purplegirafffe

@Anthony Ong pm-ed! @addats not sure how much it helps but these are the most close-up pics I have heh. I'll take more pics next time I drop by the house!

Flooring We opted for vinyl for the living/dining and bedroom areas, after hearing and reading so much abt its many many advantages (maintenance, price, looks etc). I'm still amazed at how closely it resembles wood. Our selections: lighter oak-coloured one for the upstairs rooms, darker walnut brown for downstairs to go with the grey walls and white/wood furnishings. I got so confused after reading up on all the different brands (HERF vs LURF vs dunno what...?) anyway in the end we just selected the colours we liked best from the selection J showed to us and I'm very pleased with how it turned out! All done! We're just left with MBR, pending some decisions on layout of WIW and built-in platform bed. As well as the curb/hump at the entrance of each room to interface between the vinyl and parquet. Couldn't get pics of the full living room cos it's all covered up with the protection, here's the tiny sliver at the foot of the stairs: For the staircase and landing, we opted to go with parquet in order to achieve the look of the wooden treads + white riser. Not possible with vinyl cos vinyl has a much thinner profile. Lastly, love how the view from the landing is unintentionally cotton candy-ish... the colours remind me of the rainbow bread that the $1 ice cream uncle sells:D

Painting Painters have been hard at work this past week, and finally we're seeing splashes of colours everywhere rather than bare concrete^^ Our paint selection~ Quote initially included 6 colours from Nippon, but in the end our contractor J let us select from both Nippon and Dulux, and I think he closed 1 eye for the additional colour haha. Terribly stressful selecting the colours, very thankful that the end result is pretty much what we imagined in our head (acc to J - "will be 98% close to what you see" lol)! This was probably the colour I stressed about the most, selecting the exact shade of mint that would be subtle and not too in-your-face, yet dark enough so that it doesn't just fade away into the white tiles. In fact I almost chickened out MANY times, wondering whether I should just stick to plain ole white, or at most choose a more neutral beige/cream shade. Glad to say that my mint kitchen is exactly how I dreamed it would be:D Even more excited now to see it filled up with all the carpentry + appliances. Living room in that perfect shade of grey. We actually flipped through both Dulux and Nippon catalogues and couldn't quite find the right shade (even though there were like 50 lol), that's when J recommended this shade which is from the 2016 Nippon catalogue. The pics make it look kinda dark, but irl it's a lovely light grey shade. Powder room - this was the colour I was most hesitant about when fiancé S showed me pics of what he had in mind, I guess I'm very much a pastel kind of girl (as you can prob tell from the rest of the selections heh). Very very satisfied with how it turned out though, the deep rich navy shade works wonderfully with the glossy white tiles within the small space. As an aside, also v pleased with how the tilers managed the corners for the tile trim. Yard - nice light neutral colour, brick portion on top will also be painted the same colour. MBR - pleasantly surprised when S agreed to a lilac shade hehehe. I like how it's subtly purple with hints of grey, not too girly and nice and soothing. MBR bath - went for a cream shade, to complement the tiles and walnut brown vanity which we'll be having. Kids room! Gender-neutral and sunny shade of yellow hehe so hopefully no one complains in the future. Supplies in place for the week ahead - parquet for the stairs, vinyl for rooms upstairs. Vinyl downstairs is all done, here's a glimpse!

Thanks for the advice! Hehe yep 3rd time's the charm, shiok if at the end you end up with a brand new washer. Will discuss with the fiancé again and see how...if I'm not wrong the extended warranty for Miele is ~$600.

