matchalatte
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Everything posted by matchalatte
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oh no, mine would have to be 24K since my kitchen is open (somewhat) and i do alot of baking and i didnt know it cannot be mounted on the beam! thanks for the heads up, i better plan alternate "route" but im not sure where since i will either not have any walls or they will be covered with cabinetry hmm i think 18K should be sufficient for living room, may not be very cold if you have lots of guests but still better than not having any aircon lol should trunking be laid after only hacking? -
$900! for overlaying bathroom? is it just the labor? i was quoted $1300 + another $800 for tiles so total $2K per bathroom so not sure whether to do it or not. my bathroom is 2m x 2m. jolene could you pm me your contractor please? thanks!
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im having a hard time comparing all the quotations i received for my 3 room BTO since the measurements the contractors give based on their own measuring and proposed things are all different but is it possible to find out what are the market rate for some usual things such as : 1. protecting the floor with cardboard (my flooring already done). one quoted $80 the other quoted $250. 2. quartz top, the usual pfr sort of thing 3. overlaying a bathroom's wall & floor (labor only). size is ard 2m x 2m. im intending to buy my own tiles from taobao. the average price i got was around $2K for labor alone. 4. shower screen either 1 fixed panel only or swing door type, not sliding. cheapest i was quoted was 400 the other 1050. the difference is insane. 5. 4m tempered glass door with aluminium metal frame. can be sliding, folding or swing. it will replace my hacked wall. cheapest i was quoted was $2500, most was $6500 lol anything else please feel free to add, thanks. my tblog is here in case anyone wants to take a look at my floorplan : thanks!
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thats a pretty nice drawing from your contractor! would you be sharing on your contractor-sourcing journey or is it someone you already know? i spoke to a couple of contractors who rejected me outright because they deemed my design & requirements too "classy & complicated" which i really dont think so. then again, i cook and bake alot so planning the kitchen is a challenging task hence contractors think its complicated to have to build an oven cabinet + island. therefore its always back to the drawing board after each visit im a taobao junkie as well and will be buying most of my stuff like rainshower, mixer tap, sink, lighting, even bedsheets from there lol. i saw the particular sideboard you bought on tb and i realized all the 北欧实木家具 are very very ex. yours is from sg right?
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feeling abit overwhelmed about meeting with contractors plus more to come, not even sure what i should be looking out for anymore. do you actually need to find someone who understands your designs? because i can hardly find one that im happy with their portfolio. most of the time they do the usual contemporary style that are really popular here like ie. glossy cabinets with a boxy dish rack, two tone wardrobe, cove light, elaborate display cabinet/tv console etc, these are things i really dont like. im kinda worried they dont understand what i want because after meeting them, almost half will give me blank stares or tell me things like im the first one who request for blah blah blah. today, this youngish contractor/ID i met dont even know what subway/metro tiles are hmm. good thing i started sourcing early. talking about tiles, im looking at the possible backsplash for my kitchen cabinets. im thinking of grey subway tiles or slim rectangular ones, no idea if they even have a name : also, i think subway tiles placed diagonally look amazing : or should i do marble? i love these hexagon tiles too : honestly too many choices and i cant make up my mind.
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(reserved)
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overlaying is ok but i thought you meant to convert it to a dry kitchen. so how would i be able to do that if i dont hack the walls? i need to go think about the mirror thing! the one you showed me from home & decor looks seamless, really nice. i dont really like the second one though because of the cut out. i've also seen them pasting the mirror at the DB box and precisely because of the cut out i dont want it. its like 4 pcs of mirror joining together. suppose if we want a totally full height and one piece of big mirror also need to take into consideration whether the lift can go in or not also right? im staying at 20+ storey. yes need to do planning to shift everything in before doing the island. my main concern is more towards down the road like when u need new furniture next time after we move in. thats why my hubby say will have to haul up above the island. mattress will have to carry horizontally over the island, same goes for sofa. the rest of the furniture should be flat packed and assembled inside the house ba.
