snowy89

Actually this is the an area I refuse to budge with my man. I was the one who insisted on R&R because I really like them. The quotation was barely inside our budget too and was higher than the other ID. Nonetheless, I feel reassured of their quality of work delivered. Judging from how I am so picky and still can find some of their workmanship parts that require to be rectified, it scares me to think what if I hire other contractors whose workmanship is shoddy. I think I will berserk. There may be some good contractors out there too, just that I find it very hassle free having my ID coordinating everything for me; even external vendors that she won't earn a cent from. It helped a lot since both of us are working. My external vendor includes: 1) service yard windows + slim grilles 2) curtains 3) electrical works 4) Citygas gas piping (ID did everything and arrange for appointment) 5) Delivery from taobao I guess I am paying a bit more for that extra service and quality workmanship but it saves me a lot of grief and headaches having to coordinate everything else. Anything else we are just going for the best and the cheapest, i.e. taobao.

Yay to my 3rd page, never thought that I will be posting so religiously. But everything is just too exciting for a new flat owner. Now I can understand how people have over 10 over pages and I love reading up all of the long long entries during my pre-renovated state. Made a trip to my house again yesterday and realized that my acrylic panels in the bathrooms are up. I topped up for these acrylic panels as well because they will make the ambience complete. HDB usually provide a netted finish and box to cover up the unsightly toilet pipes (with exception: top level). Just to give an illustration: Photo taken off the net. I forgot the source unfortunately because I forgot to snap a photo of my pre-renovated state. But this is how it usually look. For the common bathroom, I stuck to the more yellowish LED strip because I find yellow compliments with blue. Yes, remember my sea theme for the common bathroom? It is actually coming to realization soon. This is the effect when I switch on the LED strip only. Very soothing and romantic. As for my MBR bathroom, I decided to go for warm white T5 instead. This is so because T5 is generally brighter, and as my MBR bathroom is pre-domineering black, I want it to look not so gloomy but feel comfortable when I used it. Here is a sneak peak of my humongous storage mirror, opted for red ABS trimmings so you can have a peek of red on the top and bottom. Will go through more of what I have done for these bathrooms in detail soon. I find that with these acrylic panels, it instantly give a face lift to the standard HDB toilets. Can't deny that I am even more obsessed with my bathrooms now.

Hi Graphicj, Thank you for the compliment. I have PM you.

The reason why my reno is getting more and more expensive I read about top hung tracks for the wardrobe which promise a smoother glide, and also won't have any dust trapped on the regular tracks in a sliding door wardrobe. So I ask my ID about it. She says it will be very expensive to do. Then I asked how much and she suggested to me to do suspended tracks instead as they will be cheaper than top hung. Actually I got no idea what is the difference between suspended tracks or the top hung tracks because they both look rather similar to me - which is there will be no bottom tracks seen when you slide the door open. Due to budget restrains, we decided to only do these special tracks to our own walk in wardrobe. My sliding door look like this at the bottom. Somewhat like the ikea system that some people showed in their t-blog. The track is attached horizontally below. The top view. Also have another track placed horizontally. Guess this is the take the weight of the heavy doors. This make my doors gigantic looking. After thoughts: I don't mind the money spent because: 1) The gliding is really much smoother. I had another wardrobe in the common room that has the normal tracks and I really can feel the difference between them. 2) Feels luxurious to have them. ID mentioned that usually only people living in condo had asked for this. 3) Room looks bigger because the doors are humongous. Doors will be larger than the usual doors with normal tracks. 4) It is not as expensive as I thought it would be. Would have changed the common room to this if I have felt the difference between them in the first place as well. Verdict: Definitely worth the money spent

Featuring my pull out larder.. *deng deng deng* Got them from Hafele. Spent a mini bomb on this one. More expensive than if I have gotten the blum ones cos I really wanted a one that can be pulled out together with the cabinet. It comes with blum tracks surprisingly. I bought the one that is attached to the carpentry for the bottom rack and a normal sliding one so that it is easier to access to the bottom rack if needed. This will be used to store all my can food and dry food. Eubiq track is also being installed. Also the only area whereby we are using the eubiq track. Need to bring my units to try to see if the track works. Kinda sad that it is hidden. Do most people display that they are using the eubiq track in their house??

Only the glass display cabinet is given laminates because can see mah. The insides of my cabinet are lined with coloured polygen (some call it the colour PVC). I think the colour PVC my ID already factored in the cost already. So technically not foc.

