Raw Means Refined - Scandinavian Industrial

[mintyvintage 52]

Hi everyone. We received our keys to the flat in end March this year. after meeting a couple of IDs, we confirmed one in April and started renovation work in the first week of June!

Both of us like wood, and we like textures. Along with the fact that we are beach lovers, we thus wanted a "resort" theme for our house. Woody, white, beige, clean, spacious looking, etc. Just imagine a villa in Phuket or a resort in Maldives. i know it doesnt tally with the topic title.. but read on =)

Our brief to the IDs:

Platform bed

Built-in TV console

Huge shoe cabinet with design

cover-up bomb shelter

overlay tiles for both toilets

replace HDB given toilet bowls, sinks, shower heads etc.

No walk in wardrobe (too dusty and takes up 1 room)

vanity dressing table in the master bedroom

and the usuals carpentry wardrobe in master bedroom and bedroom 2, toilet vanity cabinets. etc

And the theme must be uniform throughout the house

Review of the IDs:

I screened the names of the IDs and companies (except for my ID) because I believe different people might have different experiences with them. Anyway one bad ID does not make the whole company bad. My best advice is to look for IDs that have experience doing the theme(s) you like.

The first ID I contacted was actually the company that did Xiaxue's renovation. I cannot remember the company's name now, but you can easily google it. This ID wasnt the one who did XX's house anyway. The ID Wi***e wasn't very creative, and the ideas she gave are the standard stuff. She's the template kind of person, either lazy or can't be bothered. anyway even though the quotation was pretty close to what we eventually signed but it's just the lack of confidence that she will do a wow job for us that led us to strike her off the list.

We then met with R*x from Fuse Concept, whom we signed with eventually. On the first meeting he showed us a house that he did which wasnt what we had wanted. He showed his creativity and sincerity early, and we really appreciated that he took pride in his ideas and dared to think out of the box (what we call "think like an ID and not act like a contractor").

The extraordinary part was that he unearthed what we truly liked. Because we like wood and textures, we always assumed we wanted a resort theme. however he had the foresight and proposed so many 'new' ideas to us that we fell in love with, at the same time, still maintaining the wood, textures and things we wanted to build. along the way while reading lots of Square Room and Home Decor magazines, we realised that resort theme just would not be achievable to the standards we think we want (no spacious hdb, no high ceilings, no sea, no balcony...). R*x tried his best not to recycle the ideas and materials (even tho sometimes we insist at what he thinks is common. I always tell him it's common to him cuz he is an ID but to me, it's new and innovative hahaha). Most importantly, he used our budget very well. We managed to do alot of things + capentry with the limited budget we had.

Third on the list that we met was Da**el from Id*** H**se. Well we met up with him because he did the renovation for our parents' current house (2 toilets and 1 room). He was around our age, and thus quite easy to talk to. he has some interesting ideas here and there but needs to be pushed/encouraged to explore further. However having worked with him before, we knew that he was 'bullied' by his contractors sometimes because of his youth and minimal experience and that means as customers we may get pushed back in terms of schedule or workmanship because he cannot win them over. the good thing about him is that he's upfront about practicalities and feasabilities of designs. he would not hide the facts from you but helps you understand the pros and cons to make informed decisions. He quoted us around 30k from the first round but alot of things we wanted were not included or were compromised. We then reminded him we still have budget to play with, so pushed him to rethink his proposal and quotation. however due to unknown reasons he took a long time to come back with the revised quote, and by the time we signed with our ID he still hasn't come back to us, so naturally we dropped him. any vendors who take too long to get back to you without any updates is a bad sign in our opinion. at least a "sorry i have been busy, i will come back to you by xx xx" is better than radio silence.

Then there was this OMG and still laughable story about the 4th ID from Me**r Squ**e. His name is Ja***. For all the IDs above, the first meeting took at least 2 hours to go through our requirements in detail. however Ja*** was done with us in 20 minutes. he asked very little specific questions in terms of measurements, said he was very concerned about social media because nowadays (facebook, forums etc) have alot of influence (on consumers).

Even though we could not really click with him, we gave him another chance to present his quotation cuz who knows maybe he can come up with something good. He proposed (or kind of insisted) that we should hack the wall between the kitchen and service yard because it will extend the kitchen and that we should do a open concept kitchen even though we did not want to. Plus he told us that our budget was more than enough!!

