The backstory of not doing an inbuilt wardrobe was a very simple one. As you can see from our MBR design here, we are not intending for a wardrobe to be located in the MBR as of yet. So until we have a kid, the spare room will be used as a walk-in wardrobe. However, the idea was to ensure that the wardrobe will be easy to dismantle and relocated to the MBR in the future. Initially I wanted to get IKEA modular wardrobe as it fits what I was looking for. A visit to one of the furniture fairs at Expo changed my mind as we came across our first pole system on display.
I cannot recall the company’s name now but I remembered that the quote was for ~S$1,800 per 6 feet. After understanding more from the sales person, I did a quick search of their company online but nothing came up. Even the website was poorly done and some of the stock codes/photos still remain unedited. Another search on social media garnered nothing and no reviews were found when Googled. Pretty dodgy to say the least.
But the encounter planted the seed and I was convinced that a modular pole system is able to offer so much more than a pre-built wardrobe or even a modular one at IKEA.
– The poles are able to work around beams and pillars without compromising the irregular space provided
– They are able to be built so as to remove any gaps that regular wardrobes have from the top of the wardrobe to ceiling.
Thus I started to gather information online on which are the companies that provide the product and came up with the following list:
- http://www.creation.sg
- http://www.opsh.com.sg
- http://www.polecraft.com.sg
- http://binlcollections.com
OPSH
Location: Blk 22, Woodlands Link #04-54 Singapore 738734
Opening hours: 830am to 530pm from Mon to Sat, Sun by appointment only
Out of the 4, I decided to visit OPSH first as it was located near my current place. The showroom is located within their workshop, which you will definitely miss if there was no one receiving you. I was fortunate to be served by Kelvin, one of the co-founder and director of the company as his sales manager was not in. With all the product knowledge at his fingertips, Kelvin walked me through the unique proposition of his product and I was impressed by the quality of it most. Some of the features includes a very sturdy sliding door system, soft closing for their drawers and an inhouse LED motion sensor (not included in base package). Also, their poles come in 3 finishes being matte black, satino (chromish) and aluminium (silver). Depending on the length required, their packages comes with modules and accessories such as mirror dressing unit, trouser rack, tray accessories, chrome baskets and pull out mirror just to name a few. What I did was to ask for a quote and try to stack as much features as possible to know their full range of prices so that I will be able to make my decision later on. It might seem as pricey as first but I’ll be doing some comparison for you later.
Using 11.5 feet as my base measurement:
Matte Black S$370/ft run: S$4,255 + S$800 (tinted tempered glass at S$200/panel) + S$460 (LED motion sensor) = S$5,515
Satino/Silver S$340/ft run: S$3,910 + S$800 + S$460 = S$5,170
Optional: Solas Lighting Solution @ S$40/ft run which includes the lighting, transformer, sensor switch and connections
The measurement of >10 feet will entitle us to 2 modules and 2 accessories to be included in the setup.
Polecraft
Location: 279 Balestier Road #01-07 Balestier Point Singapore 329727
Opening hours: 11am to 6pm from Mon to Fri, Sat Sun and public holidays by appointment only
I visited Polecraft next as they are located along Balestier Road, where I can also do my window shopping for lights and tiles. Since I went on a weekend, I made an appointment with the friendly sales person Josh via email and that whatsapp. Their showroom was a rented room in the corner of Balestier Point and it felt like those very old shopping malls (cue Bencoolen and Coronation). Before Josh arrived, I see through the glass at their product and immediately was able to tell the difference in quality and thus formed an expectation in the pricing. To my surprise, after I spoke to Josh and was quoted subsequently, there was hardly any price difference. The main difference of the 2 companies is that for OPSH the package comes with the modules and accessories but for Polecraft, any additional modules will be an additional cost. Needless to say, I left the showroom after just 15mins as Josh was also unable/not interested to promote his product.
Silver S$325/ft run: S$3,738
Champagne S$345/ft run: S$3,968
The package will come with 6 soft closing drawers. However these drawers are laminated while OPSH comes with full ABS trimming.
Additional costs for the following accessories:
- Pants holder – S$120
- Tie rack – S$120
- Box up mirror – S$150
- 180 degree mirror – S$180
- Glass top – S$120
- Sliding door mirror – S$200/panel
I will be making a trip down to IKEA coming national day holiday to check out and understand more on their modular wardrobe before making any final decision. Be sure to hang around as I will hope to do a pros and cons between the 2 choices soon.
