The renovation regret changing the way a Melbourne couple is approaching their church conversion project

Jordan Bruno and Dane Yull are proof you don’t need experience to pull off a stunning house renovation. Having only previously revamped a bathroom, a bit of landscaping and some flooring, the Home Husbands, as they are known on social media, embarked on renovating an abandoned, “rat-infested” Perth cottage.

With that project now under their tool belts, the couple moved across the country with the help of Taxibox to Melbourne, and are now undertaking their biggest project yet – a five-year renovation of an old church that sits across two lots. 

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“We wanted to do something a little bit more exciting this time, so we were looking at a range of different properties from an old theatre, some really architectural homes that had been almost abandoned, and then also churchy churches,” Bruno told nine.com.au.

“Then we compromised on this, which isn’t an extremely churchy church. It was run by the Presbyterian group, and it was run by the Salvos, and it was the free day care of Melbourne.

“It’s already been converted in the ’90s… they also did it as a backpackers’ type accommodation, where they just tried to squeeze in as many bedrooms and bathrooms as they could for rental income. But we want to rip out some of these small rooms that are just compiled on top of each other, and really just return it to something a little bit more grand. 

“We’re almost putting the church back into this conversion is the way that we’re looking at it. So beautiful arched windows, stained-glass, restoring the ceilings and the walls that have been painted over. It’s more of a restoration project, this time around.”

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Bruno and Yull are already doing this renovation differently to their first one by starting with structural works first, and getting the foundations and things like plumbing and electricity sorted before moving on to the more exciting parts of renovating – the design elements.

Previously, the couple did things the other way around, which meant a lot of hard work had to be redone.

“We did all the cornice work, but our last house was really slanting as well and then once we got it lifted, it compromised the cornice work we did because we were doing it on a crooked house, and then when we straightened it out, the cornices were no longer straight,” Bruno said.

They also ended up redoing the floors multiple times; first, after finding out there were structural problems after laying the floors, then there were scratches that meant they had to re-sand and when they treated the floor they realised they didn’t like the oil they used the second time round.

“We're just trying to do everything in the right order this time around, really make sure we're taking care of the foundations and the fundamentals of the property, making sure it's structurally sound, and then doing more of the decorative finishes after that. 

“So the first part won't be as fun or as glamorous, where I think before we were just doing everything all at once and there was no priority or no order.”

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While they’re “so happy” with their Perth renovation, the pair learned plenty of lessons while doing it and from reflecting on how it turned out. One thing they won’t do again is a massive shower in the guest bathroom, which is so big the unused area accumulates dirt and there is a bench seat no one used.

“I think we went for what we thought looked good according to Pinterest, and I definitely wouldn't do it again,” he said.

The house also has a dark colour palette, which Bruno loves, but he wonders whether the exterior should’ve been a lighter colour. This time around he intends to be more strategic with where the dark colours are used.

“I love the colour palette, and I’m doing the same thing here, so I definitely wouldn’t change the colours too much. But I would pick and choose moments,” he said.

“One of the obstacles was it was an open-plan house, which really means you need to have that flow-through. What I found was our kitchen and our living room had so much light, and it could handle darker colours, and then I wanted it to match with the hallway, which flowed into it, and that was really dark.

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“So how you segment spaces or handle open-plan living does make it a little bit hard in terms of colour palette and what’s light and what’s dark.”

With the church renovation Bruno plans to be bolder and push the boundaries even more than they did with their previous renovation.

“What I mean by that is I wish I went to salvage yards or auctions and I purchased more beautiful windows that were a little bit more interesting and architectural. We lifted the room in one of the ceilings and it transformed the space. I wish I was doing that kind of thing from the start,” he said.

The couple is living on site during the renovation process in a building that they found out was the original church toilet block.

“We were trying to figure out what this was because it’s got these big windows across the ceiling, so we knew it was some commercial use of sorts, but this was the old toilets. This is where we’re sleeping and showering, and then we’ll be living here while we start to rip apart the other parts of the building,” Bruno said.

As unglamorous as that sounds, Bruno and Yull are loving getting stuck into their new project and enjoying their new Melbourne lifestyle.

For anyone inspired to renovate a property, or just a room, without any prior experience, Bruno encourages you to “dive in” and have a go at doing some of it yourself to save money. He also recommended looking at salvage yards and Facebook Marketplace to find bargains.

“Don't be scared to pick up a tool, don't be scared to follow your intuition in terms of design and what makes you happy because this is your home, and at the end of the day, it's going to recharge you, and it will literally change your life.”