At the second meeting, Ja***'s quotation came up to a good 10k more than the budget we gave him and which he claimed was more than enough. He seemed to have forgotten what he claimed.. okay nevermind. his ideas were mediocre (honestly can't rmb much of what he proposed), but he wasn't well prepared. Whatever sketches or layout proposals he showed us at the second meeting was what other IDs drew on the spot during our first meetings with them. and the killer sentence was when he proposed that we have shower curtains instead for our toilets because they are so small........ followed by laughter. thereafter, he also changed his mind and said he now proposes not to hack the wall between kitchen and service yard (errr... you proposed and then you killed it without good reasons or explanation to your client). when we asked him if a PE endorsement is required to hack walls, he wasnt sure... He then tried to arrange a third session with us but inside us we knew we were saying goodbye to him. we were not comfortable with his working style, nor his personality. totally zero chemistry.

The other innovative ID we met was Ke*** from Spa** Se**e Stu***. He is actually an ID whom we admire very much as his works are unique and daring. He did not give template solutions and he is also a furniture maker. There were many things that he DIY for his clients, like buying table legs from Ikea and customizing the table top. He gave us unconventional and unheard of ideas, like building ceiling beams, wall pipes that act as bookshelves, and leaning walls and surprisingly his quotation was not that expensive.

It was a very difficult choice to choose between his creativity and R*x's. The reason we chose R*x over him was because we clicked better with R*x. Chemistry matters to us because afterall it is a long period of working relationship and we wanted to be sure we chose someone whom we could feel comfortable with, in terms of discussing and rejecting ideas. Ke*** was extremely professional and so serious such that the discussion felt a bit uptight and we were worried we may not be able to communicate our ideas to him during the process. However we would recommend him if you like loft and industrial designs, which seems to be his expertise.

Lastly we met up with J**n from The 80s S***o. She was open and easy to talk to, and was also someone who takes her job seriously with 8 years experience in the industry. Honestly I like their designs very much. They have this knick knack ability to use simple ideas or materials that you don't usually associate with home decor, to demarcate an area or transform the space. However her quotation was the most expensive at around 55k-60k. Comparing the various quotes, their carpentry costs were like at least 10% higher than the other companies. Because we have alot of carpentry requirements, we were not willing to settle. However meeting up wtih J**n actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise even though we did not work together. She gave us a brilliant suggestion to enlarge the master bedroom, which we later explored with our chosen ID. We're thankful for her help unknowingly.

Sorry for the lengthy intro/review. I am uploading the pictures...

Edit: here's our floorplan so you can see the overall layout.

Edited July 3, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

here's some "Before" pictures

Edited July 2, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Sharing the images we collected that formed our moodboard and inspiration...

At first, it was the resort theme... what we had in mind at the start of the reno process.

then our ID proposed a more scandinavian theme, and along the way we found that we like certain industrial elements but because we did not want to live in a purely industrial home, we thought to combine the two, which would give it more warmth and some colors. plus we like contrast and textures.

leading to these...

Edited July 3, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Now moving on to the 3D graphics from Fuse Concept...

Living Room

We didnt want a "feature" tv console so R*x suggested to screed the whole living room length wall. was initially afraid how it would turn out to be, but i just pictured it as a grey wall and it turned out quite beautiful.. (our parents however were shocked that the cement screed wall is the "finished" wall)

Track lights would be installed with black matte ceiling fan. It was hard to find it an inexpensive black one... the one we chose seems abit noisy

the tv console is built-in and we love the material chosen. the shoe cabinet failed to meet my expectations. i like the settee so i can sit down and wear my shoes. but the cabinet is just too normal and i didnt like the glass display. too modern. so i got the ID to redo!

as for the coffee tables we had intended to buy these movable side tables from Journey East so we could push them to one side for more space.. but later on we found another boat wood piece we prefer.

Master bedroom

The brilliant suggestion from one of the IDs we met was to hack the wall between MBR and BR2 to build the wardrobe in that space. This would extend our master bedroom length by a bit. we can then accomodate the large wardrobe we want plus give us more walking space in between our mattress and the wardrobe so the room doesnt look too crowded. at the same time we can have a vanity table at the left side of MBR where the wardrobe would otherwise have been located. we also had space for 2 small bedside tables/ledges. we did however, had to give up a TV in the MBR. anyway we don't watch that much TV so we could always go to the living room to do so.

view from the MBR door

view when you come into the MBR - we are changing the toilet glass door into nyatoh doors as we felt the glass doors were expensive and too modern. similarly track lights will be installed with another main light.

love the contrast of our wardrobe sliding doors! it looks a bit rustic

Toilets

Master toilet: I didn't want dark toilet tiles initially but gave our ID benefit of doubt that they would work.. there is contrast of wood laminate texture and these tiles that kind of change color/shade depending on the light.

