sapphire89

Continuing from previously... Guest Bedroom Master Bedroom Master Bathroom - look at that ugly sink! So glad I'm taking it down! Common Bathroom Finally, can you notice the tiny spots which are like small holes in the skirting? Is this going to be an issue that I should get rectified or is it I'm niao (being too critical)? More to come tomorrow!

We've finally got our keys! Victory dance!! We went for our HDB appointment on Saturday and visited our new place! We're such proud homeowners and we absolutely love the place! Lucky us, so far, we haven't found any obvious defects and the small ones are really not worth the effort of getting them rectified. We've got a couple of neighbours that have found hollow tiles but I haven't been thorough enough maybe so I haven't found any :S I'm so worried! Is this normal or am I just lucky? We've got a small portion of unevenness on the kitchen wall which we plan to knock down anyway so that's no need for rectification to be done. We've also received our first draft 3Ds and while they need to be revised, we're starting to see the end product that we can expect. Here's some photos of our place that we want to show off! Main door~ Space between the main door and the gate is good so we're going to look into electronic locks to install. Saves us the hassle of carrying keys! Bomb Shelter right next to the door... We're so going to paint that over and remove the ventilation piece that is jutting out so that we achieve a flushed look. Living and Dining area Corridor (and our offerings for peace and prosperity) Can't wait to take this wall down! There's a slight nick in the walls which technically we can ask to rectify but who cares we're knocking it down anyway! Our to be study room. More photos in next post!

Ooo... I was walking around in IKEA during the weekend and didn't spot it! Will go back and look again!! Thank you!! Weekend crowds at IKEA's terrible! Hello yeemei67! PM-ed you!

hihi yakult! That is so cute! very lovely~ Tempted to get.. Just need to decide on what bedframe I want first!

Hi Ahyong81, Thanks for the help! I've always wondered why people advise against IKEA's mattresses because of the size. Thanks for clearing that up! What I like about my current ID is that they unitize everything they will be doing including the per unit/per foot cost before multiplying out. To me it makes everything every transparent.

The only thing I'm worried about is whether you can get correct sized bed linens apart from the ones at IKEA. I heard there are size differences in the length of the mattress! Something which I have not figured out yet!

HI Peachydurians! Lovely service yard wall you've got there! I never thought it could be used there before! One of the IDs I chatted with actually said I should use those tiles for the backsplash! Love reading your updates! Can't wait for more. I so get what you mean about the wall colours. I chose 2 shades of grey for each room then the fiance actually picks one. That way I don't have to tear my hair out! *winks*

