Atap.co – an ID marketplace for Malaysians

The dream home.

How would it be like for you?

Minimalistic like most modern homes?
Or a cosy, bucolic space?
Perhaps something more dignified – wood, dim lights and heavy furniture?

Personally I’m a traditionalist at heart. I love a home alike the heritage buildings in Penang, my home state.
Tall ceilings, plenty of natural light, airy and cosseted in the warmth of cosiness.

And windows. Windows are a must.


What about colours?
Well, white. A lot of white. For clarity and calmness.

I’ve traveled so much and I’ve stayed in many hotels. The ones that made me felt most comfortable and well rested are the ones that are bright and uncluttered with plenty of natural sunlight.
I simple function better in sunny rooms, well-ventilated spaces and uncluttered interiors!

Thus, my perfect home would have tall ceilings, open bathrooms with a bath tub, a large kitchen ideally separated to wet and dry sections since I bake and cook as a business, and a tidy garden with table and chairs.
The bedroom must be spacious, mostly white with floor to ceiling windows plus a structured storage solution for my clothes.

So there you have it, the blueprint in my mind of how my dream home should be.
For example my dream bathroom as below. This was a picture I took of my villa in Mangala Resort, Pahang.

VANA SUITE - mangala resort - Rebecca Saw-016

VANA SUITE - mangala resort - Rebecca Saw

Now if you’re like me and have all these ideas floating in your head and are toying with the idea of designing or even just to renovate a part of your home, I would suggest atap.co as a start.

No doubt surfing the whole world wide web gives you unlimited choices, but to keep your idea design “achievable” and realistic, getting quotes in Ringgit Malaysia would give you a better idea of how viable your “dreams” are, don’t you think?

Atap.co is Malaysia’s leading and trusted platform for interior designer sourcing, hiring as well as a digital publisher for interior design, home and living content.
Simply put, the site is a marketplace that connects local interior designers with property owners or anyone looking to renovate.

Here’s the link to find all the professionals – over 1,000 companies and local interior designers.

Not convinced?
Browse their interior design projects. I was surprised to find out about the cost of renovations for some of Klang Valley’s popular restaurants!

Like one of my go-to salad bar La Juiceria – so their outlets were done by Vendes Interior Sdn. Bhd.

I don’t know about you, but seeing the real-life projects of places that I’ve personally been or knowing that these were done in Malaysia with the cost stated clearly on the site certainly boosted my confidence in using Atap.co.

Besides transparency, the Atap.co ensures the legitimacy and quality of their listed IDs  by verifying each and every designer and company.

That aside, the interior design advise and tips on the site are educational and entertaining. Trust me, great bedtime reading material here!

Now, remember what I’ve said earlier about my dream home?
I started by using the filters available and I went by space, beginning with “bathroom“.

Since I know what I want – a long space with open shower and tub as per the villa that I’ve stayed in Mangala Resort (image above if you scroll up) I searched for similar designs on Atap.co.

And bingo!
I might request a quote from Hoe & Yin or Box Design Studio since both had executed similar projects.
That doesn’t mean other designers listed on Atap.co won’t be able to do so of course, but it is a start don’t you think? 🙂

I prefer the layout above (by Hoe & Yin) but white marble (or granite) is a must for me when it comes to bathrooms.
For decades, marble has been the material of luxury and beauty. It’s easy to see why; it gives clean, bright reflections. Keeping with the light color palette is a good way to make a place that’s normally small seem large and airy too.

As you can see from this “classic bathroom” from Box Design Studio, the marble and glass partitions make the vanity area looks much cleaner.
So the conclusion is, layout as above, but using white marble finish as below.

You’re getting the idea right?
Do you find this fun? 🙂

It is like putting together lego blocks and the end goal is a “lego” called your own home.

Atap.co’s platform boasts a Pinterest-like feature which allows users to shop interior design images from over 1000 interior designers’ portfolios. Shop by room, style (Scandinavian, retro, modern, etc), and colour, then save these images to your personal albums for future reference.

Once you’re ready, get quotes and compare.

This is how you would submit a Quote request:

Essentially you save time since you can get some preliminary research and budgeting done online!

I hope you find Atap.co as useful as I did.
If you are hitting a blank or are generally confused with too many ideas of how your ideal home should be, I suggest browsing the images from interior designers’ portfolios.
Trust me, it puts things in perspective when you view the actual images of properties that you can imagine (since these properties are in Malaysia) and the estimated budget required to achieve that look.

PS: I found my ideal kitchen too. Lovely isn’t it?
I can visualize it in my mind already – my ovens, my work table, my racks and my photography corner for all my bakes. A girl can dream right? 🙂

So have fun. Try Atap.co out.
All the links are as below!


Contact Atap.co  


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