Strictly Scandinavian Home

[Lunareverie 1]

Hi alll,

I'm new to this forum but have decided to document the process of my renovation. I've read through some of the t blogs ang I am very very inspired by many ideas.

I recently got a house in Caspian lakeside at AUgust at the week of National Day. Since its a condo, the basic design is already rather Scandinavian

Some background info:

Area: 1500 sqft

Type: 4 bedrooms type, balcony

Description: most of the basic fittings are done by developer.

Color theme: white, teak wood, grey, green foliage

Here are the pics

Dining area

Living hall

Bedroom

Well the design is rather safe and suits the Scandi style well. BUT the problem comes with finding the ID...

We wanted a strictly Scandinavian design inspired by the homes of those in Sweden where they can do up their home so effortlessly. We hunt around for many ID and ALL do not understand what we are talking about and offer us many cut and paste template designs.

Their typical package always include tv feature wall with shiny laminates and many very standard options. My hubby and I were very very disappointed with their proposal. We tried calling up "popular" ID/contractor that specializes in Scandi industrial modern themes but they gave us the cold shoulder as our project was small to them

Time passes on and it's a month that we had no ID and we proceed on to do other stuff first such as furniture shopping and confirming the curtains. So coincidently that the curtain shop''s design was very scandinavian (a nice shop in popping out in the midst of a heartland market) we asked the lady boss who designed her shop and she said her son. Her son is an interior designer that does renovation.

We were thrilled and met up with him later in the evening. FINALLY! Someone that understand what we want and willing to do our house.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Lunareverie 1]

We told him our concerns

1) he has to create the Scandi feel for us based on the existing design of the condo

2) he has to design the ceiling and make sure it looks classy and at the same time accommodate the fan

3) as we bought the furniture before getting the ID, he needs to fit in and advice us on the furniture.

To our surprise, through our conversation he assured us with his sincerity.

My hubby and I wanted someone who can design our house with passion and share the same vision as us. We do not want IDs who are jus familiar with Scandi design (many jus cut and paste and do not do enough research) we wanted some who like what we like too. It's also not easy to find true blue interior designer who also draw and manage project for the clients, most of the ID firm have sales person handling the project and the real guy designing is actually sitting in the office who does not communicate with the client. Hence we can't believe our luck!

We found him!!!! A REAL true blue interior designer who draws and manages our project! :yamseng:

The work started early in October, I didn't document much initially, I hope it's not too late to feature the stuff we did. Will update more later

DESIGN CONCEPT taken fr websites

Same theme similar style

Brick wall is a must

Edited October 16, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Lunareverie 1]

So one of the first design that we all agreed on is to dress up the living hall with a good ceiling design and BRICK WALL

Initially we're worried about the brick wall being too common, too many people will be doing it and outdated easily. JW (our ID) assured us that this shows that it's a good design and not likely to go out dated that easily. In fact the brick wall trend was around quite a while. We told him we wanted a realistic feel to the brick wall, hence stucco wall is definitely out. He suggested we use craft bricks, which are more ex but worth the price and workmanship. He gave us the quote and to our surprise, the quote was reasonable and definitely more better than other ID firms we approached.

We sign and confirm JW and the reno started on Children's day

I strted this t blog slightly late, hence i think its better to document each individual space

LIVING HALL

Bricks arrived straight after all the wiring works. Craft bricks where used

Tiler laying the bricks (took him about 3 days)

Finished product

The brick wall is totally white, with tiniges if some peach brick which gives warmth. pardon the lousy iPhone pictures.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Suyun 0]

Beautiful scandinavian concept! I simply love it. Welcome Lunareverie, keep posting your ideas.

[Lunareverie 1]

Before the brick wall JW designed a ceiling based on the model of http://www.steveleung.com where the cove lightings will run around the perimeter of the entire living hall.

Here are the ceiling pics of the DINING AREA

BEFORE

AFTER ( the the cove lightings, down lights, black stuff at the frame and door is protection)

JW wanted the cove lights to create the illusion of a higher ceiling which opens up the space more.

Some of the cove lights in the LIVING HALL

The cove light at the side of the brick wall is dual opening. JW wants to create a brighter space at the brick wall, again some optical illusion to the eye.

