Embark On A New Renovation Journey After 8 Years.....

[centrino2 0]

Hi all,

Seen so many excited and proud home owners sharing their renovation journey in this forum and thought that maybe I should do the same

I will be collecting the key to a resale unit in Sept and will be embarking on a new renovation journey of my own after 8 years, the only difference this time will be doing so not only with my wife but with inputs from my 2 daughters.

I have below the unit layout….not your usual squarish look

Will be able to upload more pictures of the "before" reno pictures after I received the key. Stay tuned.

[El LoCo 3]

Welcome to renotalk. Is yr apartment private or hdb? It has such an unique layout.

[hafiizh 0]

Hi there cents,

Welcome to Renotalk! Would love to see your actual pictures to see how the layout is like

[centrino2 0]

Welcome to renotalk. Is yr apartment private or hdb? It has such an unique layout.

Thanks. It's actually a resale unit @ The Waterina.

[centrino2 0]

Hi there cents,

Welcome to Renotalk! Would love to see your actual pictures to see how the layout is like

Thanks. Will be posting the pictures soon....

[centrino2 0]

Based on the last visit to the place, we have more or less decided to do the following:

- Keeping all flooring (marble @ living/dining, parquet @ all bedrooms, ceramic @ kitchen/yard)

- Keeping all wardrobes

- Hacking and redo the kitchen cabinets and top

- Hacking and redo all 3 toilets

- False ceiling @ living, dining, mbr

- Customize TV console @ living, mbr

- Wallpaper on one side of dining, all bedrooms walls

- Install wrought iron gate and grilles for all windows (half height)

- Replace all air-cons (3 in each rooms and 2 in living/dining)

- Install solar film for all windows

- Buying furniture (sofa, dining table/chairs, wine counter, bed frames/mattresses, study tables, storage/book shelves…)

- Buying electronics/appliances (TV, hood/hob, air-cons….)

- Buying lightings for the house

- Decide on an ID to handle the job

- ………………….

Out of the above to-do lists, I have basically completed a couple of them (take advantage of the recent GSS )

- Decided on the ID, Project Inc Pte Ltd…..able to understand and grasped our requirement in the shortest time, accommodate some of our requests (actually lots of them )

- Purchase most of the furniture

- Purchase TV (mbr), hood/hob

- Decided on the tiles and kitchen top

- Identify the wallpaper company

[centrino2 0]

Sharing my journey in purchasing of my furniture (just my own opinion and as far as I can still remember)

Part 1

· Air (28 Wilkie Road) – Nice contemporary design sofa, mainly in fabric. GSS discount is good….otherwise could be expensive. Like the clean design.

· Cellini (Loyang Drive, IFC, Park Mall, Furniture Mall) – Having bundle sales during GSS, as well as sales almost every weekend. Like their in-house designed furniture.

· Castilla (Park Mall) – Good sofa range....price above average

· Casa Italy (Park Mall, Paya Lebar) – Great sofa design manufactured in Malaysia, able to customize based on your requirement. Good selection in the Paya Lebar outlet.

· Courts (Tampines) – Carry multiple brands e.g. HTL, Lorenzo furniture (see below pic), usually basic models not available at brands showroom e.g. Lorenzo's own showrooms. Realized that pricing for same model can go up or down during different promo periods.

· Defu Furniture (Defu Ave 1) – mainly Malaysia and China made furniture, good selection of children furniture (mostly from catalogue). Great service from sales executive Ms Mary Tan

· DESIGNer.SG (Playfair Road) – Interesting range of China imported furniture with great range of clocks and art painting

· Domicil (Gull Circle) – Price slightly on the higher side but very nice design. You can still find great bargain from the range of display set sofa, was told mainly coming back from oversea exhibition

[rottenramone 1]

So you visited all these shops but what did you buy??

[centrino2 0]

Part 2

· FBT (Furniture Mall, IFC) – Good range of children furniture imported from China….price not cheap

· Fullhouse Home Furnishing (Aljunied, Upper Serangoon) – Kids bedding only showcased at Aljunied outlet, imported from China.

· Furniture Club (Park Mall, Furniture Mall) – Beautiful contemporary designed sofa but price is slightly on the high side. Heard from other furniture shops that the sofas are manufactured in China…..

· HTL (Gul Circle) – Warehouse sales with lots of full leather sofa, on a what you see is what you get basis. Challenge is to find a sofa with your requirement and color. You can look for the in-charge Mr Lai, who is a very friendly and experience person. Can negotiate pricing.

