imbuedwithlove

o.0 Wah! Such a good lobang!

Trying to purchase lighting is a rather tiring endeavour as you are looking at buying 20-30 items at one go! And there's a whole different variety of styles and prices out that as well as those out to "chop your carrot". Before we went shopping, our ID gave us a specific list of lights that we needed for our house. It went something like this below. I even asked her to give me a prices estimate. In the end, we only went to 4 places to look at lighting. Two were based on online recommendation, one from my ID and one is IKEA. Our strategy was to go into a shop and asked to be quoted for all the items our ID stated. This gave us a rough estimate of the price range of the shop, as well as whether that shop had what we wanted. The one from our ID (***) gave us the highest quote out of the lot and a lot of the designs weren't very exciting as the place was quite small. It was close to 4k for all the items. The cheapest (aside from IKEA) was lighting.com.sg (LCS) which sells Philips lights. The designs were very functional but didn't really have that extra oomph factor that we wanted. I think it was under 2k. Staff @ lavender was knowledgeable and were able to give good advice. The thing I like about it is that there is a price guarantee. There's not need for haggling cos the price is fixed and guaranteed to be the lowest in Singapore. So that saves me the trouble of haggling and worrying that I got "chopped". The middle pricing was from Chan Huat (CH) @ Balestier. They have 3 shops in Balestier. Make sure you go to the biggest one for best range. I spoke to 3 staff, one local and 2 foreigners. All were pretty knowledgeable and friendly. They patiently accompanied me and my hubby as we scoured the entire place for lights that fitted our design. Kudos to good staff training in both CH and LCS. I felt that Chan huat had more "designer" lights while lightings.com.sg was more functional type. That is also reflected in the price of under 2.5k. You are expected to bargain here though to get discount of about 10%. They don't give deep disounts as their price is ok competitively and they seem to have brisk business, so it's not like they die die must close your deal. In the end, we decided to mix and match as we really didn't want to bust our budget. It's really easy to get into this mode of "I HAVE TO GET THESE LIGHTS... cos you just love how they look" and end up buying expensive lights and busting your budget. It starts off fairly simple, you find one nice light that costs $300, then to match that look, you find another light that costs $500, and then guess what? You find another light going for $400 that completes the whole look. Before you know it, its $1k for just 3 lights! At this point, you should take a deep breath, walk away and discuss rationally with your partner over coffee. That's what I did. Or more like, I got dragged away by my hubby for some pretty intense discussion! And guess what, when I stepped out of the shop, and mulled over for a few nights, the lights din seem that attractive after all! It's all in the mind! Repeat my mantra: Keep to the budget! This has helped kept our budget relatively on target. So we picked out one key light which we were willing to splurge on - in this case it's this kerosene lamp from CH for our dining table For the not so important areas, such as service yard, bomb shelter, common toilet, passageway, we went with Ikea. For the rest with went with LCS. I have to say though, its really not easy to find lighting that suits out country theme as it really doesn't seem to be in vogue at all. Wooden lamp are really hard to find. We went with this for our bedrooms and living room from LCS as it's got a wooden frame. This wooden frame has 2 "looks" as you can flip it around for a light brown wood border. For downlights, we went for philips energy saving ones as they would cost less. Our rationale is that we would slowly swap the energy saving light bulbs for LED ones when they blow, so that we don't feel the pinch. And one more thing, LCS has a 7 day guarantee whereby if your lights spoil or contractor spoil them during installation, you can bring them back for exchange. Lucky got such thing. Cos that was what happened to us - The white cover of our bedroom light was made of pretty soft plastic and was dented during installation. But we managed to return the cover to LCS and they replaced a new one for us, no questions asked. How good is that? Hope this entry can help other people who are going through the same thing as me and can save you some trouble!

Thanks batman! Yes, renovation is really energy sapping and time consuming! But at the end of the day, as I keep telling myself, this is the place that I'm going to stay in for the next few years and raise my kids, so it'd be worth it! The cabinets just went in last week, and I dare say I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Point three: It's worth spending a bit of extra money for the drawing This is so you have an idea of how your flat will turn out, especially if it is your first renovation. We managed to correct a few design flaws that we din like based on the 3D drawings before they started working. This saved both sides unnecessary trouble and grief. What you see in your mind may not be what the designer imagines and vice versa. I cite an example of our bathroom The blue mosaic tiles were too broad for our liking. The blue mosaic tiles were too narrow for our liking. So like Goldilocks, we went for the not-too-cold, not-too-hot option: the average of the two widths. Point Four: Make an effort to monitor the project as well We went on weekly jaunts to our flat to inspect and monitor the progress. And I would recommend that, no matter how busy you are. Because we caught a one or two jarring things, such not laying protection sheets in the bedrooms, and one of the false ceiling being much bigger than we envisioned. In both cases, they were rectified by our ID. It's good to catch such things early before they become a bigger hassle to rectify once the paint job is done etc. Unless you have worked with the ID before and have absolute faith in them, do do some form of monioring.

