A Simple Plan For A Simple Space

[JumpStreet 0]

I've been lurking in this forum for the past year and I think it's time I contributed and gave back to this great forum that helped me make some decisions during the reno process.

Our first home consisted of a 3 bedroom apartment that we hacked into 2 spaces. Living and sleeping. It soon dawned on us that we (or rather I) required a little more segmentation to our space. i.e. walls....

So we started our hunt for another place with the intention of leaving it largely intact. It'll have to be uncomplicated without bay windows or large yard areas.

Here are pics of the original space

I've engaged a separate ID and contractor, but they would like to remain anonymous so apologies if I can't release any details (for the contractor at least).

[JumpStreet 0]

Our brief was simple. To keep our selection of decor items to be tactile and textural. Somehow, it would be a mish mash of the very popular industrial look & a touch of Scandinavian cleanliness.

A recent trip to London gave us lots of inspiration. It seems that the industrial 40's look is everywhere.

This little shop called Labour & Wait at Redchurch Street really captured the spirit and aesthetic of that era.

Labour & Wait website

Labour & Wait link 1 \ Labour & Wait link 2

Even the popular Monmouth coffee joint had something going]

Edited June 10, 2011 by JumpStreet

[strikingreality 0]

Our brief was simple. To keep our selection of decor items to be tactile and textural. Somehow, it would be a mish mash of the very popular industrial look & a touch of Scandinavian cleanliness.

Sounds like what we're going for as well. Looking forward to seeing your pictures. If your new place a private apt?

[frigginfuchsia 0]

Welcome!

Happy Reno Journey... we're now in the midst of ours and it's scandinavian vintage & industrial guess we're kinda on the same route and it'll be lovely to see how pple with similar themes interpret it !

[JumpStreet 0]

Welcome!

Happy Reno Journey... we're now in the midst of ours and it's scandinavian vintage & industrial guess we're kinda on the same route and it'll be lovely to see how pple with similar themes interpret it !

Thanks! Yes, I have seen your blog, but we weren't as disciplined as you to follow the style. We sort of did a mix of styles (also due to budget).

Made quite a few online purchases to get the feel.

One consideration is that I'm quite a tech geek as well, so had to hide all the techy stuff and get the look at the same time.

[JumpStreet 0]

Sounds like what we're going for as well. Looking forward to seeing your pictures. If your new place a private apt?

Hey there, yes it's a private apt. I have almost completed my reno, just need to go through a whole stack of pictures to put up.

Look forward to seeing how your place turns out as well!

[JumpStreet 0]

welcome to renotalk mate.. looking forward to your pictures.

Thanks...

Our renovation work started officially like a day before Chinese New Year. Whilst we got the keys to our place way back in Sept, I stubbornly thought that I could do the ID for it.

I finally relented in Feb when my wife suggested that we call someone in to assist in our vision of the place.

This is how it looked like after the hacking team was done and the place cleaned up. These photos show a little bit AFTER the hacking.

The Living Room with the services

Our wee little 15L water heater.

We left the purchasing of heaters to our contractor. Quite surprised that it was just 15L. We shall see if it is enough for us. I'm a quick bath kind of person so it suits me just fine as it heats up pretty quickly.

The Wall

We thought that the white wall was so cool and that it'll be so unique.... BUT big news... everybody has the wall, and everybody pairs it with a set of scandinavian sofa. With pencil legs. So here's a shot of our wall being built with Craft Stone half bricks.

We found lots of examples online and even in London where there is an air of nonchalance to how they just slap on the cement and painting it over. Almost imperfectly perfect. We had a hard time trying to explain to the sub-contractors how we wanted it to be as they seem to think that we are going for a country brick wall (which we are not).

Best way to do it is to DIY I guess.

Edited September 20, 2012 by JumpStreet

[JumpStreet 0]

Some updates!

Here's the tiles that we chose (or rather ID recommended). Took us quite a while to get this as we didn't want anything too high gloss. Very happy with it and turned out quite well.

We decided to keep the living room, kitchen and yard all the same level, hence, this tile was used for quite a large area of the house.

