From drab to fab! Stunning DIY verandah makeover

Minimalism, or the practice of decluttering and simplifying one's life, is often associated with baring a space down to its necessities and having a heightened appreciation for what one does have.

It's no secret that minimalist interior design has been on the rise recently, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down in 2022.



For both indoor and outdoor areas, many people choose a minimalist look because they dislike the feeling of a 'cluttered' home, and they also appreciate the sense of space and openness it provides.

That's likely the reason why more and more DIYers are taking on home improvement projects and giving their houses a modern, minimalist aesthetic. After all, given the world today, we could all use a little less stress and anxiety in our lives!

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The verandah on Elle's house has seen better days and needs updating. Credit: news.com.au/Elle Jay.

Just take a look at this one Aussie woman's amazing DIY home improvement project, which has been labelled the 'best transformation' by her fellow renovators on social media.

It had been on Elle's mind for a while, but now that spring had arrived, she knew it was time to give her front verandah an overdue facelift. After all, it is the first area of the house that guests and visitors see, and she wanted to make a great first impression.



Because she had some spare budget set aside and a few days off work coming up, she jumped in her car right away and headed to Bunnings to stock up on supplies needed for the upcoming renovation project.

At the hardware store, Elle purchased some grey and white tiles, Bondall grout sealant, Dulux Snowy Mountain half paint for the exterior of the house, and Taubmans Shiralee half paint for the front door.

And after getting all the materials she needed, she went to work. Here's how she did it:

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Elle's renovated verandah - even her dog likes it! Credit: news.com.au/Elle Jay.

Elle believed that her old verandah setup—a yellowish paint job on the weatherboard house, a slatted picket fence, and a table and chairs—was already quite old and out of trend. But before she could repaint the walls and ceiling, she had to clean them first with a power washer, let them dry for a whole day, and then brush away the dust and debris.

She also made necessary maintenance and repairs, including fence upgrades and window and door screen replacements.

The verandah floor was the part that required the most of her time and labour, but in all honesty, it was also the part that made all of the difference!



First, she broke up the grey and white tiles she bought from Bunnings into different-sized pieces. To make sure that the pieces were all the same thickness, they were smashed with a hammer wrapped in an old towel.

'To avoid using smaller pieces to fill larger gaps, we used a grinder to round some edges and make different shapes to fill the spaces,' Elle explained. 'I traced around already laid tiles using baking paper, cut out the shape and then drew onto the tiles.'

Now that everything is assembled and in place, it's time to glue everything to the floor. Elle spent a total of four days on the project, including two days laying and gluing the tiles and two days more cleaning, grouting, and sealing them.

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The project would cost so much more if Elle bought these 'crazy pave' tiles from the store. Credit: news.com.au/Elle Jay.

The 'crazy pave' style tiles she used usually cost as much as $165 per box of tiles, but by manually breaking and arranging them herself, Elle said the entire renovation project set her back only $700 total. That's still quite a lot of money, but for a huge transformation such as this one, we think it was well worth it!

Hundreds of Elle's followers were impressed by the huge makeover; one person even went so far as to proclaim it the 'best transformation' she'd seen in a long time.

Another user wrote in the comments: 'My goodness, what a transformation, just gorgeous!' with a third, adding: 'Wow, what a beautiful transformation! Awesome job! Your furbaby definitely approves.'



So what do you think about this home transformation, folks? Truth be told, we think it's way out of our price range at the moment, and we also can't promise that we'd do as excellent of a job as Elle if we tried to do this ourselves, but it's incredible all the same!

Good thing Bunnings now offers Afterpay so you can complete your renovation projects now and pay later.

We'll keep this post in our back pockets, though, in case we need to show home renovators what we want our front porch to look like in the future. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
 
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The floor definitely looks great but the rest of it looks far too stark and uninviting to my way of thinking. I wonder which way her house faces as in the height of summer or with the sun shining it would be almost blindingly white. :(
 
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