Investment Property Tips and Tricks

Hi all,


Going through before pre-start choosing colours, products and the like and it is doing my head in. Just curious to hear thoughts from those who have managed many rentals before and can give some hard wearing advice on colours, products and handy 'do's and donts' when it comes to outfitting your rental.

1) Carpets - I believe I should be going loop polypropelyne as supposedly the dyed synthetic nylon isn't worth the $ (trevors carpets0 and the loop style polypropelyne is what IPs constantly use? At least what I"ve been told.

Dark grey/ash grey - light colours show dirt easily, black looking too weird for some peoples liking. Grey is therefore more neutral

2) Main flooring: I was set on tiles that the standard project builder throws in but having consulted Trevor's Carpets they seem to have blown my mind on the new easy lay/fit style vinyls that look and semi-feel like wooden flooring or tiles, but can be easily ripped off individually and replaced when need be. Most importantly water proof and a more warmly feeling - Tenant Proof?!

I assume laminates are a no go as the water damage from any spills not wiped up? And therefore left with tiling.

3) Internal Wall paints - I've ben eying the typical display homes which all have some form of white, neutrals and greys. Thought this would create nice big open looking spaced with a dark/ash grey like style carpets. Not as interesting as colour, but neutral means wide tenant appeal assumedly?

4) External wall paints - thought the shades of dark and lighter greys and whites... again is this too sombre or good being neutral for tenant appeal?

5) Hardest part: Colour choices for kitchen benchtops, laminate cupboards.

Colour choices for bathroom/ensuites/WC's etc. as far as floor tiling, wall tiling, laminate vanity and cupboard laminate colours go?

I'm seeing alot of trendy looking colour schemes that use colour contrasts - black vs glossy white, and alot of display homes have glossy white wall tiles in the shower. But i've been advised that light tiles and grout or even benchtops, kitchen tops etc (stone or laminate) are a pain to clean and show dirty, stains and moulds easier?

I thought shades of dark grey floor tiling, wall tiles etc. but the mrs reckons it's too boring and sombre without the bright colours etc... i thought this would make dirt harder to see with IP tenants who don't care about cleaning bathrooms and the like regularly.

So I'd just like to throw the question out there to all you IP owners - what have you learnt the hard way in terms of outfitting for lasting quality and appeal? Would love to hear your feedback so I avoid making the same mistakes!

Cheers

 

Two words - colour consultant. Especially for the exterior.

We have used the vinyl plank in every project we've ever done, they're great.

 

I'm terrible at colours, consulted with @Westminster in Perth for the 2 I'm building in Adelaide so should turn out good. Give her a buzz and see what she'd charge you.

Where are you building btw?

 

+1 for colour consultant. My interior designer usually does all the colour stuff and just runs it by me for my 'OK'.

 

Different suburbs, different target markets and different budgets all impact on these choices. For example - what i would choose for an inner city apartment (hello hipster!) is way different to what I'd put in Gwelup (hello second home buyers).

Who are you building with, what are you building and where is it? i can give you a few pointers if you like once I know that.

 

Is a colour designer necessarily an interior designer? Or is that their actual title? And how much are we looking at for a simple two paint tone outside and one inside? Would have thought one could DIY with some logical tips?

Westiminster - Piara Waters, a 4x2 with SmartHomes for Living. Has a theatre, study the lot. Stuck with their essastone range as such (there's 4, assuming your familiar with them by builder?). Tips would be much appreciated.

The vinyl planks - was considering those based on what the Trevor Carpets guy said about replacement being a piece of cake (if we're on the same page as to what I'm imagining the vinyl planks to be) plus waterproof... not sure how durable to scratching they are versus the tile equivalent. Assume it's warmer underfoot and the tones may bring things out more?
Must be some do's and don'ts in terms of colours and items/materials to make it more rental sturdy and to maintain broad appeal versus your own home?

How do you find their durability (scratch and wear) versus replacement and cost wise versus the standard project builder tiles that'd be thrown in? Do you think the look and feel outranks the tiles in practicality and cost/use? (who do you use for your vinyl planks?)

