Classic Simple Elegant Home In The East

[valv3h 2]

Hi folks! Been reading Renovation Blogs for months now and decided to also share mine! We are a simple PR couple with 2 cute daughters living in your lovely country for 6 years now. We decided to look for our own home due to sky high prices of rental fee and relocating every 1 or 2 years is a NIGHTMARE! For those who were renting before will know how it feels. Anyhow... enough about myself and start with some information with our new home!

We were living most of life in Pasir Ris and we just love it due to (I think) smaller population, lots of nice local people, near the beach, Airport, clean, relatively safe (?), our Church is here as well as our family and friends hence, we did not even think about other district. Our main preference in our home is, it should be CORNER LOT (for privacy) and near DOWNTOWN EAST (for late night movies. HAHA) , VERY BRIGHT and with Balcony area that's it. Our property agent was pretty ok with helping us though, most of the time, it was our own effort in looking on the Property sites on the internet for the houses we need to view. I think we almost visited at least 25 homes before we decided on this. Got the keys 1 day in advance on the 28th! Started the renovation on the 30th of July! Soooo stoked...

See the floorplan below, it's pretty ok ... we are currently living in an Executive Apartment rental HDB so, this is noticeably smaller but, not complaining at all, we experienced living in a 2 room hdb flat before so... this is all good. We just feel blessed that we finally have a home of our own for my kids to play and mess around. Floor size is 127 sqm, corner lot, low floor..

Notes:

• The study/ bedroom doesn't have a wall so we will be using this as a Dining Area. We don't need a 4 bedroom anyway.
• Kitchen area is a bit small and does not have any service yard like the new BTOs. It is also quite odd that it has 2 entrance! So we will close the entrance near the storage and create a glass wall to make it more nicer and brighter.
• Master bedroom is just ok... it is rectangular so we will just have to do with what space we have
• The room adjacent to it will be for my young 6 years old kid and maid.
• Other common room is just for guests.

[valv3h 2]

Here are some of the pre-renovated photos!

Kitchen Area

Common room for my daughter

Hallway to rooms

Living Area. Floor tiles were extremely well maintained for a 20 years old aside so it will stay. Need to save money of course

Proposed dining area

Master Bedroom

*** It's almost 1am.... i'll continue my blog tomorrow. Have a blessed morning!

Edited August 1, 2014 by valv3h

[bykaraanne 30]

Awesome home!! HUGE and endless potential. Have a blessed day, looking forward to see your renovation pan out

[guojiawen 101]

Congrats on your new home. It looks spacious. Have fun renovating!

[Harriette 42]

Wow, your master bedroom is so big!

[valv3h 2]

Thanks a lot for the compliments!

Design. We initially does not have any clue.. me and me wife discussed that we are NOT really into those popular modern Scandinavian theme or anything to do with modern! LOL. Nope... we are not old, we're just in our early 30s. What inspired us are those HDB Malay Houses.... there's just this attractiveness with kampong 'old' style look in their home. We used to live in a 4rm flat Malay house we were renting and the Landlady decorated her home with some Jewels, Rattan swings, lots of Mirrors and Lattice Windows. THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED... old style, and a touch of country/ classic look.

We were also a follower of Rubypumps' awesome country style flat http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/65097-modern-country-at-punggol/

It actually led us why we will be utilizing lots of woods in our house. Take for example this love at 1st sight extendable 1.5M dining table we purchased in Courts.

Some of our other first purchases, a 55inch Smart TV from Samsung. This was just a display set that we cannot really refuse... it is spotless and looks brand new. It just didn't come with a 3D glasses but it's ok.

Our friend who migrated to Canada gave us a less than a year old Bosch Dryer and LG Front Load washing machine! LOL! Why not! It's free!

Got this nice Miele built-in type Fridge from my wife's previous office for FREE again. Cool huh... it's in excellent condition and works very well.