As I am 1 month plus into my renovation, I would like to share and document some of my renovating experience. Point One: Be prepare to burn your weekends and also burn holes in your wallets. Me and my hubby spent every weekend appliance and furniture hunting. We were lucky as I had almost free rein to my parents' car over the weekend. That helped us immensely, in terms of reaching the super ulu places like Sungei Kadut, Midview City, and other far flung corners of Singapore where there is factory and prices are cheaper. Of course, it also helped us to get to Punggol, to do some site inspection. If we didn't have a car, I think we would have bought from Courts, Novena etc just for convenience's sake. We even ventured as far as Malaysia - Nusa Bestari (near Legoland) to look at furniture and even Batu Pahat! Tip 1 - Buying furniture in Malaysia - while the price is cheaper across the causeway by ~25%, you have to also factor in the cost of transport (RM800 from Batu Pahat, RM400 from Nusa Bestari + 7% GST). As we weren't buying a lot of items, after factoring all these extra +++, plus hearing horror stories from my malaysian friends who bought stuff from JB that weren't properly assembled in Singapore, causing them undue stress... we ended up not buying anything from Malaysia, except for this... which we will transport back ourselves. Tip 2 - Buy Saturday Straits Times and pore through them for deals. Go to atas expensive shops to know what kind of good quality money can buy, and go to cheap cheap imported china furniture shop to have a feel for the price range and quality. Then decide on what your budget can afford. I was lucky to get be doing shopping for furniture over Xmas, New Year and CNY as there were always lots of promotions. Tip 3 - Don't be tempted by promotions, you will find that promotions are almost always extended or repeated. And remember, things, especially appliances tend to only get cheaper... Tip 4 - Keep a file. I kept a file of my newspaper cut-outs and I would bring it with me when I go shopping. Then using this as a reference, I would bargain, "So and so offering this price, see? Can you do better?/ Give better price?" etc.. If you show that you have done your research, shop assistants are less likely to scam you. Tip 5 - Use Google Docs - I use google docs to tabulate the costs of my purchases real-time to see if I'm keeping to budget in my iphone Second point - There is actually order in this mayhem. Being a kancheong spider, I had a massive panic attack after we got the keys... because WE HADN'T BOUGHT A SINGLE THING!! And because we were on a budget (trying not to burn holes in our pockets), this meant we had to be on the look out for good deals.. but the sheer number of things we had to purchase got to me.. How can I be on the lookout for a good sink, fridge, bathtub, sofa, dining table, lights, taps in such a short timeframe!?!?!?! You get the picture? But I soon realised that there was an order to this! I only had to settle a few major items per week, as dictated by the renovation project schedule! The timeline went like this for me: Preweek one: Meet ID to choose tiles What I needed to buy/find for Week One: Bathtub Week One: Hacking + laying of tiles for living room and 2 toilets + build support for bathtub (hence bath tub needed to be delivered that week) What I needed to buy/do for Week Two: Dishwasher (see my previous post); Meet ID to chose laminates for carpentry, finalised dimensions for all carpentry, drawers, and paint colour Week two: Kitchen mortar base (need to know dishwasher dimensions so that can leave an appropriate gap in mortar base for dishwasher) What I needed to buy/do for Week Three: Fridge/TV/Oven ((dimensions for mortar base, and to fit carpentry) , find aircon Week three: False ceiling is up, install aircon piping What I needed to buy/do for Week Four: Find lighting for the house, find aircon Week Four: Install lighting, first coat of paint What I needed to buy/do for Week Five: sink/tap/hood/hob Week Five: Carpentry starts to take shape...? (the stage I am at now) Broken done into smaller more digestable steps like this, we were able to shop more effectively.

@ Batman! Congrats to you as well! I just found a nice blog which features the addresses of places with "shabby chic" or country furniture. Is the paya lebar shop you mentioned on of those inside? Yea, its a shame about the laminates - so I'm going for wood print laminates instead. Its amazing the kind of laminate textures that they can do nowadays. Some actually have very nice wood print pattern with nice wood-like texture!

Thanks! Apparently my ID has a supplier for the wood moulding as well, and she says it'd be afforable, so I'd keep you updated! On a side note, I just went to select my tiles today. It's so different from looking at drawings when you go to choose the tiles in person! We went to tradehub with our id and decided on colours for the bathroom that were completely different from the 3D drawings! Instead of a brown and blue shade for the bathroom floor, we went to a dark grey tiles design with modern blue mosiac tiles for the master bedroom bathroom. Lol! We are so fickle-minded! I wonder this happened to other people as well? >_< We took about 2 hours to chose 4 types of tiles. And a lot of the differences between were very subtle - horizontal/random grain, rough/smooth texture, warm/cool grey, sparkly bits etc

Yup, I think in hindsight you are right. But we've already signed on a package... Do you have any idea where I can buy wooden moulding for the cabinets should I decide to DIY?

