Cherie Barber has made a business out of renovating and selling homes for a profit and has shared her wealth of knowledge at the Renovating for Profit guru on Ten\’s The Living Room and Nine\’s Today Extra shows, as well as through her sold-out renovation masterclasses.
Now would-be renovators can learn all the secrets of her renovating prowess for themselves with the release of Cherie\’s latest book, Renovating for Profit. Learn how to transform your property on a budget and add real value to properties of all shapes and sizes, all brought together in one practical and gorgeous guide.
Cherie talks about adding some stylish street appeal with some before and after case studies in this edited extract from Renovating for Profit:
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PERFECT PAINT
“I love paint. It’s every renovator’s rabbit-out-of-a-hat move. It’s liquid gold to any home. The reality is: paint can make or break your project. Now, just so you understand me a little better, I need you to know that I am generally conservative with colour. When renovating a property, whether it’s for selling, renting or investing, it’s important to create the broadest appeal. And sometimes, crazy colour schemes can turn people away.
When it comes to your external paint, a good rule to stick by is to use no more than three external colours. But don’t do just one, as you’ll have no colour contrast. You can go for light or dark colours, depending on the style of your home – whites, greys, browns and charcoals are good options, and you’ll be inundated with choice.
Don’t forget to make your colour scheme work harmoniously with your existing roof colour, unless you are roof spraying too. And for whatever colour you put on your walls, make sure you have a contrasting colour on your windows and all your trims. It’s instantly appealing.
And here’s where I contradict myself! But I’m allowed to, it’s my book after all! I do believe in using a bold pop of colour on your front door. It’s the place where you can inject some real personality. Go with whatever colour floats your boat – a joyful yellow, a fire-engine red, tangerine or teal – whatever makes you happy, but don’t go fluoro!
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I’m conservative with colour because I want my properties to stand the test of time. I don’t follow fads or colour trends.
This cute little inner-city home is looking a bit bland. Everything is in the right place, it’s just that all the individual elements are showing their age.
What a difference a lick of paint makes! By inverting the colour scheme, the home looks fresher and the windows now become a visual feature of the facade. Matching the paint colour of the front door to the pathways keeps everything looking cohesive. The front fence also looks much better now, all because of a new coat of paint.
Sometimes my budgets as a TV renovator are ridiculously small. But then again, a lot of home owners don’t have a stack of cash in their bank accounts for renovations. I had $10,000 to transform this house, inside and out. That meant only cleaning up the facade, and not reinventing the wheel or performing major surgery in any way.”
This is an edited extract from Renovating for Profit published 19 October 2017 by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $39.99) and available in stores nationally.
