I knew I wasn’t going to do major renovations, so I had to kind of decide on a theme on my own and just get furniture that matches the theme. Mind you I do have a lot of ideas, most things look nice, so it’s hard to narrow down to a particular one but in the end I took inspiration from the TV rack left behind (of all things) and just went with the usual scandi theme. Or maybe it’s partly japandi, can’t really tell the difference these days. Just a lot of light colored wood tones. 

And eventually identified the TV rack to be from Ikea, the very place I wanted to avoid for furniture because of its “commonness”. Like, I wanted to visit a “real” furniture shop for a change hahah. Also went through a lot of online stores and be like, hmm this is nice. 

But at this point it’s all window shopping. I didn’t know what fits and what doesn’t, I only knew I needed a lot of storage so focus on bed and sofa is on storage beds and storage sofa beds, which helps to narrow the choices. Visited a couple of furniture places and showrooms just to get a feel of some items I have been eyeing, and it is helpful in a way because I eliminated some places, like Hipvan - was very unimpressed by the quality; and virtually anything from all 14 stories of Tan Boon Liat - which, as hipster and popular as it was, just didn’t really fit into my budget. And finally after that trip in September for measurements and I did up my sketchup model, I had a much better idea of what I should be getting, in terms of the dimensions.

Then it’s the actual buying process. I didn’t plan in that way but end of the year coincide with sales and more sales, so in each of 10.10, 11.11 and 12.12 I spent a big chunk on furniture, and making full use of discounts. 

Started with bed/mattress, which I went for a King sized bed because I have the space - an upgrade if you will. Bed was from this place called thefurniture which caught my eye from FB ads and I had a good impression upon visiting their showroom because of its affordability and everything seemed customizable, even if I didn’t customize much in the end. Mattress, I was a bit torn between spending a bomb on it or not (because what if my future significant other doesn’t like it hahahahah). I went to try out a few places and couldn’t really tell the difference (for instance, when they say it’s cooling I really didn’t feel it). So in the end I gave Origin Mattress a try - they are a hybrid mattress in a box brand and they have a 120 day free trial thing which you can refund if you don’t like it - no questions asked. Plus they threw in an almost free pillow as part of 10.10 promo. 

For living room I had been eyeing a sofa from Comfort design - L-shaped looked really comfy, and even though it’s a sofa bed but the part where the bed is tucked under is still very cushion-y as compared to some from other places where they compromised on the thickness to create more space to tuck the bed. And on top of it was in discount, and again customizable - you can choose which side you want the L to be and reconfigure anytime. 

Dining table was another one which I spent a long time looking - knowing I had limited space I sort of wanted an extendable table - shorter length on usual days but if I ever needed to host anybody I can shift it out and extend it a bit. But this was hard - couldn’t find anything that matches my theme and affordable - in fact one table that caught my eye in the end wasn’t even extendable. But I made a trip to the showroom, sat around it and realize it still can fit around 6 people (tho a bit of squeeze) and I can find matching chairs for it so I just got it. Turned out to be Ikea ahahahaha so much for avoiding Ikea. And it turns out to be the first piece of furniture I bought and it was delivered before I got my keys even, so once I got keys I duly transported it over and assembled it because I didnt like how it was taking up space in my rented place, and I realised that I needed a table in the new place for the days I had to be there for various appointments, which I still think is a smart move.

And I think it kind of snowballed from there - I ended up Ikea-ing quite a bit. The TV console I wasn’t planning on at first, but I decided to repurpose the TV rack left behind as a display rack high up so I had to get a new console, and surprisingly Ikea had a better one which matched my budget as compared to my other online hunts. 

