Big Ideas In A Small Space

[blueeeeie 0]

Hi all!

Surfing through this reno blog has inspired me to share my renovation process..

Do forgive if I'm slow to reply to any requests for replies or PMs ok?? Reno process, work and baby is keeping this mama busy most days..

Background:

- Got the keys to my new Sengkang BTO flat from HDB in January after 3 long long long years of waiting.. (Fernvale crest!)

- Dingdong-ed for a few weeks to pick a contractor to do up the place.. scrutinized both workmanship and quotation price.. I was lucky to have married an ID trained

husband so he knew what he was looking at and how to do the comparisons.. I just pretty much stood in the sidelines to watch him haggle..

- Finally decided on the contractor in February but hit the chinese new year holidays so no work could be done until everyone came back from their holiday..

- Started work on the place around end feb early march..

The floorplan:

When I saw my place for the very first time.. I was so disappointed with the size.. the living/dining area was MINISCULE!

I nearly wanted to weep at the tiny space they allocated for the dining and wondered how I would ever be able to fit my gang of friends and their kids or my extended family for a meal together..

You could almost see the question marks forming around my husband's head as he wandered around our new home figuring out how he was going to squeeze all his wonderful future designer furniture into our small small space..

Front door and kitchen entrance

Living and dining area

Corridor to rooms

That night, we went home and we made some decisions.. in order to preserve the illusion of spaciousness in our house.. we needed to do 3 things:

1) Bring in more light to the house.. the more illumination.. the more spacious it looks.

2) Less is more.. keep furnishings to only essentials so more floor space is visible

3) No false ceilings and keep built in stuff to minimum.. that way height is preserved and more wall space becomes available..

Edited April 11, 2013 by blueeeeie

[blueeeeie 0]

The toilets

HDB standard toilets looked really really sad to me.. since my space was already so tiny and I had to do away with a lot of nice furniture that I wanted.. the least I could do was to pretty up the toilets..

Current toilet design

Common toilet

Master toilet

Toilet concept

For common toilet:

Grey mosiac to create a retro look with a modern twist..

For master toilet:

Natural stone look with dark colored storage for contrast..

[summersann 6]

Beautiful ideas! all the best with renovation!

[blueeeeie 0]

Thanks summersann!!

So let's continue with the story..

The living room

Actually.. although the living/dining space is short lengthwise.. its pretty decent width-wise.. So if I place my tv opposite of my sofa.. the viewing distance is far enough that you won't feel cramped or ruin your eyes (provided you don't buy some ginormous tv that would be way out of proportion for the limited space)

But it still felt cramped to me and I wanted the illusion of more space..

So there's gonna be some hacking to be done!!

It was already decided that the bedroom nearest to the living room was going to be the study.. I had a tendency to work from home a couple of days a week so a good comfortable well equipped study was high on my priority list.. And since I liked to have the tv on when I was working (something about having some background noise helps me concentrate a little better) a nice big window cut out of the common wall between the study and the living would mean I get to watch some TV while working!

Plus it would allow more light from the study to enter the living room.. creating the space illusion..

Next up.. The flooring

We opted out of the HDB flooring so as you can see from the pics.. there is only concrete on the ground..

A year back.. I had thought about installing timber flooring for the nice natural and expensive look..

Look how awesome it is.. (my hubby's ex-boss's house)

Fast forward a year and I now have my house keys and a nice piece of paper telling me how much I have in my bank account.. and the idea of timber flooring flies out the window..

So now my hubby finds a really nice substitute for our flooring.. I'm sure most other home owners have heard of the high resilient laminate flooring that's way more awesome than regular laminate.. its waterproof and feels really solid under the feet (no funny creaking and cracking sounds) and has a really realistic wood texture to it..

We decided to get our flooring from Evorich who has a nice malkam oak white color of their flooring that goes with everything..

http://www.evorich.com.sg/products.aspx?id=11&bid=11

And since we wanted to do laminate flooring.. we had to get HDB to screed the floor for us

If you didn't know.. HDB will do the screeding for you for free.. just call up the HDB branch office nearest to your home and fill up a form..

