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Post Continued... Analysing the unit's position & layout The good - Relatively large size, though smallish for an EA - Supposed condo style layout, with guest toilet located outside of the kitchen and opposite BR2 (listed as a "design plus" unit after all) - Decent sized rooms - No west sun so it doesn't get hot at night - Living room area receives plenty of natural light The bad - Store room located at an already narrow entrance passage (how to put decent shoe cabinet!!) - Terribly small bathrooms - No defined dining room space - No separate yard area - Bedroom windows are small and do not let enough light in The ugly - The space for hanging clothes between the kitchen and the aircon ledge has absolutely no sunlight because there is a block directly behind it. Cannot dry clothes! Renovation Concept/Theme In line with what's hot at the moment, we decided on a mix of decor styles which I personally coin "Scandustrial", essentially combining the minimalism and warmth of Scandinavian decor with the raw, rustic look that the industrial style entails. Because the colours involved with these 2 themes are essentially neutrals, we will be making a conscious effort to add pops of colour to various parts of our home using accessories such as cushions, rugs, art and other knick knacks etc. Our requirements E and I decided that we wanted our home to look good but be practical at the same time. This meant that we were going to have as little built in carpentry works as possible in order for us to be flexible with our future living arrangements in case Babies A, B and maybe C came along, which would enable us to shift things around. At the same time, we wanted it to be a place which we could enjoy as a twosome. Also, we had to figure out how to solve the yard/drying clothes problem and the lack of a properly defined dining area. Truth be told, these aren't monumental problems or something which would cause much grief to a homeowner because there is still sufficient space for a dining table and we can always air our clothes in the living room, but we are just abit anal about such things I suppose. Lastly, we had to figure out how to have an open concept kitchen (which I like) and yet keep the smells from lingering out of the kitchen (which E hates). Presenting our proposed amendments: Uploaded with ImageShack.us Kitchen / Yard The parts in red represent the walls that will be hacked, save for the kitchen walls which the previous owner had already removed. In order to have both an open and closed concept kitchen (depending on the occasion), we opted to have a folding door with glass panels which can be folded away when we are not cooking, thus maintaining the look of an open kitchen. We will also be carving out a yard area from the kitchen space. Since there isn't any space to hang clothes, we will be getting a washer/condenser dryer combo. As the yard is tucked away to the corner and therefore out of view to our guests, it should prove less unsightly. Dining Area This was a suggestion by our contractor/ID. In order to create enough space for a dining area without compromising walking space, he suggested to hack part of the study room wall so that a dining area could be carved out. The side benefit of this is that we save some money on the feature wall separating the living rm from the study. Master Bedroom / Walk in Wardrobe E loves her clothes, and a recurring complaint when we visited numerous showflats was the small space allocated to wardrobes. In her maternal home, she had a 2.5 m wardrobe but complained that it wasn't nearly enough!! So going into the renovations, a firm requirement of hers was to have a large wardrobe. Initially, we allocated the existing master bedroom space to be the walk in wardrobe, but that would probably mean a significant waste of space. What we decided to do was to combine 2 rooms into 1 big master bedroom with an attached walk in wardrobe galley style, which bedroom would be accessed by a new double door, designed for maximum impact upon opening. Initially we opted for folding doors to further separate the two spaces when sleeping so that we would require less air conditioning, but in the end we just decided to close off the walk in wardrobe by using sliding glass doors with fixed glass panels on either side of it. Sweet! Next up, deciding between the different IDs and contractors -->

