SEE DERELICT QUEENSLANDER TURNED BYRON BAY BEAUTY
Armed and ready with her Reno School skills, Julie Granger, pulled off the ultimate 'derelict to down-right gorgeous' renovation of a relocated Queenslander home.
We love a good reno challenge so were super excited when Julie announced her project to the Reno School Community. Her plan was to relocate an old Queenslander home to a plot of land in the Byron Bay Hinterland… while project managing from 800kms away in Sydney… during a global pandemic!
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
We’ve previously renovated a house on Sydney's Northern Beaches and built a new build on the Mid North Coast of NSW but, having grown up in the area, I had wanted buy a small plot of land in the Byron Bay Hinterland forever. When we found just over an acre nestled in Binna Burra, between Newrybar and Bangalow, early last year, I knew it was the perfect spot to make that dream come true and luckily my husband agreed.
HOW ‘THE PLOT’ CAME TO LIFE
Having secured the land, we jumped straight in and bought an early 1900s Queenslander I had been eyeing off. It was sitting in a yard in South Ballina (about half an hour from the plot), already cut in half. But when I saw it, it made my heart skip a beat...VJ panelling throughout, wide original hoop pine floorboards, original fretwork and ceiling roses intact, large open plan living/dining at the back of the property and those beautiful front casement windows… well, I was a goner. We knew it would orientate well on our plot of land. It had amazing bones and character and a workable floorplan which, with a little remodelling, could house a 3 bed, 2-bathroom home.
It was originally 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with the bathroom coming off the kitchen (classic original Queenslander style!) and an enclosed sleepout. We have opened up the old sleepout to reinstate the original wrap around verandah and re-configured the bedrooms to fit in 3 bedrooms, a main bath and ensuite within the footprint of the original 3 bedrooms. That meant the Kitchen could be opened right up to the view and create that all important inside/outside connection. We also engaged a talented landscape designer to design and build outdoor spaces to help the house sit in the landscape, including to connect a 14,000-litre concrete plunge pool to the house.
All up from when we bought the land to completion, was about 15 months but getting our DA and all the associated plans/reports ready to lodge and obtaining approval was the most time-consuming part of the project. We moved the house onto site in December 2019 and our builders started on site in February 2020, with handover from both the builders and our landscaper in early July 2020.
HOW DID RENO SCHOOL HELP YOU BRING YOUR VISION TO LIFE?
I had loved following along the Three Birds’ renos and loved the simplicity of their style. I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up to Reno School but saw there were discounts at some of the suppliers I was thinking of using and thought "Why not? The course will pay for itself if I use the discounts and I might just learn something too.”
Well...did I learn something or what?!
Reno School taught me to forward plan, both in terms of our vision for the house but also in terms of making selections upfront and locking in decisions early. It also gave me the confidence to make those decisions and stick with them. This helped us in providing detailed scopes of work to builders to quote, gave us courage to keep searching when we were struggling to find a builder who ticked all the boxes for us and the conviction to stick to our vision. As a result, we were able to lock in our Dream Team builders, come in on budget and see our vision come to life. And we did it all from 800km away… during a pandemic!
The course fee was honestly the best money we spent on the entire renovation and has paid for itself time and time again. Two things. Firstly, to think about every little detail early and specify that detail in your scope of work (together with pictures if you need to). Secondly, to find your DREAM TEAM. We were so lucky to have amazing builders who really "got" our vision and were committed to staying in our budget. I loved the Facebook group where so many creative and talented people (including the Birds themselves) jump on and provide advice to each other. I also loved the live Q&A sessions with Bonnie, Erin and Lana... in fact our ensuite dilemma got solved in one of those lives and it is now one of our favourite rooms in the house.