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thanks for your ideas! mines a new bto so theres a 3 year restriction on the hacking of the toilet walls. therefore cannot convert into a dry area else i think will be good. i really like a walk in pantry with all the baking tools, canned food & stuff and i dont mind converting the main bathroom to one but too bad cannot. as for mirror i've thought about it but not sure how it will look as im going for the danish/northern european/mid century modern and i've not really seen interiors with mirror unless you can show me some pics lol. no idea whether will clash with my color scheme or not. my initial idea was to paint the bomb shelter walls black + chalkpaint the door so since both are black the look will be seamless. ya the whole house will look dark but im going for the dark moody look so i dont really mind haha. and my hubby was saying if the island is there at the living room then if in future if we need new furniture they will just have to lift it up and carry it into the house no choice lol
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true, i appreciate the contractor's well meaning advice but this is not something i anticipated. i guess i need to be prepared for more of this sort of response telling me my idea is "not doable" especially from those neighborhood contractors so luckily i've started to find early! thanks for the kind words and for following!
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wow sorry for your taobao booboo! i think its not as easy as it seems esp when it comes to appliances. i also need to be more careful when shopping for them since i dunno will fit sg's measurement or not. your rainshower looks really nice tho what a pity. but its possible that a rainshower will fit instant heater just need to find the right model or instant heater totally cant use rainshower? i spoke to an ID the other day and he told me he had a client who bought those flip up cooker hood from tb then realized its not compatible cuz in china their hood connects to an exhaust pipe that goes outside the house even for apartments whereas for ours its mostly recirculate type. and another ID told me that his client bought a mixer tap from tb and when they fixed it some rusty colored water came out from the tap. they had to ask the plumber over again with a new tap to verify whether the prob was the pipe or the tap. so scary and unforseen. dont even went to think about my tb purchases now lol
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contractor selection i do not feel like updating this section since its tedious to have to recall and document each experience but lets just say that after meeting 20+ contractors and 6 IDs, my chosen contractor is nick from renoguyz. read about my review on him here.
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so heres a 3D plan i did using the free app "roomle". initially we wanted to hack lots of walls but we've decided to forgo the plan due to practical reasons and just hack the wall facing the living room and replace with a 4 panel sliding door.
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hi! thanks for posting on my blog. i virtually forgotten all about it lol. my keys are ready for collection actually but i can't collect it as i'm still in the process of selling my flat. waiting for my 1st appt in may! i estimate to be collecting keys in july, should be able to start reno in aug. looks like still a long way to gooooo, i'm getting impatient. yeah i love the marble look, and for a baker its actually more of a necessity as its suitable for pastry & chocolate making because marble's temp is cooler. but it will be expensive. i've visited around 5 contractors and all still havent gotten back to me lol.
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love your blog! i think two of the issues applies to me as well - the aircon. mine's a 3 room bto with 2 bedrooms hacked to combined to become 1 so we need a large capacity aircon. living room will also need a big one so basically we need 2x18K or 20K BTU maybe and so far none of the brands i asked around have a compressor that powerful except fujitsu which im not too keen on. maybe i will go for toshiba then! i actually like their TV so why not for aircon lol. but i went to courts and some salesman told me toshiba is bankrupt so they dont carry toshiba tv anymore, no idea how true. came back to google and found nothing about their so called bankruptcy. im also toying with the idea of a wet kitchen in my service yard. i went to look for a contractor (pretty well known here) and he told me cooking is not allowed at the service yard because neighbors will complain abt the smoke, smell & grease on their laundry. i was like huh, but hdb allows you to hack the service yard door & window so why would they care where you place the stove? i went to read up hdb's reno guidelines and they didnt mention anything about no cooking at the service yard.