My wife purchased this simple Kitchen sink in Hoe Kee. She did not like those normal double sinks since she thought that the other is not being utilized anyway. This is her area anyway... I cannot complain. HA HA

[ecolour11 1]

Fr the pics can tell that the tiles are really well- maintain and the house is really spacious. 👍

[valv3h 2]

Choosing the Interior Designer/ Contractor. This was a strenuous and exciting part of our renovation process. I think we have met and engaged via e-mail around 12-15 IDs before finalizing our decision.

I will provide my very honest opinion and do note that this is just my own personal experience and must never reflect the overall reputation of the company. This SHOULD NOT deter your decision if you are already in the midst of discussion with them. We are just very keen (is the word kiasu?) on this since we have a very limited budget of 35K and I need to be 100% sure that we chose the correct one. Your experience will of course vary!

Just PM me if you need my comments and experience with the IDs below

• D*n from 3D Interior
• Y*ka from Superhome Design
• Sha*ow P*n of Leef Deco
• Jo*n*y from **
• E*na C*en from i-Bridge Design -
• Er*c H**ng from Homestyle Design
• De*n*s from Decomark
• R*n from NID Design Studio
• R*n from Top Design & Renovation
• I*a* from Eirado Design & Co
• A*v*n A* - Matrix Concept -
• J*h*ny from Scycreation + DC
• B*nja*in from Form&Space
• K*vin Contractor

... etc... some I forgot, some just those who dropped me an SMS or message via PM but, didn't get back to me

whew long post! now... the best of the best IDs coming up...

Edited August 3, 2014 by valv3h

[valv3h 2]

These are the best IDs that we got in touch with and you cannot go wrong with any of them!

E**ie from Faith Interior Design - One of the very first ID we met. Young guy... I think almost the same age as me. Very cool, enthusiastic, polite yet straight to the point! very well prepared in our first meeting... lots of design ideas. Very professional... I like also that their name is FAITH This is the benchmark of all the IDs that we were looking for...

The only thing that deterred us to take his services is the high quote he was giving us. He adjust the budget but had to cut some measurements like making the feature wall from 8ft to 6ft, Cutting some corners... etc.. They also had a kitchen/ toilet package that we can justify with the price. I think he quoted me around 15K ++... just for that alone... and whatever items you are adding in kitchen, then additional cost will of course incur.

Andr*w from Designer Guy - This is an excellent top notch, ID. Lots of good reviews in the forum and I have seen his actual work when he let me visit one of the flat he just renovated. He is those guys that you can laugh with and easy to get along... only thing is, Language Barrier... when he first called me up, I really had difficulties understanding & conversing with him. We think that this could cause an issue when we need to explain what we wanted... there are also numerous times that he keeps on bashing other ID that I'm feeling uncomfortable. His initial price was sky high but, managed to go down to 30K ... still a very very hard decision when we had to let him go because of the iD below.

THE WINNER! Design4space We are still in the process of renovating so. I will reserve my overall judgment of the name of the ID but, so far all ok. This is a combination of Faith and DG's attitude. We like him that he is very keen into details, very easy to converse with and professional in dealing with us. We only spoke on the phone and when I 1st met up with him, he indeed remembered and wrote down all the details! Quote is also reasonable and with a discount LOL.

[valv3h 2]

Our 3D drawings... it's good but, I find it too bland! I hope it is much better in the actual photos!

[valv3h 2]

Day 1 July 30th - Hacking the tiles.

Ran into some issues with the electricity since I overlooked that the appointment of Sp Services' on 31st instead of 30th!! my bad... ID called me up and a bit pissed off that his workers are already there and told me that he has to pay $800 whether they work or not! HAHA... I immediately called SP Services and arranged their Technician to come at once! They can only do it at 2:00pm so almost half a day wasted time.. well, at least they started something.

THE NOISE WAS UNBEARABLE... I pity my neighbors for the extreme noise for the whole block! Planning to give them something but, just didn't have time...

[valv3h 2]

Day 4 August 4

Preparing for tiling and all the hacking has been completed. Debris are still inside the house though is this normal, I saw some reno projects that after 2 days, the clutter has already been cleared?

Hacked half height of kitchen to put a glass wall

Clutter