· Hommage (Tai Thong Crescent) – Choice of furniture mainly from catalogue. Price is very reasonable and Eric is a great guy to talk to. If you have time, he can fill you in on the furniture trade…..very interesting

· IKEA (Tampines, Alexandra) – Everyone knows IKEA J

· Kuka (Kaki Bukit, Kallang) – Beautiful contemporary design sofa but price is slightly on the high side

· Lifestory (Great World City) – European imported furniture and accessories. Price is on the high side but designs are nice. Keen on their Kartell designed lights but was told to wait 3 months for a particular color to be brought in…..bummer

· Lorenzo (Kaki Bukit, Sims Drive) – Having their 28yrs anniversary sales. More selections at their Sims Drive outlet

· Lush-lush (Paya Lebar) – Contemporary and unique designs. Feel that the showroom a-bit cluttered with items….feel messy. Having a sale of up to 20% right now

· Modern Living (Penang Road) – Great sales person in Mr Joe Song. He is very patient and listens to your requirement before recommending the selections.

· Molecule (Great World City) – Lots of designer products…but price is high too. Likes their range of children chair/sofa. Realized that the bean bag that I bought 8 years ago is still available J

· Navinzi (Kaki Bukit) – Nice design @ mid range price

· Novena (Sims Avenue, Shaw Plaza, The Furniture mall, Sungei Kadut) – Better selections at their Shaw Plaza or Sungei Kadut outlets, displaying their “designer” sofa series

[centrino2 0]

Part 3

Novena "Designer" range

· OM (Joo Seng Road) – Good range of L-shaped sofa design. Interested in an extendable table but mechanism not very smooth. Understand from sales that it’s from China…but price not cheap

· Piccolo House (Ubi Crescent) – Country style children furniture. Like the offering of pink to the standard white bed frame. Hand painted bed frame imported from Australia is available.

· Smootree (Boon Leat Terrace) – CLEI wall bed imported from Europe. Impressed by the products (superb quality) but prices are high. There was a 15% discount over the weekend….not sure if it’s still available.

· Univonna (IFC, 17 Sungei Kadut Way, Macpherson, Parkmall) – Was seriously considering one of their sofa range under the name Majestic. Being to the 4 outlets, and found that price varies among them. The outlet that quoted the lowest is the one at IFC. You can look for Terence Chin.

· Westpoint design (Expo) – Approached them during one of the July home and furnishing show at expo. Was told by a lady sales person that their furniture is manufactured in Singapore and they only sell them during furniture shows as there is no showroom. Don’t feel confident……

· XZQT (Kaki Bukit) – Great selection of Calligaris (Italy imported) extendable dining table. Like the feel of the mechanism. Outlet supervisor Ivan Cheong is knowledgeable with his products.

[strikingreality 0]

· Lifestory (Great World City) – European imported furniture and accessories. Price is on the high side but designs are nice. Keen on their Kartell designed lights but was told to wait 3 months for a particular color to be brought in…..bummer

If it's Kartell, it quite easily availiable online. You might wanna consider purchasing online. Prices may be better than Lifestory as well.

[centrino2 0]

So you visited all these shops but what did you buy??

Hi rottenramone,

In the end after much consideration, I purchase:

• From Cellini

Bar Counter Swift recliner (main reason for buying it because this model doesn't come with a side pull handle which might be damage from usage. Also, my children will not play with the handle You just have to lean back for the recliner to move back.

Bought the dining chair even before purchasing of the dining table cause we like the design

Also bought the bed frame from them....bed head will be some color as bed (wrapped in PVC brown leather). The pull-out drawer can be pull out totally so that the floor under the bed can be cleaned.

[centrino2 0]

From Casa Italy:

I have ordered a 4 seater based on the above design (without the ottoman). Hope the final sofa will look nice.

From XZQT:

Calligaris extendable table - 1.6M to 2.2M. Compared the mechanism with a few other brands and feel that their Italian mechanism is more superior.

[centrino2 0]

If it's Kartell, it quite easily availiable online. You might wanna consider purchasing online. Prices may be better than Lifestory as well.

Hi Strikingreality,

I have search thru the web but not sure if the Kartell is genuine. Do you have a good site to recommend? Thanks.

[strikingreality 0]

Hi Strikingreality,

I have search thru the web but not sure if the Kartell is genuine. Do you have a good site to recommend? Thanks.

Generally most of the lighting and furniture websites I've come across are based in US and Europe (Germany/Belgium/UK) and I think lighting websites in these countries are generally safe and sell original items because of the strict anti piracy laws in these countries.

You can try

http://www.nostraforma.com/en/kartell-m-148.html - shipping is a flat EUR99.00 internationally, so makes sense if you purchase a decent amount.

Remember to take into account GST payable when the item arrives in Singapore, if you spent more than $400 on the order (including shipping).