For Dream Home judge Lana Taylor, a TV-worthy renovation is not just a striking room: it should feel welcoming as soon as you enter, bring the structural work and styling together, and reflect the homeowner’s vision. Her practical advice before work begins is to prepare thoroughly, because rushed decisions can leave owners with weak quotes or a result they did not expect.
What makes a room work for Lana Taylor?
In a 2 June 2024 interview with PerthNow, Taylor said her first test is the feeling a room creates on entry. She described that feeling as usually coming from a cohesive look: the room should read as a considered whole rather than a collection of unrelated choices.
“I think the first thing for me when judging is looking for a room that creates a really lovely feeling the moment you enter it and that is usually created by someone who has created a cohesive look throughout that room,” Taylor said.
Make the renovation and the styling work together
Taylor’s standard includes both the structural renovation and the finishing choices. She said soft furnishings and other styling should work with the renovated space, so the room’s practical foundation and its final presentation support the same look. Her judging anecdote about wanting to restyle rooms or move artwork shows how closely she attends to finishing; it is not a prescription to replace decor.
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Design for the homeowner’s vision
A room can be visually cohesive and still miss the brief if it does not reflect the people who live there. Taylor said the show’s contestants created their own design briefs and that bringing the homeowner’s vision to life mattered in her judging: “And particularly, the room needs to absolutely have brought to life the vision of the homeowner.”
For a homeowner, that translates into making the intended look and feel explicit before choices accumulate. Cohesion is not a single style rule; it is the connection between the plan, the finished room, and the brief the owner set.
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How far ahead should you plan a renovation?
Taylor’s advice is to learn about the project and make decisions before trades arrive. In a 31 May 2024 interview with The Nightly, she called about a year of planning ideal and six months a more realistic minimum in her recommendation. These are her planning benchmarks, not a universal construction requirement.
“Plan, plan and plan. So we often recommend spending maybe a year planning out a reno before you have the tradies turn up on site — that is ideal,” Taylor said.
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She warned that starting only a month or two before work can put pressure on quote quality, which she connects with budget blowout risk. She also said overlooked design details can contribute to a finished space that differs from what the owners expected. That is her rationale for allowing time to prepare, not a quantified guarantee that a longer planning period will prevent cost overruns.
Turn the vision into decisions before work starts
A vision board can help keep a renovation’s intended look visible while decisions are being made. A Seven-associated TV Guide Tonight show-information article attributes this advice to Taylor: plan, make a vision board, and stick to it. It also quotes her saying, “Knowledge is power, and I think people underestimate just how many decisions they’re going to have to make.”
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Use the board as a working reference, not a substitute for project-specific design, technical checks, or trade advice. The point is to surface choices early enough that the brief and the work can stay aligned.
What preparation can realistically do
- Clarify the design brief so decisions can be checked against the homeowner’s intended result.
- Give yourself time to consider details before asking trades to quote and schedule work.
- Reduce the chance that important preferences are still unresolved once work is under way.
These are practical implications of Taylor’s stated concerns; the cited interviews do not report measured savings or a success rate for this approach.
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Where to find more Three Birds renovation inspiration
Three Birds Renovations: Dream Home How-To, by Bonnie Hindmarsh, Erin Cayless, and Lana Taylor, appears in Murdoch Books’ 2021 trade catalog as a 240-page paperback. The catalog describes it as offering home-transformation advice, project inspiration, and renovation tips. It may be useful for ideas, but the catalog does not establish that it provides professional advice tailored to a particular project, nor does it verify current stock, edition, or price.
Taylor also described Three Birds’ online “reno school” as intended to educate people about considerations before they book a trade. Current course contents, availability, pricing, eligibility, and any partner terms have not been established in the cited reporting, so check directly with the provider before relying on those details.
What was the judging context?
PerthNow’s 2 June 2024 article identified Taylor as a Dream Home judge alongside buyer’s agent Simon Cohen and interior designer Rosie Morley. It described six pairs transforming suburban homes. Those details explain the setting for Taylor’s comments, rather than establish the show’s current format or broadcast schedule.
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