nirvana

And for the master bedroom, I like the color combi of soft grey (my sofa is grey) with Teal so much in the living room I am thinking using it for the bedroom as well! But I will reverse it and use grey for most of my wall color and use Teal to accent it. Inspirations:

Living Room Inspiration I saw this gorgeous Teal color in many of the houses featured in Apartment Therapy. Fell in love with this sometime blue sometime green confused color! Prob will use it as the feature wall in my living room. Some inspirations from www.apartmenttherapy.com:

Yo sorry for the MIA Progress has been okay la.. wiring are all done.. tilings are almost completed (still left grouting) for all 2 toilets and kitchen.. moving on to paint selection and carptentry soon.. Photos are taken but not uploaded cos everything kind of looks really messy now.. not sure how interesting it is for fellow forummers to look at sandy tiles, hanging wires, half completed everything.. Guess the more interesting part is the color selection and I have been stalking websites e.g. apartment therapy, desire to inspire, young house love for inspirations.. Will upload some ideas i have in mind......soon!

Not much problem except it took quite a while for me to get the quote from him. Think he was really busy then with his reno of office. He did not do any 2d/3d designs for me but did some suggestions on space management. If you refer my floor plan, my kitchen is really small and with no windows, it gets really warm when you cook (got to close both doors so the smoke dun get out). He did really fresh idea to knock down the kitchen wall to the dining area and extend a dry kitchen into the dining area. He also suggested to knock down the wall between kitchen and yard and extend the sink to the yard so the sink is right under the window. however, it did not work out for me cos: 1. I dun want open kitchen cos my sofa is fabric and will absorb the smell.. 2. yard window opens up to the aircon vent area and I am sure the air coming in (esp. at night) will be warm warm one.. Yikes! I have good vibes from him cos he is full of ideas and I like his portfolio and he likes Hayao Miyazaki (off topic but I am sure that contribute to his good taste) but he is way way too ex for me. I think you should go have a meeting with him if you like his portfolio. I am a great fan!

Some update. Doing up the electrical works concurrently with the tilings. Went with Henry's contact in the end cos we are too tired to look and argue. Hefty $3k gone.. Was talking to HTB (short for Hubby to be) brother in law last night over dinner and he was asking us if we are doing he Open Net installation of new gen internet fibre thingy.. Went to check today and realised that we are due for it in Nov.. Called Open Net to check if they can come earlier to do since we are doing reno now (can conceal everything nice nice). Ganna declined. Must follow schedule.. Argh.. after deciding so long how to do the wiring swee swee.. now will end up with external trunking for the open net thingy.. sigh.. Anyone in same situation as me.. timing so "swee"...?

Thks Simon! Wee wee, I took on Henry cos I saw Simon's kitchen... Nice!!

PM liao

Astoria park 958sqft. Okay buy only cos it is 99 years but near mrt (back gate opens to mrt so literally throw stone will hit).. I take mrt to work so this place is a godsend to me..

Eh.. dun have handover date leh.. cos we are not rushing.. the house came abit earlier than expected.. plus wedding is only mid next year.. so we are relaxed on the timeline.. But hor... very gan cheong still leh.. Aiyo.. I very contradicting leh..

Oh ya simon, where are the updated pix of little Jaden??

wah.. so 热闹!! I also wanna post here.. Hee.. Me also in Henner club.. So many newcomers.. no wonder one of the forummer pm me to inform that Henry just rejected him cos his schedule packed! I like cos Henry knows how to time manage so as to keep the quality of his work up up!

Work has stalled for a while. Cos we needed to test out the existing aircon pipes to see if they are still good. After 3 days of testing, it turns out well so that significantly reduced the cost. But that does not mean we can start work yet! Cos we have not settled on the electrical works with Henry, so we need to wait another day. Thank god we are not in a hurry to move. However, I am rather anxious to get all these over and done with so I can see the end results.. So I can only imagine the agony of those who need to move it fast but need to delay it due to unexpected problems. *waiting patiently* Anyway, on a seperate note, Xmas and New year's day fall on Friday this year.. so i am already comtemplating on my leave. If everything goes well, I probably will have 2 weeks off and I will just stay and enjoy my new home! CAN'T WAIT!!

ya.. ask Henry about it liao.. he is checking out for us. We are thinking of doing cove lights in the living room which needs 8 more lightings point for the T5. And some additional stuff (can't remember off hand). He will absorb all these additional stuff but the price (total at $2.6k) remains. Dunno if we should go with that..