Of wires, pipes and lots of trunking Past couple of weeks have been on the less pretty but very essential side of things...:D Aircon works are mostly done - such a headache it was finding the best way to route each fancoil to the compressors, with minimal concealing of the trunking needed. But yep managed to find a sweet spot for each in the end. On aircon guy's advice + some research I did online, we're going with Mitsubishi electric 2 ticks, 2 x system 3: Mudroom/entrance: 13k btu Living/dining: 18k btu Kitchen: 18k btu MBR: 13k btu Kids bedroom: 10k btu Study: 10k btu Piping for all the aircon done along with installation of all the downstairs fancoils. Left the installation of upstairs fancoils + compressors which will be done at a later stage. Electrical wiring works are done too, the kitchen currently looks like some hanging gardens:D Again, same goal of having minimal casing visible, which is achieved through rafters + wireless switches. It was tough pinning down the exact location of every single light, fan and socket, but thanks to our ever-patient contractor J, carpenter F and electrician, we managed to do it in 1 afternoon + 1 morning hehe. It's so stressful knowing that every single decision has a rather permanent effect - so it's all about anticipating needs (will I have 4 appliances on this counter? Will I ever need electricity at the sink?), pairing design with function (I think S spent a good many nights figuring out the exact dimension and placement of each and every rafter, tying it to the position of each and every light) and coming up with creative solutions. I'm most excited about seeing my glass kitchen cabinets light up^^ Pinning down the EXACT location for powder room wall sconces so the wiring can be hidden in the walk-in pantry on the other side:D Gas pipes are in too. Had our first more "major" issue when we realised J probably didn't realise what a range cooker was. The gas pipe had been routed such that it would only work with a built-in hob (where the pipe can be routed somewhere in the cabinet below), but definitely not a freestanding range (where the pipe has to connect at a specific position). Anyway, thankfully he managed to get it shifted to the correct position. Finally, bathroom pipes. Fat unsightly pipes in all the bathrooms have been boxed up, very pleased with the result! Powder room (ie kitchen toilet): L was pre-reno, R after box-up cum slight false ceiling to fully conceal the pipe. Below: another view, L post-hacking and R post box-up and tiling. MBR bath: we changed the windows to smaller ones to accommodate the box-up. Love how the box-up is used to conceal not only the pipe but also the rain shower piping, as well as the built-in niche for all our shampoos and stuff. Kids bathroom: This was our oversight, forget about the pipe there until after the tiling was done. Thankfully not too late, there were sufficient tiles anyway and now the pipe is nicely hidden. Other partition/false ceiling works done includes false ceiling in MBR (the one room in the whole house that will have the modern and fashionable cove lighting lol). Lastly, first round of cleaning has been done, and painting will start next week. Love how clean everything looks now, and finally I get a full view of the completed kitchen flooring!

@Seenobody hehe sometimes I think I ramble too much:D I can't wait to see it too! @loobeedoobeeroo thanks for sharing your experience, sounds v jialat indeed. We did consider a lot on whether to purchase the additional 3yrs warranty in anticipation of such stuff happening, but in the end on balance my fiancé felt that it's not necessary. So yup just praying hard that it'll hold out for at least the next 5-10yrs, and hopefully the additional functions will be worth it...

Hi @matchalatte! Yea I saw some blog/forum posts about poor aftersales service for Miele and I got a bit worried too...but I guess the whole point of paying a premium for these brands is cos it's supposed to be more reliable and v unlikely that it will spoil. So just praying hard that nothing goes wrong and it'll be worth the $$$ hehe. Hope your Bosch works out well too! Although I'm so indecisive so I'm actually still wondering whether I'll regret paying so much and whether a cheaper brand would be sufficient for my purposes... Thankfully still have some time to decide, think it's still possible to change as long as we haven't received delivery of the products yet:D

