theitsybits

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

hopefully lor! friends should be ok, don't like also won't keep saying..mil already complain abt my floor tiles, cuz we chose the same tiles for whole house instead of parquet for rooms..say rooms parquet better, else got kids slp on floor no good..also got ppl say my brick wall no good, very hard, my kids will bang their head..den my open concept white kitchen also kana..i guess my cement screed wall will get comments too..and my mosaic wall grouts.. not sure if i can take it if ppl go round my place nit-picking on everything.. got so hard to understand that i made my choices knowingly meh.. i rather it look nice and don't last that long, than look ugly and last forever..

market rate should be around 1.5k for a similar-sized wall..i got 5 different quotes are they're consistently this price..

Hee that's great..but i guess smtimes it's mindset not age la! I'm totally anticipating all sorts of comments for my place from my 'older generation' who probably still like the 'modern' feel and wouldn't get it. =/

wow, looks like quite a few people have the same taste and like lights like this - lights which the older generation would frown upon and think what's wrong with me.. =p

i was late for few days, they said price increase in June, i asked end-may already quote increased price...*sob! already ex le now lagi ex.. but bo bian..i fell in love with it.. i thought ur sofa look like dark blue leh! it's grey?? i guess we'll be going down to choose soon since it takes abt 8 weeks to make..we saw a grey-ish beige kinda color at the show which i don't mind too..

wow tts quite cheap! thanks! but husband thinks it doesn't look nice on ceiling..

yar we went to ikea, and all beds do not come with a flat support base.. =( i like fabric too..trying to convince my husband, cuz he's worried that fabric may be dirty and difficult to maintain..will ask if it's possible to custom-make one..

brickwall will probably be left like this without painting..initially wanted white but thought this looks nice too..can keep it this color and paint it white in future.. and yar i like it bright and spacious.. =) there'll be a 1m wall (width of the corridor) feature wall, covered with wooden planks..haha dunno how to describe..but it's mainly to cover the recess..

hee far great progress thanks to K lor..but house still small la..it's only big cuz i used my wide-angle lens..

i didn't occur to get schedule from my contractor either! he informed me when he's starting work and i start asking him what he's doing next and when..and we monitor progress everyday too, else he'll wadsapp pics of what was done.. it might be easier for woman to talk to the contractors, but i'm really bad with technical stuff..so sometimes, still need the husband.. i contacted alan for quote based on our floor plan and required works too..but he missed out a few items and when we asked him for it, he never came back and we didn't chase him le..guess need to follow up with him more often ba..really need to decide on many many things and let them know how you want it done..good luck!

Week 1 Concluded...cont.. The completed mosaic wall in the common toilet. The half-done brick wall. The warzone.. The brick walls and mosaic walls should be completed in the next few days..i'm really looking forward to it.. Flooring should also start next week as the screeding has been done for most of the house.. As both of us are busy the coming week, we may be going down less frequently as we did the first week..but i would have really loved to see every single step in this process.. It's has been a great week and both of us are very excited to see our home taking shape and deciding on all the nitty gritty details..Hopefully Week 2 will be as great..

Week 1 Concluded Some works were done on Saturday, and no works on Sunday. We dropped by on Saturday evening, after spending the afternoon at Lorgans (I love love love the furniture there). This is how our place look like after one week of renovations. Progress has been fast and I'm really very pleased. The corridor flanked by my lovely brick walls. Cement screed completed in study room and MBR with hacked wall mended. Electrical points are also ready for false ceiling. Study and corridor screeded. Another perspective. The half-done mosaic wall in the MBR toilet..

Day 5 Dropped by in the morning around 9 plus and the workers were already hard at work. To my delight, my brick wall was already work-in-progress! They also started with my mosaic wall in the toilet too! Cement screeding has also started.. It's a joy to watch these people at work, for they take pride in their work and these are professional skills which most of us disregard these days..every single tile is laid on and adjusted with precision..and the guy who was doing my cement screed look like he's dancing with his spade as his movements were so smooth and rhythmic.. Another room was also screeded when I was there in the evening. one brick wall and one mosaic wall in the toilet is also completed.

Ashley, we got our hacking permit 2 days after submission..

What u mean by ship lamps? U mean those mounted on walls? We're using pendant lights at the corridor..Tom Dixon's set of black beat lights.. =) Actually we did slight changes after speaking to the electritcian on site too..Some points were simply added instead of shifted..I guess it's easier to add than shift and mend the wall back..

