If I could turn back time, there are definitely some things that I would have done differently when it comes to my home renovation. Some regrets are due to not thoroughly thinking through the decision. Others are due to an oversight that I only realized after the renovation has been done. There are also some regrets that are due to me and my husband assuming that what was shared with us was going to be what we were going to get.
Here are the 10 renovation regrets or things that I would have done differently for my home.
I hope that the points shared below will be useful in helping you not make the same mistakes that we did!
1. Placement of Kitchen Switches
I realized too late that the side where I prefer having more switches is in the right direction of the stove, instead of the left side. This is because putting the appliances at the right side will prevent people from bumping or criss-crossing with each other, which can be quite a hindrance especially when one is cooking. If I had the choice, I would also place the kettle and also a platform to place my ipad on the right side, and only my blender on the left.
However, since I have so many switches on the left side, I have no choice but to put the kettle, my blender, my ipad charger and also one more spare switch on the left side. I hope that I eventually will find some use for that spare switch. Having this layout is OKAY, but it is definitely not my preferred way of positioning the appliances.
So, do spend some time to really think about how you will utilize your kitchen, so you will know where you should really place your switches at.
2. Placement of Bedroom wall lights
I wanted to have a classy, retro and vintage feel to my bedroom, and to me, the pair of round wall lights I got from AliExpress, definitely screams classy, retro and vintage. I love them a lot! What I do not love is the placement – I should have placed the wall lights a little higher and I should have also shifted them more to the right side of the bed.
Why I should have placed the wall lights a little higher
When I switch them on while lying on my bed, the glare from the light can be quite glaring at the corner of my left eye. Luckily, I was able to turn them the other way up so that the lamps won’t be so glaring to my eyes. However, the reason why I love these wall lights so much in the first place, is because I love how they look when the lamps are downwards, instead of upwards. So yeah, placing them upwards is definitely not my ideal choice, but for the sake of me and my husbands’ eyes (and also because we do not want to constantly turn the lamp up and down), we have left the lamps to stay turned upwards all the time.
Why I should have placed the wall lights more to the right side
The reason why I should have also shifted them to the right side is because, initially I wanted to place 2 working desks facing the window – one for my husband and one for myself. When the tables arrived and after placing them at my ideal placement, the space between the desk and the bed was way too narrow. It definitely looked way too cramp.
Hence, we decided that this placement was completely not practical for us and we decided to only have one of the desks in the bedroom, and to place the other desk in our spare room. Honestly, I am actually loving having just one desk in our bedroom. However, instead of using it as a working desk, the desk is now more like my vanity table as I definitely prefer using my laptop either at my study table (which is in my living room) or on my bed. However this table will still be very useful as a working desk if I were to ever want to have more privacy or focus while doing work at home.
3. Kitchen glass backing wall
You may not be able to see it here, but there is a slight tinge of green from this kitchen glass tile, which I was not expecting. I was expecting the tiles to be full white without any tinge of green. In fact, initially this tile was supposed to be much more green and I made a request to change it to white, accepting the additional cost for this upgrade. Alas, there is still a slight tinge of green, especially during the day. However, this is a VERY minor issue and I am still loving the fact the the glass is a full glass piece which means that there are no grout lines. If I had the money, I would reduce as many grout lines as I can in my home.
On a side note, if I had thought a little bit harder, I MAY have considered getting these retro looking brick tiles that are so cute but yet also really easy to clean. I think they will look nice in an all green cabinet kitchen. Oh well, I will consider this again in my next home.
4. Dining chairs
I really like the first 2 dining chairs I got from a Taobao vendor. However, when I went to purchase again, the quality of the next 2 chairs I got were not as good. I went to check back on the link of the first dining chairs I got but unfortunately, EZBuy, the vendor that I bought the chairs from, wiped out all purchases (due to a company business decision to not deal with Taobao ‘EZShip’ purchase from December 2021 onwards). Hence I was not able to find the chairs that I purchased initially, as I also could no longer find the Taobao link of the chairs I purchased initially.
I finally managed to get another chair that looked like the chairs I originally bought but all that additional time could have been prevented had I kept the original Taobao link of the chairs that I first bought.
