Warm, Earthy, And A Little Bohemian

[hellofromanotherside 1]

Finally! After applying for our flat in 2013, we now have a chance to share our renovation experience here. Been a silent lurker, love your ideas, etc etc, let’s just get down to business.

We got a 5-room flat in the north-eastern part of Singapore (Seriously...take a guess. You’re probably right.) and PCD is scheduled end of this month. I’m not kidding when I say we began our research the moment we applied 2 - 3 years ago. Thankfully, my husband and I have very similar tastes, so agreeing to things came easily and without much hair tugging/crying.

Here’s the standard floorplan.

A rough introduction of our style:

• NON-industrial and NON-Scandinavian. I know this site has a huge following for the two “themes”, but that’s just not us, heh. Also another reason for contributing to renotalk – I thought it’d be a nice change to see something different for the rest of you who are looking for new inspiration!
• Warm, earthy, and a little bohemian. We travel quite a bit and have collected some strange and quirky items over the years. I’m a huge fan of Apartment Therapy, and am thoroughly inspired by the homes there.
• Plenty of dark wood accented with hints of brass and rose gold. And pops of colour. We plan to warm the place up with lots of plants and ethnic rugs.

Next up - our experience speaking to a few IDs.

Edited January 12, 2016 by hellofromanotherside

[bykaraanne 30]

Dark wood with rose gold yummy!!

Edited January 6, 2016 by Kara-Anne Cheng

[hellofromanotherside 1]

The ID, ego, and superego.

Like everyone who’s on the verge of owning their first home, we did a lot of contemplating while deciding between a contractor and an ID.

My partner and I work unpredictable hours, so the idea of heading down to the flat every other day just to check on a contractor seems like a waste of time. We also don’t have the patience and experience when it comes to knowing where the air-con should go, which type of water heater would be best for the home, even the idea of planning a kitchen layout sounds very daunting!

So we decided to go with an interior designer, and shopped around quite a bit before we found theee perfect one.

First, I visited  and threw out a quote along with a brief introduction of our preferred look and feel. Only two ID companies contacted me back – not a surprise, because we requested for very little built-ins, and we know IDs love their feature wall + console. I did a little background research on the two, and we paid a visit to one of them.

Before I go on, you must know that I didn’t choose this guy. Because of the following glaring reasons.

1. He struggled to converse with us in English. It’s not his fault that he’s more Mandarin-speaking, and that we’re not at all. But still…you’re an “ID”…in Singapore…

2. He cared more about his portfolio than what we, his clients, want or like. The project would be a big win for him, it seems, and he made it clear to us.

3. He added very little to the table after hearing our ideas. I’m not the expert, you are!

4. He was so, so young.

So we left the office with a weird dilemma – I felt like we had to please this young man and hire him because he seemed so earnest, but at the same time I knew he was a terrible choice because the last thing I wanted to do was baby-sit my own ID. He came back with a revised quotation (about 5K above our max budget) but we had to nicely let him down.

We did a little bit more homework and considered all the other big names….but nothing seemed to, well, click. And I think it had a lot to do with the fact that the look we want isn’t very common. And that maybe, to be safe, IDs prefer to pick clients who want a theme they’re already familiar with. Like I mentioned before, industrial and Scandinavian is all the rage right now, and taking on a client like us would require lots and lots of trust, communication, and research.

Any readers out there who are facing the same problem? If you love dark wood, earthy tones and eclectic furniture, please shout out! I’d love to share my findings with you.

[hellofromanotherside 1]

Dark wood with rose gold yummy!!

Just took a quick glance at your finished home. That coffee table! The brass handles in your kitchen! So very lovely!

[sapphire89 5]

Wow! Excited to see your project come to life! It's such a rare theme

[pankponk 2]

Aye aye for the rose gold

[hellofromanotherside 1]

A Photo Gallery of Modern Bohemia

I realise it's a bit challenging to find the exact image that would describe my perfect home LOL. Here are a few images we like, sticking to the theme of modern bohemia. Think dark wood, brass and gold, deep dark reds and beautiful greens. I hope this vision is possible to be brought to life. Skali it just looks better in our head!

Love the coffee table here. We found a similar one from Scene Shang =)

The couch would be a brown leather one, though.

