Get It Right with Undercover Architect

This episode is about your outdoor living spaces … so your alfresco, or deck, or patio, or terrace, or outdoor room. Amelia will also be talking about swimming pools.    In so many parts of the world – and especially here in Australia – we’re blessed with a great climate. This helps us really expand the interior of our homes into the garden around them. So let Amelia share some great tips with you to get it right in planning your outdoor living spaces.  Whether you live in a large home on a big block of land, a compact home on an urban block, or in an apartment, this much is true. Having a great outdoor living space can do wonders for how your home feels.  Adding a deck on, or improving your outdoor area to create a space to live outdoors and entertain, is one of the more common renovations that people do to their home. And getting it right when you’re building new is one of the keys to helping your home flow, and to making the most of your home and your site.  Many places around the world, including Australia, have a great climate where outdoor living is a big part of enjoying our homes. Maximising the use of our outdoor spaces is a great way to expand the experience of your home – to make it feel larger and more spacious – and help you feel better in it.  Research shows that connection with nature is fundamental to our wellbeing too. So it makes sense on lots of levels to create outdoor spaces for your home that are useful, functional and enjoyable to be in.  Amelia takes you through the four F’s to help you think about what will work for your new home or renovation. Amelia also shares 3 mistakes to avoid, and 3 key design tips to consider for your project. And she talks a little about swimming pools to help you if you’re planning one for your place.  The top 3 mistakes Amelia will share are:  Mistake #1: choosing high maintenance materials for your outdoor living spaces  Mistake #2: making the connection to the garden difficult  Mistake #3: thinking that bifold doors are the best way to get a great indoor / outdoor connection  There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:  Design tip #1: provide spaces other than a table to sit at in your outdoor living spaces  Design tip #2: don’t compromise your indoor living spaces to accommodate an outdoor one  Design tip #3: remember to design in privacy   Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right.   FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stairs and garages. Whilst it may seem odd to put these two items together, there’s a few things they have in common.   Firstly of course, they don’t need to go into every home. If you’re renovating or building a single-storey house on perfectly flat land, there’s going to be part of this podcast not relevant to you! And not everyone wants to or needs to build a garage.  Secondly, stairs and garages need to be a certain size to actually work – to even be worthwhile including.   And thirdly, and this is probably the most surprising – how they are designed and where they’re located, can be the starting point for the rest of your home design.  So, in this podcast episode, Amelia tackles stairs and garages separately. As Amelia normally does, she takes you through the four F’s. And she also provides you with some mistakes to avoid and design tips to help you get it right.   Amelia's big mistake to avoid with stairs is this:   Not designing the stairs accurately at concept stage. If you fudge the size and layout of them, it can get you into serious trouble as you resolve your design, and don’t have sufficient room for the stairs.  Amelia's big design tip to get it right with stairs is:  Play with the location and design of the staircase and see what it helps you change overall in your home design.  And Amelia's big mistake to avoid with garages is this:   Don’t size them to be too narrow (this happens a lot in new homes, especially project homes). Amelia's big design tip to get it right with garages is:  Be careful about designing your layout so you’re walking from your garage through pantries and other similar spaces to get into your home.   Listen to the podcast for more tips, and also for great information about your garage space (and there’s a bonus in there for carports too!)  FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to this episode to learn how to get it right in your study nooks, studies and home offices. Our lives are busy. And whilst we do what we can to bring intention and quiet into them where possible, and focus on one thing at a time … sometimes we are juggling. Often we are juggling. And this seems to be most true in how we balance work and family life in our homes. We find the edges can be a little blurred. So that means that we’re bringing work home. Or we’re building businesses from home. And with kids growing through school and university, they’re also studying at home and needing space to do it. As parents, and often working parents, trying to combine all these activities with everyday family life can be challenging. And it can be critical to give everyone the space and quiet to focus on their work when needed, in order for our homes to work well. So creating spaces and rooms where this work can occur in a semi-uninterrupted way, can help with family sanity overall. Amelia knows personally. She's run businesses from her dining table, and it’s not fun for general family life. So if you’re renovating or building, it can be a