5. Not double checking on the wall paint color tone
I got a shock when I saw that the living room paint was not like the paint in the render, which was supposed to be dark gray. The actual paint turned out to be a mid-toned blueish gray which looked even more blue the more I looked at it. I was completely unhappy with this color but was told once again that the render was of a darker gray due to the lighting effect in the render. Ah well, it was really hard to argue about this, hence, I had to fork up a few hundreds to change the blue-grey to a darker pure grey, which I absolutely love. An oversight that cost a few hundreds on top of my renovation costs!
6. Not asking for actual kitchen foldable window reference
A big oversight I made was not asking for the exact version of the foldable windows that was shared in the render. I simply assumed that the actual window would look exactly how it looks in the render. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the result and our ID told us that sometimes the real version is not the same as the render.
I decided to just stick with this foldable windows as I did not want to incur any more costs. However, since the gaps above the windows hindered the window’s main purpose of preventing smells from getting out of the kitchen, I decided to give it another purpose which is to get more privacy. I got a professional to come and stick some frosted bamboo frosted stickers on the windows. This was definitely quite a risk as it could come off as tacky.
Luckily, I am really loving the aesthetic look of it and it has definitely been a feature in the house that has caught visitors’ attention. Also, not only does it help to give more privacy, the stickers also help to make the finger marks on the glass windows seem less obvious.
Anyway, the main lesson learnt from this is to make sure I see the actual item, instead of assuming that whatever is shown in the render is going to be the final product.
7. Not changing the toilet bowl to a better version
After a few months of staying at my new place, I realised that the toilet bowl that was already in the flat was pretty weak, as I had to flush 3-4 times after my big business. Flushing 3-4 times just to flush everything down is really a huge waste of water and may have also incurred additional costs too. This could have been prevented if I had gotten a better toilet bowl. Anyway, this is something that I will live with for now until my toilet bowl completely breaks down or until I move to a new home.
8. Sofa is not stylish
Before I got this recliner sofa, I was adamant that I wanted a sleek modern sofa to go with my basic shapes theme. Truth to be told, I do not totally regret getting this sofa as it is really quite comfortable.
However I was definitely having massive second thoughts about this sofa, especially during the few days after I purchased it. When I was viewing sofas at the furniture shop, for some reason, I was definitely enticed by this sofa. I must say that the salesman’s skill was top-notch to make me and my husband want to get this sofa. Perhaps, another reason why I got this sofa was also because after looking around for so long, I finally found one that was mostly calf leather, of my budget and also supported my head.
I was highly regretting my decision over the next few days and was even liaising with the sales personnel over WhatsApp to change it. He offered to make the left side of this sofa a recliner and after he offered this, I decided to just stick with this sofa simply because it serves the purpose it looks like it should serve, plus it is undeniably comfortable to boot.
9. Not drilling a hole at tv console to let a cable go through
When the carpenter was fixing up the tv console cabinet, I did not really think much about the need of adding a hole at the right side of the tv console cabinet, as I simply thought that the interior designer knew best and I went with his decision of not having a hole there (actually to be honest there was not much of a discussion about this).
After the TV Console Cabinet has been fixed up, and after I have been staying in my home for a few months, I realised that I should have added a hole at the side, to make way for cables to go through, so I can have the option of charging a vacuum cleaner at the small space next to my TV console if I wanted to. Oh well!
10. Not adding a skirting the half wall next to my kitchen
I have been asked a number of times why I did not add a skirting at the bottom of my half wall. Honestly, I am not sure why. Perhaps if I added a skirting, the half wall would look more complete. However, this oversight is not something that I am losing sleep over.
All in all, even though I did not 100% get everything right, my home is most definitely very comfortable and a happy place that I look forward to coming back to everyday.
The layout of the home has been carefully thought out to suit the needs of myself and the people living in my home. It is indeed place that I really enjoy being in 24/7.
I am also not losing sleep over any oversight or renovation regrets mentioned above. That is all that matters and I can definitely see myself staying in this home for a long time. I hope that the points in this article have been helpful in helping you with your renovation decisions!