Hi fellow Renotalkers, I have actually been silently browsing through the renotalk forum for quite some time now, soaking in ideas and getting information and tips on what to do or not do during reno, and also what to buy and where! Having learnt alot through the t-blogs and posts here, I figure I should also share our renovation journey and perhaps some things experienced along the way. Perhaps 1 or 2 of you may also take something away, be it an inspiration or a practical lesson. Our story begins on the 14th of April 2013, when I successfully proposed to my then gf, now wife (who shall henceforth be affectionately referred to as "E"). Having successfully sealed that part of the deal, we set out looking for a place to call home, which as a lot of you know isn't the easiest thing in the world. Some of the factors we considered were as follows: - Near to either E's or my parent's home (easy for childcare needs in the future) - Within 0.5 km of an MRT station, especially on the North East Line (so that E can get to work easily) - Size of the apartment must be at least 1100 sgft (E grew up being used to lots of space at home) - Toilet must not be in the kitchen! - A yard area separate from the kitchen - Preferably North/South facing (so you don't get the evening sun) - Has to have sufficient natural light! We didn't want to ballot for a BTO because that would mean we would have to wait very long for our unit, but we were willing to do so for an EC. In particular, we tried balloting for some return units at The Topiary, but after umpteen failed attempts at balloting for 4-rms, 3 rm dual keys, we decided to look at resale flats instead. Plus, it's easier on the pocket. Our search was narrowed down to the following locations: - Upper Boon Keng opposite Kallang MRT (superb location for both private and public transport; flats which just finished MOP; but friggin expensive for a HDB) - Serangoon Central (great location but relatively old flats; expensive as well) - Potong Pasir (again, great location but the oldest flats out of our shortlist) - Sengkang (not as busy as Punggol, and valuations seem to be the cheapest here. Flats are also bigger) For those of you with more money and want to buy a HDB, you should really consider Upper Boon Keng and Jalan Membina in Tiong Bahru, but that's just my opinion haha. We viewed over 20 flats before we stepped into our current home. In fact, we put in an offer for 2 other units before this one. The first unit that we liked had a condo style layout on a high floor, relatively close to Sengkang MRT. BUT, the owner was then asking a COV of 100k (crazy!!). I think it was because he had marble floors through the living room and real parquet elsewhere. We put in an offer which was slightly in excess of half that amount, but was rejected. On hindsight, it was good that he didn't accept because that would be an insane amount just to pay for COV. The second unit was a fair bit away from the MRT, but the layout, space and facing was just superb. We put in a bid for less than their asking, but was quickly told that somebody offered them their asking. A bit of regret felt on not being able to get this unit. We were starting to get a bit tired and exasperated with the search when our agent suggested another area in Sengkang which we had not personally scouted in Prop*rtyG*ru, and we went down not expecting much. You know that feeling where you step in and feel so comfortable that you know it's home - that's the feeling that we got when we first stepped into our new home. It also helped that the former owners were very warm and nice people. We sealed the deal that evening when the owners accepted our COV offer which was a bit less than their asking. It isn't by any means the perfect home in terms of fitting all of our criteria, but it certainly comes close to it. Sorry for being long winded, so without further ado, here's presenting our floor plan: Uploaded with ImageShack.usTo be continued on my next post..

Thinking about it, I don't even think they showed us the dark one - perhaps it was our turn for it to be out of stock =p Yours floors are looking good and I hope it's the same for us in that lighter shade.

Nice reno! I think the concept of our house is eerily similar to yours, but we are not using Mr K (he's too busy). I suspect we got the same cement screed looking tiles from Soon Bee Huat, but ours is probably the lighter shade. Will be coming up with our reno t-blog real soon so stay tuned.

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Please quote suitable inverter system (3 different brands for comparison) for EA with following configuration: 3 rooms + 1 study and Living/Dining/Corridor area Thanks!

Hi Bro, I'm also looking for a clean black fan as above. Could you PM me your quote together with price for 1 living room, 1 small study and 3 bedrooms? Please also quote me KDK fans based on the above requirements. Thanks!

Hi there, I absolutely love your place! We are also going for a similar look so if you could share Mr K's contact via PM, that would be great thanks!

Hi guys, Been looking around for those wooden pedestal type of table legs (with 3 of 4 legs attached to the pedestal column), similar to those used for coffee shop tables that you can find in some ya kun killiney. Anyone know where to buy these type of legs in Singapore? Thanks!! vick