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And success. Everyone was happy.. workers and home owner alike. The guys took a photo to prove passing the signal test. The successful relocation of this TP caused me much grief. Good thing it will be concealed within the TV console, and kept away from sight... so I will not be reminded of it. ONT activation on Monday.

DAY 25 OpenNet turned up today to relocate my termination point after the major c***-up on Monday, when they didn't turn up. Don't know if it's M1 or OpenNet's fault. I wanna put all that behind me now, and just wanna move on. Gave me so much grief as the ceiling guys were on a tight deadline to complete their works. Prepared a rope for the technicians to pull through, but alas, failed! Had to saw tiny holes in my light boxes to enable the laying of the fibre line. First turning point for the cable... saw 2 holes. Second turning point.. at the pillar. :furious: Third turning point near my TV partition wall. The only saving grace were the two workers from OpenNet, an Indian guy with a bangla worker. Both were extremely helpful, who didn't complain when they got all dirtied by the plaster from all the sawing.

Yup... a lot... it's called AI SWEE MAI MIAH! Hehe. Yes, the whole house will be fully painted before the cabinets, wardrobe, wallpapers go up. Passed the half way mark liao.. and praying for the best.

One round of washing will happen on Thu followed by the laying of laminate flooring on Fri and Sat.

DAY 22 Ceiling works completed. Last bits of plastering to the walls and ceilings to be done. The tiler also completing the tiling for the toilet box-up. Bedroom entrance. Bedroom - with pelmat for aircon and fake walls to hide all wires and trunking. Wires and pipes going into bathroom/WC all nicely boxed and plastered, thank goodness.

Ximula and Alumix are under the same parent company, or distributing agent. I was at their showroom in Toa Payoh, and they carry both. Different product ranges. A friend of mine also did the pole system but opted for OPSH. I think it's slightly less expensive. I don't think Sliderobes is avail in Sg. I simply drool at some of the wardrobe doors, and when I ask Alumix for what they have... they are seriously limited. What to do? Beggars can't be choosers. If you asked my frank opinion, I wouldn't go for Ikea. Don't know how sturdy it is.

I am getting Alumix. No idea how good the quality is. I just know they have very limited laminates and materials available.... unlike SLIDEROBES (http://www.sliderobes.com/sliding-wardrobes.aspx). A bit disappointed that I have to change my design to suit their lack of choices for the doors. Alumix is more or less modular and customisable. You just need to create the space required (or rather, the space you have), and buy the parts to suit your needs. e.g. number of poles, the shelves, the number of hanger bars, the LED lights, the drawers. Choose the door design and finishing, the laminate colour for the internal carcass, etc.

Wardrobe space for the pole system. Aircon pelmat for TV area, and partition prepared for the carpenter to construct the TV console. Box-up in bathroom and WC being tiled up. Notice the two metal structures propping things up? The tiler told me the box is strong enough to hold the tiles and the entire artificial structure can be tiled. I hope they don't fall on me in time to come.

It's 2+pm now and OpenNet hasn't turned up for their morning appointment. Seething mad now, but what can I do? Went up to the flat to take a look. This is the portion of the pipes that almost cost me 3 inches - 3 inches extra depth in the light box. Thank goodness saved it in time. It will be boxed up separately. View from the kitchen. So it looks like that now..much higher than previously. Box up for opening to the air-con compressor done.

Everything is subjective lah. Which is why I advise u to use the standard formula just to estimate the BTU required. Aircon guy came and say even if the BTU is enough, the placement of blower will determine where is cooler and where is not so cool, cos the cold air distrbution can never be perfectly even. So if your blower is in some far corner of the room, it won't reach certain parts properly also. So it has to be positioned somewhere.. where u conduct the majority of your activities.. and needs the most cooling. Oh .. and for resale HDB, we are also restricted by how the trunking runs.. and might have to sub-optimise cos can't run here or there.. because of this or that. especially true if u need it to be hidden. Hence I've got fake partitions and walls everywhere... from x inches it becomes x+2 inches.. to accomodate this and that... end up.. the space becomes smaller. *sigh*.

Wah... 2 compressors and 4 blowers for 3room flat ah? That's very powderful and excessive leh. If the walk in wardrobe door is closed most times, I think 10 for room enough liao right? And use the combination of 18+18, 13+18 or 13+13 for the study, dining and living room area. Position the blowers at the more important activity areas of the house, and let the kitchen get 'passive' aircon? I bought the Toshiba inverter, they have a 16 machine.

If it's not regularly (and only for a couple of hours) then I suppose it's ok ba. Doesn't seem like a good idea leh. For starters, sure not cold enough. Will also put strain to the blowers and compressor cos it's working more than it should, and is not built to cool all 3 rooms and hall at the same time. Depending on how the blowers are located, if it's blowing inwards towards the room window, sure the 'coldness' won't come out to the hall.

