At night after the hbay talk, we travelled to hbay to collect the quotations and design from the 2 IDs, GPlan and 3D innovations.
Take the bus for 1 hr from TP to Jurong.. (very tired). We arrived 7.15pm at IMM, 15min late for our appt with GPlan. GPlan designer, Kelvin called to ask if we have arrived. We told him we have just arrived. He say he haven't eat so we decided to go over to 3D first.
3D give us a simple plan and a quote of about $17K. We added a few more items, which i think will add up to about $20-$22K. I ask her if it is possible to add a cosy corner.. she has no idea where to put.. and M is quite against the idea bec of space constraints. Anyway we find that the designer at 3D is more contractor style as she tend to ask what we want (and what design we want) instead of suggesting ideas for us.
We went over to GPlan and Kelvin showed us some magazines and his own ideas on space planning and deco. We quite like his innovative ideas. His quote come up to $20K but include a system 3 air-con. We added few more items and it add up to $21K. One item we find very glaring is the L shaped wardrobe at the master bedroom. He charged $2.6K for 10.5ft wardrobe!! Twice of the price that 3D charged us. We ask him to reduce but he wasn't willing. However, some other items are cheaper than 3D quote. I told M we can just take out the wardrobe and buy our own instead if it is so expensive.
Kelvin try to hardsell us to commit today. M is irritated with such hard selling tactics and he clearly told Kelvin that we need time to consider even though we will missed his super free item (change of kitchen laminate door to compressed wood door) just be it. Kelvin was quite convinced that we are not interested in his package. We ask him whether we can visit his other clients' place and he told he can't unless we commit on his package. Reason being that he has showed before and some customers just 'steal' his ideas and ask other ID to do the same. We can understand his irritation.. so we didn't insist. We are quite convinced of his design ability as he is able to give us many ideas. And he didn't 'encourage' us to take on more expensive items. In fact, when we suggest divider at the entrance, he gave us another idea to save cost instead. If onie he is not so hardselling on us to commit the package immediately, we will like to sign on their svc.
In the end we told him we need to consider and can only commit after we get the keys and visited the place. Haa. its probably an excuse anyway but we really need to see other ID quotes to get a good comparison to convince ourselves this is the right choice. So far, GPlan and Joops really attracted our attention as we feel that their ideas are more practical and cost saving ideas. However i understand that Joops is more on the high side lor. We will see how and compare then.
Our wish items so far are:
1) Homogenous tiles for living, dining and kitchen.
2) Parquet flooring for all bedrooms
3) L shape Kitchen cabinet (top and bottom) with solid surface kitchen top.
4) Kitchen sliding/casement glass door
5) Change the 2 bathroom doors to other bi-fold doors (as the HDB current ones are too flimsy)
6) Solid surface Vanity top for master bathroom
7) Shower screen for both bathrooms
8) Divider to separate dining and entrance.
9) Feature wall for the household shelter
10) L shape Wardrobe at master bedroom
11) Cosy corner with raised platform
12) False ceiling for downlights at living room
13) Change current casement windows at living and master bedroom to sliding windows (optional)
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Hbay SAFE talk on Renovation
Phew.. today is a busy day for us..
We attended the hbay SAFE tour today, and visited 3 completed HDB flats (by Strategic design) and visited Strategic design's workshop. The first flat we visited is at Toa Payoh, a Malay flat. It is about 124 sqm, 5 room flat. The owner has a cosy corner. However, we feel that it looks very cramp as she has quite a lot of items. The entrance has a small stretch of parapet flooring (near the shoe rack). The whole house is using homogeneous (matt) tiles, with the exception of bedrooms in parquet. Noticed that the house uses timber strips as divider. The kitchen top is also granite.. one of the hbay officer told us that granite has lines in btw, so even though it is more durable, she will still choose solid top because of asethetics wise. She also told us that water marks tend to be more visible on granite top. After hearing what she say and what i saw, I think I will prefer solid kitchen top than granite top.. hmm. Though my initial idea is to have granite top.
The second flat is at Rivervale. It looks more spacious. The most interesting is the feature wall used to block the home shelter. We saw an osim icology steam vacuum, just the one M is v interested in. The owner told us he regretted buying that as it is very difficult to use. I jokingly reminded M to take that in mind as i wasn't in for the idea of that steam vacuum. A few thousand dollars investment for a steam vacuum?! real expensive right, so no no... hee.
The third flat at Sengkang is already owner occupied. Again saw an interesting feature wall with shelves for putting pots of plants. The kitchen tiles is a bit more special and the living room flooring is made of granite.
After that, the chartered bus sent us to Strategic design's workshop at Ubi. There is a show room there with some kitchen and living room deco. We discuss with one of the designer on our needs and he try to introduce some designs for us. He suggested bathtub at the master bathroom, feature wall to cover the home shelter, partition at the entrance door etc. He also suggested TV console even though we told him we intend to buy our own.
Anyway Strategic is the onie ID so far who encourage us to take bathtub even though other 2/3 IDs we spoke to all recommend us to take shower screen instead as they say the space is too small for a proper bathtub. M is quite irritated with him as he thinks that he is out to get us to pay more by encouraging us to take on other items even though we told him we didn't want. I mean, some items can just buy from furniture shop right? Designer or built can be quite expensive and hard to replace in future leh.