Hello back!! *wave*

Dunno leh.. My hubby to be is the one liaising with all the contractor, aircon man, electrician guys.. I just handle the budget hehe.. Actually 1k difference la.. cos the 6.2k includes changing of pipings. But still.. 1k is alot too leh.. can do alot of carpentry work.. Simon, I saw your post on Henry's electrician and though tempted to engage him since he is good at after sales service but he also quoted us very high leh.. $50 per new lighting point and we are doing 30+ downlights.. so it is already more than $1,500!! This quote is pretty good if it is for conceal price but.. we are doing false ceiling so abit blur why the electrician quote us $50 leh.. sigh..

Reno started on 12th Sep. Did the knocking of the wall thingy advised by my fs master. Hacking of kitchen, toilets, removal of the wardrobe in mbr done in 2 days. Now they are doing the cementing stuff. Next step would be the tiling works *excited* dunno how the tiles will turn out. I am so sure it will be different from the showroom where we can only use our imagination to visualise the result. Anyhow, as the aircon pipings go through the kitchen and toilets we will have to decide on the air con fast! However the aircon guy recommended by Henry is really expensive. $6,200 for System 4 (10+10+10+10) mitsu starmex. wah lau.. confirm exceed my budget by ... 20%!! So while sourcing for our toilet fittings in Balestier, we came upon this shop which sells aircon and ceiling fans. And the boxx just came down yesterday night and he quoted us for the same thing $5,100 for System 4 (13+13+9+9) mitsu starmex and if we do not want to change the piping (which he says is in excellent condition) then it is at $4,100. What a vast difference! So needless to say, we settled for the Balestier uncle and will go down to his place to sign the order. He is quite nice cos we started asking him if he does electrical works and though he does not, went on to advice us on the quote given by our contact through Henry.

Wanted to try out some ID firms in the beginning. Approached KNQ associate, Loyd Pek (who did one of the houses in the T-blog), Fuse concept (a VERY nice patient Keith attended to us), Jason (yup, brother of Uncle Soon), Uncle Soon, Henry from ID Note, lastly a friend's previous contractor/ID. Settled for Henry cos his quote is the lowest and most comprehensive. He is the only one who remembered every thing we wanted to have and put it on paper for us. It was a surprise to us that Henry quote was lower than Jason's cos we thought Jason/Uncle soon tops the most value for money contractor. Jason did not cover all the items that we wanted in the proposal. So.. Henry better choice la.. hehe.. As for Uncle Soon, hmm.. did not even get to the proposal stage. He was scarily busy and that frightened us away. Fuse concept comes second to Henry in terms of attention to details and tops my chart for great services. Keith was very thorough in his initial meeting with us and was forthcoming on what can be done within our budget. Did up 3D sketch for us somemore before signing. But for the same amount of money, can do more things with Henry so.. did not go with him. KNQ is the other nice ID firm which did up 2D sketches for our house. Again budget is an issue cos the initial quote already burst our budget given (then i gong gong, gave higher limit of my budget) so... sigh.. Oh had to do a special mention for Mr Yeak. I approached him but he turned me away nicely saying that he can't fit me into his schedule and next time when I do reno for HDB can come to look for him again. Really quite taken aback but was impressed by his time management which i am sure translate to good QC for his existing clients. That was my little quest in finding the right contractor and we are quite happy with Henry so far. Always contactable. Even acc us to select tiles and offer to go down to select the toilet fittings with us. But no hurry for that so we told him we will do our rounds ourselves.

That is what my friend said too! In the end, only use once or twice!

*double take* Are you Interior design trained by any chance? **** sweeeeeeeeee~~~~~ I am so impressed! Wow.. IDs very pai tan now.. with creative home owner liked you, no need IDs also can do ID standard.. I am also using contractor and you are officially my Ou Xiang now..