DAY 21 Today is OpenNet day. It's the worst of nightmares. Firstly, you gotta kick up a ruckus to get an early date, cos my flat has already been installed with a TP but on a wall that has to be torned down. They won't entertain you for an early adhoc date to accomodate your reno. So I went to sign on fibre service with M1 on 17 Aug, jump through hoops, and the managed to get a TP date for today. (Initially they didn't even want to entertain me, cos telcos can only facilitate TP installation if the TP isn't there. But if it's already there, but u need to relocate it for whatever reason, you take a back seat. Actually your own electrician probably can do the job better than OpenNet can, but NO, only OpenNet is authorised to do an laying/relocating, so you slowly wait). The best part is, OpenNet being atas, can only say the appt is morning today, between 9am - 1pm. A ridiculous 5 hour window period. They have no means of locating their technician this morning to know who is doing the job, or roughly what time they can turn up. I called M1, M1 says my appointment is confirmed, but I have to check with OpenNet on details. I called the OpenNet hotline, they say mine is a case arranged by a telco, so I have to defer to my telco for more info. The usual pillar to post, Singapore style. All this while my ID waited there since 9am this morning for the guest-of-honours to turn up. It's 11.08am now. 2 hours before OpenNet's 5 hr window closes.

When I took over the flat, the previous owner actually boxed up and tiled everything very nicely. I think it can be done. The boxing guy told me can take the weight. Will check with the tiler tomorrow.

This is the partition viewed from the bedroom. It's the 'wall' for my pole system wardrobe. The bathroom from a different vantage point, i.e. the WC area.

The pipes-of-disgrace have all been boxed up and will be will be tiled up tomorrow. It will serve as a doorway from the bathroom to the WC. There's only one access point, i.e. via the bathroom. Erecting the partition between the MBR and hall. This hall used to be the other bedroom. It serves to conceal a lot of cables, wires and the aircon piping that serves the dining area (it's the white horizontal trunking). It's where my TV will be too. The dining area with a 9 inch lightbox drop to accomodate the hiding of a small portion of pipes leading into the kitchen. I hit the roof and demanded that little portion be boxed up separately, and the ceiling be brought further up to the original 6 inches. That whole portion of the ceiling to be re-done, end of discussion. I am so excited to see how open my home will look from the extended living/dining area into the kitchen. The only object that stands in the way of the openness is 3 full height glass panels. Yippee!! Can't imagine a 9 inch deep pelmat. NIGHTMARE!! This will be gone by the time I visit again tomorrow afternoon.

DAY 18 Been a crazy last few days. Went up to my place on Friday evening but haven't had time till now to upload the updates. The ceiling guys started work. So did the CityGas man and the plumber. For starters, the ingress for the water, gas and electric cables have been relocated and neatened. It looks like that now, thank goodness. All these will be hidden behind my full height cabinets. Can't imagine my ID had the cheek to tell me they could not be moved. Lesson learnt .. never take their word for it. They are always looking for the easiest way out. Always check yourself, with the relevant people, or pals who've had experience on Renotalk. The outside looks quite a riot before patching up is done, but I really don't give 2 hoots lah. Old HDB flat, so am not expecting much. If the engineers and builders of last generation + old school HDB had an iota of common sense back then, we wouldn't even have to contend with these things. Gas pipes have been laid to the hob point. All will be concealed when the kitchen cabinets are up. Made a slightly longer de-tour just to ensure that.

I thought it's usually System4 for a 4 or 5 room flat cos the 3 bedrooms already take up 3 units, unless you are not air-conditioning the hall and dining area? But I must say, looking at your finalised layout, quite a challenge to position the air-cons also, esp the MBR. Open concept kitchen another headache. You sure you wanna go for that? You and your wife rarely cook?

Ya. Which is why I chose it. If it's too reddish, hard to match.

We are using the same colour laminates for floor.

Welcome Ngan. Don't be disheartened. You will pull through, the same way I am pulling through now. ID can also be a pain, believe me. Mine can forget measurements, etc. Tell him 5 inches, he will tell carpenter 6 inches. Passed him lockset and padlock a month ago, and a few days ago, he can ask me to pass him sample so he can show to the door maker. U say can faint or not? Gave him a copy of invoice after I arranged delivery date, just in case he needs to change date, he come and ask me for invoice number when he wanted to call the supplier. Press on... you have a whole bunch of RT pals here offering moral support, and ideas. Looking forward to the end product.. and more interestingly ... the WIP photos also.

I keyed in A Z O R A (thinking you bought it from there) and it kena censored. Don't know why. Dirty word meh? Anyways, windows and grills are not cheap, but purely from the aesthetic point of view, I would go with the white ones, untinted, to allow lots of light in. Not too sure if you windows are sliding or casement windows, I've got this thing against sliding windows also.

DAY 16 Met electricians late morning yesterday to go through the wiring requirements and placement of power sockets and light switches. Very professional and experienced I must say. The foreman gave very sound advise on what can be done, what can't, and what should be done, to balance practicality and aesthetics. They were hard at work when I returned to spot check during lunch and by evening time, alll the cables and wires were up and tied up in neat bundles. Call me kiasu, but I gave this to my ID and the electrician to ensure they know exactly where I want my switches. Not exactly standard technical/eletrical notations, but they get the idea. Am not leaving to chance something I have to live with for at least the next 5 years of my life. Can rely on the ID to plan to the last minute detail cos only the home owner knows? Tendrils everywhere. The ugliest unconcealable light switches right outside the toilet. Materials have been partially delivered for construction of the light boxes, toilet pipe box up and fake walls. They will probably go up over the new few days.

Hey snaem85, very nice 3Ds leh! Can't wait to see the real thing. I didn't get the 3D for the toilet also, cos there's only so much you can do to an HDB toilet lor, given the ugly pipes. I think the ID didn't want to waste time doing up a 3D for the toilet and bathroom cos it's not that hard to imagine.

Did you buy the lights from ***?