 

Would be great also as a side note to think about - recommendations of your colour consultant for those who posted above, otherwise what's the best way to find someone good at their job for a reasonable rate - being an eventual rental obviously there's less importance to spend big bucks designing something fit for a king. I would also therefore be limited in the range provided by builder - from tile sizes to type.

Imported ceramics for my main flooring, crosbys for WC's, ensuites, bathrooms and laundry etc.

 

Why different tile shops for tiles? quite odd.

Is your tile allowance around $44 psqm? It doesn't give a huge range but generally you can find something not to offensive.

You're builder may have some pre-done colour boards with all the things chosen which are a godsend for those not confident doing it themselves.

Floor Tile: go for a 600 x 600mm tile if you can. Something with a bit of variation in tone rather than purely one colour as dirt, hair, mopping streaks show up way more if there is no tonal variety. Do consider going for a lappato tile which is like a matte rather than totally gloss. Again less mopping streaks will show up. As to colour something like a concrete look grey is on trend and has grey grout which is every landlord's best friend. Also check out the wood look porcelein tiles which come in plank shapes. I know Imported Ceramics do have these but I'm not sure how much they are.

Kitchen tile/bathroom tile: it's a bit out there and might be a flash in the pan fashion BUT I love the idea of grey grout with white tiles. It looks amazing and again is so much better than white grout for staying clean. In the kitchen subway tiles/rectangle look smart and are very affordable



Bathroom tile: go with a darkish floor tile that blends or is the same as the living room tile but a smaller size. Same with laundry tile. With the floor tile run it up over the bath hob/outside. Again consider white wall tiles with grey ground and take the floor tile up one wall of the shower. Sorry I can't find a great example but you can see here how a simple grey and white bathroom can still look stylish



Wall Paint Colour: 50% Dulux Brume, 50% Solver Smoke Pearl or 50% Pebble Grey

Outside colours: I like Surfmist or Shale Grey for roof.
1. Surfmist roof, dune render with some stack stone

2. Surfmist roof, shale grey render

3. Shale grey roof with surfmist render


Why do I like Colorbond colours for render? because they can then get powder coated colorbond downpipes/gutters to easily match. You can also generally find a fence colour to match, garage doors come in colorbond colours too

 

@SaberX

Feel free to check out our last development photos here;

https://propertychat.com.au/community/threads/our-latest-development-in-western-sydney.659/

Floor covering

Tiles; 300x600 Italian laparto (cheaper for labour and can be bought around $25 per/sqm)

Wooden bamboo floor board or carpet

Bathroom;

White 300x600 bathroom tiles
Shower wall -feature tiles
Floor- 300x300 floor tiles (darker color)


Colors

Ceiling white
Walls; 1/4 grey pebble white

Kitchen

White poly pac soft close door
40 mm stone benchtop
900mm freestanding cooktop


It works for resale and renting.

Stick to nutual color and theme internally. It will save any unwanted variation and cost of color consultant.

Or

you can hire dulux color consultant, based on where site is, cost can be circa $300.


External facade and colors, really depends on location of prop and what suit/allowed in area.

Hope this helps!

 

It can be very costly to correct bad colour choices for the exterior.

I used a colour consultant initially for the exterior of my PPOR. I wasn't really sure if the colours would 'look right'. I ended up finding a 3D modeller to mock-up a visual for me with the initially selected colours, which ultimately looked terrible.

With one or two iterations, the colours where changed and updated in the mock-up. I was then much happier. My profile pic is the end result of the mock-up.

I found the Metricon Lookbook site to be a useful resource for a range of colour themes.

http://www.metricon.com.au/get-inspired/lookbook

 

THanks for the responses - time for bed so will have to respond tomorrow.

Just to clarify the main floor tiling is 450 x 450 (think you mentioned getting 600 x 600s) i think you can change from imported ceramics tiling to trevor carpet's laminates or carpet. The vinyl planks are Ezyfit (easyfit?) or Karndean from Trevors... but I'd have to get it preselected by Trevors and costed by the pre-start drafters as it isn't a default no-cost inclusion.

