'My biggest renovating mistake': celebrities and experts share their reno fails

When it comes to renovating, it seems no amount of money or experience can guarantee a seamless and stress-free project.

We asked some familiar faces to reveal their renovating horror stories, proving no one escapes the renovating process unscathed! 

Kara Rosenlund, photographer & stylist

My biggest renovation mistake would be not putting an electrical outlet in the bathroom! I know, what a fool – completely overlooked that one!

With so many extension leads littered about while renovating, there was always electricity around, until it came time and the job was finished and the leads were packed away. I curse myself everyday as I blow-dry my hair in the kitchen! 

Kara Rosenlund. Photo: Supplied

Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross, comedian

In my first house I had at total attack of the Gav & Waz and tried it all on. Old magazines for wallpaper in the laundry – I ticked that box and it looked awful, especially after the condensation from the dryer made the paper peel.

I did like how the upstairs looked after I pulled up the carpet and painted the floorboards white, even though I did literally paint myself into the corner and had to jump out the window onto a gum tree like a brushtail possum.

Those floorboards weren’t so popular with my friend who bought the house off me. He tried to sand and stain the boards but could never get the white out completely.

Tim Ross. Photo: Supplied

Cherie Barber, founder of Renovating for Profit

On one of my structural renovations, I was looking at installing timber floorboards but I had an Italian tradie working on this renovation and he showed me this tile, which was all polished, and looked beautiful!

He talked me into tiling the whole house …To tile the whole house cost $16,000 and an additional $30,000 to install.

When the tiles got installed, I hated them! The tiles made the home look cold and clinical instead of warm and enduring like what the timber floorboards would have … We had to get the tiles ripped up using a jackhammer, which was an extra expense of $20,000. This completely ruined the concrete and we had to get that redone too.

This mistake was close to $100,000!

Cherie Barber. Photo: Supplied

Simon Pryce, the ‘Red Wiggle‘ and Lauren Hannaford, gymnastics fitness trainer

Note to self – don’t go away when renovating! At first we thought what a brilliant idea, we will be away on tour [Hannaford was a dancer for The Wiggles at the time and was on tour with Pryce] so we won’t have to find somewhere to live while the renovation is happening. The architect and builders will be able to deal with everything and we’ll come home and everything will be done and it would all just have miraculously happened without us having to lift a finger!

Great idea in theory, but not as genius as we originally thought. 

Firstly, trying to print, sign, and scan documents when camped on the tour bus in a car park somewhere in the middle of Saskatoon, Canada proved to be a little difficult. Apparently they don’t have printers or scanners in car parks.

Then some of our friendly neighbours decide to make a complaint about the work being done even though it had all been previously approved. They sent the council over to inspect the work and the council told the builders to stop work for about 10 days while they inspected the renovation and did checks on paperwork. There was nothing wrong with the work, all paperwork had been filed correctly, but thousands of extra dollars later and many more papers signed, the work finally continued.

Needless to say, the renovation wasn’t finished by the time we got home so we had to find somewhere else to live anyway.

Simon Pryce. Photo: Supplied

Sibella Court, interior stylist

Have you ever heard of that movie Lost in La Mancha? It’s about the making of a movie that is plagued with unforeseeable incidents …

Recently, I felt like I was in the sequel to this movie where everything that could go wrong did and more.

Tile colours were incorrect only to be discovered after they were laid, paint colours were mixed differently and only noticed once on the walls, tables were damaged on packing and were the only ones left in Australia, all fabric was specced for digital printing then a new printer was purchased that had a dramatically different colour, the owner went to hospital for months, manufacturers went to hospital or shut down … just to name a few.

I am still alive.

Sibella Court. Photo: Supplied

Adam Brand, musician and presenter

Have you ever heard a salesman say, “The house has hardwood frames and termites won’t eat the hardwood?” Well … it just so happens termites don’t discriminate when it comes to wood!

I didn’t check the hardwood frames because I thought I had a handle on the extent of the termite damage just looking at the softer wood skirts that had been dined on – big mistake! New frames were needed in 80 per cent of the existing house structure. Ouch!

Adam Brand. Photo: Supplied

Ben Edwards, architect

[My mistake was] thinking painting the interior of the house myself (after the main building work had been completed) would save money.

I ended up roping in friends (with the lure of beer) and by the end of it I didn’t see some of them again for a few weeks!

Ben Edwards. Photo: Supplied

Christopher Megowan, architect

When I was 22 I bought a duplex in Los Angeles with an interest-only loan and decided to extend both units, essentially doubling the size of the two original units.

Due to my relative inexperience at the time (I hadn’t even graduated from architecture school yet, let alone practiced!), it was definitely a trial by fire. I made every mistake in the book. 

After months of battling with officials at the City of Los Angeles to get permission to build the somewhat unorthodox structure, I signed a lump sum contract without full architectural documentation and didn’t even negotiate time damages into the contract prior to commencing construction!

By the time the project finished four months behind schedule and 30 per cent over the original budget, I had definitely learned some valuable lessons the hard way. Miraculously, however, it all worked out in the end. Several years later I was able to sell the project and use the money from that initial project as a down payment for a current project I’m developing in Brighton East.

Christopher Megowan. Photo: Supplied