Hi Reiki, I just started my own t-blog and thanks for passing your ID contact to me. Just wanna drop a note to say hi hi and that I frequent your T-blog cos I always go back to oogle over your photos. ~ Love the way you place the plants. Really complete the look and make the house more lively

Yo, so qiao. I just did my post on budgeting for my reno. You can have a look here Summary: - Reno cost - Electrical works - Kitchen & toilet fittings - Furniture and appliances - Lightings - Aircon & ceiling fan - soft furnishing The price you discuss with Reno contractor and ID falls under Reno cost. The rest still need to budget.

One of the first thing I did when sourcing around the IDs and contractors was to draw up the budget. Cos we have limited funds after paying of the 5% cash downpayment, we have to watch every cent. So after asking around from IDs and contractors and of cos useful advices from fellow forummers I did up a budget guide for us. Could be useful for some of fellow forummers who are starting reno: Renovation cost - This is the quotation that your ID and contractor draw up for you. This usually includes Hacking and laying of tiles, carpentry work, painting, cleaning and polishing of house, plumbing, false ceiling, install kitchen and toilet fittings for you etc. Usually they will KIV the electrical works cos can only quote when they survey onsite Electrical work - Includes wiring, install new lighting point (very crucial if you are doing downlights thru out your house), install new powerpoint. Some may include installation of ceiling fan but i think it is better to get the fan guys to do it since they are specialists and can do the balancing thingy well. Try to put aside min $1,500 to $2,000 for this. Kitchen and toilet fittings - In the beginning I blur blur thought it is inclusive in the reno quote by ID and contractors. Then realised need to budget for that! Includes kitchen sink and tap, toilet basin, tap, toilet bowl, shower bar & mixer tap, storage or instant heater, plus all other accessories e.g. toilet paper holder, etc.. This one budget about $2,000 at least. Ceiling fan - Again this is another extra cost. Cheapest ceiling fan quote i got is Fanco basic fan with no light at $75 excluding installation. Installation about $35 more. Quote from lightings.com.sg Aircon - This one I very headache. Cos condo they go by conceal piping. I no choice have to change everything cos the aircon is ancient - as old as my house. When on, machiam got aeroplane in the house. If you need to hack and change piping, and need 2 compressor (4 units) prepare about $5,000 for it. Lightings - All your downlights, fancy hanging lights, wall lights all fall under this category. Downlight cheapest quote again from lightings.com.sg is $21 for 18watt one. Remember to ask the full quote for downlights cos some lighting shop quote the price of casing only. The full functional downlights price is casing+bulb+ballast. Again, the guideline given by most IDs is $2,000. I am squeezing into $1,500 and cutting away all the fancy lights. Furnishing - Curtains, cushion, runners, candles, painting. The soft furnishing are very important to complete the homely look. The bulk of cost comes from curtain. Dunno how much to budget for this cos I haven come to this part yet. Hee.. will update next time. Last but not least, the furniture and appliances - Sofa, dining set, mattress, bed, TV, home theatre system, Washing machine, Fridget, oven, hobs & hood, Microwave, Iron, Rice cooker, kettle/boiler, vaccum cleaner all falls under here. This one up to individual to budget cos the price range really varies for this. I got all these in an excel file and everytime there is some changes to the reno quote I will update it so I will know how much budget I burst. This way it helps us to be grounded when shopping around for stuff. If you guys want a copy of the excel just pm me la. I do up swee swee abit so can jian ren and hopefully can help abit for those who are starting reno.

Ya loh. That happens for me too. In fact, my agent was rejecting buyers as we were signing the contract!

Hob refers to stove. Hood is the thingy above your stove to suck up all the oil when cooking to keep your kitchen or house smokefree and food smell free. I think even with ID, still need to hunt down all the appliances yourself leh. Quite fun to hunt around for good bargain.

Lup lup your carpet!! It is the colour I am looking for actually.. *drool* Somemore so good deal.. ARGH... Still got sale or not??