[blueeeeie 0]

The living room continued..

So here's a picture of the hacking commencing.. and the completed cement floor screed..

Here's what it looked like after it was completed within a day..

Notice the new big doorway? We sealed up the original doorway so we could do a floor to ceiling cabinet that would stretch from one side of the wall to the other.. And a new big doorway was created that would utilize a sliding door.. and VOILA! Space illusion created!

Of course when I got to the house.. and saw what was done.. I got concerned that the itty bitty column left between the big window and the big doorway was flimsy and looked like it would collapse if I ran straight into it.. so my exasperated husband had to tell the contractor to patch back a small portion of the window..

And so the patching was done.. much better in my opinion

[blueeeeie 0]

Living room continued

In the HDB suggested layout for our unit, the TV is usually placed on the common wall between the study and the living room while the couch sits on the opposite against the long wall. This makes it easier for you to pick a couch since you aren't restricted too greatly by length.

But now that there's a big hole in the common wall.. the TV has to be mounted on the long wall instead while the couch has to sit in front of the big hole window.

This now means that we can't get a couch that is longer than 2.2m otherwise its going to be sticking out into the corridor.. and it can't be leather cos I just didn't like leather (I know.. I'm picky like that).. and its gotta feel comfy.. so my hubby can relax in it after a long day's work..

Let me just say.. other than Ikea and courts.. I don't really know of other places to get my furniture from.. and had it just been up to me.. we probably would have saved a ton on furniture just going to those places.. and had regular furniture.. end of story..

But my dear husband.. having a love for beautiful designer furniture pieces.. knew where he could go to achieve the look he wanted for our first home.. more pricey than Ikea and courts of course..

So off to LUSH LUSH we went.. who happened to have a 30% storewide discount for their furniture..

They had such cute designer chairs for kids..

And although the eames chair has been replicated so much that they're appearing in kopitiams everywhere.. its still a really nice option for dining chairs.. esp when they're colorful like that

And of course.. I had found the perfect couch for my living room.. size, comfort level, looks, material.. it all fit!

Behold! The Grandine sofa from Lush Lush.. only 1.9K after discount.. GULP!

Ok.. so see that white armchair next to the couch? That armchair, my friends.. is the MOST COMFORTABLE armchair that my bum has ever encountered.. its so cushy and soft and even though I didn't like leather.. I would totally totally get that armchair for my house and sit in it forever and ever and ever..

BUT.. as life would have it.. my flat is toooooooo small to accommodate an armchair in the living room..

So remembering my mantra of "less is more".. I decided to let that arm chair go..

Run little armchair.. run off into freedom.. and into the house of another person who has a bigger living room and deeper pockets!

[blueeeeie 0]

This is so fun.. I can't believe that I'm having fun blogging about my reno here.. hahaha.. its like writing a story..

Next up..

The toilets continued

So before we could get anything done on the toilet.. we needed to pick the right tiles for the toilets..

Now let me just say here.. the tile picking process is actually a really tedious process if you don't have an ID with a trained eye to help you narrow down the choices.. I mean.. I knew what I wanted for my toilets based on my inspiration pictures..

See inspiration picture here..

But seriously! Its really hard to find the exact tiles that matches it.. and then when you see all the other available options.. you start thinking.. "Ok.. hmm.. this other tile looks nice too.. I think I could make it work for my space" and then you end up with something totally different from what you originally planned and it deviates from the concept that you originally wanted for your house..

And that's how you end up with a mish mash of concepts for a house..

Or you can't decide on the tile because they are sooooo many different options and you end up picking something that totally doesn't go or doesn't work as well for your space.. but you don't realize it until the tiler has finished the job..

And that's how you end up with a failed concept for a house..

So I have to thank my husband here for helping pick out the tiles first.. and then bringing me into the picture after all the tough decisions were made to make the final selection..

