The BTO Guide to End All BTO Guides 2019 Part 6: Designing Your Dream Home

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Congratulations! This is the final part in our guide to buying a HDB BTO flat. Part 5 tells you all you need to know about Opening Rituals and Inspections. You can find it here.

Designing your home is like painting a big piece of canvas, if you aren’t the artistic type, it may be a bit challenging to choose the design, learning about what materials are good and compromising with what your other half wants. But fret not. In our final part of this series, we will be guiding you through your home designing process, surely. This article will give you a starting point and tips on what to look out for.

These are the 3 areas we will be going through.

1. BTO Design Inspiration
2. Cost of Renovating A BTO
3. IUIGA’s Recommended Essentials

BTO Design Inspiration

If you already have theme in mind, searching for inspirations on popular platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr would probably be a breeze. If you’re starting with an open mind, you’ll be flooded with many of jaw-dropping designs, that will give you a good headache with all that choice.

If you have no idea what you want for your home’s design, a good starting point will be to look at your favorite countries. Most countries have its own iconic and unique designs passed down from their ancestors’ culture and lifestyle. Egypt has its stone houses from the ancient Egyptian era, Japan is popular for its wooden houses and New York is popular for its industrial brick design.

We have compiled 10 interior design styles based on Singaporeans’ favorite places around the world! Is one of your favorite places on this list? The design style might just be what you need for your own dream home!

Cost of Renovating A BTO

Unfortunately, renovating a BTO flat will not be cheap.  According to Qanvast, the go-to platform for renovation; the typical cost of renovation for an average 4 room BTO flat is about $53k if you engage an interior designer for an overhaul. A contractor executes and builds the design that you have given to them, whereas an ID will consult your preferences and help you come up within the ideal design that is suited for your home.

There are two ways you can go about renovating a BTO. The cheaper option will be to come up with your own design and engage a contractor. The contractor will only charge you based on what you want to renovate. You can go by phases if you’re tight on budget and hire a contractor and sub-contractors to get the best price. However, do note that you’ll have to decide almost everything.

Another option is to engage in an interior designer. The good thing about engaging an interior designer is that he/she can probably handle almost every aspect of the renovation process. Interior designer provides greater service and design and will follow through the whole renovation from start to finish.

So who to choose? If budget is an issue or if this is a small project, do opt for a contractor. If you are planning for an overhaul, it’s best to engage an interior designer unless you have the know-how and experience of overseeing renovation projects. If you are a first-timer, engaging an ID firm can save tons of headaches and time.

You can get a rough gauge of your renovation costs using this renovation cost calculator from Qanvast.

If you’d like to find out about the prices of local projects, visit HomeRenoGuru.sg, a platform to view local projects and prices, they have more than 20,000 designs for you to get a rough gauge on how much you’ll need to spend.

We have done some research on HomeTrust.sg, where you can find lists of interior designers with ratings, reviews and project pricing range. We have compiled 5 of the ID firms that have a good number of reviews and a rating of 8.5 and above for you to save time in doing another round of research!

ID Name	Rating (out of 10)	No. of Reviews	Price Range
First Dot Design Pte Ltd	9.0	53	17k – 110k
Sky Creation	8.6	53	20k – 140k
9 Creation Pte Ltd	9.3	37	12k – 120k
Starry Homestead Pte Ltd	9.0	33	9.8k – 300k
De Style Interior Pte Ltd	9.1	15	28k – 750k

IUIGA’s Recommended Essentials

Now you’ve been through almost everything you need for a new house, all that’s left to do is to fill it up with home essentials but we don’t want you to spend on overpriced products. Hence, IUIGA was created to provide our customers with quality home essentials at transparent prices without exorbitant markups because we believe that everyone deserves fine living.

Here are some featured products that’ll add the final touches on your dream home!

	Storage Box With Lid IUIGA: 14.40 Traditional Retail: 27.90   Great way to declutter and store your wardrobe essentials. Unique tri fold fabric is sturdy enough for everyday use.
	Pantone Bath Ensemble 7-Piece Accessories Set IUIGA: 19.90 Traditional Retail: 39.00   The clean, understated style of the Pantone Bath Ensemble is designed to complement most of the designs on the inspiration list and elevate your bathroom.
	Food Storage Container IUIGA: 10.90 Traditional Retail: 16.90   Store and keep your food fresh in style with our series of transparent, airtight food containers. Convenient vacuum-release button makes for easy use while the container is made from BPA-free food-grade AS plastic
	Turbo Pro Mop and Bucket IUIGA: 49.90 Traditional Retail: 67.50   After all that renovation, cleanup is going to be tough. Make it easier with the Turbo Pro Mop and Bucket. Features a Microfiber mop, sleek mop bucket and a plastic strainer that absorbs every spill. Mop head rotates 360°, while mop handle rotates up to 180°, allowing you to reach into elusive corners easily.
	QuickDry Antibacterial Diatomite Bath Mat IUIGA: $24.50 Traditional Retail: $41.85   Made from a natural soil mined in Japan, IUIGA’s QuickDry Antibacterial Bath Mat absorbs water instantly, leaving your feet dry, clean and free from bacteria that traditional bath mats harbor. Tiny particles in the diatomite soil allows water to evaporate quickly in natural air, eliminating the safe haven for mold, mildew and bacteria.
	Glossy Finish Cutlery Set IUIGA: 21.90 Traditional Retail: 69.95   Give your dining table a final flourish with the timeless allure of our luxurious 304 Stainless Steel cutlery. Appreciated for its smooth and glossy finish, this metallic set is bound to impress.
	En Blanc Digital Weighing Scale IUIGA: 15.80 Traditional Retail: 60.80   A timeless design with a large digital LED display, the En Blanc Weighing Scale fits right in your bathroom decor. Features an auto On/Off function that makes the scale easy to operate. Easy-to-read display, along with precise weighing mechanisms ensures accuracy up to the nearest 0.1 kg, eliminating the need for second-guessing measurements. A scale for everyone, the En Blanc has a bearing weight capacity of up to 180 kg. Runs on AAA batteries.
	Ultrasonic Aroma Mist Diffuser IUIGA: 29.90 Traditional Retail: 105.00   Designed to bring you optimum relaxation and therapeutic benefits, the Ultrasonic Aroma Mist Diffuser features a relaxing ultrafine mist and soft white ambient light, making it ideal for nighttime diffusion. Three timed settings – 1, 2, and 3 hours – allow you to customize the release of essential oils into the air.

Congratulations for making it to the end of this BTO journey with us. We hoped this guide have been helpful for you and we wish you all the best in your applications and renovating. Share this series with your friends who are also going through their BTO journey!

New to IUIGA? Check out our extensive range of home essentials with bathroom accessories, home & decor items, bedding and furniture you’ll want to come home to! Don’t say bojio, new customers get $15 off their first purchase.

Use code NEW15 at checkout (Terms & Conditions Apply).

This is the final part of The BTO Guide to End All BTO Guides series. You can find the rest of the guide here:

Researching Understanding And Planning Stage:

• Part 1: Things You Need to Know Before Applying
• Part 2: Understanding Prices & Financing

Application Stage

• Part 3: Applying for BTO

Key Collection Stage

• Part 4: Key Collection

Moving in 

• Part 5: Opening Rituals and Inspections