Three friends ditched corporate careers to don steel-capped boots and renovate houses for a profit — and they're sharing their secrets on YouTube.
Bonnie Hindmarsh, Erin Cayless and Lana Taylor — married to former Parramatta Eels players Nathan Hindmarsh, Nathan Cayless and Jason Taylor — founded Three Birds Renovations a year ago.
After pocketing close to $160,000 with the sale of their first project in Castle Hill, the "birds" bought another Castle Hill house, one in Beecroft and recently purchased their fourth in Northmead.
It takes them about seven weeks to get a property transformed, a venture shared with 12,000 Instagram followers and through weekly YouTube episodes with behind-the-scenes takes and renovation hints.
Mrs Taylor said they had no experience in renovating but wanted a lifestyle where their families could "come first".
"None of us are experts. We're just three mums who left our corporate careers to pursue something that excited us," she said.
"We wanted a life where our families could come first.
"What people find fascinating about what we do is the fact that we’re not professionally trained, but we do it fast, on a budget and the homes look really beautiful," Mrs Taylor said.
■ Forget about marble: Nothing beats the look of marble for a luxury look but it’s not cheap. Instead, we use an engineered stone called TALOSTONE which looks identical to the real thing but for much less.
■ French doors: Alfresco living is growing, but instead of spending cash on bi-fold doors use french doors from Bunnings — which cost only $170 each — then we paint them white.
■ Spray your bricks: One of the best ways to transform an ugly brick exterior is to render it and then paint it, which is expensive. So we render only the front facade then spray the bricks on the sides and back of the house. It saves money and sprayed bricks can look great.
■ Fewer tiles: We tile only 1.2metres from the floor up on bathroom walls (except for shower recess) and then paint the rest. This cuts your tiling bill in half and gives the bathroom a softer feel with fewer hard surfaces.
