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hi Was too busy to blog. anyway to update Renovation Day 2 All the sand and concrete is up in the kitchen, like rubbish dump. All the tiles are nicely packed. the most sianz part of the house Have a look at the actual tiles i've chosen for my kitchen/toilets, some of the tiles are stacked up liao so i cant take a picture of them. my super big, super long, super red kitchen wall tiles my partly shiny, partly malted toilet floor tiles my kitchen floor my toilet walls, a bit hard to see the groves on the grey tile, but its the same design as the white one. Today is day 3 of reno, my contractor has gone up to lay tiles liao...cant wait till knock off from work to see the progress!

hi HTB here. Today is the first day of renovation. big surprise the first thing into the MBR. the dirty platform is finally hacked off! but the floor underneath is juz concrete, not the parquet the previous owner said they've done (but they din guarantee coz they din supervise the work that time)!! haiz, another sum of money to do corrective work...see the big hole? well, no choice but to lay back parquet. the kitchen and toilet floor tiles are also gonezzz!! yippie! our tiles are also here! but think our contractor made a mistake in the number of tiles needed, not enough...but tats his problem...haha thats all for today..workers are very fast in destroying...hacking only took 5 hrs!!

ordered my f&p E411T for $970, still waiting for my flat to finish reno den deliver.

Sorry for the late reply. I used goggle sketch. it is pretty fun, no ID so have to diy.

Finally, i have the time to upload the tiles pictures. Sorry the pictures are a bit blur. This is the master bathroom floor tile The salesperson forgot to give us a sample for our master bathroom wall tile, so maybe post next time This is our kitchen wall and floor tiles (Red and wall - wall, Grey with shiny stuff in it - floor) Love the red This is our common bathroom wall and floor tiles (White and Grey - wall, Grey rough surface - floor) So looking forward to the renovation !!!

1) really need the fridge / washing machine base? in my case i find them useless...ha 2) toilet wall tiles seemed expensive. Overlay shld be cheaper? or u hack? what is the max tile price u can select? 3) haulage looks ex to me too... 4) electrical cost not factored in yet..

Hello Contractor-to-be brought us to tile warehouse today. So many different types of tiles there! was so greedy, see everything oso like, so got a lot of samples.. but the salesgirl put on a face like i interested/selected too many samples liao, doesnt look very happy..so heavy, carry until muscle cramp. after reviewing the samples, realised that still got 1 we were interested in but she never give to me!! anyway here are the tiles.. my contractor told me, say lay wall tiles that is too big piece not nice, will have a curvy look. is that really correct? cos i dun really understand what his curvy look means.

Hi time to update blog again. We went over to Ubi over the weekends to buy a bed frame. I'll update with pictures when i get from WTB hp. Its a nice solid wood bedframe. Bought a teak laundry basket as well. Next we went over to Ikea @ tampines. Wao its so huge there! wana find a stepped cabinet but still cant find one anywhere. Anybody have any idea where i can find one? want something 1.3m high and 1.7m length. After that we rushed over to The Furniture Mall @ bugis. Apparantly not much sales there. Shld really go to Pan-I @ aljunied. Hope there would still be sales this weekend. Still looking for a nice low coffee table and dining set. We started painting the ceiling already. so much fun, but very tiring working against gravity. Finally we going to settle for a contractor. Going to view tiles and finalise details with him over this coming weekend. Hope can get things to be done cheaper!

I finally modeled a 3d layout of my MBR. Sorry i took so long to reply. According to my HTB, bed should not be facing the window, so he prefer this arrangement. The toilet door is not directly facing the bed so is this bed arrangement okay ?

Hi Mr Chong, Are you still doing bazi reading? I need advise on wedding date as well ....

hi erm, if you were me, which contractor will you choose? both about the same leh..

Hi , Love your kitchen lights, where did you get them from ? It is a good idea that you dun carpet the platform, my previous owner did it and trust me even though she took care of it, the pink carpet looks greyish and cannot imagine the amount of dirt dust, dead skin in it, especially you cannot remove it since it is glued to the platform.

hi I've gotten quotations from 2 contractors Contractor A 1) supply & overlay 2 toilets and kitchen wall tiles - $4600 2) kitchen floor tiles (homo) ($2.80 max) - $950 3) 2 toilet floor tiles (homo) ($2.80 max)- $1100 4) install 2 toilet bowls (no bowl inc) - $200 5) install 2 basins (no basins inc) - $80 6) 2 bifold door (PVC) - $520 7) polish marble - $850 8) polish parquet - $300 9) install copper pipe for 2 toilets - $380 10) electrical - $400 (4 2-way socket pts, 1 2-button switch + 8 lights) 11) hack off and remove (all hacking and haulage) - $1200 Contractor B - 2.5 hrs late for my appointment and 2 days late in giving me quotation 1) All hacking inc floor tiles and platform (dunno inc haulage) - $1340 2) kitchen floor tiles + 2 toilet floor tiles (homo) ($2.20 max) - $1540 3) kitchen ceramic wall tiles + toilet ceramic wall tiles ($2.20 max) - $4700 3) supply n install 2 toilet bowls with slow closing cover + 2 basins with tap - $1250 4) supply n install 2 bifold door - $380 5) electrical - $100 (4 2-way socket pts, 1 2-button switch + 8 lights) 6) polish marble - $895 7) polish parquet - $270 8) install stainless steel pipe for 2 toilets - $480 cost almost the same. scratching my head as which one to choose.