Sapphira's guide to choosing an ID After much of the banter on design inspirations, it's time to get down to some of the serious stuff. Before you even go out and look for your ID, I think the most important step you have to take in your design process is actually ask yourself what do you want out of the entire process. What sort of criteria are you setting your standards on and what are the works that you need, want and don't need. One thing we've learnt is that if you have a clear goal of what you need to do with your house, you will not be led on and round in circles by the ID when the bring you into your first discussion. Second thing is that you'll be able to make more conscious decisions that allow you to work within your budget. Next of course, you need to set a budget for you to work with. Young couples like us might have several major cash outflows e.g. wedding expenses, reno expenses, so you need a spreadsheet most likely to keep track of your inflows and outflows to ensure you have sufficient cash to deal with the renovations and then the furnishing of your new home. We're self financing so sticking to our budget is very important for us. We originally set our budget for renovations at $20k but we realised very quickly that we were very naive when we set it at that level. There was little we could do with $20k so we later agreed to stretch it out to $28k. We could probably have got away with a lower budget had we gone for a contractor, but we didn't want to manage every inch of the renovations ourselves given that the house was due in 1st quarter next year. Of course, this has changed now to the end of this month. Woohoo! And in fact, if we knew that the house would arrive early, I would have easily said let's go for a contractor instead. First and last quarters of the year are busy periods for us so we needed the extra hand. So if you've got the time and the energy and direction with regard to the design of your house, I highly recommend you go with a contractor as I've noticed that IDs usually have a 20-25% margin to attain. I don't mind the margin cause I know an ID needs to be salaried too! >.< You'll notice that the criteria is highlighted with "and". I can honestly say that you need to have all 3 before you decide to go for a contractor. Otherwise, you'll need to be a pro-juggler which most of the time means you'll eventually burn out depending on how big your project is. And if you burn out, you miss details which may lead to the outcome falling short of your expectations. For us, we accepted earlier on that we would not be able to focus full time into managing the entire project so we went ID searching about 2 months back. Since then, every Saturday's been meet the ID day for us and we've met up twice with each ID before narrowing down our choices and meeting the IDs to see their current/completed projects before finally deciding on 1. In total, we met 4 IDs though we researched much more online before getting to the 4. I'll have to say go with the Qantvas app as it is really convenient and there are tons of design inspirations and reviews you can read on the go. I didn't go with the Renotalk one because most of the designers featured a modern look or resort look which I wasn't going for and didn't think it will be relevant to contact them. Out of the 5 recommended to me, I set appointments up for 3 who got back to me and 1 I ignored despite them contacting me. The other never came back. We also set up an appointment with 1 which we met at an expo fair whom was fairly knowledgeable about our requirements and we could get along with. Our first strikeout was S***** H********. They were initially part of the list that we had come up with ourselves and their numerous FB updates and pictures won our hearts as they were so in tune with the scandi, minimalist theme thing that we had conceptualised. However, despite us sending a request via their website and through the Qantvas recommendation, till date, they have not emails/called us or made any form of contact. Probably cause they're popular and busy? An acknowledgement would at least have been appreciated! Our next strikeout was Sp*** At*****. They were actually the first to contact us. The bloke on the other end of the phone, was very earnest and a tad bit too excited. I hadn't read the email he had sent yet and so I told him that I will get back to him once I discussed with the fiance on a time and date to set the appointment up. Was a fact at that point in time as I didn't know of them and I hadn't had time to research on them. He was a Chinese guy and trying to communicate with me in English was a little difficult for him over the phone and I converted to Mandarin but I still didn't feel I could communicate effectively with him too. Once I read the email, I told myself, if all else doesn't work out, we'll try with them again. They was located the furthest among the IDs we had shortlisted to meet and it just wasn't convenient for us to go to them. To our surprise, the next morning, we were again contacted by them! Same introduction saying we were referred to them via Qantvas and he will be taking care of our enquiries. This was the final straw on why we axed them actually. Might be a little unfair but we felt if you couldn't coordinate well within your office, how can you expect your potential client to be confident that you can coordinate our project effectively? Next came the ones with the better potential. V*** from Veg** Int***** - we met him at an expo fair and we got chatting with him about flat layouts and how we'd like to play around with ours and he started showing us actual photos of his projects at the fair himself which were more toward the industrial end of the design scale. He wasn't really sure of scandinavian at the time and he gladly admitted it to us. Though we also saw potential in him that he could grasp the concept easily. He also explained to us that the concept that the business model that their company worked with was different from other. They would first require $2,000 to do all the design work and the laminate selection which they will compile and deliver as a final product. In the design, they will include everything that you dream of and also all the sample laminates will be provided to you such that if after the design process, you didn't want to go with them, you could take the design and the laminate samples to a contractor of your choice and have them finish the work for you. Only if you decide to go with them will they formally quote you. This was a big question mark in our opinion which whilst their concept was interesting, also was their greatest disadvantage. We met up with him for an initial discussion to have a feel of their offices and how they work. They were undergoing renovations and apparently according to V, had just received a major investment in the company and were expanding further to the 2nd floor. We had a look the then renovating showroom and were quite happy with the skill of their contractors. V went through space planning with us where we shared our ideas with him and he provided us with practical ideas with regards to saving costs like not having false ceilings (which I'm all for) and taking into consideration the height limits for the glass panels to fit into a HDB lift. While he did say he wouldn't formally quote us till later, based on the space planning which he did on the spot, he made rough measurements and quoted estimated costs for us! On hindsight after all the IDs we met, he was actually pretty spot on with his estimates as he was very very close to all the other quotes that were provided. In the end, we relegated him to our back up plan due to the fact that they wanted the money up front to do the design and while their design will be very detailed, we were not confident that after going through all the changes, we will be able to cut out what we didn't want to