KEY COLLECTION AND RENOVATION START!!

WHATSUPPPPPPPP!!! Finally I got time to blog again! Been really busy with my work and house recently man and got no time for this blog shit but hey, when I was away I was really happy to receive compliments from readers... seriously till today I am still thinking how do you guys manage to find my kuku blog one ah? I mean I am only writing this blog like my online dairy where I can heck care and say all kind of shit but not like some full time blogger lo. Anyway doesn't matter la. What's most important is to have fun and hopefully learn something from my experiences tio bo? On a side note, recently I play around with what stupid Adsense and it got approve leh.. the next thing I know there's one kuku box thingy on my blog leh u see..

WTF is this doing on my blog ah? No ID contacted me to tell me about this leh.

But I guess it is some kind of an ad space thingy which give me money la.. but 46cents.. 你拿杯 not even enough for me to buy tissue paper from the "one dollar one dollar hello one dollar~" tissue auntie lo..

Anyway don't OT liao la back to my home. This post really is damn overdue because I am like halfway through my renovation liao lo. Let's turn back time to when I collect my keys la. Lai!

Look at how happy is my lovely wife when we finally is able to enter our EC instead of viewing from outside.

For child play one

Hahaha my gal is so excited loh.. She really love water and swimming.

50m lap pool.

Rainshower like shiok only la!

Sand beach

Alfresco chill out corner

Koi pond with no koi

Kids playground with similan sand. Damn stupid sia this..

FINALLY!!! OUR HOME!!! Nothing can describe the feeling when we first walk to our unit, enter our unit and feel the vibe in our unit man! It was so damn good till I felt like running around butt naked in my house and scream at the top of my lung..

Welcome to my home in stock condition! We bought a 3 bedroom dual key unit. So technically it is 2 bedder + studio. As usual, we did our blessing and offering in the whole house for good luck and good health. I'm not exactly sure of the procedure so don't ask me la.. haha I only know HUAT AH!!

Our glass casement kitchen. Swee bo?!

View from balcony. Ok la my house not very big but I love the overall shape and layout.

My tiny kitchen.

Our fridge corner

Washer dryer corner

WAHAHAHA SWEE RIGHT MY VIEW?

Hard to find such view in Singapore liao lo unless you are rich la... Although I will be living in ulu Punggol soon but for this kind of breathtaking view ok la can la.. hahaha.. some might say enjoy while it least.. Ya ya whatever.. not like I will stay here forever anyway..

Hallway to our Mbr and Common rm. Haha see my power huat huat pineapple row until here.

Our shared bathroom. I like! The only sian thing is the 2 bedder area only have 1 bathroom which will be shared by the MBR and Common bedroom. Well what to do.. no money buy bigger unit is like this one lo.

Our common room. No bay window! hehe... Size still consider decent la

MBR with balcony. 

I quite like the space for our MBR. Alot of ppl complaint the laminate flooring cmi but I think it's ok leh.

The window view when we wake up every morning! YummY!

The very long balcony that link the studio to our 2bedder.

Now that you've tour my 2bedder. Let's go into my studio. Hehehe. The studio area comes with built-in wardrobe, mini-kitchen and en-suite bathroom with washer/dryer compartment. 

As I'll probably be renting out my studio. This is the potential view my tenant will enjoy.

Spacious area that can be further divide into living and bed area.

Studio to balcony view

Studio view from foyer area.

The moment we've been waiting for. RENOVATION START! As we are not doing any flooring work. The first thing they do is lay a protective layer all over our house and proceed with wiring work.

Prior to doing all these octopus like cable thingy all over our house...

**FLASHBACK**

 Our ID first meet us with the electrician to confirm the lighting point and power point. After which the electrician will work out a quotation for us. In our case $3600 for whole house

Point to note: We are not obligated to engage the electrician recommended by our ID.

So what I did is find another electrician recommended in my EC Facebook group. Meet him at my place, tell him exactly what I wanted and get his quotation. Normally hor quotation from these independent electrician will be cheaper.. haha you know I know la.. But hor this ah pek very yaya papaya.. why?! Because he's cheap and many people in our project using him la.. I tell him to install my Livolo switch and smart curtain he like very not willing loh.. say what he don't know la wait spoil is my whole problem.. SMLJ normal only mah the connection. Anyway he quoted $2800. Power right close to $1k saving leh.

But for me I look at things from a bigger picture la. Price is price. Sometime cannot be too kiam gana if not really will suffer. So I go back to my ID tell him, hey brother your electrician quote really CMI la.. I really wanna support you and your electrician but my wallet don't wanna support. I am also not that unreasonable kind of mutherfker la.. I know electrician and ID rapport also very important one. I steady, I don't need you to match outside electrician price la.. I let you earn but don't earn so much give and take la.. $3000 swee bo?! We close this and let your electrician do.

