BlurRhino

i think you find your false ceilings look very wrong, issit because the downlights seems to be very cluttered? and you really have alot of lights in the living area!

haha initially i only thought maybe only treetop has since its a premium project but really didn expect this is for all house owners.. yup agree the 10 bucks paid is worth it!

At our new home... After opening the door with trembling hands, and me fumbling with the big ong lai so that i can have a good grip and roll it in perfectly, my other half exclaimed "wah zhen de hen xiao leh!" (wah really very small!) Indeed it was very, very small.. Although i was mentally prepared that its going to be really small, but to my dismay, its smaller than i imagined. I absolutely cannot imagine how my ID's designs are going to fit in such a small area.. but then again, this is the reason why i hire an ID for, let him headache and not me! View from the location of where my sofa will be placed, the wall on the right will be hacked off for a open concept kitchen as i prefer a bright and airy living area. My "long" passageway.. ID proposed doing something differently for this BUT he didn do a 3D for this so hard for me to explain too.. so keep reading my blog to see how it turn out in the end! hehe.. We absolutely hate the yellow wall tiles in between so beside using glass backing, we are going to it away! My other half was delighted with our toilets, as it exceeds our expectation.. the wall tiles are actually quite nice lo so can save some monies here!

Key Collection date... Our key collection date is scheduled on 15Oct10, exactly 5 years after we got together.. talking about concidence.. hehe.. Thanks to all the information been shared on the forums, i did called in advance and confirm that we will need to submit our appeal in advance as we will only get married next year.. Initially very worried that our key collection might get delayed, as the hdb officer in charge mentioned that our marriage date is really very far away and he might have difficulty getting the approvals.. Luckily everything went fine and we got our keys on the meaningful day. hdb really very atas nowadys, the file and key pouch they gave us is actually quite good.. my sis was commenting last time they only get an envelope with a bunch of keys lor.. hehe.. and i must commend on the service of the hdb staff, despite what many people say, i think most are quite good and patient.. After we got the keys, a sudden realisation also set in... we are house owners now! yeah! for someone who have never moved house in his life, this is really uber exciting for me! hehe.. Anyway armed with our keys, we slowly shake our way to our new home...

Thanks All for the support!!

ID selected IBridge Rhiss.. Not too sure whether i should mention the name of the ID, since along the way after we signed up its really a hits and misses experience.. I shall name him Red Audi at the moment, coz for the people whose reno are done by him before will know.. hehe.. Although he is around our age, but can see he is really very experienced and he put in a very strong sales pitch in our first meet-up, and my other half was already sold in the first meet-up.. haha! The planned layout he had for us is also unique and different from what other IDs had proposed, which we instantly liked. He is also very confident and can articulate well his design concepts to us. Worksmanship and materials wise, we are also convinced he will be using the best so after much consideration, we decide to go with him for our reno. Some peeves we have of him.. maybe he really too busy so sometimes he will miss out details that we have told him before, especially in the preparation of the quotation.. One biggest mistake he made is in the measurement of the kitchen cabinets, hence causing a huge difference in the range of more than 3k in the final contract we are to sign. Naturally we are very unhappy but since he already admit that its his mistake and is willing to bear part of the cost by absorbing half of the GST in our contract, we let it go. There are also some items which i thnk is not correctly priced but i shall not mentioned here since i have yet to discuss with him on this.. I still maintain the level of trust i have for him in terms of integrity, just think he need to apply more due diligence when preparing materials for clients' considerations so as to avoid misunderstandings. My colleague who is using Red Audi for his condo renovation, is also happy with Red Audi so far, so i maybe the only one in his clientele that is so suay to kena him making errors.. shrugz.. To be fair to Red Audi, I shall reserve my judgements of him till the end of my reno. If he does a good job, i am more than willing to advertise for him over here in renotalk as we actually treat him more like a friend than an engaged service provider.. just hope he will reciprocate.. hmmm.. Edited on 08Feb11, end of our renovation: Strongly recommending Freddy, a.k.a Red Audi in my blog. Refer to my concluding comments on post 198.

ID Story Start researching on the IDs a few months back, and its such an enriching experience that at one point my other half is considering whether she should do a career switch to become a ID too! lolz.. I plead her to just dump the idea, of course. Its really an eye-opener as different IDs with different set of specialties, will advise us pitfalls that no other IDs will address, hence its always a learning experience for us during every meetups with the IDs. Have bad experience with some but also build up friendship with a few too, thus its a heart-wrentching thing when i have to informed them that i am not going with them for our reno.. Thus i shall give them some publicity here in my thread, but please note that my experience with them is solely based on my discussions with them during my ID hunting stage. Ted from OrangeCube - Senior designer over at orangecube, and this show in the layout planning he have for us. Creative and into details in his planning, i feel most comfortable with him as he is also very responsive and on the ball.. We shortlisted him in our final considerations but unfortunately he is more expensive than the ID we chosen (Not so much now, as we realise our current ID quotation is not very accurate but this is another story). James from Summit design - he is slow to warm-up but very friendly once he knows you better. Cheapest quote and i not joking when i actually start to worry for him and have to confirm with him is the figure really this low for the items he state in the quotation. haha! not the strongest in the design dept but if you already have a gd idea of what you want for your new house, try him rather than going to the contractors as i think his quote is very competitive even when you compared against the contractors. Elcy from 2Forms - recommended by my friend as they did a good job for them. 2forms are more like a design house so the cost will work against them, but their selling point is their designs and Elcy is really friendly and will make you feel at ease.

