clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 6, 2015 SCANDI So the wife decided to finally start the t-blog, but I'm being forced to post. So as usual, at the start of our home making process, I decided that she would make the decisions, since she had all the arty-farty ideas. But i guess this saves me all the trouble of hearing her nag in future, if she decides that she doesn't like any aspect of the house so i guess i'm making a very smart and tactical move. My only requirements to her were that I wanted a fully functional kitchen, since i am the masterchef, and even bookshelves for the bookworm that is me =) So here goes. As usual the arty-farty wife decided that we would call our blog - Colour our Scandi Home, and our first post would be called"SCANDI" or Super Colourful And Novel DIY Ideas Why? U should have guessed it, Scandi but with pops of light pastel colours. Similar to what some of the t-bloggers here have, just that we would have elements which we hope to DIY ourselves. So like many of us here, Pinterest became our best friend. And my wife started pinning into tons and tons of boards. Well, see good choice there. This is what we started out thinking how her house would look like. p.s. Pls don't be misled by the pictures - these were what the wife was dreaming of when she started out as she was very very excited to be making all the decisions =) So as u can see, she wants it to have light brown, pastels, grey and whites. As usual the skeptical me was like okay, whatever makes u happy. so we started going around talking to IDs to find out more about how to make our her dream house come true. Here's the sample layout of our place. Time to sleep will update another day - if the wife doesn't kill me for making fun of her that is =p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 7, 2015 hello there, i am THE ARTY-FARTY WIFE.and yes, we are finally starting our T-blog!SCANDI - Slowest Couple, Always Nua-ing, Dilly-dalling, Idling...we are the complete opposite from many other couples who were all ready with reno research before they got their houses.we got our keys on 12 september 2014 (BEFORE we even ROM-ed!) and finally began our search for an ID/contractor! (at this point, i believe many of our neighbours were already busy with their final stages of reno/shifting in! oops, hee)how did we start?- $$$ we had to set a budget and work around it! we intend to have a total budget of 50k (including furniture and household appliances etc!) so we were looking at less than 35k of reno budget. - starting from scratch, (I'm such a noob, i did not even know the existence of such forums), i did a quick google search for upcoming home fairs and found the Home & Decor Fair 2014 (26-28 september 2014)- i started asking around my friends for their recommendations- pinterest became my best friend - i did a rough sketch of my own space planning (and was planning to talk to IDs to see if my space planning is ok)and so, the long and tiring search for our ID/contractor begins… we talked to a total of 3 IDs and 2 contractors. 1) ID B - we were unsure of what we wanted as he was the first one we talked to. it felt very formal, like 2 kids talking to an adult. his designs seem very modern. we tried to tell him my colour scheme, my dream pastel scandinavian style, but he went on and on about his ideas and seem to be imposing a lot of his own modern ideas.. soon, we were zoning out. sorry but B is for Boring. :X2) ID K - i really liked her ideas! she really knew what i wanted and could show me pictures that were similar to my dream house. honestly, i was impressed! BUT she was the complete opposite of ID B. while ID B kept saying no to my ideas and imposing his ideas on us, ID K said "OKAY! :)" to almost everything we suggested. of course, that ended up in a costly quotation. so, i guess ID K is for oKAY! 3) ID N - i like her personality! she's more practical and she's the only ID who bothered to check back with me after the quotation was given. besides, she really put in the effort to do up a simple mood board for me and even gave me some good, practical and relevant ideas that do not compromise on the style of my dream house. BUTTTT unfortunately, her quotation was the highest! wayyyy beyond our budget. i felt so bad that i actually apologised to her for not using her! N is for No, thank you! :XAfter talking to the IDs, i realised that they are all too expensive for me. so i collated a list of things i needed for my house before meeting contractors.4) Contractor L - he was highly recommended by my friend for his great carpentry workmanship. he really looks like a contractor contractor. he came to my place, measured some stuff and told me what i can do or what i cannot. but the risk was.. it seemed like i had to know EXACTLY what i wanted for his carpenter to make the stuff. i was actually very willing to give him a try but unfortunately, i think he was busy, so it took him about 1/2 weeks before i called him again for my quotation. so i suspect he forgot about me. L is for Late ); but the quotation that came back was of course lower than IDs. (of course, i'll have to work harder as a "part time ID" to save the moolahhh.) 5) Contractor E - she was recommended by another friend of mine (whose house is lovely!). i met up with her, found her easy to talk to.. and she seems to know exactly the style that i want. i heard from my friend that she has an ID background (and i could tell from the way she understood my ideas!) when the quotation came in, it was also less than the IDs. SOOO.. I'm sure you can guess who we chose! E for Easy!!my learning points from this whole searching process:- Chemistry - must choose someone you like and can talk to!- Research - must put in a bit of hardwork to meet different IDs/contractors to slowly gather a list of things you need for your house, compare some quotations (of cos, i was sooooo tired after meeting 5 of them)- Style - must get someone who knows and respects and agrees with your style- Personality - my tip is that if you love designing, love to experiment, bold enough to NOT know what ur final house will look like, go for contractor. If you need 3D drawings to show you how you final house looks exactly like, have no time to think about the house, please go for an ID! well, it's a big risk for us.. i don't even know if my dream house will come true.. but at least, i'm EXCITED to see it come alive (hopefully!