Exteriors are from the Taubman's exterior paint book (i.e. same as one picked up in bunnings). 2 x render colours. Sand painted render it seems? The gutters/fascia one colour choice -
from the colourbond colour guides. I did quite like the colourbond: deep ocean (The blue one?) for the roof, on a side note

The taubmans colour probably shoots your choices of colourbond paint out of the water Downpipes i've been told are at discretion of roof plumber, so they'll be painted to match whatever it goes down (brick or render)

Only allowed 4 essastone selections: New Crystal Salt, Galileo, New Basmati, Piazzo. Also one stone choice for kitchen will carry over to ensuite (which is double basin). Yes you're right, $44m2 tiling allowance with Crosbys it seems (which is 1 feature, 1 wall and 1 floor tile max, or if no feature then 2 wall and 1 floor). The bathroom floor tiles were the 300 x 300s or 200 x 200 , wall tiles were 400 x 200 type or the 200 x 200 from memory.

Formica laminate: Velour tops (no gloss anymore allowed) and velour or glossy for doors.

Not sure difference between tightform and the postform laminate that is offered...

Attached my style of elevation. The portico is copied and surprsingly got two awnings out front so it pretty much looks like the attached. Don't think I can afford as a rental property stack stone suggested? Front door is one x 920 , can't /wont do 1200s they said.Can't fit double 820 doors either.

 

Taubmans/Dulux/Solver etc etc will all colour match each others paint codes. So you can say to Taubmans "I'd like Dulux blah blah" and they'll do it. They will also definitely do the Colorbond colours.

I'm going to be upfront and say Colorbond Deep Ocean is one of my least favourite colours and it's very unpopular. Most estates prefer the lighter colours but if there is no Design Guidelines for your estate the most commonly used and popular roof colours are Dune, Shale Grey, Surfmist, Windspray and Basalt.

New Basmati Essastone is one of my faves. Goes well with white or a a pale grey cupboard.

450 x 450 is still a decent tile size. It will be interesting how much the vinyl planks are compared to that. If it's not much more I'd probably do it.

For the outside you could do like they have with one main render and the middle part with the 2 windows as the accent render. Match the gutters and the fascia to the roof. Match the garage door to the front door

 

I agree with @Westminster - while Deep Ocean is a nice colour in and of itself, but blue on houses is very 10 years ago. I'd avoid.

In my experience for good vinyl plank you'll be paying about $59sqm through a flooring company.

 

Ok , before I respond to prior posts I might add I went to Crosbys yesterday pre-late night close. Planning to head back in tomorrow.

I am still torn on going the light and light theme (bathrooms etc) or the dark/light (e.g. the white stone, glossy white cabinets, dark tiles) or the reverse light/dark. I think dark/dark is abit too niche taste and wouldn't appeal to all renters. Although it would help for maintenance/cleaning.

I did tend to gravitate towards either the darker grey floor Tiles: Balga Grey or Balga Taupe(300 x 300s) or the Livingston Grey, Livinston Ivory or Greta White (also 300 x 300s). Ruling out 200 x 200 on advice that bigger is better/grander looking.

I don't think cream or brown coloured is very lively, contemporary/stylish for myself, although for broad appeal I don't think these are the best choices. I stand to be corrected. Likewise I'm not sure about the very dark tiles as being too 'doomy and gloomy' as the gf puts it (when describing the Balga Grey/Taupe already!).

For wall tiles the ones that caught my eyes were (400 x 200s):

Fashion White, GLossy White (don't know to go the white showers as some now tell me renting /cleaning glossy white is easier and less noticeable of soap and shampoo stains/residue - while others say dark means you don't notice the dark grout dirt and mould? So I'm abit lost who is right/wrong).

GOt the Vento Gloss White sample too but not sure about this one....

More darker shades:

Drift White, Drift Taupe and Drift Grey caught my eyes.
Jersey Ash and Jersy CHarcoal - for the more woodeny/coarse look.

http://www.crosbytiles.com.au/all-other-sizes-2/

The website isn't as lively in terms of colours/looks, but some of you may have already seen these in person.Any recommendations on the above list?? Assuming I'm stuck with the new crystal salt or new basmati style stone, and go the light (glossy white?) colour cabinet doors, I thought maybe I could go the balga tiles (grey'ish) and mix it up with either glossy white in the shower for matching, or one of the drift or jersey colours for something more 'stylish'.

