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kraackhaus
home + kitchen adventures! welcome to our little self-designed 4rm apt 🛋️
Tips on self-designing and working with a contractor ⛏️
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We started our home design inspo way before we even got our flat! It helps that we both have similar tastes so we aligned on the style pretty fast, and let each person have their “favourite” space to work on. For me, it’s the kitchen so i call all the design shots in the kitchen. We saved different inspo from IG, Pinterest, YouTube, architecture magazines so that we have a sensing of interior elements, materials and finishings that we like! 
Heres the floor plan we did up! Our floor plan is abit odd-shaped, but I think we managed to make it work for us! We did go to a few IDs just to get a sensing on quotes, but some of the IDs tried to talk me out of certain design requirements i wanted, or did not take our design requests into their consideration when they came back with the first drafts although we specifically highlighted it hahahaa. So we went ahead with a contractor as we already have a rough idea on how we want our space planning and home to look like. (And also to save some $$) Since we’re both creatives, we were quite particular about aesthetics 😅😂 
I used a website, COOHOME, to help me render out my ideas! It was quite fun ngl. I just placed in some furniture and the website renders it in 3D. Happy to report back that our final look of the kitchen is quite similar and we didn’t do much changes during the reno process as I alr knew what I wanted. 
Pegboard feature wall that we have not installed yet HAHAHA It’s okay to slow down the reno process and slowly build your house up! Here are some tips if you want to kickstart your own home design process 🪄 🔖 Have an open discussion with your partner on what type of home design you both like! We both had a shared Pinterest board where we saved images that we liked, and came together to look at what’s in common. 🔖 Prioritise your fav “spaces”. For me it was the kitchen, and for my partner it was the living room so we both had free play and made final decisions for each. 🔖 Don’t just look at the overall design. Look into textures, materials, colours, patterns and shapes to see how they can work with each other. 🔖 The type of furniture you want also adds up to the look of your house! Also remember to prioritise your design to fit your lifestyle habits and needs! 🔖 Start from your floor plan. Your space planning is the most important part and will help you to visualise how your space and flow looks! 
Massive redesign to our master toilet as we decided to shift the vanity outside for a wet-and-dry bathroom. This way we can separate the wet area in our tiny bathroom and have more space as vanity! Hotel vibes. As we are our own ID and do not have any interior design background, working with a direct contractor was also a learning process! 🔩 Learn their language. It helps to know their renovation lingo, even better if you are alr a handy/technical type of person! (I’m not) 🔩 Be okay with voice messages 😂 I hate it so I make my partner converse with them most of the time. Does anyone else hate voice messages too? LOL 🔩 Be very prescriptive with what you want, but also be open to their suggestions especially when it comes to more technical things like aircon, pipings, electrical plan etc. I had zero clue what they are talking about most of the time but my partner understands and I trust them as they’re the experts. 🔩 They’re not designers so sometimes function > aesthetics for them. If that’s something you’re particular about then take extra note if the reno decisions may affect some aesthetic looks. 🔩 Browse tiles, laminates and finishes by yourself! We only provided our contractor the tile and laminate codes. They may not give you any advice on your selected finishes as they’re not designers, so choose your finishes wisely or ask the suppliers for advice. Our contractor also helped us to do up 3D renders so that helped to serve as a visual guide and ensure we’re all aligned! 
Last but not least, trust the process. Hiccups are bound to happen, don’t get overly fixated on certain things as once you start living in it, you won’t even notice in the long run.
2 September 2025
