The Platform House

[lannywin 0]

After spending 4 years (yes, 4 years!!) lurking in silence in the renotalk forums, and now that my renovations are coming to an end (I hope), I decided to start my own t-blog!!

My obsession with our Casa Clementi flat started 4 years ago, when we first bought our current unit in Clementi Avenue 1. When me and hubs came to Singapore 13 years ago to study in NUS, the clementi area was like our first ‘home’ away from home, so we sort of decided that if we were to settle down in the future, it would be in this area. So when we found out about the en-bloc happening in Clementi Avenue 1, we immediately jumped on the chance and started viewing unit after units being sold. Most of the owners were asking sky-high COV (like 60-70K in 2007-2008!!), and we almost gave up hope until fate brought us to this nice 4-room unit whose owners had purchased private properties. This means that they were not eligible for additional discount for the new unit, hence the COV they asked were half of what other people were asking. It’s still a huge amount, but we were thankful that we bought it as prices continued to shoot up afterwards.

We initially had the contemporary Japanese theme in mind – simple lines, lots of wood, hidden storages. And we wanted a platform as the focal point in our living room and MBR (hence the title of this t-blog). We are one of the few weird people who prefer to sit on the floor rather than sofa. So we’re actually not planning to get one. Yes, I know, it’s a daring concept, especially if we’re having old people as guests. But in our current place, we have a simple sofa and a large low coffee table. A few senior guests we’ve had will take the sofa, but younger people (i.e. below 60) will almost always be drawn to the table and just sit on the floor around it. We find it more cozy and it seems to bring the guests closer to each other. We often have dinner parties this way. By constructing the platform, we hope to raise the seating area more towards our field of vision, so that it doesn’t feel too ‘low’ to sit on. Having said that, we’ll see how it goes with the new place. If we need chairs, we have plenty of dining chairs

Then came the Scandinavian trend in renotalk. I fell in love with the simplicity and brightness of the design, which goes well with the Japanese theme we initially had in mind, but the natural woodgrains and the exposed brick walls especially drew me to this concept. A few fellow forumers had really beautiful houses in this theme. So we tried to incorporate some of these elements into our design as well. We don’t want to claim that our design adopts a particular theme, as we are met with limited budget and space to follow a strictly Japanese or Scandinavian theme. But we hope that our house would be at least pleasing to us and others, and we will be really happy to share ideas and experiences with everyone in the forum.

Now to answer the big question often asked – IDs or contractor?

We had a strong idea of what we wanted in terms of design, so even though we engaged an ID, most of the design came from us. It would probably be better if we had engaged a contractor, but this was our first time doing renovation, so we were still afraid of making mistakes and thought that an ID would be a ‘safer’ option. Another problem is the language barrier – we couldn’t speak Chinese, and most contractors were said to be Chinese speaking so we didn’t want to take the risk either. It was until later that I learned (the hard way) that our initial fears were rather unnecessary, and there are actually good contractors out there which can speak malay (we were indonesians).

We had also learned some important lessons in ID/contractor search. One of them is on signing up too early with the ID firm. You see, we were really excited when hdb announced that our flat was going to be ready at the end of 2011. So we started looking for IDs since late 2010 and finally signed up with one in early 2011. The ID we signed up with was a senior designer in the firm. She is experienced and sort of understands the concept we had in mind. Most of the initial design was formed through discussions with her (we propose, she explains the practicality). Unfortunately, the key collection didn’t happen until April 2012 , and the senior ID left the company sometime in late 2011 and passed our project to a very young ID.

This new ID is quite receptive to our ideas, and is quite flexible in accommodating the many changes we made. She is also quite honest in letting us know that certain things will be cheaper if we get on our own. However, the chemistry wasn't as good as the first ID. Also, possibly due to lack of experience, when it comes to the details of the design, we start to see the lack of artistic input. It’s like the small details (e.g. patterns, joint lines, overall look of the piece of carpentry) didn’t have that ‘aesthetics’ factor. It also seemed that certain things we wanted were not communicated properly to the poor carpenters/tilers (whose workmanship I have few complaints) such that they needed to redo things over and over again. It’s really sad to see a piece of otherwise good carpentry be discarded just because of mistakes in dimensions and finishing (which we thought we had communicated clearly to the ID). And not to mention the time wasted and our frustrations on finding a wrong piece of carpentry at the end of the day. But I guess all renovations are bound to have hiccups. We’re quite happy that it will come to and end soon, and things are slowly coming together.

Anyway, pictures to follow!!

[lannywin 0]

Here is an overview of the current state of our reno. Works are still in progress. Will elaborate certain items in detail in my following posts.

The platform in the living room

The TV console

The other side of the living room (before bar counter & kitchen backsplash was installed)

The bar counter

[lannywin 0]

The kitchen – washing side

The kitchen – cooking side

The platform in the MBR

Edited August 15, 2012 by lannywin

[xingan87 0]

very beautiful home.

especially the lighting in your kitchen.

I agreed what you have shared with us, small details are very very important and it really affect the overall design.

haha.. and i am now collecting renovation ideas for my future home, shld be ready in 2Q 2014 (i know its still longg way to go).

[casa 0]

Do post more pics of your house reno

[EoneKhaled 0]

Nice house, pls do up load more pictures of you house reno, thanks.

[lannywin 0]

very beautiful home.

especially the lighting in your kitchen.