Common toilet: Eventually, we didnt overlay the whole toilet due to budget we chose to overlay 1 wall that you see when you come in (the side with shower and sink) and replaced only the sink and shower head. hdb toilet bowl remains. the wall tile we chose has changed so the real pic is probably not going to look like this.

Edited July 3, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Continuing the 3D pictures....

Bedroom 2

The other side of the hacked wall would be the back of the master bedroom wardrobe. Our ID proposed to laminate over it to turn it into a "feature" design for this bedroom which makes in a win-win for both rooms. we didnt have to lose one room to our wardrobe as we just "stole" a bit of bedroom 2's space.

Eventually we chose a light laminate color but the layout is what we envision for a guest room.

Kitchen

This turned out to be the place we love the most (and also spent the most) even though we had not intend to do anything too fancy.

we are doing cabinets for both sides. the top right cabinet with a "/" across is a fixed cabinet designed to hide the ugly pipes. the rest can be used for storage. the white laminate chosen is a leather like texture, and it's matt. the brown laminate has grooves lines and feels rough to the touch.

we are using grey quartz for the countertop.

as we wanted enclosed kitchen rather than open concept, our ID proposed using aluminium sliding doors as well as sliding panels that overlooks the living area and you can potentially hand dishes from someone inside the kitchen to someone at the dining table. however i don't think we would actually do that and i preferred it as a fixed panel like what i showed in my moodboard.

However aluminium doors have a certain thickness to the frame so we were afraid the effect would be more aluminium windows than panels. we got our ID to think of other solutions and finally we decided to top up a bit more to change the material to cast iron doors and panels.

so from the living room's perspective you would see this. the wooden panels "feature" is where our bomb shelter is located at. i dont have a close up of it but the panels would alternate so that there is some texture and it is not a flat piece of laminate.one of the panels would be able to be opened up.

we would be getting a customised dining table with boat wood top and 4 chairs of different colors to give a playful scandinavian vibe.

Shoe Cabinet (Version 2 and 3)

Our ID said he has never met someone who keeps changing the shoe cabinet design. it gave him the most headache. LOL. clearly he has not met me before. I have always wanted a big shoe cabinet and i wanted one that i can be proud of, cuz i m a shoes lover. initially i wanted a shoe cabinet that wasn't obvious a shoe cabinet (i have seen some that looks like a feature wall, but it can be opened)... but due to the location of my shoe cabinet, it is pretty obvious it is a cabinet and not a flat wall. so the next best hope i had was for it to be outstanding, and more than just for shoe storage.

he revised it to this.. which i was on the verge of accepting because he used this 'crate-like' laminate that i liked... but i was still not fully satisfied with it. it didn't felt right. and i didnt want to settle as it is one of the 1st things i would see when i return home.

And then i was brainstorming and thinking about it for days and days... finally an idea came to me. so i modified his design to better it. if you look at the 3D of bedroom 2 there is a locker cabinet featured at the side. i liked that very much but it is over $1000 from Journey East! so i had this crazy thought "why not i merge this locker with my shoe cabinet?" And then for the flip-up rectangular panel, i asked him to turn it into a blackboard so we can scribble things like Wi-fi password, or reminders for ourselves.

Our ID thought i was a bit mad for such a 'strong' shoe cabinet.. but i persisted. i even sketched it and asked him to make it into 3D for me.

so here it is... it is probably not to most people's liking but hey i like it very much. Plus i contributed to the overall design, so i am very proud of it.

seeing it come to live made me smile.

Edited July 4, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Cement screed wall across living room. we are lucky we didnt have a recess in the living room wall

selected master bedroom toilet tiles

Working on the master bedroom toilet overlay

the common toilet overlay. we chose this over the beige tile that ID proposed in the 3D.. loving it. it looks and feels like wood planks. abit whitish here because they applied something over

close up of the wall tile (the tile below)

Edited July 4, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

These blocks are going to be our bedside table/ledges

painted the MBR in Nippon smoke pearl color

the hacked wall between MBR and BR2 with some sun ard 1130am

the hacked half wall at the kitchen

the tv console is up! super love the texture!

