Metalsubzero

Hmm, littleones, I quite like your idea about converting your bedroom 2 to become the MBR.. Very nice idea.. Your kitchen is very long and big!! I just envy people with long kitchens now, cuz mine is so short and small.. What to do? Dunno what HDB is thinking when they build new houses, kitchens all so small.. Hahaha.. I'm happy with my new home, but I'm not happy with the kitchen, something which I overlooked when we were searching for house.. But den, Sengkang area, all kitchens small la.. So bo pian lor.. Hahaha.. How long will the shoe rack be? I think alot of ppl do dat as partition to block out view of the living or dining from people who walk by.. But is yours a corridor unit? Mine is a corridor unit, so have to put one, somemore FSM says my main door is facing kitchen door, so die die must build a partition.. But I don't want a shoe rack to be there, cuz FSM says shoes don't put above shoulder level (or dunno what level, just means dun do to the ceiling).. Hahaha.. I think if you all don't believe in Fengshui, anything goes.. And don't have to worry about not being able to put anything you like or to arrange your house in the way you like.. I can't wait to see 3d images and the real pictures of your house, I think will be a solid one! Hope to see more pictures of the current condition of your house as well!! Good luck!

littleones: You're welcome.. And thanks for your well wishes.. Will definitely post up pics on progress as the reno goes by.. pinkpetter: Thanks for the pat pat from you pet (Very rhyme.. Hahaha) Yeah, think should tell Joseph.. Will tell him tonight.. I'm actually feeling better today.. Happy go lucky as always.. I figured that since I've already dived in, just take it and carry on and hope for the best lor.. Yeah, whole place hacked, today will be confirming how the tiles are to be laid.. And Joseph says tomorrow can start laying already.. preciousjam: Will tell Uncle and Joseph about it later.. Glad someone empathises with me.. Thanks! mrspiglet: Xie Xie!! Wow, urs even longer, somemore over the weekends.. Hope tiling will be super fast for me too.. But hope that I'd get the good team of tilers.. What are the tiler names ah? Ah How? familyof4: Yeah, actually my reno just started and there's more to come, but I'm already feeling depressed.. Probably due to the many negative things I've read yesterday about Uncle's workers.. Yah lo, bo pian, die die also must do the coordinating what, or else god knows what will or might happen.. Yeah, uncle really very overstretched, so I dunno whether I should tell him about it.. But den I also think no harm telling them to expedite the reno process, whether they can do it is another problem, but at least let them know what we want.. ocheeeng: Hahaha, yah, I know.. But I took it in the spur of moment.. Hahaha.. Maybe I can heed your advice.. But den hor, I'm still contemplating whether to change my aircon sia.. I'm not worried about them using it, but I'm afraid they will abuse it and bring up the electricity bill.. Anyways, anyone can share how much your electricity bills costs during the duration of your renovations? Thanks everyone for your nice feedback and words of encouragement.. I'm really glad I'm part of this Ah Soon community in Renotalk and feel very blessed to have you guys there for me.. I think I should stop ranting liao, and look on the brighter side.. To all those whose renovation are still in progress, yet to start, or in progress of rectifications, hang on guys.. I'm sure all of you will make it.. Cheers and good day!

Yo Nobody.. Congrats on the purchase of your new home.. 1st appointment end of June, you'll still have plenty of time to plan and buy all the fittings and furnitures.. Wow, you're really fast, ID confirmed even before 1st appointment and your 1st appointment is more den 1 month away.. Hahaha, but good la.. Chop chop settle, den don't have to think too much.. So who are u using as ur ID? Wow, Blue Pearl Granite for your whole unit.. Hmm, blue ah, duno wat to match as well, paiseh.. But wouldn't blue pearl granite be very dark? For kitchen sinks and mixers, or cold tap, there are plenty to choose from.. Some of the better brands are Franke, Blanco and Kindred.. For taps I can think of Teka, Damixa and many more la.. I got myself a kindred sink and damixa tap, both from Hoe Kee at Tanjong Katong Complex.. They have an array of sinks and taps, but cold taps for sinks are limited.. I suggest you can try at Universal Union at Geylang, Poh Joo at Jalan Besar or Royal Fanco also at Jalan Besar.. Of course, there's also a package for Franke Sink and Tap + Cuizino Hood and Hob going for $699 at Asia Excel Marketing at Balestier.. There's just so many to choose from.. I think these shops are the most common and talked about shops here in the forum.. Good luck!!

