traditional gloss finish, they're a suede finish so it feels like a matte surface.  Running the cabinetry all the way to the ceiling does create that illusion of extra height plus there's so much storage.  

I think having the high light windows over the top of the sliding doors definitely helps bring that natural light in and create that light and airy feel.  

One of the first things you notice when you walk in is the three Velux centered over the kitchen and that lets in so much of that beautiful natural light.  One of my favorite things about this kitchen is the splash back.  The subway tiles have got a crackle glaze through them which adds that rustic touch.

The lounge runs directly off the kitchen and to integrate those two spaces we've done a really beautiful custom-made steel shelving unit which goes to the ceiling.  I love this lounge room because we have got the mack daddy of couches and it just makes you want to dive straight in there and be on holidays, instantly.  The navy is a really beautiful touch and I love the feature armchair from Oz Design Furniture.

Moving down the hallway you enter into our bathroom and this also doubles as a laundry so we needed to think smart about how we use this space.  This space for me is one of my favorite spaces.  Because of, again we've got the sandblasted oak, but the pattern tiles, the really high ceilings, the shaving cabinet going wall-to-wall.  It's a beautiful little area.  

The studio has two bedrooms and again we wanted to keep them simple but relaxed. So we have used lots of linen and it just feels like a nice, warm inviting place to stay.

Now that we've finished this renovation, we can have the property valued and talk with RAMS about our options.

It's been a lot of hard work but I can definitely say that we are addicted to the transformation.

We're so looking forward to the next month and welcoming our little baby into the world, but we are definitely on the hunt for a new renovation.  Who knows where we'll land.

Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted.

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