Hi Its been a long time since i last updated, been rather busy trying to get quotations and patching wall. We spent the last entire weekend trying to patch the ugly wall holes, juz look at how ugly these holes are. I really wonder how HDB build their flats last time. imagine every wall has at least 3 or 4 of this lines... now after patching for 1st coat, looks much better. need to put 2 more coats. so tiring.. anyway, this is the view from my living room and MBR. and WTB's friend bought a present for us from JAPAN! just nice to put it at kitchen since we taking that kitchen door away. thats all for now, trying to find a reliable and honest contractor. so far the quotations i get look so ambiguous, a lot of places for them to add hidden costs. dun dare to commit at all.

Hi, I have a small problem at hand. I have a rectangular MBR. The existing wardrobe is at the bottom of the rectangular together with the toilet. The toilet door is concealed in the wardrobe. (You have to go through the wardrobe to go to the toilet.) Currently i plan to put my bed facing the wardrobe not directly in front of the toilet with the back of the bed leaning against the wall opposite the wardrobe. However, my mum says she feel like she walk into a funeral, apparently the bed is the coffin (that is where the ex owner place their bed as well). The right side of the MBR has a row of windows; my mum suggested that we place our bed leading on the left side of MBR facing the windows. Is that a good idea? Please advise.

ya can share ur ID/contractor as well?

Hi all still HTB blogging. Today i got my quotation from contractor. This is what he gave me 1) supply & overlay 2 toilets and kitchen wall tiles - $4600 2) kitchen floor tiles - $950 3) 2 toilet floor tiles - $1100 4) install 2 toilet bowls (no bowl inc) - $200 5) install 2 basins (no basins inc) - $80 6) 2 bifold door (PVC) - $520 7) polish marble - $850 8) polish parquet - $300 9) install copper pipe for 2 toilets - $380 10) electrical - $400 (oso unknown, typically how much for 4 2-way socket pts, 1 switch + 8 lights?) 11) hack off and remove (think inc my platform bed + floor, this part must make sure)- $1200 I asked liao he say tiles can select up to $2.80 psf ones, but think got to get him to put down more details. total should be at least 11k. Know the contractor through a friend.

tats y buy a house to move out but seemed like more problems...

Hi all today is still HTB's turn to post as WTB is still preparing answers to her exams. anyway, today is the opening ceremony to our house! We brought my in-laws up together in the noon. Armed with rice & tealeaves & salt, my in-laws scatter all over the house. I'm not so superstitious so i just watch and clean up after that. Anyway, her mum took a long inspection of the house, and declared lots of things to be re-done. I went through the list and almost going to faintzz liao. Kitchen wall tiles, MBR floor parquet also got to redo? Floor / basin color oso cannot i choose? haiz, stressed. And still got to use her contractor only? How come my house but i got no say one? We took a another look at our expected reno list and add in more stuffs. OMG hit 21k liao!? This is the updated list. 1) Hack and relay kitchen floor 2) Hack and relay toilet floor / wall 3) waterproof toilet / kitchen 4) dismantle platform 5) polish living room + 2 bedroom floor 6) re-varnish MBR parquet 7) install 2 toilet bowl / basin 8) haulage 9) painting (i do myself) 10) acid wash Anybody got idea how much does hack + relay toilet wall cost huh?

erm, post wrongly?

Hi Got a noob question to ask I want to change my kitchen floor tiles, however i am not changing my kitchen cabinets. been to several contractors, most of them tell me to hack and relay waterproofing and tiles. However, some tell me coz i'm not changing cabinets, so maybe the new waterproofing might not be laid properly, so suggest me to do overlaying instead. So should i overlay or should i hack and relay? Hacking might cost some damage to the cabinets, and waterproofing might be a problem. But im afraid overlaying might have the problem of tiles popping up. Furthermore, i found some hairline cracks on my MBR toilet wall. Should i change all of the wall tiles(expensive)? Or is there another solution?

