vicx1234

you guys are relatively close to me. That's a lot of new flats there that will be coming up over the next couple of months! I expect to see alot more owners from that estate blogging in here like you guys. Btw, awesome layout you have. bert7332, it makes sense now why you chose the "Anchoring Down" title for your t-blog. haha. all the best in your search for your ID/contractor

why would you want your bathroom to look mouldy? haha. But yes, it gives a very nice rustic and worn look for sure You know, when it comes to reno, what to do and what not to do is largely a subjective choice. The owner has to be careful not to listen too much (or too little) to the contractor because what they suggest could be motivated by a few things: - too lazy to go and source for things and liaise with other contractors (where they earn v little relative to their efforts) - suggesting something you don't really need which will boost their profits - their lack of confidence to carry out a piece of work Of course, there are the good ones who actually tell you as it is - all the advantages and disadvantages of some of the things that you want. As long as the contractor is able to substantiate his reason for suggesting something to you, then that's ok. In your case, I have a bit of problem with the contractor saying that it's a waste of money. What is considered a "waste of money" is really up to you. If you feel that you will derive that much more pleasure by having the glass doors (and provided it is within your budget), then who is to say it is a waste of money cos to you, that would have been money well spent. Put it this way, if one wants to be really an*l about it, one can view a renovation as a complete waste of money, especially if the house is in a "move in condition". BUT, why do people still pour so much money to do up their homes? It's cos they see the value in moving into a place which they can truly call their own. Of course, we cannot then treat that as a license to overspend. With all things, spend within your budget, where some have the luxury to have a bigger budget than the rest. It's all relative. Whatever the case, ask for what you feel will give you as the home owner the most pleasure when staying in your own home. Remember at the end of the day, your contractor isn't staying there - YOU are. Glad you like the stools! The stools and sewing machine legs are both from Second Charm. We intend to use them as a vanity stand! Interesting eh? *edit* oh yes we don't exactly have a firm handover date yet because even after we've done everything, we still need to wait for the contractor from Closet Design to come fix up our walk in wardrobe before our ID comes in to do the touch ups etc. We are targeting a mid Feb deadline for all this to happen. Won't be able to make it for CNY i'm afraid!

My blinds/curtains are being installed tomorrow - we hired someone from across the causeway to do it for us cos she's at least 25-30% cheaper than if you were to do it locally. Hope the workmanship is good, and if so I will let you know the contact. That's funny that the fan doesn't come with brackets, then again I'm not sure our my crestar one did or our electrician is just good haha. Good choice to go with Lamitak! They have some really wonderful laminate choices. Do be sure to take a look at the big pieces as far as possible, cos most of the time the small samples they have in the catalogue don't give you a good picture.

thanks iceage! yea, they were pretty expensive but that is to be expected since there is a lot of glass and the aluminium must be powder coated. Still, it was a must have for our home to complete that look Are you planning to put any fancy doors as well?

oh dear! do let us know how the discussion turns out. I'm sure readers will be interested to know the other side of Mr K.

thanks inthechouse. mellenur got it correct just below - it's the ramshackle from Lamitak. hey mellenur, you're spot on! I don't have any prizes for you though. We are really loving the raw and rustic look of the ramshackle. Hopefully it turns out nice when it all comes together

Looks like your shopping trip to JB was a successful one! Great choice of a bedframe IMO, has a little bit of lux factor but not over the top, and it's 90% close to the one that you were trying to find. Well done!

they must be really busy with the many projects that arose as a result of your awesome home reno thanks for dropping by summersann! Btw, both my wife and I have been silent readers of your blog and really really love your place. Hope ours can turn out half as nice as yours! I just realized that we are using the same laminate as your wardrobe, but ours will be for the feature wall instead. Sneak preview below:

My ID took about 1.5 weeks to generate the 3d renderings (which as OceanEleven mentioned was an outsourced job), but I couldn't complain cos it was so-called free. Since you paid for yours, I expect them to give you a higher standard of 3d renderings. I have seen some really good ones which come really close to the actual outcome, and since your ID is 3D Conceptwerke which charges a premium, you should expect nothing less from them!

Oh wiring was one of the first few things we did in the renovation journey, my wife did a great job mapping out all the points and switches! Agreed that it is a very tiring job, especially mentally. Gotta keep thinking what you want to use that point for and where is best to place it practically speaking.

hmm $60 is really low, what's the catch? I hired an ID, but he's more like a contractor to me cos his creativity and design isn't that strong.

