arnold

Snapshot Before Furnishings (Living Room) We are pretty sure that after so many posts of planning and considerations, how will the works by Boon eventually turn out? To recap, the scope of works for the living area is as such: 4.5ft Shoe Cabinet5ft TV ConsoleL-Box Kitchen Glass DoorPresenting to you: The Living Area! Overview As you can see, 1 side of the wall comes with a recess area. Honestly, we initially kinda dislike this recess area. Just made everything look weird. We had the intention to box up the entire recess area. After considering that we do not have much design elements within the Living Room, we decided to keep the recess area, and at the same time, paint it dark grey to highlight it. The effect turned out quite good. It seemed that highlighting the irregularity reduces the monotony and the contrasting colours actually made the living area slightly more interesting. Close Up of TV Console When choosing the laminates, we were deciding between a plain white or white with design. We eventually decided to go for a laminate with a subtle design so that it adds some texture to the living area. Close Up of Shoe Cabinet The laminates were of the same design as the TV console. While trying to add texture, we wanted to ensure there were some uniformity to the overall outlook. However, we thought that by just having white carpentry in the house will be extremely boring. We eventually went ahead with this. It said Gun Metal on the catalogue, but somehow it turned out to be pretty dark. But well, we have no complains about it. Considering that we have a grey wall, black might be a better contrast to the wall in comparison to Gun Metal. We also want to share how much we are in love with the slot at the bottom of the shoe cabinet. The slot was suggested by Boon during the planning stages (as detailed here). I tried slotting in my shoes and it fitted perfectly (yes the shoes fit in fully, but we intentionally left it sticking out a bit so that we can emphasise that its usefulness). In case some of you are wondering why we did not construct a small chair at the side so that we can sit and wear our shoes, it was intentional as well. We couldn't imagine whether the eventual space between the wall and the chair will be too narrow. Boon had assured us that the space will be fine, but being the kiasi type, we decided to omit this and chose to buy a stool instead so that it can be removed if required.

The Silly Layout of the MBR Toilet and its Solutions HDB really gets on our nerves sometimes! One of the pet peeves that we have is with the layout of the MBR toilet. Let us first take a look at the layout to understand how HDB designed the MBR toilet. Problem So what is exactly wrong with this? After putting in a shower screen, this could be a potential hazardous area! Why so? Let's now take a look at a typical shower screen set up. A typical shower screen set up usually consists of 2 pieces of glass: 1 fixed glass (green) and 1 moving glass (orange). The moving glass could be in the form of a sliding door or a casement door. In the example above, I used a sliding door as an example. Take a look at the entry into the shower area. The first thing when you go through the door will be the shower head with its mixers. To an adult, this will not be too big of a problem. However, things get a bit more complicated when you put a child into the equation. Young children usually don't quite see where they are going. When a child goes through the door, there is a high potential that he/she will knock into the mixer situated right in front of the door. For those who prefer casement doors, the position of the shower head and its mixers will mean that it will be even more hazardous during the opening of the door. The day when your muscles decides to show its potential could be the day that you smash your door. In all honest truth, as a first time home owner, we didn't foresee this. Thanks to Boon and his experience, he pointed this to us and suggested that we should consider putting out entrance to the shower area in the middle. This will eliminate the potential hazard that was described above. We gladly took his suggestion and our shower screen will look like this: Another issue that we have will be the location of towel hangers. A typical towel hanger is about 60cm. After putting in the shower screen, the only space available to put the towel hanger will be above the toilet bowl, or at the wall on the opposite side of the shower screen. The shower screen was created to ensure that the toilet remained dry outside of the shower area. With the 2 potential locations of the towel hanger, you will either have a very wet toilet bowl after you shower, or you will have a wet toilet after you walk across the toilet dripping wet to access your towels. This was a relatively easy to solve problem. We decided to install the towel hanger on the wall opposite the shower screen. At the same time, we installed 2 hooks at the wall between the shower screen and the door. During bath time, we will hang our clothes and towel on the hook. After drying ourselves, the towels will be hanged on the towel hanger for drying and airing.