I think tampoi is selling vento fino II with vento fino I blades. I actually prefer the vento fino I blades as compared to the clover leaf shape. The main point of vento fino II is in the body of the fan. In vento fino II, you can see the body of the metal part is longer and the metal bar is not fixed to the metal part. That allows it to oscillate. Nothing to do with the blades. Example here is vento fino I fan.. You can compare it to my fan. My fan is vento fino II mechanism but vento fino I blades. You are right that it looks like a vento fino I fan. Price is a factor and as my wallet limits, I can only afford to pay $500+ for something that sell for $1400+ in Singapore. I need the oscillation, cooking in the kitchen will make me sweat like no tomorrow.

Sorry Emiclus, I bought the track and bulbs separately as I wanted spares and it seems that the seller had made some changes to the order. Maybe you can try messaging the seller.

My kitchen outlook. Did carpentry on both sides. This is the small element of surprise. My green corner at the service yard. Will be painting the pipes brown and maybe entwine them with rose twines? So that it can look like a mini forest. My ID laughed when we told her we want to do this. So bad one. I am happy with the kitchen carpentry - white with a hint of wood trimming. Workmanship is good, nothing to be extremely frustrated over. All the cabinets and drawers come in blum hinges and blum drawer tracks. The other side of the kitchen cabinet will be where I place the fridge and my free area. Also, my pull out larder that will be in a different post because I forgot to take photos of it. The four little drawers will contain my utensil tray and three other small drawers to put whatever we want. Specially requested for a glass cabinet. I don't know how but glass cabinets are so pretty. The insides are lined with the same wood laminates. My ID says laminates are expensive but she gave it to us anyway. Any suggestions on what to be stored there? The man and I are thinking maybe displaying the different type of liquors that we collected previously. The grey box that you see lying on the table top contained my 1000cm eubiq track that I got from an expo roadshow for $399. My electrician will be installing them today.

Hi Emiclus, I got them from taobao in warm white. 4W LED for each light. Track link Track light link

JohnB: Thank you! I like the combination as well. This is after contemplating for one year and staring at the 3D for many days to make sure I really like it. Had such a headache to single out each laminate because there are so many choices Will be posting on the kitchen cabinets next !! Also the same theme, white and wood using the same laminates.

I can't wait to decorate the room with the furnishings because I did not do any build in. At least this is the only room that will look spacious. Nonetheless, I will need to hire carpenter to fix up the taobao dresser and side tables.

My living room TV feature wall and console. Got look like the 3D? Gonna change the cove light because I don't fancy the yellowish tone it gave off. One of the downside of buying for taobao. I bought a whole roll for $50, but used it for my common bathroom anyway so I guessed it is not money down the drain. One roll in qoo10 is also almost $50 anyway. House in a mess as you can see. Maybe because the carpentry works are still ongoing. ID haven't send them for haulage yet.

Just a short update today. Suddenly, all my carpentry are up but works are still ongoing Shall post some pictures of my WIW today because the workers fast hand fast leg and have already fixed the doors and internals. Taken using panorama with a shaky hand because the entrance of my WIW abit small, just a door size so cannot fit my 16ft wardrobe in a single shot. I need to get wide lense DSLR to fit everything in man. Colours true to this photo. I am glad I went for metal strips instead of a different coloured laminate for the middle section. Looks simple and classy. I picked the ones with a bit sparkle effect and I love it. Glossy laminates FTW, I think it is easier to clean and upkeep as compared to the matt ones. Parts of my internal coloured PVC that my ID provides for all my carpentry and included in the quote. Really makes the wardrobe look atas. I have a look around and all the hinges are using blum. So it makes me feel that the amount I spent are really for good materials. Never steal work cut material. I am pleased with the workmanship as well, although some parts still need minor rectification like v slight alignment. Will post more pictures soon but nowadays I only go down 1-2x a week to monitor and see see, sometimes late at night (now that my lights are up!).

My tracklight is up! I placed it along the corridor since I did not do any false ceiling. I bought the 4W one but they are surprisingly very bright, good enough for the corridor. Also... My vento fino II, tucked in the corner of the kitchen. Can't wait to switch it on.

Wow so many taobao loots!! I bought the same washing powder tin, except it is of a different pattern. Haha. Seems like your reno is coming to a close soon, carpentry all these already up. Congrats on your new place.