I think about $120 p/point if i'm not wrong? Seems expensive to me. What's the market rate out there? I actually signed up for myrepublic just before they launched it. Now have to go and resign the contract, very troublesome! But definitely getting it cos it makes alot of sense.

welcome to renotalk soloqueen! Very nice 3d renderings - minimalist and clean looking. Now hope that your contractor can execute as pictured All the best for your renos ahead

thanks for the links! I should probably start asking for quotes from the painters. Do you know any contractor who has done this successfully and did a good job at that? I bought through Peeka instead though it's more expensive, as I felt that they do take extra effort to check that everything is ok and that the item received is actually correct. Don't mind paying abit more for the assurance. I got the items below as a package deal when I bought the sink: 1) colander 2) bamboo chopping board 3) two way faucet 4) soap dispenser & 5) a rilakumma lunch box (this one was free). All for the price of S$291 (excluding shipping) which is actually a pretty good deal. Items arrived in great condition, but I must say that I had thought the sound of the sink when knocked would be nicer. There isn't any of that dull thud noise which you associate with a Kraus sink. Hey but for that price, I can't complain. Sound wise, I'm actually thinking of a few solutions - putting moongel dampeners or those acoustic soundproofing panels that are found in those car audio shops to kindda create the dull thud, not sure if anyone here has tried doing that before. Came across this on Amazon too, wondering if it'll work leh: http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-21-Inch-Dampening-Acoustic-SF01/dp/B0040JHMH6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_1/184-4622020-8423359 Anyway, will post more pictures when the quartz top, faucet and soap dispenser is installed. Cheers.

We will indeed be laying cat 6 network cables throughout the house, 1 to each room except for the kitchen. Haven't quite worked out the specifics of how all the hardware such as the switchboard, router, ONT and all that will come together, so I'd better start doing my homework now. I suppose you have been attending mavicaste's "class" in his tblog? haha I think even after having laid cat6 cables in every room, you probably still need a strong wireless router or wireless signal extenders so that you can surf on your ipad or phone etc while in your rooms. So it's not as though the weak wireless signals can be completely ignored I'm guessing.

Thanks PTopaz. I think the problem is paint doesn't stay on aluminium window frames/grilles very well I'm told. It is possible to paint over it but the colour may look very ugly, and it's quite easy to come off. Don't know the extent to which it is true but that's what we've been told leh. It's camera illusion! The sink is only about 700 mm wide and 220 mm deep as pictured below. Not as big as the kraus sink from Amazon for sure, but at least it's cheaper and I like the fact that the drainage hole plate is square instead of the usual round ones!

urgh..tell me about it. It's actually closer to orange, doesn't fit our look at all. We've been trying to find out how we can change the colour but everyone says we can't paint over it. We have been thinking about sticking white vinyl stickers over the window frames instead. Any other ideas?

That's good that your wiw is away from bathroom, but whatever the case still must keep the area as well ventilated as you possibly can. Unfortunately we won't be able to make it for CNY as our pole system WIW will only come in on Valentine's Day! Oh well, that's ok since my wife is in HK for 2 months anyway. I do hope that your contractor can make the deadline, that would be awesome.

Door pics continued... This is a shot of the kitchen folding doors when closed. Apologies for the lack of clarity, this was taken at night with low lighting. Discovered that there weren't any handles on the outside, which means that it is impossible to open if you accidentally close it. Luckily they had not put up the glass panels yet. View from the living room to the kitchen. Still missing on the wall to the right of the kitchen is our full height display cabinet. Uh oh....big problem here. Discovered that the study room door cannot open fully! Wth.... Must get contractor to rectify for sure. Btw, the packages on the floor are our lights from taobao!! A bit off topic, but I had to lug a huge Sellena kitchen sink from my present house to our new home. So big that I couldn't even see the side mirror when driving! Anyway, can't wait to see it set up.

Preliminary Carpentry & Doors When I went down to our unit to accept delivery of the sanitary fittings from Wasser Bath yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of our carpentry items! I must say that our ID's carpenter works rather quickly, so props to him. Here are the items at our lift landing Kitchen cabinets going up in their rightful place The skeleton of our MBR TV console and dresser also up! Another view of the dresser and TV console Halfway through the installation, was again pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the door contractor, ready to fix up our study room panel and kitchen folding doors. Here they are fixing up the panel: All done! Overall, the look seems ok. The frames aren't as thin as we had hoped or asked for, but they aren't eyesores so that's still acceptable. I think the look of the place is starting to come together with the carpentry and doors going up, so we are really getting excited now. However, even at this stage there are some hiccups, some minor and some major. We will be pushing for our ID to solve these issues and hopefully he comes through. I do hate it whenever unexpected problems pop up during the reno, either because of a miscommunication or simply poor management on the ID's part. We've pulled our hair multiple times in the reno process already. I guess there really isn't a perfect contractor after all!

Thanks! I don't think the clothes yellowing will be a problem bah. Usually it's the parts with wood etc which will get mouldy, especially if it is very near a toilet. Whatever the case, I think an open wardrobe is good cos you're forced to maintain and keep it clean. Plus, you can actually see all your clothes! You know how they say you only wear what you see. For the signature that you see below my post, just go to "My Settings" --> "Signature" and then type it in.

Hi diva79, I asked my contractor about this seal and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Don't think he has ever done it before. He did however mention that they usually mix some sort of chemical seal together with the grouting mixture before application. Do you happen to know the name and brand of the seal?

I second retchlow for grey. Since the top half of your bathroom is cement screeded, I think grey in 1 or 2 shades darker than the cement screed wall will go quite nicely.

Floors looking good! We're at about the same stage of the reno, though they've started putting up our carpentry today I think this is the part of the reno where you can really start to see everything come together. It's a very exciting phase so enjoy it!

mellenur, if i'm not wrong Novena furnishing also carries a patchwork sofa though not in as nice a design. You may want to check it out.