How to nail your kitchen island

The three savvy and stylish friends came together in a genius business enterprise where they buy homes and flip them for profit. It’s not as easy as it looks, however. Operations expert Erin, designer Bonnie, and business and marketing guru Lana ditched their corporate day jobs to join forces and make a mark on the home renovation scene and haven’t looked back. Since their early ground-breaking renovations where they transformed tired suburban brick houses into made-for-market dream homes, the Three Birds have gone on to renovate eight more properties in only four years – including their own 'forever homes' - and show no signs of slowing.

With a growing fan base of over 380,000 Instagram followers and a dedicated YouTube channel, the Three Birds have now published their own book, revealing over 400 renovation and styling secrets of their successful journey.

“Each project has given us the opportunity to learn something new and build our confidence. Everything we know is self-taught and comes from our own real reno experience. Now we’re ready to share what we’ve learned with you.”

One of the keys to their success it to choose houses for renovation that can be transformed using the current footprint. In terms of take-out inspiration for the average homeowner looking to execute a low-priced, effective makeover, it doesn’t get much better than this – the ideas and cosmetic transformations these women achieve within a strict budget are nothing short of inspirational.

There’s also a lot to be said for their enduring style which, whilst on the surface may look to the untrained eye like a simple white wash, what lies beneath is actually a clever stable of winning colours, textures and finishes that can completely transform a home without breaking the bank.

We (literally) took a leaf out of their book to share with you – how to nail the quintessential hub of the home – the kitchen island bench.

Pendant perfection

“If you’re going to have an island in your kitchen (and we think you should!), the number of pendants you need depends on the size of your island and the size of the pendant lights (both can vary greatly). We’ve used pendant lights that are just 20 cm wide and, at the other end of the spectrum, we’ve also installed a chandelier 1.4 metres wide in Bonnie’s kitchen (check out page 201)! Looking back at our kitchen renos, we’ve never hung more than two pendants over our island benches.

So, here is our advice:

• For an island 1500–1800 mm long, go for two average sized pendant lights (under 40 cm in diameter) centred over the island.
• For an island 1800–3000 mm long, two average-sized pendant lights hung off-centre over the island look great.
• So, in this instance you would space them out as if there were going to be three lights, but only install two.
• For an island over 3000 mm long you can definitely consider three average-sized pendants or supersize them and just use two.”

Flip tip

Your best bet is to choose engineered stone for most mid- to high-end property flips. #cantgowrong And for homes at the lower end of the market or investment properties, laminate might be a smarter choice. If you do go with laminate, don’t choose a style that tries to mimic marble or timber – a plain colour is less likely to draw attention to the ‘fake factor’. If you’re still unsure which way to go, ask your local real estate agent or jump online to see what type of benchtops are in the homes being sold in that suburb.

Three Birds Renovation book is onsale now at all good bookshops and you might want to grab two copies – one is sure to become dirty and dog-eared carrying it wherever your renovation journey takes you, so you’ll need a clean copy to lust over with a cup of tea.

_{*Images and text from Three Birds Renovations by Erin Cayless, Bonnie Hindmarsh and Lana Taylor. Photography by © Amber Tiles, Murdoch Books RRP $39.99}

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