We wanted a country feel to our kitchen, which I don't feel has really been achieved by the ID. I don't know if it's because it's hard to achieve with laminated boards or what, but it's not really like the inspirational looks that I had envisioned. What is lacking? Do you guys have any suggestions? Maybe some wooden moulding? Nice handlebars and knobs? Because I felt that we had enough storage in the kitchen, I did not ask for more shelving above the sink. This way, my narrow kitchen would have more breathing space. Blah. I think I'm going to ask my ID to add a glass display cabinets in the upper cupboards to break the monotony. Maybe something like these above to display my plates and glassware? Nice isn't it?

Here's an example of what I mean by functional TV console So yes, at the moment the living room design is still a work in progress. For me, this design process highlights the importance of getting a ID for the 3D designs. With the 3D drawing, I will have enough time to evaluate if the designs are what I like and make changes before it's too late. Also important is an ID you can get along with. I've spoken to a few companies and you could tell that some of them were inexperienced or just trying to hard-sell you. I finally settled on this ID as I felt that I could connect with her and that she understood what I wanted. But I'd leave the final judgement on how good the company until I see the finished product On a side note: When you google "hdb fireplace" you will come across this photo: No comments other than this

Just did the pineapple roll last Fri when we got the keys to our flat Thought I'd share we you some of my ID's designs: We've gotten the 3D drawings from our interior designer (ID) from IMM and we have since gone through 3 rounds of discussions to fine-tune the designs. I'm glad that I had chose to go with an ID instead of a contractor as I realized that renovation costs a lot of money and it's good to have a picture in hand so you know what to expect. In my case, as this is the first time we are dealing with renovation, I decided to go with an ID just because I wanted a 3D drawing, which a contractor may not have been able to supply. And I'm glad because our style for our 5 room HDB was a "country style flat with faux fireplace" which would have been difficult to visualise and possibly difficult for a contractor to fulfil. It's hard for you to visualise also right? So this is where the ID comes in. You can tell her what elements you like, what colour scheme you prefer and viola! You can a drawing - then you can work with her to fine-tune it. As I did not want a bland designs, I challenged our ID to surprise us. *Note: If you don't mind the usual sleek modern designs, or just want to replicate a certain photo from or Apartment Therapy, I'd say go ahead with a contractor, as they will most likely be more affordable. Be aware of replicating looks though, I find that HDB flats comes with lower ceilings, exposed wiring, piping, ugly windows and grilles which may mar your attempts to replicate the look of ang mo houses. For example, our living room took the longest to conceptualise First Drawing: The colour scheme was good, but it felt a bit bland and run of the mill for me. So I asked for a faux fireplace TV console. This proved to be quite challenging for my ID.... Second drawing: Where do I start? This was miles away from what I was expecting. The fireplace looks so stodgy and squarish. And there is the wallpaper which I have no intention of putting up. So yes, a pictures says a thousand words and with this picture it was back to the drawing board for my ID. So I sent her this inspirational look, which I thought look great! Don't you think so too? But alas! ID said that this won't fit our long living room layout and that this involved plastering, which was different from the laminated boards that were part of our package. -_- Third drawing: This looks more like a fireplace. Structurally, this is close to acceptable. But the colour scheme makes my living room look very cave-like and eerie. Not exactly the bright and airy feeling I was looking for. My ID seems to have a thing for brick wallpaper, as you can see. ^_^; According to her, the plastering is difficult to render with the 3D software. This TV console/fireplace is actually functional, in that the bottom platform actually contains drawers.

Thanks Batman! @Luciusteo Good guess! But I'm actually tearing down the kitchen wall for an open concept kitchen. My hubby loves to cook

My new apartment is coming! This will be my first apartment with my husband. I'm totally bursting with anticipation and itching to get my hands on the keys. In less then 1 month, I'd be straddled with a mortgage, but all I can think about is what colour scheme and theme I should use! Mine will be 5 room HDB flat about 116 sqm - 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets, a balcony, service yard, bomb shelter, living room and kitchen. Below are some inspirational photos I have for my kitchen. The dining table appears to be an extension of the kitchen. The colour scheme is warm, orange and the copious amount of woodwork gives this place an outdoorsy feeling. I'm not so sure about the "pumpkin" light though. Did you notice the giant fork and spoon on the left? We plan to tear down one of our kitchen wall to fulfill our dreams of an open concept kitchen. As we do not have the space to do an island, we will settle for breakfast table. This butcher block wood-top with side storage seems like the perfect scheme for my breakfast table. Instead of a woven baskets, I'm thinking wine storage racks. Finally, the big reveal, my apartment layout dimensions on paper. The actual dimensions of the room is smaller as you have to take into account the thick walls. Can you guess which wall I'm knocking down? I've sent the photos to my ID, so I hope that she will give me a good design that I can share with you guys. In the meantime, I will post up more inspirations photos late.