Hubby went to Hafary to search for the toilet tiles and sadly they didn't carry the mosiac that we wanted for our common toilet.. the only white mosiac they had were these circle ones.. and there were some octagonal shaped ones

Which was nice.. but I don't think I could look at it day in day out without getting sian..

So we only managed to find out master toilet tiles from hafary.. our mosaic has to be purchased elsewhere instead..

Wall and floor tiles!

[jus4fun 4]

Hi blueeeeie (& hubby). Congrats on ur new flat & welcome to RT! Can sense all ur excitement! Njoy ur reno journey! Looking forward to the updates & pics ya!

Edited April 11, 2013 by jus4fun

[blueeeeie 0]

Thanks just4fun

Shopping for bric a brac

I usually refer to this lamp as the bankers' lamp since I use to see it in those old English banks from long ago.. This is the real deal.. green shade is made of glass and the stand is made of solid brass...

I bought 2 of these lamps and I'm not really sure where to put the other one.. may have to let it go..

I love the newgate clocks from UK.. They use them in the London train stations and have this great vintage look..

Pardon the head in the picture.. its my handsome hubby.. heehee

I'll be getting this red one for my kitchen.. saw it in a shop in ION..

Wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.. and it look so campbell soupy..

Edited April 11, 2013 by blueeeeie

[blueeeeie 0]

Lighting

After poring over so many interior books and visiting so many furniture showrooms.. I realized that there was 1 very important factor that contributes to the overall wow factor of any home.. LIGHTING!

Doesn't matter if you buy the most expensive gorgeous designer furniture in the whole of EUROPE.. if you light your house like an office.. your space will look flat, lifeless and dull..

The lighting plan hence is a very important part of the reno process.. general lighting is needed to light up all areas of your house when necessary.. then you have mood lighting to accent certain areas of your space.. and of course task lighting for.. well.. lighting a small task area.. combined together it gives your space more depth and highlights your furnishings too..

So while I left the planning of what areas to light and what sort of lighting to use to my husband.. I set about the more fun task of deciding what dining room light I would like!

Saw this at lightcraft.. looks so hollywood!

Has potential!

Another one from the same series..

This one was more of a possibility since it was smaller and cos I was thinking of putting up a round dining table, it could hang nicely over the center of the table! As shown in ridiculous cartoon pic below..

[swaskie 0]

Lighting

After poring over so many interior books and visiting so many furniture showrooms.. I realized that there was 1 very important factor that contributes to the overall wow factor of any home.. LIGHTING!

Doesn't matter if you buy the most expensive gorgeous designer furniture in the whole of EUROPE.. if you light your house like an office.. your space will look flat, lifeless and dull..

The lighting plan hence is a very important part of the reno process.. general lighting is needed to light up all areas of your house when necessary.. then you have mood lighting to accent certain areas of your space.. and of course task lighting for.. well.. lighting a small task area.. combined together it gives your space more depth and highlights your furnishings too..

So while I left the planning of what areas to light and what sort of lighting to use to my husband.. I set about the more fun task of deciding what dining room light I would like!

Saw this at lightcraft.. looks so hollywood!

Has potential!

Another one from the same series..

This one was more of a possibility since it was smaller and cos I was thinking of putting up a round dining table, it could hang nicely over the center of the table! As shown in ridiculous cartoon pic below..

Welcome to the forum!

The single lamp (4th pic)looks gd!!

[blueeeeie 0]

Thanks swaskie..

I like that light too.. Cos i wanted my dining light to hang low but i didn't want it to obstruct the view of my big window.. So a transparent light like that works well!

[jus4fun 4]

Looks like going for British flair huh?

[blueeeeie 0]

Looks like it doesn't it? Hahah

But strangely enough.. I didn't start out trying to create a British theme.. just kinda happened that way..

[lawrenceke 0]

Hi Blue,

Nice to see a neighbour here. Great design layout to make the house look bigger. Looking forward to your posts.