Dong! Dong! Dong! After learning so much here at renotalk and reading the threads from friendly folks like fifteenmay, froggy, bearlyn and etc, finally its time for me to contribute back to the forum by penning down my reno experience! Although i cannot articulate as well as neomesis or titanax/lachesis, i hope u all will have no problems understanding my very local english!

Just started reading your blog and happy for you that everything is going well!! n your hob looks uber cool!

From looking at entry level config to upping my budget to morel, tink its really a big jump so i guess i will not/dun dare to increase my budget anymore.. haha.. so i will make sure not to test systems that are above my budget anymore.. really poisonous.. haha Ya thanks for the advice!

nice choice of colours for your laminates! i am going for this colour for our rooms as well!

Yup.. actually i was suspecting whether the room we testing in is specially treated, so was walking around the room to 'inspect' it.. haha.. but only see some sound diffusers.. will it really enhance the sound that much? i agree that loud volumes will distort the speakers, similar to headphones but me n my missus both agree that he didn turn the volume really loud.. as compared to testing pro 600 and wharfedales in kec.. can hear the speakers stretching to keep pace.. intend to go down this weekend to test B&W, any particular systems u will recommend? i totally clueless with B&W.. we prefer lively speakers as they can really bring up the theatre experience.. actually not necessary need to be sats, we are fine with bookshelves too but floorstanders will need some convincing, as my dedicated is not that big too, about 2.75metres X 4.1metres.

Hi all, need your advice and suggestions here, will have a dedicated room in my small house for a home theatre experience.. initially just wanted an entry level 5.1 system so went to audition pro cinema 600 and wharferdale 10.1 but the experience are just... uninspiring.. my missus think its really not worthwhile to spend 2000+ on them which i have to agree in a way.. Just a few hours back, went plaza sing think too much time so went av1 see see look look and the sales guy, without telling us the price, introduce us to the Morel MT-2 system and we are hooked! the liveliness of the speakers and the engaging listening experience leave us with a deep impression.. The pricing of this system is definitely far off than what we originally set up with but now we think this is a more worthwhile investment than the 2000+ we pay for entry levels.. Now the big question is, are there any other 5.1 that we should audition before we make a decision?

Didn notice the glass is there until i saw the decal! Your hall/dining area really well-done!

Dun think we can overlay wall tiles right?? haha!

i serious dun understand how come when they lay the wall tiles for kitchen, they have to add in a few tiles of different colours running along the middle.. it looks weird n old-fashioned lo.. give me a real headache on how i can hide these wall tiles.. hmm..

yup about 1/3, and that is excluding the cost of the appliances.. really ex... after working out the estimated cost for this reno, think we really lost one arm and leg after we finish lor.. can eat bread for long time liao.. but then again on the brightside, if we avg out the cost over the number of years we plan to stay in this new home of ours, it seem so justified afterall.. haha

Your MBR looks good!! the curtain really match with the furnishing lor.. excellent choice of colours! n the placement of that mirror at dining area is strategic lor, really extend the area! thumbs up! ya i think most of us who take new hdb flats will spend most on kitchen, my kitchen alone take up more than one-third of my reno costs.. really ex..

wow gain city really that bad?? we still thinking whether we should get from them anot, coz seems like they are famous for their air-cons.. pardon my ignorance, this aron is from where ne? does he carry all the brands or just certain brands only? price-wise competitive?

your air-con installers so flexible ah? willing to come another day to install main unit? thought usually it will be done on same day then they just cover with plastic bag

OMG!! hmm.. but guess its really up to indviduals ba, i was showing to my mum this pic and she say the wall is very well-done and looks great! haha.. guess the person who approved this design is from my mum era!

wow!! congrats froggy! looks like your reno journey coming to a grand finale lo! and thanks for all the reviews! useful for soon-to-be owners like us!

hmm ya agreed i never see pipings done this way before lor.. but then again once false ceiling is up u will not see a thing la! thought cat 6 wires are common kind of wires? your current electrician dun know?

Welcome to RT doveyc! i am from 602A and i have exactly the same floorplan as u! Kerio had start e reno and he has a T blog here as well, can try searching for it.. when u starting your reno?

yippie!! no need for PE! me knocking down the same piece of wall as well!!