Decided to write up a short blog on our renovation journey, hoping that it will help future home-owners with their reno process!
First things first, contractors or interior designers?
Probably the ever-famous topic for every one. Of course, contractors were our initial plan. Why? Advise from friends & relatives for being famously cheap (cheaper than ID that is). I guess that's one of the main reasons why people opt for contractors instead.
As it was our first house, we didn't really have a concept/theme (which is a problem if we took contractors) other than the usual Scandinavian/Minimalist settings which I prefer not to have because everyone is doing it (don't have concept still want to be different). After probably months of debate (i think?), finally we decided to just go for an ID. Problems we faced? "Why so expensive, you all still take?" "Contractors also can do the exact same thing, but at a cheaper price" "Do you know that some IDs cannot be trusted?" I guess the very reason why we chose ID over contractors was not only because we didn't have a concept, but we were also worried about the liaising issues. Having contractors meant that, we have to liaise with them directly and telling them specifically what we want/do not want. So it still boils down to whether home-owners know what they REALLY want. (very obvious we don't, hence the choice of ID)
After the first obstacle was done, next came the interesting/time-consuming part; finding an Interior Designer!
We didn't really meet a lot of IDs mainly because we don't want to give ourselves too much choices to choose from. For me and my husband, being comfortable with the ID and s/he is able to understand what we really want is the essence of the whole process (of course also making sure that the firm is trustworthy, find reviews!). Finding the cheapest deal is definitely on everyone's list but then again, what's the catch? Make sure to run through the entire quotation(s) point by point, and please do not hesitate to raise any questions (we are talking about a huge sum here). End of the day, cheap doesn't entirely means good.
We met about 4 IDs? End up, we decided to hand the trophy to Jade from The Local INN.terior!
She was the first designer that we met. Quirky, genuine and very confident in what she delivers. She was very prompt in following up too, despite us not signing any deals with her yet and mind you, she was having a leisure trip at that point of time. Other than her quirkiness & funny laughter, probably one of the biggest reason we chose her was because, not only we felt that whatever she designed/proposed was aligned to what we wanted but she would also input her own designs for our references (if not what's the point of having an ID right?). In a nutshell, she's someone that we can talk cock to but yet serious at the right time.
Proceeded to signing the treaty with her, and down to Hafary for tiles shopping!
Kitchen Tiles with Kompacplus, Vinyl Flooring & Paint Color!
Toilet tiles with Kompacplus & Carpentry Laminate!
Of course we went together with Jade, and spent a good 2-3 hours walking around choosing the best tiles for our nest! Never did she once rushed to choose the tiles or attempt to brush us off by just choosing those "common never go wrong" tiles. Hanging out with her was never an issue, below is an example of what she posted;
Asked us to pose with the tiles so she's able to visualise how it will look like (where to find this type of ID!)
What comes after tiles shopping? Everyone's favourite; 3D Drawings!
(from entrance of the house - living room - kitchen - toilet - bedroom)
It was amazeballssssss!! Even though these were the final set of 3D drawings where she conceptualise the actual tiles and materials to the drawings , prior to it Jade had already sent us a draft 3D drawings of our house.
Fast forward to taking our keys and house renovation is already on the way (it's only less than 2 months!). Got myself some 'before' pictures of our house! Slipped our mind to snap pictures of the house before any work is done But yay to emoticons!
'Before' works!
Hacking away the room adjacent to the living room for our Glass Room in the 3D drawings!
Open concept kitchen!
Back-splash for our kitchen! So prettzzzz!
Master bathroom! (i thought the toilet was big.. )
If any of you homeowners opted for Vinyl flooring, you guys might have to go through cement screeding. However, homeowners are now required to pay for this service from HDB. Luckily, our appeal was successful as we applied for the flat before this rule was implemented. My advice? PLEASE APPEAL! Or at least try even if you apply the flat after they implemented the rule. I have to admit that ID charges a skyrocket high price for this service, hence Jade told us to send in our appeal letter upon getting our keys. She was the one that told us about HDB's new implementation and also advise us on when/how to send the appeal letter to HDB! Honestly, why wouldn't I entrust my house to her?
Although our appeal was successful, but we were required to wait almost 8 weeks for their contractors to schedule a timing for the cement screed. Thus we thought that nothing could be done or at least until the screeding was done, but sometimes Jade seems to be more.. excited/worried about the progression of the house than us. In a short span of 2 weeks or 2.5 max, she did almost everything she could, like; hacking, air-con piping, electrical points, false ceilings, tiling for master bathroom and kitchen! (kudos to her workers too) Both our families were equally shocked too. Spell impressive and efficiency
Ready for some 'after' works?
Back-splash for kitchen! I'm definitely gonna step into the kitchen much more often
(oh and the plaster smooth of the walls were done in like 1-1.5 day?)
Started works for our master bathroom!
Opted for wall tiles in the wet area and cement screed for the dry!
Close up of the wall tiles! Definitely hitting the resort style
False ceiling was up too!
Same goes for the master bedroom's. Cosy house here I come!
Mortar base done up nicely in our service yard!
What I really really love about Jade is, she's always making sure that we were kept informed of all the works that were on-going or any hiccups along the way. She even introduced us to an app which allows her to put in the entire schedule of the renovation process; what are we supposed to purchase (even state which is urgent) and what were done already. And yes, she did all these manually for every client of hers (not just us). That's what everyone likes right? Black & white all stated very clearly, and knowing what were the next steps going forward.
Currently that's all I have to offer! Hope it helps someone!
Will come back with more pictures once the screed & more works are done!
Hola! Back here to update our renovations and can't wait to share the upcoming pictures!
Counting our blessings as screeding was pushed forward by a week! Believe me when I say, they can finished the entire house's screeding by one day (or probably half a day). Another day to let it dry before Jade's tiler can measure our vinyl flooring. Enuff said, let the pictures do the talking!
Finally it's screeding time!
Had a crazy idea of just changing to cement screed for the entire house..
Since our screeding was brought forward, that just means that the remaining of our renovations schedule will be push forward too! Quickly settled our painting; wall, door & pipes' colours. Same goes for the measurement of doors and floor too! Till date, it made me realise how important it is to have a great rapport with your ID. S/He does not only need to be in the same frequency as us, but they also have to be genuinely looking forward to the completion of our house. The next best thing apart from getting our house, would be knowing Jade as a friend.
Mushy-ness aside, anyone is excited to see our vinyl flooring (and painting)!? CAUSE I AM!
Vinyl Flooring + Painting!
In the midst of preparing!
The amount of hard work that they put into each and every house.
I. JUST. LOVE. IT. Everything is on point (thou there's nothing yet).
View from Master Bedroom
Finally I'm doing a minimal Before & After of our house! It's so pleasing to the eyes~
Didn't really paint a lot of colours, in fact we only painted a grey-ish tone on our TV wall and the rest was just cream white. I really adore neutral tones for houses hence the choice to keep it real simple without too much colours dancing around.
Leave some of the painting decisions to Jade, of course I'm not disappointed and so was my husband! She chose grey for the service yard's pipes and white for the kitchen's. Once you found yourself a right ID, the amount of work we need to do is pretty minimal One big achievement unlocked, onto the next one;
- Carpentry Discussion done
- Measuring of Doors & Windows done
- Measuring of Glass Works done
Everything is done in a jiff! Probably that's all I have to update before the next major schedule which should be our carpentry.
Am thinking of doing up a blog with our Taobao loots! Let me know if anyone is keen (if there is..)!
Till then peepz! XO