Wow, this is indeed a miracle.. I'm a free thinker, but lately, I feel I might wanna explore more into religion as I've seen so many people's testimonies of the lord's goodness.. Anyways, congrats and good luck on the building of your nest!!

Thanks mrspiglet and familyof4.. Will clarify with Uncle tomorrow.. I know Extreme's prices are the best around.. But sigh, I have some problems with a lights shop which I don't wanna say much about.. Was kindda pissed off with the sales people and the boss from the shop.. Sigh.. Dunno wanna say or not.. I think I will blog about it when it' settled.. -__-

Sianz, really think that I'd have to apply for some leaves next month just to oversee the works.. Wifey will help too.. But I'm afraid she wouldn't know everything.. Both of us are working and only free at night.. So, taking leaves is the only avenue..

Late update - Day 2 went by without much progress.. Went down to find only the common bathroom completely hacked and the floor tiles for the kitchen are hacked.. Wall tiles for the kitchen are about 1/3 done only.. Still had plenty of hacking to do if you follow what I've posted for day 1.. I called uncle to check on the delay for hacking and found out he actually had to move 2 workers from my site to another site.. Was kindda disappointed, I have no time to check in the morning or afternoon and can only drop by at night to check everyday.. But nonetheless, uncle confirmed all the hacking will be done by the next day(which was yesterday, 21.05.09).. I did not liked what I saw actually, I felt that my tiles are not properly protected, but thought that was normal until I read the T-Blogs of you guys who've engaged Ah Soon.. I'm adamant they cover my whole house with corrugated paper now as I'm not changing my living/dining and bedroom tiles and I'm worried about stains on the white surface.. In fact, one patch of the corrugated paper was not laid properly and already has dirt and sand exposed.. They are still there right now as I type.. -____- I den found one of my fears came true.. The workers had been using my Air Con, for how long I don't know.. I would not have noticed if I did not turn on the mains.. I got to my place around 7 and it was getting dark, so I thought I'd switch on the mains so that I can turn the lights on, that's when I noticed my MBR's aircon was not switched off.. I called Ah Soon and Joseph immediately to inform them and kept the remote controls for all 3 rooms.. Electricity is not cheap and I don't even know how they're using it.. For all I know they might not even have closed the MBR door, air con was turned to full blast and I'm sure if it was left for long every day, it's gonna burn a big hole in my pocket for my next electricity bill.. Ah Soon said he made it clear to all his workers not to use the aircon and he will ask Joseph to reprimand them for dat tmr.. *Feeling guilty*.. But u guys should understand dat rite? Day 3 - As per promised by Uncle, the place was finally fully hacked.. Debris from my MBR tiles are still not cleared though, the rest are cleared and fully hacked.. The wall between the service balcony was gone too, as was the concrete cabinet.. Was relieved that uncle kept to his promise as I really hope there will be no delay.. Have some pics, but think I'd just keep it as a reference.. Doesnt make sense to post more pictures on hacked walls and floors... ---------------------------------------- Anyways, I was quite disheartened after reading aubrey's, familyof4's and smallboy's T-Blogs.. Seems like uncle's really stretched, and his team of workers are stretched too.. Add up to some CMI workers, I'm starting to feel scared... I hope I'd won't have to go thru so many rectifications as I really don't have the time.. I'm sort of a perfectionist and I certainly won't accept shoddy work.. I knew I had to manage the reno at some points of time, but didnt expect that I'd have to put in that much time and effort to micro manage for some issues which some of you guys are doing.. Sigh, I've never regretted though for signing up with uncle, and I agree it is his sincerity and his very chin chye attitude which sweetens the not so sweet things in this project.. Anyways, I forgotten to tell Joseph about wanting to keep the water heaters as they were quite new, and I found out from him dat his workers have already brought them back to m'sia.. He said he had already instructed them to bring it back the day before and that they will return it by yesterday, but still no news heard from Joseph.. In fact the only call he made to me was to ask me about payment... I really hope HO can be done within 5 weeks.. 4 weeks was the initial target which Ah Soon set, but Joseph told me different story.. He says 4 weeks impossible.. 5 weeks should be more or less done, but to be safe, 6 weeks.. By then it'll be close to July.. Sigh.. If you guys had read my earlier postings, I'm now renting a place at my friend's.. I havent said much about my family issues as I thought it should be kept within my family.. But all I can say, our kids are not by our side right now.. And only when I move in to our new house, will we get to reunite with them.. Those with kids will know how it feels to be seperated from ur child, even for a day.. It's been one month, and most probably gonna be another month.. The family issue den was quite a serious one that it warranted these actions.. Don't say too much liao.. I dunno if I should tell this to Uncle.. I just hope everything can be done chop chop and sui sui.. But to do everything chop chop and sui sui will bring about mistakes and lead to rectifications.. So I'm at my wits end.. DILEMMA!! All these juggling with reno, family issues and stuffs are dragging me down.. Coordinating of reno is almost everything down to me, so kindda stressful.. But well, I had always been happy go lucky.. Hope tmr(later) will be a better day..