My ID also steady and smart la. He Onz me! Actually hor I don't know whether any ID read my blog anot sia.. I hope they don't because they will curse and swear at me for teaching and spoiling the market like this.. Please forgive me all the brothers and sisters out there.. I know you all also making a living.. but we also have budget la.. so really PS man..

Ok back to my home. The wiring work took about 2 days and ceiling work another 2 days.

From this picture, we can see that most of the octopus cable is well hidden in the ceiling already. 

This center ceiling will have something exciting coming up soon! Stay Tuned!

L-shaped cove for curtain pelmet.

After ceiling work is down, the painter will come in to paint the whole house. Painting work is around 3-4days. For our MBR we are painting the whole room Beige.  

For our Princess room we are using Barely Pink

Living room we are using light grey to add a earthly hue to our overall Resort Theme concept.

Perspective from balcony

Walkway

We will be getting rid of this two stupid door and customize a iMac corner here. Hehehe.

This post very long liao la.. Let's stop here and continue in the next post ok?

Pre-Renovation Review

Hey hey what's up people?! I am finally back to blogging. Being really busy with work and renovation preparation work these few month. Most importantly recently I went to the temple and asked for divine guidance and the "qian" that Guan Yin Ma gave is to ask me to keep my mouth shut.. to shut lup leh dey.. must "忍". Hahaha so I tarik abit la don't anyhow write lo. 

These  few months I've received a few email from some of my readers asking me for review on my ID. At first I'm thinking how come they will read my blog one ah? I only share with my friends and the community in my EC leh. Then I realized thanks to "Google Search" la.. hahaha you see.. 

Mai siao siao.. When people google for "summit design studio review" my blog is the fourth result to appear ok! The first and second is their website *Paid* and the third one is the Renotalk forum about them *Another Paid* and the fourth is my blog hahhaha... No wonder got abit of traffic and email la.. Still thinking in the sea of web who will be bother or able to read my blog sia.. Anyway that's not the point la, the point is SDS better do a good job for my home if not... if not... Guan Yin Ma better ask me to shut lup again.

Ok la enough introduction. Back to the main topic "Pre-Renovation Review". I'm not paid by SDS to write this review, in fact I paid them to do my house ok! So I'm going to write this review as truthful and candid as possible according to my personal experiences with them so far. The hard truth often kicks in after you signed for anything so here you go. Below I'll break down into a list of issues commonly bring up by some of the reader review I've gathered and input my personal experiences.

1) Slow Respond

Personally, my ID never fail to respond to me. Be it SMS/Whatsapp/Email. No matter how busy he is or whether he is overseas or in town. He is quite responsive. However, every time after our meetup he will take 2-3 weeks to get back to us. I'm not quite sure if this quantify as slow respond but I'll take it as he's prioritizing the importance of his works since ours is just design work.

2) Bad Quality Design

Their design is quite bad. For this I'll have to agree and disagree. 

Agree. Their design is so bad that the master room drawing look like hospital bed and they are still using 1990s wallpaper floral design. Their design is so not up to my standard that I've to research and come up with the entire design myself.   

Disagree. You pay peanuts you get monkeys. This is what I can say. Design fee is indicated as FOC. What do you expect. There's no free lunch in the world man. I believe firm charge this Design Fee for a reason. Quality is something very subjective. My standard and your standard might be different. I not scare to tell you la my friend.. I have a concept of a St. Regis Hotel but budget of Fragrance Hotel. If my ID couldn't achieve it I don't think it's fair to categorize him as a bad ID but if he could achieve it.. Then he is an excellent ID and most likely is able to set up his own firm. So let's wait and see.  

3) Playing the Blame game.

Bad design. It's 3D Drafter fault. Remember the hospital bed design I mentioned earlier. This is it.

My theme is "Modern Tropical Resort" leh brudder.. Yes "Resort" got plants..flowers and all but you give me this grey flower wallpaper for what sia... It's super ugly and to top it off.. the master bed is so neatly tucked in that it really look like hospital bed la.. When I first see this drawing I'm so angry that my fist almost went through my computer screen. When questioned, I was told it's the drafter idea. He think this does not match my theme and disapprove this design too...

I was like...

Then why still dare to email me?!?! After a couples of love letters, meeting, clarifications, things are back on track again. 

