Et209

Story about electrician: can't remember how I met Peter, but seems like we clicked and chatting with him was fun. He really has pride in his work, and for a 1 man show, he got my placed wired u within 3 days. This includes stripping off the old wires and casings. The cost includes the following: Light point @ $25 each, 2gang power point @ $40, SCV @ $80, heater and aircon @ $ 80, distribution board complete with 2 pole main mcb, 10 nos 1 pole mcb and elcb @ $250. Total cost of $1290 was reasonable for his detailedness, especially the way he laid the casing and he will check with us what we want, and how to hide the casing and wires such that you don't notice them much in the living room. While I have lost contact with him, inwould gladly recommend him anytime for detailed work.

Hi errandz and dlyc, I have PMed you guys. Don't feel paiseh, if I can help, just give me a holler.

Totally agree. I got some of my inspirations from them. Part of my idea was to hack and install plastic shoebox inside the toilet as cupboard!! Some of these ikea hackers are very innovative. This is one of my favorites: http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/04/fireplace-frump-to-fab.html?m=1 There is also another ikea hacker who turned a ribba frame into a backlit wall art. Will try to post it up.

Agree. It is nice to make the home your own after getting it. There are many ways to keep a tight budget but yet still able to create what you want; e.g. Do your own painting, and use a contractor instead of a ID. happy renovation!

Hi Errandz, actually your situation is very similar to mine. We bought the place but we are not staying there. My advice is just to so the minimum to fetch the necessary rental $$. My dad's condo is rented out so through experience, expect higher level of damages and wear n tear. I think you should do up the key essentials such as if u need to redo the piping and wires or not for safety reasons. A new coat of paint is important. The rest of the furnitures, get 2nd hand or ikea stuff. You can still resell after you are back. Don't hack until you come back and ready to do up your place. You never know if you may change your preferences after you come back.

A little bit of outdoor feel: enhancing the kitchen flooring. I did my research and it seems like no one does wooden flooring in the kitchen, which is strange; this is very common in Europe and US. So I've decided to do it with an Asian twist. I saw these wood tiles selling at ikea for $45 for 9 pieces. Bought 2 packs to try out. I'd need another 4 more packs to cover the entire kitchen floor; cost would be less than $300. I'll also lacquer it later, plus fill the gaps with colored silicon. Finally will dressup the edges with some pebbles and led lightings. This is the incomplete flooring at the moment:

Thanks Errandz. We started with a small budget of $10k and through the years, we spent another $10k or so. Year 1: We did the main essentials first such as re-piping and re-wiring, painting, and finally identify crucial spots to hack, and only redid the kitchen. Year 2 onwards: The rest of the stuff is trial and error of using existing furnitures. As you can see, we don't have cove lights, wiw, but simple furnitures and lots of ikea stuff. You can do the same thing too!! Owning a home is a long journey; don't rush into things; if you like accessorizing and diy, then you will enjoy it. I also recommend ikea hack website for those that like diy. My next diy projects are to redo the toilets!!

Reserved.

The story about this feature wall: Personally I want to set the mood of the place with this wall. First and foremost, we hacked and removed the 80s ventilation grills at the top of the wall. Once completed,!we have a full flat wall. We painted it choc chip color to keep the brown woody feel. The painting was a hand me down from my aunt. It's a piece of egyptian canvas. I like how it contrast with the wall. The ikea floating shelf fits perfectly. I have installed spotlights. The chairs are part of the dining room set. I find it too Chinese "chi-na" especially the cushion cover. I may want to get a set that is more "modern". The center table is filled with more family pictures.

Thanks sleek. We really like how the floor turned out. I would had kept the flooring if not for the irritating grout. If I had marble flooring, I would had kept it too. Laminates need a lot of care.

Hi Gambaru, no, we did not change the toilet tiles. However, if you refer to our cost above, we include all our furnitures and household appliances and zircon in the $19k. If I exclude these items, then my Reno cost is about $13.5k.

Our new laminate flooring: the story We planned to keep the original 80s ceramic tiles. I still remember painstakingly redoing the grout. Trying out different trouts too. In the beginning, it looked good and new; however, the grouts were not deep, after a couple of months, they started givIng way. Frustrated,!we decided to enhance the place with floor laminates. It so happened that I met up with forumer Alvin, who had installed Krono O laminates. After getting his contact, I called up Steven. Very patiently, he explained, demoed, chit chat, and we finally signed a quote. We used Castle Oak Kronostep for the livong room because of the unique rustic colors and very nice woody texture. To save cost, we used black oak Castello range for the bedrooms. We also moved all our furnitures, saving $100. We did not hack away our existing skirtings. Installations took 2 days only. The result was stunning IMO Almost complete Closeup, you can see the wood details. Also depending on different tome of the day and lights used, the wood effect and colors darkens or lightens. Other than the wood, you can see my $100+ art pieces, and the dining room table is an expensive rosewood hand me down item. If you look further, you can see the hacked wall and how small is the existIng store room pn the left.

