countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2011 Hi I need help!! which ID is good? Are you looking to do your reno in country style? Try Country Concept (http://www.countryconcept.com/) or Cottage Crafts (http://thecottagecraft.com/index.html). If you have a tight budget, you may wanna consider Country Concept as I've heard some pretty good comments about their workmanship. Cottage Crafts services the higher end of the market but no harm approaching them too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2011 Btw I'm back to flood this forum, as I'll be going into Phase 2 of my home reno after a long three years! Yeah!!! We will be doing up our study room and fixing a wall display unit for the living room, as we didn't have much budget to get them done earlier. Currently, my hubby is doing space planning and layout of the study room. Will be looking for a suitable carpenter once this is done....hopefully by end of this week. Watch this space for my updates! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hafiizh 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2011 Oooh country style? Nowadays shops are better stocked for this concept. Simei's east point has a whole shop dedicated to the range of country decor. Also nex's king & king wong also has a good selection. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2011 Oooh country style? Nowadays shops are better stocked for this concept. Simei's east point has a whole shop dedicated to the range of country decor. Also nex's king & king wong also has a good selection. Where is Nex's King and King Wong? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 22, 2011 After a few weeks of gathering quotations, coming out with our own space planning and layout of the study room, we could finally see our reno project moving.So far, we have gotten two quotations - one from Forest Woodworking and one from Country Concept. As expected, Forest's quote came up to be on the high end of the spectrum.Yesterday, we went down to discuss the details with Forest and negotiate the costing. Met up with Helen who felt that we have too many full height cabinets in the study, hence causing the costings to be very high. In addition, as we have a very small room, having too many full height cabinets would make it look very cluttered. After a discussion to remove some of those cabinets, she managed to push the quote down by more than $2k. Actually I was just being very kiasu. Wanted to maximise the space in my study to the fullest so I will not run out of storage space in future. However, I tend to agree with her that there are too many cabinets...practically on all four walls of the room!I really LOVE the stuff that Forest has done, so English country! Exactly how I wanted my room to be! However, all these come at a premium price. I had communicated to Helen earlier that I wanted the cabinets to be in my dream colour - sage green. This is a very rare and vintage country green which is not easy to get. And I almost died when she showed me a sample of the sage green material...exactly how I pictured in my mind! When I saw that, I was so tempted to sign her up on the spot! LOL.However that sage green colour also comes at a premium price....an additional $700-$800 which I find unacceptable. Her reason is because it's a rare colour and efforts need to be put in to use special paints. As she'll be reworking the quotation for our study cabinets and the dining display unit (which may come up to an additional $2-3k), we asked her to try her best to give us a better costing. Keeping our fingers crossed! Very keen to engage Forest as I really love their workmanship & design. However I have this strong feeling that their final quotation will be way above our budget.Just received Country Concept's quotation today and will be arranging to meet them next week to discuss further.We had earlier intended to complete all reno by end of June, but seems like those few IDs I spoke to are unable to commit, as their projects have been fully lined up already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 22, 2011 Just sharing the space planning/layout done up by my hubby for the study room: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hafiizh 0 Report post Posted April 23, 2011 Eh? Think my reply was deleted. Nex is a shopping mall in serangoon, just above serangoon mrt. King & king Wong has an entrance on the dog park floor. Happy shopping! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2011 Country Concept came over my place yesterday to take a look at the study room, so as to be able to give us a more accurate quotation. The boss of the company, Mr Teo gave his suggestions on how we could improve upon the current layout. He proposed to remove some cabinet doors and to have more open shelving instead for practical reasons. From the way he explained, could tell that he is a guru in this area. He has been in this biz for over 30 yrs I think. He was quite upfront & honest too as he told us what can work & what can't, what they could do & what they couldn't do. I asked about doing the carpentry in my fave sage green & he said not a problem! Told me that he used to do that many yrs back as this colour used to be more popular then but said he hasn't done that for many yrs as not many request for it nowadays. Also told me that there are no additional charges! So glad to hear that! . He even offered to spray paint a sample for me when I go down to the showroom next week to discuss the final quotation. Really nice of him!Finally starting to see some "hope" in my renovation after meeting so many hiccups. Hope the final quotation could be within our budget and that they are able to give me the colour we want. If all goes well, really hope to confirm on the ID by next week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2011 After considering various quotes by a few IDs, we finally decided to engage Forest Woodworking. Signed the sales agreement with them a week ago. Their costing is more like in the median range, in between the highest and lowest quotes. Our decision was made based on their impressive portfolio for English country-style, plus they are able to give us the sage green cabinets we wanted. My ID Helen also gave us quite a good discount, to try to meet our tight budget. Most importantly, Helen provides very good customer service and follow-up, but not exactly pushy. She communicates very clearly what can and cannot be done, and gives practical suggestions on how to maximise storage areas in the small study room, but not overcrowding the space with too many cabinets. Unlike the other IDs who are taking forever to revert with quotes, she provides/revises quotes very promptly. She also makes a point to follow-up through phone calls to see if we have any concerns or need to make further changes etc. Most of the other IDs don't even bother to follow-up after sending quotes. Last week, my ID came down with her carpenter to make measurements for the study room and dining area. She said she will try to meet my deadline of end June...really glad when she said that they would target to get everything done by the 2nd or 3rd week of June.After some discussions with the ID, we have decided to make the bottom cabinets in sage green and the top cabinets in white with gold trimmings for that vintage look. The top hung display in the dining room will be constructed in ivory with gold trimmings. Helen has shown me photos of homes they have done in a similar concept, and they look really nice! Can't wait to see how mine will turn out after the reno! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
footprint 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2011 Looking forward for photos!! Country style will be so nice.. A theme that won't go outdated coz it already have that vintage feel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rayfox 0 Report post Posted May 23, 2011 your design is so timeless and classic can't wait to see the end result , one of the most interesting project in rt for sure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted May 23, 2011 your design is so timeless and classic can't wait to see the end result , one of the most interesting project in rt for sureThanks. I hope everything goes well according to our specs & design. ID just told us may be delayed by 1 - 2 weeks cos the carpenter is swamped with too many projects. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted May 30, 2011 (edited) We got rid of our two single beds and bought a new bunk bed and dresser for the girls' room, to make way for the new study room. Edited May 30, 2011 by countrylover Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted May 30, 2011 (edited) A closer look at some decor currently displayed on the dresser. Edited May 30, 2011 by countrylover Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
countrylover 0 Report post Posted June 15, 2011 We finally painted our study room over the weekend to prepare for renovation. Did a cleanup to get rid of the junk lying around too!Our ID called us two days ago to inform that they will be starting the reno this Thur. However, as our electrician is unable to make it that day, we had changed the installation date to next Tue.Very excited....can't wait to see the transformation after the reno! Will be busy this weekend shifting things out and moving the existing tables away to make way for the reno. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