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Takaishi 44 Report post Posted February 9, 2015 looks similar to e style we had. jia you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 9, 2015 looks similar to e style we had. jia you!^5 fellow pastel lover! your house looks wonderful! hopefully, ours will turn out well too! -the wife 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mitty 1 Report post Posted February 9, 2015 Hi, can PM me the contact no. of your contractor E? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suikoden 1 Report post Posted February 9, 2015 Hi!! Love ur wife's scandi colourful moodboard. That's what i have in mind too! Mind sharing w me ur contractor E-asy's contact? Thanks!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 9, 2015 P.S. i know some of you might be asking for Contractor E's contact. our reno is still in the early stages and Contractor E is currently doing on a house-by-house basis. furthermore, we only want to recommend you guys if she really delivers a wonderful job at the end! i'll be more than happy to share her contact with you guys at the end (*cross fingers* hope that we will be satisfied with her service!) I hope you guys understand! :X SCANDI - Settling Colours AND Interior (Part 1)here's my sketch of our interior: our plan:living room - platform 'reading corner' - on a higher platform with full height bookshelf (as the bookworm hubby wants) + a half height bookshelf between this and living room dining room - a black chalkboard wall kitchen - breakfast bar, pull-out pantry beside the breakfast bar, cabinets on one side of the kitchen with mostly open shelving, tiles for backsplash, doors toilets - a mirror as big as it can get on one side of the wall, 3 other walls overlay with tiles masterbed room - a pole-system walk-in-wardrobe (we were unwilling to knock down any walls, so we decided to build a partition in our bedroom) + a platform for the bed area (but we took out the platform later to save cost) service yard - only windows, (wanted a kerb and sink but decided not to have them after that!) flooring - we plan to overlay with vinyl everywhere, except toilets, kitchen and service yardi'll share more about the colours and details of the various parts of the house soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
viniice 0 Report post Posted February 10, 2015 Hi clownprince, look forward to your renovation. Look like good plans 😄😄 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 10, 2015 SCANDI - Settling Colours AND Interior (Part 2)hello there! i'm ze wife. colours are very important to US! and as the bookworm hubby has explained in his first post, the colours in OUR house will be pastels, light grey, white and light brown! WE would love the house to be filled with these colours everywhere, be it cabinets, furniture, house decor, walls, lights...today, i'm going to talk about some lights (that i randomly chanced upon) and some DIY ideas! *to all the shopaholic wives out there, this post aims to convince our other halves that our money is always well spent!so, you see, i had a holiday trip to BKK with my friends one day, and i so happened to see many pretty(cheap) things that i could not resist! as the hubby was not there, no one could stop me and so, i happened to pick out some items that i thought would be perfect for our house and i shun bian just buy a few more extra, just in case. so, even without a proper house plan at that time, i just did what i needed to and i'll prove that they are purchases very well worth my every penny!of course, i had to make sure that they look good enough so that i can claim from the house fund! that's where i tried some DIY magic to make them look as atas as they could be! I've always wanted pastel-coloured lights that look like this:but 1) hard to find, 2) not cheap (ikea sells at $24.90 if i'm not wrong), 3)hard to find the colours i want, especially pastels!!so i happened to walk past a shop at talaat rot fai (rot fai night market) at BKK that sells many, many different types of lamps and bulbs! how could i let go of such a wonderful chance? here's my loot and how i transformed it into what i like using spray paint!if i didn't remember wrongly, i got the first type of light for around 200/220 baht each (~S$8+) and the second type of light, which is heavier, for 320/350 baht each (~$12.50)!isn't this wonderful? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richard Chia 0 Report post Posted February 11, 2015 can share your selected contractor contact # ? email: kianpin72@gmail.com.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suikoden 1 Report post Posted February 11, 2015 Hi hi! I love ur DIY pastel coloured lamps!! Great job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doris Chin 4 Report post Posted February 11, 2015 Wow, u are sure good with your hands! Like!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 15, 2015 Hi hi! I love ur DIY pastel coloured lamps!! Great job!Wow, u are sure good with your hands! Like!!thanks for your kind comments! (: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 15, 2015 SCANDI - Settling Colours AND Interior (Part 3)ze wife did up another coloured lamp for the reading corner! this time, in yellow!! this lamp was bought in Tampoi (JB). if i'm not wrong, it's only 23 ringgit (~SGD$9!) !!!here's a quick tutorial on how to spray your own lights! (:first you have to sandpaper the surface to get rid of the current gloss. next, cover the parts that you do not want to spray with masking tape and spray primer over it. then you can start spraying your desired colour! i prefer matt to glossy, so i choose to end with a matt finish!taadaaaaa! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clownprince 4 Report post Posted February 16, 2015 SCANDI - Search, Compare AND Invest (Part 1)Lightsze wife bought 4 small lights and 2 big lights from BKK and we bought the rest (white track lights, bulbs and holders) from Tampoi (JB).From BKK:Top - we got the brown triangular light (dining) + a thinner and longer version of the black hanging light (corridor)Bottom - the 4 colourful pendant lights after DIY! (: (for 3 bedrooms + kitchen)From Tampoi:Top right - philips white track lights (for walk-in-wardrobe, entrance of house + kitchen)Middle right - simple bulb + bulb holder (for service yard, toilets + entrance of MBR)Bottom left - T5 lights (for toilets)Bottom right - DIY yellow pendant light (for reading corner) FansFor fans, we went to Tampoi to get them too! We got a pretty Fino fan for the MBR and a white Elmark ceiling fan for our living room: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
