hellofromanotherside
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Everything posted by hellofromanotherside
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Thank you! Haha what a small world. I have nothing but praises for her tbh. Hope you find your dream ID too!
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It's a Commune-al Thing I don't know if you guys are like this too, but we've been going to the same furniture shops over and over again lusting over the same few things for MONTHS, just waiting to get the go-ahead from HDB and our ID to start shopping. So when M (the ID) said we can start slowly purchasing our furniture, we did what we were told....and went full speed. All that time taken to save all that money! At least it went to the stuff we really, really love. Commune is one of our favourite shops. It's quite embarrassing la, but we've been to all their stores (even the warehouse at Defu Lane) so many times, the sales reps recognise us. It was also quite the perfect time to be buying the big ticket items, cos year end sales are very good! We got a few pieces at 15-20% off. It also took us some time to get a coffee table that was just right. I'd dreamed about it in my head this whole time, so imagine my excitement when I saw something so similar IRL, at TANGS! No time to waste, we just bought it there and then lol. This Bruno TV console from Commune is from their latest collection. Look at that beautiful herringbone. And the gold touches! I love how classic and yet unique it feels. Which would match perfectly with our coffee table (sorry for the grainy quality). It's by a local brand called Scene Shang, and you can find some of their stuff at TANGS Home. They recently closed their Millenia Walk shop, and will have another store elsewhere soon. Got a 3-seater leather couch, also from Commune. I think it's a pretty popular piece for renotalk folks! Can't wait to soften it up with colourful cushions. Remember my husband's love for afghan rugs? We found a beautiful piece at Arab St. The red is deeper in real life. It looks black here, but some parts are actually dark blue. Anndd the dining table is from, you guessed it! It's actually veneer wood, but with walnut texture. The legs like so sexy hahaha. Lastly, our dining chairs from Hock Siong! We got the yellow and coral one, 3 each. Love how they glammed up the old-school kopitiam chair with dip dyes. I figured if we end up hating the colours, can always repaint them. Next up: A Trip to Paris(silk)
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Yes! That's one hurdle down, many more to go I'm sure haha. Thank you for your support!
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Hello Shazy. Unfortunately my ID is going on a hiatus after she's completed our house and a couple others, because she'll be renovating her own home and wants to focus on that first. As mentioned, she only handles a few projects each time, and I'm not sure when she'll resume work in the near future. I'd also like to keep her identity confidential till the house is complete, because of privacy issues. Hope you understand, thanks!
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Hello! Just dropping by to say the house looks promising. I'm also big on being practical, so we're doing away with the craftstone wall, bulky built-ins etc. Go fellow pragmatic! xx Warm, Earthy, and a Little Bohemian xx
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Thank you for reading! My parents have always loved rugs, so the look has stayed with me I suppose haha. Thankfully the husband doesn't mind weekly vacuuming =P I absolutely love your reno journey, btw. EM, so big, so much space to play around with!
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My idol, the ID So after all that googling and stalking homes of friends of friends, I chanced upon a beautiful BTO home on Instagram and found out they had hired an ID. I found the company’s IG account and really liked what I saw. It’s a small company, takes on a few projects a year, and is helmed by one woman, the principal designer. As fate would have it, a few months back, they posted an update calling for new homeowners to meet up for a no-obligations chat about design ideas, if you’re collecting your keys in the first half of 2016. That’s us! We met up and shared with her our floor plan, and some rough ideas we’d like to see in our home. The designer, let’s call her M, quickly did some sketches on the floor plan and asked if we’d considered things like materials for flooring, trunking, future planning for the extra rooms, etc. She immediately got our vision – “Like Apartment Therapy, right?” – and it got me even more excited about renovating our home. I guess that’s ultimately what people are looking for. You can show me 10 IDs with similar ideas and quotations, and I might go with a pricier one if we get along. Because you’re going to be dealing with this person over the next few months, you better make sure you at least like her, and can trust her. Other things I liked about M: She’s been in this industry for 20 years. That’s experience I can’t put a price on.She only personally handles a few projects each time. This means she’s extremely hands-on with our renovation, which is ideal because my husband and I don’t have the expertise/time to do checks every few days.She makes sure we plan ahead for every space in the house. An office today might become a nursery in a few years’ time. She will include measurements and sketches for all these plans, and we simply need to hand it over to a contractor to do the job, even if its 10 years from now.She has her own contacts of contractors, but is open to us recommending our own. Unlike some IDs who only work with their own contractor-partners, which may come with hidden costs.So there you go! We met up with her last week to get design work rolling. And my ears just perked when she said we can start shopping for furniture pieces and kitchen appliances already. And boy, have we been shopping! Will share with you a few items in my next post. Next up: It’s a Commune-al Thing
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Hello! I totally understand your excitement to buy all the furniture even before moving in. We've also bought most of our pieces, and are also getting our keys end of the month, or early Feb! Loving the look so far. Enjoy your reno journey! =) xx Warm, Earthy, and a Little Bohemian xx
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I'm sure it's possible! Our ID says it's a matter of choosing the right paint for our cabinets. We did consider the butcher (wooden) block too, because it has a nice country/rustic feel to it. Will definitely update you here about the outcome of the kitchen. Hopefully we can stay true to the moodboard!
