The renovation story
A bathroom first, and a few things worth fixing while we were there
This is a Coogee apartment where the bathroom had reached the end of its life. Pink floor tiles, a framed corner screen, a laminate vanity and a freestanding shelf unit parked over the toilet because there was nowhere else to put anything. It came out completely.
What makes this job worth showing is not just the bathroom. Once the trades were on site and the apartment was already disrupted, the scope picked up the things that had been waiting: a proper laundry in the hallway where a linen cupboard used to be, new wardrobe joinery in the kids bedroom, repairs to the kitchen, a broken window sash in the sunroom, and painting through three rooms. Nine weeks covered all of it.
Storage was the actual brief
The old bathroom had no storage, so storage arrived over the toilet on an open timber shelf. The replacement puts it where it belongs: a wall-hung vanity with drawers, a mirror cabinet above it, and a matching tall boy, all in the same Sand Plus finish. Hanging the vanity off the wall keeps the floor clear underneath, which makes a small room read as a larger one and makes it far easier to clean.
The feature wall is a terrazzo-look porcelain tile wrapped around the window and carried down behind the toilet, against plain white matt tiles everywhere else. It is the one bold decision in the room, and it does the work that a bigger budget would otherwise have to spend on stone. Tapware, towel rail, hooks and the flush plate are all brushed bronze, which warms up what would otherwise be a cool grey and white palette.
The same logic drove the hallway. A linen cupboard that held towels became a laundry that holds a washing machine and dryer, with a waterproofed tray and drain underneath in case a hose ever lets go. In an apartment, that tray is the difference between a nuisance and a claim against your neighbour’s ceiling.
If you are weighing up a similar job, our bathroom renovation cost guide explains how these numbers are built, and our bathroom renovations page covers how we run them.
