Like a typical Filipino living abroad, I didn’t care much about our space here in Dubai before, because I was thinking life abroad is just temporary and I’d rather save money for our dream house in the Philippines (or somewhere else). Plus, the fact that we are only renting and we’re moving quite a lot from one place to another, makes us not think of spending so much in designing our space.
“Sa bahay natin in the future, gusto ko ganito, ganyan…”
My wife and I used to look so much into the future (dream house) that we forget to live in the present. It’s not a bad idea until you realized you wanted to stay here for the longer run. And with kids growing too fast, the need for a more conducive space to live, play, and study becomes more obvious.
What makes us decide to do interior design
So when we moved to a new 2-bedroom apartment in Dubai South, people thought we upgraded our lifestyle because it looks high-end. But actually, we are paying 30% less of what we used to pay for rent in the past years. That’s a HUGE cut. We’re just blessed to have found this gem of a place at a lower cost. Thanks to a friend.
We love the community so much that it feels like we wanted to stay here for the rest of our days in Dubai. The kids enjoy the playground where they run, get dirty and simply be kids. So with at least 10 years in mind, we decided to design this place as pretty and convenient as it could be using some of the money we cut from the yearly rent budget.
We believe interior design would be a good investment for our well-being. It’s more than just the look and feel, it’s more about the aesthetics.
Interior Design by Ikea
We believe that a concept done by someone with a better eye on design would give us direction – something that we may not get well if we decide to do it ourselves.
We inquired at IKEA Dubai Festival City as recommended by a friend. But we were referred to Dubai Festival Plaza as their list of customers waiting in the queue was already too long.
They do have an interior design service, but not a full interior design job. They only create a 3D rendering of their recommended layout with suggestions of furniture from them. When you avail of the service, you won’t be required to buy everything from their store. In fact, you don’t need to buy all their recommended items if you have something else in mind.
Upon payment, a team went to the place before we move in to get the measurements and other needed specs.
We told them what old furniture we are bringing and they considered them in the design. We also bought a number of items from other stores like JYSK and Home Centre, and that’s fine with them – they also included the exact items on the plan. After all, we are paying them for the service.
We only had an hour-long meeting with the designer wherein we shared our preferences, references and give her a glimpse of our lifestyle.
Then she took us around the store to check if we can already choose some items right there.
In a couple of days, she showed us her proposed layout.
The first version was so good it got us so excited. But like any other design jobs, we requested a few revisions. We had to check alternatives to some of the Ikea items she put in there. The designer was very helpful and nice to work with (though you really have to be very specific with your requests). After eventually coming to terms, a delivery schedule was arranged within 6 days.
A team of Ikea contractors came to assemble the furniture and put them in their respective position based on the approved drawing. The designer was not with them.
Since they are contractors and not from Ikea directly, they are very picky in getting requests from us. They would always refer to the drawing on their hand if the request is in scope or not. They just agreed that we pay them extra for them to do our additional requests for wall drilling.
The next day, another team of electrician came to install the lights.
All these happened within 15 days.
Interior design cost
- Ikea interior design layout – 750 per room (there’s a size limit – I’ll update this when I find it) – we have an open kitchen so we only paid one room for that.
- Lighting installation is 60 per light.
- Free delivery.
Ikea’s 3D designs in photos
Here are some screenshots from the video of the design they provide:
We said we want indoor plants, so you see how she added those lovely plants in the sketch.