So you may asked. So is SDS recommended? Do I have any regret engaging them? After whining and complaining with friends and relatives that are also in this line "Renovation". I've learnt a few things. Engaging an ID is not a one time transaction. It's all about building relationship. Something like Falling in Love baby. You engage him/her based on chemistry tio bo? He/She must have done something right to impress you in the first place. You felt comfortable talking with that individual. You trust that together you can build your dream home. You parted with your hard earned money for that individual *deposit* just like how you part with your money to buy that stupid diamond ring. Once the deal is signed, that's it.. KNN lai liao loh.. all the LJ pattern all come out. Pattern more then badminton. But my friend, not all is loss if you are willing to treat one another with respect, as a normal human being and COMMUNICATE. Communication is very important. If there's something I've learnt, sometime face to face interaction is still much better then email or whatsapp. Manage your thoughts, iron out your expectation clearly. Don't be afraid to voice out your concern. If communicate still does not work out, then I'm sorry my friend. Probably you've made a wrong judgement and trusted the wrong person in the first place.

So far, things are on track for my project. I believe we are getting closer to my concept of an ideal dream home. Remember, it's your home. You are staying in it not the ID. Nothing wrong to put in a little more effort into it especially if you are really tied on budget. Engaging a reputable firm will eliminate all the above problem?! Think again.. The safest bet of all is still to personally witness someone recently renovated home and get them to share their experiences with you. The rest of the review/marketing platform are mostly rubbish.

  

1.4 Interior Design Selection Final Episode

Hey what's up man.. Finally got some time and inspiration to blog.. Super busy week again.. gonna be super busy all the way till CNY! Heng I buy all my clothes online liao sibei song ah.. all the items ship right to your doorstep don't need to go squeeze with the crowd hehehehe..

Renotalk Forum

Alright peeps what I'll mainly focus in this blog shall be the some of the research material available and step simple guide of the whole ID selection process. Ok I found this forum damn solid. If I'm not wrong it's the most informative forum with regards to renovation in Singapore. It have quite a fair bit of information in there so do take your time to read them. Especially for those ID that you are currently considering and there's a thread discussing about them already swee swee can go in recee other people fk up experiences lo.

*Useful tip 8*
"Some comment is knn by troll one so must take it with a pinch of salt.. How to identify troll ah? Well if u see he only got one post and only just join.. most likely he is one.."

And so I eliminate Linewerks from my list after reading some of the really cui review about the firm.. Sorry man Bing u r a good man I'm sure God will reward u in other way la.. All the best to you man.. I keep on reading through most of the thread.. As I read their comment I open up their website to look at their work as well. Quite ironically, Summit Design Studio I can say got the most ugly website and layout I've seen so far but their reviews are astonishingly good and most seem quite credible. That's the only reason why I decide to meet up with them. Refer to Part 3 if you wish to know how the meet up with them went. As promised they were suppose to get back to me by two weeks but still never heard anything from them so I go to forum and gan them.. Anyway this forum hor is sibei funny one leh.. I tried to post a new thread twice to ask for review about other ID firm such as Mong Design Studio - The one that is on the top of my list but the admin like MIA sia.. I never see my post created one loh also don't know why they don't want to approve leh.. And after I gan SDS hor.. Someone PM me this..

Anyway I also don't know this Renotalk is kelong anot one la.. What I know is I'm like Stone Cold Steve Austin DTA one.. Don't Trust Anybody.. I trust my own instinct and guts feel..

Shortly after Ken from SDS contacted me. We meet up at his studio once again. Similarly he show us his color sketches and we are really happy with it. The design and color scheme is as per what we wanted, there's some additional detail created by him and most important of all.. The quotation is really reasonable.

The Final Comparision (In ranking order)

1. Mong Design Studio - No doubt they are on the top of our list. They gave us the confidence that our house will be in good hand with them. Their work is really awesome. Their website look quite professional too. We tried corresponding with them a couple of time and they have tried to offer some additional discount. Final quotation $48k. Include everything except some minor work value at around $2-3k

2. Summit Design Studio - What put them in the second place is mainly due to their Quotation. However if we set aside pricing, some of factor that attribute to their placing here is due to their review in forum, we like their design, we felt comfortable talking with him and the chemistry is there. What is holding me back is the dodgy renotalk forum, their unorganized ugly website and their studio location (wtf I really scare my id go find Vietnam Cai every night and anyhow do my project)... Final quotation $30k. Include everything except electrical cost estimated ard $3k.

3. Third Avenue Studio - Everything is almost perfect about his firm except their quotation which is really on the high side. Design Fee $5k.. others FOC.. Painting work $4k.. others $2k.. Enuff said.. Final quotation $42k. Exclude a great amount of carpentry work in the living room and master room. Strong emphasis on Design rather then functionality.  

The rest of the firms, I'm sorry you are eliminated. Better luck next time...