Hi getfuzzy, no lah. Just normal postform board. Just that the laminate pattern is somewhat marble like. Don't have the budget. Drooling over those black marble tops. I will change to marble once it wears out.

View of the living room with just warm lights switched on vs with 4xdaylight lamps on.

Another picture I took of the kitchen with lights on. The othe side of the kitchen. Notice the original wall tiles. Also ikea mirrors. Ignore that big piece of glass.

Hi getfuzzy, here you go. Total 20 ft kitchen. 12 bottom and 8 top. It is a L shaped layout. I did not hack the existing wall tiles. A good scrub and a lot of DIY grouting. Also, using stickers, i covered the blue tiled motifs with colors that are earth tone. It's easy and the stickers are cheap and waterproof too. We did not hack the floor too. But in a later stage, I may cover the floor with wood too.

I m not really ready to show you the incomplete bedrooms. But here you can see the art I bought from another renotalk forumer. Also we have retained the metal door frames and box up the air vents on top of the door. We chose a darker colored laminate for the bedrooms.

The living room is almost complete. I plan to get a mirror for one side of the wall and maybe another art. Also may mount another picture of the kids on top of the tv. The ikea standing lamp uses warm white; for a cozy ambience. The wooden feature wall was purchased from another renotalk forumer. Alvin! Thanks!! the shelves below is from ikea. The other side of the living room.

Throughout the few years we have spent approximately the below cost in the total renovation: Description Toilet and water renovation cost: Toilet bowl 188 2 basin 300 Basin piping 95 Hotwater champs 146 Copper piping 490 2 toilet B/F doors and rubbish chute 748 Fix glass panel in common toilet 180 3 unit aircon includes installation of piping: Aircon 1719 Furnitures and household appliances: LG fridge 288 Sofa 400 Maytag washer 369 Panasonic microwave 129 Coffee table 59 Cabinet1 199 Cabinet2 199 2 stools 78 Mirror 99 Art 3 pc painting 130 Master bedroom art. 2011 purchase 50 Fan 155 Ikea mirror @ common toilet 99 Ikea single bed x2 200 Ikea drawers x2 200 Ikea cupboards x2 200 Ikea plants. X5 30 Ikea pots. X5 30 Cushions 100 Small ikea mirror x4 20 Ikea lights x3 in bedrooms 150 Ikea lights in hall n kitchen n toilets 200 Ikea kitchen n toilets accessories 200 Cut glass for table tops 150 Wall decal stickers in kids room 100 Ikea shelves. X4 150 Curtains 200 We re-wired the whole house and did the points according to where we want. I will elaborate the actual breakdown later. This electrician is **** good. Peter was recommended by a friend and used to do wiring for many major commercial projects. His work was meticulous. Electrical points and re-wiring 1512 Kitchen was done up by my carpenter friend at Art Decor. Speical pricing of course! But good workmanship: Kitchen cabinet. Bottom 12 ft @ $90/ft 1080 Kitchen top 8ft @ $50/ft 400 Hack old kitchen support and built kitchen base 330 PCS kitchen top 12ft 180 Kitchen stove 320 Kitchen sink 150 Kitchen hob 300 Got a friend's brothers (part time house painters also) to repaint the place. I bought the paint and brush accessories for them. They took 3 days for undercoat and paint. Thanks guys!! Painting labour 300 Paint 300 Hacked away some stuff. Got rid of those 80s air vents. Recently I got another contractor friend to hack away the store room. something I'd wanted to do for many years! Hack air vents and patch back 120 Hack storeroom wall n door 450 Box up 3 bedroom door ventilation 100 Got new wooden door and a metal door grill. Bought at a Reno fair 4 years ago.Bad idea! These guys were late for the appointment. The grill started to rust within a month! And they would not change a new one. Just came and touch up paint over some rust spots. 3 bedroom doors and 1 main door grill 1100 Most recently, just got Krono-O to do laminates over those 80s floor tiles. thanks Steven. The Kronostep range is the best laminates I'd seen. Reasonable pricing. Wow factor. Even my sis is considering redoing her flooring. Laminate flooring 4500 Total $19192 This total includes all furniture and accessories.

More pictures: The kitchen The living room The common toilet

Some more pictures of the "original" conditions. These pictures are after we have cleaned the place. Believe me when I say we probably used half of Pierce Reservoir. Some of the walls were black! Literally! The main door: Facing the storeroom and entrance to the kitchen. Hack hack hack!!! Standing outside the common toilet facing the kitchen The storeroom which I wanna lack A panoramic view of the L shaped living-dining room:

A prelude to the almost completed living room. I don't have a theme. Probably something uniquely Asia rustic, cozy, woody, using lots of photos of my kids and some hand me down furnitures.

Yes. It was the "original condition" that attracted us. Everything was original, including metal door frames, air vents on top of each door, metal toilet doors.. Haha.. Plus the unique layout makes the place look bigger. We have hacked the store room away. That opens up the whole place too. The reason why bishan was because we can be near to my parents.

The block wad built in the 80s. These were the pix in the evaluation survey:

This is the layout. So far I have not seen another similar one in renotalk.