Electrical Appliances In this post, we will talk about some of the big ticket electrical appliances. We decided to forgo talking about some of the smaller ones like iron or vacuum cleaner as we did not spend too much on them. Hob and Hood This was one of the first items that we shopped for and bought. We were extremely inclined to Fujioh line of hoods. The main reason that attracted us to it is the technical specifications. Before you think that I am a full-time chef who knows exactly what kind of hob and hood is best suited, I regret to say that is not the case. In all the specifications that we saw, it seemed like only Fujioh showed the specifications for the absorption of oil fumes. Most other brands only showed the airflow rate of the hood. So what? Considering that most HDB kitchens hoods uses recirculation of air instead of piping out through exhaust, oil fumes absorption rate becomes important. A hood with a high airflow rate with low oil absorption capabilities will only mean that the oil will eventually end up on your floor and cabinets. I found it a bit tricky that the other brands did not put this specification upfront. (feels like buying something without knowing the specs). With this as the main consideration, we decided to get from Fujioh, the SLM900-R (Hood) and the FG3773SCGL Refrigerator and Washing Machine For the fridge and washing machine, we decided to shop for it at the big electronics store at the shopping centres, and at the same time, talk to different sales people for their opinions. Washing Machine We had no idea how to go about choosing this. By talking to different sales people, we figured out that 8kg should be good enough for our lifestyle. We have a small family of only 2 adults and 2 young children, so daily laundry shouldn't be quite light. However, we wanted something that can manage the washing of bedsheets and curtains. Most sales people recommended an 8-8.5kg washing machine to manage this requirement. We figured that 8kg is probably enough, and therefore, we went around looking at the best looking 8kg that doesn't burn a hole in our pocket! We ended up with the Samsung RT35FDACDSL. Refrigerator We didn't do any homework for this! We just went around and see which one we liked and shortlisted accordingly! We eventually ended up with the Samsung RT35FDACDSL. Air-conditioner We tried doing homework for this. But the crunching of numbers and different terms sent us into a massive headache! What with BTU, kW, thickness of gas copper pipes, drainage pipes and insulation! Eventually we decided to take the lazy way out. My sister had the exact same layout as mine! (she stays at the blk just across the playground!) and since they had completed their purchase of aircon, we decided to just buy whatever they bought! We we so lazy that we didn't even know what they put in our trunkings and the model of the aircon! We only knew that it was from Daikin. =X Audio and Visual We were lucky that we didn't need to buy any sound system as my sister won one in a lucky draw and she decided to give it to us! It's sitting somewhere in my storeroom now! For television, we decided to go simple: Non-smart Full HD LED. We haven't done any purchase though. We intend to buy it after we finish furnishing our house. Aiyoh! Why save so hard? An ultra-HD smart TV desn't cost that much mah! Well, we were very clear of a few things: We will not be watching any BluRay or downloading movies of that quality.We will not surf the Internet nor search for contents from the TV (we have our iPads and computers to do that)Since we were clear on this 2 points, why will we need to spend that couple of hundred more dollars for something that we do not use? The extra few hundred dollars can be used to buy us a few good dinners! Ending Note So, how much did we spend on the above items? $5832.10!

Sneak Preview

Yes it indeed defeats the purpose. It was a mistake that I made without checking. To follow HDB's ruling, the only way is to leave it empty

Thanks for pointing this out. In all honesty, I did not know of this requirement. Seem like the storage area will remain empty then.

And Let There Be Lights! To recap, here is my lighting plan: One of the first installations to our place were the lights! In this post, I will show you some of the lights that were installed. I did not include the places where I installed the hamburger lights though. After all, the hamburger lights are really there for functional purposes and I did not think anyone will be interested to see them. In case anyone would like to see those lights too, feel free to drop me a message and I will post them up. Without further ado, I present to you, the lights installed! Living Room Lights The lightings in the living room are generally split into 2 main areas. The main living area (highlighted in blue) will be illuminated with white lights, while the rest of the living area (highlighted in red) will be illuminated with warm lights. Bedroom Lights "Oh!! So nice! Lights so nice!" These were the words that my 2 year old little rascal uttered when I showed her the lights to her room (highlighted in red). She got so excited that she kept repeating this throughout her time spent in the house. Was so glad that she liked the lights, and hopefully, the nightlight embedded within will be put into good use in future! We opted to have a ceiling fan with integrated light in the extra room (highlighted in blue). The intended use for the room will be a study room for the adults. However, both the missus and myself don't quite do any serious work at home (we prefer not to bring work home), the study room might very well double up as a children's play room. Ending Note For Lighting In case some of you were wondering why we did not have any pictures of the Master Bedroom lights, we decided to leave it towards the end with the carpentry pictures in together! We believe that the lights will best stand out with the wardrobe in so that the track lights and dressing table lights can be seen to prove its worth!