After much consideration..

Discussion...

Calculation..

Ladies & Gentlemen..

I proudly

Present to you... (Drumroll)

The winner for 2014

For The Super Kiam Ka Na Ben Teo RiverParc EC only but Machiam Renovate Milliondollar Sentosa Cove Project..

..

Goes too...

...

SUMMIT DESIGN STUDIO!!!

Our Modern Resort Theme Sketch by Summit Design Studio

As much as I hate to admit I am one customer that want cheap, want good, and want big big boobs! Summit Design Studio is able to give us what we wanted.. and everything is factored in within our budget giving us some allowance for some possible adjustment in the future. There're just so many positive reviews about them in the forum. So you see consumer nowadays is all v savvy one.. social media is a very important platform that all firm should leverage on and at all cost try not to screw themselves up online.. Honestly if we have more budget or there're available review with regards to Mong Design Studio we might straight away without a doubt picked them instead.

Since we've come to the end of the ID selection blog. For the benefits of anyone who have yet to start or have no idea where/how to begin. I'll be providing some step by step guide below.. hope it's helpful.. Have FUN ID shopping!

STEP 1: Select your desired "Theme"

Eg. Modern Contemporary, Tropical Resort, Modern Zen, Mediterranean, Simplistic etc..

If you are unsure of what "Theme" to go for or what type of theme you really like. Go download this really awesome app called "Houzz". Do play around with the different Theme in the "style" tab and I am sure you will be able to figure your way out from there.

Sample of Interior Design from Houzz

STEP 2: Look for Interior Design Ideas for your selected "Theme"

You can either do it online or using application. Let say you like "Modern Rustic" theme, just google for "Modern Rustic Interior Design" you will be able to find tons of result under the "images" tab! Just copy and save down for your future references. Another website you can go to is "Pinterest"... just go to the website and search your theme.. there will be tons of pins available there too! Another way will be browsing as much portfolio as possible from varies ID firm website. Again you can get a lot from ideas from the Houzz application. You can read up some Home Décor magazine too.


Modern Tropical Interior Design. The Theme I am going for.

STEP 3: Figure out your Priorities.

Eg. I want more storage space. I want smart feature like transformable bed or sofa. I want to have the SEA Aquarium in my house. I must have the night safari feel when I jiggy-jig with my wife in the room. I want to be able to fit 50 guests in my living room etc..

Example of Die Die I wanna showcase my SEA AQUARIUM!

STEP 4: Color Scheme

Eg. Are you going for warm color or dark color? Color scheme is very important. For most theme, try not to mixed more then two colors in your design. Having a clear understanding of what color tone you prefer will enable you to carry out your research better.

STEP 5: Work out your Budget

If you've read my previous blog, I've mentioned before all the other hidden cost such as electrical, curtains, furnishing, appliances could quite easily take up a large portion of your budget like $15-30k range. So remember to factor this in while working out the budget for your ID.

STEP 6: ID Hunting!
Once you done all the above step 1 -5. I can say more or less you can start to hunt for your ID liao la.. Just drop them a email. Feed them with all the information. Can refer to my first blog here for my email template. Alright guy I hope my blog is able to help you and make things a lil easier and fun in your ID selection journey. I've enjoyed my journey so far and I guess you will too! Especially if you are virgin too like me.. first time is always full of excitement one.. and confirm you will bleed too... erm I mean wallet bleed la..hahahha.. Till next time!!!

Links to my previous blog:

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 1)

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 2)
Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 3)
Pre-Renovation Review *New*

1.3 Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences

RENONATION

Super busy week man.. Finally got some time to carry on this blog! Thanks for all the positive feedback.. U readers are my motivation to keep writing! Hahahah.. Ok lobang time.. If you don't mind receiving a lot of calls and quotation from many many different IDs at one time. Click on the link above will take u to this quite interesting website. Don't worry it's very simple and easy to use. You key in your ppty details, your requirements and attach your floor plan.. SUBMIT! The next thing you know, your email, sms and phone will keep on ringing.. Good thing for this service is it is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Point to note here is most ID will try to fixed an appointment for you to visit their showflat. This is to brainstorm and understand your requirement better and impress you with whatever they have. So the meeting is probably gonna be like.. you go down.. they ask you what you want.. you tell them.. they hmmm okok.. THAT'S IT!! Then they will arrange the next meeting with u to show u what they design for u! To me.. this initial meeting is redundant UNLESS you seriously don't know what you want. So I will specifically make sure they know roughly what I wanted. If they want to meet myself and my wife they better make sure they get their presentation kit ready (Design sketches, quotation, material sample etc). I either clarify with them through the phone or email prior to the 1st meeting. Refer to my email template if you want in part 1 of the blog. =)

