Expert Advice

What should you consider When renovating your home? interior design professionals share their top renovation tips

- Rossara Jamil

Where do you start when renovating the home? Some homeowners prefer to have an interior designer handle the entire design and renovation process. Others may choose to engage a carpenter. Whichever path you take, knowing what you want is half the battle won.

Dale Le, co-founder of JS Carpentry & Contracts, advises, “A homeowner can get inspiration and visual references for carpentry works from many sources, such as a friend’s home, a magazine feature, a scene from a movie and, of course, the World Wide Web. Minimally, a homeowner should be able to provide sketches for their desired carpentry works, but it has proven especially helpful to provide photos as visual references.”

Renovating the house can be daunting. However, there are steps to ensure a smooth process. Says Eric Tan, CEO of interior design firm Space Factor, “It’s really about the 3Cs: communication, chemistry and consistency.”

Top on the list is to have a clear brief about what you need and determine a realistic budget for your requirements. Before meeting the interior designer or carpenter, reaching an understanding with your partner on your preferences will also help move the design process efficiently and effectively.

Living & Dining tips

1. “In an open-concept home, the challenge is how to create subtle yet distinct differences between the living, dining and kitchen. There are a few ways to achieve this, for example, false ceiling designs, sliding glass doors or screens, using rugs to pull the furniture together or painting accent colours in each area are great ways to demarcate the different spaces.” Terri Tan, principal designer, designworx