Hi,

I have budget limitation, but I would like to have a satisfied and self-comfortable house.
Do I just need to go for constructor if i have concept?
Or interior designer will help us to design according to what we need?

Interior designer also need to makan. To put in an analogy, it's just like getting a hair cut: You can ask your mom to do it or you can get a professional hair stylist. Obviously the results will be different because of the difference in the breadth of their experience, training and exposure to various ideas.
Unless you are very talented or know exactly how you want your house to look like in your mind, chances are if you design yourself, the house will look ordinary at best.

hi TS

Actually Interior Design, is based on personal taste.. juz like rich ppl can drive mercedes and middle or lowe income ppl drive kancil or proton.

i learned from observation that, Western ppl tend to prefer more DIY interior or home deco; while lots of Malaysian seem to prefer more "professional interior design".

Limited budget would *never* constraint ur aspiration to create a comfortable and cozy home.

There're lots of ideas u could refer to .. from home deco magazines at book stores, youtube, websites, FB , etc etc ... there're really tonnes of ideas u can learn from without having to really opt for expensive interior design.

Well did you ever tried online interior designing concepts? If not then you must try them. You will have everything done in very low cost and within your budget. You don't need to go anywhere or get any appointment thus you will get good concepts as well as instruction on how to do it all the interior work by yourself. This will not only save your money but also your time.

This post has been edited by mrhien912: Jul 24 2013, 06:32 PM

Hi, hiring an Interior designer might help on visualize ur house before it built..
and knowing all the detail of your house~

by hiring site supervisor will help on time saving and problems solving...

Different charges from Interior depends on their works too...

A famous ID will cost lots compare to contractor' ID

I have concepts but I was just worried where to find the constructor, do they able to do this, or the material they use is good or not good...

I tend to DIY, but something which is out of my ability and control. Example, walk in wardrobe. From youtube, it looks simple and damn cheap but actually it is hard.
Do there have any temporary worker vacancy so that i can work with those experiences in weekend as part time?

I have concept but just have some tiny area which i still don't have satisfied idea. no worth for this.

Of course u look for contractor not desiner cause you only have limited budget you wouldn't afford the designer fee and at the same time you have your idea of to renovate your hosue,you just let the contractor know what you want they will do it for and if you have picture of sorts is also good for contractor reference that's my piece of advice for you.

lets say if I settle part by part, kitchen, living room, bedroom etc, example, kitchen, will it be any designer if i seek for kitchen contractor? or i have my own concept already, will they charge on design fee?

This post has been edited by telasdist: Jul 24 2013, 11:39 PM

depends on you need a drawing or not~
if you got basic idea/ magazine, just show it to contractor, they will do similar to ur ref~
But if anythings happen, there is no proof, since there is no proper drawing

If you need a designer to help you visualize and detailthe drawing, then will help up to do 3D visual drawing like:-


and detail like:-

to give you exact dimension on that

go ikea.. free designer.. bring your plans along. they can help u.. just make appointment

After drawing can take back the sample?

ikea is not using plywood

anywhere...trend keep chaging

of course can

get the ideas.. source your own materials if u dont like theirs.. dont need to pay money to interior designers.. extra cost.. save tht money and make ur house better

Because i was thinking that you give the budget to ID, then ID will help to arrange the necessity. This is my initial thought and the reason i post here.

For the dimension, ID draw it or, the contractor draw it?

Really?
They will draw for us for free although we're not bear with their idea? for free?
as i know, some of ikea's stuffs are not so robust and loss in quality.

Went through same dilemma like u early this year..."budget limitation". I open excel and list all the cost that I can think of and add extra $xx thousand to the excel for unforseen costs then compare with my budget. Then you can roughly know if you still got budget for ID or not.

Also if you got no idea on ID at all, you can consider to browse through this website http://indesign.my/. I found many inspirations there. Google image helps a lot too.

1 more point to consider, if you got canggih ID plan, is your contractor able to execute it?

GOOD LUCK!

Budget limitations are always relative and dependent on the condition of the property as well. e.g., older/subsale property with previous occupants may need repair work etc etc.
Definitely doing without ID you will save that cost of several thousands, or about 10%
Hiring ID and asking him to use the cheapest materials is also another way, but I think you will regret that and it may be a lose-lose situation if you are unlucky, i.e., you are not happy with his work and he cannot cari makan. Remember that cheap is usually not good and good is usually not cheap. You have to strike a balance between the two extremes.

If you really want to save money, you could DIY a lot of things and order the raw materials yourself, even fix some of the things yourself if you are so inclined. For example, if you order LED lights, switches or wallpaper online direct from China, you could probably save 50% of the cheapest equivalent local prices, and the quality is not too bad if you do your homework. I know of someone who renovated a 3 storey terrace for under 60K
You can really really save a lot, but really it is a question of time vs opportunity cost. In the example above, that person spent the better part of one and half years doing all the painting, wallpapering and fixing the lighting by themselves, with only the kitchen cabinets and plaster ceiling subbed out to a contractor. If you can afford to spend a similar amount of time doing that you can consider that option.

If you stretch out your renovation period and prioritize the really important stuff, you may be reduce the financial pain of the renovation as well.

thanks for your suggestion.
But, how do you know the market price?