Lynn, of course not necessary! We did it cuz we're very fussy abt where we can on/off the lights..we wanted 2-way switches for almost all lights, so we can off the lights on corridor when we walk to bedroom..L said usually its one light which has 2-way switch, but we requested for 2-way switches for almost all lights in the house.. =P we also split the 4 down lights into 2 switches cuz 2 is ****, 2 at dining..husband does not want to on all 4 if we're reading papers **** room and nobody's at dining.. So yar..most ppl just tell them how many lights and where without specifying the number and position of switches.. =)

Great progress. Loving my walls. Update soon.

where did u get ur bed from in the end? we tried Ikea, i quite like the simple design, but we need a bed frame with a full board below instead of planks as our mattress is 36cm and needs the support.. nothing looks/feel right although we've been to so many places..

thanks for the info! I thought of getting it, even if i had to change them myself..but husband thinks that it'll only look good on walls, not ceilings.. =/ do u have 2-way for all your lights? haha we've 2-way for almost all living room lights and end up with like 8 switches at the door..another 6 switches at the corridor..K said that he has never had so much trouble with electrical as it's very straightforward..only we gave him headache.. =_=" i'm really fickle leh..i keep thinking of adding things and i'm trying to tell myself to stop being greedy.. we've been visiting our place everyday..and checking in with him almost everyday too..haha..so far the first week have been great though we had some issues with the electrical..

I like this light. Anyone has any idea where to get it? Or what is it called? And we're still looking for our bed, actually, we've no idea WHERE to look for our bed. Nothing caught our eyes so far, NOTHING! Not even any potential one. I may check out Ikea's beds as I like the simple design..I kind of like this, but i've never seen it in shops here.. Sometimes, part of me do become worried about how the home will turn out. I like textures, and I basically chose to add all my favorite elements, with little regard if they would clash..

Day 3 The electricians came down to start work. I went down after work to confirm the points, and the straight forward ones like the down lights in the bedroom was already completed. The house is a major war zone now. I'm quite surprised by the work needed for electrical works. 2 workers were working, and there was drilling, cementing, with lots of pipes and wires everywhere..they also had to measure exactly where I want my fans and lights..alot of work! I've got to say that we're very very fussy about the switches, its position and height. We've mostly 2-way switches for most lights, and there's probably like 7 switches at the entrance. The husband is also very particular about the position of the 2-way light switch near the bed..the worst part was the heater..i wanted a 2 switches, for the MBR and common toilet because I didn't want to walk out of the MBR to on the heater switch..i got them to make a 2-way switch..but after that the husband said that 2-way switch would mean that if the heater has been on outside, and someone from the MBR 'on' it (without knowing that it's already on), we'll actually off the heater instead (and both parties will wonder wth is the water not hot). It's too technical and beyond me..so we're trying to see if the light will be on whenever the heater is on, or consider getting 2 heaters instead (i'm not keen). Day 4 When I went down today, they have already prep all my walls for tiling works.. i'm very excited about the tiling, as we've 2 mosaic walls, 2 brick walls and a cement screed wall.. They have also started the making-good for my walls after hacking. My home was crowded and busting with activity this afternoon, with like 6-7 people working. There were 2 electricians and a few people starting the cementing and make-good..K was confirming my points and telling them how I want my tiles and brick walls laid. Electircal wiring has been done, and they'll be starting tiling works tomorrow, after which flooring will start. *weee! There's so many decisions to make and renovation is like a huge crash course with so much to learn about. There was the initial space planning, then choosing of materials like flooring and tiles, choosing of contractor/ID, researching about pros and cons of everything..and when you think that you've finalized everything and started renovation, it hit you that it's just the beginning. The electrical points was a start, then I had to decide if I want the tiles laid vertical or horizontal, the gaps between the brick tiles, what heater/hob/hood/aircon to buy and who to buy it from..what lights, how much and where to buy, what furniture and dimensions and budget..these are decisions which have to be made quickly and they're practically irreversible. Being someone who DIE DIE MUST research first before buying makes me a very busy person these weeks. I've got to say that it's definitely a very enriching experience so far, not much issues, just that we keep changing our minds and wadsapp-ing K whenever someone pops up in our minds..if every customer was like us, I suppose K would be REALLY busy..

Hello neighbours, came across this and thought it would be of interest http://www.geomancy.net/phpforum/article.php?bid=2&fid=43&mid=31109&s=4

i don't really believe that it will not turn yellowish in year to come..it'll probably not be as bright white but wouldn't look yellowish i suppose..definitely will look bigger! i want to get handles too..haven't discussed with the carpenter..isn't it included in the price?? didn't know that we have to buy them!!

they quoted 895 before get last week.