Wah ashes, floor tiles? Hahaha.. U know I'm dissuaded to even do a small portion on the floor, L shaped from the wall down to the floor.. When we were stepping on it at Sin Lek it seems ok, but den if everyday use, I scared one day accidentally kick into the edges.. Hahaha.. Danger.. Esp with kids around..

Joseph say before laying will confirm with me one more time.. This friday will be going to see how we'd be arranging the tiles and to confirm what we want.. Hahaha.. Really hard to make up our minds.. Also, very scared lay liao will regret.. So must really really think hard and long....

mrspiglet Oh, uncle knows I want cove lightings.. Actually, he was the one whom suggested it.. The living side as per my drawings are confirmed.. The white lines on the false ceiling actually represents the cove lights lor.. Hahaha.. But single or double tube must tell Uncle right (if he's covering the lightings)??

Congrats!! Wah, seems like one day of ur hacking about the same work as my 2 day of hacking liao..

mrspiglet: After reading and reading, I really think that lightings are included in the quote.. Urm, L-Box doesn't come with cove lights rite? And L boxes are quite low (as in thick).. What I want in the living room is something as thin as possible to accomodate the cove lightings... Dunno dat is called L box with cove lights or false ceiling with cove lights.. I think anyway goes la.. Hahaha.. But I always call that false ceiling..

OK, thanks for ur idea.. Will have to decide fast, I think Joseph ordered the tiles liao, but should be able to change rite? Or ordered liao dat's it le??

Yah lor, was worrying about that.. The rough edges, scared it'll hurt the feet, but den saw the layout at Sin Lek, they laid it as an L shape from the wall to the floor leh.. My wifey was thinking of laying fully this feature tiles on one side (The longest side of the 3 sides of the shower area). What do u think? Or u think all 3 sides of shower area nicer ah?

Thanks ocheeeng.. I hope my lights are included in my reno though.. Hahaha..

LOL.. Thanks again.. Yeah, looks nice, price can be negotiated, esp with uncle.. Hahaha.. Yeah, neater.. And more evenly spread lights.. My design 4 actually I wanted to put more downlights to make it look more even one, but wifey say 2 enough.. Dat's why I say lights are just guesstimation.. I agree, less clutter, less complicated designs = good fengshui + less headache!! Hahaha

