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Like most of us here, we were being introduced to Renotalk T-Blog when we got our own flat. Waited for 3 years, we finally collected our keys.... and stepped into the cement floor of our house. No, it's not a home yet, but it's our house! Yay!! Here's our typical 4-room floorplan. and again, like most of us here, we read up a lot in renotalk, and got to know about Mr K, The Contractor. The Hojichas think it's a waste of money to hire an ID since we have our own designs already.. so we decided to go with Contractors. Back in Mid-November, we collected our keys and quickly made appointment to meet up with Mr K, so excited about it... he was pretty tied-up and busy rushing projects before CNY, so the Hojichas decided to start our reno only after CNY.. Of course, in order to work with Mr K, we took it reallllyyy slow.. some of our neighbours already moved in! In the meantime, we met some others (e.g. The80sStudio, and some other contractors) and received many quotes as well. The strange thing is, the quotes all came back around the same price. How to pick?? So we are stuck.... * fast forward * anyways.... in d end, we signed with Mr K. I still believe if he wants to do things fast, he can be super fast, coz due to permit issued dates pressure 3 walls were hacked within a day, but now we are kinda stuck with the next problem, the electric works! Here comes the lil' story... sorry if it's a bit too lengthy and wordy.. The amount of electric works we required was first quoted to us as $2100. But we find it a bit expensive, and requested to see it in breakdown by points... so he replaced the $2100 with points unit price.. and we signed on that, coz when we calculated on our own, it's below $2100. Then after all the hacking of walls, it's time to work on electricity, so K brought his electrician up to our place to see, and this time, his electrician came back with a $3200 quote. >_< It's only now then we know, shifting concealed switches/points/fan points are separate charges, not in the breakdown K provided us with...... and installation of hanging lights Vs. normal lights have different price tags too! Mr K told me that if we are not ok with this quote, it's ok, we can find our own electrician....... so now we are in the midst of requesting for quotes from other electricians for comparison. Renotalkers, if you have any good recommendations, pls intro to us. Thank you very much. Story to be continued..... wish us good luck!

Was leeching on Renotalk T-blog for finding IDs with good reviews, and finally it is our turn to contribute! After pm-ing fellow T-bloggers for contacts of their respective ID (those with positive feedbacks), only 3 IDs were shortlisted as me and my wife are the "relax one corner" type and want the renovation process to be simple and fun. All the 3 IDs we met indeed basically are very sincere as they spent 2 hours explaining to us how our ideas can be executed and what are the practical problems we may face if we want to do it that way. Below is the summary of our gut feel about the 3 IDs: 1) For all the 3 IDs, they are very sincere and keen especially so when they didn't even mention or prone us about our budget 2) They are confident about their own work as they are comfortable with bringing us to their projects which are currently under progress 2) First 2 IDs are older and seem more experience, with more sharing on the practical aspects of the renovation. The third ID is young but able to provide quite alot of design ideas. 3) First 2 IDs are able to provide detailed breakdown of the costing in their proposal while there is a "package" component in the quotation of the third ID (which places him at a dis-advantage position as me and my wife don't like to see "package" element in quotation) 4) Finally we shortlisted the first ID we met as he seems to be the "strongest" among 3 of them (gives a vibe that he can manage his sub-cons and workers well), he mentioned that his workmanship is dependent on the quality of his workers (being honest and aware of the importance of his workers score points on my side), his is a family business (means he got a reputation to keep and therefore will have quality control), good vibe and rapport during all the 3 appointments, providing competitive quotation (the other 2 quotations are around 5k higher). In summary, we spent around 3 weekends before placing our trust and faith with the finalized ID on the dotted line. Attached below is our original floorplan and our intended renovation. According to our friends, we like quite "stingy" to the ID as our carpentry is quite minimum... haha.. but me and my wife don't have much requirement and prefer mobile furniture than fixed carpentry. The main feel we aim to have for our home is that of simple cosy feel complement with some "wood" furniture. The study area will be initially our "relax corner", where we can chill on cushions and bean bags, and watch korean drama on TV. Maybe when our future kids (aiming to have 3 or more haha...) become older, it can become a study area proper. Will be using homogenous tiles for living room and passageway, vinyl flooring for the study area platform and bedrooms. Quite excited as we will be choosing flooring with our ID this sunday. Hopefully can snap some pictures and share over here after that. (Finger crossed that our innate lazy bugs wont creep in) The problem we are facing now (as flagged by our friends) is that we have minimum storage space in our planning. Storage bedframe is out as I dont like to have things under my bed (due to a superstitious concern). Will need to devise solution for storage problem without compromising the "minimal simplicity" feel that we aim to have. Anything I missed out in the floorplan, pls do share with us the noobies. Cheers!