The dining chairs had a good story behind them too - I didn’t think they were that popular but by the time I went down to Ikea in December to get them, they were out of stock at Alexandra! Even in Tampines there’s only two of them left and I needed three. And I really wanted them because they are the only ones that matches my table and my requirement for a cushioned one. I really didn’t want to go hunting around other places for similar ones (and I couldn’t find any close enough) so against the staff’s recommendation (she said stock levels are only refreshed every few hours so those two might have been gone too) I decided to race down to Tampines to try to steal those last two pieces..but no luck. But the glimmer of hope is that the staff managed to locate 4 more at an “external warehouse” which she said she can’t be sure if it’ll be sent over to the Tampines branch, so she promised to let me know if it is, alternatively I can monitor the stock levels online and once I see them in the Tampines inventory I can come down to get it.

Actually it wasn’t a super big deal la. Stock will be replenished by early Jan apparently so I can still buy it later, but I wanted to be ready in time for my housewarming gathering lol. My backup plan was to borrow a couple of dining chairs from my current place in the interim for the gathering…but it’ll look so out of place la. I didnt put much hope, and staff didn’t call back by the deadline she promised but a couple of days later, while randomly checking I saw the stocks updated! Chiong-ed down after work and managed to nick three pieces woohoo (maybe it being the weekday helps). So proud of this attempt lol - and later that night when I checked again I saw the remaining pieces have also been sold so I think I just made it. 

Staff did call me on NYE to update me that the stocks have came in and I can come down to buy. Honestly I wasn’t expecting a follow up by now (she said she tried to call me the other time but my phone was not switched on or something - I didn’t dispute but this wasn’t possible) but still, good on her to still remember after a few weeks. 

Display shelf and shoe rack were both from this online store called fortytwo - they do have a showroom which I find the quality to be pretty decent so went ahead to purchase, though both I also had to put in some thought. For the display shelf it’s to make sure it had at least one compartment that is 50cm high so that my Burj nanoblock can fit in, even though I ended up not putting it there. For the shoe rack, initial plan was to place it in the dining area but gave up in the end and banished it out of my unit, and because of that I had to get one of those narrow body ones ala Ikea because otherwise it would block my main door. Which is a compromise on my end because I always wanted one that can fit a lot of pairs of shoes (so that I can buy more heheh) but too bad, I guess. 

Castlery is one of the furniture companies I have been eyeing - pricing wise it’s mid tier I feel and I really do like their style. But eventually I only bought a coffee table from there, though it’s one interesting table. Points for service recovery though - there was a small scratch/dent which I picked up when they delivered, which the delivery staff duly noted and reported back to HQ - and in no time they were contacting me, asking for pics, and offering me a 10% off since it's really not a massive defect which I accepted of course. 

Another place that I visited was Loft Furniture, and again while they have interesting pieces I only ended buying a bedside table from them, and via their Shopee store. Study desk was from Vhive, which has physical stores but again I ended up buying from their Lazada store.

All items earning me bonus miles. The strategy is to buy them online and use my DBS card for it to give me max bonus, but had to improvise for some along the way. For instance, the arrival of my Amaze card which allowed me to count some offline spending to online ones - all the Ikea stuff, for instance. And when online purchase from Comfort was not counted as shopping but services because of the way their payment platform, I thankfully managed to reverse the transaction (albeit with a fee) and went down to the showroom to purchase instead. Maybe this obsession with miles isn’t the healthiest (because I got stressed over it more than I should), but these are really rare big ticket purchases and it’ll hurt to not make full use of the opportunity. The end result is that I more than doubled my miles balance, enough to earn me a one way Suites trip to New York (which is halfway of my ultimate goal of a two way trip heh).

I did feel like I was drifting away from my vision bit by bit as I went about furniture purchasing, because the availability of items sometimes throw me off and I was thinking it may end up looking very rojak, but I think the end result was pretty close to what I wanted! Forego some items like a couch side table because of lack of space, but I think I pretty much filled up the space well. What’s left is actually decor like, I duno, paintings or something but let’s see if I will ever get there haha. Somehow the idea of drilling holes into my walls is not very appealing to me and I kind of lost all momentum after shifting in (as evidenced by my balcony which is still bare) so…we shall see. Hahaha.