Your Sydney-based property is more than a slab of steel, glass and concrete. It’s the culmination of your financial efforts, a testament to your personal aesthetic beliefs and a practical and long-standing investment that, eventually, will likely result in a positive ROI. But nothing is forever when it comes to modern Australian dwellings.
Are you trying to find a way to improve the overall aesthetics of your old home façade? Do you want to expand on your property’s usable space, or make your home more attractive for prospective house buyers? Then, investing in some house remodelling work can be a worthwhile activity, and if you’re already spending money on a renovation, why not also consider purchasing an aluminium or glass balustrade?
What Are the Benefits of New Balustrades in Sydney?
It might not look like it at first glance, but a new balustrade could have a transformative effect on the aesthetics and practicality of your dwelling. High-quality balustrades in Sydney:
- Can create a contemporary appearance that would change the way your old home complements the furniture and lighting fixtures you previously invested in.
- Can increase your property’s overall real estate valuation by making your renovation work look complete. New railings should make your house feel more modern, impress potential homebuyers, and help preserve your property's market valuation, regardless of external factors affecting the real estate industry.
- They are a way to make your property more secure. We invest in a glass balustrade because we like how it looks, and we appreciate the financial benefits it can bring to our dwelling. But before all else, railings are a way to ensure the security of our loved ones, achieve compliance with local building regulations, and protect the structural integrity of our dwelling.
A premium-built glass balustrade will be a significant investment if you only look at the finances of your purchase. But when considering the impact that railings can have on the modernisation of a property, the costs of a modern balustrade will pretty much pay for themselves.
Top-quality railings made of glass can complement your dwelling’s architectural particularities, create a modern look that will provide a nice contrast with your property’s more traditional elements, and also be an intelligent investment that will be defined by low maintenance costs and increased durability.
What About the Practical Benefits?
We all know how a glass balustrade can make a substantial impact on your property’s design cues. Glass railings:
- Can make your balcony or terrace look bigger
- Can make your exterior/interior patios brighter, as natural light will be maximised
- Could increase your property’s visual continuity, eliminating visual barriers
- And can highlight your property’s other architectural features, enhancing, therefore, your home’s luxurious feel.
Glass railings follow the latest trends in architectural design, applicable to Aussie dwellings, and they are also practical, as:
- They are weather-resistant
- They are surprisingly robust, without compromising on visual identity
- They require less maintenance work than timber-based railings
- Their design can be adapted to the particularities of the property.
Modern glass railings are associated with luxury, and because of this, their installation often results in higher resale value for market-listed properties, and easier marketability, especially if attracting prospective buyers was previously something of an issue.
Frameless glass-made balustrades offer unobstructed views of the property’s surroundings; they are a fantastic way to let more light in; they cannot be easily damaged by the changing weather; and they are a good way to improve your loved one’s safety and make interior/outdoor spaces feel larger than they are.
Are They Always Worth It?
Well, it depends on the characteristics of your dwelling. Glass is replacing traditional building materials, as it’s associated with modernism, and it’s sought after by potential home buyers. Have you noticed how most modern apartment buildings now come with glass railings? There’s a reason for this.
Glass is durable and low-maintenance; it complements the architectural trends characteristic of modern Aussie buildings, and it’s also popular right now. That said, there could be instances in which a conventional aluminium railing is a better choice.
For my two-bedroom apartment, for example, when it was finally time to invest in some renovation work, I decided to go for a simpler, aluminium-based railing design, as I was mostly interested in:
- Affordability
- And privacy
Solid aluminium slatted designs provide more screening than glass and are therefore a slightly better choice for dwellings where increased privacy is a requirement. Moreover, aluminium railings are cheaper than glass ones, they show fewer fingerprints or smudges, and you can personalise them however you see fit.
I, for instance, decided to go for vertical slats, but another option I considered was pickets with decorative patterns between them. Aluminium railings are more suited for older, space-restricted apartment buildings with a conventional design language. Plus, they are more affordable. That said, even for smaller buildings, glass balustrades, in the right set of circumstances, can prove to be a fantastic choice.
Make a Tight Space Look More Spacious
One of my best friends recently decided recently to redo its outdoor patio design, invest in some new tiles, change some of the property’s external lighting fixtures and also replace the main outdoor railing that connected the two balconies attached to the property’s bedrooms. Despite not sounding like it, his property is actually quite space-restricted, and one of the main reasons for the renovation work was to make the external design language a bit more liberating.
Glass railing, for his Sydney dwelling, made the external spaces more open, increased outdoor visibility from the property’s bedrooms, maximised the natural light one can experience on the balconies, and also made the whole dwelling have a premium appearance that contrasted with the actual age of the property. Installing the new railings, in his case, wasn’t exactly cheap. But I have a strong suspicion that this investment will pay dividends in the long run if and when he decides to sell or rent out his property.