As parents, you will want a safe and conducive environment for your children to grow up in. It’s even better if your child can grow up in a space where they can explore around and run about freely.
After their kid had a bad fall and had to be sent to the hospital, loving parents Suhairul and Ema knew that it was of utmost importance for their home to be a kid-friendly space and so they set about dedicating two rooms – the living room and two bedrooms – for their son.
With these requirements in mind, they enlisted the help of Billy from AgcDesign to help make their BTO a safe space for their little one. We sit down for a chat with the caring parents to find out more about the creation of their lovely family home.
When looking for an interior firm:
Suhairul (S): We asked our friends who have renovated their homes before if they had any interior designers to recommend and most of them said that they wouldn’t recommend their designer because they felt like their designer’s performance deteriorated over the course of the renovation.
Qanvast shortlisted a couple of interior designers for us and after meeting with three recommended designers, we decided to go with AgcDesign because they could keep to our budget and complete the job by the deadline which we gave them. We also felt that Qanvast was able to give us some assurance with the $50,000 Qanvast Guarantee.
Key takeaway from your renovation:
S: Initially, we wanted to enlist the services of a contractor instead of an interior designer because I felt like I could come up with the ideas and handle the planning of the renovation. Furthermore, I had this misconception that it is very expensive to hire an interior designer; although it turned out the quotes were quite comparable with that of a contractor's!
After the renovation, I realised how much work goes into what an interior designer does, and I would strongly advise homeowners to enlist the services of an interior designer. In fact, I’ll recommend them to go through Qanvast to find a suitable designer.
On working with Billy from AgcDesign:
S: I gave Billy my requirements and he was able to come up with designs based on these requirements. In fact, after showing us the 3D design for the kitchen, he didn’t have to show us the 3D designs for the other rooms because we felt like he understood what we wanted and we could trust him to come up with the designs.
Ema (E): Billy also helped us to decide on our colour schemes. We appreciated his help with this because it meant that we didn’t have to rack our brains and find colours that matched with each other.
On childproofing their home:
E: We felt like the tiles which came with the home were quite slippery so we decided to do a wood overlay to ensure that he does not get hurt so badly if he falls. We had a bad experience before when he fell down and had to be sent to the hospital so we were very focused on making our home kid-friendly - no sharp edges, flushed built-ins etc.
About our living room’s design:
E: We wanted our living room to be a child-friendly space where our son has space to explore around. Hence, we decided not to have the traditional living room. There’s no sofa or TV inside our living room. Instead, we just placed a soft foam playmat and children’s toys in there.
About our kitchen’s design:
S: We were initially thinking of doing up an open kitchen but we knew that our parents might want to come over and do heavy cooking so we decided to have a closed kitchen with a glass door. That way, we can observe our son at his play area when we are in the kitchen.
On a practical solution proposed by Billy:
E: Billy suggested installing a sink at the laundry area so that it is convenient for me to hand wash clothes over there. If the sink wasn’t there, I would have to walk back and forth from the service yard to the kitchen and the water might drip all over the floor. Hence, this was a really good suggestion from him.
On post-renovation service:
E: A few weeks after we moved in, we noticed that there was a fault in one of the drawers and told Billy about it. The next day, he sent someone over to fix it. He was very prompt.
Our advice to homeowners:
E: Although we all have dreams of having a Pinterest home, it may not be realistic and we should think about what we can achieve with the budget on hand.
It’s also good to do your research and ensure that you and your partner are on the same page when it comes to the interior design style for your home.
