Natural Living

[SGK 0]

Need help!!Looking at e cost quoted by Inner Room, I'm thinking of hiring them to do living n mbr only. Then get MWG to do e rest of my hse. We save abt $10k if we do tt. But hb not keen cuz he said e company won't b happy we split like that. N odd to hv 2 contractors working at e hse at e same time.

Can I get advice if this is normally done? Cuz I read some forummers hv done ala carte before.

I still like to work w ID cuz later will need help w colour scheme n she can help choose materials for bedroom etc.

Can I hire ID for her design 'brains' but e actual carpentry n othr work done by our choice of contractor? After all the ID still need to hire carpenter rt???

Appreciate advice n suggestions cuz I'm confused.

Saving up to 10k is certainly very significant. But if there are any damages caused to your house (touch wood), then the workers may push the blame to the other party so you have to be prepared for this. But the 10k savings should be more than sufficient to repair any damages i think .

I have heard of people getting an ID to do the drawings and then find aother contractor to do the renovation. For example, some IDs work freelance and do not have a team of workers whom he/she work with. There are also some ID companies who ask for $1500 and they will give you the 3D drawings. After that, you need not sign the reno contract with them. One such company is ****.

[Umaisarah 2]

So I email e ID frm Inner Room if I can do a partial contract or buy her drawings but she nvr respond yet.

I'm oso looking at other carpenters to compare price w MWG.

Any recommendations?

Got a quote fr Home Guide. Will post details later but after minus things I dun need now, it's within my budget. But I hv no confidence w e designer coz she's only 21 yrs old!!! Look so timid n soft. Altho she said there'll b PM to do site supervision, I think if hv dispute btw d two she sure lose one.

[Umaisarah 2]

Finally able to post my floor plan pic here.

[Umaisarah 2]

I promise Ossify the ceiling plan, so here it is

This option is proposed by the ID from Inner Room.

(Some edits to the picture: the blue portion should just be a plain false ceiling, NOT reverse pelmet. My bad, forgot to change it.)

The ID advise against putting cove lights because we want to have a fan in the living room.

Based on her past experience, cove lights can make you giddy.

My hubby wants cove lights at first but recently his friend told him abt the insects and lizards problem,

so now he kind of come around to the idea of NOT having cove lights (yeah!)

But we're worried if the lighting plan will be bright enough for the living room.

For info, living-cum-dining room combined is about 6.7m x 2.5m.

We dunwan to get lighting kit for the fan.

What kind of light is usually for the downlights? Warm or white? Can we mix it up? eg corner-warm, middle-white?

Comments, suggestions, advice, pls.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Umaisarah

[Umaisarah 2]

Nearly 1 more month before we get keys, and I'm getting panicked aredy coz still looking for ID!!!!

Quotation still pending:

Ideal House

1 Inch Square Foot

Bayou Interiors

Not confident they can give me better price than Home Guide coz they're mostly designer IDs.

Haiz...going to do more 'shopping' tmrw. Checked classifieds today and saw lots of adverts.

May check out Homeworkz coz saw they give direct factory price.

[Umaisarah 2]

Everytime we go window-shopping, kena more damage to the wallet

Yesterday, went down to Harvey Norman at Millenia to look at their bedframes. DH was surprised HM sells beds cuz he thot they're like Best Denki, sell only electronic items. Anyway, their furniture range is quite atas, and hence expensive. Saw a bedframe we like, it was about $1000+ for king-size. KIV for next time. We also saw a mattress selling for $12k. Crazy..... but this was not the only crazy and amazing thing we saw...., heh heh

Then we came across this furniture store called SPACE. Curious, went in to take a look, but almost fainted at the prices!

Wah, this one only new citizens like Jet Li with banglo at Bukit Timah or Holland can afford! Never mind, pretend like we belong in the shop and took a slow walk around the shop. Saw some dining chairs that I really like but of course, one piece alone costs $1000+!!!

We saw a life-size horse lampshade (which was featured in one of the home decor mags, I think it was LookBook) and a life-size pig table.

If you're curious, here's a link to what it looks like, it really IS life-size.

