2018 marked the kickstart year of Connecty in HCMC, Vietnam. As first official project, we took the challenge to transform an old apartment in poor condition into a cosy and cocooning home.
We knew the mission would be tough, especially with the very tight budget of USD 5,000 for the entire renovation project. Creativity and detailed planning were a must to make this project happen.

1. Project and Cost Planning is Key
First, we started with a renovation plan. We noticed that fit out and furniture would be the biggest costs.
For fit out, the goal was to keep the existing apartment’s structure with cost effective fit out work. We then chose the solution of the feature wall to make the living + dining room stands out. Painting a feature wall always brings character to the space. After working on the mood board, we came up with a dark navy blue to highlight the main room.

2. Secondhand Furniture for Small Budget
Furniture selection also plays a significant role of the room design. How to get the affordable furniture matching the budget and the design concept? We considered to explore the option of secondhand furniture. It took time and a lot of efforts. Fortunately, Khiem, one of our co-founders, had some good sources and contacts to find the furniture we were looking for.

3. Avoid Painful Mistakes
When starting the renovation project, we didn’t notice that the old Chung Cư building was not equipped with a spacious elevator like the most recent residential buildings in HCMC. It’s only when the big wooden table, sofa and bed frame got delivered at the parking area that we realized most of the furniture couldn’t be disassembled and couldn’t fit the elevator.
Bringing up over 200+ kg of furniture by stairs to the 4th floor is definitely an unforgettable (painful) experience. Since then, for all our projects, we always check and take the dimensions of the elevator during the inspection visit to avoid tis problem to happen again.

After 25 days of hard work and cleaning, we finally completed our first renovation and handover project.
The owner happily moved in back in her apartment and even decided to rent out one of the rooms on Airbnb. Below more pictures of the transformed home: