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Hi there, oh yes, saw your PM on that. Incidentally we are using the same ID firm. Not sure which particular ID is assigned to you though. I actually got the curtain contact thru' my ID. Let me dig out the name card I have at home. Will PM you the contact separately. Cheers!

Hi Pinkpetter, whom I must congratulate on the rather eye-catching main banner pic of your personal blog (sorry, as a guy, when I see a link to something termed "brainy bimbo", i quite involuntarily clicked on it), haven't taken any updated pics of the master bedroom (been lazy to move my considerable rear to the new house) but I thought I'd share some pics which I took abt two weeks back when the area was rather "scantily dressed" The original floorplan of the place actually has four separate bedrooms. Wall between 2 bedrooms was hacked to form a master bedroom cum ensuite study cum walk-in wardrobe/vanity/bathroom area. The dining platform you saw earlier was "an area previously known as bedroom 3". I have an additional bedroom left, which is currently left empty. Maybe useful for hosting mahjong sessions, and for drunkard friends to stay over when they've had a bottle of wine (or ten) too many. First, the bed itself, to the right of entrance to MBR. Frankly, if left to my own devices, I'd probably pick a Manhattan theme of black/dark brown hues. But the wife thought it might be too eerily dark, and she IS scared **** of the dark. In any case, having had my way vis-a-vis the kitchen, I should grant her full rein of this area. You can see the frosted glass entrance to the walk-in wardrobe/vanity/bathroom strip to the left. A little note on the lava lamps on both sides of the bed - they were something which, as it panned out, me and my wife realised that we both, separately, wanted very much in our younger days before our "path crossed and the rest, as they say, is history" moment. I recall them being rather pricey then, esp. to the poor students we were. They are so cheap now!! One for one at Molecule somemore! Then we have the ensuite study, to the left of entrance to MBR, and the half-height feature housing the TV which shall resolve all domestic disputes relating to TV programme conflicts. (yes, I will be banished to the living room TV everytime I wanna watch footie). View of walk-in wardrobe/vanity/bathroom strip. We are narcissistic creatures who need a monster vanity mirror. Open concept bathroom area since I often get lonely sitting on the bowl doing my business and like to invite the wife over to chat. Reverse view of the walk-in wardrobe/vanity/bathroom strip. Roman blinds to the left (which of course have to be lowered during my daily routine of solitude and deep self-reflection sitting on the toilet bowl). In the absence of foresight that this pic might one day go on renotalk, I forgot to suck in my stomach while taking this shot. The big wardrobe you see with sliding mirrored doors belongs, of course, to my wife. True to the spirit of "...in sickness or health...rich or poor...and uneven wardrobe space distribution...", the wife gets the swanky one while I take the smaller, non-sliding door "equivalent" which, incidentally, resides right outside the toilet bowl area. Nice. Shall share more pics in due course. Cheers.

Hi Pinklady, Reno. was officially completed on 4 Apr, though my ID, noting that I will not shift in until early May, quite kindly assured that touch-up work can be done post-handover as and when the need arises over the coming months. She probably suspected that I am quite the clutz who has the propensity to destroy my walls/wall tiles when I start my own drilling works to install clocks/art pieces and all. Counting costs is such sweet sorrow - let's just peg it at more than 50k, but under 60k.

To all fellow Bishanites who responded to the thread, where are you guys in the estate? I am at St 23, one of the blocks overlooking Bishan Park.

Hi Stage, yeah, the storeroom has been repositioned, though I have to attribute that stroke of genius to the previous owner who carved out this current position as a maid's room. I think the original floor plan had the storeroom pretty near the entrance to the apartment. In any case, the current position works fine for me. I did, however, have to do a bit of hacking to trim down its dimension as it kinda got in the way of the adjacent dining platform.

Hi Aubrey, No worries, I am sure beige would work out quite well too. I got a Tecno cooker hood/hob package from Hoe Kee at Plaza Sing. - one of those "pick this hood and choose any hob to go with it" deal. I do have to confess that it was, once again (as with the story of most things in my life), down to pure aesthetics. Practicality is not my strong suit. As my mum, exercising her right as someone armed with decades of cooking experience, quite pointedly mused : "Tecno so-so only. When you switch on the hood, can it hold on to an A4-sized paper via suction??" Haven't had the courage to try that out. heh.

Hi, the length of these 5 window panels is probably not much more than 3 metres, but I'll do another check the next time I go to the apartment.

Hi there, I got track lighting for this purpose (3 spotlights on a track). Found that at Eurostar lightings at Balestier.