You may refer to my post on sanitary fittings: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/70921-4-room-bto-simple-home/#entry894511 If you require a clearer breakdown on the items i bought, feel free to drop me a PM

Woodworks Considerations and Decisions (Part 2) Master Bedroom There were plenty of considerations in the master bedroom. Not only do we need to decide on the layout of the wardrobe, but we also need to consider the type of storage we wanted for our platform bed, the position of the wardrobe, and of course the measurements required. Before we start going into all the details, here is a blown up view of the master bedroom: Dressing Table and Wardrobe The first thing that Boon checked with us was the type of clothings that we usually wear. He needed to understand it so that he can cater space for things like long dresses and compartments for ties and other accessories. He also tried to understand the amount of cosmetics the missus uses so that he can advice the size of the dressing table. These were things that we never thought of and I was glad that Boon checked back with us on this. This gave us further assurance that our renovation work was in good hands. He also highlighted the potential deadspace that we might have due to the layout of the works (refer to below picture highlighted in red dotted line).He provided 2 suggestions: (1) to use it as part of the wardrobe. He will extend the bar out into the space within so that we can hang more clothes. However, he warned that there will be a lot of difficulties reaching the extreme end of the bar. In time to come, we will eventually forget about the clothes there. (2) He suggested doing shelving that faced the dressing table. He opined that the space will be much better use in this manner. It will also potentially free up space on the dressing table by allowing the missus to put her cosmetics within the shelving. The shelving could be either close or open shelving, depending on our preferences. We decided to go for Option 2 as this is a more practical solution. Platform Storage Bed The requirement for a storage platform bed was already made known to Boon when we first met up. During this discussion, Boon suggested that the covers of the storage area be made seamless so that it improves aesthetics. However, the only way to access the storage area will be to open up the floorboard with a sucker tool (very much similar to how you will open floorboards in the server rooms). However, we did not like the idea of using a tool to open a storage area. We believed that storage areas should be made to be convenient. We requested for Boon to make grooves at the covers of the storage areas and to have the covers hinged. This will allow more convenience for the storage access. However, we understand that aesthetics will take a backseat this time in exchange for the convenience. The end result should look something like this. Shoe Cabinet As mentioned in the earlier posts, Boon had earlier checked with us on our shoe sizes so that he can make sure the shoe cabinet measurements can fit our shoes. During this meet up, he confirmed with us not only our shoe sizes, but also asked us whether we had special type of shoes like boots. He shared that he asked these due to previous experiences where customers feed back to him on some of the things that they did not consider. Shoe size and type of shoes were some of these things that were missed out. On top of these questions, he also suggested to us of having the bottom shelf of the shoe cabinet to be open shelving, while the rest above to be behind doors. This will provide us with the convenience of slotting in shoes that we use everyday. When queried why he suggested this instead of proposing a floating shoe cabinet (both will fulfill the convenience requirement), he said that the floating shoe cabinet will pose hygiene issues. He remembered that we wanted to have our dining table just behind the shoe cabinet, and it will not be hygienic if the shoes are accessible also from the dining table side. Conclusion For The Woodworks Discussion As I work with Boon, I must say that I am impressed by some of the suggestions that he gave. His suggestions were most of the time practical, and considers a wide array of things, including hygiene issues. Of course, he has his own shortcomings (which I will elaborate a bit more in a later post), but his strengths clearly outshine his weaknesses. It had been an enjoyable experience with Boon so far, and I hope that the experience will carry on until the end of project.