Appliances Spent a large part of yesterday at Harvey Norman @ Millenia Walk shopping for appliances, as they carry the brand of oven I had been eyeing (De Dietrich; more on that later). The outlet at Millenia Walk is H-U-G-E. 3 floors of not just appliances and electronics but also furniture, mattresses etc. Found out also their current promotion: $2000 spent entitles you to $200 cashcard (which can be used immediately to offset other purchases). Woohoo! Although we went there with the intention just to get an oven, we got sidetracked first by the washing machines - spotted the Miele ones on display which, after much research, S had previously said we should get. Since it's something we're gonna be using on a regular basis, it's worth it to invest in something that will last. After we were introduced to the latest features in one of the newer models we were totally sold:p Plus they are having some anniversary promotion which gives 1 year's supply of their proprietary liquid detergent (which apparently can actually last for 2-3yrs)! Next, we got sidetracked by the fridges...based on what we wanted (side-by-side for me, water dispenser for S, no need food showcase) and after window shopping at a few other appliance shops, we'd pretty much narrowed it down to 2 choices actually, either a Samsung or LG. In the end, decided on the Samsung which is more convenient. Also found out there's additional $100 rebate! Finally, on to the main event: oven! All my life, I've been doing my baking in a tiny, super no-frills oven so a part of me thought, aiya brand and snazzy functions really don't matter, I'll be happy already with a bigger oven. But after some recommendations from friends and research on the web, the other part of me (that eventually won out...) started thinking, it's a long term investment and I'm gonna be using it on a regular basis, should get something better quality that will last! Soo, had in mine a De Dietrich catalytic self cleaning oven (figured no point paying the premium for pyrolytic as I'd probably end up not bothering to use it). While the more popular brands out there are Bosch and Brandt, De Dietrich (which is actually the sister brand of Brandt; Bosch also has a sister brand, Gaggenau) is supposedly better quality in general, more even and precise heating etc. Out of curiosity, I wandered over to look at the Miele ovens...and fell hopelessly in love. If De Dietrich is the BMW of oven land, I guess Miele would be the Porsche or Rolls Royce haha. But oh man, just based on looks alone, I was already half-sold. It just looks so much sleeker. Of course the pros don't end there...found out that De Dietrich's catalytic panels are only along the 2 sides, whereas Miele's covers the back and top as well (and top is really the hardest to clean cos of all the heating coils up there). Volume-wise, it's 76l vs 60l. Doors, 4x vs 3x glass panels (as safe as it gets for curious tiny hands). And just overall in terms of quality, functionality, reliability etc, nothing can really compare with Miele. Is it worth paying the premium for? I hope I'll be able to say in 20 years' time, YES!!

Carpentry Now that the major part of wetworks are done, we're finally starting to move on to the carpentry segment, and this brings us one step closer to our dream country home (: While watching the walls go down and the tiles come up has been pretty exciting, carpentry is really where the heart of our home lies, and where this whole reno journey really began as well (yep in CC's cosy shop in tanjong katong shopping centre on a rainy december night many moons ago...:D). It's probably an understatement to say that our built-in carpentry work is quite substantial...I think we've basically taken bits and bobs of everything CC has ever built and dumped it into our home, with ideas culled from CC's fb portfolio/F's brain/inspiration pics from. Hopefully it comes out looking less like a chapalang flat and more like a rustic farmhouse in the countryside:D Met up with F last week to hammer out the details of the kitchen, almost right down to the last detail (which cabinets have drawers hiding behind the door, where my spatulas/whisks/measuring spoons will go, how wide I want my cutlery drawers to be etcetc). And here's what F has come up with: Full view of the kitchen from the entrance. "Dry" area on the right (which is also the front portion of the house"), "wet" on the left. Cabinets in cooking area will house mainly pots and pans, as well as utensils and condiments in each of the slim tower units right next to the stove. The tall cabinets on the left contain more storage, but they actually hide the toilet door as well. And next to the fridge is the walk-in pantry, internal shelving will be roughly smth like this: Baking area at the front portion, complete with tall unit, lotsa counter space and storage for baking tins/pans/appliances. The corner (diagonal) unit mainly houses some piping, while the top part of the tall unit houses the db box. "Wet" area of the kitchen (this is the wall opposite the toilet), with big fridge, big apron sink, drying racks above and washing machine. The cabinets above the fridge are so deep and not very accessible, I joked that we can keep luggage there and F said he actually has customers who have done exactly that:D And finally, the island! Containing a smaller sink, seating space for 5 (where the recessed area is) and more storage space. Had wanted to have some sort of shelving/open drawers to maximise the space in front of the sink. After tweaking the design a bit and working off some inspiration pics I'd seen, here's what S eventually came up with in his sketchup: Yes this is precisely what I'd had in mind! Super love the pull-out wicker baskets which will be mounted on drawer rails, perfect for linens and such. Sample from F of how the cabinet doors will be like - shaker style with V-grooves (although I think the grooves will be wider apart). Love the grain! Touched a bit on design of the MBR platform bed as well, here's a rough sketch F came up with on the spot. Platform will house lotsa internal storage, with the headboard and bedside tables built in as well. Randomly sketched-in herringbone design looks pretty good:D Next step: shop for mattress so we'll be able to nail down the exact dimensions of the bed. Finally, discussed a bit on the bathroom vanities as well, which thankfully is lots more straightforward design-wise compared to the kitchen. MBR bath will have walnut brown cabinetry complete with shaker style doors as well, and I can't stop admiring the gorgeous grains on this sample. It's another headache selecting the countertop to go with it though...inclined towards something white with a subtle marble look, the caesarstone on bottom left would be my first choice BUT it is 3x the price of the bottom right iQuartz!?? Will probably settle for something less exorbitant. On a somewhat-related note, I find it quite hard to understand why country-style has fallen so totally out of vogue in Singapore. Maybe it's cos it's seen by most as dated/old-fashioned? I dunno, to me it's a timeless look and also the style that most evokes warm feelings of family and home and gathering around the kitchen table to break bread together. In a couple of decades we'd probably be hard-pressed to find someone who'd be able to build such a home for us though - according to F, apart from the low demand in general (but surely there'd always be the rare few oldies-at-heart like us?), the bigger problem is the lack of labour/skill. Once the "uncles" who work for CC retire, there'll be no new generation of master carpenters who have enoughbskill and experience to handle the more intricate carpentry and handcraft the corbels and cornices. Well I'm glad CC is still around for the near future at least, and perhaps one day we'll see a resurgence of country-style homes...?

