Get social: Sharing your renovation diary

As the dust settles on a new home or renovation, it’s time to share your finished project. It’s an important milestone and completing a project of this scale is something to celebrate.

How you share your home is up to you – it might be in person, in print or via social media – but capturing content from the very start of your journey will help you tell your building story with all the nuance and colour it deserves. Here’s how.

Plan the share from the outset

What colour is that again? Capturing all the details from the outset is key, from product selections, colours and finishes to the source of each piece of furniture. Down the line, friends will ask for some little detail, such as your exterior cladding selection. And it will help with house maintenance; for example, you may need to source a replacement tile, should one crack in 10 years’ time.

Create your finishes book

Set up a renovation diary or finishes book (what an interior designer would call a schedule of finishes). This is a single source of truth where all the product details, finishings and fittings can be found – even the furniture. It can be a spreadsheet, text document or, if you’re more of a visual person, Pinterest boards with live links to every product. Discover more ideas for documenting your selections here.

Expert tip: Utilise our checklist (below) to ensure you capture every element of your build.

Embrace the chaos

The messy parts of renovating are a fantastic part of the process to share on social media. The Stories function on Instagram provides the ideal platform as it’s instant, raw and casual, and your posts can be saved in Highlights to rewatch later.

Prefer a more polished reveal? Be sure to grab some ‘before’ shots of your project in portrait and landscape, plus videos (360s in every room, perfect for future Reels – again, both aspects) and a video of yourself at different stages talking to camera. It will be fun to look back when this (exciting) ordeal is over.

Share your project on your social channels

Oh, now for the fun part! Sharing images of your finished home is one of the best parts of renovating, and a wonderful way to celebrate with your community.

We recommend Instagram as the perfect channel for stills – you can even stitch them together into a Reel using music within the platform. These short videos are highly engaging, quick to make, and will pop up as ‘memories’ as the years go by. Use your smartphone to quickly capture and share on the go.

Comparing ‘before’ shots with the sophisticated ‘afters’ highlights how much hard work you’ve put in, and they can also be used to create reels or short videos for YouTube.

Consider creating a dedicated Instagram page just for your project and have some fun with the handle, perhaps incorporating your suburb or design approach in the name of the page.

Expert tip: TikTok is a fast-growing platform for short, snappy videos that you can share later on Instagram.

Share my new home in person

Your home is finished, and that’s a huge achievement! Why not go all out in your celebration? Plan a housewarming party, give it an elegant theme and hire an event photographer and a caterer, so you can partake in the soiree.

Whether you engage a professional photographer or put a family member to work, give them a shot list to ensure every opportunity is captured – you might want photographs of food being prepared in your new kitchen, or some highlighting your stunning new facade and entryway. These images can be used to show off your home on your social channels later.

Expert tip: Include a hashtag on your invitation so you don’t miss the moment when loved ones share their snaps.

Share your build in print

For those who want to share their home but aren’t in love with social media (or are feeling a little pandemic-shy of large crowds), there are other ways to share your journey.

Go old school and print up some photographs for an album or create a photobook that you can share digitally via email (try Snapfish). Google Photos makes the process simple by sorting your images via geolocation.

Engaging a professional photography team will yield amazing results. To find your team, try a google search, look to your favourite magazines and note who shot your favourite homes, or drop a DM to a stylist you like. A team with the right credentials can create stunning images that are magazine worthy, for your personal use or to pitch to local titles.

Expert tip: Professional photographers can also capture images of family members and pets in the home. A worthy investment.