Soft Furnishings and Furniture

Curtains

I met with 2 companies, the first one recommended by Benji. The curtain guy came over to my apartment to take measurements, toting along a catalog of curtain samples. I wanted a mix of black out curtains, and Venetian and/or roller blinds. Some of the advice the curtain guy gave did not sound convincing though, and just as well his quote was on the high side, so again I did some online research and decided to try out MGL Curtain & Furnishing.

I went to their shop in Lavender St. as I also wanted to be able to view a wider range of options than what they would be able to show me if we had met at my apartment. A lady called “May” is highly referenced on Renotalk, however most of the forum posts are rather dated so I just walked in and let them assign any salesperson to serve me. “KL” turned out to be very helpful, offering suggestions and patiently discussing options with me as I went through the many catalogs in their showroom.

I am very pleased with the whitewood slate Venetian blind and the other curtains I got. There are thin and wide slat timber blinds, however the wide slat ones look more commanding, especially if you have a large/high window. They are more expensive though. The wooden blinds themselves are also more expensive then aluminum Venetian blinds, which bend easily and are less durable, however are lighter.

-      You might also want to get “ladder tapes” for your blinds – these are the tape coverings that run the vertical length of the blinds and serve to cover the string pulling the blinds, for a more finished look. These were quoted at an additional S$1 /ft.

I spent about S$2800 in all, however I do have a lot of windows, and large ones at what. I doubt if I got the lowest price, however I was not looking for just the cheapest supplier I could find. The wide slat timber blinds were quoted (before a 5% discount) at S$10/sq ft, roller blind at S$6/sq ft (there are different materials and qualities at different price ranges), and a full set of night curtains at S$18/m (again, there are many different materials and qualities at a range of prices).  

Note that some items were quoted at per feet, or square feet, while others were per metre.

        

Furniture

I got my sofa from Harvey Norman, a “Martin” 3-seater with ottoman for about S$1700. HN at Millenia Walk has a nice showroom with a wide selection of fabrics at different price ranges to choose from. The custom-made sofa took 6 weeks to produce.

To save on costs, I decided to retain my dining and coffee tables as well as a shoe cabinet, however re-sprayed these from their previous Zen brown to white. Properly re-spraying furniture a new colour is not cheap though, as the carpenter first needs to sand down all the previous colour and varnish to naked wood, and then re-spray the new colour on. 

I got my furniture re-sprayed by Kor Sheng Sofa (from an ad in the Straits Times classified), at a reasonable price and am very happy with the job. They were also very flexible with the delivery dates, which I had to postpone a number of times. The elder Mr Heng is Chinese speaking while his son is English-speaking.

Dining set - BEFORE

Coffee table - BEFORE

Dining set - AFTER

For the doors in my apartment I opted for the cheaper method of just re-painting the doors white (brush painting). The paint is not as smooth as if the paint had been sprayed on, however some compromises (in life!) are necessary.

Carpet

Shaggy carpets are all the rage now, especially soft silky shaggies with really high pile. I looked at the carpets at IKEA and found them pretty outdated though. At their prices the carpets tend to be quite rough, and their “high piles” were actually not high, nor soft at all. I had spotted a nice carpet on display at HN, however it was old stock and the sales guy actually told me to try Arab Street.

After visiting some of the carpet shops I found mentioned on Renotalk, I took up the sales guy's advice and popped by Arab St. I managed to find a silky shaggy ultra soft carpet at Haji Tawakal, who apparently own a number of the carpet shops on Arab St including Luxury Carpets. The salesman (Turkish I think?) was very helpful and patient, and I bought a China-made faux animal fur carpet (140cm x 200cm) for S$300, which was less than what it would cost at the furniture shops I saw similar carpets at. I think I could have bargained the price down some however did not as I had already made the sales guy go through piles of carpets, and at 2 shops!

The silky shaggy carpets are all made in China apparently. The tread on my carpet does come lose, however I don’t mind the odd loose strands, and the nice sales guy had warned me as much on this one I chose. There are different qualities though and you can choose one where the threads do not come loose.

Silver grey silky shaggy carpet, and my once-brown-now-white coffee table