Mooi Life-size Horse Lamp Shade

Needless to say, we didn't check the price for those items cuz dun think it will fit with our decor theme,

Actually, I'm wondering what the designer was thinking when he got the idea for this thing..."Hey, why not I put this lamp shade on a horse's head, make it life-size, and see if anybody is gullible enough to buy it cuz it's a designer item! and then I'll do a similar design with a pig and pair it with a table this time!"

Ah, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Back to my window-shopping. Left Millenia and was heading twds Tradehub21 at Boon Lay coz I wanted to check out Cellini but since we're in the area, we dropped by Park Mall instead. While DH was having his cigarette break, I checked out X-tra and saw some colourful stackable chairs that I thought will look nice in the kids' bedrooms. Checked the price, about $200+ each. Where can I get cheaper replicas???

Finally walked into Cellini and saw the Marrakesh bedframe. Almost same price as the Harvey Norman one, but weren't confident it is strong enough. The legs and frame look quite 'skinny'. and it was covered in PVC leather which we were not crazy abt.

Went into this shop called Eco-something, which sells quite an eclectic mix of styles. When we enter the shop, it was full of white, flowery Victorian-style furniture, then next room was several Asian-style items, then the final room is a glam, bling-bling-style of design. I think this shop is confused just as I am.

Stopped at the Asian-style area, and saw this bedframe which we really liked. Wood, with bamboo strips at the bedhead and footboard(?) On offer at $1595 w GST and delivery. Almost bought but I hesitated cuz the again the frame looked skinny (we had a bad experience where our honeymoon bed broke only after a few months of using, so we make sure our subsequent beds are strong enough), and the unique bedhead will be covered when we put in our mattress and pillows. and the sales lady was punching numbers in the calculator and coming up with the magical figure of $1595 and saying she never charge GST etc. How do I know she hasn't already included it in.

So decided not to buy and we left.

Actually, before we went into that confused shop, we were at Natural Living, my next favourite furniture shop since Barang2 has closed down (sniff!).

We saw two beds there we liked. One was called the Tibet Bed, we liked the groove design of the bed edges, but it will too big for our bedroom cuz it has jutting-out sides and front. DH wanted to buy a Queen cuz the frame with the jutting-out sides is big enough for a king mattress. But I didn't want cuz I think it will spoil the mattress. DH said it won't. We're still arguing abt it.

The other one we liked, which we finally bought, was this Yoshi Bed. Why we liked it?

Just look at those strong square legs! And it has a tall bedhead, so with our 14 inch mattress sitting on it, it will just at the right height.

But one drawback was that it has bed slats instead of bunkie boards. I quickly check with our Serta mattress salesguy and he advised to buy frame with bunkie boards cuz they're better for the mattress. Sales lady at Natural Living said if we want the boards, it will cost $200 extra. But she advised us to buy or make our own from plywood at Defu Lane.

So after a bit of thinking about it, we confirm the order.

Damage? Official selling price $2,750, sales lady offered to us at $2000, we said we'll think about it and went to that confused Eco-shop, then returned to Natural Living and DH counter-offer at $1,700. Sales lady checked something, and said ok.

Aiyo, if we know can go as low as $1000 off, we should have asked for $1,500!

Anyway, the above picture of the bed came from a Canadian furniture shop which was retailing the king-size bed at CA$1,299.

Paid deposit of $600. After reading horror stories of damaged furniture delivered to forummers, I told DH don't pay in full yet. Wait until deliver, then pay the rest.

So that's the story of my window-shopping for bedframe

Lessons learnt - Haggle and bargain like you're in a Turkish bazaar! And groom my daughter to be a world-class designer so she can charge lotsa money for crazy designs that people call 'avant-garde'

[Umaisarah 2]

Time to talk about my biggest damage so far - Renovation.

After much head-scratching, hesitation, research, and back-and-forth, convenience and design won over and DH and me decided to go with Inner Room as our appointed ID cum renovator. The ID came back to me on Sat in response to my request if we can give them partial contract. She said she can cut down the value to within our budget so we went down to their office yest to discuss. Actually, prices have remained almost the same, but we took out quite a nbr of items which we don't need which she had quoted, like bookcases for the girls' bedroom (we're bringing our current Billy bookcases), the MBR bedhead and feature wall (going to do simple decal, wallpaper or let the paint colour and bedhead do the talking), bookcase for MBR, display cum divider **** (dun believe in feng sui stuff).

