theitsybits

haha i'm another odd one..i don't watch tv either... hubby watches tv though, so we'll still have one in the living room..

hahaha..so funny..later u ask him hack and do flooring he yea so far quite like it..looking forward to the results though..he said today may finish whole rooms and corridor le.. tmr go see..air-con trunking coming..

i love it too! made with love and very pretty..goes with ur place.. can ask her to make and sell liao..

thanks thanks! guess it's really true la..really not much space left after furniture..

hee hopefully! i think i can accept it ba.. didn't really notice it till husband pointed out..i was more concerned about the shade and grout lines..

Not sure if my tiles look shorter due to the angle and my wide-angle lens. Does it look longer here? Day 17 More flooring laid today - K sent pictures.

Many thanks for the positive comments! i'm really hoping it turns out well, cuz we've no 3D and everything is really chose based on our own visualization skills.. It does look abit short and would probably look nicer if the planks were longer..but contractors usually warn abt warping issue tt causes uneven flooring, so we chose 15x60cm..even so, flooring might not be totally even as tiles are not all even..think the other t-blog should be using 15x90cm and we saw some nice ones at hafary..all their nicer ones are 90cm or longer

Day 15 Flooring started, and K sent me a picture: Day 16 Flooring for the living room is almost completed. View from the entrance. I think I like it though it couldn't have looked as good as using real wood. Husband thinks that the planks look short, but I guess we made the best decision since longer planks would have worse warping issues.. what do you think?

i really don't think it's a good idea too..we wanted the same wooden flooring for the whole house, and considered having bamboo or parquet wood and vinyl flooring..we end up choosing tiles due to maintenance issues.. it's not only about mopping but possible leaking and water splashes and oil splashes..once something leaks, you'll have to change everything.. if you want wood-like flooring and pricing is an issue you can try looking at ceramic tiles..i was concerned about the look and feel too, but was pleasantly surprised that there are lots of varieties for wood-grain tiles these days..the one we chose from soon bee huat was $2.60psf..

thanks! it's still too early to see if it'll look good now..

yup i'm using daigou.. i can't wait to cook and bake too! i miss those days when i cooked/baked almost everyday..looking forward to having my own kitchen..size is not an issue..

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wow what cabinet costs $8,000?? I have not personally used Ikea's kitchen cabinets here, but when I was studying in Sweden, all homes (including the one I rented) used Ikea's kitchen and it functioned well for many many years. Even the hostels ones withstood the rough use of students. I'm not sure what materials is used, but perhaps the humidity here may make it less durable. But if cost is a constraint, Ikea offer good value for money and could easily last 5-10 years. Although people have the impression that Ikea's furniture don't last, the few pieces (bookshelf and tables) I've bought have lasted for the past 5 years. Obviously IDs will be against the idea since they earn quite abit from carpentry works which may come to 1/3 of total quotation. When it comes to customization, I guess IDs carpentry would fit better as it's fully MTM while there may be some restrictions from Ikea's.

Week 2 concluded cont.. View from the corridor. Living/dining room. The brick wall. It's pretty white now, I suppose I wouldn't need to paint it. View from the entrance. Dining area. Pretty happy with the progress and how the house looks now. It seems a lot bigger since I first stepped into it. I wonder if it's me getting use to the house or if knocking down some walls and evening the flooring helps to create an illusion of a bigger and seamless space. The brick wall really grows on me, I'm really lovin' it. Flooring will start on Monday, and should be completed next week. We have applied for a permit to hack down the 2 walls separating the kitchen and service yard to create a even bigger space for the kitchen. 2 weeks after submission, still no news and they finally came back (after we called for 3 days in a row to chase them). PE is required to hack those 2 walls and hopefully we can get everything settled and hacked next week. Without hacking, it's not possible to finish flooring and the curbs! I'm really looking forward to the flooring, as it would complete the look for our place - we will know if the house is like what we imagined it to be. We have also got our air-con - Mitsubishi Inverter system 4. We don't have much choices given the tiny air-con ledge window. They will install the piping next Saturday. We got it from Hong Liang at Alexandra, served by Vincent. After upgrading to grade 0 and copper 22 pipes and 24b for the living room, it came to $3,950 with 2 installations. We initially wanted to go for mega shops like GC/Harvey/Courts as they offer installment plans. But prices were in the region of 5k before any upgrades. i also heard horror stories about GC's installation. Can't imagine paying 1k more for the same thing, so we ended up getting it from Hong Liang like many of our neighbors did.

