Getting InsectOut to install the meshes is one of the best choices we have made and would highly recommend them who seeks to keep pest out of their homes. 

Tel: 8242 9595

                        3D Drawing of what our wardrobe would look like with a vanity 

                       3D Drawing of what a wardrobe would look like with a handbag display


Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself when designing your walk-in wardrobe:

1) How many clothes do you own? Is there really enough hanging space and drawers?

2) Know the exact dimensions of the room so that you know if it can fit the furniture you desire, In my case, my room can only accommodate a wardrobe and bed, are there any other furniture I would like to have in my room example: Desk and chair to make my master bedroom into a study.

3) What kind of accessories do you want to store in your wardrobe? Bags, Ties, Watches, Jewellery? Etc. Do you want to put it to be on display?

4) What really is your preferred method of keeping your clothes, do you prefer to hang or fold your clothes. My preference is hanging dresses and jackets while folding home wear. Be sure to allocate spaces to keep your folded clothes.

Dear and I prefer to have an enclosed cabinet because we cringe at the thought of having a dusty open cabinet, our designer incorporated a bi-fold door which is space-saving and opens with a quick push. We didn’t use frosted glass as the walking space in the wardrobe is limited and you may accidentally knock against someone who is inside the wardrobe.


                                                       Here is a view of our wardrobe
How an enclosed walk-in wardrobe can prevent you from disturbing your partner’s sleep- we have one ceiling led light and led light stripes which line the inner compartments of my wardrobe. I am a night owl while dear prefers to turn in earlier whenever I enter to retrieve my clothes or other items I won’t disrupt dear as the room switches are wired respectively separating the room’s and wardrobe’s lights.

Walk-in closets make great storage areas - The wardrobe is built-in from ceiling to floor which provides an excellent amount of space for storing home essentials that you don't use on a regular basis,  items such as pillows for guest who would like to stay over, a travel suitcase that stores my husband's army gear making it easy to access when he has to report for reservice or perhaps winter wear that you only wear on your vacation trips. No vertical space is wasted, maximising the space we have in our small home.


                                  


Watch out for bending clothing rails in a walk-in wardrobe - When you have a large number of clothes like I do, the clothing rail tends to bend in the centre, our ID rectify the issue by getting the carpenter to install a middle mounting bracket after we highlighted this issue to him the bracket would be drilled to the ceiling of the wardrobe to hold the clothing rod in place, the downside is I wouldn't be able to slide my clothes from one end to the other seamlessly but on the bright side, the weight of my clothes won't make the rod break over time, I could also treat the bracket as some sort of divider to a different shade darker of dresses from the lighter ones I guess.


                               




There isn’t much space left for vanity to my dismay, but I am glad I get an open shelf and cabinets to store my makeup and accessories. I usually do my makeup in the bathroom where I have a large mirror and better lighting. How do I allocate enough space for all my makeup and creams you say? Well, I will share some organising tips when I write again ….

Till then thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoy reading as I do writing.

Call me old school but I prefer the traditional padlock compared to their digital counterpart. 

The only fault I could find with Hosen was he was rather forgetful and tends to overlook some details, he did miss out on some minor stuff items such as the doorbell which we replaced ourselves with one that ran on batteries and plug-in power instead, the lighting in the service the yard was left in the storeroom which he did later arrange to install after some negotiation as he wanted to charge us to install the light which I found ridiculous as the light was bought all together with our other lights and should be installed together, the bookshelf in our study that was pretty to look at but can’t store anything much due to the pillar beam. Among other things which we can come to terms with. 

All in all, I would still recommend him as he is trustworthy and very dedicated to his work, he even provided us with a list of furniture shops and recommended on which colours would go well with our built-in cabinets. He did go above and beyond by installing all our bathroom fixtures as well as the bidet and helping us to purchase and collect a couple of items and we are all human no one is perfect, all the electronics and piping worked like a charm and if they didn’t he readily assign someone to fix it.

Modern Scandinavian apartment – I love the Scandinavian style homes while dear preferred a more modern and edgy look so we compromised and settled for a mix of both designs. We love the colours grey and blue. We wanted a tranquil and minimalist space. At first, I was worried about the grey shades. There is a fine line between looking chic and turning out too gloomy, I am glad Hosen is an expert in colour coordination, all the colours blended well with each other contributing to a seamless flow between the living room, study, kitchen and bedrooms.

What to expect when you renovate your BTO apartment - We met up with Hosen about 3 to 4 times to discuss what we expected for our new home, we went through a couple of drafts of drawings on our HDB floor plan and he gave us his input on what would be the best layout for our home. Dear was right 3D drawings were very important; it was a good way to visualise how the outcome of the renovations would turn out and if the ID understood our requirements. After signing the contract with Swiss Interior, there were a series of meet-ups to discuss as well as to choose the items we would require, namely floor tiles, lighting and bathroom essentials. Hosen also did a rough default check for us and found nothing out of order. We realised that our common toilet was unable to flush thankfully HDB resolved that for us. 

Places we chose our tiles, lights and bathroom fixtures from.

Lian Seng Hin  - tiles

Elecmento Debanio Pte Ltd -Lights and bathroom fixture 

Dear and I don’t own a car so Hosen would graciously offer us a lift after we finish our discussion at our site. What I was most thankful for is the fact that we didn’t have to worry about applying for the right permits or sourcing for contractors who could produce excellent workmanship and have all the right permits and certification to complete the job. Hosen also kept us posted on the latest developments in the renovation regularly. I heard some feedback from friends that some IDs just ghost you after you sign the contract and updates are given only when you request. A rule of thumb I always go by is to find someone that your friends or family have worked with before or an ID with a lot of good reviews on multiple platforms such as blog reviews, Qanvast and even forums.

Stay tuned for part 3...

When I was dating my husband some 5 years ago, I suggested a bold decision. To buy a Build-To-Order flat (BTO) together. To my surprise he agreed, mind you, we just began dating for a couple of months and the stakes were high, our relationship could have turned sour after we booked a flat... and everything would have gone downhill from there. But thank god it didn't. We are really meant to be.

 Collecting the Keys to Our four-room BTO - Fast forward March 2020; we received our flat’s keys in March Before Covid-19 struck, At first, I was shocked at how tiny my new home is being used to living in my father’s 5 room flat but with the right layout, space planning and carpentry we can make this cosy 93sqm abode into a home.

We opted out of having HDB tiles and chose the open concept kitchen layout to give the illusion that the house was bigger and also for the fact that our bomb shelter is located in the kitchen which meant having very little space for cabinets and appliances. We kept the HDB doors which are kind of thin but acceptable as we wanted to save cost and would probably change them in a couple of years.

In Dec 2019, we went on the search for an Interior Designer, dear preferred an ID as he liked to have the 3D drawing which really helps a person to visualise how the apartment would turn out. They will also coordinate all the works that the house would require saving you the hassle of searching for reliable and properly licenced contractors.

 

Arranging a meeting with an interior design firm – We met up with eight different firms,  designers of diverse backgrounds: Key Concept, Brown Studio Design, Ovon, TCL Design, Absolook, Design4space, Cozy space, Swiss Interior. These opinions are of our own about the Interior designers, nothing personal.