I wonder how is the forum's feedback on Strategic design.. hmm will go read at sgbrides heeeeee.. :P
We attended the hbay SAFE tour today, and visited 3 completed HDB flats (by Strategic design) and visited Strategic design's workshop. The first flat we visited is at Toa Payoh, a Malay flat. It is about 124 sqm, 5 room flat. The owner has a cosy corner. However, we feel that it looks very cramp as she has quite a lot of items. The entrance has a small stretch of parapet flooring (near the shoe rack). The whole house is using homogeneous (matt) tiles, with the exception of bedrooms in parquet. Noticed that the house uses timber strips as divider. The kitchen top is also granite.. one of the hbay officer told us that granite has lines in btw, so even though it is more durable, she will still choose solid top because of asethetics wise. She also told us that water marks tend to be more visible on granite top. After hearing what she say and what i saw, I think I will prefer solid kitchen top than granite top.. hmm. Though my initial idea is to have granite top.
The second flat is at Rivervale. It looks more spacious. The most interesting is the feature wall used to block the home shelter. We saw an osim icology steam vacuum, just the one M is v interested in. The owner told us he regretted buying that as it is very difficult to use. I jokingly reminded M to take that in mind as i wasn't in for the idea of that steam vacuum. A few thousand dollars investment for a steam vacuum?! real expensive right, so no no... hee.
The third flat at Sengkang is already owner occupied. Again saw an interesting feature wall with shelves for putting pots of plants. The kitchen tiles is a bit more special and the living room flooring is made of granite.
After that, the chartered bus sent us to Strategic design's workshop at Ubi. There is a show room there with some kitchen and living room deco. We discuss with one of the designer on our needs and he try to introduce some designs for us. He suggested bathtub at the master bathroom, feature wall to cover the home shelter, partition at the entrance door etc. He also suggested TV console even though we told him we intend to buy our own.
Anyway Strategic is the onie ID so far who encourage us to take bathtub even though other 2/3 IDs we spoke to all recommend us to take shower screen instead as they say the space is too small for a proper bathtub. M is quite irritated with him as he thinks that he is out to get us to pay more by encouraging us to take on other items even though we told him we didn't want. I mean, some items can just buy from furniture shop right? Designer or built can be quite expensive and hard to replace in future leh.
I wonder how is the forum's feedback on Strategic design.. hmm will go read at sgbrides heeeeee.. :P
Saturday, June 18, 2005
ID search (IMM) - Part I
M say his friend MN (who has just got married) is having a housewarming. MN stayed Boon Lay (So far!! ) . We decided to go IMM walk walk in the afternoon.
There are really quite a lot of ID firms at IMM, about 10+ located at same storey. Big firms we dared not go in cos scared too ex, small ones not sure about reliability. Some of the names of the firms which I have some impression are:-
1) Spacious - Very impressive, their deco. I think it is high-end (also read it from some forum).
2) El-fa - I know that one of the TCS star, Vivian Lai's unit is done by them. However I think they are quite dao. We hover outside for a long time, look at the books etc but no one bother about us. Maybe will have to book appt with them prior. However, I think it should be quite high end too.
3) 3D Innovations - We just pop in when a lady invite us. She ask us on the material etc, show us samples. She say will get back to us with design layout and quotation. M has an impression that she is contractor style.
4) GPlan - It is a medium size shop, with several designers. We talk with Kelvin, he has some interesting designs to show us. We are quite impressed with the designs but unsure about workmanship. Will have to wait for his quote and design layout to decide then.
5) Home choice - We take a look at their package deals but have an impression they are quite contractor style because they doesn't seem to be able to recommend design from the way we talk to them.
Evening, we rushed to MN's house for his housewarming. He recommend us his ID, Weiken, also at IMM. We are quite impressed with the workmanship and deco, even though it is quite simple but it is still very nice. I am especially fascinated with the dangling lights.. haaa.
Hmm.. part 2 will be out soon..Look out for it!
Something close to what I like :)
I like the timber platform and strips divider
There are really quite a lot of ID firms at IMM, about 10+ located at same storey. Big firms we dared not go in cos scared too ex, small ones not sure about reliability. Some of the names of the firms which I have some impression are:-
1) Spacious - Very impressive, their deco. I think it is high-end (also read it from some forum).
2) El-fa - I know that one of the TCS star, Vivian Lai's unit is done by them. However I think they are quite dao. We hover outside for a long time, look at the books etc but no one bother about us. Maybe will have to book appt with them prior. However, I think it should be quite high end too.
3) 3D Innovations - We just pop in when a lady invite us. She ask us on the material etc, show us samples. She say will get back to us with design layout and quotation. M has an impression that she is contractor style.
4) GPlan - It is a medium size shop, with several designers. We talk with Kelvin, he has some interesting designs to show us. We are quite impressed with the designs but unsure about workmanship. Will have to wait for his quote and design layout to decide then.
5) Home choice - We take a look at their package deals but have an impression they are quite contractor style because they doesn't seem to be able to recommend design from the way we talk to them.
Evening, we rushed to MN's house for his housewarming. He recommend us his ID, Weiken, also at IMM. We are quite impressed with the workmanship and deco, even though it is quite simple but it is still very nice. I am especially fascinated with the dangling lights.. haaa.
Hmm.. part 2 will be out soon..Look out for it!
Something close to what I like :)
I like the timber platform and strips divider
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