THIRD AVENUE STUDIO   

Aiya anyway hor the service above I also don't know is good or no good la.. Because a lot of kuku ID will contact you loh.. Some you talk to them ah you will faint.. There's one PRC lady called me and speak in her PRC ENG-GE-LI-SI.. Harow are you Mr Ben? Dis is XXX callin form XXX cumbani.. Are u loki 4 ID-si? I'm like WTF am I hearing?! Anyway out of so many correspondences, I only decide to meet up with this Lawrence from Third Avenue Studio. This ID aiseh I tell u is damn hardworking! He meet us on 1st of Jan new year day at his studio lo.. Not only does he work on a PH.. His presentation is I tell you.. farking impressive.. We were seated behind a long table, infront of us were the presentation material neatly place, using his iphone to control his powerpoint slide wirelessly on his don't know how many inch flat screen tv.. We were blown away man! Not just by the technology he engaged but rather the content in his slides! He took the initiative to do research on the design we like and share it with us.. Immediately we were like YES this is what we wanted! What is even more SONG is when he show us not just sketches but almost like color 3D of what he design for our house! Lai Liao Loh! Lai Liao Loh! BEN TEO HIGH ALREADY LO!
Ok the rest of the presentation I'm basically fantasizing again like a fking pervert until I look at the quotation.. U know how much we need to pay for his design fee etc anot?! $5K LEH WTF while most firm give FOC.. Ya la although this dude got provide me Extra SpeciAL service which I like~ but $5k for special too much la..

     

Interior Design Firm Quotation

Fast forward abit cause some of the ID really vomit blood and don't worth mentioning. The moment we've been waiting for... the itemize ID quotation. After contacting more then 10 IDs, meeting about 7 IDs, collecting about 7 quotations... This is by far the most detail quotation we have seen: By Mong Design Studio. 

Item 1.3 Design & Professional Fee. For this item, most firm does not charge one.. But I also realize for those that charge, their service really TIP TOP.. you really pay extra for their expertise and services ba.. Mong $1.2k consideration quite reasonable liao loh.. Remember Third Design Studio charge $5k for this segment and oh ya have we forgotten about $15k I think u r poor as shit Misura?!.. After speaking with some firm that don't charge this.. must really assess the ID carefully lo.. Some stupid dumb dumb ID really hor you tell them you wanna plant coconut tree in the living room they also will say CAN ah..

Item 2 is pretty standard. Item 3 also standard la. Ah Item 4 Painting Work.. This one you can bargain! Most will give you a limit.. like you can select up to 3 or 6 different colors.. Don't be a idiot and bargain for more color hor! Bargain for price la... Really it's either there're such stupid people around or one of the pariah ID firm that I came across really treat me as a idiot.. You know what he tell me?! He said "Unlike other ID, we can let you choose and select up to unlimited colors!" I'm like OEI you Si Xiao or what?! You think my house rainbow ah need so many color for fk?!!??!

Item 5: Joinery work. This is mainly carpentry work la so very subjective. But something to take note here is the internal compartment. Try to bargain for internal color PVC or wood grain finishing.. Tell them you don't want the default white pvc which look really cheapskate and ugly imho. Another thing to note here if you are going for full height carpentry work is to make sure it's indicated into the contract unless you are sure of your ceiling height. eg (2500 x 400 x Full height). Not sure if this is necessary but just be sure ba.

Item 6: Outdoor flooring work. Don't forget about this hor! Because most of our unit these day come with balcony and I think most of us want to do decking swee swee one tio bo?! Ah this decking thingy is not cheap and could easily come up to $3-4k so make sure you get the ID to include in their quotation. If not they will act blur don't put de..

Item 7: This is the feature wall behind your sofa area. Be it you are doing wallpaper, wood cladding, stone stone or tile them up.. Make sure they include this in too!

*Useful Tips 7*

"Item 6/7 remember to compare price with sources outside! If ID is resourceful got good lobang then let them do.. For all I know this two item outside can find supplier easily."

Item 9: Electrical cost. This is another area most ID will omit from their quotation. I nv reno house before so I really don't know how much this will cost man.. but apparently from all the IDs that I've speak with.. It's ard $3-5k lo.. WTH it's not cheap so better get them to include this into the quotation too if not they will act blur. 

Ok everybody we've once again come to the end of the blog and end of the itemize quotation. Last point to note, while working out your budget.. remember to take into consideration all the other expenses.. very important sia..