I agreed what you have shared with us, small details are very very important and it really affect the overall design.

haha.. and i am now collecting renovation ideas for my future home, shld be ready in 2Q 2014 (i know its still longg way to go).

Thanks Xingan87! I think it's never too early to start collecting ideas. During the 4 years I've been doing that, I learned many things and the design I had in mind (especially those small details) evolves over time to a more mature form which I can finally be happy with

Do post more pics of your house reno

Nice house, pls do up load more pictures of you house reno, thanks.

Thanks Casa & EoneKhaled! Will do that soon

[lannywin 0]

On Flooring and tiles

We opted out of the flooring provided by HDB as that time we were not sure of what we wanted yet. Finally we decided on laminates, mainly because they are cheaper and we liked that warm feeling. We saw many pretty laminates from different companies, but we fell in love with the natural look of Krono Original’s. So we had that for our living room. The bedrooms had a lower range of laminate, also from the same company.

The woodgrains close-up:

The Krono installers hard at work:

Laminates being laid on the MBR platform:

Living room platform:

[lannywin 0]

The kitchen and bathrooms already came with HDB tiles which looked acceptable to us, so we decided to leave it as it is. We also liked the plain white color of the bathroom wall tiles (except for the brownish mosaic bits, but we can live with that ).

We didn’t like the common bathroom’s basin though, so we asked the ID to build a little mosaic ledge and got ourselves a larger basin. Mosaics were from Hafary, basin was from Heritage.

[lannywin 0]

On Lighting – My favourite topic!!

For the general lighting, we prefer a more focused lighting that we can switch on according to our needs. So the decision was to use spotlights and pendants.

For the spotlights, we got LEDs from Collins, whom I found through renotalk – nice guy, very patient and helpful in explaining about Led lights to us

there was once he gave us the wrong colour of LED light, and he didn’t have the stock for that particular colour. So instead of telling us to wait, he gave us another model which was actually nicer (and a little more expensive) at no cost! If you’re interested to find out about LED lights, do call him up!

We also bought tracks and LED strips from his company to make cove lighting as we were worried that the spots will not be good enough for an overall lighting. We’re quite happy with the result. All of our spotlights are warm toned. The photos actually looked more yellow than it should be though. For other lights in the rooms we got a mix of T5 tubes, Phillips energy saving lights, as well as other cheap bulbs for the bomb shelter and service yard, all from Lightings.com.

The awesome lighting effect in the kitchen was thanks to Collins' suggestion.

The kitchen – washing sideThe kitchen – cooking side

…and then there are lights that serve as more than just for illumination…

Introducing two of our favourite piece of lighting:

1. The PH5

We had been thinking of getting a replica from either Lorgan’s or Light+Form concepts in Balestier. But I got this authentic second hand piece through recommendation of a fellow forummer (thanks, cj07!!)

It actually came dented!! we lodged a complaint to singpost but only one reply came 3 months later, telling us to fill in some forms. We did that and nothing happened until now. It’s been another 3 months…

Anyway, by the seller’s suggestion, we took the risk to fix it ourselves, and after days of bending and twisting the aluminum shade, we managed to get it to almost its original shape. You can still see the dent if you squint hard enough though…

2. The Caravaggio from Lightyears

We stumbled upon the Danish Design Store when we were checking out Lorgan’s in pasir panjang, and we immediately fell in love with this beauty!

The shiny black coat reminds me of Japanese lacquer, and the red cord makes it look even sexier!

Light+Form concepts and Lush have the replicas, but we didn’t like the yellow inner shade they come with. So we burned another hole in our pockets and got an original one for double the price of the replica!

The one we have is the P2 sized pendant, for our dining. Still wrapped up to protect from dust/paint/people’s head

[wowach 0]

Living room platform:

Can I find out what's the cost your contractor quote you for this platform? You can PM me if you wish.

[lannywin 0]

Can I find out what's the cost your contractor quote you for this platform? You can PM me if you wish.

Hi wowach, PM sent!

[kenjo 0]

Love your PH5!!

Am thinking of getting one for my dining area. Problem is the false ceiling there is a little low... so am not sure if I can hang a pendant light there. Sigh.

On Lighting – My favourite topic!!

…and then there are lights that serve as more than just for illumination…

Introducing two of our favourite piece of lighting:

1. The PH5

We had been thinking of getting a replica from either Lorgan’s or Light+Form concepts in Balestier. But I got this authentic second hand piece through recommendation of a fellow forummer (thanks, cj07!!)

It actually came dented!! we lodged a complaint to singpost but only one reply came 3 months later, telling us to fill in some forms. We did that and nothing happened until now. It’s been another 3 months…

Anyway, by the seller’s suggestion, we took the risk to fix it ourselves, and after days of bending and twisting the aluminum shade, we managed to get it to almost its original shape. You can still see the dent if you squint hard enough though…

[lannywin 0]

Hi Kenjo! thanks for your support! It is indeed a beautiful design masterpiece!

btw, PH5 is actually meant to be hung low due to the direction of lights passed through the shades - it actually illuminates not just downwards, but also sideways. I read somewhere that it's recommended height is ~70-80cm above a table. So if your false ceiling allows it, why not? One major drawback is that the light can be rather dim if you have a longish dining table though...

Love your PH5!!

Am thinking of getting one for my dining area. Problem is the false ceiling there is a little low... so am not sure if I can hang a pendant light there. Sigh.

[theitsybits 0]

i love the light from danish designs! it's indeed really sexy, but the things are so ridiculously expensive there..