The one thing The Block’s Emma and Ben say you should always do before starting a renovation
Emma Shanahan and Ben Cox are seasoned renovators who had three projects under their tool belts before they even stepped foot on The Block in 2025. Now, the pair are working on their fifth house together, and they did one crucial thing before getting started.
After selling their Mornington Peninsula property, the couple and their one-year-old son Bailey moved into their Mount Martha house and spent some time living in it before making any decisions.
This is Emma Shanahan and Ben Cox’s fifth renovation including the Daylesford property from The Block 2025. Instagram/@emmaandben
The family had the help of Taxibox to store and transport their furniture and belongings while between homes.
“When we first bought it, we were like, ‘Maybe we’ll just do a bit of a cosmetic reno’. Then after living in it, we were like, ‘No, we need to rearrange rooms and make it a lot more liveable’. We went full send with the plans, and pretty much knocked out every single thing on the inside of the house,” Shanahan told nine.com.au.
Spending some time living in the property is something the pole dance instructor and dancewear designer recommends others do before starting their own renovations.
“I feel like you don’t really get the feel of the house or the street or the layout of the area until you’re there. When we were living in it, the kitchen didn’t open to the outdoor area at all so it was annoying – you had to walk all the way around the house to get outside,” she said.
Shanahan and Cox chose the Mount Martha house because it’s in a good school zone and surrounded by trees, making it feel like it’s further out in the suburb than it actually is.
The couple plan to keep the existing roofline and size of the house and instead make it feel bigger.
“It was a little house, which then had been extended on, so it was like lots of little pokey rooms. So our plan is to open everything up, create this kitchen/living/ dining all in one big room that then opens with a big stacker door onto an outdoor entertaining area,” she said.
“It’s going to feel a lot bigger because we’re going to add in lots of windows. We’re also going to paint everything a brighter colour than what it was, just because we’ve got low ceilings, so we want it just to feel as big as possible.”
For the interior style of the Mount Martha property, Shanahan plans to take inspiration for the styling from their coastal location. She also loves mid-century modern, though admits the darker tones of that style won’t suit the light and airy feel they’re going for, so there may also be a little Japandi (Japanese and Scandinavian) interior design influence too.
“A bit of a cluster of everything,” she said with a laugh.
So far, some of the backyard has been done, with a play area for Bailey and a fire pit so they’re ready to enjoy in summer, and the frames for the walls have gone up with plastering expected to be finished early November. The pace of the project is due to their current living arrangements which involve staying with different family members throughout the next few months.
“We’re saying a three- to four-month build from when we started, which was last week. But I did remind Ben we weren’t on The Block any more and things don’t have to go as fast. Then he reminded me that we’re couch-surfing, so we are trying to get it done as quickly as possible,” Shanahan said.
Whatever happens throughout the next few months with this project, the one thing doing multiple renovations has taught the couple is to be flexible with their design and choices.
The third house Shanahan and Cox renovated is being used on the 2026 season of The Block as the contestants’ sharehouse. Instagram/@emmaandben
Shanahan and Cox had that very experience with their first renovation of an old shack they bought at auction. While ripping the walls off, what they thought were “beautiful weatherboards” were actually rotten. There were also rats and a wasp nest behind them.
“There's definitely things that I've learned like that, which I look back on and go, ‘Oh my God, I wouldn't have ever been prepared for anything like that’,” she said.
“A lot can go wrong. You can plan out as much as you can, but things can just change all of a sudden … especially with a renovation, you don’t know until you uncover something, what is there that was pretty relevant on The Block as well. You had to always be changing your plans and being OK with it. So I definitely learned that.”