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Thank you! We really love the combi for the kitchen too. Our ID says she can make it happen, so hoorah! (And yes, got inspired by Adele lolol)
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Are you serious?? What a wonderful coincidence!! The blue and gold combi is sooo delicious. And I know what you mean about all that carpeting. No choice la, gotta get those robot-type vacuums to do the work for us. And nice accent colours! We're looking at some yellow, and maybe mint for ours
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Thank you! Am excited to embark on it. Been 3 years of daydreaming haha
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Hello fellow Commune fan! We did a lot of damage during the past sales period too. The pieces you bought are beautiful! xx Warm, Earthy, and a Little Bohemian xx
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A Photo Gallery of Modern Bohemia I realise it's a bit challenging to find the exact image that would describe my perfect home LOL. Here are a few images we like, sticking to the theme of modern bohemia. Think dark wood, brass and gold, deep dark reds and beautiful greens. I hope this vision is possible to be brought to life. Skali it just looks better in our head! Love the coffee table here. We found a similar one from Scene Shang =) The couch would be a brown leather one, though. Yup, more coffee tables to fall in love with. The fig tree really ties up the whole place nicely. My husband is a huge fan of Afghan rugs. Their colours are mainly deep reds and blues, and patterns are more simple compared to the normally seen Persian rugs. And our favourite part of the house: the kitchen! Here, we plan to go with midnight blue bottom shelves, open top shelves, marble-patterned countertops (as marble itself is porous and not durable) and classic brass handles. Next up: My Idol, the ID
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Just took a quick glance at your finished home. That coffee table! The brass handles in your kitchen! So very lovely!
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The ID, ego, and superego. Like everyone who’s on the verge of owning their first home, we did a lot of contemplating while deciding between a contractor and an ID. My partner and I work unpredictable hours, so the idea of heading down to the flat every other day just to check on a contractor seems like a waste of time. We also don’t have the patience and experience when it comes to knowing where the air-con should go, which type of water heater would be best for the home, even the idea of planning a kitchen layout sounds very daunting! So we decided to go with an interior designer, and shopped around quite a bit before we found theee perfect one. First, I visited and threw out a quote along with a brief introduction of our preferred look and feel. Only two ID companies contacted me back – not a surprise, because we requested for very little built-ins, and we know IDs love their feature wall + console. I did a little background research on the two, and we paid a visit to one of them. Before I go on, you must know that I didn’t choose this guy. Because of the following glaring reasons. 1. He struggled to converse with us in English. It’s not his fault that he’s more Mandarin-speaking, and that we’re not at all. But still…you’re an “ID”…in Singapore… 2. He cared more about his portfolio than what we, his clients, want or like. The project would be a big win for him, it seems, and he made it clear to us. 3. He added very little to the table after hearing our ideas. I’m not the expert, you are! 4. He was so, so young. So we left the office with a weird dilemma – I felt like we had to please this young man and hire him because he seemed so earnest, but at the same time I knew he was a terrible choice because the last thing I wanted to do was baby-sit my own ID. He came back with a revised quotation (about 5K above our max budget) but we had to nicely let him down. We did a little bit more homework and considered all the other big names….but nothing seemed to, well, click. And I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the look we want isn’t very common. And that maybe, to be safe, IDs prefer to pick clients who want a theme they’re already familiar with. Like I mentioned before, industrial and Scandinavian is all the rage right now, and taking on a client like us would require lots and lots of trust, communication, and research. Any readers out there who are facing the same problem? If you love dark wood, earthy tones and eclectic furniture, please shout out! I’d love to share my findings with you.
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Finally! After applying for our flat in 2013, we now have a chance to share our renovation experience here. Been a silent lurker, love your ideas, etc etc, let’s just get down to business. We got a 5-room flat in the north-eastern part of Singapore (Seriously...take a guess. You’re probably right.) and PCD is scheduled end of this month. I’m not kidding when I say we began our research the moment we applied 2 - 3 years ago. Thankfully, my husband and I have very similar tastes, so agreeing to things came easily and without much hair tugging/crying. Here’s the standard floorplan. A rough introduction of our style: NON-industrial and NON-Scandinavian. I know this site has a huge following for the two “themes”, but that’s just not us, heh. Also another reason for contributing to renotalk – I thought it’d be a nice change to see something different for the rest of you who are looking for new inspiration!Warm, earthy, and a little bohemian. We travel quite a bit and have collected some strange and quirky items over the years. I’m a huge fan of Apartment Therapy, and am thoroughly inspired by the homes there.Plenty of dark wood accented with hints of brass and rose gold. And pops of colour. We plan to warm the place up with lots of plants and ethnic rugs.Next up - our experience speaking to a few IDs.
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Warm, Earthy, and a Little Bohemian
hellofromanotherside added images to a gallery album in Bedrooms
A photo gallery of our renovation journey. Most likely shot from an iPhone.
