I built my dream home this year, not for myself but for my parents whom I've always been grateful to all my life.
Location is 3min walk from Novena MRT, Velocity, Square 2, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and most importantly, 5min walk from Ning's new school for the playgroup that she is in.
Facilities include a mega huge main pool, 3 massage pavilion, a super tall full height glasshouse as the clubroom, 2 tennis courts, 1 training pool, a play ground, a mini soccer court and 2 swings.
It is a 581 square feet studio that includes an open kitchen, a balcony and an open concept bedroom area and living room area.
I've always been sending my parents to staycations during occasions worth celebrating like mother's days, father's days, birthdays and festive days for the past 8-9 years in my career. This is finally the year, I send them to a permanent beautiful staycation where they can enjoy their retirement life with their children and grandchild(ren) every single day.
Certainly, the first biggest decision I had to make for this dream home was to make The purchase. The down-payment was a substantial amount that I have never parted before in my life for any other purchases. Nonetheless, I knew that I wouldn't be happier to purchase this property for own stay because the moment I decided to let this be my parents' retirement home, my world felt complete. I knew it will bring me way more contentment and meaning to house them there.
It was really not a walk in the park when I had to attend to so many details after the handover of the keys. This is definitely the first time I was so involved in the renovation process of a home. My residential property is Junrong's purchase, so he set a few restrictions to how the renovation can be done. This solo renovation experience guided by my uncle, who is my ID, was very eye-opening.
It started from my moodboard on PowerPoint slides which I sent to him. I spent a great amount of time researching for renovation inspo on Pinterest for the bedroom, study and balcony. I'm really grateful that my uncle helped me with many useful suggestions and advice on how to make this dream home functional yet beautiful.
My uncle communicated with me very regularly on every single aspect of the renovation. Due to time constraint, we split the work load in order to allow my parents to move in in time. I did the shopping of the lights, choosing of the bay window cushion material and of course went all over the place to search for suitable furniture. My uncle took care of the carpentry, design, balcony leaking problem, the blinds, the installation of the lights and fans and the wallpaper. Sure enough with teamwork, everything was completed in less than 2 months.
I grabbed the opportunity to bring Junrong and Ning for a staycation there in this dream home that I built 1 day before my parents moved in officially. Dreams do come true.
We brought Ning to swim and she enjoyed herself so much like she was the happiest kid in the world. I'm sure it is the perfect environment for Ning to grow up well in and for my parents to enjoy quality of life in their retirement years.