Did some research on the current market cost to renovate a 3-room new condo so that we can set aside the budget. Well, we're not considering taking renovation loan because of high-interest rate about 3% per annum.
To be frank, I was shocked to see some people willing to fork-out renovation cost that enough to buy a new 2 to 3 room BTO flat. Wow!!! Well, some you can justify the price with the materials and unique designs, but mostly the rest not really worth what they paid.
I can understand that it costs more to renovate old resale flat that needs major renovation including hacking, plumbing and rewiring. Or basic finishes for BTO flat where needed a lot of carpentry works for bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom. But it's not the case for Condo where almost everything is done and ready when they hand over the key to you.
Our unit has marble flooring in the living room and laminate flooring for bedrooms, kitchen with built-in cabinet, hob, hood, oven and refrigerator, bathroom with vanity, cabinet, toilet bowl and shower head. Built-in wardrobes for bedrooms including 5 air-conditioning installed for all the rooms.
Renovation cost starts from thirty thousand to hundred over thousands.
I can understand that it costs more to renovate old resale flat that needs major renovation including hacking, plumbing and rewiring. Or basic finishes for BTO flat where needed a lot of carpentry works for bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom. But it's not the case for Condo where almost everything is done and ready when they hand over the key to you.
Our unit has marble flooring in the living room and laminate flooring for bedrooms, kitchen with built-in cabinet, hob, hood, oven and refrigerator, bathroom with vanity, cabinet, toilet bowl and shower head. Built-in wardrobes for bedrooms including 5 air-conditioning installed for all the rooms.
Basically, if you opt for Scandi minimalist, you only need to bring your luggage, buy basic furniture, install lights and curtains without any renovation.
Where to hide these mountainous boxes and stuff?
For sure we can't adopt minimalist with uncountable items!
So after a hiccup and more hiccups for 2 months with Sky Creation, we found another Interior Designer from De Style Interior Pte Ltd. He's one of the three ID companies in EXPO that I asked for quotations.
Although small project based on the budget, urgent project and and knowing that I'd signed a contract with another ID, he didn't give the impression that he's not interested. He's not pushy and instead of hard selling their service, he listened to my concerns and tried to find the solution.
He also showed me some of the 3D designs from his laptop. I was impressed by his honesty by telling me that the loft bed was his boss' project instead of his project. He just highlighted to me that why loft bed was expensive as they need to make sure that it's strong enough even 2 adults going up there.
When the price is a little bit higher, but he did fight the best price for us. He didn't give lame excuses that it's more expensive because I need the renovation to be done urgently or because it's near CNY or bla bla bla... He just simply let me know that his company has set minimum profit margin. But he'll explain to his boss for the discrepancy. Of course, I do understand that nobody will do business with no profit.
1st 3D drawing for living room cabinet.
3D drawing for daughter's room.
3D drawing for son's room.
Quite happy to see 3D for the drawing living room because it's what described to him, just that I need more stripes, and the dominant color is black instead of white.
From our chatting, I knew that he worried that couldn't meet my design expectation. He also mentioned that what 3D designer hate was to change the drawing, so when I received second drawing I just edited those highlighted in different colors:
Red: Mirror from the floor instead of from ceiling.
Orange: Long rectangular display cabinet.
Purple: TV cabinet with bronze / Copper laminated on the sides.
Blue: To make it as cabinet instead of display.
I also added more different thickness stripes to the doors too.
For the drawings, they put effort to make it look almost exactly as the floor plan including the beams, pillars and windows. Furnishing such as sofa, lights and curtains mostly used what I sent to him.
It did make a lot of difference... When I saw the 3D from Sky Creation,
didn't feel that I'm looking at my own house. It's like they didn't care
your project and just took other's 3D and showed it to you.
Went to their office to choose the laminate colors for the cabinet and platform beds.
Chia Wei arranged the carpenter to come for final measurements and to discuss more details on the designs. The Carpenter is very experienced and on the spot draw these draft and took the measurements.
He only can provide maximum 3 thickness (S, M, L) stripes for the cabinet.
He suggested us to use black matte because the glossy stripes will be too much for the full-height and long cabinet.
Requested to make the laminate looks like wood panels
instead of 4 plain boxy fake doors.
After the meeting, I tried to visualise the whole cabinet, but it's hard because the thickness as it's written as S, M or L. Therefore...
I used Exel to draw the cabinet following the measurements from the carpenter's draft.
Placing the stripes, deciding the thickness and the spacing between them took most of my time. I want each of the lines look unique and the patterns not repeating.
I felt it's just a typical monochrome cabinet with bronze mirror and black glass. The luxe touch was missing there. I wanted to put gold or bronze color for the display and TV areas, but the carpenter told us it's not nice to put more than 2 colors. Considered to change to white and gold but I know that I'm not that diligent to take care of it. So, it's better to stick to black color...
Then I suddenly remember that I saw
something like oxidised rusty metal
laminate at their showroom.
Quickly sent the cabinet drawing to Chia Wei and
informed him for color changing for the laminate
after convinced my hubby that it'll match overall theme.
informed him for color changing for the laminate
after convinced my hubby that it'll match overall theme.
The next morning he contacted me just to confirmed that I didn't change my mind because the pattern of Alma Patina is not homogenous. Then we went through which parts that will be laminated with Alma Patina so he could contact the carpenter.
