Mitch and Mark are no strangers to stunning properties. As hosts of Location Location Location Australia, and winners of The Block 2021, they know what they’re talking about when it comes to finding and designing the perfect home. Our in-house Lighting Designer, Tabatha, worked with Mitch and Mark to accentuate the natural lighting that the property already had and add a touch of the wow-factor. Tabatha walked through each step with them, as part of our Premium Design Service, with on-site and virtual consultations. We might be biased but we think the results are pretty spectacular!
"The challenge was to strike the perfect balance between a relaxed coastal atmosphere and the luxury the property deserved. With an abundance of natural light, we carefully selected lighting that would enhance the home’s textures and high ceilings while providing warmth and functionality."
Tabatha, TLO Lighting Designer
We sat down with Mitch and Mark to get the inside track on their beach house and some top tips for renovating your own home. Read on to find out what they had to say.
How did you first get into designing & renovating homes?
We took on our first renovation together over 20 years ago. We were both just over 40 and decided that relying on income alone was never going to get us where we wanted to be in life financially, and saw renovating and selling our first property together as an opportunity for securing our financial future. So realistically, we needed to get ahead, and renovation and selling presented an opportunity to do so. We’d never renovated before, so it was a steep learning curve!
Our first renovation was an old apartment in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. It was the first property we bought, and we knew we needed to find a way to improve the value of the place and flip it so that we could start building some wealth. We really didn’t have much experience at all, so we learnt ‘on the job’, making lots of mistakes along the way!
You mentioned it was an older apartment but in Rushcutters Bay so clearly a good location. Is location high on the list of what you look for when choosing a property to renovate?
Location does play a big part, but more so is understanding everything about the area that can impact a re-sale. The most important thing in our opinion when selecting a property to renovate and resell are the number of ‘apologies’ in a property that can be overcome via renovation, and avoid properties with ‘apologies’ that can’t be changed. If a property is discounted due to things that realistically can’t be fixed the problem will still be there no matter what you might do to other parts of the property. Facing south with no sun, a busy main road, five flights of stairs to walk up in an apartment.. and the list goes on. However, if the list of negatives are ones that can be overcome, this property could be the one.
We look for ways we can improve the property, either in layout, function, elements or finishes. We also look for the location and spend lots of time looking at properties to also understand who is looking in this market. Understanding the market is important because they’re likely to be your market in the future. Knowing your location is important, because that will help you work out what you should spend on improving a property and whether you can get a return.
It sounds like there’s a lot of planning involved. Where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any particular brands or publications you'd recommend for defining a vision?
It’s really hard to pinpoint where our reno inspo comes from. We think home improvement is in our DNA, as we tend to always see random bits that inspire the next reno, whether it’s travelling overseas, visiting a new home, flicking through a mag or scrolling through Insta, it really is all around us.
People often use Pinterest as inspiration, but make sure you go beyond this, and look at the renovation as a business project, not just an opportunity to style a home. Every renovation has to reflect your own personal style, and copying something direct from social media is not our thing. We just recommend that you keep your eyes open and look for interesting and beautiful things.
What's the hardest part of doing a renovation?
Getting started. It’s all the planning and decisions up front that have the biggest impact on the outcome, so the planning and mapping it all out can be challenging, as we know from experience. Working out the numbers, budget and projecting what financial return you need to achieve....oh, and whether that is realistic in the market, are all crucial. If you
get it wrong at this point the flow-on effect can be big. Then comes the feeling that it will never end! However, the satisfaction of creating something that works and is beautiful is all worthwhile. The groundwork and all the planning and measuring can be frustrating because sometimes you just want to get on and get things done, but it’s the ‘unseen’ work that really is the foundation to a great renovation.
We might be biased but we think lighting is incredibly important when it comes to designing a room. After defining the rooms purpose, what's the first thing you look at when designing the space?
Lighting and natural light is super important. It’s all about balance, where there is good natural light, use this as the base level across a home. By that we mean, any other area of the home without the same level of natural light needs to be focused on and brought up to the same level with a clever lighting plan. And when the job is finished and you notice a room or a space feeling noticeably darker, fix it, as a potential buyer will remember a discomfort in the darker space. Think about function first and then the styling choices for lighting. Also, don’t be tempted to ‘over-light’ certain spaces, and if in doubt, ask an expert (like Tabatha!) for their opinion, it helps enormously.
Once we know the rooms purpose in the overall floorplan, we will look at the layout and visualise how furniture and fittings will work in the room but all the time we are looking at how we work with the existing features, like position of windows and doors, or whether there is a cost benefit to relocating features or removing walls. Of course, this means at the same time we need to be thinking about the structure and supports, the construction materials, the location of services like water and electricity, shared walls and natural light. There’s a lot to consider.
When choosing lighting, what's the most important factor for you?
We always balance considering function first, then form and finish. Consider functional lighting and then decorative lighting, especially thinking about how the property will look at night. Practical lighting is about creating light that enables you to live easily in the property without it being a focus, while ambient light will create an atmosphere, and then the wow comes from decorative feature lights that are the stars of the lighting show. The style of the home and/or home’s location should be a big influence on the style of the feature lights. We have a love for dramatic French antique chandeliers, but forcing them on our current beach house project would have been out of sync with the home and the location, particularly at the time of selling the property. If it is your forever home, go for whatever feature lights make you happy, but if it’s for sale think about what the market wants without your choices being too polarising.