She also gave us discount on her prof fees and free GERMAN STUCCO wall for the dining area. Total value in the end is abt $1K above our budget but $11K less than her initial quote. I think she quoted us for fairly good materials, like the inside of the cabinets is made of colour polygen, compared with Home Guide which quoted cheaper but the ID (from HG itself, not IR) did point to me that the internal is white PVC. The bay window laminate ledge is 5cm thick and will hv an overhang so that our feet will dangle and not touch/dirty the walls). IR quoted me $288 for acrylic and glass bi-fold door with top and bottom tracks. I wanted to get PD door but DH and ID don't recommend

Now realised that ID forgot to include quote for MBR TV console.

If she quote too high, our alternative is to buy Ikea TV console, do some mod and decorate it with Winkplay decals.

I'm fully aware that my head is primed for carrot chop but hopefully I'll hv peace of mind that someone will be doing all the running around and checking for me, and I know the quality and look will be there....

So, that's one major item off the list.

Next is electrician, lighting and MOVERS!!!

Edited March 8, 2010 by Umaisarah

[wizi 0]

i loved reading your journey to your new home in the East!

i live in the East!

And i can say ... East is relaxing.. especially when u are near the Loyang, Changi Prison areas... quiet, serene and tranquil... ehehehe

[Umaisarah 2]

i loved reading your journey to your new home in the East!

i live in the East!

And i can say ... East is relaxing.. especially when u are near the Loyang, Changi Prison areas... quiet, serene and tranquil... ehehehe

Hi Wizi

Glad to hear u like reading my blog

Eastside living will b diff n lonely for me cuz I'll b far away frm my family. They're all westerners, heh heh. But one good thing is tt many of my colleagues stay in e east so can hitch ride home w them

actually I'm quite anxious cuz evrything will be unfamiliar. Dun even know whr e wet mkt is. Nearest Ntuc is 1 mrt stop away at eastpt mall. There's some nice devts at loyang but DH didn't fancy cuz public tpt will b a problem.

Hopefully envt will b btr for children but my eldest aredy saying she wants to go Crescent Girls cuz most of frens choosing tt sch (she taking Psle this yr, stress!). Trying to convince her to go to schs in e area. Got any good ones to recommend

[patsy_sg 1]

am so impressed you've gotten so much done already! i have barely started my shopping!!!

[KSJL 0]

Hi hi,

Welcome to RTalk and do enjoy your renovation.....I just PM you on my ID and curtain/blind maker - they are good!

[porcupine12trade 0]

Actually the ID I like is from Inner Room which IS the sister company of Rest and Relax

Mbe I should ask her if she mind I use my own carpenter. She actually charge $1000 for professional services which include site supervision.

Not sure if she also supervise if I get my own contractor??

Actually, what really make the price difference is the laminate for the bay window ledge.

Inner Room quote me $2,362 while Metal & Wood quoted $900. You see how much I can save just from that alone?

I'm not doing anything fancy for the bedrooms anyway, so don't really need an ID there. Just need a good carpenter who can build to spec.

That's why I'm thinking to use MWG for the 3 common bedrooms, and engage Inner Room for Living and Master coz need to hv designer touch there, mah?

hi umaisarah,

I wrote a long reply and suddenly the computer switched off coz i forgot to on the power . Wah the bay window ledge is so ex!! my old place's bay window lay with laminate, my carpenter charge me $200 each bay window. Maybe the wood and laminate I used was not the top quality one so its cheap (i still tot it was so exp )

Just spoke to a friend, she used carpenter and not ID, she mentioned 30-40% savings.

[porcupine12trade 0]

I promise Ossify the ceiling plan, so here it is

This option is proposed by the ID from Inner Room.

(Some edits to the picture: the blue portion should just be a plain false ceiling, NOT reverse pelmet. My bad, forgot to change it.)

The ID advise against putting cove lights because we want to have a fan in the living room.

Based on her past experience, cove lights can make you giddy.

My hubby wants cove lights at first but recently his friend told him abt the insects and lizards problem,

so now he kind of come around to the idea of NOT having cove lights (yeah!)