Alternatively the greta white, livingston grey etc. floor tiles are lighter, I could go dark cupboards (one of the darker wood like laminated) and the light stone top to ensuite?

What do you think would work best? My second bathroom I also need a tiling choice, but i don't have stone so I would have to go a "Velour" finish in the Formica (no glossy allowed), and glossy or velour in the cabinetry. Would one normally keep the two bathrooms identical themes? I've seen some dispays pair them up and others go with different bathrooms/rooms.

I plan to see imported ceramics tomorrow, I have no idea what th main floor tile s(450 x 450) are they offer, so it's made it very hard to match the floor tiles in bathrooms. The ensuite will be adjacent to darker/ash grey like carpet, so not so much an issue, but I assume if you go dark in the bathroom, then you must go dark main floor tiles to that hallway/living area, or at least a matching shade?

I've posed the question to my pre-start lady about matching colour pallette's and the colourbond paint.. will hear back! Internals I'm fine as I plan to paint myself so choice is up to me? Think those 'wash and wear' of dulux would work well in a rental and assumedly all the colours recommended above are done in that range?

 

@Jess Peletier - agreed, I love th elook on paper but when I went around the neighborhood I found it hard to find blue ones and when I did something about it had me leaning on the fence. At one stage it looks nice/'unique' , becuase all I see are light or dark grey colorbond roofs and given the elevation i posted above, having a darker grey and lighter warmer grey/white tones on the front, the blue seemed like a good contrast. May be too out there when combined onto a house though....

The conservative one seems to be the light(surfmist? I don't know when I walk around what colours as I find any bit of sun throws off the colour quite abit , or i'm blind?) or the darker greys.

I thought the general rule of thumb was to have a darker shade roof than the render? As I noted the darker roof colourbonds (dark greys) matched with lighter (but still dark grey) render, if that makes sense? Does colour paint render or colorbond affect the discolouration from elements or cleaning wise? Or is this not something worth considering?

@Westminster:

Main Floor Tiles - 450 x450 unfortunately not 600 x600. I will ask tomorrow if the standard range includes the wood looking tiles - do you recommend this if so? For a rental appeal do you find the warm or dark wood style (or vinyl planks) vs tiles more practical or more appealing to tenants?

Kitchen: Do you recommend the white 'new crystal salt' with glossy white laminates? That said I thought white stone and black cabinets contrasted well? or is it more 'neutral' for a rental to go the white kitchen with say dark main living tiles? Or would you keep it to all bright all around except if i can get vinyl planks or wood look tiles that come in the dark oak look?

I would have thought a dark or coloured (preferably more towards darker shade) of tile for the kitchen splashbacks etc. would be better? Given no oil splash or paint touch up worries (planning to tile the whole 2m splashback from under overheads/rangehood down to bench).

Bathroom: Agreed, I see what your saying. You think the floor tiles up the main wall is a much nicer feature than having a distinct one colour shower walls or two distinct colours in there? I am clarifying with the pre-start lady if my 1 floor, 1 wall , 1 feature tile can be 1 floor all the way up the wall, and another wall colour (on the end walls) as I was under the impression that as per the displa homes this was possible.

I do like the lighter grey/matte'ish look as per your picture, like the balga grey or taupe's I listed above, but don't you think having these run on the floor up the wall, plus white tiles would look too 'dull' with also having the new crystal salt stone and glossy white cabinets?? Would I be better off blending in or standing out more with contrast (perhaps the dark oak finish laminate doors)?

"Wall Paint Colour: 50% Dulux Brume, 50% Solver Smoke Pearl or 50% Pebble Grey" - You can mix the two at Bunnings or elsewhere rather than preselect just the one pallette colour? Didn't know you could mix shades to create a new one?!

