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Is that done by the contractor Ah Huat? I guess thats why need everything in black and white... Hope this incident doesn't dampen the reno mood!

Thanks for your reply! Actually I'm having a home theatre room, so most of the budget for the TV is going to that room. And yes, the Xbox is a must for me. The home theatre room is going to be a cornerpiece of my home, I Hope. I'm going for regular PLC down lights. Which I means I have over budgeted for this area. I'm more worried about such items, together with stuff like sinks and shower heads which I have zero experience in buying. Thanks for your advise! Maybe j should color code my list to list to things I can scrimp, and things I want to go for the max I can afford. So much to learn! Thanks again.

Those belong to the Reno items. What I have in that table are the non Reno items. But you brought up the installation cost of sanitary and wares that I missed out. Thanks!

15 seconds after posting, I realize I didn't factor in the costs of switches. More $ gone. COST! CONTROL! MUST!

Thanks friggin! Your place looks awesome. Been some time since I updated this place. Sorry about that. Have been spending my time meeting up IDs, Contractors, visiting Ikea and the major retailers to get a feel of how much I should be budget. $ has been my top most concern for the past few weeks. Am still meeting IDs and Contractors. And as expected, most exceed my budget of 30K. I now have a good sense of the market rate, and I'm gonna try to trim my requirements to fit the budget. Am a firm believer of keeping to initial budget, else it will never end, isn't it? I'm trying to get a better feel of my non-reno items. I want to work things backward to make sure everything falls within my budget. Remeber what I say about my budgeting principles? Hehe. Appreciate if anyone can advise if I have over/under-budget for any of the non-reno items below? I have a column for recommended retailers, so please free to let me know I can good deals! My total budget for this portion of my home is about 20K. As you can see, I'm already horribly off tangent. Need to cut 8K off from this initial draft. I am already going low-end for most of my stuff. No highend mattresses like Sealy, but beds.sg, for example. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hi there! Can I ask for a quotation breakdown for your renovation? Sorry if you have already received loads of such requests!

Appreciate if you could pass Alan's contact too.

Hihi! Your box is full. Just many others here, can I ask for your quotation breakdown with Mr. K?

Hi, Can I ask for the contacts of the above three? Thanks!

Actually my unit's rubbish chute is at the lift area, not in the house. Haven't heard much of spraypainting the toilet walls. Wouldn't water and humidity cause it to peel very quickly? I will be very keen to do painting for my kitchen toilet if that is feasible. Just floortiles and wallpaint.

Thanks for the advice! I do agree custom+Ikea does provide the best value for money. Some things can be saved, while some things can't. My budget excludes furnishing, furniture, lights and electronics. And for big item stuff like aircon and fridge we'll be going for interest-free installments. So hopefully that will ease up the burden. My budget of 30K however includes all renovation, plumbing and electrical/wiring. It's still abit tight. I will take your advise and tell my contractor upfront my budget. Probably around 25K, leaving some leeway for extras which are inevitable.

Big thanks for your detailed writeup. Apologies I took so long to come back to this thread. 1) Point taken! I have decided to do only bottom cabinets and to hack the walls. My wife and I won't be doing large scale cooking, hence I don't think we will have much kitchenware to store anyway. And I'm a believer of more-storages-means-buying-more. So I'll rather constraint myself with lesser space. 2) I'm still thinking real hard on the hacking for toilets. I will definitely be overlaying the living and rooms. Just pondering real hard on the kitchen and toilets. Cost is a real issue for me. How much am I looking at for hacking floor and walls for kitchen and toilets? 3) Personally I feel blinds are easier to clean. Just wipe regularly. Will certainly be going for blinds. Prefer the slicker looks too. 4) I'm really curious about your idea. It's totally the same idea I have if you look at my proposed layout. I agree its more of a divider-wardrobe than a WIW. And yes, the sleeping area does become much smaller. What I'm concern is the natural lighting, it will become real dark in the daytime because of the separator. Do you have this problem too? Ikea has got this PAX Storage system that kind of fits the bill.

One major problem I have is the linkage between dining and living area. I am using wooden laminates for my living room, while I prefer tiles for the kitchen for functional considerations. However, as you can see, I am going to hack away the small wall beside the storeroom (separating kitchen and living), hence it will be rather open concept. How can I ensure there is a seamless link between the two areas without using the same tiles/laminates?

Here's the general layout. I grabbed some ideas of some posts and layouts here. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Living & Dining I really like this idea of a raised platform for my dining area. One small difference with this picture is that my main door will be in between my living and dining. Hence I'm gonna move my bookshelf to be at the living room side. It will create a nice segregation between eat and rest areas. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Kitchen As for the kitchen, I'm more or less set on using cabinets only one side. It will be a L-shape cabinet. There will be no top cabinets as I will be using open-shelves from Ikea instead. The layout will be following the first pic (minus top cabinet), color scheme will be something like the second pic. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Can I find out what's the cost your contractor quote you for this platform? You can PM me if you wish.

