Catt

I agree kstoh! I never did drill in the bookcases because the only 'kid' I had in my house back then was a dog. But I think it is safer to fix it to the wall as during the after-tremor of the earthquake in Indo one year (2009?), my sofa shifted and the bookcases was threatening to topple over.

@ricepapergirl This was my dream!!! i'm sure everyone has used that old-style fix at one time or another. I still have paper slotted under my chest of drawers due to an uneven floor. haha!

@yakult I had about 4 of them, no problems with slanting. Did you put heavy items into it? I don't fasten mine on the walls, but I was thinking it could be the weight of the items. I put heavier books at the bottom 2 shelves and the rest are a mix of box and vinyl toys. It could be the floor as well...never as level as we think it is. @ricepapergirl did you ever see the hacks for the Billy bookshelves? They put 4 or 5 together, sealed up the top with a pelmet like trim and then bought these Ikea lights to fix on top like those English libraries. So pretty! I was very inspired till I realized the amount of DIY that went into it.

Haha but I have to admit that I have a soft spot for the Billy bookcase and I'm keeping my Helmer drawers cuz they are a perfect fit for nail polish bottles!

4 Sep'16- Our never-mentioned before dining table: Just placed a deposit for a dining table and a bench with Arthur Zaaro, and 2 chairs from the shop next door (Blafink). Wasn't intending to buy a dining table that soon, but guess if I wanted to do it right, might as well do it now. Darkling Half doesn't want to have housewarming without a proper dining table... she gave me a withering look when I mentioned using our Ikea Curry Table first (yes the table I have since schooling days). I actually showed her a couple of websites to look at tables- there was OriginAsia (looks pricey and somehow it's not 'us'), Viviant Tree (suar wood- we like something raw and natural, and I like rain trees!), Arthur Zaaro (more suar wood and they are doing peranakan-tiled wood tables) and Ethnicraft (simple and clean lines, somewhat reminds me of Scanteak?). We went down to Arthur Zaaro and Ethnicraft since they were just down the road from each other in Eunos. I should have gone Ehtnicraft first because once she laid her eyes on the raw suar wood slabs I knew she wouldn't like anything else. Since there weren't any choices left for our customised size of 1.6mX 0.8m, we have to wait for them to bring in more. They told us they would fly to Indonesia and find 3 slabs of wood with the requirements we asked for ('white' edges if possible, whorls or swirly patterns), and we would come take a look to pick one. If we didn't like any, we could get our deposit back. Then they would need a few months to dry the wood and treat it. It should reach us by December. Because the dining table cost a fair bit, I decided to get a suar wood bench, since it was cheaper bought with a table. Each chair cost a basic oven, so the designer who served us, told us to try Blafink next door who did upholstery. We found two wood chairs and bought those (cheap!! like under 1/4 price of the teak chairs in Arthur Z. But of course you can't compare which is prettier...) Here's a picture of what the table should look like. We chose two slim trapezium shaped wood slabs as the stand for the table rather than metal legs. I think I have to put the entire table on a rug if I am to move it myself as it is very heavy. I took this picture off Pinterest as an example. YAY WE ARE GOING TO OWN A REAL DINING TABLE!

It was a last minute decision to have a different shade of colour...I couldn't tell if the colours would match so was just going to paint everything off-white. Glad I changed my mind! I installed blinds for the living room and bedroom only. Have pm-ed you.

Roller blinds are up! This is much needed to help keep the living room temperature stable and cool during the afternoons. I did the bedroom one with a pelmet/ casing to minimize light coming through the gap on top of the blind.

@bykaraanne thanks! To be honest the paint colour didn't turn out exactly like the samples shown in the nippon catalogue. The grey actually turned out lighter!

Wow your house is just beautiful and sophisticated!!

Not sure yet...perhaps end of the month as my partner is travelling.

Haha actually it is a taupe-ish grey. Somehow it looks lavendar in the evening....could be the reflection of the sky. Yah I'm quite old-fashioned with regards to locks. Same as how padlocks can be cut or locks can be picked...I feel that digital locks can be hacked. No offense to anyone but I find it strange to have a manual gate but digital lock. I'm quite fearful the digital lock will malfunction then I'm stuck outside the house, even if it has a manual key. Maybe when the market for digital locks has matured more I might change it. Anyway just a preference. I like the old-school look of locksets too.