Lighting is one of the many important decisions when renovating. It provides functional benefits to your home, along with aesthetics of the fixtures, but most of all it will create ambience that will enhance your experience living in your home. We always like to have a ‘wow’ factor in our feature lighting, but it’s the subtlety of other ‘supporting ‘ lighting that is important to allow any feature light to ‘shine’! Also, when considering our choices, we really like to think about where we spend our lighting budget to get the best impact. So when choosing we still stick to thinking ‘function’, ‘features’ and ‘finishes’ – what is it there to do, how will it do that job and how will the finishes add or detract from the overall look and feel of the renovation.
Do you have any favourite lighting styles at the moment?
Right now we are in a full beach house state of mind, so outside of the practical lighting, it has to work with a beach vibe. Outside of a few subtle architectural lights there are only three feature lights across this huge home. We are all about first impressions with a home, so the entry point of a home sets the tone. In our entrance foyer, this incredible cloud pendant light by Café Lighting floats overhead, we’re obsessed with it. It works with a beach vibe but would actually be comfortable in most styles where there is enough space. We are also keen on some wall sconces, but only if they have a true purpose and add to the overall aesthetic. When adding lighting, think about what will be illuminated as this will draw your attention.
The views we have in Newport really blend indoor and outdoor together, and we’ve emphasized this by using the same style of wall light and sconce on the exterior and interior, blurring the boundaries. The placement is both practical and ambient, highlighting the texture of the feature stone walls and pillars through the shadows created.
You chose the beautiful Florina Pendant Light in Gold Leaf for your dressing room. What was it about that light that made you choose it?
While this home is for the best part all about a beach house vibe, we stepped outside
this position when it came to the main bedroom suite, and in particular the walk-in robe. We thought it needed to have a statement to make the owner of the home feel pampered and special. The space is generous and we wanted to create a sense of luxury and opulence, a private space just for you to spoil yourself. The Florina Pendant Light with gold leaf positioned above the marble island completed the look and feel of luxury, and everyone who has seen the space, wants it all! Who doesn’t want an opulent walk in robe, seriously.
How did you find the lighting consultation process with Tabatha?
Oh wow, we are so grateful for Tabatha’s input. Tabatha’s understanding of practical lighting and listening to what we wanted steered us to achieving a very precise result aligned with our desired outcome. We loved being able to work through things like when to use warm light compared to white or natural light, how to complement our ‘fixed’ lighting with table lamps.
Talking about the distribution of lights (like how many downlights are enough!), using the correctly rated light fitting, and the scale of light fittings in a room was so helpful. With the feature lights, it is so hard to fully understand the scale until the light is in place – Tabatha was able to guide us to selecting stunning pieces that filled their space without taking over.
Oh, one more thing, listen and take on Tabatha’s advice! We decided we knew better with the pendant over the kitchen island and it was way too big, as Tabatha had suggested, so we were very grateful that we were able to exchange it for Tabatha’s original suggestion.
"The result is a home where every light has been chosen with purpose, blending aesthetics with functionality to create a truly special space."
Tabatha, TLO Lighting Designer
Why did you choose The Lighting Outlet?
We chose the Lighting Outlet for all our lighting based on really practical reasons...choice and price. The range is just incredible, almost overwhelming, but well worth scrolling through the entire site to find your perfect pieces. The consult on our lighting planning as well as style and design was super valuable – we’ve done over 20 full reno’s but we’re still learning and came out with a better lighting result from Tabatha’s recommendations.
Another valuable aspect was buying all lighting from one source, with one contact point managing the schedule and delivery with clarity – oh and it goes without saying, The Lighting Outlet is very cost competitive and a relatively small business and looked after us so well.
Did you get any feedback from your electricians about the quality of lights or plans?
Our electrician continually praised our lighting selections and loved that we could always clearly predict when products would arrive which meant we didn’t have trades waiting around and costing us money. We could get our lighting installed quickly and effectively because we had quality products onsite ready to go! The quality of the fittings made the process so easy, and they especially loved installing the feature pendants! Who doesn’t love a ‘wow’ moment.
Do you have any tips for our customers who are currently embarking on a renovation or redesign?
Spend as much time planning as you need as it will pay off in the long run. Plan early and often, review it continually. When it comes to lighting, draft up your floor plan to scale and start drawing in where you think lights should be placed, oh, and where you want light switches to go! Talk with your electrician and get some input as they’ve installed lots of lighting and know what works, and what doesn’t, and then book a consult with the Lighting Outlet because lighting is what they do every day. Stop procrastinating and just start, we’re all guilty of it.
What's next on the horizon for you both?
Finishing this current Newport Beach House project, it’s the biggest we’ve ever taken on and wow, it has been a lot. We will have another project on the go after, but we have no idea what it will be until we find it!
Mitch & Mark's Beach House Lights
Please note, not all products from the beach house are currently available in NZ via our website. However, if there is a particular product you are interested in, please get in touch and we'll see how we can help.