simple inclusion to provide a space or room for work in your home, and improve your lifestyle overall. Amelia will start with the four F’s and how they relate to study nooks, studies and home offices. The top 3 mistakes Amelia will share are: Mistake #1: poor furniture planning in the studyMistake #2: forgetting storage and space for all the other things that need to go in a home office or studyMistake #3: forgetting a place for a printer There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3: Design tip #1: your power points don’t all need to be down at skirting board heightDesign tip #2: provide seating alternatives to your desk chairDesign tip #3: if sound separation is a big issue for you and working from home, consider extra insulation in your home office. FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is all about secondary bedrooms. “Secondary bedrooms” is the terminology Amelia uses to refer to any bedrooms that aren’t the main bedroom. These can include: Nurseries for infant babies and toddlers Kids’ bedrooms, for kids as they grow into their teenage years and beyond Guest accommodation for friends and relatives that may come to stay Bedrooms for elderly family members who may move in at some point – either temporarily or permanently Bedrooms for any other people you may have live in your home – such as a nanny or au pair Of course, Amelia will be sharing the four F’s and how to use them to get it right in these bedrooms. And, she'll also be identifying key mistakes and big design tips to help you design great bedroom spaces. You’ll probably find too that this podcast episode will pose a lot of questions to you. When it comes to family homes, some choices are really personal, and about how you need to live in your home. These choices will be about who lives in your home now, and who might be living in your home in the future. So, Amelia will be taking you through the various things to consider when determining how to include these bedrooms in your home. And she’ll share mistakes to avoid and key design tips for all types of secondary bedrooms. Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right. It’s a chunky episode so Amelia hopes you find it super useful! FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Amelia will be talking about wardrobes, linens, laundries and mudrooms.   She'll also cover walk-in robes and other storage. These spaces can be important to get right for a home to work well, so let’s learn more.   In this episode, Amelia talks about the four Fs upfront and gets through them quite quickly.   Then, she tackles each of these spaces individually, and shares some key mistakes and design tips for each. And in each she talks about where to locate it in your home, and how to connect it to other spaces and rooms so it works as conveniently as possible.  Because convenience is what these spaces are ALL about. When you get it right in these rooms and spaces … when you nail how they work functionally … then it not only assists you in your home. It makes life simpler for everyone, and is a serious sanity saver in family homes.   This is the list of rooms and spaces Amelia talks about in this episode.  Firstly, wardrobes. So these are built-in robes that are a fixed object in a room – and usually a bedroom.    Then there's walk-in robes. These are little (or big) rooms for storing clothing. They’ll sometimes be more like a dressing room, with an ottoman or something similar in the middle.   Next, there's linen cupboards. So these are for storing sheets, towels, blankets, and other types of items required for our beds and our homes. They can also be general storage for other things.  There’s also broom cupboards. These are generally similar to linen cupboards, with less shelving in them, so you can have space for vertical items such as brooms and mops.   Then, Amelia talks about two rooms … mud rooms and laundries. These rooms can be two separate ones in different parts of your home from each other. They can also be right next door to each other, or combined into the same space. Another name for a mudroom is a boot room.   Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right in your wardrobes, linen, laundry and mudroom.  FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is about the wet areas in our home, namely bathrooms, ensuites and powder rooms.   These are cost-intensive areas in our home. They, as well as our kitchens, will have the highest cost rate in $ / m2 compared with the rest of the home (when looking at your project overall). This is of course because of the electrical, the plumbing, the finishes, and the fixtures in these rooms, all crammed into quite a small area.   These rooms also need to function. In some pretty core and fundamental ways! When these areas aren't arranged well, when elements in them aren't sized appropriately, and when these rooms sit in difficult positions within our homes, they can seriously impact the convenience of daily routines.   In this episode, Amelia gets clear on the terminology used for these rooms, and what generally goes in each of them.    Then, of course, we'll explore the four F's and how they relate to your bathroom, ensuite and powder room.  And Amelia will share 3 mistakes and 3 design tips.   There are some general pieces of advice that apply whether we're considering the bathroom, ensuite or powder room. And then there's info that is specific to particular rooms. So whilst this episode relates to all 3 of these rooms, Amelia will identify some things to know with each room, individually.  