Our home reno: Shopping for the Perfect Dining Set

I’ve been hunting for the perfect dining table for our scandi themed home. I’ve been relentless in my search I must say. The thing is, I have a rather specific design in my mind and that translates to expectations. Our table must be woodsy but it can’t be too dark a colour. So that rules out any table made of timber or any darker wood. The design must be simple, not complex. It has to be rectangle to fit the layout of our dining room. And due to space constraints, the table can’t be more than 160cm in length.

So far I’ve found options at:

-          Ikea

-          Comfort Furniture (found this shop online that customizes furniture)

-          Courts

-          Cellini

-          Star Living

I’ve also looked at other furniture places but couldn’t find anything:

-          Scanteak (wood too dark)

-          OM Furniture (same issue)

-          Vhive (furniture’s too awful)

Ikea

There’s this rather nice foldable table that Ikea sells. Its wood colour is fine by my standards. Initially, I was rather keen to get it since it fits our theme and is super cheap! It has a price tag of only $299. Can get a simple chair for about $55.

But after a while, I had doubts about its quality (ikea isn’t particularly known for this haha). And I was worried about the maintenance of the folding parts of the table.

So I decided to drop this option!

Comfort Furniture

 This shop has pretty nice designs. I was quite impressed with their ‘Butcher’ wooden table range and they actually allow buyers to customize the size of their tables according to their needs. How flexible. They had very nice modern, woodsy chairs for sale too.

After browsing their website, I immediately dropped an email enquiry on the prices of the dining table options and chairs. They responded very promptly! The table I liked cost around $1,000 for a 160cm length and the chairs cost around $150 each. You can tell it’s much pricier than the Ikea option but I guess they’re offering more quality furniture.

Courts (AMK)

I visited the place one day with my dad, mum and sis. We were checking out what refrigerator and washing machine to buy for my place (since they gonna sponsor hehe). Since I was there, I visited their furniture showroom upstairs. I was surprised to see that they carried one dining set which seemed to suit our theme! I was rather excited. The table had a maple woodsy top + white legs and it was pretty affordable at $499. The chairs were really ugly though so I didn’t even both to take a second look at them.

Cellini (Expo Fair)  

When G and I laid our eyes on this dining set, we wanted to get it soooooo much. It was simply tooo nice! But what held us back was its price tag. $1,888 for a 140cm table with 4 chairs. It’s crazy ex I know. I guess it was pricey because of its white quartz table top which is supposed to be anti-scratch, very resistant to stains and wear + tear. The dining table had wooden legs which would blend very well with our interior design.

We were so tempted to get this set that we even asked our ID to check it out.  But by the time he got back to us, it was kinda too late. The expo fair was over so the $200 discount they offered lapsed. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise!

Star Living (Singpost)

This place has pretty nice furniture I must say. I didn’t expect to find anything when I decided to browse around one day.

Then I realized the place has a dining table set that we might really get! The table I set my eyes on had an oak table top with white legs. It had a nicer and more natural colour compared to the courts table. Size wise, it has a length of 150cm which is fine. Pricewise, it cost $499 which is the same as courts. For chairs, there were so many options ranging from $59 for a simple white chair to $119 for the better white/red ones.

After looking at quite a few options, I feel that this is the best option for us. The design and price are just right =D

Can’t wait to bring hubba down to take a look. Feel like confirming our purchase so we can finally tick this item off our list! Hopefully, Star Living is able to hold on to our dining set until our house is ready!

Update:

G and I brought our ID to check out the Star living dining set today. And he gave a big thumbs up! According to him, on top of suiting our theme, the table was of good quality (not made of chipboard) for the price and the size was just nice (not too squeezy even for 2 big men to sit side by side). He told us the price was good because based on his experience, such tables usually cost around $599 onwards at other furniture shops.

I asked him if we could buy 2 white chairs and 2 red chairs to match and he advised against it. It looks simpler and cleaner by having all 4 same coloured chairs. He added that the best way to decorate the dining table was to use a bigger vase display with red roses/tulips, green colours etc. The point is to use brighter colours to add that pop of colour. Made very good sense to me =D

Given his blessings, G and I decided to make the purchase yay! The entire set cost $735 but we just paid a deposit of $235 first. So happy with our buy! *beams*