Oh.. ooh.. Ok, so problems with my design is centre portion not bright enough la.. But I feel with the amount of lights and the T5 lightings should be bright enough leh.. 7 Ft low low one only la.. Dun need envy la... Hahaha, my shoes not a lot, wifey got more.. Hahaha.. U know, women.. Hahahaha.. Ur false ceiling lightings were included?? Wah.. Dat's why I say my quotation seems like lightings are included.. Think gonna ask properly again.. LOL.. U mind taking another look at my quotation? It really sounds like lightings are included.. I really must ask Uncle again.. I hope they are.. Here are the 4 lines in my quotation for the false ceilings.. Point 25 and 27 makes it sound like lightings are included.. 24 Supply & install 2 set of false ceiling c/w lighting point **** room area 25 Supply & install 22 lighting c/w light holder a& wiring **** room area 26 Supply & install 1 set of TV cabinet c/w partition wall with wall feature 27 Supply & install 1 set of down light at master bedroom What do u guys think? Supply and install 22 lightings c/w light holder (down lights and T5?), Supply and install 1 set of downlight at MBR (1 set of downlights means the lights rite?)

preciousjam: I hope so too.. I done up so many alternatives and shown it to Joseph liao.. I want to get Uncle Soon's opinions though.. But den like very hard to see him leh.. Wanted to get opinions from him about the feature tiles in my MBR toilet too.. Dunno when can see him sia... MrsPiglet: Seems like everyone supports newnyew's design.. LOL.. My designs so bad ah.. LOL.. Hmm, there are downlights with single tubes ah?? Den I think I'd mix and match once I've confirmed my false ceiling.. Just spoke to wifey about newnyew's idea.. She says won't the ceiling be too low? Yah lor, front door directly faces the kitchen, from some angles can see the kitchen sink even.. So FSM say best is to block the view of the kitchen.. Uncle gave me package deal of 7ft shoe cabinet + 2 ft cushion with storage below, changing of all switches to designer switches for whole house + the Wood and glass partition in front of the door for $1500... Originally was quoted at $700 + $400 + $800 = $1900.. I was hesistant but was ready to accept, den he dropped the price to $1500 even without me asking, really very nice.. Even Joseph agrees it's a very good price... But hor, your switches all changed for free rite? Dunno why he quote me $400.. You did rewiring for your whole house? I think maybe becuz I didnt do, so he charged me lor..

preciousjam: Thanks! I also think so, Hmm, somemore there's a touch of fengshui involved.. Really appreciative man..

growler: Wow, 3 days ah, hopefully today they'll have more manpower over.. Yeah lor, the concrete thingy gonna take some effort to hack off.. Hmm, mine is not full unit.. I'm keeping floor tiles for my Living/Dining and bedrooms.. And yup, my flat is on the lift landing.. Thanks for the input..

newnyew: Wow, thanks for the reply.. And thanks for taking the time to draw out ur suggestion.. Very nice!!! I'm gonna ask my wife and if she likes it too den we'd ask Joseph need to add money or not, cuz it's such a big piece of false ceiling.. Hahaha..

Anyways, need some inputs from you guys on my false ceiling/L Boxes.. Please do read the previous post about my day 1 too and leave some comments if you have some.. Really appreciate any input from u guys.. Thanks in Advance!! I was free tonight, so thought I drew up some false ceiling designs using paint.. Paiseh, not very well drawn.. Lightings are rough estimates.. All are rough sketches and not to scale.. Anyways, white boxes are downlights, white lines are T5 lights, the brown boxes is the partition in front of the door, the rectangular box with 3 black dots is the ice cube dining lights, yellow boxes are spot lights, and the black thing with five "blades" is the ceiling fan.. The grey areas are the false ceiling areas and the darker grey area in the middle is where the beam in the middle of my living/dining is.. Anyways, as my living and dining is seperated by a beam, I can't have a flowing design for the whole ceiling, but instead I need to have 2 designs for each side.. The front side where the U shaped false ceiling and ceiling fan is, is already decided.. Design 1 This was originally proposed by Uncle Soon.. It was quite a nice idea, having a square false ceiling in the middle of the area with T5 lightings in all directions.. But after thinking about it, I realised that by incorporating this design, the pipes and wire boxes(Dunno what u call them) are not covered.. Moreover, my FSM asked me to erect a partition in front of the door, so the partition will eat into the false ceiling area, thus making it look awkward.. My design for the partition is actually just some square logs of wood from ceiling to floor with glass in between each log, so some logs will be on the false ceiling and some on my actual ceiling.. Joseph says lidat looks funny... I think so too.. Design 2 This design is a wild attempt.. It looks very complicated with a Z sort of shaped. Think I gotta drop the idea as I'm unsure how it'll look.. Design 3 An alternative design to the 2nd one.. Only a square portion remains from design 2, to acommodate the partition at the front door.. Design 4 I think will most probably be going with this.. False ceiling with T5 lights on the window and door side.. Normal L boxes for the rest of the sides.. The 2 big downlights are my wife's idea.. I think they look weird.. I actually have an idea in mind(copied from my wife's sister's house, but dunno how to draw it here), but wifey says she doesnt wan a similar ceiling to her sis.. I think this idea good to go if can decide on where the downlights will be for the bigger false ceiling areas.. What do u guys think? Would welcome any suggestions, or new designs if any.. Would prefer non roundish false ceilings.. Thanks guys and gurls..