Outside colours - all 3 are nice, the third isn't that abit too white/bright all around? The first is nice, i think the bright colourbond I've been seeing must be surfmist then. The Dune render is nice but wondering if the second render colour (i need two colours excluding garage for my estate as a requirement) should be a darker grey/colour like in the attached elevation portico I attached above?

As for your second email:

Thanks for the common popular roof colours- are any an advantage for maintenance or issues down the track over darker colours? Or indifferent, just a colour choice?

New Basmati Essastone- i do like it, but sometimes I don't. Do you think it's too 'busy' though for a more clean, simple and stylish style in kitchen or ensuite i.e. white gloss cupboars, or the oak style (light or dark) cabinet doors? Or busy is good in this sense?
The ezy(easy?) fit vinyl planks from Trevor's Carpets i've been told is about 64,67'ish retail I"ve been quoted so I would say Jess is about right as I assume builders would get a discount. I'll post up some of the selections tonight.

So I'd be best off with the dark render on the awning windows wall, and the lighter render colour say on the far right wall (no window wall as it's a WIR instead of bathroom now) and the portico? As I assume a light render on portico pillars is more welcoming.

I'm new to this all but in matching gutters and fascia to roof does one normally get similar shades for the two, or similar but different shades. And then are these shades normally closely linked to the roof? Or does one contrast , say darker fascia/gutters to contrast a lighter roof like surfmist?

Same for the door and garage door matching - what colour does one usually go to fit this in with the surrounding garage wall/frame and other walls render colour?

Or would you follow like your #1 picture with the surfmist roof and dune render: the render on the garage walls would be the same/match the portico and the far right wall, and the window wall would be the darker render, with the garage always being a lighter shade?

I had seen darker shade garages as contrast or that wooden/oak look but wasn't sure what's best principle to keeping appeal open to tenants and resale (although resale is a worse case, planning a long term hold).

Thanks for your tips and advice, much appreciated!

@Be Developer - will keep track of your thread, thank you. In terms of some of the choices listed, perhaps for my own renos down the track (when I'm game after property #1)... for now I'm sticking more to inclusions and unfortunately smarthomes won't be giving me bamboo flooring and the like I actually heard bamboo was hard wearing but the Trevor's Carpet guy didn't like them? Might have been the resurfacing requirements or something else? Thought vinyl was alot more practical for a rental? But to each their own?

Ceilings and cornices are painted white by builder. Internal and external doors also selected from Taubmans. Does one normally do the internal doors one shade darker than your internal wall colour, or the same?

@wombat - will checkout the website. Thanks.

Re: dulux colour consultants, these are employed by Dulux? Or just people that work with the colours?

Interestingly I saw on homeone or somewhere a guy who does modelling/colour mock ups and I always wondered how this would be useful or if it was a waste of money. Perhaps I should check the price....

I assume that going the external colours that westminster listed though, it would be hard to make something totally abominal or off-matching? Just as long as it's neutral, greys etc, haha no red, blues and colourr!

 

ok I think I might have confused you a little but no worries as you have confused me back

Gutters/Roofs/Fascias: when I saw to match them, I mean exactly match them. So a Colorbond Surfmist roof would have a painted or actual Colorbond Surfmist coloured gutter. No contrast, no similar, no different - I'm talking exact match

Internal Wall Paint Colours: they were all seperate colour choices not a blend. You can get 100% of those colours but for internal walls I recommend a 50%/half tint to make it a lighter colour

Garage doors: you can match it to the surrounding render or use it as a bit of a contrast. I prefer my roof, garage door and front door all to be the same colour. I have painted a lot of front doors Dulux/Colorbond Surfmist. My prestart lady does a lot of copy and paste as I will have the same colour over and over and over on one house.

Floor to Kitchen/Bathroom matchiness: if you have a wooden (or wood look) floor then I would keep cupboard does a plain colour (gloss or matte doesn't matter). If you have a plain tiled floor then I would add some warmth to the room with formica/laminex timber grain doors. It stops the room looking too boring as you thought above. A grey, white and timber bathroom looks very nice.

Skirtings/Door/ door frames etc: I either do these a white or 25% of the wall tint colour

Believe me if you think grey external colour is easy it is not. There is greys that look green, that look purple and look blue. Finding a grey grey is very hard.