The top 3 mistakes she'll share are:   Mistake #1: the toilet is visible with the door open (and is the first thing you see)  Mistake #2: locating your powder room so it’s directly accessed off your main hallway  Mistake #3: not planning the location of the towel rail during design  There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:  Design tip #1: locate your vanity so it's the first thing you see  Design tip #2: ensure you give the bath enough room ... (whether it's free standing or built in)  Design tip #3: choose your tile extents and types early, as it impacts your budget  It may feel like there’s a lot to think of, but next time you’re sitting in your bathroom, look around and make a list of all the things that are permanently fixed in there. There is a lot packed into a relatively small area.   It all needs to function well, be durable and easy to clean and maintain, in order for your wet areas to not cause you issues. So of course, planning these things early will make your process simpler overall.   Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right in your bathroom, ensuite and powder room.   FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The main bedroom of the house … Bedroom Number 1. This can be simply a bedroom, or it can be arranged in combination with extra or attached spaces such as a walk-in-robe, ensuite and even a parents’ retreat. Other names for it are the master bedroom, or master suite.   Ensuites and walk-in robes will come in Episode 6 and Episode 7, so Amelia can give you more detail about them separately.  Something to know first about this episode ...  A lot of what Amelia will be sharing is options that are available to you. She'll actually be asking a lot of questions. You can then ask these of yourself, or discuss with your partner, to work out the best design choices for you.  Unlike some other parts of the home, the way a master bedroom is designed isn't too prescriptive in order for it to work. There are of course some fundamental things that work and don't, and she'll be taking you through those.   However, so much of the design aspect of the main bedroom involves super personal choice. And, as with your whole home, Amelia wants you do design it with intention. Actually think about how you’ll use it, and design it to suit you.   Amelia will be sharing the four F's and how to use them to get it right in your main bedroom. And, as always, she'll be identifying 3 key mistakes and 3 big design tips to help you design a beautiful master bedroom for your home. But actually – there’s a lot of mistakes and design tips in this one, so listen out!   The top 3 mistakes Amelia shares are:   Mistake #1: forgetting the circulation space required in this bedroom  Mistake #2: arriving into the master on the side or head of the bed  Mistake #3: not privatising the view into the room from within and outside the home  There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:  Design tip #1: position the door into the room so you can see across the foot of the bed as you walk in  Design tip #2: choose and design your lighting for flexibility of use, and so you can turn off the last one from bed  Design tip #3: consider whether locating your master bedroom close to your kids’ bedrooms is the right choice  The main bedroom can often be the only space in our family homes that feels like ‘our own’. It’s a grown up space that gives us an opportunity to escape from busy, crazy family life. And gives us the chance to be secluded, and get some relaxation space of our own.   Listen to the podcast now. Amelia hopes you find it helpful in getting it right in your master bedroom or master suite.   FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a huge amount to consider when it comes to designing your kitchen. And it, more than any other area of your home, you can feel a lot of pressure that you’ll stuff it up.  This episode is about kitchens … all thing kitchens, which means Amelia will also talk about butler’s pantries, walk-in pantries and appliance cupboards.   Your renovation or new build can the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to finally get a kitchen that works. One with decent bench space, great storage, and a layout that enables you to enjoy being in it, using it, and getting the most from it.  So, in this episode, Amelia will cover the 4 “F’s” and how they relate to your kitchen. She’ll also share 3 mistakes to avoid, and 3 design tips to aim for so you nail this space in your home.   When a kitchen works, it ends up being amazing for improving your time and life in your home overall.   The thing is, for most homeowners she works with have families. And when you have kids, the way you usually entertain is at home. It’s hard, and expensive, to take a tribe of children out somewhere. And even when you do, you never get to actually speak to your friends, because you're too busy watching the kids!  So getting together with your friends and family usually involves being at someone’s home. And having a lovely open plan kitchen / living / dining area, that then flows to outside, is such a winner with easy family living and entertaining. Sounds good hey?  