Home renovations are a once in a lifetime occurrence for many, and for laypersons with no experience in home renovation and interior design, the entire start to end process can be complicated and hard to keep up with.
As different interior design companies have varying procedures, styles of working, and packages, in order to help you understand the standard procedures most interior design companies in Singapore go through, this article will serve as a guide to what you should expect and take note of when embarking on this journey to your new home.
While you were on the lookout for an interior designer and company to work with for your new home, you would have come across companies advertising their free non-obligatory consultation.
During the first consultation, and occasionally the second consultation as well, your interior designer will ask you a few questions to better understand your needs and preferences. This is a crucial step to your entire renovation journey because what you share during the consultation will determine how smooth the process would be. It will also help the interior designer to plan and propose a design that best suits you, your lifestyle and your needs.
Even if you haven’t decided which company to work with, you should openly share your thoughts and preferences with them so that when the designers return with their proposal, you can tell if they’ve put a lot of thought into meeting your needs. For example, did they take into consideration your needs for an elderly or pet-friendly home?
Some questions to ask yourself when preparing for the consultation are:
During space planning and design conceptualisation, many trusted interior design companies in Singapore will do up a 2D floor plan to propose a series of changes they would like to make to your home layout. Some of the things you can see in this 2D space planning layout include any extension, hacking, or addition of walls and rough furniture placement.
Your designers will most likely share with you some of the design elements or carpentry work they have in mind, such as the installation of space-saving furniture in your bedroom or hiding the bomb shelter in HDB flats with a feature wall.
During this stage, actively discuss and share your inputs on what you wish to do to your space. For example, if your interior designer proposes to hack down a wall but you wish to not have it hacked, voice it out early and have it changed before the 3D drawing is done.
After finalising the home layout, your designer will usually proceed to do up a 3D drawing of your house to show you exactly what the design will look like, and help you visualise things better.
At this stage, if you spot something you don’t really like about the design, tell your designer to change it to something else, or get them to propose a new design. Things such as changing the colour of the walls, removing or adding certain elements can easily be done to a 3D drawing but will incur additional costs once renovation commences. Hence, it is crucial to really sit down with your designer and engage in discussions to produce the design you really want.
Once the design has been finalised, your interior designer will be able to give you a detailed quotation based on the 3D drawing. If you purchased a fixed interior design package, your designer might quote you more for any add-ons to the design.
One of the most interesting parts of renovating your home is selecting the materials to be used in your home. Most interior designers will usually recommend the selection of materials they think would suit your home best while accommodating your lifestyle habits and budget constraints. However, you can choose to pick out materials that you like instead of going with what your designer chose for you.
During this stage, do not make your decision on the spot because that will usually be done on impulse. Instead, take photos of the samples, make notes and bring them home to think over for a few days.
A tip is to get your designer to bring you to the material supplier’s showroom to take a look at the larger piece of material. A sample piece is only a small part of the entire material, looking at the larger sample will give you an accurate view of how the material will look in your home.
Once materials are selected and designs are finalised, renovation work will commence. Tiling, wiring, hacking, fabrication, plumbing, and other works will be done at this stage, which will usually last from 3 to 10 weeks depending on the extent of the renovation. You will not be required to do anything at this stage, except to occasionally check on the progress.
Following the completion of the renovation, you will be asked to head down to your new home for an inspection, during which your interior designer will walk you through all of the work done and check for any defects or errors with you.
You should do a thorough inspection so that in case there are any defects, you can get the interior design company to fix it before handover.
Finally, once the inspection and any fixing of defects are done, the interior design company will hand your house back to you. You can then start getting your furniture delivered and prepare to move in.
The entire home renovation process may appear to be a lot to take in, but it can actually be really smooth-sailing if you work with a trusted interior design company in Singapore that can take the load off your shoulders and handle all of the important details for you.
Planning to renovate your home? Schedule a consultation with one of our professional interior designers and let us handle the hard work while you sit back, relax, and enjoy the process of building your dream home.