Let say your max budget is $30k.
Appliances (TV, Soundbar, Fridge, Washer Dryer etc): $8-10k
Curtains: $3-5k
Lighting: $4-5k
Electrical work: $3-5k
Furniture (Outdoor/indoor sofa, dining table set, bed etc): $$5-6k

So you see all these jia ba lang thingy easily take up $23-30k of your budget.. Which mean you are left with only $7k for ID or go downstair chop tree bring home do your own carpentry work.. Take note guys! The next blog I'll be touching on the Renotalk forum to more tips on how to renovate your house etc.. So till then! =)))))

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 1)

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 2)
Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 4)

1.2 Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences

Linewerkz Pte Ltd

One week later, we met Bing once again this time round at his studio along Guillemard road at geylang there.. not bad you know beside got sell the Tanjong Rhu Bao is very nice but the uncle face always like you own him money.. ANYWAY let's not OT. After seating us down with a drink, he started his presentation with the colored version of his drawing, the itemize quotation and some material. Basically at this stage most ID will just show you a really simple space planning drawing, the material they will be using eg. Laminate sample etc and go through the quotation with you.

Sample of Space Planning

Seriously this stupid space planning drawing is really kuku one loh.. I also don't know for what sia.. If your ID just show you this ah I think you can write him off! This stupid drawing we also can draw la.. Anyway in the first place we are the one that share with the ID where we want our bed, our TV, our carpentry work to be right?!.. Unless you really stupid gong gong till erm "where should my TV be ah? My bed I also don't know put where? Put bed at balcony ok anot ah? Until they need to plan for you la.. And pls loh our house these days not that big la.. How much deviation can it get?! Understand that some ID really will show you just this drawing and try to sell their way through.

*Useful Tips 5*

"Ask for sketches! Don't give in to just space planning drawing. Some ID will throw in even simple 2D or 3D drawing!"

As mentioned earlier Bing already took it a step further by sketching out the design he have in mind for us. After going through the quotation, we really like this guy and his work but I need to be 101% sure that he is the one for us. I felt that there's still quite a bit of research and homework to be done before I commit. Remember I told you before he is quite nice right? You know what he tell me anot... he say he going do volunteer work for one week overseas so can only respond to me once he's back if I decide to engage him.. I'm like zzzzzz why u tell me this?! And hor he is so super nice that suddenly he just stand up and walk away leh.. then you know what happen?! My wife Samsung note ki siao.. malfunction and anyhow take picture leh.. After we got home this is what I found in her phone. I was so shocked that I called Samsung then they say my wife phone ok liao. Aiya stupid phone.

*Useful tips 6*

"Remember to attach your floor plan in the email when sending to ID!"

Mong Design Studio

Shortly after, we received an email from Mong and fixed our second appointment at their new studio along Upper Paya Lebar. When we arrived, we were greeted by this new guy called Jonathan together with Maena we seated down with the usual item laid right in front of us. Feeling abit puzzled we ask Maena whether she will be the one handling our projects from start till the end like other firm. If so, why are we talking to this guy? We were told the method they engage is different. They handle the project as a team. The head conduct the initial meeting with new prospect, disseminate the information to the rest of the team to brainstorm ID ideas, head or next level lower will try to close the deal, then another project manager will manage the whole project. Reason being if anyone away for whatsoever reason such as medical or resigned, at least the whole project wouldn't die with that person. Ok la also make sense. This Jonathan is the Principle Designer. He did most of the presentation and as promised, they show us some sketches... it's not as detail as what we saw at Linewerkz previously but was good enough to illustrate to us what they will be doing. Throughout the presentation we were truly impressed by them as they continue to GAN me *again* for some of my stupid idea, provide alternative to bring out the FEEL we wanted, another plus point for them is their advice on LIGHTING issues!

Don't play play with lighting ok my friends.. ever wonder why furniture at IKEA showroom always so nice but when u buy home it look like shit.. something to do with lighting one ok! They really differentiate themselves very well in this aspect as they explain to us where are the lighting point and what type of effect they hope to achieve.. We almost want to ONZ them already until we saw the final price on the quotation... *wah snap back to reality*

Mong Design Studio is one of our TOP choice and is highly recommended for many reason. One of them is "They are very professional and never look down on customer". We highlight our budget concern with them and instead of giving us the WTF face.. Immediately they come out with a lot of options that we can explore which will help us to save money! And mind you the overall DESIGN and QUALITY is not compromise in the process of cutting cost. This is Professionalism. This is what they and us the customer value the most! We had a few amendment made so we conclude that meeting and await our revised quotation from them.