But we're worried if the lighting plan will be bright enough for the living room.

For info, living-cum-dining room combined is about 6.7m x 2.5m.

We dunwan to get lighting kit for the fan.

What kind of light is usually for the downlights? Warm or white? Can we mix it up? eg corner-warm, middle-white?

Comments, suggestions, advice, pls.

I spoke to an ID, she assured that it wont be dusty or insects hiding in cove lighting area, of coz I wasn't convinced at all. Can you explain the giddy part? I once had a cove light shinning outwards and my fan is inward..not sure if you get wat i mean (cove light not facing fan), no giddy problem.

I love warm light for the house. my previous house had a big living, about 5m by 4.5m.. i had a fan in the middle and 4 corners each a downlight and 1 each along the 4 sides (a rectangle with 8 lights) i never had to on all 8 lights, coz its very bright (my standard). Good enough if i on 4, usually i on 2. I have seen people mixing warm n white, i think its personal perference

[porcupine12trade 0]

Everytime we go window-shopping, kena more damage to the wallet

Yesterday, went down to Harvey Norman at Millenia to look at their bedframes. DH was surprised HM sells beds cuz he thot they're like Best Denki, sell only electronic items. Anyway, their furniture range is quite atas, and hence expensive. Saw a bedframe we like, it was about $1000+ for king-size. KIV for next time. We also saw a mattress selling for $12k. Crazy..... but this was not the only crazy and amazing thing we saw...., heh heh

Then we came across this furniture store called SPACE. Curious, went in to take a look, but almost fainted at the prices!

Wah, this one only new citizens like Jet Li with banglo at Bukit Timah or Holland can afford! Never mind, pretend like we belong in the shop and took a slow walk around the shop. Saw some dining chairs that I really like but of course, one piece alone costs $1000+!!!

We saw a life-size horse lampshade (which was featured in one of the home decor mags, I think it was LookBook) and a life-size pig table.

If you're curious, here's a link to what it looks like, it really IS life-size.

Mooi Life-size Horse Lamp Shade

Needless to say, we didn't check the price for those items cuz dun think it will fit with our decor theme,

Actually, I'm wondering what the designer was thinking when he got the idea for this thing..."Hey, why not I put this lamp shade on a horse's head, make it life-size, and see if anybody is gullible enough to buy it cuz it's a designer item! and then I'll do a similar design with a pig and pair it with a table this time!"

Ah, well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Back to my window-shopping. Left Millenia and was heading twds Tradehub21 at Boon Lay coz I wanted to check out Cellini but since we're in the area, we dropped by Park Mall instead. While DH was having his cigarette break, I checked out X-tra and saw some colourful stackable chairs that I thought will look nice in the kids' bedrooms. Checked the price, about $200+ each. Where can I get cheaper replicas???

Finally walked into Cellini and saw the Marrakesh bedframe. Almost same price as the Harvey Norman one, but weren't confident it is strong enough. The legs and frame look quite 'skinny'. and it was covered in PVC leather which we were not crazy abt.

Went into this shop called Eco-something, which sells quite an eclectic mix of styles. When we enter the shop, it was full of white, flowery Victorian-style furniture, then next room was several Asian-style items, then the final room is a glam, bling-bling-style of design. I think this shop is confused just as I am.

Stopped at the Asian-style area, and saw this bedframe which we really liked. Wood, with bamboo strips at the bedhead and footboard(?) On offer at $1595 w GST and delivery. Almost bought but I hesitated cuz the again the frame looked skinny (we had a bad experience where our honeymoon bed broke only after a few months of using, so we make sure our subsequent beds are strong enough), and the unique bedhead will be covered when we put in our mattress and pillows. and the sales lady was punching numbers in the calculator and coming up with the magical figure of $1595 and saying she never charge GST etc. How do I know she hasn't already included it in.

So decided not to buy and we left.

Actually, before we went into that confused shop, we were at Natural Living, my next favourite furniture shop since Barang2 has closed down (sniff!).

