Japanese minimalist design - review after 2 years

[ahtat 10]

I have always wanted to start a blog, and decided to do it slightly differently with others. Instead of recording down my reno journey, I hope to do a review on the decisions made 2 years back. Just a quick description on the house design:

• 4 room BTO
• Hack a bedroom to make the living room bigger
• Reno + Household appliances + furniture cost = 50k
• Light wood, white theme and a simple clean layout
• Minimum built in carpentry and "ID-style" stuff
• Flooring (Evorich Vinyl)

Original floor plan (minus the bedroom wall that we intend to hack):

Space Planning:

Lighting Plan:

Actual Living Room photos:

That's all for today! Will upload the photos of other parts of the house in the new few posts!

 

[Labuns 0]

Like your floor seats and plant rack. It does look Japanese!

Where did you get your standing fan and what brand it is?

[ahtat 10]

On 5/13/2017 at 8:22 PM, Labuns said:

Like your floor seats and plant rack. It does look Japanese!

Where did you get your standing fan and what brand it is?

Hi, its KDK standing box fan (Model: SS30H) and i got it from Goh Ah Bee. 

Pros:

1. Design of the fan is not too intrusive and blend in quite well.
2. Quite easy to move around
3. Height is adjustable

Cons:

1. Not easy to clean
2. The metal bar at the two sides will rust
3. No swinging motion so not able to cover a large space

[ahtat 10]

In the next few posts i will talk about some of the "built in" features in the living room. We have try to minimise the amount of carpentry work, mainly due to price and the difficulties in doing replacement when it starts to fall apart. And carpentry also depends a lot on the workmanship of the carpenter and installer which is an unforeseeable factor. So in our living room, we do not have TV console feature wall, and shoe rack which are two two most common carpentry work which can easily cost 2k-4k and a off-the-shelf TV console and shoe rack only cost less than $500. There are a lot of nice designs that fits the theme from Taobao, IKEA or local store. This is one of the decisions that i never regret till date.

Of course i do have come carpentry work that are not that common too, mainly the 

1. Coffee counter
2. Platform by the windows
3. Bar top by the windows

in this post i will talk about the coffee counter first. Both my wife and I are coffee addict, and we bought a decent espresso machine (will review on that in the future) to have our daily coffee fix. So instead of putting that in the kitchen, a designated spot for coffee making will suit our lifestyle more. So this is how it looks like:

The counter top is Kompacplus (10.10 Canadian Maple) and the sides and back are normal laminate to match the Kompacplus colour. 2 casement door and 2 pull out drawers to put the beans, accessories and equipment.  A two gang socket is installed at the side of the counter to power up the coffee machine. 

Key advice:

The height of the counter is very important, especially for the one that is working on it most of the time! Usually the range is 900mm to 1m. My friend has a kitchen cabinet that is too low for their height and they have to slouch to cook and wash dishes which is not very ergonomic. So try to simulate working at a certain height first before telling your contractor about the ideal height you want to have. Do not let them decide the height even if they say it is "standard height", because technically it is a standard RANGE, not a specific standard height!

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by ahtat

[ahtat 10]

In this post I will talk about the second built in feature of the living room, the bar top along the window. As the living room has an unblock view, we want to make full use of the window area and hope to have the flexibility to sit by the window for meal or using the laptop. the two support in the middle is required as mentioned by our contractor, and instead of doing the support in the middle, i requested him to follow the "windows line" to make it less intrusive. He suggested to make the support shape tapered which is a good idea to prevent knocking into it easily.

On top of the bar top are track lights and we only use 2 x 5 watts LED light to illuminate the area after some trial and error. At the side of the bar top is installed with a 2 gang socket for laptop power supply and phone charger.

 

The dimension of the bar top is 255cm x 35cm and the height follows the "window line" which is 103cm. Initially we bought two bar chairs which are around 65cm but they are a bit too low, so we bought another two which are around 76cm (30 inch) and they are just nice. Seems like bar chair has standard height too and we got our bar chairs from Tao Bao. 

Main problems:

• It is difficult to open the windows fully because the bar top is in the way (only if you have very long body and hands!)
• Cleaning of the windows is a challenging task too

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by ahtat

[BudgetLP 1]

I like your bar top! Looks like a great place for coffee and a book! And the view is gorgeous!