Summit Design Studio

We carry on our research online and chance upon this RENOTALK forum, inside you could find tons of renovation information. I will touch in details on this forum in my next blog. Anyway one of the many ID being review inside is this Summit Design Studio (SDS). This thread gather so much positive review that I decided to personally visit their studio one day. Their studio is along Joo Chiat conveniently located just opposite all the happening Vietnam PUB there! Wow I'm thinking if your ID or contractor every night chong there ah.. ur project GG lo... We step into their studio and I asked for this ID by the name Ken Lee.. His name hor make me think of the song "I ken-lee~~ ken-lee without you by Mariah Carey" hahahah.. Anywayyyy by right for weekend he only serve appointment customer but since he got some time on hand till the next appointment he serve us too. Maybe he know he is quite popular in the forum, I must say he is very confident. He never really talk much. Just listen. Take notes. Say things that useful. Not say he quiet and not friendly la.. What I can say is can tell he is quite experience lo. What really stun me next is when he say.. "Your EC TOP around May right?! Ok your quotation 2 weeks." I'm like wah.. other IDs firm all make it a point to fixed the next appointment asap.. This really yaya papaya ah.. Being confident and arrogant is a thin line. For him is more towards confident ba. Anyway it's true la still got a lot of times mah... hahaha we can actually chill a little la.. hehe

Ok. Time to end this long post. Till the next post people! Thanks for reading! 

Ps: If you miss out on Part One can click on the hyperlink below

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 1)

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 3)

**************** Sneak Peak into the next blog post (Part 3) ***************

Interior Design Firm Quotation

The moment we've been waiting for; the itemize ID quotation. After contacting more then 10 IDs, meeting about 7 IDs, collecting about 7 quotations... This is by far the most detail quotation we have seen, by Mong Design Studio. 

Item 1.3 Design & Professional Fee. For this item, most firm does not charge one.. But I also realize for those that charge, their service really TIP TOP.. you really pay extra for their expertise and services ba.. Mong $1.2k consideration quite reasonable like loh.. there's one firm which I will share later that charge $5k for this segment and oh ya after we forgotten about $15k Misura.. tsk tsk.. After speaking with some firm that don't charge this.. must really assess the ID carefully lo.. Some stupid dumb dumb ID really hor you tell them you wanna plant coconut tree in the living room they also will say CAN ah..

Item 2 is pretty standard. Item 3 also standard la. Ah Item 4 Painting Work.. This one you can bargain! Most will give you a limit.. like you can select up to 3 or 6 different colors.. Don't be a idiot and bargain for more color hor! Bargain for price la... Really it's either there're such stupid people around or one of the pariah ID firm that I came across really treat me as a idiot.. You know what he tell me?! He said "Unlike other ID, we can let you choose and select up to unlimited colors!" I'm like OEI you Si Xiao or what?! You think my house rainbow ah need so many color for fk..  

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1.1 Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences

Hello I'm back. This time I'm going to blog about my ID selection process, follow by the remaining renovation processes on the subsequence blogpost. As usual I will try to make this post as informative and fun as possible so everyone can take away something from here.


Alright LETS START OUR ID SELECTION JOURNEY =))


We first embark on our journey by visiting one of the ID EXPO Fair in November last year 2013. WTF right so kiasu don't even know when can collect key to our home go disturb ID already.. Hahaha.. If you've no idea where to start then probably visiting such fair will warm you up just fine because:

1) There're a lot of IDs available.
2) You can get a lot of design IDEAS from different IDs at a single location
3) You can look at and study their recent work

*Useful Tip 1*
"The general rule of thumb here is just take note of the three pointers above and nothing else! Do NOT rush into committing on the spot!"

Image Creative Design

The first and one of the worst ID firm that we met is this guy I forgot what's his name already from Image Creative Design. He sat us down and talk a tons of crap which 80% of the time I don't know wtf he talking.. so the next moment he try to draw something. I look at the paper "WTH is this?!" Then he goes "Oh this are just some simple sketches. We running promo now. All you need to do is put $1k deposit now and we will draft 3D for you already! That will be much clearer.." Of course since this is the first ID that we went, we confirm want to shop somemore la where got so stupid commit to this idiot. What piss me off is after we refuse to place the deposit he kept trying to schedule an appointment with us to his showflat! I asked him for what? He said want to show me some material and some what "line". Who want to waste a weekend go see your what stupid line sia! What a total turnoff! Really feel sad for this company hire such a ID man..

Linewerkz Pte Ltd

After wasting close to 1 hour at our first stop.. we carry on walking and pass by Rest & Relax.. We asked a few question while admiring their showroom there.. They abit yaya papaya so NEXT!~ As we walk down a bit more, we drop by this booth by Linewerkz. Looked at their portfolio, quite like their design so we decided to seat down with this ID by the named BING. He is very friendly, down to earth, sincere and most important of all.. The communication is there.. This guy is able to listen, understand and illustrate out what we wanted. YES. He told us he could use freehand to sketch out the design for our living and master on the spot and it's FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.. Just need to give him about an hour! Wow power leh this guy who don't want sia! We onz him la.. We say nvm u slowly draw we go out eat Burger King later then come back see what you've for us.

