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From DIY kitchens to luxe laundries: 33 women share how they revamped their home in lockdown.

For the past 18 months, most of us have spent countless hours confined to our homes. And along the way, we've picked up new and unexpected hobbies.

We saw the rise of virtual book clubs, a return of knitting, and of course, viral TikTok pasta recipes.

But perhaps the most popular hobby of all in lockdown has been home renovation.

Here’s exactly what the horoscopes were like in self isolation. Post continues below.


We decided to take a look at some of the ways women have revamped or renovated their homes during lockdown.

From DIY kitchens to pervy organisational hacks, here’s what 33 women have done.

Shanleigh

“This is my brother’s first home. For his birthday, we revamped his bedroom as a surprise (he works FIFO so we could sneak in). It was difficult to do as the family had to go to his house in stages to build furniture, paint and decorate because we couldn’t be all together due to isolation rules. Needless to say, he loved it!”

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Anita @mise_en_place_aus

"I decluttered and organised all of my kids LEGO, puzzles, and board games as they were items we were accumulating much more of during isolation."

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Rebecca @homeandtribe_

"I've been working on my kids' playroom during lockdown. It has been hard as I haven’t been able to get to stores but it’s getting there!"

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Brit @homeiswheretheplantsare_

"After 18 months in our house, we needed a pantry refresh... and it has already been raided by the cat."

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Kellie @peninsulaliving

"Here's our revamped pantry!"

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Ellie @houseandhomeproject

"We renovated our laundry in isolation."

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Steph

"We pretty much gutted our entire laundry, while still keeping the same structure!"

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Kate

"We have done heaps in isolation! We always seemed to have either the cash, but no time... or the time, but no cash. We’re lucky to still have work, and the extra time has allowed us to paint our little cottage and continue our renovations."

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May

"The wallpaper made all the difference to my bedroom."

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Tempany

"We did a DIY laundry renovation for under $80! We made a plywood benchtop and covered it with oak look vinyl wrap, re-painted and used old shelving, and used Kmart items to style! Super simple and cost-effective!"

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Vanessa 

"We changed and updated our front door entry."

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Emma @emma_renae_stylist

"I've just redone my daughter's room. I've been stood down at work so doing home projects has been an amazing way to keep myself occupied."

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Caitie

"We completely converted our laundry."

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Tatiana @inspireddecorbytatiana

"Here are a few of my recent organisational projects. All the laundry items (including the laundry unit) are from Kmart as is everything in the kids area and the desk. The fridge is a mix of containers from Decor and my local variety shop. Organisation can definitely be budget-friendly."

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Charlotte

"We painted the shed and the garden fence."

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Ashton

"I did a little kitchen renovation while my husband was away for the month. It was almost all completed with purchases from Bunnings."

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Renée 

"We renovated our bathroom. My husband did the lot, except for the electrical work. It's seriously amazing what he’s done."

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Kate 

"We bought a house pre-COVID and had to move in before making any renovations so we had to do some serious handiwork to get it liveable. We've never done anything like this before, loved it!"

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Kathleen

"We refreshed our study area!"

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Emnie @loveiris.au

"Here is my kids play area, which I revamped during the lockdown. I wish I had a before photo as it looked so unorganised beforehand – I had individual baskets and boxes all over the place. It looks so much better now, and toys don’t just get dumped anywhere. The cubes, boxes and lightbox are from Kmart and the tags and labels are from Love Iris."

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Angelica

"We completely updated and renovated our garage."

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Emma-rose @emmarosedesign

"I had a baby during the pandemic, but I also found some spare time to renovate! Here's what we did to our dining room."

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Em @stilettos_and_bricks

"With extra time on our hands during isolation, my husband and I took DIY to a new level and completely transformed our home. We ripped up the dark, outdated slate floors, which took six long days of my husband jackhammering to get them lifted. We then installed hybrid flooring. Next, we removed the kitchen and installed a DIY Kaboodle Kitchen from Bunnings. We did all of the work ourselves and we love the results."

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Nicole @krash.home

"We renovated our study nook."

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Gina

"I haven’t revamped my home BUT I’ve been spending so much time in my business office (five minutes from home) that I decided to revamp the kitchen, buy the new Thermomix, fix up all the containers and basically create a second functioning kitchen at my office. In the last week, I have smashed out five lots of brownies, 2kg of rocky road, 110 cinnamon scrolls, five lots of lemon curd slice, four lots of caramel crunchie fudge, 150 subway cookies, 2kg of butter chicken and a batch of tuna pasta out of this mini office kitchen."

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Amy 

"We've done a bunch of little projects around our house over the last two months, including installing new wall lights in our bedroom. We also added a rug, beanbag, plants, books, a salt lamp, and a proper office chair for our study. I love working in here now."

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Amy's revamped study. Image: Supplied.

Jess 

"I decided to revamp my four-year-old's bedroom."

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Jody 

"We finally finished our budget DIY kitchen. It was the first real renovation that my husband and I have ever undertaken – and we survived."

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Kate 

"We're still in semi-lockdown in France, so we decided to sand and repaint 30 shutters from blue to dark grey! There's still 24 to go..."

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Angie 

"My husband had time off for COVID-19. He refused to paint what needed to be done, but he did build a cubby house from scratch and a dog kennel."

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Sally 

"I've been starting to redo my old wooden furniture. I decided I now hate dark wooden furniture so I've started to revamp it all."

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Nicole 

"We've made a lot of changes... new driveway, new front door and posts, new bedspread, new carpet, new couch cushions, a homeschooling room, and a veggie garden."

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Nicole's homeschooling room. Image: Supplied.
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Nicole's veggie garden. Image: Supplied.
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Mel

"I updated my son's bed from toddler to double. He is only three but I'm a tad obsessed with buying new linen."

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Have you revamped or renovated your home in lockdown? Submit your photos below!

This article was originally posted on June 4, 2020 and was been updated on July 29, 2021.

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