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Would like to share my experience on home renovation specifically about the interior design company and interior designer engaged to renovate my 4-room HDB flat. In one word, it was a dreadful experience altogether! This interior design company is N*******t which is quite a big player in the industry and the designer is DK (abbrev.). This young chap DK really CMI (cannot make it) notwithstanding that he is inexperienced. He is slow to respond to my messages and his co-ordination skills (like which activities to be done first, etc) is terrible. Eg, the wall esp where the air-con will be placed needs to be painted before the air-con can be installed. Told him but still did not get workers to paint that area. This is basic and he cannot even do it! There are many many incidents that pushed me to write my experience in order to share them via this forum with to-be home owners looking for trustable designer and firm to renovate their homes. This designer practically took 4 months to complete the major works….7 months to tie up the loose ends. Is this acceptable? Well, in this industry, the consumers are always very much at the losing end. Even before I signed the contract with the firm, I tried to negotiate adding extra clauses that will safeguard my interests but the designer was reluctant. Another experience with the designer/firm was that the quality of the workmanship (carpentry work) and goods (windows) are of sub-standard. Eg, Basic stainless steel windows (read carefully, it’s normal stainless steel windows only and not even powdered coated) the colour of the windows was off (colour not even), sharp edges, gaps, etc were found and was told to the designer. Very basic windows and little did I imagine there are so many defects! No discolouration, no gaps, no sharp edges are basic requirements. Am I right? They (or their window contractor cannot even supply such) and insisted I have very high standard! Gosh! And the best is that they (designer and contractor and even the designer’s boss) replied: Even your fingers are of different length! (implying no perfection!) Come on, I am not asking for the moon…just asking for the basic standard! My friends who came by during the renovation period told me…this standard of work done you can still accept?! The very basic that a designer should be cautious of is to protect the floor that has been lay. And again this designer did not! No protection and you expect the flooring be in good condition?! Is it so difficult to do that? Not only has he indirectly tarnished the company image (not that his company’s image is still that reputable) he has also caused the company financial losses (in the form of discount)! Of course, these impacts are none of my business. To homeowners who are sourcing for ID, please do think twice about engaging this interior designer/firm for your renovation works…the story doesn’t end here…there are many more unacceptable and bad experiences that this designer has left upon me. In short, the service, quality and workmanship by this company, designer and the sub-contractors are way below standard, most importantly, this designer CMI! PM me if you would like to know more about the company and designer.

Ah, you went over to JB tampoi or somewhere else to buy? Ok, then I need to look for cheaper ones here.

Created a new account just to thank your designer? Btw, this platform is for sharing, not advertising.

Painting Boo-Boo and DIY DIY 1: Painting Our Own Cement Screed Effect A little bit of rehash – we were leaving the wall tiles in the kitchen, service yard and common bathroom untouched and had them screeded over with cement to go for a more industrial look and to save on hacking costs. For painting, my FIL offered the services of his close friend (let’s call him Uncle X) who is in the construction business and said all we needed was to buy our own paint and pay them a token sum. I was a little reluctant as I would rather let the ID handle the painting, but my husband wanted to save a little bit more and said he will co-ordinate the painting. Just as our ID took a break for CNY, Uncle X asked if they can start the painting works. At that point in time, the wet-works just started, and our ID said it’s too soon. We also said it’s too soon. But Uncle X said that they will paint a base coat/sealer for the ceiling because the existing colour is very dark (we’re gonna have white ceilings) and it needs a few coats anyway. My husband reasons that Uncle X’s workers were free and he wanted to better utilise his manpower. So we bought 2 cans of 5L sealer for them to paint the ceiling in the living room. This will turn into my biggest regret for the renovation… We only discovered the mistake 1 week later when we brought the in-laws over to have a look at the house during CNY. To my horror, I realised the painters had painted the sealer all over the cement screed in the kitchen, service yard and bathroom!! And the best part is, because they ran out of sealer, they didn’t manage to completely paint over the dark parts of the ceiling in the living room (WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT IN THE FIRST PLACE). Even talking about it now still brings pain… Uncle X's workers sure kena scolded by my husband and my FIL. We had to ask the ID to re-screed the common bathroom (at additional cost, ouch!!), but we decided to paint the walls in the kitchen and service yard. And since the walls are kind of rough, we thought perhaps we should try to do some special effects paint, like Momento. This is our own version of a special effects wall… Firstly, we had the painter paint the kitchen and service yard walls with a light grey colour: I was very anal and pasted “DO NOT PAINT” Post-it’s on our common bathroom cement screed walls, because God forbid the painters eff up another time and I will be inclined to commit murder! The next step required some sea sponges which one can easily buy from Art Friend: Using the same light grey colour which the walls have been painted to, I also mixed in some white and also a darker grey-blue colour (which we got as leftover paint from a friend who just recently renovated), and randomly sponged on the different shades of color: My handsome husband savouring his chance to express his minimal artistic skills hahaha...! As fun as it was sponging, the effect was not very impressive… I decided to just paint over the embarrassment and forget it ever happened. But funnily, I had attempted to use a damp roller with some light grey paint and as I rolled over the sponge effect, it created an accidental dreamy effect which the husband really liked! Wowza! So the last step, which was an accidental finding, was to use a stiffer-than-normal roller with some water and to lightly roll over the sponge effect, essentially blurring over the previous effect. Not really the cement screed effect I was hoping for (and I think it’s mainly due to the paint I used having a bluish tone rather than cement grey) but looks alright I guess! DIY 2: Spray Painting Switch Boxes Having a HDB unit means the sockets and switches cannot be flush mounted into the wall, so they will have to be surface mounted onto plastic switch boxes that only come in a standard white colour. Since we decided to go for a darker colour for the switches, white switchboxes would be an eyesore. LeGrand Mallia colour choices. What a variety!! I remember reading @bie18's blog about spray painting the switch boxes after it was mounted, which sounds like a lot of work, so I told my ID upfront about passing me the switch boxes first to spray paint: I used Krylon Fusion White as a primer mainly because a lot of the DIY stuff I read online emphasized on the use of primer, so I thought no harm having it, especially since my ID warned me that scratches will remove the spray paint and it will look ugly, so I want to minimize the risk. I got Nippon’s Pylox 47 Matt Black since I recall someone recommending Nippon spray paint on RT. Seems to spray on quite nicely and has a matte, powdery finish! Important things to note about spray painting: Don’t be impatient and don’t get too close when spraying! 20-30cm away is good. Keep moving the spray can up/down or left/right - don't stay at one spot. A nice, firm pressure on the nozzle to prevent splatter of paint drops - otherwise will form bumps on the surface Multiple thin coats is definitely better than one thick coat!! Do in a well-ventilated area! The smell is quite awful