Updates: Day 1(Hacking and Demolishing) Ok, went up at night to see the progress, and here are my findings.. Top kitchen cabinet already dismantled.. Wall, windows and the door between service balcony and kitchen still there though.. Hope there aren't too many metal beams around.. Hope most of them can be hacked.. Anyone staying in my area can advise? Common Toilet wall (Half done) and floor tiles hacked.. Toilet bowl and basin still there though.. I think they still need to use it.. Anyways, me and wifey saw an underwear hanging on the windows between the service balcony and kitchen so we asked Joseph.. He says they will bath before going back one.. U guys also have the same thing going on? I'm now very scared they will use my aircon, do u think they will? I forgot to keep all the remote controls sia.. I think tmr go keep better.. I'm being paranoid, but better safe den sorry.. Any of you guys do this?? LOL.. A mess on the kitchen floor, kitchen floor and wall not hacked yet, service balcony floor hacked.. The sight that greeted me at the main door.. Very little things compared to most of you.. Cuz my kitchen really too small, existing cabinet also top part only, nuthin much to remove, all hack hack hack.. They quick hand quick leg dismantled my water heaters liao.. I forgot to ask them to keep.. Can't find them anywhere now.. My hob is missing too (dat one I don't need) The heater is actually quite new, I think less den half a year, 707 ones.. So if anybody wants them, can ask me, might be selling for a small sum.. It just doesnt suit my taste (the aesthetics), so gotta change it, but a pity to throw it away.. Dunno what they do with it too... BUt Joseph says he'll ask the ppl who demolished it today about them tmr.. Anyways, to keep track, here are the list of things they have done.. 1. Common Toilet Door removed 2. Common Toilet floor and wall hacked (Wall half done), fittings all removed, WC and Basin still there 3. Service Balcony floor hacked 4. Kitchen Top (Wooden) Cabinet removed.. Bottom doors removed, but the concrete cabinet still there.. Here's what's left for demolishing.. 1. Finish hacking common toilet walls 2. Hack MBR toilet wall and floor 3. Hack the concrete bottom cabinet at kitchen 4. Hack wall and floor for Kitchen 5. Remove WCs, basins etc at both bathrooms I feel kindda slow for a day's work.. (Dunno slow or fast, cuz I've never seen demolishing works before) Joseph says only 2 workers were here today... Maybe that explains why so slow.. What do you guys think??? I hope they can deploy more ppl for tomorrow man..

rierie: Urm, I actually changed my chandelier liao.. The original one was in one of the previous pages here.. It costs $300 from Vin House.. Now I'm going for the simple ice cubes design liao.. Will post pics if I can get my hands on it.. guy77: Ya, got package.. I think it's $500++ or $600++ for 4 room.. But dunno what material and size.. Gotta go ask.. I also thinking of roller or roman blinds but more expensive lor.. I think managing is not a problem.. Roller or not, I'll still throw it into washing machine to wash (If can) Hahaha.. Those normal ones sure can throw in washing machine.. Hahaha..

guy77: Actually hor, I wanted black one, but was convinced to use darker grey instead of black.. What do u think about making it like an L shape? My wife says feels ok on the floor stepping on it.. She says washing is no issue.. Only scared of my 2 kids getting hurt by it.. I'm not using mosaic leh...