My BTO journey is quite a painstaking process. It’s worth it I guess.. at least I got it back. š
So it took longer than usual because many things happened and we have to submit our documents again. The estimated date to take our keys would be around end Feb/early march as told. BUT we decided to just believe that it’s mid or end March. lol you know la.. sometimes government do things can be abit slow.. (im not complaining)
Slow could be because they are vigilant and meticulous, in a way it’s a good thing. =P
Of course this means that we have to start confirming our IDĀ already.. The first thing that S did was to post his contacts on RenotalkĀ and he ended up getting endless amount of phone calls. lol.
Then we shortlisted a few ID firms after researching about them online.
These are the few we met:
- Design4space
- Superhome Design
- Nine creations
- Artisan Design
- Defong Interior Design
We wanted to meet Edmund and his partner too but didnt have the chance. I have to decide on someone before getting the keys if not the whole process will just drag on even longer.
The one that talked to us from Design4space was a female designer, she’s a very friendly and nice woman and she seems to be very experienced as well. We met her twice, second time to discuss on the quotation. She gives us alot of ideas but somehow somewhere we just don’t click.
I’ll let you know who we engaged later on. š
Then we spoke to D from Superhome Design, he is quite a shy guy and one thing good about him is he really let us do all the talking and listened to what we want. He gives us ideas but doesn’t force his ideas on us. WHICH IS VERY GOOD because we know what we want and we don’t really like people pushing ideas on us. (not saying any of them did)
Nine creations: HeĀ isĀ a very nice guy also.Ā He gives us alot of tips, like what to take note of in our house, and if putting a curb is a good idea in the toilet as we don’t want the glass sliding door. (will come up with a new post next time to talk about how our house looks like so you have a better idea why we decided to do whatever we did)
Artisan Design:Ā Nothing much to comment about.
Defong Interior Design: He is a very outgoing guy, very nice to talk to. And if you are on a budget you can go to him, I think among this 5, his quotation is the lowest.
After talking to the 5 interior designers, I realized there are a few factors if you have to take into consideration when choosing the right interior designer.
Price is of course one of them BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IS CHEMISTRY. Your designer and you need to be on the same wavelength and frequency. If you find it awkward or uneasy with them, then he is not the right one.
Find someone you can say NO to, find someone you can talk honestly to, find someone who you can trust and rely on.
I didn’t know what bad chemistry is like until I experienced myself.
And of course do alot of research on the designer and his company, one thing I know for sure is there will definitely be bad reviews in the web, it’s very normal. Try to focus on the good ones instead.
Eventually we end up signing the contract with Daniel from Superhome Design.Ā š
One thing we liked about him is he is very easygoing, he listened to our ideas before giving us his advice and recommendations. He is not pushy at all and the best part is he makes sure he keeps everything within our budget.
By the wayĀ FERNVALE RIVERGROVE TOILET AND KITCHEN TILES ARE FREAKING UGLY. TheĀ wallĀ just ruined the whole toilet. ThisĀ resulted in us SPENDING ALMOST 7K TO OVERLAY THE WHOLE FRIGGING WALL AND FLOOR. IĀ think i’m not the only one who thinks like this. -_-
Right now, we areĀ waiting for the key to be handed over to us before we can view our flat and finally start all the renovation works. We have already decided on how we want our kitchen cabinets and work top to look like and I shall blog about it soon.
I’ll post more pics of the progress and during the renovation. š Very excited, but of course when the house is done, I have to do housework already. :'( hahaha!
Till the next post,
CL
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You can go to the Couple explore series to check out all of my reno related posts. š