Down lights were added to make sure that the lights fall onto the brick wall (pic taken at 12pm noon, can't see well)

We wanted a nice pendant lamp to enhance the place but we can't as the place needs ventilation and thus we had no choice but to buy haiku fan which burnt our pockets...

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Greyembers 0]

Hi great theme! Looking forward to more pictures! Can u send me your contact for the contractor and the curtain shop?

[Lunareverie 1]

Initially the house was painted white and we're very pleased with the color. JW cautioned us that the paint the developer used was Martex and that a good coat of paint goes a long way. His quotation for the paint job was extremely reasonable and we choose the color sail white. We wanted a color that is white but not so washed out. We wanted some warmth in the white, hence SAIL WHITE from the Nippon paint series.

Warm rich white that will match the green foliage! Notice the white is not "cold" but very "cosy"

The painted walls in one of our rooms, its hard to capture the true color of the wall using iPhone, but there is some warm ness in the white. Not stark bare cold white.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Lunareverie 1]

Hi great theme! Looking forward to more pictures! Can u send me your contact for the contractor and the curtain shop?

Hi I Pmed you

[Lunareverie 1]

One thing we learned is that we should not buy furniture first before getting an ID... We told JW our choice of furniture, he was very very patient to explain to us on how we can change the furniture to suit the theme better.

We bought our furniture from Scanteak as we love teak wood. I regretted not going mountain teak, but hubby is always traveling, hence no time to go view it together,,,, nonetheless, we bought almost everything from scanteak

Scanteak IKON chair (pic taken from web) just the 3 seater sofa that will go against the brick wall

The same 3 seater sofa again

This sofa is a classic design. Nothing loud to shout about but we just like the simple design. We love teak wood basically and not really a fan of fixed fabric cushion type of sofa. I love those retro sofa with skinny pointy legs but hubby dislike it... He prefers something more sturdy and masculine. Thus we meet at midpoint and agreed on this scanteak IKON sofa...

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Lunareverie 1]

BALCONY

The balcony stretches out from the living hall continuing from the brick wall. JW recommended us to do full timber decking as it gives a stronger feel to the scandi theme. Our living hall flooring is homogeneous flooring that is provided by the developer and we're not doing anything to it. JW designed our home to have full timber decking and recommended us some suppliers,

In the end we chose to do teak wood timber decking. We love teak wood...

The natural grainings and rich color attracted us immediately. Other types of wood do not have such lovely graining and prone to many other problems. Teak wood is strong and more lasting. The teak wood used here is 5" width, not the normal 4" width used. Hence the balcony looks more unique, a little different

Manage to get a pic of the balcony before the guys closed it for the varnish to dry

Edited October 15, 2012 by Lunareverie

[Lunareverie 1]

Beautiful scandinavian concept! I simply love it. Welcome Lunareverie, keep posting your ideas.

Thank you suyun. I'll definitely take more pics and upload

[Lunareverie 1]

BAY WINDOWS

Many homes come with bay windows these days. I was thinking of make wood laminates on it but after looking at a few pics, I decide not to.

I intent to decorate my bay window with some green plants like this

Thus I decided to use solid top, the price is slightly a little more than using laminates or parquet flooring tiles. I chose an iff white solid top. The outcome should look like this

They are still making the solid top. Will post pics on the solid top soon.

[summersann 6]

Gorgeous pictures! Keep them coming

[Lunareverie 1]

DINING TABLE

I'm a very sentimental person. I have personal attachment to things that i've used for a long time. I have a dining table that has a similar leg profile as this pic.

My current home table has this profile at the legs, the below pic is the table that I have

The chairs

The chairs are called windosor chairs. The design originated from the 1800s, thus it does stand the test of time.

I do like the look of the chair but my entire family seems to be aganst it. here ar some inspirational pics

Edited October 16, 2012 by Lunareverie

[summersann 6]

DINING TABLE

My current home table has this profile, the below pic is the table that I have

The chairs

The chairs are called windosor chairs. The design originated from the 1800s, thus it does stand the test of time.

However JW is ver concerned that it may spoil the feel of the house and suggested replacing the chairs with the Eames chair....

I ordered 2 of this White Eames chair from Gmarket. Hoping to have a mismatch to the current set. What do you all think?

Your current table and chairs are gorgeous.

The Eames chair goes with anything and everything I guess. Have been seeing it everywhere. It should work well!