Initially, I had planned for the most affordable way one could think of. And that is to use every strength we have, in painting the house, purchasing furniture to compliment our bare house and doing minimal lightings and kitchen cupboards.
Until my husband told me, "I am not going to paint the house, we do not have time. Especially with 2 kids around."
And when the Director of Veritrans say something, he means it. There is absolutely no way around it.
I have been doing my fair of research. A lady that I have never met, but who happens to be in my friend list on facebook, posts the progress of her house in stages.
She did not engage any interior designer, she painted the house with her husband and had minimal renovations done. She enjoys purchasing furniture and she will be the one matching it with the house concept that she has in mind.
(Pictures are NOT associated with the lady mentioned above)
Some people have a knack for these. They can visualise what they want. Unfortunately for me, I can't.
That is when I totally agreed with my husband that we need help in that particular field.
Interior designing is tricky. Very tricky. The only thing I can design and conceptualise is a living preschool classroom. Therefore I would pass this challenging job to those who are much skillful in that area of expertise. Hence, we started to source out for interior designers.
Here are a list of interior designers we have enquired from :
1. Add Space Design
We happened to stumble upon them ages ago during a convention at The Singapore Expo. About 4 years back. I can't really recall why we didn't consider them. But yea, we didn't.
2.Sleek Interior Design
I personally went to their office at roxy square. It was a small and humble office. I spoke to the boss. Their price are undeniably cheap, $14,000 for a full 4 room BTO inclusive of built-in wardrobe for all the rooms. One of my friend who received her keys way earlier than mine, asked me for an affordable contact and I recommended Sleek. They actually did okay for their price, when I went to view her renovated house by Sleek.
But then my friend showed me her kitchen and said they didn't do up one of the cabinets properly. She asked to create a small space for her to put in her microwave, but they instead, made a HUGE space. I can probably fit two microwaves or a mini fridge in that space. She also mentioned that the contractor was a blurry man. She needed to really push him to get things done as she had requested it to be.
And about a year later, I happen to pass by their office. They changed the name of the company. I did not enquire why. I just felt it was safer for me to skip theirs despite their "price-breaking" quotations.
3. Sky Creation Pte Ltd
My husband's auntie shared one of their promotional packages on her facebook wall. I must say I was impressed. It was exactly the kind of minimalist look that I wanted to have in my own residence. I found out that they will be promoting their services at the Singapore Expo. A lady named Jewel introduced herself as one of the designers. We explained the design that we had in mind. I showed her some pictures which were the designs of sky creations that I liked.
(Picture from sky creations page)
She said she will write down a proposal and wishes to see us in a few weeks time in one of the showrooms that they have. We were eyeing the $16,000 package that entitled us to a free system 3 Mitsubishi Air conditioner. The thing that attracts you to Sky Creations is their generous number of establishments. They not only have huge showrooms and multiple offices but also a wide range of awards. This made me feel more confident to engage their services.
Their showroom was absolutely breathtaking. I swear. Jewel showed us around and showed us the number of achievements that their company has received so far. But the quotation was a let-down I must say.
Jewel quoted us close to $30,000. That was when I realised my mistake of not telling her our preferred budget.
We went home with a heavy heart. I emailed Jewel to tell her that her quotation was above our budget. We were looking at $20,000 or lower.
Jewel said she would make an adjustment by cutting off some things.
When the new quotation came, it was close to $24,000.
My husband said, "Scratch this. We can't afford to spend that much on renovations alone."
4. I-Bridge Design
Fate brought us again to Singapore Expo, this time, unintentionally. Reena ran in and played with a dog looking sculpture. My dad had to attend to her. We saw I-Bridge design's booth and saw their attractive packages. $7,000 package for a 4 room BTO.
Owen attended to us and I explained again what I wanted. He then explained what he can do and he did something that I only realised now what no other designers did. He injected his ideas with ours.
I asked for minimalist, Idros wanted classy.
Owen infused both ideas along with his into 1. He showed us one of the designs he had done for a condominium. I almost jumped out of my seat when my introverted husband, Idros said, "I love it!"
It was a European Modern Contemporary design.
We scheduled a meet-up at I-Bridge Office at Rangoon Road. Their office is also huge, a two-storey high unit. But perhaps that is the only one as compared to the number of offices Sky Creations have.
Owen showed us his ideas and collected all the information that we wanted for our house. He quoted us $30,000.
Again, silly us not stating our budget straight.
We "booked" him with a minimal deposit despite that, because we have a good feeling about Owen which shows in his sincerity and dedication. But we told him to amend the quotation.
After the European Modern Contemporary design layout was shown to us. We put our foot down and said that he needs to make amendments to his quotation.
This was something that he did. Our revised quote for now is around $16,000-$21,000. This includes built-in wardrobe for all rooms. A designer glass cut console. Kitchen cabinets. Lightings. 2 bathrooms (shower screen and vanity table for master bedroom. Vanity table only, for common bathroom). Headboards, lights, wallpaper and side tables in master bedroom. Paintings using ICI dulux for the entire house. The amendments to fit in the scale of $16,000 - $21,000 were minimal (like slight adjustments of wardrobe length).
That is why we like Owen, he doesn't say "no". Instead, he provides fantastic alternatives. Overall, we are pleased with his work.
Further preliminary investigations led me to this :
Good reviews on Owen. No bad ones so far. The only worry was that there are some reviews that say I-Bridge Design is expensive and has poor workmanship. But then again, there are more reviews that compliments I-Bridge design. I am guessing, it reflects on the designer that they were contracted with.
And so the countdown continues.
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