Common bathroom light link $19 This light is alright when it is switched off but when it is switched on, I super duper love it!! Click on the link to see how it looks like when it is being switched on. It matches my mosaic tiles so much. Not exactly very bright, but with the LED strip that I installed, it is still doing pretty okay. MBR bathroom light link $34 This light gels well with the MBR theme. However, it is also not very bright. I am thinking of replacing it with a higher wattage T5 as well. Wish me luck! MBR light link $21 Good buy, comes in very intricate design. I guess I will be happy lying down on the bed and staring at this light. Not very bright but still alright since this is not the only light in the room. I have installed downlights and also my beloved chandelier that will be situated at the vanity area. MBR Chandelier $41 Gorgeous, very gorgeous, extremely gorgeous!! Super happy with this plus it is so cheap. My electrician is very pro lor, I really don’t know how they are able to fix up all the lightings without looking at the manual. He helped me fixed up the main body, all except the hanging of the crystals. We were so grateful for this and spent the night hanging all the crystals. Now I know why chandelier costs so much, because the installation is so tedious! But I think the effort is very worth it plus it is so cheap so this is my best buy out of everything here.

Purchasing Lights from TaoBao Essentially, Taobao is a site where various vendors sell their goods. The catch is, everything is in Mandarin, and you need to find a agent to assist with the purchase and with the shipment. Lights in Singapore are expensive, no doubt. A stroll along Balestier had me calculated that the lights would set me back by 3k plus. So I decided to take plunge and buy ALL my lightings from Taobao. I guess essentially the lightings have to be made somewhere, where else better than in China? Since everything is made in China nowadays. I reckoned I save more than 60% for buying from Taobao. We were so excited on the day of the light installation. It was also my off day so I was there first before the man joined me shortly after he ended work. Finally, my house has lights. Major moment please, for all those who have done or are doing their reno, because this means we can visit the house at night without having to fiddle around in the dark. The electrician came on time and promptly started work. So I shall do a review on the lights now. Not a full one because we have decided to change away the dining light and I also forgot to take photo of the track light along the corridor. But other than these two lightings, the rest of the lights in the house will be reviewed in this post! Downlight link $18 I got them in white light, not the warm white one because that will be reserved for the cove lights. Very bright but not too intense to the point it is glaring. Overall very pleased with this buy. Kitchen light link $33 I like how the light turn out to be and the picture is true to the light. Brightness level is also good. Small Bedroom light link $57 This light turned out better than expected! Very bright and able to laminate the whole room. Also comes with a remote control with 3 different lighting choices. A very good buy. WIW light link $34 The outlook of this light is quite nice but the only downside is that it is not very bright. A little disappointed with this purchase but my electrician says can remove the LED strips and replace it by T5s. Hopefully it will brighten up the room since this is the only source of lighting in the room.

Hi renotalkers, I haven't been updating consistently because we have been so busy. I did not really have time to go down to see the progress but I would say it is at a healthy pace for now. Works that were done: Hacking Tiling Laying of aircon pipes Boxing up works Curtain plummet L-box Ceiling works Plastering Painting Window grilles There were some touch ups required, for the plastering but I guess I am generally a perfectionist and I am just nitpicking at certain faults - such as the wall is not exactly very smooth yet, so I asked my ID to rectify it. One thing I like is that she does not say things like, "It is like that one." or some other BS reason to make me accept it. She says she saw it already and agree to rectify it. Simple and straight. Actually maybe she knows even if she says all those things to me also not workable. I will not accept it regardless. Anyways, I am abit upset with all the recess areas given by HDB. Maybe some people appreciate the extra space, but I find it extremely ugly to have a sunken in area, especially in the living room and kitchen. Anyone shares the same view? So I have the excess areas all boxed up by partition board. Actually never foresee this inside the floor plan.. So my ID decided to throw in this FOC for me. Maybe she also finds it very ugly. Save abit of my moolah so that I can be able to spend it on greater things. The un-tiled portion has also already been tiled. That is the portion where my sink will be. Shall reveal the next exciting bit of my reno progress... Something that makes me real happy about. Tadah!! My pretty, non-protruding bomb shelter ventilation hole. I know this is illegal lah, I kept the bits of screws and plate and placed it aside for the next owner. That is, if they want to revert back to the original HDB bomb shelter ventilation.