stick within our budget. Otherwise, we clicked well with him and his wealth of experience shows in the practical advice he gave us and the ability to without reference to anything at all quote us a estimated price of an item e.g. our kitchen island. Another thing is they are registered for CASE Trust so it's a good security net in case anything goes wrong. Jo*** from Sp*** Def*** - She was the last ID we met for initial space planning talks and by then we were pretty tired of reiterating our points over and over again and having them tell us that our plans were applicable in reality. Jo was very detailed in taking down our requirements though when we met her the second time and she showed us a sketchup of the project, there were some points that still needed to be corrected though we knew we had told her what we wanted specifically. For example, we explicitly said that we wanted the kitchen counter top of be Kompacplus, however, when the quote came in, she had quoted solid surface for everything. It was a big minus in my box though the fiance was fine with the minor mistake that she corrected immediately. She also showed us current 3D of ideas for current projects with the same theme and I have to admit they all looked really good. She didn't have any pics of the real projects to show us so that we could compare though. We actually liked the fact that she was able to show us the level of experience she had with the theme and we could lift the ideas off the current ones she had and put our place together. Only problem was there was nothing new that she could add that we didn't already know that could wow us. She was friendly and approachable but I felt she didn't make an extra effort to build up a rapport with us even when we tried to give her a chance to do so. She would always go back to the work at hand and it just didn't feel very personal to me. That being said, she was able to remind us that the kitchen walls would all be tiled and that if we were extending the kitchen out, we need to consider that one of the walls would be half tile and half painted. G*** from Ate**** C****** - First thing about him that strikes you is that he is dressy! However, he's not very good with time (he was late the second time we met him). We met him one Sat afternoon in his office/showroom which to be honest was bright and open and fit my theme like a glove. It was a great first impression for me. We went through the space planning with him and he was able to also introduce me a smart home tech that I absolutely love! I didn't like the HDB switch which made so much noise and I told him I would like the switches to be touch panel. He immediately showed me the ones in his showroom and I was in love. They're called Hello Switches and if anyone's interested, I've found them online. (http://www.hap.sg/hello-switch.html) I admit it was because of this that I've got a little biased towards G especially when he threw them in complimentary for me. What I didn't like about the company was that they built their quotes around the standard packages which they had. This reduced a lot of transparency in comparing the quotes to all the other IDs and also prevented me from removing stuff that I didn't want. He would use something that I didn't want in the package and offset for something that I was dying to have and then I was so confused by the whole thing I had to excel spreadsheet his quotes and analysed item for item against the quotes from the other IDs which was a chore. Using his quote as a base, I realized that what he was providing me was actually the same as what the others had quoted me and the only advantage he had was that he could give me the switches and the service yard windows and grilles. His quote did not include tiles for any of the masonry work which put him at a disadvantage and despite numerous attempts to get him to include it, he was vague about the issue. In the end, he was one of our final 2 contenders and we did go see one completed project of his which was very lovely and also instilled confidence in us that he could handle our renovation. G was also fairly insistent in the initial point that we should go with cove lighting that was part of their package which we flatly refused a number of times. Eventually, he offset the cove lighting with something else which I can't remember. On our second appointment, we arranged to meet him at his office again in the morning without realising that the offices actually opened at noon. He agreed and we arrived about 10 mins ahead of time to find the offices not opened and the opening hours were noted 2 hours after our appointment time. Thinking he might still be on his way, we wait till 5 mins past the appointment time before texting him. He didn't reply till about 10mins later and said he needed 20 mins to get there. Obviously, while it didn't bother us very much, we thought if we knew about the opening hours we would have suggested some other time but since he agreed to meet us earlier, we thought he should at least have let us know that they didn't open at that time and ask if it was convenient to meet us another time. Otherwise, do not be 40 mins late for your appointment. Finally, J&J from D* S***** - This is a very new firm only set up last year but apparently they've been around for quite awhile in the industry. They were even more detailed than Jo with our requirements and were the only one to actually quote the tiles in and include hacking works for the expanded kitchen area to replace the tiles. It was a plus that their offices had a glass partitioned room which was somewhat like what I wanted for the kitchen and it made it very easy for us to articulate to them what we wanted in terms of the glass wall. J&J were very good with their follow ups and we had a very good feeling about them after our initial meet even though the first meeting was quite short and to the point. The have this good rapport going between the team and I would say they gave off a very indie boutique like feel. You can tell J the designer was pretty new to this while J the sales consultant was the one with the experience in handling clients but they were able to listen to what we required and put together in detail what we needed. We had to cut a number of things so that the quote fit our budget but we got to a happy point where the main items were included and were in our budget of $28k. This was the point I was making about know what you needed then wanted and didn't want so that you know what to prioritise and what to compromise on to achieve your budget. In the end, most IDs are pretty competitive (given the nature of business and the number of IDs around) so what you want in terms of carpentry is going to affect whether you burst your budget or not. We went on to see one of their existing renovations which they showed us in detail the work and attention they pay to their projects. In fact, while there's not much about them online, which they admit is a big minus to them, they actually have quite a number of projects that they wanted to bring us to. The owner of the first project we went to was a very cheery person and he was cleaning the place up when we arrived. He happily showed us what was done and some clever innovations that J&J helped him with. After that we thought that was it but we got driven to another one which they had not handed over and took a tour inside and we were quite happy with what we saw in terms of the kitchen carpentry. Needless to say, despite the company being so young, we decided to take a risk and go with them. Last thoughts... In the end, I'm glad we only interviewed 4 IDs for our project as anymore we would have gotten so confused and wouldn't be able to choose. But I really admire you guys out there that have done so much ID visiting but 4 makes me a happy person already! Now that was a really long post! I'm now ready for lunch! Tata! XOXO, Sapphira

