What Order Should You Renovate Your House? 7 Steps
A practical guide for Sydney homeowners planning more than one room.
Get the order right and each room builds on the last. Get it wrong and you can end up redoing work, living without a kitchen and bathroom at the same time, or matching finishes that were never meant to go together.
The best order to renovate a house is to plan the whole home first, complete any structural work such as wall removal next, then renovate the rooms you rely on most, and leave the lower-disruption rooms until last.
Kitchen & Home Renovations Co. (KAHR Co.) plans and delivers multi-room home renovations across Sydney, from our Taren Point showroom. These are the seven steps we talk homeowners through when they are renovating more than one room, whether they do everything at once or spread it over a few years.
Key Takeaways
- Plan every room you want to renovate before any work starts, even if you renovate in stages.
- Structural work, such as removing a wall, should happen before a new kitchen is designed or installed.
- Choosing finishes for every room at the same time keeps benchtops, cabinetry and colours consistent across the home.
- The kitchen is often renovated early because it shapes the open-plan living area and sets the finishes for other rooms.
- Rooms that share finishes, such as a kitchen and laundry, are often renovated together.
- Home offices, built-in wardrobes and outdoor kitchens cause less disruption and are easier to leave until later.
- Avoid having the kitchen and your only bathroom out of action at the same time if you are living at home.
Plan The Whole Home Before You Start
The most expensive renovation mistakes happen when rooms are planned one at a time. A new kitchen designed in isolation can clash with the bathroom you renovate two years later, or block the wall you later decide to remove.
Start with a plan for every room you want to change, even if you can only afford one this year. Work out what matters most to you, what each room needs, and roughly how the spaces connect. A single plan also lets you see the full cost up front and decide what to do now and what can wait.
This is what a KAHR Co. in-home design consultation is for. A designer walks through each room with you and helps you set priorities before anything is locked in.
Deal With Structural Changes First
If you are thinking about removing a wall to open up the kitchen, dining and living areas, it needs to happen before the new kitchen is designed and installed. The space you end up with decides where the island goes, how much bench space you have and how the rooms flow.
Before a wall comes out, it needs to be checked. A builder looks at:
- whether the wall is structural or load bearing
- whether plumbing, electrical or other services run through it
- whether engineering or approvals are needed
- in apartments, whether strata approval is needed.
The same logic applies to any changes to plumbing or electrical positions. Moving a sink, adding power points or relocating a cooktop is worked out before cabinetry and benchtops go in, not after. Read more about removing a wall for open-plan living.
Choose Finishes For Every Room At Once
Benchtops, cabinet doors, handles and colours look best when they have been chosen together. If you pick the kitchen finishes now and the bathroom finishes in three years, the two rooms rarely feel like they belong to the same home.
Choosing everything together does not mean every room has to match. It means the finishes are chosen to work with each other. The same stone might run through the kitchen and bathroom vanity, or the laundry might pick up the kitchen's door style in a simpler colour.
If you are renovating in stages, write down your chosen finishes and keep the samples. It makes the later rooms much easier to get right.
Renovate The Kitchen Early, In Most Homes
In most homes the kitchen is the room to renovate first or early. It is the room that shapes the open-plan living area, it usually involves the most planning, and its finishes set the direction for the rest of the house.
There are exceptions. If your only bathroom is failing, leaking or unsafe, fix it first. If you are preparing to sell, the kitchen and bathroom both tend to matter most to buyers, so it can make sense to do them together. Our guide to renovating before you sell covers this in more detail.
The kitchen does not have to be a full rebuild. Depending on the layout and condition, a kitchen makeover with new benchtops and doors can suit, or you may need a fully designed new kitchen with a better layout.
Pair Rooms That Share Finishes Or Trades
Some rooms make sense to renovate together because they use the same materials or the same trades. The most common pairings are:
- Kitchen and laundry. Often side by side or close together, and easy to finish with the same benchtop and cabinetry.
- Bathroom and laundry. Both are wet areas, so they involve similar plumbing and waterproofing work.
- Kitchen and bathroom. The two rooms buyers and families care most about, and the ones that benefit most from matching finishes.
Renovating a pair together also means one period of disruption for both rooms instead of two. See our laundry renovations and bathroom renovations.
Leave Lower-Disruption Rooms Until Later
Some rooms have far less impact on day-to-day life while they are being renovated. They are easier to stage, easier to fit around your budget, and simple to add once the bigger rooms are done.
- Home offices, built-in wardrobes and custom joinery
- Outdoor kitchens and alfresco areas
If these rooms are part of your plan from the start, their finishes can be chosen at the same time, so they still feel connected when they are finished later.
Plan Around How You Will Live At Home
If you are staying in your home during the renovation, the order of works needs to fit around your household. The golden rule is to avoid having the kitchen and your only bathroom out of action at the same time.
A few practical things help:
- Set up a temporary kitchen in another room with the fridge, microwave, kettle and a few basics.
- Keep one bathroom working at all times, or plan short stays elsewhere for the days it is not.
- Ask for the order of works in writing, so you know which rooms are affected and when.
- Clear the rooms being renovated, and the path to them, before work begins.
Deciding whether to renovate everything at once or in stages often comes down to this step. Our home renovations page compares both approaches.
Renovation Order FAQs
What is the best order to renovate a house?
Plan the whole home first, complete structural work such as wall removal next, then renovate the rooms you rely on most, usually starting with the kitchen. Leave lower-disruption rooms such as home offices, built-in wardrobes and outdoor kitchens until later.
Should I renovate the kitchen or the bathroom first?
In most homes the kitchen is renovated first or early because it shapes the living areas and sets the finishes for other rooms. If your only bathroom is failing or unsafe, fix it first. Many homeowners renovate both together to keep the finishes consistent.
Should I renovate everything at once or in stages?
Renovating at once means one period of disruption and finishes that are installed together. Renovating in stages spreads the cost and keeps more of the house usable. Either way, plan the whole home up front so later rooms match.
When should a wall be removed in a renovation?
A wall should be removed before a new kitchen is designed and installed, because the new space decides the layout. A builder checks first whether the wall is structural, whether services run through it and whether engineering or approvals are needed.
Can I live in my house while renovating?
Often, yes. Plan the order of works so the kitchen and your only bathroom are not out of action at the same time, and set up a temporary kitchen in another room while the kitchen is being renovated.
Can one company renovate multiple rooms?
Yes. Kitchen & Home Renovations Co. renovates kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, home offices, outdoor kitchens and built-in wardrobes, and can plan and deliver several rooms under one plan with one team across Sydney.
Not Sure Where To Start?
Book a free in-home design consultation. We will look at every room with you and help you work out the right order for your home. We renovate homes across the Sutherland Shire, St George, the Eastern Suburbs, the Inner West, the Lower North Shore and South Western Sydney.