The plastered and tiled kitchen

The common bathroom with hexagonal mosaic and white wall tiles

The main con was quite worried about overlapping schedules, hence the very slow progress...

Edited September 20, 2012 by JumpStreet

[JumpStreet 0]

Unfortunately, this apartment does not allow us to have an open kitchen with an island.

Our old place had that and it tended to smoke out the entire house whenever we did some serious cooking. But with a kitchen island, you're always part of the conversation, not sweating it out in a kitchen...

[JumpStreet 0]

The completed white brick wall, awaiting its coat of white paint

The entrance to the common toilet

Edited January 18, 2012 by JumpStreet

[timothyng27 0]

Hello JumpStreet,

I think the beauty of the brick wall is quite timeless - don't ever see it going out of style. Which kind of explains it's popularity.

But I do agree that together with cement screed, these 2 textural effects on walls are rather over-used.

I guess to make your brick wall stand out, you could:

1. Leave it as it is, and coat it with a transparent primer or wall sealer for the raw "imperfectly perfect" look you mentioned

2. Paint it over fire engine red / fuschia / burnt caramel for a big dash of colour

3. Don't pair it with a scandi pencil-leg sofa, but any other normal fabric sofa (maybe retro prints)

Anyway I'm sure you already have something in mind - just kaypoh-ing and adding my 2 cents worth.

I'm looking forward to your other pictures - can't wait to see how it turns out. Looks pretty exciting already.

I'm also looking for a modern-Scandi theme, and it's good to find others with a similar aesthetic.

Welcome to Renotalk!

[JumpStreet 0]

Hello JumpStreet,

I think the beauty of the brick wall is quite timeless - don't ever see it going out of style. Which kind of explains it's popularity.

But I do agree that together with cement screed, these 2 textural effects on walls are rather over-used.

I guess to make your brick wall stand out, you could:

1. Leave it as it is, and coat it with a transparent primer or wall sealer for the raw "imperfectly perfect" look you mentioned

2. Paint it over fire engine red / fuschia / burnt caramel for a big dash of colour

3. Don't pair it with a scandi pencil-leg sofa, but any other normal fabric sofa (maybe retro prints)

Anyway I'm sure you already have something in mind - just kaypoh-ing and adding my 2 cents worth.

I'm looking forward to your other pictures - can't wait to see how it turns out. Looks pretty exciting already.

I'm also looking for a modern-Scandi theme, and it's good to find others with a similar aesthetic.

Welcome to Renotalk!

Hey there Timothy,

Thanks for the welcome...

I'm afraid we have paired it exactly with pencil legs and the whole mid century modern look.

My other half is a vintage store addict and I've gotten some pieces to complement the wall. The only non-mcm place is my study or 'mancave' as I have called it.

Edited June 8, 2011 by JumpStreet

[timothyng27 0]

Where did you get most of your pieces from? Really tough to find anything good here within my not-so-big budget.

Hey there Timothy,

Thanks for the welcome...

I'm afraid we have paired it exactly with pencil legs and the whole mid century modern look.

My other half is a vintage store addict and I've gotten some pieces to complement the wall. The only non-mcm place is my study or 'mancave' as I have called it.

[strikingreality 0]

I guess to make your brick wall stand out, you could:

1. Leave it as it is, and coat it with a transparent primer or wall sealer for the raw "imperfectly perfect" look you mentioned

2. Paint it over fire engine red / fuschia / burnt caramel for a big dash of colour

3. Don't pair it with a scandi pencil-leg sofa, but any other normal fabric sofa (maybe retro prints)

LOL to no. 3 (I do have this intention for my MMC home!), but I like the idea of no. 1 and no. 2.

[JumpStreet 0]

Where did you get most of your pieces from? Really tough to find anything good here within my not-so-big budget.

I usually hunt around 2nd hand furniture shops for unusual pieces. Mostly refurbished teak coffee tables or chairs with pencil legs.

I've got a few of those but trying not to overdo it.

There's this awesome shop in Kallang:

http://www.charm2nd.blogspot.com/

that has really interesting stuff.