House Interior Design Philippines

Recently we have discussed building a house in the Philippines and all that it involves. House Interior Design Philippines varies tremendously. So hopefully, before you have signed off the final drawings, you have settled on the layout you want.

Some people think that interior design starts and finishes at the wall colour. It is so much more than that.

Interior Design Inspiration

Just a few considerations are:

1. Your budget.
2. What living spaces do you require.
3. Electrical Points.
4. Plumbing Point.
5. Internet Point.
6. False Ceiling Design.
7. Flooring Design and Materials.
8. Woodwork and associated furniture.

I spend time on Pinterest looking for ideas and designs that I can incorporate into the house plan.

Before we go on, I want to introduce you to a favourite phrase I use, and it has been proven true so many times: “No plan ever survives first contact”.

What does this mean? It means that no matter how good your planning is, something will go wrong, or you will change your mind. But no plan has ever gone from start to finish without a change.

Space planning

This house will possibly be your forever home, and you want it right. But, you need to keep in mind that you have never seen it, regardless of how good the 3D graphics you have looked at during design development with your Philippines interior designer.

I have watched two YouTube builds, and on one, I watched the couple allocate an area for the dining room table and designed the false roof for that area. So, the same couple also had a walk-in wardrobe attached to an oversized bathroom which was more extensive than their living room area. Once all their furniture was in the house, you could tell it was not right. But, the way they had built the house meant change was almost impossible.

Another YouTube build I am currently watching shows they want a sunken floor in the living room, which is a design I like, but they are having the seating area made of concrete and will put cushions on them. Again, if they move in and don’t like it, change will be a huge and expensive job.

Plan for Change

In my previous articles, I suggested that you build in as much heat-reflecting material into your home design as possible.

In this article, I want to look at how House Interior Design Philippines does not need to be pure concrete and re-bar, and you can plan for change.

First of all, I have started to create a list of all the rooms I want in my house. This list will be a high-level list such as:

1. Living room
2. Kitchen
3. Pantry
4. Bedroom 1
5. Ensuite 1
6. Bedroom 2
7. Ensuite 2
8. Office
9. Garage

Under each of the above headings, start to list what is going into that room furniture wise and even consider how much time you will spend in that room during the day. There is no point in having a palatial bedroom you only use for 8 hours of sleep a day and a living area the size of a shoebox you want to entertain.

List the electrical fittings you want in the rooms, the lights, the power outlets, AC systems, and networking systems for SMART homes. Keep in mind if you need to use mains extension leads, you got it wrong!

Building and planning your house in the Philippines requires you to do it twice for the kitchens and are going to be the hardest. I have never lived in a house where there were enough electrical outlets for all my appliances. As you now also need a dirty kitchen.

Colour and other wall decorations can be added to your lists also.

Build for Change

Now you have your list, you and your architect can add them to the plans for the build.

This is where you need to make serious changes to the way your house is constructed. Concrete walls that are thick and full of re-bar are no good for a quick change. The outside walls of your house will be solid and either concrete or one of the other technologies available in the Philippines. One or two walls inside the house will also need to be solid; these are called load-bearing walls, and your engineer will understand what is required and where.

The other walls in the house do not need to be concrete. But, can be constructed as partition walls with a metal frame and rock board. Walls built this way can easily be removed, changed, and quickly have electrical points etc., added to them later.

Looking at the drains for sinks, showers and toilets in the Bathrooms and interior kitchen, you want the pipework to go directly outside through a hole in the wall. This goes for the water coming into the house also.

Building this way means that nothing is entombed in concrete and can be easily changed or fixed. Any leaks are also spotted instantly.

If you want floor drains, make sure the entire pipework run is accessible. This can be easily done in channels that have been moulded into the concrete slabs for the drains and water pipes whilst ensuring you can fix them if they break.

Avoid at all costs holes in your concrete slab. Any holes will be a perfect invitation for termites to invade your home.

Flooring

If you watch enough YouTube videos, you will see most contractors pour the concrete slab, then once dried, they come in and put several inches of a sand concrete mix on top of the concrete to lay the tiles on.

This is an old method of putting tiles directly on grade and is a complete waste of money putting them on top of a good concrete slab.

But, If the slab is poured correctly and flat, then the tiles can go directly on top of the concrete using normal tile adhesive.

By doing it this way will save you an incredible amount of time and money because doing it the old-fashioned way requires your contractor to add six or more inches to the height of your rooms. i.e., If you want a ten-foot ceiling, he will build it ten foot six.

So, as well as the extra time it takes to build in that extra six inches, think about the cost of the rebar, the concrete etc.!

So, I hope this gives you some ideas that will save you time and money in the long run. Next week I am going to look at some SMART Technology that you can build into your home.