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I decided to write about my "resale flat" reno (I lump under this category as flat is 16YO!) which cost us less than $10k for - 2 new bathrooms - 1 slightly remodelled kitchen, - 3 new cabinets - whole housepainting excl ceiling which was painted 4 years ago - plus miscellaneous like hacking and dismantling Hopefully, this will help homeowners on a budget save money, and I'm also hoping to do a good one for my contractors and to give credit to these good contractors, many of whom are not tech-savvy and do not know how to promote their biz! Good things must share right? 😁 first, to clarify, the reno is akin to that of a resale flat cos my 5-room is 15 1/2 years old. We stayed for 6 years, rented out for 9 years, then decided to move back. We have always DIY-ed our reno and this time is no exception. No doubt interior designers may give a more polished look but they charge a 33% premium, and I'd rather stretch my dollar to do more stuff! Of course, these disgusting toilets had to go first! The tenants have trashed them up so badly, they are worse than public toilets! Sorry if I spoilt your appetite for a meal! I nearly threw up when I came to inspect the premises!🤑 

This may help: a checklist of things you need to know if you are going to convert from instant to storage heaters. https://www.aosbath.com/5-point-checklist-changing-instant-storage-heaters-resale-hdb/

The other section we painted over with epoxy paint is our kitchen cum dining. We had it done all in simple white this time. And because we're quite into the black frame trend, we paid extra to have the window frames @ the bathrooms & the kitchen painted black! There are lotsa colours to choose from for epoxy paint. You gotta mix the epoxy paint with 20% hardener. We contemplated DIY but decided our skill set wasn't good or fast enough - epoxy dries to a sticky finish fast (though complete drying is like 12 hours). The fumes are also quite noxious so ... Glad we left it to the pros! These pictures were taken by them... We didn't stay around much after they started work! My total cost of epoxy painting came up to $1700 for all walls and floor for 2 bathrooms, kitchen/dining, including paint. I don't know how long it'll last honestly, I can detect minor nicks and scratches in the kitchen if I look hard enough, but at this price, which also entails less hassle and cleanup, and a turn-around time of just 2 weeks to reno and move...we're pretty happy our gamble into unknown territory paid off! I only wish I'd discovered epoxy painting earlier! So is epoxy painting for you? Well, if you like simple colours, either plain glossy like mine, or the snowflake epoxy with its granite look that I personally didn't have a thing for, then it's a cheap and fast option. Don't expect grey slate tiles or timber tiles look - I had to give up on that design direction and make do. White and black generally look classy hence they were our choices. If you look through jaybon's portfolio on his Facebook account, you'd see he's done pink, green, yellow and lotsa grey too for other homeowners.

Okay let me share my story buying my 1st flat ... We bough a resale flat for a good price but it came with lots of problems, walls was hollow, kitchen cabinet looks run down and wiring was a disaster... both me and hubby only plan not more then $10K for renovation AND most importantly we didnt wanna take any RENO loan from bank due to super high interest. so we went on a hunt for in-house installment... after 2 months of searching we almost give up laa.. then we found David Lau & Davidson Lau ( Father and son ) from Boon Jie Design and they were willing to do it for us. Mr Lau Snr was SUPER nice and very understanding .. even though he did a lot of extra work for us, he did not shortchange us in any other way .. yes we did stretch our budget a little bit but it was worth it.. all my family was impress with our kitchen.. they did a great job.... Davidson Lau was prompt with the delivery and clear on this explanation.. they were also very cool about the payment scheme and dates. As long as we honour our words on the payment, they do not have any issues on the few days grace. We are Truly bless to meet nice people on our journey to our first house. Some company was ready to pounce on us even willing to apply the reno loan for us.. which we were hesitant.. Bottom line, We were VERY happy with the work and outcome.. thank you guys !!! you can always call them 9794 8181 - Davidson Lau - Thian boon Design & Reno / Boon Jie Design & Reno

You can look up Charis Group - Jason (I'm not related to them)

Hi all, been "stalking" this forum for a while now and it is very informative for singles like us. Anyway attached is my completed apartment. The theme is somewhat scandinavian i guess.

eh got new brand lapitec! https://www.stoneamperor.com.sg/lapitec-prestigious-italian-style/ just went to the showroom that day. Feels better than iQuartz leh!!!

YES! I got Sensa granite too! Really convinced with their demo!

Thanks to SuperZ asking for my post reno pics. Just realised I didnt took enough pics of my renovated house. So I took some this morning.

Next is my biggest spending... built-in carpentry!!! I decided to do built-in carpentry cos I have good experience with my parents' house built-in cabinets and for our small unit, built-in cabinets will maximise the little space we have. Here's the pictures! Shoe cabinet to block views from corridors as I like to leave the main door open to improve ventilation. Bottom is the shoe cabinet and top are storage cabinets but open from behind. Below is how it look from the other side. I have opted to do a platform day bed in the living room: 1) I like to laze at the day bed (so shoe cabinet will help to block views from main door) 2) maximise storage space with the drawers below 3) act as a spare bed as it is about the size of a single bed. (I bought the sea horse foldable mattress at offer price of $19.90, very worth it! ) 4) act as a sofa when friends come over, so I am not getting any sofa. Think this should be the most used corner in future. Initially wanted a open shelve cabinet on the left but later decided to do cabinet with doors on top and middle will have space for TV / monitor. The tiny drawer is meant for keyboard. I am a computer person than a TV person. This drawer is giving me some headache as the initial front board of the drawer is too tall, ie. if I put keyboard there then my wrist will be twisted at a very uncomfortable angle. I have later decided to reduce the height of the front board so that wrist is comfortable but the price is a hole. This is not the end product yet as they have not installed the front board. small 5ft wardrobe. I have been contemplating to get queen size or super single size + bedside table, hence the decision is to opt for a smaller size wardrobe. Most probably I will get a super single + bedside table. Kitchen cabinet, solid surface, glass backing and tap not yet installed. I wanted to get 2-tier stainless steel tray to fit into the hole but couldnt get the right size due to the shorter than normal depth. normal depth of kitchen cabinet is 600mm but mine is only 500mm due to the HDB structure design, carpenter promised to search for the right size.