calliecats

Hi Fllai, I've PM to you. Hope you find something you like. Are you doing reno too? Where's your place?

Hi Edlyn, Thanks I know I'm quite lucky having read some horror stories from this forum. I used wood backing for all the mirrors as per recommendation by my contractor. I could choose without backing but I'm not sure if the mirror will come off or not after a few years so paid a bit more for backing but its more for peace of mind as I plan to make this my long term home (prob not selling after MOP haha). I'm happy with their work

Thank you for your kind words, EoneKhaled

Finally managed to find the time to upload more pics on photobucket. Thank you for your patience Foyer Before Foyer After Household shelter concealed behind tick tack door with mirror panels (when door is open) Household shelter concealed behind tick tack door with mirror panels (when door is closed)

Hi I PM to you already. All the very best for your reno. Where is your place?

Hi Edlyn, Thanks for your compliments! I used a lot of glass & mirrors (will post more pics soon) for the entire place, it was ok all in less than $4K. You are right about the shower screen. My contractor actually asked me to put another door for the shower area so that the water will not splash out to the dry areas but I thought that would cost more so I decided not to have it. Now a little regret

Hi leeking, I've PM to you. All the best for your reno.

Here are more pics: Before After (the windows could not be changed due to HDB regulations to keep all the windows looking the same) The lovely glass swing door (sand blast)-you will notice the top/bottom hinge which my contractor advised me to go for, he said the side hinge would cause the door to sag after awhile & it would not close properly due to the weight of the glass. Best thing is no extra charge!! The stainless steel "H" handle The door has a beautiful slight greenish tint which I love I'm so glad my contractor talked me out of the bifold door.

It has been a busy past few days, apologies for those who have been following my blog. So since we were on the topic of bathrooms, here are some pics of my common bathroom-before & after:

More pics of my master bathroom (part 2) You can see the white trunking of the aircon above the mirror in the previous pics, here's how it looks after painting the trunking black: Shower Area This is my vanity light from Philips

More pics of my all glass Master Bathroom Tiling in progress Tiling almost completed Grohe Rainshower & Mixer & Johnson Suisse WC (before glass shower screen, glass panels & door installed) Basin with waterfall tap & deep brown piano-finished solid wood 2 door cabinet with soft closing (wall mount), gold framed mirror

Adideam: I read it on your blog While they were hacking down the half wall between the living & master bedroom, the whole wall came down. This was unexpected & my contractor said that sometimes prefab walls will have that kind of problem. So he offered to reinstate back half the wall, which is fine by me. Actually the half glass wall was suggested by my contractor when I told him that I wanted to open up the house as much as possible. He said most people will not be able to accept it but it will be nice to be able to see a little of the master bedroom from the living room & with the reflection of the mirrors in the living room, it will make the whole apartment look like it has more depth & space. I thought about it for 2 weeks before finally agreeing to go ahead with it. The effect? LOVE LOVE LOVE! The glass wall created a cool "layering" effect, yet I will have the privacy to pull down the blinds whenever I have guests over. After hacking (whole wall came down) Here are pics of the reinstated wall & sealing up of the door of Bedroom 2 Before sealing up the door of Bedroom 2 After door of Bedroom 2 sealed up

Hi adidaem, Will be posting more pics soon. Love the clean lines of your home too & congrats on being featured in Dwell

May_dream, Here you go! My all glass master bathroom The wash basin was relocated, all the walls knocked down & replaced with 2 fixed glass panals & 1 glass swing door, as well as glass shower screen.

Hi, My contractor thought through where to put the switches & sockets for me after we went through the general lighting requirements. He suggested the places where it would be most convenient & logical for all the light switches & explained the plan to me when we met later. Eg. He put 2 switches for me for my bedroom ligting-1 when entering the room & 1 near bedside so I would not need to get out of bed to switch off the light. He also asked me how many appliances I will be having on my kitchen table top so he will put the power sockets there. Saved me alot of trouble to have to think it up myself. Maybe you can ask your ID to do the same for you. Then go through with him the plan & give him your input before you approve it. Good luck

So my reno journey continued..... All my water pipes were concealed & my contractor suggested that I change the location of the master bathroom sink area to make it more ergonomical. I also changed the location of my kitchen sink from the back of the kitchen to the front (basically exchanging the positions of the sink & stove from the origiallayout). The plumber my contractor got was a very nice guy & very efficient too. Here are some pics of him at work re-routing the water pipes: Re-routing kitchen sink Re-running toilet pipes

May_dream, Will la, soon!

Hi piknik, I read your blog & empathise with what you are going through! I too used a friend's friend for my reno & he turned out to be an ideal match for me. We did sign a contract & everything was very properly done & official. Even if its a friend I think as a professional, he should give you a contract so that you can have peace of mind as owners. If he doesn't provide one or doesn't want to sign one, then you might have a feeling that he might have something to hide, or try to hide behind "friendship" when something goes wrong. I prefer to be upfront about it. Did he charge you a very low price compared to the other contractors you met? Good luck

Hi May_dream, yes, indeed! I toyed with the idea & then with my contractor's encouragement, I went ahead. Loved it ever since

Window grilles all removed (I'm not going to have any grilles): Master Bathroom before hacking down the walls (I will be having an all glass master bathroom, so all walls down): Master Bathroom after all walls hacked: Wall between Master bedroom & bedroom 2 down, to merge into 1 big master bedroom with walk in wardrobe: To open up the apt further, I made a decision to hack the top half of the wall between living & master bedroom & replace it with glass & blind:

Here are more pics of the hacking process: Bathroom

Hi ayazumi, My reno was actually completed 1st week of Nov 2011, took 6-7 weeks from hacking to completion. Then, could not enjoy it as my company sent me overseas shortly after that

Good morning! As promised, here are the hacking pics. To make it easier for everyone to follow, I will be posting the pics in the order of the reno progression. As I was quite busy with work during the reno process, most of these pics were taken by my contractor & emailed to me every other day to keep me abreast of the progress. I was very pleased with my contractor for even thinking of doing this small thing for me!! 2 Thumbs up for service & customer satisfaction In hindsight, I now understand why my contractor was so detailed about everything even before we started. He even went down to the smallest details so that he could get my opinion & preferences. Initially, I found it puzzling why he asked my views on all the small things but I went along with it. Later, he told me that it would be frustrating to many people if the contractor gave them some general quotation & then in the middle of the reno added all the additionals, which means extra $$ by the owners. I have heard of some friends whose reno bills blew up an extra 30%-50% from the original quotation. This also made many of their working relationships with their ID/contractor tense & unhappy. Being new to reno & not in the business of construction, sometimes as owners we do not even know when looking at the quote whether there are missing things or not. I appreciated his honesty & I was able to keep very near to the original quotation with only some small changes & no major hidden cost(I can say this on hindsight because my reno is over already). So I thank my lucky stars. Living Room Kitchen Before hacking down kitchen wall After hacking kitchen wall

Kitchen Bathrooms Both bathrooms were original HDB style. Both would be drastically transformed by my contractor & would spot 2 totally different looks! Watch this space

Here are some pics of the apt after the previous owner moved out: Foyer Area/Kitchen Entrance Living/Dining Area Entrance to the rooms Master & Bedroom 2 (the wall in between would be hacked) Inside the rooms