By the way, Can I hack away my sink area? Does it loook reinforced? I see some bold lining in my floorplan. Would like to relocate my sink to the area between kitchen cabinet and service area -> L-shaped cabinet.

May I know what software you using for your layout planning? Looks really neat!

Wow, 390K is indeed under valued. A 4S is probably averaging 410-420K. I got my 4A at 420. It's lower than the usual (440onwards) because of the condition. The only thing I can keep is the flooring. All else have to go. Oh, then we are pretty near. Mine's at Tampines Mart area. Just 1 street down from your place. I'm totally looking forward to the MRT line too. It will be a 10 mins walk from my place when its up. Is there a glossy white paint? I'm intending to not tile my common bathroom walls too. Intending to use anti-fungal paint to save costs.

Wow, 35K. But seems like that's the going COV prices. I got mine at lower because the condition wasn't great. And its not near MRT. Its about 10 mins bus ride away. Believe your unit's condition should fine? I'm assuming from the COV. Do you have any lookbook to share? I'll attach mine soon! 60-80K is crazy. I won't spend that much. Are you looking for IDs or contractors? Since you already have an idea of what you want, why not go contractors? They can advise you on the technical details. 40K sounds like a nice budget actually. I only have 30K.

Thanks for the share! A lot of nice ideas. Love their wooden dining tables. An probably getting 1 with benches. So far the built-ins I can think of are a few - 1) Raised platform - I posted a enquiry in the reno section and seems like its about 1K. 2) Kitchen Cabinet 3) Mini WIW in MBR - still exploring the possibility 4) Small cabinets under the windows (recess area) of my MBR and study. I fully agree lightings and lamps are what make a Scandi/Jap look work. At the same time that's what I'm worry. My place is not that bright with natural light. The day time feel might be compromised.

Mine's at St 33. Can understand how excited you are! My budget isn't high.. its barely enough for a proper overhaul with a few simple wants. The current condition is quite bad. How much COV did you have to pay, if you don't mind sharing? I paid 18K for mine. Heart pain.

Can't stop typing. Just a note on some of my "wants". Hope it can be achieved. 1) Platform-ed dining area. 2) Mini WIW in my MBR, with a dress table at the end. 3) Open concept kitchen by bringing down the wall between Living and Dining (near store). 4) Full height book shelves in study room. 5) Simple entertainment room.

Maybe to kick things off, can I have some advise for some of my cost-saving ideas? 1) To make only cabinets on 1 side of my kitchen. I will free up the other side, perhaps decor with simple decorative paintings, simple high-top breakfast table. I'm exploring hacking the wall between my living and dining (wall near the store). 2) Overlaying tiles for floor and walls in my bathrooms. Also, I have heard that since waterproofing in seasoned units have stabilized, hacking to re-tile again heightens the risk of leaks. Is that true? If its true, I prefer overlaying. It's cheaper as well. 3) Using blinds instead of curtains. Are they substantially cheaper? Further I feel blinds fit my theme better. 4) Using open concept storage solutions from Ikea. We are intending to make small WIW inside my MBR, the area just outside the toilet. The solutions from Ikea seems cheap enough... will custom made carpentry be much more expensive?

Hello! What a awesome place to learn about home planning and renovation. Just so, so much to know about. Overwhelming to say the least. Hope to use this thread to keep track of my journey (approx 1 year) and to gather opinions of course! I just signed my OTP and paid my deposit for my 4A resale in Tampines. The first appointment is in October, and I expect to pick up my keys by end-December. Still a long way... but because of my budget, I need to start planning early to cut costs. More on that later. We love the Scandinavian/ Japanese Minimalism look. Lots of wood, whites, gray. Simple furnishings. We are not interested in those avant garde, modern look. Beautiful and classy as they might be, but I always feel that themes lack the element of a homely cosy feel. Just my preference. As mentioned I have a tight budget to work on. 30K for all-in (Excludes furnishings, electronics, furniture. Includes wiring and plumbing). Further, as my unit is a resale, it is extremely challenging. Cost is my numero uno concern. Which is why we are open to low cost options like overlaying, laminates, china tops and good-ol-Ikea. I'm at a very very early stage of my planning. So maybe just a floor plan to share right now. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Big thanks for the replies! Oops dear me. It's about 3.2m by 3.75m. And yes it's beside a corridor window. Which portion is the sill? Any indicative cost? On a tight budget.. Will drop the idea if it's prohibitively expensive. Just a visual example- http://moddesigninspiration.blogspot.sg/2012/01/japanese-minimalism.html?m=1 I don't mind using cheaper materials and a laminate!