The last time we had a change of address, i was only a JC student. I have absolutely no memory of being involved in the renovation of the flat that we were to move to then; the only thing i could recall was my great reluctance to leave the 2-room flat we've lived in for almost 17years to move into a flat in a yet-to-be developed new town. i don't seem to recall my parents having any problems with the reno either. All they did was to let the contractor who was touting below the new flats do the job and, i must say, he did a good job 'cos we had had no problems with the flat for the last two decades.
It's time to move again. This time round, however, i am the only one handling the whole process: from applying for the flat, to collecting the keys, to sourcing the contractor for renovation, to deciding on what and how i want the flat to be done up , to looking for all the items needed. It's really a great deal of stress and very time consuming when you are on one man operation.
Being ignorant about interior design, materials and their durability, suitability, quality and market prices, i have to do a lot of last minute research, shopping and listening to different opinions from contractors and salesmen who have their own agenda. It doesn't help that in my current home which was simply renovated, there're no curtains or blinds 'cos we don't need any, there ain't false ceiling or L-boxes or downlights, there are no air conditioners, no ceiling fans,no built-in wardrobes or built-in cookers......so my experience with all as such is really zero.
Just as with any normal purchases, there are choices available and we have to weigh the suitability, the aesthetics, the cost before we finally make the decision on which to buy. In this case, there are so many items i've to make decisions on i suspect many erroneous decisions were made hastily.
First, deciding on the contractor: i've spoken to and asked for quotations from about six and finally decided to let a kitchen specialist take care of the kitchen while another contractor take care of the rest. Thereafter, i've to choose :
-between L-box or false ceiling, the design and area to be covered
-the type and number of lights : cool white, day white, warm white or what else, and their positions
-the number of switches, their positions and whether to have dimmers or not..
-the type and brand of air con:-inverter or non, the layout of the trunking, the thickness and brand of rubber insulation plus the diameter of the water pipes....
-the layout of the kitchen: positions of the cooker, the hood,the sink, the fridge,the cabinets and shelves taking into consideration the positions of the pipes, the electric sources,the beams and walls and the cramp size of the kitchen; the type of counter top: granite, acrylic, resin, postform..
-the width of the kitchen drawers and cabinets, the colour coordination
-between window panes or grills for the service yard and if window panes: what type and number of glass panes...
-the colours for each room which has to match some of the furniture i've already ordered and the theme i had in mind....
-brand of ceiling fans, with remote control or not, with lights or without
-the type of heaters: gas or electric, if electric, insant or tank and which brand...
-between curtains and blinds; if curtains: the type of materials: block out, dim out, day curtains, night curtains and the type of rail: powdered aluminium or wooden rod, clip, hook or Velcro....if blinds : venetian, bamboo,wood, roller or Roman;
and there are still a whole lot of things i've yet to settle, the furniture, the household appliances the shelves, bathroom accessories......
At the end of the day, after i've come up with a conceptual idea of what i want for each area, i have to compromise a great deal when the contractor/kitchen specialist advised against some of my ideas citing reasons of impracticability, high cost and non viability. So i have to make adjustments to my fanciful ideas and choose between costs and dreams. When the final decisions were made on the colours, the layout, the design, the type of items for each area, i was still , up to that point, quite pleased with the plans.
However, reality always differs from idealism. The resulting effect was not quite acceptable and i realised my inability to visualise had a great deal to do with it. This has impacted me quite badly as i draw parallel of this lack of visualisation with my vision of my life and future.
Some decisions in life are reversible and some are not. In the case of my house reno, all things are reversible or amendable but at a price which i'm yet willing to pay. So i've tried to convince myself to accept the things which were results of my error, and i'm even slowly beginning to think it's actually not too bad after all....
maybe, just maybe, like marriage, you might at some point of life think you've made the wrong choice, but it's a lifelong commitment and it's your decision, so changing your mindset to accept what you thought was an error might help you to find that the other half is not so bad after all.
i can't say that for my career though.
-the type and brand of air con:-inverter or non, the layout of the trunking, the thickness and brand of rubber insulation plus the diameter of the water pipes....
-the layout of the kitchen: positions of the cooker, the hood,the sink, the fridge,the cabinets and shelves taking into consideration the positions of the pipes, the electric sources,the beams and walls and the cramp size of the kitchen; the type of counter top: granite, acrylic, resin, postform..
-the width of the kitchen drawers and cabinets, the colour coordination
-between window panes or grills for the service yard and if window panes: what type and number of glass panes...
-the colours for each room which has to match some of the furniture i've already ordered and the theme i had in mind....
-brand of ceiling fans, with remote control or not, with lights or without
-the type of heaters: gas or electric, if electric, insant or tank and which brand...
-between curtains and blinds; if curtains: the type of materials: block out, dim out, day curtains, night curtains and the type of rail: powdered aluminium or wooden rod, clip, hook or Velcro....if blinds : venetian, bamboo,wood, roller or Roman;
and there are still a whole lot of things i've yet to settle, the furniture, the household appliances the shelves, bathroom accessories......
At the end of the day, after i've come up with a conceptual idea of what i want for each area, i have to compromise a great deal when the contractor/kitchen specialist advised against some of my ideas citing reasons of impracticability, high cost and non viability. So i have to make adjustments to my fanciful ideas and choose between costs and dreams. When the final decisions were made on the colours, the layout, the design, the type of items for each area, i was still , up to that point, quite pleased with the plans.
However, reality always differs from idealism. The resulting effect was not quite acceptable and i realised my inability to visualise had a great deal to do with it. This has impacted me quite badly as i draw parallel of this lack of visualisation with my vision of my life and future.
Some decisions in life are reversible and some are not. In the case of my house reno, all things are reversible or amendable but at a price which i'm yet willing to pay. So i've tried to convince myself to accept the things which were results of my error, and i'm even slowly beginning to think it's actually not too bad after all....
maybe, just maybe, like marriage, you might at some point of life think you've made the wrong choice, but it's a lifelong commitment and it's your decision, so changing your mindset to accept what you thought was an error might help you to find that the other half is not so bad after all.
i can't say that for my career though.
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