Edited July 4, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Some updates on furnishing. furniture hunting is very fun!!

Some of the sofas that we shortlisted while looking around.. we wanted something more mid-century with wooden or thin legs. love the turquoise one but it was sold out at Like That One. The hair pin leg sofa is from Second Charm but a customised piece so we were not able to have a 'test sit'..

finally we chose our sofa from Comfort Furniture as we like the ergonomics and the shape. We also customisied the fabric color. should be here by end july.

bought these laundry baskets from taobao

and selected Limed-wood for our blinds in living room - that's the top one. good thing it is waterproof so would be easier to clean.

More on carpentry....

our common toilet vanity cabinet. the black handles are the same laminate material as TV console. we like kompac but it seems more expensive so our ID proposed these woody laminates for a similar effect.

Our MBR toilet vanity cabinet and mirror and huge sink.

Edited July 7, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Entrance to kitchen (seen from inside kitchen)... the frames are empty now, as the glass panels will be installed later.

Subway tiles and black hood up. Took us a while to find a black hood but it was worth the time and money.

Breakfast counter/kitchen island top at the side

Quartz and the kitchen cabinets

Dining table light

Edited July 7, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

underside of the dining table light. reminds me of a fan! love the color which we customised..

living room (can you also see the 'invisible' grills?)

we have track lights and a ceiling fan here. thinking we may need to buy a standalone fan for the dining area as it seems abit warm if we only rely on the ceiling fan.

Walkway hanging lights. quite common but love it anyway!

bedside lights. we developed switches for each side.

MBR with platform for our mattress

Edited July 7, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

forgot to post the hob.. it is fujioh.

Bedroom 2 wardrobe

MBR wardrobe - contrast and rustic, just the way we like it. again we use the black laminate from TV console to have a consistent element

so this is the back of my MBR wardrobe which becomes a laminated feature in Bedroom 2

my vanity table top. it has compartments to put my jewellery/makeup and a clear glass top (not fixed yet in this pic)

Aircon in MBR. we use mitsubishi electric heavy industries instead of Star mex.

Edited July 7, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Updates as of 15/8

we have moved in for almost one month now. trying to settle in, with some new deliveries of appliances and add-ons to the house.

here are some pictures i took with my iphone. will upload the others taken with my camera another time.

the door handle (for all the room doors) that i bought from taobao. it's grey-black and matte.

day and night curtains in the MBR

MBR with bed on platform

Living room blinds (night)

Invisible grills with the blinds

Edited August 15, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Our varied dining chairs - can't decide which is my favourite!!

Dining table (customised from Second Charm) and chairs together

another angle. the boat wood table is very colorful! making the whole area feel quite warm and more homely.

the pin legs look thin but they are very solid and quite heavy!

Finally unwrapped the dining table lamp as well. bought this from verde light and customised the spray color

Edited August 15, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

living area (Sofa from comfort design, coffee table from Journey East. my husband loves the table dearly!)

the other side of the living area - my shoe cabinet with blackboard (blanko-ed the wifi password with the arrow sign. hahaha!) im quite happy with this shoe cabinet, as it can hold alot of shoes! abt 4 pairs per slot as it is quite deep. so i still have space to expand my collection

there is a settee beside it to sit and wear our shoes.

Toilet accessories from taobao - fake rusty tap towel holder

Abstract paintings that we leave on the floor of living room

bomb shelter feature when opened. (need to find a picture of it closed ahahah!)

sorry the photos are abit random. study desk coming today so will have more to share next week of the completed house! =)

Edited August 15, 2014 by mintyvintage

[mintyvintage 52]

Consolidated

For the rest of the house, skip to..

#100 and #101 living room and dining room
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868359

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868360

#103 and #104 how we run the aircon
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868370

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868371

#111 rooms with aircon and BR2
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868438

#112 and #113 MBR wardrobe and vanity
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868439

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868440

#114 Shoe cabinet closeup
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868442

#115 BR3 / study room
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-3#entry868446

#128 MBR toilet
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-4#entry868681

#129 Common toilet
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-4#entry868683

#130 and #131 Kitchen cabinets and breakfast counter
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/page-4#entry868684

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66120-raw-means-refined-scandinavian-industrial/?p=868686

Edited August 22, 2014 by mintyvintage