Sink from Tmall. Numerous bloggers using this brand as well. Additional Strainer & Drainer

May 2，2014 Wow...Time flies & we have moved into our home for 2+ months...Opps have I MIA for so long? paiseh ya...been busy with the travelling, moving, Taobaoing & settling down. Recently, our ID came down to take the Final pics of the hse..and since their pics are way much nicer than ours plus in our haste to move in, I totally forgotten to take pictures of the clean & neat house (aka without all the barangs barangs.) so I'm just gonna use theirs and post them here. Will try to post up pic of more TaoBao items that I've bought ...again. I am also hoping to summarize my reno experience (of the regrets & Yes! decisions) that we have had made throughout this Reno journey but this would take some time hehe...so please bear with me.. Overall on the house, things went well. There are some minor defects which we are waiting for Uncle（aka Contractor）to arrange a time to come down. Hehe…Actually as I am updating this blog, Uncle came over to patch up the cracks & install the kitchen rack that I’ve bought earlier on. J Kudos to Uncle. The whole renovation process has been pleasant. I am pleased with my choice of ID & Contractor. Although there are items that went wrong but they have been very responsive & responsible and always willing to rectify the problem. In my opinion, this is THE most important traits for any IDs & contractor. I am so glad that I need not argue with IDs & contractors on what is possible/can do etc etc…. Usually My IDs & Contractors will try to think out of the box & find ways to do what is necessary. Even when they feel that it’s not possible, they would listen to suggestions and work on it. (Once a sub-con said something is not possible but Uncle came up with a better idea and got it done! J ) Of course there are times when I got frustrated but once you think of the overall progress and learn to give & take, things will go well. However, one important item is that if you feel strongly about something, you have to voice out (nicely) to IDs & Contractors. Final outcome will depends whether they managed to convince you or vice versa. <Sigh> The biggest problem for me though is that I need a new Freight Forwarder (besides Amcon) ...unfortunately, my last experience with them was terrible. Till date there is an item that I have yet to receive but is being charged for….(of course they said otherwise…alamak…too long a story to pen it here.) It's a pity as my first experience with them was pretty good and I was hoping for a long term relationship...but probably their business got better and they can't cope with my order which has >30 items. <sob>. Does anyone has any recommendation of a reliable freight forwarder? Still have tons of items that I would like to buy from TaoBao... Enough said, here’s the pics of my home as promised….enjoy. Baking Area / Shoe Cabinet Living Room Kitchen - Special thanks to my IDs for the decal. It’s so sweet of them. They nailed it, I totally love it! Bathroom

Love your TB links. Many thanks !

DOORS Aluminium Square Rod Window Grilles & Door Grilles (Grey Powder Coating) Maintenance Free & 100% Rust Proof - Yes 100% Solid Aluminium material - Yes Took me a while to select the colour of the door. (Should I have a separate colour for the main door? Will the colour crash with my floor? Will it match with my dinning table and chairs... So many questions....) Store room & Master bedroom

on kitchen's design.... Some images that we drew inspiration from... subway tiles + black lines + wood + white (from Kompacplus) subway tiles + wood + open shelves I know subway tiles are probably quite overused. But I can't help it and I want to have it for my kitchen, together the wood and white colour neutral look. Also would like to have some open shelves to put condiments that are most often used, and the rest being cabinets so that the cleaning is still manageable. Meanwhile... trying out many kitchen configuration in photoshop, just to test how it looks. First design by ID: One of the configuration I tested in photoshop In the end, because of the position of the gas pipe and water pipes on left side wall of the kitchen... the most economical way is to put the hob and sink on this side to avoid the need to route the pipes to the other side of the kitchen, and we decided that we will just buy microwave off the shelf to save money instead of buying a built-in one. So we ended up with this configuration....

thanks for sharing the taobao links! very useful :)

We spent Labour Day labouring away on adding a second coat of Nippon Momento primer before applying the top coat. We found that the top coat was much easier to work with than expected and it is relatively easy to achieve a uniform application by having only one person do it. However, my wife had this idea of a gradual change of tone from a light to a dark one and she did the lighter area while I did the darker one. Here it is. As we are doing the carpentry measurement this coming Saturday, the loot of kitchen appliances and sink, bathroom basins and fittings from Heritage had to be delivered. The hob won't be in until late May as both the hob and oven were discontinued but only the replacement model of the oven has available stock. We shall make do with the schematic diagram provided by Ellane for the cutout size. We are currently waiting for the Taobao lighting shipment to arrive as the flooring will be laid right after the lightings are installed. All the remaining small works should be carried out while waiting for the carpentry to be fabricated after measurement. Stay tuned...

