Before You Renovate/Build - Read This First
Sometimes the dreams we cling to are the ones we need to let go of.
First up: I’m switching the weekly post schedule from Monday to Wednesday as of next week, 11th August, 2025.
Last week, we celebrated a year in our new home. It feels surreal writing that, because for the longest time, I thought "new home" would mean something we'd built or renovated with our own hands.
It didn't. And I'm so grateful now.
The Dream vs. Reality
When we were living abroad, we'd been watching the Australian property market with eagle eyes. As prices began their relentless climb, we acted quickly and bought what seemed like a safe affordable option in our desired area, sight unseen, because that's how we rolled back then.
Our dream was idyllic: acres of land, homegrown vegetables, chickens pecking around the yard, and maybe even going semi-off-grid. We wanted the rural life but recognised our complete lack of rural experience, so we played it safe with just over an acre. Big enough to experiment, small enough not to drown in.
The house looked neat and tidy online, perfect for renting out until we could secure passage home. We'd bought the proverbial cheapest house in the nicest area, which initially seemed smart, until reality set in.
When Instagram Meets Real Life
The house we'd fallen for online was 40+ square metres smaller than advertised. Smaller than an apartment. Perfect size for a couple, but not a family of four. Suddenly, our renovation dreams felt more like a massive undertaking. This wasn’t just a cosmetic uplift but would require a lot of smart extension planning and execution.
No problem, we thought. We'd consumed every renovation show, followed every Instagram account (shoutout to Three Birds Renovations for the inspiration overload during COVID). How hard could it be?
Very hard, as it turns out.
We purchased two shipping containers for storage and a "Same Day Granny Flat" (definitely not constructed on the same day) for immediate extra living space. With generous help from friends and family to help us construct it over many months, we finally had a much needed extra space for living, and guests. We installed a pool and extra water tanks, and hired a landscape designer to come up with a functional plan for our acreage to suit our goals.
But the main house? That was where things got complicated.
The Renovation Rabbit Hole
I became obsessed. Pinterest boards multiplied like rabbits. I devoured Instagram accounts, picked the brains of anyone who'd renovated, scoured community forums for builders. We hired a home designer, then another, then consulted an architect.
Round and round we went, trying to create a floor plan that would work without having to move out during a housing shortage crisis. The numbers just wouldn't add up, not with our budget, not with our capacity, and definitely not with rising building costs and material prices that seemed to climb weekly.
The cherry on top? Every month, another building company was collapsing. The industry felt unstable, costs were skyrocketing, and committing to any major building project felt like playing Russian roulette with our financial future.
The Breaking Point
Two architects finally suggested we knock down and rebuild. Build a shed first, live in it temporarily, then construct the main house. Simple, right?
Twenty-four hours before signing on the dotted line, we had what I can only describe as a moment of clarity.
We realised we'd been living in survival mode without even recognising it. The thought of adding construction stress to everything else we were juggling, two kids heading into high school, the constant driving (no public transport in our rural paradise), and the isolation that was affecting all of us, felt overwhelming.
We’d already spent so much and the house was nowhere near meeting our needs now and in the future.
Our kids wanted suburban life, friends nearby, easier access to school and activities. Our rural dream, it turned out, had an expiry date. We should have done it when they were much younger.
We’d also decided that we valued our free time as a family with teens growing fast and the end in sight, we really didn’t want to waste our precious few years on weekends doing DIY and working on a home. We wanted to make precious memories with them while we had the time.
The Plot Twist
Although we weren't quite ready to move, we began looking around to see if buying a house that was already done was financially viable and even available. Then we found it, off-market, our actual dream home.