Jonno and Lucy / Hunting for George - Real Life Reno

What motivated you to renovate?

Initially we had planned to undertake major construction to expand the home however we realised we would be overcapitalising the property, so instead we opted to make our own renovations in order to make the home more comfortable and functional to live in.

  

How would you describe your style? 
I often struggle to identify my style, mostly i'm happy to settle on 'relaxed modern'. Style is not something that I think about to be honest, my time as a designer means that i'm often working across different concepts, colours and themes so when it comes to my own individual style I just instinctively choose what I like and it all comes together organically. 

Talk us through the process you took in the planning stages of the renovation!
I had varying stages with planning, for some rooms I had an idea in my head instantly of what I wanted. Whereas for some rooms I struggled to see the design vision clearly. Heading to Pinterest definitely helps if I'm stuck but I don't like starting there as I find it can often lead me too much in a certain direction. When it came to the bathroom and tiling however, I was scrolling through pages of inspiration to find the look I wanted!

Lucy going through her TileCloud samples

Were there any delays? How long did the renovation take?
All up we renovated the interiors of our entire home in 10 months, tackling one room at a time and having a few breaks in between. Initially we planned to only do 4 rooms, but then covid happened and we were stuck at home... so we continued to renovate the remaining rooms.The main delays came from ourselves and reaching our own limitations. Sometimes you just don't have the energy or motivation to renovate which is the reality of DIY. Towards the end of the renovations we began calling in a few reinforcements just to get it done!

What was the most challenging part of the renovation? Did anything go wrong? How did you adapt? 
Probably the most challenging was the fact that we were renovating an old home and you literally never know what you will come across. Almost none of our walls are completely solid, it's total pot luck when it comes to screwing something into the wall. If I want to hang 1 artwork, I'd say it would take 15 holes in the wall to eventually make it happen ;)  

Did you and Jonno butt heads over the design at all?
Jonno is great at letting me run the show when it comes to design. I always test my concepts with him first though as I like to get his all clear. I think that after working with each other for so many years with the business we are pretty good when it comes to delegating and trusting each other. The only time we butt heads will be if I want something that's unrealistic... that happens a bit!

Were you juggling a career as well as overlooking the renovations?
Yes and it was tough. We are used to our work with Hunting for George being a part of our everyday and our renovations were part of our business content, however there was a lot of other work that needed to be done during the renovations and it was extremely hard to manage. We knew it was temporary and tried out best to manage. Some days we would tag team one another with one on the tools and the other on the computer. Ultimately though, we were much more productive once it was all finished. 

The Stirling Grey on the floor paired with The Albert Park in Full White

Did you come into the TileCloud showroom to look around at tiles? Did you order samples?
We were in the middle of covid so we ordered samples. It was great seeing the imagery online but nothing beats having actual samples to choose from. However I kept wanting to compare more and more so for our next project i'm excited to visit the showroom.

Why did you choose TileCloud / What did you enjoy best about the TileCloud experience?
I liked the variety of colour, texture and size. It was easy to search through colour or patterns and I loved how easy the website and overall experience was in making the selection process.