So what are these mistakes? She mentions a lot in this podcast episode, and here are her top 3:  Mistake #1: not planning out the storage you need  Mistake #2: island bench is too stumpy in proportion  Mistake #3: using a corner pantry  There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:   Design tip #1: keep all services out of the island bench (including your sink)  Design tip #2: remember that your fridge is deeper than your kitchen joinery  Design tip #3: consider whether you need an island bench at all  Kitchens are a big deal in our homes. They're the source of a lot of angst when they don't work well, and so can be pretty stressful to get right. And, they also chew up a lot of our budget.   Listen to the podcast now. Amelia hopes you find it helpful in getting it right in your kitchen design.   FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is about the second living space in our homes. It goes by lots of different names, but most homeowners planning a renovation or new home want to create one. So, let’s learn more about how to get it right.  This episode may also be a little controversial, as Amelia challenges you to consider whether you really need a second living space in your home. As you stretch your budget and your space to accommodate all the dreams you have for your new or renovated home, you may end up compromising everything.  She's not here to crush your dream. If you want a second living room, can afford one and want to know how to create one that works, then this episode is for you. There are also some suggestions for alternatives if you’ve been weighing up whether you can create this space in your home.   Australian homes are among the biggest in the world.   And, in Amelia's experience with renovating and building, there’s a great mismatch between homeowner expectations and actual costs and timeframes. They say it always costs twice as much to renovate and build, and takes twice as long. Instead, Amelia suggest's that homeowners begin their project thinking it will take half as long, and cost half as much, as it actually will. And the readjustment as they find this out can be super challenging on their journey.  So, how to do you get this second living room working in your home? We dive into the four “F’s” to understand how they apply to this space.   Amelia also shares 3 key mistakes she sees many homeowners make when designing their second living room. She’ll go through these in detail so you can avoid them in your design. What are they? Here’s a summary:  Mistake #1: not being strategic about where you locate this room in your floor plan  Mistake #2: creating a design that is too fixed in how the room needs to be used  Mistake #3: closing the room up too much  She also provides 3 design tips to help you get it right in your second living room. Here’s those 3 tips briefly:   Design tip #1: using it to zone the home, and improve the functionality overall by creating seasonal spaces with how its oriented and what it's connected to  Design tip #2: designing for flexibility in how you fit out the room so it serves lots of different functions  Design tip #3: use the room to provide breathing space to open the home up where needed - for spaciousness and light  This room is usually created to provide separation and choice in a home. But what other functions does yours need to perform? And how can you create it so it suits your family now, and always?  Listen to the podcast now. You’ll be on the way to getting it right in your design for your second living room.  FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The question we’re asking today is: How do we make our living and dining rooms, great spaces in our new or renovated home? We spend a huge amount of our time in our homes in our main living and dining rooms. In fact, these spaces, along with our kitchen, get prime use in our homes. So, getting it right in these rooms can and will have a significant impact on how our home feels and functions overall. In this episode, Amelia shares some amazing research that will help you understand where to place the lion’s share of your effort, energy and budget in your renovation or new home. It’s a game-changer. She also shares detail about how to achieve the four “F’s” in your main living and dining space. She'll uncover how to tailor this learning to your own design, so you can create a great living and dining space in your home. There’s 3 key mistakes Amelia sees many homeowners make when creating their living and dining rooms. She’ll go through these in detail so you can avoid them in your design. What are they? You’ll need to listen (!) … but avoiding these mistakes will help you … Mistake #1 Avoiding this will help you enhance the relaxation of your living space Mistake #2 Knowing this one will mean you don’t create a modern problem in how you use this room Mistake #3 Not doing this is a sure-fire way to build in flexibility and comfort into your main living room Amelia will also provide 3 design tips to help you get it right in these spaces. She goes through them in detail, how to execute them, and give you some action steps. Design tip #1 Tells you where to locate your living space in your home Design tip #2 Gives you tips about what you should be doing early on in the design process Design tip #3 Outlines how to arrange the room so you see certain elements first (There’s also key tips about your dining room – and how to avoid a big mistake many homeowners make in where they position it in their reno or new home design). Listen to the podcast now. You’ll be on the way to getting it right in your design for your main living and dining spaces. FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.