Carpentry details Today I will talk about going through my carpentry details with my ID. So far I am extremely pleased with my ID because she has been very responsive and responsible, she is always a wadsapp/phone call away when we need her. Communication is the most important tool between your ID and you as this will reduce the need of miscommunication and the amount of rectifications required during your renovation!! It was a such a long and tedious process, took about 7-8 hours to complete. But boy, we were so happy after everything because I can finally see our dream house slowly manifesting. I like how systematic R&R is because everything is printed in black and white, including laminate choices, and what paint for which rooms. This will greatly reduce any mistakes. Or if still got mistakes, then my ID will have to absorb it already cos the mistake is hers. Haa. Just kidding, my ID is one of the most meticulous ID I have ever seen, even warning us of what we may not foresee, some shortcomings before the reno starts so that we will not kick up a fuss for some of things that we may not foresee. She is also very flexible for allowing us to make changes, until we are happy at no cost, with no grumbling at her side. She met up with us a second time yesterday to confirm the carpentry after much discussion with her carpenter and some can do, or cannot do before we proceed to send the carpentry to the factory to manufacture. MBR carpentry: We did a vanity area for the MBR, which is a storage mirror. The mirror has since been changed, as it is supposed to stretch all the way to the WC. Also, the height of the vanity has been increased to 880mm instead of the 660mm. This is due to the man's and my height as we are quite tall and having such a low vanity would mean backache for us. Haha Thanks to a tip off from previous renotalkers' t-blog that some of their ID placed the vanity too low, like for a child's height. So remember: Cater your carpentry to you and your partners' height! TV feature wall + console: Major changes to this!! We have shifted the left border of the TV feature wall to align with TV console but still maintaining the P shape. I find the P shape has more unqiueness to it, and also the fact that it coincides with the man's initials. We love it. Also, this would mean that the TV feature wall is smaller now, and the ID will have to build more craftstone bricks on the left, while demolishing some. But still she never showed any sign of unhappiness! Yay to more craftstone bricks! Dining table settee: I would have a storage seattee for this, but slanted at an angle for more leg room space as this would be more comfy for me and my guests. A bronze tinted mirror will be placed on top of the leather cushioned backing. Hopefully this will make my living room seem bigger than it is. Shoe cabinet: My big shoe cabinet. A big shoe cabinet is a must for woman who loves shoes. The middle slot would be a place for us to wear our shoes and have a last check before we get out of the house. Build this in hopes that this can fit all my shoes in for the future. Bigger is always better. Hehe. Kitchen layout: As usual, some layout of my kitchen! Some changes that I have made is that under the stove I will be getting two big drawers instead of encasement doors. Is it true that many have to top up for this? I guess a good point for my ID is that what she can give and throw in, she would and this makes us kind of happy. Actually I have some more carpentry details but shall just talk about the next main one since this is churning into such a long post!! My WIW! I am going to have suspended sliding tracks for my sliding doors, although this one must top up but abit only, so we went ahead with it. Because I wanted to have top hung tracks for the sliding doors, but she says that top hung maybe more costly, so make like this also like suspended and quite streamless also. I asked my ID why she never suggested to us the first time, she says that cos only condos use it mostly. I guess less wear and tear for the tracks as compared to the tradtional ones. Traditional ones will tend to trap dust and won't be smooth after a while. Which is why we went for this despite the increase in cost. Paint selected for the whole house. Easywash series for the living room and rooms. Medifresh series for bathroom to reduce mould and bacteria. I chose alot of colours that compliments the room, also at no additional cost. It seems that my ID did not limit the amount of colours I can use.. I seen invoices that limits to 5 colours? I already using 9 colours although it wouldn't be seen as alot. Now that the list has been sent for fabrication, I can't wait for them to be up~ Till next time..

Hi TheDesigner, I am not. My house is similar to your friend's? Haha.

