Finding inspiration in rustic Indiana Jones inspired home designs, homeowners, Page and Chen Mun sought a designer who had experience in designing homes with similar styles as theirs and who had expertise in doing up ceiling beams which they wanted as a prominent feature in their home. Through meticulous shortlisting, the couple discovered Dyel Design and the rest as they say is history.
About their home’s design
Page (P): I wanted my home to have an "Indiana Jones" vibe. I really like the Rustic American look for my home - so hallmarks such as barn doors, wooden ceiling beams are a must. We also did up the feature wall to make it look like a fireplace, and used stucco to replicate the look of a rock wall.
We were pleased that the sub-contractor from Dyel Design managed to replicate the look - they applied a thick layer of plaster and used his finger to trace the grooves. He also used stucco on the fake beams on our ceiling to replicate the texture of wood.
The minute details such as the details of the carpentry trimmings and knobs were not spared.
On searching for an interior designer
P: We had quite a niche style so we shortlisted interior designers based on that. If we knew that an interior designer did not do anything similar in any of their previous projects, we wouldn’t arrange a meeting with them
Chen Mun (CM): As we knew that we wanted to have ceiling beams in our home, we only set up meetings with designers who have had experience in doing up ceiling beams. I didn’t want to meet designers who had no experience in doing ceiling beams because I was afraid that they might not install it properly and there might be complications that arise.
On selecting Dyel Design as their interior designer
CM: We felt like Dyel Design’s ideas for the ceiling beams were the most detailed and that reflects their design expertise. A lot of the designers we met suggested using carpentry to construct the ceiling beams, and wrap with wood-grain laminates. However, that would means the laminate joint lines will be obvious as we will need a few pieces to wrap around a beam.
Dyel Design was the only firm that had the idea of using the material used for false ceilings to construct the ceiling beams and to then use stucco to replicate the wooden feel. In addition, we also liked that they were really willing to listen before giving us their opinion and that their quotation was within our budget. Thus, we decided to go with them.
On working with Dyel Design
CM: They were very accommodating. When we told them what we wanted, they were keen to help us to realise our vision and gave us advice on how it could be executed.
P: We felt like our designer really had a lot of expertise. Another interior designer that we had met suggested that we do up horizontal wooden beams on our ceiling. However, Adrian said that it’ll be better to do up vertical wooden beams since our ceiling is vertical as it would make the room look longer and more spacious. Their advice helped us greatly in planning our home’s design.
We spent a lot of time discussing with Dyel Design about the design of our cupboards. There was even once when we met them after our work at 8pm and the meeting lasted all the way to about 2am!
On budgeting
CM: We told Dyel Design that our budget was $30,000 because we wanted to keep costs low. On our own, we expected it to exceed by a little since we wanted this kind of design for our home. Overall, we think that this was quite a value for money renovation considering that we did up a lot of carpentry around our home.
On their kitchen
CM: I wanted the kitchen to be more colourful so I chose to do up the bottom cabinets in green. We feel that it doesn’t look like a standard HDB kitchen and yet it doesn’t look too outrageous In terms of design. I’m quite happy with the way the kitchen looks. It’s my favourite space in the house.
Our advice for homeowners
P: You should have a very clear concept of what you want before you embark on your renovation. That way, you will know what type of design you like and dislike, and this will save you a lot of time when you meet the designers because you will be able to filter out who you want to work with based on your style preferences.
If you have no idea what design you want and you talk to interior designers with different ideas and designs, that will make you even more confused and searching for a designer will be a very long drawn-out process.