At Home With Grace: A 1980s Duplex Renovation In Pottsville

Welcome to At Home With, a new series where we step inside the homes of ABI team members who've renovated using our products. First up, we visited Grace, one of our Product Marketing Executives, who transformed a dated 1980s duplex into a coastal-cool family home on a real-world budget.

Two years ago, Grace and her partner did what so many young Australians dream of; they bought their first home. The 1980s duplex in Pottsville, nestled in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, was full of potential but in need of a serious refresh.

"We fell in love with the Northern Rivers region, and that's how we landed here in Pottsville," Grace explains.

What started as a flip project quickly became a labour of love, with the couple renovating room by room while living on-site through the entire process.

One of the most impactful decisions Grace made early on was rethinking the floor plan. Like many homes from the era, the original layout felt closed off and compartmentalised, with enclosed kitchen cabinetry and an oversized bathroom that reduced the space's functionality.

By removing the kitchen overheads and introducing a dividing wall to split the bathroom into two separate spaces, Grace transformed the home into one that feels lighter, more open, and better suited to both entertaining and everyday family life.

"One thing we would do again is pay attention to the floor plan and ensure we could make it nice and open and airy," she shares. "Making sure we could host and have a really nice open indoor-outdoor living area."

It's a move that completely changed the feel of the home, connecting the kitchen, living, and outdoor spaces into one seamless flow. As the foundation of the space, Grace selected our European Oak Engineered Timber Flooring, balancing durability with a natural, understated warmth.

“We wanted something that felt high quality but was also simple to lay, as we were doing the work ourselves — this delivered on both,” she says.

Throughout the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry, she carried a consistent palette of brushed nickel and stainless steel tapware and fixtures. The continuity creates a calm, cohesive backdrop that allows each space to feel considered without being overly designed.

If there's one piece of advice Grace would give to anyone about to embark on a renovation, it's this: have a plan from the start. Renovating room by room meant the couple occasionally ran into issues with wasted materials and time, as well as ensuring the overall design stayed cohesive.

"Next time, we would make sure that from the start, even though we're not renovating the whole home at once, we create a moodboard, collect our samples, and have an idea of how the entire home is going to look."

It's a tip that resonates with so many renovators. Even if your budget means tackling rooms one by one, compiling a moodboard with your tile samples, ABI tapware finishes, and colour palette early on ensures each decision contributes to a unified outcome.

Anyone who's renovated while living in the home knows the chaos — the dust, the noise, the weeks without a functioning kitchen. Grace took it to another level entirely.

"If you've renovated before, you know how hard it is to live through a renovation. That was definitely the hardest part, especially being a little bit of a clean freak,” she admits. “And if that wasn't hard enough, I also decided to have a baby. I was grouting our tiles at 41 weeks pregnant."

While design platforms offer endless inspiration, Grace found that many projects felt out of reach from a budget perspective.

While she loves seeking inspiration through The Design Files, The Local Project, and Pinterest, she found a clever workaround for ideas that were actually achievable.

"A lot of those homes are built with really large budgets, which we just did not have. So I went on Airbnb and found places in our local area — units and duplexes that were beautifully renovated and designed — and that's where I sought inspiration from."

It's a simple but effective approach, and one we'd recommend to anyone renovating on a budget. Seeing what's possible in a similar-sized space with attainable finishes makes all the difference.

Every renovator has that one room that just clicks — for Grace, it was the ensuite. As the final room they completed, it benefited from everything learned along the way, and Grace used it as an opportunity to introduce some colour into an otherwise neutral home.

"When the sample of our Atami Mosaic Tiles in Peach came across my desk, I knew that it was the perfect tile for this space," she says. 

Paired with brushed nickel fixtures, the result is a warm, layered bathroom that adds contrast to the home’s otherwise neutral palette. "I'm really happy with how it all came together."

Grace’s renovation reflects thoughtful decision-making, adaptability, and a clear understanding of what matters most in a home. It shows that with the right planning, materials, and consistency, it’s possible to create a space that feels calm and cohesive, even when it's completed room by room.

Planning your own renovation? Explore our range of tapware, showers, tiles, and accessories, or book a complimentary design consultation to get started.

Have questions about Grace’s renovation journey or the products featured throughout her home? Contact our team to learn more.