The New Home – Selecting an Interior Designer

The last time we renovated a place was when we got our first resale flat in 2004. We hired a contractor and designed the toilets (we ended up with very nice toilets in our flat), then added some build-ins in the Master bedroom. As my in laws stayed with us, and due to a tight budget, I could only renovate the Master bedroom and toilet.

We recently purchased an old apartment in an area that both my hb and I liked (this property has been built 32 years ago in 1985!). Newer properties in this same area are about $600 – $800 more in price per-square-feet. Having stayed in private apartments previously and staying in a rental right now, we realise that a beautiful landscape and nice amenities is not enough to convince us to fork out a premium on a newer property. Another concern we had over newer properties was the space, or the lack thereof. One has to be prepared that the kitchen layouts will be tiny, living and bedrooms are smaller.

The downside to getting an older property is that more work is needed to re-furbish the interior of the home. However this was an exciting endeavour to undertake, since this opportunity would allow me to decide how I wanted this new home to look like.

Thus getting a good interior designer to work with is pivotal, to put ideas on paper and to implement ideas as painless as possible.

 

My Experience Selecting an Interior Designer

1. Do the research

I shortlisted the interior design companies by looking through local home interior magazines like Home and Decor, Square Rooms, and online sites like Qanvast, Renopedia, Renotalk etc.

Homeintmags

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From there, I was able to see what I think I could consider for the new home, browse the current design trends adopted by other home owners.

Some trends I spotted were retro style (Peranakan tiles, 60-70 memorabilia and furnishings, SMEG appliances etc), Industrial style (more hardware, metal, stainless steel, red brick walls), Minimalism (Japanese, Scandinavian style of furnishings).

The less common styles were eclectic (a mishmash of concepts under one roof, one of the more challenging styles to adopt as the owner or interior designer needs a keen eye on how to bring everything together seamlessly) and lux (expensive and luxurious furnishings mostly adopted by home owners with larger homes like landed property or Good Class Bungalows)

 

2. Get in touch with the interior design firm

I got in touch with the Interior Design companies when hb and I met the lawyers and started the purchase process for the home. It took about 6-8 weeks for the buying process to be completed and for the collection of the keys to the home.

We got a copy of the floor plan from the housing agent of the buyer, as it is useful to refer to a floor plan during layout discussions with the interior designer, even if the home has gone through many owners and many rounds of renovation.

Flrplan

 

3. First impressions do count

I only shortlisted two interior design firms; Three-D-Conceptwerke and Eighty-Two. Looking through their portfolio through features in the home interior magazines and their website, I thought these two companies had the best fit to my design preferences.

I liked how Three-D-Conceptwerke was able to adopt unique concepts that was not run-of-the-mill, as their homes reflected the personalities of the owners. While Eighty-Two was on the other side of the spectrum, as minimalism was their forte. I could not decide if I wanted a house with personality, or one that was clean and minimalistic, yet stylish.

Intdesign

I sent both companies the floor plan, existing photos of the home and a budget of how much hb and I planned to set aside for renovation.

Jack, the senior designer of Three-D-Conceptwerke was prompt and got back to me quickly through my email enquiry, and fixed up an appointment at a coffee place in the vicinity of my new home. Jack made a positive impression the first time we met, with his friendly and unassuming personality. He made an effort to print out the floor plans and pictures for discussion and showed positive energy and enthusiasm while the shared on the possible concepts that I hope to create with the home.

He shared many inputs and his creative ideas at our meeting and made a remark that made sense to me, “We want the home to age well with the owner, one that will not go out of trend over time. A timeless style is something we hope to achieve.”

While the people at Eight-two did not make a positive impression from the start. They took a while to get back to me, and despite the request to meet someplace closer to where I was, Terence, the designer, reply was, “We usually meet clients at our office for the first meeting”. I made my way to his office at East Coast, waited for him for 30mins before he turned up.

For that 30 mins, I sat 1 metre away from his colleagues at their work tables, listened to their gossip and discussion where they wanted to go for lunch. This gave me glimpse to what to expect if I planned to work with this company.