Hi Cloh! Finally get to read your T-blog! I'm flattered you mentioned my blog as one of those you referred to because in comparison to many of the 'masters' here in Renotalk, I'm just a newbie. It's great to hear you managed to squeeze a time schedule out of your contractor as I suffered through the entire period not knowing when to apply for what like some suaku. Initially when I asked the contractor and the electricians when to apply for for Netlink (ex Open-net), they all shrugged and didn't really give me an answer... kind of like "up to you". But looking back, I should've done it right after the electrical trunking and before the plastering/ painting. This would have reduced the complaints from the painters that Netlink destroyed their patching work, as Netlink contractors opened up the existing trunking to run their fiber optics or whatever those things are. At least now you are assured you can estimate when you can apply for or move things in. All the best for your reno and looking forward to hear more about the progress!

Don't think you need to as I did not as well. The reno permit doesn't even appear on my HDB portal page but it was printed out by contractor and paste on the lift landing, inside the lift and outside my new house. Even application for reno indemnity form (allowing me to apply for reno permit prior to completion of sale), the housing agents refused to provide NRIC of the sellers as it is not required. At most I just gave the contractor the front page of the OTP.

@trcd Huge sofa coming soon... I will miss the space though. The grey door looks fine far away...up close it's not as sanded down as it should be. Yup lighting plays a big part in making things look better than they are, hence I'm fond of warm lighting as they soften everything. Going to Jln Sultan on Friday to check out locksets at Shanghai Tong Lee. Hope I find some goodies!

Nice door! At least you could change it. Mine is a slanted door frame...there's no fixing that!

Lighter tone paint. Yes mine used 'Apple White' to patch parts of 'Snow White'. Made me feel like the evil Queen when I discovered it...nearly sent a huntsman to go kill the painter in the forest.

Omg high-5!!!!! Though it ain't something to really be 5-ing about. I smell like thinner and turpentine the entire week coz I was cleaning up paint spots myself. Friday I'm taking leave to do more painting on ceilings ( dunno WHY they just need to leave a black handprint on the ceiling and a random grey paint spot.... ), pipes and the main door. Am also prepared to patch some grouting in case they didn't do so last Saturday and I forgot to check.

@trcd YES! How's the quality of their soldering? Do you know if they redo door frames+door and patch up the tiles, walls after that? If you dont it's fine as I can enquire. This main door/ gate is my sorest spot out of the entire reno!

@trcd so glad to hear from you! How's your reno going? With regards to the painting and plastering work, we requested for a change in workers and parked ourselves at the house one entire day scrutinizing the touch up done. It just baffles me why they couldn't do it well the first time and get it over and done with. Painting and spot-plastering took 7-9 days...good grief. Water pressure turned out to be user problem as I didn't do the correct adjustments to my showerhead. I also read that getting a smaller showerhead with tinier 'holes' forces the water out at a higher pressure (if you fancy public swimming pool shower-type monsoon pressure). Forgot to add: Try to isolate to the exact item causing the poor pressue. If pressure from your other water outlets is fine, it could be the heater or showerhead. Turn off the heater and turn on the cold water. If it's fine, it's the heater. If it's poor, it's the shower.

Thanks thanks...it's been only 2 mths but it felt like forever!!

