Many people think that renovating a home must cost an arm and a leg. In the past, I have seen clients who had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hacking walls, adding a certain design feature such as cascading waterfalls and whatnot, believing that all these will enhance their property values.
They had the impression that when they sell their property in the future, they can include all these renovation costs and recoup their spending. Guess what? Valuers do not take into consideration how much you had spent on your home renovation, unless it adds value to your property such as repairing beams and columns, leaking roofs, doing additions and alterations that add space (usually for landed homes) and such.
The rule of thumb when it comes to renovation is not to spend more than 10% of the value of your property. For example, if you had bought a property worth RM200,000, you should not spend more than RM20,000 on renovations. Let’s dive into these simple renovations that will make your home comfortable.
COLOURS
From luxury hotels to bespoke residences, top designers and architects in Southeast Asia agree that certain colours are easier on the eyes. Go for neutral colours like black, white, beige and a hint of wood as they speak of luxury and sophistication. Neutral colours are also easy on the eyes and are generally easier to capture the attention of prospective buyer should you intend to sell or rent out your property.
FEATURE WALL
This refers to a wall that highlights certain areas of your home, such as where bed or paintings will be. The feature wall should be in a dominant colour to highlight your living space. For instance, if you chose light grey as your living room wall colour, you should opt for dark grey to highlight the area where you have a certain design feature.
A feature wall could also have special treatment, such as wallpapers with interesting design, wood panelling, bricks, stones and so on to accentuate that particular space.
CEILINGS
To give an illusion of height in your space, your ceiling colour is important. You should opt for white or something a few tones lighter than your walls to accentuate a particular room White or pastel colours immediately have a lifting effect and give an otherwise small room an airy feel.
INDIRECT LIGHTING AND CORNICES
If you want to add dramatic effect or create an illusion of space, you can opt for cornices with indirect lighting. This trick is often employed in hotel lobbies and grand entrances. The cornice is built just slightly below the ceiling with ample space to put the indirect lights. The lights ‘wash’ the top of the ceiling and immediately have a ‘lifting’ effect. It also adds character to an otherwise staid room. This method isn’t costly and gives wonderful results.
FITTINGS
This refers to cupboards and any furniture that is fixed onto the walls. If possible, go for custom-made cupboards compared to loose cupboards that you buy at a furniture store. This is because custom-made cupboards are made to measure and will not result in wasted space.
For example, it can fill up the entire height of your room and take up a certain corner of your bedroom, which will maximise your storage space. In addition, it will not collect dust compared to a stand-alone cupboard.
However, it costs slightly more as it is tailor-made to fit snugly into your space. You can hire a carpenter for this or hire and interior designer to ensure maximum use of space. Fittings should have a minimum width of 60cm. When planning the location of your fittings, ensure that they do not obstruct a door or passageway.
SPACE
A well-designed space means the area has good natural light and ventilation, flows from one area to another and takes into consideration the movement space that you will need. In interior design, it places great importance on natural light and ventilation. This is because it gives a ‘feel good’ effect on your sense of well-being and living space.
Before buying a home, it is best to get one that is exposed too plenty of sunlight. You should choose homes in the north-south orientation to avoid the afternoon heat and reduce heat gain in your house. This facing is the most ideal as it is cooling and reduces your utility bills.