[Mannequin 0]

On 13/05/2017 at 4:01 PM, ahtat said:

I have always wanted to start a blog, and decided to do it slightly differently with others. Instead of recording down my reno journey, I hope to do a review on the decisions made 2 years back. Just a quick description on the house design:

• 4 room BTO
• Hack a bedroom to make the living room bigger
• Reno + Household appliances + furniture cost = 50k
• Light wood, white theme and a simple clean layout
• Minimum built in carpentry and "ID-style" stuff
• Flooring (Evorich Vinyl)

Original floor plan (minus the bedroom wall that we intend to hack):

Space Planning:

Lighting Plan:

Actual Living Room photos:

That's all for today! Will upload the photos of other parts of the house in the new few posts!

 

Hi do you mind to share where to buy the bench for dining table? Thank you.

[d3n 14]

11 hours ago, Mannequin said:

Hi do you mind to share where to buy the bench for dining table? Thank you.

And also the TV console. The height looks better than the one I bought... Don't intend to mount my TV too

[ahtat 10]

On 5/29/2017 at 10:07 PM, Mannequin said:

Hi do you mind to share where to buy the bench for dining table? Thank you.

Hi,

I got the dining chairs and bench from TB. As all these items are bought 2 years back, the link should be obsolete. The keyword to search for dining bench will be：

• Dining Bench - 餐桌长凳

you can add in these words to search for the theme you want.

• Scandi - 北欧
• Japanese style - 日式
• Solid wood - 实木

[ahtat 10]

On 5/30/2017 at 9:31 AM, d3n said:

And also the TV console. The height looks better than the one I bought... Don't intend to mount my TV too

Hi sorry for the late reply! Was thinking of doing a more detailed post on TV console.

TV console - Original

This is the original TV console we got from TB. The colour was a bit off (a bit orangy) and I remember it was a challenging task to piece up the console from scratch. The length is 150cm and the size is just right initially when our TV was 48 inch. However, we upgraded the TV size to 60 inch few months back and the console size look super off like what is shown in the picture above. We decided to try and sell it off in carousell and look out for new TV console and managed to sell it off after posting it for a month! At first we were contemplating to get the new console from TB again, but the shipping cost will be high unlike the first time when we bought everything together under a single shipment. We managed to find a nice looking and cheap TV console that fits our TV size and theme in https://www.fortytwo.sg/living-room/tv-consoles.html !

TV console - Current

View from sofa

 

View from dining table

 

The length is 180mm and height is 52cm which is just nice for our living room. We need to place the TV high enough so that we can still watch it from the dining table and not blocked by the sofa. The console was already assembled except the legs when it arrived and the two delivery men help us install it in less than 5 minutes. They were very professional and friendly and the first time buying experience from fortytwo.sg was really a pleasant one.

Review:

The two drawers at the side are deep and able to put quite a bit of stuff, and the rollers mechanism are smooth (without soft closing). The centre drawer is much shallower but is good enough to put those HDMI cables and electronic stuff. The finishing quality is very good and the console is very very heavy, not the hollow wood kind. Overall a satisfying buy!

TaoBao Keywords

To search for TV console:

• 电视柜

Add in these words for respective theme:

• Muji - 无印良品
• Japanese style - 日式
• Minimalist - 简约
• Ikea - 宜家
• Scandi - 北欧

[ahtat 10]

The last built in feature in the living room is the platform, or what we call the cosy corner. We try to create a visual effect of having full length windows when we just enter the house, which gives a more spacious feeling. On one side we put a small table and floor chairs (both from Muji) and the other side is a plant rack. We chose that side to put the plant rack because the morning sun will enter the living room and shine on that side of the wall.

If you want to buy a plant rack from TB, which is so much cheaper and lots of choices and configuration, you can search for it by entering the keywords below.

• Plant rack - 植物架
• Indoor - 室内
• Balcony - 阳台

The platform flooring is using the same material as our main space flooring, which is Evorich vinyl. In the next post I will try to do a review on Evorich vinyl flooring after using it for 2 years.