Experience with Heritage's Ivan has been generally good. Went with our contractor few weeks back to pick out sanitary ware (sinks, faucets, shower, WC etc). Subsequently we made a couple of changes (changed the sink we ordered to a smaller one, added on another sink, wanted to change the handshower hose) and Ivan was pretty quick at responding, and they even threw in a free "upgrade" for the rain shower hand shower's hose (from the flexible to smooth kind). Ivan has also been quick to respond to my random queries on dimensions of the stuff we bought (height of faucet, dimensions of sinks - info asked by carpenter). Just sharing my $0.02!

Lights and fans Although I do quite a bit of online shopping, I've never plucked up the courage to delve into the Taobao world cos it is just so daunting. But after reading lots of reno blogs and hearing friends and colleagues share about their experiences, I finally hopped on the bandwagon, downloaded the ezbuy app and now I cannot stop browsing:D Decided on ezbuy cos it seems relatively fussfree, and prime seems very worth it esp for shipping bulky items. So far have bought a couple of lights, and a few samples of handles for kitchen cabinets (knobs, bar pulls and bin pulls). Still need to find a suitable light for the staircase area, maybe some wall sconces for the bathrooms. Spotted some coffee tables and dining chairs that I really like too:D Bought 2 of these for the yard area ($8.67!?) Got the 6-bulb version, to go above dining table ($170). Apparently the bulbs are adjustable with 3 different settings to switch between warm/cool lighting. Separately, also hunted down my dream rose gold/copper pendant lights on carousell a few months back (3 for $120). Been searching since I saw these inspiration pics. Wasn't sure if it would go with the mint walls which we plan to have in the kitchen, but I was sold after seeing the 2nd pic Lastly, anyone have experience using the vento fino 2? Thinking of getting it for the kitchen and read a couple of reviews that seem to agree that it's pretty powerful (and so chio too!).