Yup, more coffee tables to fall in love with. The fig tree really ties up the whole place nicely.

My husband is a huge fan of Afghan rugs. Their colours are mainly deep reds and blues,

and patterns are more simple compared to the normally seen Persian rugs.

And our favourite part of the house: the kitchen! Here, we plan to go with

midnight blue bottom shelves, open top shelves, marble-patterned countertops (as marble itself is porous and not durable)

and classic brass handles.

Next up: My Idol, the ID

[ricepapergirl 21]

Hi hellofromtheotherside!!

Haha oh gosh although I wouldn't say my theme is bohemian but my intended kitchen theme looks so much like yours?? I'm also a big fan of Apartment Therapy but perhaps not a big fan of vacuuming carpets! At the end of the day I feel like our house is really more themeless and based a lot on practicality (rounded corners, materials that last, no open shelves so no need to dust, darker materials/grout for areas where we don't have to worry as much about it getting dirty) but we also love darker wood, eclectic furniture and pops of colour! Though for us pops of colour will be more teal and yellow, some purple and blue.

Looking forward to your place!

[bykaraanne 30]

A Photo Gallery of Modern Bohemia

I realise it's a bit challenging to find the exact image that would describe my perfect home LOL. Here are a few images we like, sticking to the theme of modern bohemia. Think dark wood, brass and gold, deep dark reds and beautiful greens. I hope this vision is possible to be brought to life. Skali it just looks better in our head!

Love the coffee table here. We found a similar one from Scene Shang =)

The couch would be a brown leather one, though.

Yup, more coffee tables to fall in love with. The fig tree really ties up the whole place nicely.

My husband is a huge fan of Afghan rugs. Their colours are mainly deep reds and blues,

and patterns are more simple compared to the normally seen Persian rugs.

And our favourite part of the house: the kitchen! Here, we plan to go with

midnight blue bottom shelves, open top shelves, marble-patterned countertops (as marble itself is porous and not durable)

and classic brass handles.

Next up: My Idol, the ID

That kitchen is perfection

Can't wait to see it executed!

[bykaraanne 30]

Just took a quick glance at your finished home. That coffee table! The brass handles in your kitchen! So very lovely!

Haha mine no ID and build-ins, confirm not as impressive as y'all one... Excited to see yours!

[hellofromanotherside 1]

Wow! Excited to see your project come to life! It's such a rare theme

Thank you! Am excited to embark on it. Been 3 years of daydreaming haha

[hellofromanotherside 1]

Hi hellofromtheotherside!!

Haha oh gosh although I wouldn't say my theme is bohemian but my intended kitchen theme looks so much like yours?? I'm also a big fan of Apartment Therapy but perhaps not a big fan of vacuuming carpets! At the end of the day I feel like our house is really more themeless and based a lot on practicality (rounded corners, materials that last, no open shelves so no need to dust, darker materials/grout for areas where we don't have to worry as much about it getting dirty) but we also love darker wood, eclectic furniture and pops of colour! Though for us pops of colour will be more teal and yellow, some purple and blue.

Looking forward to your place!

Are you serious?? What a wonderful coincidence!! The blue and gold combi is sooo delicious. And I know what you mean about all that carpeting. No choice la, gotta get those robot-type vacuums to do the work for us. And nice accent colours! We're looking at some yellow, and maybe mint for ours

[nextstep 3]

hello hellofromanotherside [Adel?? ] hehe, congratulation of your new house,

love the mood board and the kitchen wall (no. 3) I like, that is so beautiful, can't wait to see more of the update from you.

[ricepapergirl 21]

Actually my ideal kitchen was indeed blue and gold but not even sure whether it's possible here! Picked my second choice of black /dark brown fronts and brass instead with wooden top but I sometimes go back and swoon at the picture of the blue cabinet doors!!

[hellofromanotherside 1]

hello hellofromanotherside [Adel?? ] hehe, congratulation of your new house,

love the mood board and the kitchen wall (no. 3) I like, that is so beautiful, can't wait to see more of the update from you.

Thank you! We really love the combi for the kitchen too. Our ID says she can make it happen, so hoorah!

(And yes, got inspired by Adele lolol)