first coats of paint were done earlier this week too! MBR Bedroom 2 Bedroom 3 chose three consecutive shades of warm neutrals from the Nippon paint book cos we got a bit sick of choosing colours...... the rest of the house is painted in Sail White fan, heater and gas installation this saturday! things are moving along pretty quick now. so happyyyy.

electricians came today to fix up the lights. appreciate that mr k got his people to come by even though it's a public holiday! :) all the lights we bought off taobao worked fine. lucky us! Philips downlights' boxes All prepped by the electrician for installation Downlights in the living room Downlights in the bedroom Bathroom light

This weekend is the handover... Thereafter will be all the furniture and electrical appliances slowing coming in on the weekends.. spend our labour day holiday cleaning the house.... and moving some of my toys....

Glass day. Sliding glass for WIW looks good. So does the shower screen panel with rounded corner.

Lightings. New brought us to Eurostar at Balestier and we realised we bought our lightings from them for our previous place. Their service is really topnotch and they have a slogan : YOU CALL WE GO. So funny! This is the entrance lighting. We really love the effect. Wooden structure lights for dining area. Study light that hubby chose. My expensive Swarovski crystal light. Love! Moon light for spare room. Led light for my Precious Moments.

For many that wondered how my hanging rods are like in my WIW, I got them from taobao too. Our inspiration is actually from boutique shops and I actually decide to have this to save cost on pole system which we were quoted for about 6k previously. This is how it look like: And i decorate it with my flower belt ))) Initially i was worried that our clothes will be too heavy for these rods. Hubby ensured me that this anchor bolts (i suppose anchor bolts spells like this based on hubby's pronunciation) can support kilo newtons Link: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=5621965031

And also, we started checking and reporting defects to the BSC of our estate, just thought we will share some of the things we reported as defects. The more major ones we noticed. Gaps between floor tiles and skirting, need to seal againScratches on window sill from window frame edge not fitting nicely (every time you open the window, you hear a screech and notice the powder coating coming off)Cement and paint stains on wall and floor tiles and parquetWall cracks and holesForgot to take pictures Hopefully, they get rectified soon. Also, months before getting our keys, we already started on our designs. We engaged our architect friend who does freelance interior design as our ID as we wanted a more hands on approach to our designs and work with someone we are comfortable without going through all the crazy ID selection. She provides the technical and professional knowledge on the designs while we bounce off ideas we like with her. We haven't got a contractor yet. Some inspirations that got off the internet prior to the design phase. (JQ Ong The Association) (From Contemporist) (From Home Adore) Thinking of a blend of industrial (but not too raw, mostly the black lines), Scandinavian especially the use of natural materials like wood. The wife really likes the pencil legs of mid-century furniture as well . And haha, the title of this T-Blog is "Brick Wall by the Floor" because we are thinking of having a white brick wall in the living room too. Maybe. And hopefully our wallet don't bleed while we try to realise our dream home. Can't wait!!

Hello! Interested in the concept of smart home How much did it cost for the switch? and projected cost of making the entire home smart??

I did I did!! I told the Mister that we should borrow a projector and screen it on the white walls to paint something. He rolled his eyes :'(

You know, there is always a link between, Cheap, Good, Fast (cheaper, better, faster~). If you want cheap and good, you cannot expect fast. If you want good and fast, you cannot expect cheap and lastly, if you want fast and cheap, you cannot expect good! Haha, so I am looking for cheap and good renovation, I know I cannot expect it to be fast liao. So, true to that, the following are some weird and the common defects I found in our home and this means we need more time for BSC to rectify:- 1) Hollow Tiles 2) Crack Tiles 3) Gaps in parquet 4) Weird coin shaped metal in skirting 5) Choked drainage The above is the choked drainage in the common toilet. Cement has already harden and water takes 5minutes to fully flow through (I think if I shower, I can flood my entire toilet already lah). Another weird defect, coin shaped metal stuck in between skirting and tiles =.= Can they leave a thousand dollar note instead, I'd much prefer that Have submitted the defects list to BSC and hopefully, they can help rectify the defects before end of April (they said they needed 3-4 weeks). In the meanwhile, I am shopping at Taobao/JB/Singapore, hahas. To the new home owners, must remember to check carefully when you get your keys, especially when there are so many news floating around about popping tiles and lousy quality of materials used. *Jiayou!*

The small fan at ur yellow wall room. How much and where did u purchase dat?