We saw two beds there we liked. One was called the Tibet Bed, we liked the groove design of the bed edges, but it will too big for our bedroom cuz it has jutting-out sides and front. DH wanted to buy a Queen cuz the frame with the jutting-out sides is big enough for a king mattress. But I didn't want cuz I think it will spoil the mattress. DH said it won't. We're still arguing abt it.

The other one we liked, which we finally bought, was this Yoshi Bed. Why we liked it?

Just look at those strong square legs! And it has a tall bedhead, so with our 14 inch mattress sitting on it, it will just at the right height.

But one drawback was that it has bed slats instead of bunkie boards. I quickly check with our Serta mattress salesguy and he advised to buy frame with bunkie boards cuz they're better for the mattress. Sales lady at Natural Living said if we want the boards, it will cost $200 extra. But she advised us to buy or make our own from plywood at Defu Lane.

So after a bit of thinking about it, we confirm the order.

Damage? Official selling price $2,750, sales lady offered to us at $2000, we said we'll think about it and went to that confused Eco-shop, then returned to Natural Living and DH counter-offer at $1,700. Sales lady checked something, and said ok.

Aiyo, if we know can go as low as $1000 off, we should have asked for $1,500!

Anyway, the above picture of the bed came from a Canadian furniture shop which was retailing the king-size bed at CA$1,299.

Paid deposit of $600. After reading horror stories of damaged furniture delivered to forummers, I told DH don't pay in full yet. Wait until deliver, then pay the rest.

So that's the story of my window-shopping for bedframe

Lessons learnt - Haggle and bargain like you're in a Turkish bazaar! And groom my daughter to be a world-class designer so she can charge lotsa money for crazy designs that people call 'avant-garde'

Hey the bed looks very simple (i like) and sturdy . Wah!! can bargain so much, omg..imagine how they try to chop us with their first quote!! now I learn something from you , I'll bargain bargain n bargain!

Btw I want to check why you got Serta mattress instead of the usual Simmons, Sealy? We were deciding to get either Simmons or Sealy, then sort of decided Sealy coz the comfort pad is more comfortable, but then just saw friend using Serta, i m starting to sway again haa. Few of my friends who use Serta bot their bed frames as well. I find lokking for a mattress is quite "complicating"!!

[Umaisarah 2]

Hey the bed looks very simple (i like) and sturdy . Wah!! can bargain so much, omg..imagine how they try to chop us with their first quote!! now I learn something from you , I'll bargain bargain n bargain!

Btw I want to check why you got Serta mattress instead of the usual Simmons, Sealy? We were deciding to get either Simmons or Sealy, then sort of decided Sealy coz the comfort pad is more comfortable, but then just saw friend using Serta, i m starting to sway again haa. Few of my friends who use Serta bot their bed frames as well. I find lokking for a mattress is quite "complicating"!!

Yah, now I've learnt that when I go to those big shops, shouldn't be afraid to bargain becuz their original prices are really cutthroat!

But I think need to look see first lah...like I dun think that SPACE shop will bargain one, hah hah

Why Serta? Hmmm....actually when I walked into the Serta shop it was just to check it out. I heard Serta was very ex, so wanted to see it to believe it. Then I saw the 50% off, I thot it was a good bargain. We actually asked the salesman, Kelvin, how does Serta mattress compare with Simmons. He praised Simmons cuz he used to work there. He said if we're looking for a Simmons equivalent to the Serta mattress we're eyeing, it wld cost about $5-6K. Then, he showed me a newspaper article dated Nov 09 where it said Serta was buying over Simmons in the US! I think there's some truth to it cuz when I checked the Internet later, there was a story on Simmons filing for Chap 11 (bankruptcy) and selling itself to Serta's owners. Not sure how it wld affect the local ops, though.

We currently have a Simmons which worked well for the past few years, but DH was complaining that it's not firm anymore. He can feel it when I'm tossing and turning on the bed. We liked the Sierra Hills cuz the comfort pad is softer and overall feels firmer (DH likes very firm bed). But honestly, I dun know how to compare mattresses, leh . As long as not too soft or saggy and I can't feel the springs, alright with me lah. What I'm looking for and still cannot find to my liking is pillows. I want big, soft pillows, like the ones used in good hotels. My best experience with pillows was at Hilton KL. Wah, their pillows so syiok, big and soft and so comfortable.....