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ARTICLES

Renovation Journey: Inspired by the World

At a Glance

  • Lynn and her husband
  • Size: 96 sqm / 1033 sqft
  • Location: Twin Fountains
  • Cost of Renovation: $32,000
  • Cost of Furnishing: $40,000
  • Interior Design Firm: Versaform
  • Interior Designer: Vincent

Work as a cabin crew means having to frequently leave home at odd hours of the day. Therefore, it was especially important for Lynn and her husband to find a designer who could design a home suitable for their lifestyle.

We managed to catch Lynn during one of her days off and got her to share about Vincent’s dedication to his craft and to their project.

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Qanvast: What made Vincent stand out from the nine interior designers that you met?

Lynn (L): After meeting up with the nine interior designers that we had shortlisted from Qanvast, we felt that we had the best chemistry with Vincent. While our meetings with the rest of the designers lasted for about forty minutes on average, our meetup with Vincent saw us chatting for three hours! We didn’t even realise that we had been talking for so long.

Most of the designers would also give us a sort of design template when we met them and this really turned us off. As compared to these designers, Vincent took the time to understand our requirements and proposed ideas that would meet our requirements.

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Qanvast: Tell us about one occasion where Vincent clearly stood out from his competitors.

L: We told all the interior designers we met that we wanted a brick wall and we felt that Vincent’s idea was the most unique. His idea showed his design expertise and really highlighted the design of the bricks.

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When we compared his idea with the rest of the designers’ ideas, we felt like theirs was overkill as they were suggesting that we could lay bricks over an entire wall.

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Qanvast: Where did you get the inspiration for the design of your home?

L: Besides getting inspiration from interior design platforms like Qanvast and magazines like SquareRooms, we were largely inspired by the places that we came across while travelling.

For example, our dining area with the rugged chandelier was a design inspired by a shopping mall which I saw in Zurich. The mall was previously a train station and still retained some of the original industrial elements after its conversion.

Renovation Journey Globetrotters Retreat Cabin Crew Home
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Renovation Journey Globetrotters Retreat Cabin Crew Home
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Qanvast: What were some of the requirements you had for your home?

L: Both my husband and I work as airline cabin crew so we spend a lot of our time away from Singapore. As such, we wanted a comfortable place for us to relax whenever we come back home. When it came to our bedroom, we knew we wanted a look that was dark and cosy because we have to sleep during the day sometimes.

We also wanted a walk-in wardrobe because we have a lot of seasonal clothing that can’t be put in storage since we need to use them often.

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Qanvast: What design did Vincent come up with for the master bedroom to suit your lifestyle?

L: For our bedroom, Vincent chose darker shades for our walls. Initially I didn’t think that having dark coloured walls would matter much until I slept in a room without dark walls and I felt a clear difference between the two.

He also planned for dim lights inside all of the wardrobes so that we do not have to switch on the ceiling lights when we are getting clothes from the wardrobe. Thus, there’s minimal disruption if one of us is sleeping while the other is preparing for a flight. Overall, he really did a good job with our bedroom design.

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Qanvast: How did you plan the layout of the master bedroom to facilitate your lifestyle?

L: Sometimes one of us might need to prepare for a flight while the other is sleeping so we wanted a design that enables minimal disruption. After sharing our concerns with Vincent, we decided to convert the master bedroom into a walk-in wardrobe and use the adjacent room as our master bedroom. We also put up a sliding glass panel to segregate these rooms.

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This layout means that the toilet would be connected to the walk-in wardrobe and not our master bedroom so that it is less disruptive when one of us needs to prepare for a flight while the other is sleeping. The glass sliding panel also cuts off enough sound so that I can blow-dry my hair without waking my husband if he’s sleeping.

Qanvast: What practical advice did Vincent give you?

L: Whenever we were unsure whether we should have a certain feature in our home, we would approach Vincent and he would give us his professional advice. He often reminded us to choose features that serve a purpose and advised us not to spend our money on features that have no purpose.

He advised us against doing a TV feature wall because it is something that we are not able to bring along us with if we decide to move to a new home and hence would be a waste of money. From his suggestions, we could tell that his aim was not to maximise his earnings from this project but to help decide what is best for us.

Qanvast: Tell us about one occasion when you felt Vincent’s dedication to his designs.

L: I had bought a dining table which length was longer than that of the brick feature on the ceiling which Vincent had already fabricated. I told Vincent that I really wanted that table and that I didn’t mind if the length of the brick feature was shorter than the table.

Nonetheless, he still got his carpenter to redo the brick feature so that its length would be slightly extended to match the length of our dining table. From this, we could see that Vincent really takes pride in his work.

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Qanvast: Tell us about a time when Vincent went above and beyond his duties.

L: Although we didn’t expect him to do it, Vincent especially made a trip down to Malaysia to source for materials that would enhance the industrial look of our home. For example, he paid a visit to a Malaysian factory to find the wooden frame for our wire mesh wall feature. He’s really very dedicated.

Qanvast: What do you like the most about Vincent’s designs?

L: We like that his designs look nice and are also practical. His designs are also child-friendly so that if we decide to have children in future, we do not have to make any additional modifications to our home.


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