Where is the punctuality? And should it be common sense that they should avoid inviting the client to their office if they don’t even have a proper area to host them…😳

I decided to reserve my judgement on the company or the designer till the discussion ended. The discussion was disappointing, I expected more creative inputs from him, but all I got was ideas of wanted to shift rooms around, when I communicated my preference of where I wanted the Master bedroom and K’s room to be. His cynicism and ‘jaded-ness’ shone through while I interacted with him. After a while, I started to get rather irritated with the comments that he made.

When I shared, “I like to consider minimalism, but I am not sure at this point,” His response was “We specialised in Minimalistic style and we should be able to work with your budget.” That got me thinking, so if I decide to change my mind and not go with minimalism, you might not be able to do it?

The conclusion that I ended up with was that Eighty-Two could only do minimalistic styles well, and I wasn’t confident at all in their company to add on personality to a home, which they didn’t seem to be interested to find out more from their client. And I question why I should be paying for something minimalistic when I can just hire a contractor to help me execute minimalistic ideas.

I didn’t even wait for Eighty-Two to present the top-line ideas 2 weeks after, I called them 2 days after our meeting to let them know I have decided to go with another Interior Design company.

 

4. Be decisive and know what you want to achieve

It was easy to decide which company I went with in the end, as I didn’t want to waste time comparing quotes or confuse it further with any indecisiveness. For me, it’s as simple as, what ideas can you share and are you able to deliver these things as we discussed within the budget?

 

5. Be realistic on timelines

Once I decided on the Interior Design Company to go with, there was another 1-2 subsequent meetings for the Jack from Three-D-Conceptwerke to come back with a more concrete design plan, which included a revised floorplan and a detailed price quote.

When hb and I approved the revised layout of the floorplan, Jack presented 3D layouts of how specific areas of the home will look like. Once we approved this, he started to source for tile and flooring samples, a as well as material samples for build-in carpentry and we further discuss on the timelines.

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Right after that meeting, Jack submitted the renovation work plans to the Management Agent (if this is a private property) or to HDB (for HDB flats). There was another 5-7 days before we got the approval from the building management to start renovation works.

Depending on the scale of the renovation works, I think 2-3 months should be a comfortable timeline to work with as it is always good to give the Interior Designer ample time to work with.

 

Next post on The New Home – Design Concepts

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A Walk of Gratitude down Katong Road

There are certain places that we go to that will bring back memories, and often we don’t have to travel very far.

Just early this afternoon, despite a sweltering hot day, I took the opportunity to park the car at 112 Katong, to take a stroll to Katong Shopping Centre to visit the Optometrist, then walk back to 112 Katong. This short walk evoked plenty of memories and feelings.

It brought back memories just barely 4.5 years ago when I was a regular in this neighbourhood and used to take Photo-walks. Katong have gone through some changes in that short 4.5 years.

In April 2013 the tired looking Red House Bakery was undergoing major refurbishment…

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Now, it seems to have been restored its former glory,

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The glimpse I had of the shophouses from the overhead bridge of Roxy Square in 2013 were deserted, looking dreary and old..

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Now, these shophouses have been given a new lease of life and likely are occupied by new tenants;

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Seeing these changes take took place these 4.5 years, is very much like a metaphor to how things have changed for me since the day that I took those photos in April 2013. My state in life in 2013 was rather similar to these old and tired buildings.

Taking this walk down Katong Road, I found my heart bursting with gratitude to God, as I knew that I have so much to be grateful to the Lord for. Life today is drastically different from my life in 2013 or anything before 2015 for that matter.

Life then in 2013 was a struggle, our family have sold our first home the year before and had to stay in alternative arrangements, which we had to call home for that season. It was hard to lose most of what we own. In retrospect, we needed to experience losing almost all that we own, to come to a point of trusting God wholeheartedly, and letting Him fully take over our lives and our will.

Spending these time in the ‘pit’ was necessary as it has been God’s training ground for me. What I chose to focus in the ‘pit’ helped to bring the breakthrough. I chose to minimise complaining and worship Him instead, to reflect, ‘What does God want me to learn out of this?’

Seeking God first and the Kingdom of God was pivotal during this time, as it is only through putting Him above all these things (providence, faith, security), these things will be added to me. It was a difficult choice but I decided that I needed to surrender all to Him fully, everything will be His will and none of mine. He can do what He want with me, just take care of my family. I really did not have any more expectations during those difficult times.