Today I am disclosing my taobao loots Mad happy, it is like christmas came early. Hahaha. I have finally unwrapped my stuffs from taobao Took a good 2 to 3 hours to unwrap all of it and re-label it for my ID convenience. Here are some of the preview of the items that I have taken photos of. Top left: Diamond stand alone basin for common bathroom. Delighted to have this Packaging is **** solid. The man had a hard time dismantling the crate with a possibility of injuries due to the amount of nails from the wood crate. This sink is really very heavy though. We have to slowly move inch by inch with 2 people. So far there doesn't seem to have any cracks. Hopefully there is no hairline cracks. Top center: Rose basin for master bed room. My attention grabbing basin. I love this so much, with a price tag of $90 (tap included), this is super cheap. I went to heritage to look look see see, one fountain tap like this already costs $200 !! My ID seems impressed with this sink, she says Singapore cannot find one. Came in one piece, extremely gorgeous. Top right: LED downlight Very slim, looks alright. Must see effect first after it is installed. Middle left: WIW LED light Was given crystals to fill in for the holes. Also KIV review first, cos must see effect after it is installed. Middle center: Bedroom 1 light Just a simple one, but with lines that looks like a geographical map of a mountain when mapped out. I know my imagination is killing it. Just hoping that the room will be brightly lit since this is the only light that I am going to install in the room, similar to the WIW room. Haha. Middle right: Toilet light Black with some floral details for my black toilet. I realised it is actually difficult to find black lights with some form of designs that ain't too complicated but complicated. I don't know if any of you know what I am talking about. Lol, but I just want to say it was hard sourcing for something like this and I must like it as well. Bottom left: MBR light Workmanship so-so, but I doubt it would be super bright. Need to source our own bulbs for this. Bottom center: Common bathroom mirror This is the only item that fell below expectations. Somehow, in the taobao picture, it appeared super blue. But when it arrived, it is more of like black, silver and bronze colour. However, when I tried to capture photos of it, under certain lighting it also looked blue. Also, this is the only item that we spotted some parts that are broken. Minor cracks, also well camouflaged due to the design of the mirror. So don't know I should be consoled that I chose this design. I think even though it is not very blue, I will still place it in the common bathroom. Lastly, the bottom right picture features my common bathroom lighting. Looks pretty. Hopefully functionality is good as well! Can't wait for all my lightings to be installed I didn't take photos of ALL the purchases because we were so shagged opening up the parcels on the dusty floor. Already no mood, and sweaty. Polly will do another round of reviews after they have been fixed at their designated locations.

Hello, I am back to update on my house again! Did not do up any blog post previously because I have been too busy juggling between work, the house and some other commitments. Sooo I will update a long one today!! Work has commenced for the past week and the man seemed quite happy with the progress. Tiling for the MBR toilet overlay and also my bathroom kerbs and kitchen/service yard base has been done. Hollow brick wall has been fabricated, with my craftstone also tiled at the TV console area. Kitchen wall hacked, new half wall erected. Actually by this time they have already smoothened the entire wall and made good but I didn't take a new photo. Similarly, my fridge base and cabinet base has been tiled. All these in a couple of days. My craftstone at the TV console has also been tiled. **** happy with the workmanship. I would say the tilers are neat at their work. The placement of the craftstones are good as well, with minimal gaps. I think there will still be touch ups to be done so I am not being too anal to this point. .. And my MBR bathroom feature wall overlay~ The other side is just grey matt tiles that I have shown in an earlier post as well. I don't feel that my MBR bathroom has become smaller because of the dark colours. In fact I love the look! Feels super happy looking at the tiles in here. The effect is good and we didn't even have to top up for it. *Easy on the pocket* Last but not least, the hole in the wall has been created!! I can finally walk through to the WIW from my MBR directly Today when we went down, the false ceiling guy has started their work!! They brought along the laser beam to make sure that the false ceiling is a straight line across throughout. Talk about professionalism. I know I am in good hands already. Will head down again tomorrow to see the progress and also, more importantly, check out my taobao items!! Finally they have arrived, a total of 20 parcels~~ I know right... I feel so happy when the delivery men came. Hopefully nothing breaks. *cross fingers really hard* Shall sleep now and wake up early to go down and open all of these!

Some before pictures: Living room view, standing at the dining area to take this photo. Looks miserably small. Kitchen. I am kinda glad that HDB came with dark grey tiles for the kitchen flooring. Looks more classy and can hide dirt really well. Common toilet also has the same type of floor tiles. HDB is really generous to give such a big slab of mosiac tiles for the MBR, but let me wave goodbye to this because I opted for overlay for the MBR, Sometimes I wish that this big slab is in the common bathroom instead. Next post will be on the tiling process

Glass backsplash... how are you going to drill into your backsplash to put any corner racks, toilet roll holder etc? You may have to get multiple suction kind of toiletries. The glass backsplash may also crack and if something heavy accidentally hit onto your backsplash, maybe it will come shattering down. I don't think it is advisable for big areas. Tiles are more suitable. Overlaying has less risk when the tiles are new and good. For old tiles then ID will advise hacking and then re-tile.