Week 2 concluded Stepping into our place to see the screeding all done and dried up. My curbs for kitchen cabinets are also done. My living room partition is also being prepared. False ceiling structure was also done in the MBR. Weather was also great, with many people jogging/strolling in the park downstairs. Tiny MBR toilet.

Day 9 Dropped by in the evening to drop some lights which I just collected. We bought our lights from taobao at unbelievably cheap prices..it's so cheap that I wouldn't mind changing it a few times.. E27 down lights. Track lights. The brick walls were wrapped up in plastic to protect it from screeding in the living room. Day 11 As sand wasn't sufficient, more sand was delivered on Day 10. By Day 11, cement screeding for the whole house was done and K sent a picture.

you don't have to wish you were me, you can start working towards what you want! i have always wanted my own place, and being able to design it and choose every single thing from scratch is really a dream come true and very gratifying.. you can try ebay for the lamps? it may be pricey, but possible to find..

brick wall cost abt 1.5k for abt a 2.5m wall..pricing was pretty consistent between IDs/contractors. paloma has a pretty red brick wall..i suppose it is expensive, but not much more expensive than a feature wall for tv console..maintenance i suppose it's more work than normal walls as it it rough and has grouting..it's a choice to make..pretty things are usually higher maintenance (same for everything including woman). but i'm willing to spend time cleaning it in exchange for the happiness i get from admiring it everyday.. where's your estate ay?

it's ok la, it's a nice estate to stay at..i like the garden.. =) we spent more than a month choosing IDs but end up going to contractors as it was cheaper for similar works..good luck! i really love the wall too..

hello! *waves* which blk are u at? we did both walls (length of living/dining), it came to slightly less den 3k. but i really love it though..

thanks nisa! =) i am using a 3.5yo dslr with one of the widest lens in the market.. now you know why the tiny flat looks so wide, like 3D drawings..

thanks! ur place is looking good too.. we're enjoying the whole process and taking the next 6 months to slowly do up the house and fill it up with things we love.. i'm more adventurous and like some retro/industrial elements while my husband prefers the very white and simple scandinavian style..we do have some disagreements, but mostly, we come to agree after some 'negotiation' most importantly, i guess the house tells you something about the owners' character..

think to them, any 'extra' work is too much work..i don't get the brick wall thingy too..normal walls got less hard meh? and if my kid do such things, den it's better for him to pain once and learn his lesson..haha! even flooring, i dun mind cooling tiles floor and won't let me kid sleep on floor ba! don't think i'll be one of those protective parents.. haha yea will take it with a pinch of salt..but guess it's human nature to feel annoyed, and sometimes just keep quiet and let them go on and on, hoping that they can stop soon.. =/ but sometimes, just feel that it's quite rude and not very constructive..different ppl has different taste mah..if got nothing good to say, don't say anything! we made quite a big fuss about the switch lei..we made sure that it was a 2-way switch, just like lights..if it doesn't work like what we wanted, i think my husband is going to make a big fuss about it again.. =_=" anyway, congrats and happy moving! =) free share some pics!

very very nicely put together, and nice pictures!

Day 8-9 **photos provided by K** My brick walls were completed! The grouts were filled with white cement. My mosaic wall in the MBR is also completed. My brick walls are now wrapped up in plastic, probably protecting it from potential cement screed splashes. And this is yesterday's sky when I walked back to the central after dropping by our place. There was insufficient sand for screeding and more sand was delivered today. They'll finish screeding the whole place tomorrow to prepare for flooring. Sadly, the permit to hack 2 more walls have not been approved yet! It's been more than a week, and hopefully it can be approved soon! We have also arranged for the air-con guy to do the trunking next week. I suppose that flooring and hacking should be completed by next week then we're more than half-way there