Week 4 Wow it has been almost a month! Really thank God that thus far there have been no major issues/cause for complaint. J and all his sub-cons have been working really efficiently, and the house already looks so different from how it did 4 weeks ago. 1) Tiling updates Downstairs toilet (powder room) is done! So pleased with how the tile trim which we hunted high and low for turned out. Of course the upper wall section remains to be painted...selecting the exact shade we want will be the next headache Initially the 'step' into the toilet was tiled with the kitchen floor tile (the wood look one). Since the door will sit outside rather than within the frame (it'll be a very *special* door - stay tuned till when carpentry works come in), it should be the toilet tile that is on the 'step' instead. I didn't even notice the mistake, but J spotted it immediately and by the next day it was rectified. Very thankful for J's attention to detail and proactive-ness... I can imagine some other contractors would just try to make excuses or try to convince you that "it must be like that one", or better still, say it's your fault and blame you for not being clear. Kids bathroom is done too! This was taken earlier in the week...since then I think the rest of the tiles have been grouted too. Very pleased with the workmanship for the MBR bath. S had the idea of making some sort of trim for the windows (which are all installed btw! More on that later), which J gamely translated to the tiler. It's not v clear in the pic cos of the glare from the windows, but the tiler definitely had to do quite a bit of extra measuring and cutting... as our carpenter F said while admiring it, "I can just hear your tiler complaining while doing the trim" What's left to do is the box-up of the pipe, which is awaiting installation of the concealed rainshower first. Anddd here's the kitchen backsplash (or as my confused tongue often says, "blackspash" :D) Very very pleased with how this turned out. It is pretty much exactly how we envisioned, with the subway tiles + tile trim + herringbone design in the centre. It has since been extended further on both sides, now just awaiting grouting (not done yet cos the tiler was waiting for us to confirm that the tiles end in the correct place, which was in turn dependent on our kitchen layout). Will post a close-up once the grouting is in. Here's the other section of backsplash on the opposite wall, all nice and grouted (and basking in afternoon sun...). This section will sit above the kitchen sink in the "wet" part of the kitchen. 2) Plastering Plastering works started yesterday and wow... I think I would really love this job. Reminds me so much of cake batter and frosting:D Kids room, MBR, mudroom, kitchen. Walls are so amazingly smooth now...S commented it looks just like a new BTO haha. I think the same 2 guys have been working through the past 2 days and they still have a bit left to do, but everything looks so nice already mebbe can save money on paint la hahaha. 3) Windows This is the sight that greeted me when I got to the flat yesterday afternoon (spent the entire afternoon there meeting with electrician + air-con guy) - whole landing/corridor outside the flat was lined with window panes and frames of varying sizes hahaha. Sorry again neighbours :| Anyway was very excited to see these windows go up. Sadly hdb only allows for aluminium windows, but somehow within these constraints J managed to source for the closest possible thing to French windows - yay! And within the afternoon everything was up - mudroom living kitchen bedrooms bathrooms all! Casement windows for the bedrooms, sliding windows for the downstairs (cos corridor, and cos living has this...awning sorta thing outside which is too near for casement. I suppose it's there to block sun/rain which is a good thing I guess). Really loving the look of the casement windows esp!

End of week 3 Just a short update on various things that have been completed this week. First up: kitchen floor is done! Although it's pretty much not visible lol... it's been covered up with corrugated cardboard to protect it. But what you can see is the water pipes sticking out which marks where the island sink will be! New MBR wall is done as well. Really glad for that extra bit of space that this change gives us. Random thing we spotted that came up today as well: new dustbin cover:D Preparing for next week - the final stretch of tiling work, kitchen wall subway tiles! Worked out the design for the backsplash in great detail today, just hope the tiler gets it right and also that he can tessellate better than me (I would not be able to figure out that herringbone pattern in a million years). Couple more random pics from around the house - I think our tiler forgot to bring his calculator, otherwise maybe he just really enjoys long division. Below is a pretty accurate sketch of the kitchen layout, parked in the most convenient place - the kitchen wall:D I think I'm gonna miss spotting all these random doodles and sketches once the plastering is done.

Tiling week #2 We're into the 3rd week of reno, and things seem to be progressing well according to the works schedule provided by our contractor J. Tiling works in the upstairs bathrooms is mostly done. When I stopped by today it looked like some of the grouting was in too. Mudroom tiles were done last Friday as well. Glad we decided to go for the staggered/overlap method of laying! Screeding of all the upstairs bedrooms and stairs are done as well. Love how smooth and clean everything looks now. Vinyl for the bedrooms and parquet for the stairs will come later. Kitchen floor tiling began today. Finally got to witness firsthand the painstaking process of tile-laying, it's almost an art form. The way he spreads and scrapes the mortar kinda reminds of how I frost cakes:p And the precision with which the tiles can be cut for the drainage holes is amazing! The wall extensions are up as well. First pic is of the kitchen, wall extended slightly (left side of the doorway) to accommodate the fridge. 2nd pic is of the kitchen-yard doorway, wall also extended slightly on the left side to accommodate slim cabinetry which will run along the wall outside the toilet. Btw, anyone has experience using Floor Xpert's carpet grass (ezyturf)? We're planning on using it in the yard area and I'm wondering how easy is it to maintain. It's almost like just laying a rug on the ground, except it has a drainage base below the "grass layer" to allow for water to drain off. And to clean it, according to their website you can just use a vacuum like with any other rug. Sounds pretty cool...but I'm wondering if there'll be any issues like bugs taking up residence in the base layer.

@EMtamp cool decor on the stairs, we were planning on using those walls for decor as well. I see you're a Blum fan as well heh. How's your experience so far?