As we move along to the kitchen...not too sure whether this is the exception rather than the norm, but to me, this is a key part of the house since I like to experiment in culinary endeavours (haven't established for a fact whether this counts as a blessing or curse for my wife...the former I would like to imagine!!). As such, I kinda dictated the layout and the cooking appliances that we eventually went for. Style before substance being the name of the game here! Right side of kitchen - black & white is apparently quite a bachelor pad motif, as my female friends were quick to point out. They kinda alleged that the kitchen theme was a subconscious ode to my recently abandoned days of singlehood and debauchery (once again, allegedly so). heh. Left side of kitchen - built-in microwave and convection ovens are a must for me; the former for pure aesthetics, the latter to serve functional purposes (or so I hope). View from back of kitchen - the black glossy door you see leads to the "concealed", repositioned storeroom which will hopefully be big enough to ensure that my junk remains out of sight! OK, so much for now. Will probably share more pics when I finally move in, or when the pending deliveries come in, or when I have nothing better to do. In the meantime, all the best to all on this forum. Ciao!

One of my favourite areas of the house - the platform dining area. Chose large tiles in black slate for a stark distinction with the long timber strips. One slight "miscalculation" on my part perhaps was that I probably could have gotten a slightly bigger dining table, since I have the tendency to have friends over for wine-cum-football nights. However, I am probably between sizes here unfortunately, esp. vis-a-vis the phanton dining chairs I bought which are rather wide, i.e. if I have six instead of the current four (3 on each side instead of 2), the dining set will spill into my bar chairs domain...so four it shall be. View of living/dining platform from kitchen - in view are the bar chairs I was alluding to earlier. Oh yah, not to forget the strictly functional bar top. I am not sure where to position my wine chiller though...****. Entrance to kitchen - on top is the track light I got to spot-light the commissioned art piece, when it arrives.

Living area in the day...Managed to find curtains made of organza (prior to this, I thought this material was exclusive to wedding gowns!) in the right colour tone. A couple of views at night...double-glazed PVC-U windows which are supposedly 80% sound-proof - yet to move in so can't really verify that. Got the centrepiece lighting cos' it generates pretty decent effect despite housing a solitary bulb within. Was relieved that the long timber strip flooring fused into the holistic design concept quite well in the end - wasn't too sure of that initially but thought it kinda broke the black/white/dark glass monotony.

Let's start off with the entrance of the house... Did a full height shoe cabinet which you can find to the left of the apartment upon entrance - the wife has loads of shoes (actually I am probably as guilty of that) so it was somewhat necessary! The left panel is actually in dark glass but think didn't capture it properly in this photo. Recently found a small display piece made from fossil stone to fill the gap between the top and bottom panels. Shall take a picture of that and share it soon. Walk-way into the house - recently commissioned an artist to paint a modern minimalist piece to fill that wall you see at the end. Can't wait for that to be done (in mid-May probably). Intention is to create an impact to visitors upon entering the house, and to set the theme for the general deco. Sneak peek of the platform dining area to the left.

Hi everyone, I am one of those who have been lurking around this forum for months since getting the keys to my 5I resale apartment in Bishan (121 sq.m.)sometime in Oct 08. Took another couple of months shortlisting and eventually deciding on an ID, with reno. works commencing on 9 Feb, and subsequent completion on 4 Apr. Pretty satisfied with the end-product I must say. Anyway, have picked up some useful pointers from here over the past months, and thought it's probably time to reciprocate by sharing some random pics. This is, however, not going to be one of those "process from floor plan, 3D drawings, stripped/hacked threadbare till completion" kinda t-blog...just a convenient mode to share pics in response to some PM requests for pics that I've received recently. In any case, I was pretty tied up with work during the reno. process and frankly didn't take too many pics! I've not moved in and am expecting deliveries of more furniture and art pieces so the house is still kinda bare, but I guess in keeping with a minimalist theme, the house is supposed to have clean, clinical lines anyway! Pics will follow in subsequent entries. Cheers!

Sure, I will do so soon, though I have not moved in and am still expecting deliveries of some furniture and art pieces. Have earlier received a few PM requests for pics, not to mention that I've been feeling a bit guilty lurking around the forum for the past months fishing for useful tips but have yet to share any pictures since my reno. completion earlier this month. Will name my thread "Modern Minimalist in Bishan"...or something to that effect I suppose.