Hi all, today is HTB's turn to blog as WTB is getting stressed over an exam. Today is really a tiring day as me and WTB walked around the everywhere possible to look for ideas. Let me show the most expensive thing we bought so far. Isnt that the most expensive thing? a bunch of keys in exchange for a 30 year loan.. Firstly, we went to Chelsea lighting at Jurong East to get some ideas for lights. After being there for a good 30 mins, we finally decided on rectangle lights with a wooden based perimeter for our living room. Being too spoilt for choice, we just cant make up our mind on others. So we left without committing to any purchase. by the way, the staff there are quite nice, gave lots of comments but not pushy at all. Next, we went to IMM to look at basins and toilet bowls. Wao, its really costly there, dunno issit the rental too high or the things too posh for us. But we do see nice basins that come with cabinets below, looking like a vanity top. look quite nice, so we took down the prices. We saw the Sealy boutique as we walked around. Being the notti me, i went over to the boutique and asked them for the price to our KnightsBridge mattress.(the uncle at expo gave me a lowest price guarantee, if i can find a lower price, he'll top up the difference * 2). Den we settled our outstanding payment to the Sealy boutique. After that, we went over to tradehub to look at more furniture. Our aim is to at least find a nice bed frame. We not only found a nice bedframe at $999 (can still ask for discounts), we also found a nice tv console at $319 at the same place. But again we din commit on purchase since we wanted to look for a better wooden bedframe. Found some rather good prices on toilet bowls (anti-slam type at $270, havent ask for discount yet) and basins. Well, cant really decide until i find my contractor to do my house. the place where we made the bulk of our purchases happened to be at Orchard. Went over there to shop for stuffs since it is the GSS. Walked for a long long long time, and saw this nice small pillow at taka going for $10 each. WTB says very nice to touch, i oso find nice to hug, so cannot resist, bought 2 different color. Also bought the a nice cutlery set at taka. This was going at $129 at most places, so when we saw taka selling $99, we chop 1 set. The cutlery set looks so cute, with so many different designs. tired liao, so we went home after the purchases. Decided to take bus instead of MRT cos wana get a seat and dun squeeze with others, hai made a great mistake as the bus is packed like sardines! Stand until my legs numb. thats all for now, will post more pictures as we make more purchases for the house. P.S: sorry for the blur images, phone cam a little lousy.

Today, My HTB and I are the official owner of my long awaited flat. My wait lastes 5 weeks (to me it seems really long ), which was a week shorter than usual commented by my agent. I think the reason that i got my keys way earlier than the expected 6-8 weeks wait to second appointment was because the officer serving us is at least 8.5 months pregnant. I guess she is trying really hard to finish up all her work before going into labor. So my second appointment went by without any problems. We also checked with SP and agreed on getting the electricity and water back up on Monday 9th June. We also asked for a quotation from my HTB's sis's friend's friend ( Talk about long connection) who i have no idea whether she is representing an ID or contractor. We hope that she will give us a reasonable quote for what we request for which is pretty minor mainly tiles in kitchen and toilets. I am lazy to type out that list now. Probably post it to check with the pros here whether it is reasonable when i receive it. We also make a trip down to EXPO and got ourselves a SEALY mattress Knight Bridge (Pillow top layer) with 4 SEALY pillows and a mattress protector for almost 2k. My HTB loves their mattress though i find most of them too soft for my liking. I found the Knight Bridge to be comfortable, firm and soft at the same time ( My HTB loves it too), anyway it is the cheaper one as well . I guess sleeping on very hard mattress for so many years i forgot that mattress can be soft, now think about it i was probably ill treated hahaha. The uncle serving us was really nice and he was not very pushy. A word of caution, those going to EXPO do not try the King Coil beds first, the aunties there were very pushy, my HTB was very pissed by them. They sort of badmouth the other mattress booths which i think it is not very professional (though there maybe some truth in it, no smoke without fire ha). We were also looking for main gates for our flat and we found one booth that was selling. However, the salesgirl looks so unhappy to serve us (Okay she was chatting with another sales girl when we disturbed her) and was not helpful. Anyway, overall it is a good day with two things done. Now i have to crack both my HTB and my heads for ideas and decision on what type of theme or style we want our home to be.

Thanks all, we fall in love with the place within 15 mins and agreed on the COV in 1 hour ha. The going to be ex owners are really nice and their place is really clean and left us some relatively new furnitures . Though not sure whether are we keeping them. I forgot to add another plus point, they torn down the wall between the MBR and the study so the MBR is HUGE, their platform is the whole study area. I also added some pictures of the kitchen. I like their cupboards looks relatively new too but HTB hates the color, so probably changing just the doors. We are planning to overlay the toilet walls and hack the toilet floor since we found broken tiles and hairline cracks which i think is common in a 13 year old flat.

Hi all, After reading and learning so much from the forum, i would like to share my personnel experience with all. Hopefully this will help anyone along the way. I also hope that i am dilligent enough to keep updating. (Crossing my fingers). I am born with a very strong stint of laziness. Okay so i will cut the crap and move on to the rectanglar home to be. Here goes the floorplan.............. Currently, we are waiting for our keys which will be handled to us tomorrow. Show you guys and gals some pics of my soon to be place. Mind that the pics are a bit blur. The going to be ex owners were really nice, they clean up the place and left dustbins and plastic chairs for us ha. ( Ha you can tell i am a freebie person.) Dining area MBR with platform and PINK carpet. (Too bad my HTB and i dun fancy it) Living Room Green Bedroom We are still looking for good and affordable contractors to do some minor reno. If anyone has good recommendation, pls share.