 

@SaberX The colour consultant I used was the one provided by my builder. They did use a dulux book.

 

Thanks Wombat.

@Westminster

THanks for clarify the matching. I will choose a similar colourbond colour for both gutters, roof and fascia in that case.I noticed driving around alot that many times people had different gutters or fascia colours to the roof actually! One thing I failed to see was not many matched the garage door to the front entrance door colour as you recommended?

Re: internal wall colours - call me ignorant but I didn't know people went a % of the original colour! Learn something new everyday. I thought you picked based on the colour book and if you wanted something lighter you'd just go a different colour choice altogether!Guess the % reduction must make the colour nicer than choosing a 100% of a different colour altogether, otherwise people wouldn't go %'s...?

Explains why in another thread I kept seeing mentions of "25%" antique white usa.

Bathroom/Kitchens:

Thanks for your recommendations. I wnt into imported ceramics on saturday and came up with 3 choices for main open living area 450 x 450 tile choices:Meyers Gris GR: #22 Smokey Grey, Selene Alphine Grout #21 Misty Grey, and Magic Ash Gloss GR #31 Coffee- I've attached a picture of them below. They don't do justice to the tones and colours in real life but hopefully it gives a good picture. With the white walls I was told to perhaps eliminate the more white tile as being similar to internal wall paints and a white stone top , and with the gloss coffee colour I wasn't sure if it was too 'bland'. The smokey grey was therefore what I was leaning towards. Thoughts? Glossy coffee one I was told that the gloss tiles supposedly scratch alot easier than the matte, in consideration of a rental?



My only worry is can one get too 'gloomy' by having the smokey grey tiles (even with the tones of white in it)plus dark/grey carpet throughout? Even with white/grey neutral internal wall paint, will the house look too drab or not as 'open' as light tiles or glossy tiles would portray?

Throw in the potentially grey style tiles in the ensuite that I'm thinking (unless i go greta white, living stone ivory or one of the other light tiles, but these might be 'too bright') and I'm worried I might come across as too adams family?

I've attached a picture of the 3 shades of 'dark/grey' carpet I saw at Trevors, please see the 3 carpets from the top in the below picture - standard loop style, as I think for cost efficiency and hiding dirt I'll stick with these darker shades? WHat is your overall thoughts if I do this with the interaction in colours in the main areas, ensuite etc and internall wall colours?



Could I please ask 3 further questions:

What are your thoughts on mixing laminates in the same area? I.e. if I do indeed go the grey main floor tiles in the living area, if I go the new crystal salt essastone and white gloss laminate cupboards, will it look weird mixing this with some form of oak (dark perhaps or light?) laminate on either the overheads or the kitchen bench? Or even having the oak on the island bench cupboards and the kitchen bench/overheads as glossy white?

Or is it strictly a bad idea to mix oak and glossy looks laminates in the one kitchen area?

Secondly - would you keep the tile selections in the ensuite the same in the 2nd bathroom? Or would one choose a different set of tiles, laminates etc (only ensuite gets stone)?

Thirdly: If I stick with a drift white or so bathroom wall tiles in the ensuite, would it be weird to use this as the skirting, vanity skirting , bath hob and riser tiles? Because I usually see these as glossy white, which isn't an option without paying more or having glossy white shower tiles which would allow these risers/skirtings to be glossy white?

A mini fourth question: but do you find vertical feature tiles (patterned) tacky? Undecided on this but the missus and the mother reckon it should be horizontal as the one line vertical looks somewhat out of place on one wall out of the blue? Any thoughts?

Many thanks for your input! Only another day until prestart, so appreciate all the help! Now I just need to figure out whether to do soakwells after handover or not! Ahh building can sure be fun but stressful!

 

Why not visit a few housing displays, take some inspiration and borrow their ideas

 

I just saw your super long post. How did prestart go?

It's a yes to having two laminates in the kitchen if you want to add some extra warmth like wood. I sometimes do overhead cupboards different to bench cupboards. Or the pantry a different colour.

And yes I often do the bathroom and ensuite the same.