Stunning brick home transformation with weatherboards

About the project

Homeowners: Donna & Glenn Mepstead

Location: Gembrook, Victoria

The project: Cladding a brick home with weatherboards

The budget: $15,000 (including the new front door and windows)

Donna’s top tip for renovators: “Glenn is very savvy, and he likes to save some dollars,” says Donna. “He's a very good YouTuber and he does a lot of research before undertaking any task.”

The 1960s were a great time in terms of housing affordability and structural integrity, but when it came to design, it was not the greatest era. However, when Donna, (a member of the Bunnings workshop community) and her husband Glenn saw this very affordable, if slightly ugly, home in a great location, they knew it had potential.

Built by local Italian potato farmers, the home was an ode to orange brick – and didn’t capitalise on its beautiful district views of rural Victoria. But it was within their budget, and they loved the area.

“We were looking for something with more of a country vibe with a view,” says Donna. “Our previous house, although beautiful, had no view and was surrounded by lots of trees, so seeing the views and the home’s 'good bones', we took the plunge and decided to renovate and give it a new life.” 

Donna says that it took a while for her to start loving the house, explaining that Glenn had more of a vision of what could be achieved than she did.

“In the first couple of years we just did some mini projects to make it look more visually appealing rather than actually fixing and changing stuff. But after a few years we set some plans in motion and started to bring our vision to life.”

“It's an older style of home, so it certainly didn't take in the views that we've now got. It had a tiny little window looking out at the view, so now we've opened it right up.”

The renovation has been a long project – completed over weekends and evenings since the couple bought the house nine years ago. It included relocating the front door and rejigging the kitchen area into a big open-plan space. The renovated kitchen, which Donna describes as country/industrial-style, won Bunnings’ best kitchen makeover in 2024.

When it came to revitalising the exterior, the couple started with updating and replacing the windows, before moving to reclad the brick in James Hardie Linea weatherboards, which they felt were more in keeping with the rural location – creating a modern country aesthetic.

“We wanted to bring a lot more light into the home,” Donna says. “We also live on a dirt road, so the front of our home gets very dusty. We decided to put solid windows in along the front of our house to keep the dust out, but let lots of light in. We chose some big solid windows, then we had a new front door specially made out of messmate timber.”

As part of the process, Glenn had to build new recesses for the windows, to allow for the extra layer of weatherboards on the exterior. “It made the recesses a little bit deeper, so on the inside we made timber messmate ledges at the base of the windows which ties together our other timber features within the home,” explains Donna.

After the windows were installed, Glenn secured battens, 45cm apart, over all the bricks, a big job, which allowed them to install the boards over the top. The boards were installed with a 20mm overlap, while the joins at the end of the boards use the tongue and groove system on the James Hardie boards. The whole project took about three months to complete.

“My husband is very particular,” Donna says, laughing. “He wanted it to look perfect, not see any seams, make sure that it was all silicone sealed with gap filler and up to standard. It was a challenging but very rewarding renovation.”

The weatherboards are painted in Taubmans Vellum Smoke, a soft green. “We wanted to complement the surroundings by incorporating some green, but not make it overwhelming,” says Donna. “I love green. Green is my colour. All the trims, eaves and fascia board are painted white in a semi-gloss water-based enamel.”

Now experienced renovators, the couple are self-taught. “Glenn is very savvy, and he likes to save some dollars,” says Donna. “He's a very good YouTuber and he does a lot of research before undertaking any task.”

For her part, Donna works at her local Bunnings, which has helped her pick up even more knowledge from other team members, tradies and the many training courses the company offers.

One part of the exterior not done by Donna and Glenn was the roof, which was redone in Colorbond by a professional roofer. Internally, it was only the licensed trades such as plumbing, electricals and some minor plastering that were outsourced.

After all these years, the house is pretty much completed – they just need to finish cladding the rear, retile the front porch, complete the laundry and put new carpet down. The couple say it’s now almost time to celebrate their achievements, relax a little and enjoy the views.

More from Donna and Workshop

This project was originally seen on Workshop: Weatherboard cladding over brick veneer ... | Bunnings Workshop community. To see more great projects like Donna’s home makeover, including her stunning bathroom makeover, visit the Bunnings Workshop community.