Because our renovation permit was rejected by the management, we could only start after completion of sales which was 2 days before CNY. So, further delay as workers only started working 15 days after CNY.
After we got our renovation permit, we quickly installed decking so we can utilised this area well. I searched for few companies and decided to use Duradeck Composite Deck instead of ironwood because maintenance is much easier.
My daughter like purple color, therefore her room is draped in purple, glittery light cream wallpaper. Her smile was as big as her Totoro when I put this giant Totoro as her bed head. It's her favorite spot as she snuggle it or use it as back support when she immersed in her books.
Because our renovation permit was rejected by the management, we could only start after completion of sales which was 2 days before CNY. So, further delay as workers only started working 15 days after CNY.
After we got our renovation permit, we quickly installed decking so we can utilised this area well. I searched for few companies and decided to use Duradeck Composite Deck instead of ironwood because maintenance is much easier.
Decking for Planter Area.
Bought plants that aid in purifying air. Sometimes, I place them
at the rooms just to detox and refresh air inside the house
and also to add color to the room.
My lovely plants and mini herbs garden.
at the rooms just to detox and refresh air inside the house
and also to add color to the room.
Not sure when will my Daisy and Cosmos blooming...
More photos of our renovation progress: Facebook.
Bold design floor to ceiling wall cabinet and TV stand.
Totally love how these two colors complement each other perfectly.
Long panels of bronze mirror not only bringing right hint of luxe
but also visually enlarges the whole dining area...
Customised this metal pub bar top dining table in black matte
mix match it with high stools to leave clutter free.
Great to see that leather Sofa with metal bronze studs,
art paintings, blinds, ceiling fan light blend nicely...
Dramatic black and sophisticated grey gradient pairing with eccentric metallic colors such as gold, bronze, copper creating the unique identity from living room, dining to kitchen area.
What's our home theme?
Well, search me! First, we wanted modern luxury... but it turned out like maximalism?! Maybe bulky furniture look heavy and enclosed, but what to do? With 2 growing kids in this small house, we had no choice. Anyway, we do love our home as it is now.
It's impossible to take a single photo showing floor and ceiling
with the same point of view as 3D drawing...
It's nicer than 3D and I'm very satisfied with the groove lines outcome. It looks like this platform bed is using panels of wood instead of laminate. It creates rustic and cosy ambience.
My daughter like purple color, therefore her room is draped in purple, glittery light cream wallpaper. Her smile was as big as her Totoro when I put this giant Totoro as her bed head. It's her favorite spot as she snuggle it or use it as back support when she immersed in her books.
Single platform bed laminated with deep floor storage.
The laminate has the deep grooves of weathered timber, the multiple strokes of paintbrushes, and the aggregation of planks of wood. Therefore, it's only cut to 3 pieces to embraces the aesthetic which looks like 3 different paintings.
We chose white wallpaper for my son's room as I always heard people saying that it'll make the room appears bigger.
We selected the left wallpaper, but because it's out of stock we changed it to right one.
However, it likes no wallpaper if you see it from a distance.
Maybe it's just me, but I really don't feel the room appears bigger. It just somehow look boring and need extra care because it easily gets dirty.
Using the balance grey color Korean wallpaper for the beam
because my son complained that his room was so plain.
because my son complained that his room was so plain.
Bought 1.8m white study table from EzBuy Prime.
It's much cheaper but we spent 4 hours to DIY it.
I think it's more appropriate to name it playing station, because they use it to play computer games instead of studying here.
Yes, a bit regretted to get white color, so I plastered 80% of the table and drawers
with linen wallpaper to match the beam and frame for platform bed.
with linen wallpaper to match the beam and frame for platform bed.
This is actually a small study room without wardrobe. We utilised the bay window and floor storage for platform bed. It supposed to have 2 chairs, but we'd to place this bulky uGallop here as there's no place in other rooms.
He has great taste and selected silk bed sheet instead of cotton. It's because our last trip in Korea, we stayed in Seongyojang Hanok House and he liked the silky texture. He feels like a prince when blanketing himself in silk. Hahaha...
He used to sleep on the upper bunk bed, so he's a bit disappointed that he didn't get loft bed. Anyway, he's happy because he got his own room stuffed with Pikachu and Eevee mutations. This soft-hearted boy treated his soft toys as if they're his little friends.
Extra miles services, free upgrade and after sales services from Chia Wei:
It really does make a huge different. Perfect beauty both inside and outside~!
Free installation for wall shelves and advised us to install on the solid wall.
2 doors for preventing it being cut by fan again.
To clarify, this renovation and post is not sponsored. I'm posting it just to share and show my gratitude to him and his team. I just want to recommended Chia Wei if you're looking for Interior Designer with these following qualities:
* competent in handling the problem quickly.
* able to execute and deliver under tight schedule.
* no hard selling or over promised.
* low cost and no hidden cost.
* good material and workmanship.
* good material and workmanship.
Renovation by: De Style Interior Pte Ltd
Interior Designer: Wong Chia Wei
Renovation / Carpentry Cost: $14,000.
(This renovation not include kitchen, bathrooms and master bedroom)
Lights and electrical cost: $2,000.
Korean Wallpaper (by Win.Us): $2,849.00.
Wood Decking (by Goodhill): $720.00.
Morning breakfast or afternoon tea? You decide...
Feeling like... fancy staycation!
Spent most of my time at this spot!
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