At A Glance
- Edwin and Anne, 42 and 38, in financial and legal industry respectively
- Home to 2 adults and 2 boys
- Size: 104 sqm / 1119 sqft
- Location: Ten @ Suffolk
- Cost of Renovation: $85,000
- Cost of Furnishing and Appliances: $12,000
- Interior Design Firm: Posh Home
- Interior Designer: Robin
Feeling uneasy at first as they did not have much to do while the renovations were going on, but Edwin and Anne soon realised what a blessing it was that they could entrust their designer to coordinate the renovation and make their dream home a reality.
We popped by their classy apartment for a chat with Anne who shares more about her hassle-free renovation journey.
Qanvast: Can you share about your experience with finding an interior designer?
Anne (A): We met five interior designers and found it quite unbelievable that all of their quotations were roughly the same, save for a difference of about one or two thousand dollars.
Out of these five, four of these firms did not meet our expectations as the designers from these firms did not give us any of their designer input during the meeting we had with them. We had worked with designers like this previously for our first home and hence, we have decided to go with Robin from Posh Home as Robin was the only one who has creative inputs.
Qanvast: What was the design brief which you gave to Robin?
A: We mostly left the designing of our home to him. We just told him we needed our space for our boys to run around, our colour preferences and emphasised that we needed full-length cabinets to meet our storage needs. We also told him that there were some fengshui requirements that we needed to observe in our home. We really like how we managed to merge these requirements and gave us a beautiful home.
Qanvast: Could you share more about some of these Feng Shui requirements?
A: We needed to have a pair of strip lights in the aisle and he came up with a design that flushes the two strips of LED lights with the full-length cabinets. We felt that the design was creative and it matches the overall sleek design of our home. He incorporated a similar light feature in our wardrobe – a wave of the hand and lights turn on automatically.
We also wanted more red tones in our home and Robin suggested that we choose a red settee by the main entrance. We told him that our master bedroom should not be done up in dark colours so he proposed going with a white-woody colour palette which turned out to be cosy.
Qanvast: What are Robin’s best assets as an interior designer?
A: Robin really gives us the feeling that he is a professional interior designer. He has studied a lot of design concepts and is able to advise us on both practicality and aesthetic matters. He was really good with space planning.
Robin also pays attention to details. For our cabinets, he asked us which shelves we intended to display our books on so that he could create a thicker height for those shelving so that the shelf will be able to last for a long time. He also proposed the colours and type of sanitary fittings, but always leave the decision making to us.
Qanvast: Share with us about one of Robin’s design ideas which facilitates your lifestyle?
A: We told Robin that we enjoy unwinding with a glass of wine after work and he took a step further and played with lightings to give us that cosy luxurious vibe like we are in a hotel. He also introduced us to speaker lighting whereby music can be played from the overhead lights such that the music surrounds us.
Qanvast: Do you have any advice for new homeowners?
A: Keep track of the appliances you want to install so that your designer will be able to help you to plan ahead for the electrical wiring and water piping. We only recalled at the last moment that we wanted to install a water dispenser in our kitchen so there was no choice but to drill a hole in our cabinet to make space for the pipes.
If possible, request that your interior designer brings you to one of their completed projects so that you can see the quality of their carpentry.
Qanvast: When it comes to home renovation, which do you feel is more important – budget or quality?
A: It’s worth it to spend money on your renovation as you will probably be staying in your home for at least five years, and if you divide the renovation cost by the number of years you intend to stay in our home, it is not that large an amount actually.
Qanvast: Would you say you had a smooth renovation journey?
A: Yes, definitely. This is our second renovation experience and this time round, we felt that it was very hassle-free. Throughout the course of the renovation, Posh Home made sure that someone from their team was at our home every day to oversee the renovation. Robin also sent us constant updates via our WhatsApp group chat so that we are aware of the progress of the renovation.
Qanvast: Would you recommend Robin’s services to other homeowners?
A: Yes, definitely. There were a lot of hacking works going on in our home and Robin managed to coordinate everything such that we could move in within eleven weeks.
In my opinion, Robin would work better with homeowners who are less opinionated or fixated on the designs they want. He is very experienced and he took care all the nitty gritty stuff, even advising what we actually need and what we can do without.
He gave us a home that our family love to be in. Now, my kids would prefer to stay home than to head out to play. [laughs]
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