Inspirations

The most difficult thing when approaching the renovation of a home, I believe, is knowing where to start. There are so many things to consider and so many choices to make. Often the big picture gets obscured by the small details, by practicalities. And before you know it, the grandiose ideas, the elaborate plans you make, become lost in the clutter.

For us, we did what most people with no prior experience in renovation would do, buy magazines for references and inspiration. Getting ideas is one thing, applying it to reality is another. That is why we found it hard to get inspired by showroom perfect images of  homes in magazines. Some of them just do not seem very livable, or indeed like a home you might want to come back to.

Ikea’s Beloved Homes

But one of the first books we read, Beloved Homes, published by IKEA, remains one of the best sources of ideas and inspirations. I was particularly struck by one of the pages (which I’ve posted on the right) which explains succinctly why design is not always about picture perfect aesthetics. It is a mantra that we have tried to follow when making choices for our new home. If it has a reason to be there, and it’s not aesthetically hideous, we’ll live with it and work our design around it.

Hole in the wall

The ‘hole-in-the-wall’ idea also originated from the same book. This is the picture that sparked the idea, although we have tweaked it to meet our needs. Beloved Homes is well written, cleverly presented and best of all, showcases interiors which are obviously designed and renovated to be enjoyed as homes not showrooms.

Another book that I found useful is Terence Conran’s, Essential Small Spaces. It’s a good reference for how to plan your living spaces and provides suggestions that are particularly relevant to a HDB flat dweller. It was a birthday present from the wife and it’s an invaluable source of information. Dwell Asia, is another magazine we often refer to. It’s got a good handle on current trends and what’s in fashion.

Door frame reference

Originally, one of the items  we wanted very much to install, were aluminum frame glass doors across the hacked walls in the living room (somewhat like the picture on the right). In the end, we decided against it as we felt that the ceiling just wasn’t high enough for it to work as we intended. It would have closed up the space that we wanted to open up. And looking at various other magazines which had similar references provided us with the reassurance we had made a good choice.

But overall, the key is to never stop looking for inspirations as they can pop up from different sources. And even though you might find your big idea increasingly diminished by realities, the solution to that might just be waiting to be found somewhere.