We had no dining area so we created one!
232
- Contemporary
- Condo
- ~1,300 sqft
- 4 br
- Couple Living with Kids
the 3d for our shoe cabinet cum storage area in the dining area. The plan is make the space near the entrance functional but still aesthetic. 
3d carpentry in the dining area. The wrap-around carpentry consists of a shoe cabinet, a niche to hold our keys and storage area in front of our dining area. We also added a ceiling mount fan for our dining area to minimise stuff on the floor as that was one of our Reno regrets from our previous house. 
The original entrance to our place. When viewing the unit, I already had plans in my mind to hack the wall down. To me, the wall made the corridor too long and too dark and the space was dead space as there is no function. What's behind the wall? It's the maid's toilet and the utility room. This took up alot of the floor space that we felt could be better utilised esp in the living area. As a family with kids, storeroom is still a must to store miscellaneous stuff (ie junk) so we re erected a smaller storeroom that could still fit a 1.5m x1.8m rack. 
This was the original area for our living room cum dining area. You can see that the designated dining area is too small and the kitchen door placement is awkward. We want to purposefully create a dining area where it does not take the living room space. 
Hacked to the bones! So we hacked the storeroom and helpers' toilet away and this means that the flooring has been hacked away too. To make this area be part of the living room, means we have to find similar flooring to the rest of the living room as we are keeping the original marble floor. Now this was highlighted to us in the beginning that there is a high possibility that we would not be able to find e same marble as the old one. And even if we find a similar one, after marble polishing, there would a difference in colour too. This was a worry on my mind all the time as I was afraid that the colour difference would be too big and was prepared to cover that area with a rug and dining table. Id took a slab of the marble and went to several factories to try to find a similar one on her own.She found one that she thought was most similar and as there were only a few pieces left, she snapped them up in a jiffy! And you really cannot tell the difference between the old and new marble unless you look closely. what a relief! 
this is where we hit our first reno snag.. after hacking the old false ceiling, and the helper's toilet, it's revealed that the big toilet pipes were hidden in the false ceiling. The idea was to do a even false ceiling throughout the living room but now with this big pipe protruding out, Id need to think how to conceal this.. stay tuned to see her solution 😊 ID came out with this idea to conceal the big toilet pipes! Just nice we were planning to use that area for the dining area so a lowered down false ceiling to conceal the big pipe looks like part of the design and Id added some curves to tie it together with the whole living room theme. She also got her workers to stuff padding around the pipe so we would not hear flushing or water sounds when we are under it. Perhaps cos it's a helper's toilet, we haven't heard any sounds since moving in. After painting the false ceiling, it seemed that it was alway in the plan to make the dining area look this way! thank goodness it turned out fine! Kudos to our ID who thought of this brillant idea! making the space functional by adding lots of storage! though its depth is shallow as the storeroom is just behind this storage unit, its enough for us to put away basic necessities such as toilet paper, tissue paper just to name a few. We also put stuff that we seldom take out into this storage as well such as photo albums and frames My tip to new homeoweners is to air the carpentry as soon as possible to get rid of the Formaldehyde smell. we open the cupboards to air them, toss in some formaldehyde removers and even placed our purifier near it to remove the smell. We opt for a wood theme for our dining room storage carpentry on the advice from our ID to break the monotony of just white in our livin room. I was trying to stay away from the ikea pine wood colour and was pleased with this wood laminate that gave out a warm and cosy vibe for the house. Lighting really do play a part in setting the ambience for the house. we used a combintation of downlights, led strip and ambience lighting, all smart lighting from vlux lighting to help create the mood that is fit for the occasion. 
We also had some half arched display shelves to fit into the general theme of the house and for us to display some sentimental items. 
We utilised the space that was the helper's toilet/storeroom to be our dining room instead, leaving the rest of the space for living room lounging. By creating a dining area, we also made the living room look more spacious and more airy due to the removal of the big bulky wall at the entrance. There you have, our dining area! Husband likes to work from the dining area facing our window greenery! Do u guys think it was worth the effort to create a bigger living and dining area?
- 5 October 2023
Report Post