Thanks! It looks amazing! Will check it out if I'm going to JB

Oooo what a busy weekend and it's been so fruitful! We've finally booked our actual day package for the wedding next year. Went with the same one as we did our pre-wedding photoshoot. I see wings sprout from our money! *Kaching Kaching* As we had our HLE letter for the flat reassessed via the HDB portal and over emails, we were informed of the approval and I went into the portal to check the new letter only to find that our appointment date to collect the keys was approved for end of the month. Can you imagine the "OMG OMG OMGs" that were going through my mind. Straight screenshot and sent to the fiance~ Totally over the moon! Side story for some couples out there~ When we first applied for our HLE, the fiance hadn't graduated and I'd only started my job for about 3 months. so the HLE amount was puny! Anyway, when it got automatically reassessed a month or so back, HDB, I don't know if they weren't thinking or what, but they managed to automatically re-approve the HLE without changing anything. They should have realised that the HLE was based on a single income and also they knew that both of us now had CPF contributions as their letter added both our CPF amounts together! What a contradiction in a single letter! They should do more homework and improve this. The appeal was painless and swift via the portal but it would have save us all time if they got it right the first time round. If anyone needs advice on the reassessment, do PM me Now, back to the main story... We walked around looking at TVs in Best and Harvey Norman who were on sale all weekend~ I suspect they're on sale every weekend... Hmmm... We were sort of looking at the TVs to gauge the sizes and we've come to a conclusion that we need at least a 48 inch one but a 50 inch one would suit us best. As usual, the Samsung ones are a tad too expensive and visual's a little supersaturated but we are halfway sold on a Sony Bravia TV which looks pretty good. 50' going at $1500 (sale price). We're hoping to find something about 200 bucks cheaper but if we can't find anything, we will likely just go back for this one. Finally, to complete the mood boards for my place today~ We're left with the 2 guestrooms one of which we're converting to our study and another we're using as a guestroom. We're leaving the common toilet as it is only installing a sliding L shaped screen in the shower area and also we're self doing the acrylic panes to replace the unsightly mesh HDB contractors use to hide the pipes. Our ID's recommended this place which a number of T-bloggers here have used as well. For the master toilet, we will be replacing the vanity sink that's come with toilet fittings that HDB have installed, replacing with our own vanity and mirror set that the ID will be designing. The counter top will be Kompacplus. Lurvesss! Finally, we're installing a swing door shower screen as well. Hopefully, we'll be able to make our master toilet cosy! Reason we're doing up the remaining 2 rooms ourselves is the cost involved in doing carpentry work and also cause we didn't want something very permanent. I also wanted to have a hand in doing the decorating. Years of playing the Sims actually gets put to good use in real life. The guestroom especially would eventually make way for our future kids and will need to grow with them. The study on the other hand, we've got loads of books which only increases as we get older and we'd like to make the study something of a library. You won't believe it costs more than $3k just to build a full height, full length bookcase! Actually, you probably would but I'd rather think of other ways and if I can't, I'll get the ID to just build me one nearing the end of the renovations.... Fingers crossed! So the guestroom will need to have the following and we're going to IKEA decorate the place since it's cost effective and also easily replaceable. The concept will be something like this... One of the walls will be painted grey the rest will remain white. We'll put in a daybed/sofa/single/double bed in one corner. Plush cushions all over. Light drapes on the windows which will be a translucent white day curtain and a darker grey blackout curtain. We'll be putting in an armchair in the corner with a standing lamp next to it by the window for our guest to chill out and read maybe? We will also have a dresser with a mirror resting on top which will serve as a vanity area. We'll also be getting a hanging rack so that our guests can hang up their clothes etc. This will be something like the Scandinavian clothes shops sort of hanging racks~ I just have to add that this HEMNES day bed is absolutely great. There are storage options, and also depending on the number of guests, we can also pull this out into a double bed. A great use of space. We'll also be adding some art maybe recreating the photo ledge that we have in the dining area to this room so that we can swap the pictures around once in awhile. I'm thinking of soft colours for the art in this room to bring some life and Iris Grace paintings/prints seem like the way to go. The paintings are lovely and also they're for a good cause so why not! As for the study, we're going for a library sort of look in this room so we will have a full wall bookcase down one length. My idea of nice book cases doesn't have doors. The fiance says I'll need to do the dusting. *Pouts* I'll also be getting this from IKEA. I'm picking the solid wood top as we all know their plywood tops are hopeless! Also the solid wood top has lovely wood grains which fits into the house theme perfectly. That's all folks! Next up initial ID reviews! Look forward to the next piece! XOXO, Sapphira