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WHATahome!
matchalatte replied to pipsqueak's topic in Reno t-Blog Chat - HDB BTO Interior Design and Renovation
i love your home! i'm very intrigued with the fan, its so....eames looking. can we get it anywhere else? the only remotely similar one i came across was the stadler form otto fan but its not a standing fan. this one : anyway i remember there used to be kmart in singapore long time ago, probably in the 90s. it was at marina sq but it didn't do well so they closed down. oh and nick is also on my shortlist, but honestly i'm quite scared now since i've read reviews about him, his frankness and sarcasm and not sure whether i will fight with him or not lol since i can be very "anal" over certain things. and since this will be our second and probably the last home, we really want to have it our way (for most things at least). i will be very sad and disappointed if nick tells me i cannot do this or that haha. -
hi! could you pm me your contractor's contact please? thanks! i love how your home is coming together. i've always thought marble could only go well with white/gold. you just proved me wrong with your kitchen cabinet & backsplash!
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could anyone who's bought big items like furniture and lighting from taobao please let me know what forwarder/shipping co. you used? i've always been using 4px their official forwarder but they go by weight, not container, which can be very ex. thanks!
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hmm he doesn't? i just saw your thread! you have very good taste! i need to sit down and read from pg 1-8 haha
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me too! i think it goes very well with marble lol
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ok, please let me know! i wont be looking for ID, so i wonder whether contractors' prices are comparable lol. true, maintaining would be a pain, though a matte gold paint would help it last longer?
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yes, so beautiful right! very unconventional compared to the usual black framed ones. im also doing for the other bedroom, not kitchen. unfortunately i havent asked around for quotes yet since i havent collected my keys. will you be asking for one soon?
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my moodboard. i want a black/dark grey theme and im really into the dark cosy look! i'm really inspired by some of the members' homes namely johnjohn's dark & cozy, renozilla's acidentally danish, owl&bear's parisian chic as well as yelena's the lake house. i also love marble and gold accents & fixtures. no idea how its all gonna come together as marble & gold is more suited for a white decor i think? but we'll see how. sorry my mood board is gonna be all over the place for now, when i have more time on hand i'll sort them according to rooms and possibly pull more pics from Q****. LIVING/DINING KITCHEN BEDROOM BATHROOM HOUSEHOLD SHELTER i really like this idea of movable shoe shelves inside the bomb shelter, opening up to reveal a tiny space behind for stuff like vacuum cleaner & luggage. as you can see, i don't have a proper place for a shoe cabinet and the DB box just won't do, so i will go for this idea instead.
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Table of Contents M O O D B O A R D 3 D P L A N C O N T R A C T O R S E L E C T I O N T A O B A O B U Y S B A R E U N I T A P P L I A N C E S H A C K I N G M A S O N R Y A I R C O N T R U N K I N G P A I N T I N G P A R Q U E T R E F I N I S H C A R P E N T R Y C A R P E N T R Y ( F I N A L ) L I G H T I N G G L A S S B A C K S P L A S H P L U M B I N G T A O B A O B U Y S 2 C O M P L E T E D L O O K ( L I V I N G, D R E S S I N G, Y A R D ) R E V I E W O F C O N T R A C T O R ( R E N O G U Y Z ) L A T E S T U P D A T E 1 L A T E S T U P D A T E 2 hi guys, so this is the start of my reno journey! pretty excited to have my own thread as i've always been awed by many beautiful homes here. for starters, floor plan! the wait for our 3 room BTO has been very long (5 years). i'm not exactly happy with the size as i've seen a couple of 3 room btos here and they all have way bigger living room and kitchen than i have. i probably have bigger toilets and maybe slightly bigger master bedroom but whats the point? i bake so i need an island this time round. will be very challenging but mostly likely it will be where the dining area is, and there will be no space for a proper dining table.
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hey sweetie, sorry about your bad experience. i will listen to you then, thanks for the warning. last thing i need is to deal with such a contractor esp when i will be the one solely in charge of renovation. hubby says he doesn't wanna butt in lol. i actually haven't collected my keys. estimate 1st Q 2017. sigh such a long wait. i super love your bathroom btw!! i also want a dark one! will you be sharing more pics of your beautiful home?
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your home is sooooo beautiful, looks really really magazine worthy!! oh man, so you wouldn't recommend yr contractor?? that means 1 less contractor on my shortlisted list *sigh*