Swee la! We happily hopped our way to BK.. Slowly makan our mushroom swiss.. song alr.. then slowly hopped our way back to his booth in anticipation of what he drew for us. Honestly at first I still think cannot be la.. maybe he wanna troll me.. When we reached he was already standing there waiting for us.. Seated once again, he pulled out two drawing to show us while explaining what he intend to do. WAHHH!! JIN SATKI LEH THIS GUY!! Maybe I suaku la but I am super impressed by his drawing and it really make me wet already loh! While he was illustrating to me with his drawing I'm already dreaming about what my living room how swee it will look like bla bla bla! Ok In short, he not only is able to put what we wanted into perspective "demonstrate that he understand what we wanted", he also input some of his idea in "exactly what you need to look out for in an ID if not might as well engage contractor". No matter how impress we are with his ART, it's still too early to commit la.. However he scored another appointment with us because he did another thing right.. HE DID NOT HARD SELL US INTO PLACING THE STUPID DEPOSIT!

*Useful Tip 2*
"Parking at EXPO is fking expensive!! Make sure your cashcard enough money cause you will probably spend half a day there.."

More Research

And so, we went back and carry on our research on ID firm. Found two company quite interesting via Facebook. Visited there webpage to look through their portfolio and emailed them. Here's a sample of my email. Feel free to use and improvise if you want. =)

** Email template **

Hi XX,

My EC will TOP most likely end of Q2 2014. So I am currently looking for a interior design firm that I am comfortable with. I'll like to find out more about your services and offering. However, prior to meeting up, could you prepare some projects or a draft sketch based on my below requirement? As I believe this will very much speed things up a little.

My wish list:
- No need to renovate studio.
- Area that require renovation; Living and two bedrooms
- Theme: XXX
- Color scheme: XXX
- Prefer elements: XXX
- Special feature: XXX
- As much storage as possible
- Budget $XXk *Optional* I will touch on this in detail later

Hear from you soon. Thank you

Regards,

Ben Teo

Mong Design Studio

Shortly after, we fixed an appointment with Mong Design Studio and was greeted by their Art Director Maena. She is truly a veteran in this trade. She know her stuff really well and is very professional. During the discussion, my wife was thoroughly impressed by her. WHY?! Because she dare to GAN me.. She dare to rebuke some of my idea tactfully.. it's like someone telling you "Don't be lame la.. Your idea is impractical and stupid as shit" in such a manner that you hear already still can smile like one gong cb.. After the hour long session, without a doubt we schedule our next appointment to go through the quotation and some drawing that she told us she will exceptionally draw for us which she normally wouldn't.


*Useful Tip 3*
"Look for an ID that dare to oppose your idea and at the same time propose to you something better. That's what we pay them for. Remember a "Yes to all" ID is no different from a contractor."

Su Misura

The next ID firm that I've emailed and want to share is this somewhat ATAS firm call SU Misura. Apparently from what I've gathered from their website. Their Design is machiam those showflat standard. Immediately give you the confidence that your house will confirm be SWEE SWEE in their hand. Trust me unless you are damn rich or want to act ATAS then look for them loh.. Just so that you can have a feel of what I am talking about. This is the last email from them.

"To give you a better idea of our company's practice, we have a design fee of
minimum $15,000.00 or 10% of build contract, on top of the build contract
for the renovation works. You can sign the design fee first, and we will
develop our initial design concept to give you a more accurate quotation for
the renovation works. We will give you a rough estimated sum for the
renovation works before you engage our design services."


I seriously don't know WTF they talking cause my England not very good. But how I read is at such
"Sorry to inform you we think you are abit not rich and so in order not to waste our time, can you pay us $15k first then we talk. This is also to ensure that in the event you couldn't afford to engage us further we could forfeit those money take it as wasting our time compensation... OK NEXT! Any Sentosa Cove customer? Anyone?"


Alright. I will end this blog post here. For the coming blog post, I'll be sharing on what to expect from second appointment, explanation on what to look out for in ID quotation, my experiences and encounter with a few more firms and some more tips and lobang! Till then! =)

*Useful tip 4*
"Click on ID firm name to open up their website. =)"

**** Updated *****

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 2)

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 3)

Interior Design For My Humble Executive Condo Riverparc Residences (Part 4)

Pre-Renovation Review