30 Aug'16 Final Handover: IT'S A WRAP FOLKS! Oh yeah I had them install these towel pegs in the bathroom so that once we exit the shower area, we can stretch our arms and grab a towel. It's located as far away as possible from the shower stall which is only 70 cm in length (so water will definitely spray out) and away from the pipes because...it's just a little gross to think of our towels touching a sewage pipe. Up Next: 1) Roller Blinds installation (3 Sep'16) 2) Change of lockset (sometime this week hopefully, if I can make time to go to the locksmith's) 3) Installation of clothes hanging rack (procrastinating a little here) 4) Delivery of furniture & white goods 5) Moving in! Review of Contractor T of Hoong Fatt Heng Renovation In retrospect, despite all the issues with the painters and electricians and the general untidiness of the workers, I have to say that Contractor T is a man with a very very good temper, and he acts on what he promises me. I know that he had dealt with the neighbour problem (the leaking floor/ceiling) and did not involve me at all, which I am really grateful for. At times I think it is my personality and expectations from a corporate workplace that carried over into life outside of work. People do not always act the way I think they should. Many a times, he actually listened to my request, and even though he didn't say anything about carrying it out, he finds a way to do it and does surprise me when I visit the house. In my workplace, I expect clear timelines, constant communication on every little change - no surprises- I'm the person in my organisation who is tasked to know it all, even if you are going to fart I would have already known you would. Tiling and Carpentry: I've probably repeated this a few times in this blog, but I really like the tiling work that was carried out by his team. The carpentry work, though lacking in the design area, is one of those that are sturdy and well-aligned. In both these areas, the uncles and di-dis made me feel that they were really considerate to the user as they filed and sanded down sharp edges and also provided practical suggestions when I threw some weird ideas to them. Problems were corrected instantly, and on the whole, I felt that I was given very little problems in these two usually problematic areas. Painting and Electrical: Again repeating myself. I probably have higher expectations in these areas because my dad does his own trunking and electrical works around the house and is therefore my benchmark. He has never done up trunking with big gaps or torn anything before. I've helped my dad paint our various homes over the years, so more or less I know what can be done and what can't. Contractor T had tried his best and ceded to my request to send in new workers to rectify the paint and plaster job. I do not fault him for that, I just feel that with better workers he would probably do better. In a commercial setting, the work done would have been acceptable, but in a residential home where faults are magnified by everyday scrutiny and use, I think he needs people with a more delicate touch. Plumbing: Nothing has burst so far and water gushes out where it is supposed to. His plumbing guys are also very cute boys so I give them some brownie points. It helped that they gifted me the adapter for the kitchen tap. They also did the installation for the toilet sink, medicine cabinet, heater, shower, toilet bowl, and that spray backside hose thing (bidet?? isn't that like a WC-type bowl?). Nothing has collapsed on me or broke either, up to this point. Would I recommend his company? Yes I would (and not because of the plumbing boys ok ). In terms of timeline, he has delivered before the date (first week of October) I gave him. Yes, October is 3 months from July, when renovation usually takes 1.5 to 2 months. A few people have told me that I was dumb to tell him 3 months as they thought he would drag it out in place of other jobs, but he did not. Yes, he sucks at informing me of schedules (actually I've never received a schedule), but I've learnt that there is a method to his madness. Everything was done more or less in the weeks that he estimated for me verbally. Sometimes he forgets (e.g. he said he was going to stick something to reduce the gap in the main door- but he forgot- and I seriously can't be bothered at this point), but when I prompt him, he will quickly find a way to fix it. Overall quality of works- 3.5/5 That's all for now. Up next, furniture!

Thanks Steffie. I was initially advised to keep the main door as it was fire rated and I think the contractor was trying to keep my costs low. It was only later during the painting stage that we noticed the door frame was slanted, causing the door to look slanted and have a gap on top. I think he is reluctant to hack the door frame as the reno is coming to a close and removing the door and frame would mean throwing manpower into this project again (hacking the old frame, making good the walls and floor). I have spare tiles which I'd asked the contractor to leave behind for me in the event I needed to patch any of my flooring over the years, so I'm not worried that the tiles would look different. Anyway thank you for your help and advice, I will probably keep the doors as is for now and work on changing the gate over the next few months.

Hi @steffie, who are your 'door' guys? I'm looking to hack off my main door and redo just the door and gate. Did Ronald coordinate the patching up of the tiles and wall for the door frame? My contractor is reluctant to change all these for me as the reno is ending. Thanks!

I was looking forward to creating a step-down marble pool in my living room and one of those pool bars in the center where me and my friends could hang out, have mojitoes and watch TV at the same time.....one day...

@stray wow wow very nice kitchens.... are you poisoning yourself ? Make sure you find someone who can execute your dreams, if not you will end up like me...waiting for my next apartment. Haha!