Hi Cher, Tastefully done reno! Reno for my apartment was recently completed too, and I went for a similar modern minimalist theme as well, lots of interplay between black, white and dark glass. Maintenance won't be fuss-free (fingerprints) but who cares right?? Only distinct difference is that I had long timber strip flooring for my living area and bedrooms. Kudos again on your classy home!

Hi there, Renovation for my new apartment was recently completed, also a 5-rm resale at 121 sqm. You should probably be looking at typically a 6-8 week renovation period if it's pretty much a complete overhaul. From my personal experience, approaching 4-5 IDs/contractors for quotes should suffice; too many and things may become unnecessarily laborious. Going thru' this forum would give you an idea of which ID/contractor you can shortlist, and which to avoid if you can help it. Might be good to have a budget range in mind (though if you want a look that is not too run-of-the-mill, one must be prepared to be a bit liberal here), and also a sense of the kind of look/theme you want to achieve. You might also want to be mindful to strike a balance between being solely taken in by an ID who can formulate the most beautiful designs on paper, and one whose designs may not be as strong, but gives you a greater sense of assurance in terms of seeing the project through. The perceived inferiority for the latter can be easily offset by you surfacing some reno. pics from magazines to "hand-hold"your ID a bit. Any ID worth his/her salt should then be able to fuse your preferences, with his/her own input, into the final design. If you are not in a rush to move in, it is worth taking your time in the ID-sourcing process. Feel free to PM me if you require a referral since my ID, while not the cheapest, did an admirable job. Regards.

Just thought I'd contribute to this thread since admittedly, when I read longbow's entry a couple of months back, I was deeply concerned because prior to that, I had committed to the purchase to an L-shaped sofa from Living Instinct. However, after exercising my right as a pessimist to wallow in self-pity for the next two days, I decided to give the firm the benefit of doubt since a) I love the design of the sofa, so much so that the moment me and my wife saw it, we kinda knew that was the one for the house; b) I have no wish to subscribe to the "guilty until proven innocent" mentality. And I am glad I stuck to my gut feel. Sofa was delivered without fuss last Sat (delivery was originally fixed on 28 Mar, but we called to postpone it by a week as reno completion was slightly delayed, which the firm dutifully obliged), and more importantly, was in perfect condition. In fact, I intend to return to Living Instinct some time this week to see if they can fabricate a matching ottoman. At the end of the day, while I have found this forum to be immensely informative over the past few months as I fussed over my new apartment, I think it's important for users to take certain threads/comments in perspective. While I have no doubt that the bulk of the cases cited are genuine, they may not be reflective of the company/firm in question as a whole.

Hi there, I used ***** for the recently completed renovation (handover last Sat) of my place in Bishan. I must say I am quite pleased with the overall design of the place, the workmanship of the carpentry and the professionalism of the ID and project/site manager. Feel free to PM me if you need a referral, or if you'd like to see some pics of my place (I am kinda lazy to post the pics up on the forum unfortunately). Regards.

Have been sourcing for an ID for the past couple of months and Soho Interiors was one which I shortlisted. Went thru' three rounds of consultation with them, including a session at my new apartment and was inclined to go with them as design-wise, they are perhaps the strongest amongst the 4-5 IDs I met, i.e. what they proposed was quite in tune with the concept my fiancee and I have in mind. However, my subsequent dealings with the project consultant assigned to me have eroded my confidence in them actually seeing the project through to a satisfactory fruition. Increasingly, from the tardy fashion which the project consultant has been attending to follow-up (e.g. delay in tweaking quotation based on requirements discussed, or even in terms of responding to acknowledge my sms-es), it almost seemed as if I am the one urging them to take on my project, rather than them doing a more proper, and timely pitching exercise...which is quite disappointing considering that I have been quite flexible in terms of my budget. As of now, I am inclined to go with my alternative ID firm, which may not be as strong design-wise, but certainly gives better vibes in terms of project management. I mean, there is a need to be circumspect vis-a-vis the number of IDs who can actually see their fanciful design ideas through, i.e. I can do without the situation where my initial euphoria of seeing a great design was substituted with a painful, laborious project management phase. My fiancee and I reckon that we'll just have to do a bit more work going thru' design magazines and surfacing our preferences to the alternative ID to "hand-hold" a bit more on the design aspect.

Hi, Am new on this forum, and am exploring some ID options for my recently acquired Resale 5-room apartment. Anyone here familiar with/or had your reno. project managed by Max Yu of G'Plan? Had a quick chat with him recently on ID/renovation requirements. Thanks in advance for any advice/feedback in this regard.