God really went out of His way to prove to me even in my doubt and unbelief, He will be faithful and He is a good God.

God knew the deep desires of my heart, as He has taken care of everything in my life. It is only when we come to a point of losing everything in our lives, before He is able to restore it fully for us. And when He does, it will be above and beyond what we can ask and think of!

September 2015, it has been the start of the turnaround for my family. And my family is totally bowled over by His great love and faithfulness time and time again. We have been staying in a rented home these past 2 years, and it has been a comfortable and peaceful sanctuary for the family.

Prophetically, 2017 in the Hebrew calendar year of 5777, is the year of Jubilee when all inheritances are returned and people are set free from everything which has bound them. Indeed, I can attest to this, we may have lost our home in 2012, but in mid 2017, we have officially bought a new place we can call our home! Something that I never dared to dream of since 2012, but only made possible by God.

2017 is indeed a year of restoration for my family.  On a personal note, I am reminded and restored to my calling for intercession as well.

What I have learnt during difficult times of my life, it is important to seek Him, stay in His presence daily, stay obedient to Him, stay humble always, and always chose to do the things that honour Him. Seek and Focus on His Kingdom and He will surely take care of all things for us. He is a good and loving Father, who like to give good gifts to His Children. If He cares for the birds and flowers, how much more will He care for us!

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So naturally, after sharing this happy milestone on this blog, I will be starting a new series in the next couple of months on the topic of Home Renovation and decorating my new home 🏠

And definitely more write-ups on Spiritual Walk and Faith in the coming days, as the Holy Spirit leads!

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Exploring Tokyo my way; Handmade shopping, Kawaii and Pet Merchandise

Out of the 9 days in Japan, 5 days were spent in Tokyo. In hb’s words, “The Queen dictated where we went, shopping, craft stuff, Wawa (Chihuahuahua) stuff, cute stuff…” While he still got to pick what he wanted to eat for some of our meals 😝

Shopping was centred in the vicinity that we were staying in; Shinjuku. Takashimaya, Lumine and Tokyo Hands were about a 15 min walk from the Hotel. Japanese Fashion wasn’t something I was interested in, however I was more keen on their handmade culture of accessories, and there were number of pop up shops for handmade accessories that were peppered across in the various departmental stores that we visited.

Okadaya Shibuya was the other store worth visiting, if you are like me, love handmades and are looking for fabric notions like buttons, yarn, ribbons, embroidery patches, accessories findings. We depended on Google Maps to find our way around, especially for the Okadaya store in Shinjuku that was located in an obscure hidden alley.

While Lumine the other departmental store that is trendy and carries merchandise that the other departmental stores don’t for the younger set. In Lumine 2, there is Kiwa Products which is a specialty store selling jewellery making supplies. It was at this place where I stumbled onto a made-in-Japan raw material that I am still working on to create accessories with it.

A month ago, I read a news article that mentioned that Lumine will be opening a branch in Singapore. I think it will be interesting to see what merchandise they are planning to bring here.

There were many other places we wanted to explore like Ginza and Shibuya, but we only managed a couple of hours to check out Harajuku, had some Ramen for lunch, and walked on the world’s most crowded junction; Shibuya Crossing, and chanced upon an artsy hipster street in Shibuya trying to navigate walking from one place to another.

I was thrilled when we stumbled upon Character Street in Tokyo Station when we made our way there to take the Shikansen to Kyoto. When in Japan, cutesy characters memorabilia is something that one cannot miss out. From Hello Kitty, Studio Ghlibi, Rilakkuma, Doraemon to Pokemon Memorabilia.

 

Dog Culture

In Japan, there are likely more pets than children. With the large variety of merchandise available for dogs in Japan, even with dog clothes being more expensive than some children clothing, it’s worthwhile for any dog owner to take the time to visit these shops.

 

I have to confess that I never planned in dressing up dogs until I saw how adorable the Japanese and Korean small dogs look in clothing 😬. But I caved in and bought a couple of summer tees and officially after this trip to Tokyo, I am a convert.

JapcostumeBibi and Tess in their costumes from Tokyo

Other posts from this trip;

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