myselegiehouse
Where design meets dreams, and joy moves in.
Why Pay for Interior Designers when You Can Design It Yourself?
25
Virtual House Tour
Designing your own home will be one of the most roller coaster experiences you can get in your life. The luxury of being able to design your own home depends on whether you have the resources - money, time and knowledge or skill sets. Here is my journey of how I design my own home on a budget. Unlike many who spent over $50k on their renovation, I spent only $30k during COVID. The cost includes all the masonry, new electrical, plumbing, painting, kitchen carpentry and cost of materials. The cost do not include appliances and loose items. But it did include the toilet bowl that my contractor decided to gift to me coz he is just so nice about it. Sometimes I think he made a loss taking my job. He took up the project thinking it is fun to push the boundary of making 2 toilets for me, but the plan failed after we hack off the wall and found a pipe that cannot be touched. 
The first step of designing the home is space planning. Looking at the floor plan and hackable walls, I decided to straighten the wall between the bedroom to make it more furniture friendly, and the walls in the kitchen to open up the space. We hacked the toilet walls with the intention to expand the toilet by a little, but the mere cm means having the gas pipe in the toilet, and so my contractor has no choice but to rebuild the wall behind the gas pipe. However, we did managed to make the toilet a tad bit bigger with the wall rebuilding to max out the space between the wall and pipes. 
Space planning requires the understanding of intended space usage in the long term. I was initially intending to stay in the utility room because it is supposed to be a secondary residence. But my family and friends managed to convince me that I should make it my primary residence. The place is design with rental in mind. It is my mini-version of co-living space. 
I started with iPad drawing app. I can’t remember exactly what app it was, but I had this kept in my folder! The design was done with very little spatial awareness. It is very easy to think we have a lot of space until you are actually onsite to realise the space is not as big as you think. As I look at this design, on hindsight I see a noob at work. 😂 
This is my first attempt using PowerPoint to draw things out. In order to get the dimension right, I worked out a scale by pixels, but it was really rudimentary and inaccurate. Armed with this image, I met with interior designers only to realise the carpentry cost is really high. And the odd beam that runs through the middle of the house causes a lot of inefficient storage design that may make the small apartment feel cluttered. I also needed to take into consideration that the lower ceiling also mean smaller storage volume. It was this moment that I decided to limit to only kitchen carpentry and exclude the bedroom carpentry until I am very sure. 
This is another version using one of the free 3D software. Because the software is free, there’s limitations of the design. I have to use only the available furnitures. It is simple but it gave me a better picture to talk to more IDs with confidence. 
As I decided to make this my primary residence, I decided to take one of the bedrooms instead of the utility room. As the room is long and slim, I thought I could add a walk-in wardrobe. However, my friend with design experience took a look and told me that the design will feel claustrophobic. Even though it doesn’t look so in the render, but it will feel tight especially if not using mirror on the door of the carpentry to “expand” the space. 
This is the closest design I have to the final version. Even though not an accurate representation, but having went through the design, and executing it, I have to say that space planning is essential. Planning it on the software and seeing the render is not enough to establish the comfort of living in the space. Ceiling height makes a big part to how the space feel and surprisingly it also make a difference to the storage volume when you build the carpentry. The main takeaway for those who wants to be your own interior designer, especially if you do not have any experience, it is best to design and speak to as many interior designers and contractors as possible. Each of them will contribute good insights to your design. In the process, your design will evolve and become better. It is important to find the sweet spot between feasibility and budget. If possible, live in the space first before making more permanent design decisions. Visit places with the designs you have in mind to have feel before committing to it. Hope this helps!
28 August