Edited June 21, 2017 by ahtat

[ahtat 10]

I would like to do a review on the vinyl flooring from Evorich we have selected as the main flooring in our house. We did not opt for HDB tiles, although the kitchen and service yard came with ready tiles by default. For living room and bedroom, we have selected Markham Oak Light.

As for the kitchen, we have selected Amsterdam Silver.

So that's how it looks like at the living room to kitchen area. They will install a joint between two areas if required so that there will not be an awkward step. However, the surface of the joint is "sticker" like and it will peel if scratched by any sharp object. 

We are very please with the vinyl flooring so far and there is no major deterioration after two years of usage (but we have no kids or free roaming pets). I will list down the good points below.

1. Easy maintenance, no dirty grout or chipping tiles issues (weekly mopping is adequate)
2. Dirt and hair is not obvious because of the wood grain design (major plus point)
3. Relatively "softer" than tiles and feel more comfortable to the feet (this may be subjective)
4. No issues with water unlike laminate, totally waterproof (have left a puddle of water on the floor accidentally overnight before without any watermark or stained after cleaning up).
5. Suitable to use as kitchen flooring. Although we cook often, there is no adverse effect or any sticky feeling on the floor (but i do spray mop the kitchen floor after every cooking session).

Some negative points that i can think of.

1. It can leave a scratch mark easily with sharp object and the scratch mark will become obvious when dirt is trapped inside.
2. The cement screed must be done properly (perfectly level) before laying the vinyl, if not the feeling of unevenness is super obvious when you step on it. this is because the vinyl is soft and "bendable" compare to tiles. Had ask our contractor to redo some part because of this which causes some hiccups during the reno process. 

Overall, we are very happy with the choice of flooring and Evorich installation and workmanship was very professional too. There is no funny rubbery smell and no glue was used during the installation so there was no VOC emission.  

 

[spooky 6]

Really unique tblog because you're offering insights after years of real life usage and I love how your living area looks. The view from Hougang Capeview is also amazing! So jealous

[teeteet 0]

3 hours ago, ahtat said:

I would like to do a review on the vinyl flooring from Evorich we have selected as the main flooring in our house. We did not opt for HDB tiles, although the kitchen and service yard came with ready tiles by default. For living room and bedroom, we have selected Markham Oak Light.

As for the kitchen, we have selected Amsterdam Silver.

So that's how it looks like at the living room to kitchen area. They will install a joint between two areas if required so that there will not be an awkward step. However, the surface of the joint is "sticker" like and it will peel if scratched by any sharp object. 

We are very please with the vinyl flooring so far and there is no major deterioration after two years of usage (but we have no kids or free roaming pets). I will list down the good points below.

1. Easy maintenance, no dirty grout or chipping tiles issues (weekly mopping is adequate)
2. Dirt and hair is not obvious because of the wood grain design (major plus point)
3. Relatively "softer" than tiles and feel more comfortable to the feet (this may be subjective)
4. No issues with water unlike laminate, totally waterproof (have left a puddle of water on the floor accidentally overnight before without any watermark or stained after cleaning up).
5. Suitable to use as kitchen flooring. Although we cook often, there is no adverse effect or any sticky feeling on the floor (but i do spray mop the kitchen floor after every cooking session).

Some negative points that i can think of.

1. It can leave a scratch mark easily with sharp object and the scratch mark will become obvious when dirt is trapped inside.
2. The cement screed must be done properly (perfectly level) before laying the vinyl, if not the feeling of unevenness is super obvious when you step on it. this is because the vinyl is soft and "bendable" compare to tiles. Had ask our contractor to redo some part because of this which causes some hiccups during the reno process. 

Overall, we are very happy with the choice of flooring and Evorich installation and workmanship was very professional too. There is no funny rubbery smell and no glue was used during the installation so there was no VOC emission.  

 

Hi, may I know if pulling the dining chairs in and out or wheeled chairs, will it leave scratches on the vinyl? and does it caused dent marks under heavy items like sofa legs? Thanks in advance.

[ahtat 10]

17 hours ago, spooky said:

Really unique tblog because you're offering insights after years of real life usage and I love how your living area looks. The view from Hougang Capeview is also amazing! So jealous

Sharp eyes! The airbase opposite can be quite noisy at times though..