Tiling The tiler has been hard at work this week, starting first from the upstairs bathrooms. So far the kids bathroom is mostly done, while the MBR bath walls are done, floor should be done tmr as well. Door frames for both bathrooms are up as well. The kids' bath doorway was hacked slightly to widen it a bit (who knows, kids may turn out large though I hope not), but MBR bath can't be helped cos there's no wall to hack (guess we can't get too wide...or else have to borrow kids bath alr). The new MBR wall is also partially up. Got a slight scare when we thought the doorway may have been in the wrong place...thankfully our carpenter managed to confirm that it's in the right position. Cos it's basically dependent on the layout of our walk-in wardrobe. Rough layout of the WIW...bottom half of the room will be taken up by the bed of course. Just trying to maximise the space to get as much storage space as well. Length of the 3 rows of wardrobes are around 240cm, 115cm and 145cm. Not sure if this is the best possible layout, appreciate any better ideas!

Island sink So we headed back to Heritage bathroom gallery today to hunt for a smaller island sink. Not sure why our brains were both not working, but the one we decided on previously is definitely too big (I think the width is around 600) and will take up too much precious island space. Since the island will be about 7.5ft long and the sink will only be used for light washing (dishes will be done in the larger sink), we need something around 15-18" wide (380-450mm). Because we want the sink to be white, stainless steel is out... so the only available option that fits our size requirement is this Rubine white granite sink, 380x440mm. And apparently cos it's an Italian brand it costs more, so we would have to top up even though the previous sink was larger >< Also we're worried that white granite will stain/discolour after some time. Anyone has any experience with using white granite sinks? Is it hard to maintain? Another sink that caught our eye was this range of fireclay sinks...compared to granite it definitely looks much better! And it's a lot hardier too (although hairline cracks are supposedly to be expected after a while). But the dimensions are all way too big. Tried to hunt around online but looks like fireclay sinks are just too uncommon here, and those that exist are all too big.

Weekend shopping adventures A greater part of yesterday was spent shopping for doors and sanitary wares with our contractor J. First stop was J's door supplier, located somewhere in potong pasir. After having a feel of the doors - swinging, knocking etc, we decided to go with solid wood for all the doors. It just feels a lot better! We were told it's suitable for bathrooms too, though the hollow type doors are not. From L-R: Front door (in walnut brown), bedroom doors (walnut brown as well) + kids bath door (white), MBR bath (white, frosted glass but wavy rather than straight lines at the top) Spent some time choosing the handle for the main door as well. Our old-fashioned taste meant the guy had to take down the samples from the top shelf and dust them off (“这种不懂多久没有人买了”). The antique-look ones just look so much better than the modern ones though. For the rest of the doors, we're going with regular stainless steel knobs. Prefer the feel of knobs to handles. Forgot to take pic, but front door handle is something like this kind of design. Next stop: Heritage bathroom gallery, for sanitary wares. It was super crowded when we got there, but J had contacted them earlier to check on their stocks for the antique-look faucets we wanted, so the salesman (Ivan, pretty friendly and helpful guy) was all ready with the different samples when we got there. We needed 3 - island sink, main kitchen sink, downstairs bathroom. Faucet for downstairs bathroom. More on that later. While browsing, we spotted something we liked even more: copper faucet! Perfect for our island sink, it matches the rose gold pendant lights which will be over the island. Favourite purchase of the day:D We decided on a white granite sink for the island sink. But after leaving, we realised it might be a bit too big): Hopefully we'll be able to change to a smaller model. Larger kitchen sink we'll be sourcing separately as we want an apron sink which isn't generally available in most shops I think. And for the faucet, in the end we decided on a more functional stainless steel one with movable neck. Will be loads more practical for heavy washing and also getting to the corners of the sink. Selected our WCs, showers, upstairs faucets, bidet sprays, storage heater as well. For WCs, main thing was making sure both our bums felt sufficiently comfortable sitting on the seat:D Decided to go with Grohe for the showers and faucets as it's supposedly better quality and will last longer. Deciding on sinks for the bathrooms was easy cos we wanted an undermount sink whereas what's popular is the sitting-on-top-of-vanity kind. So there were basically just 4 models of undermount to choose from rather than 50. Makes our lives so much easier:D bigger rectangular one for MBR, smaller oval-shaped one for kids bath. Done! Finally, last item on our list was the downstairs toilet (ie powder room) sink. Due to size constraint as well as for aesthetic purposes, we wanted to go for a pedestal sink. Something like in these inspiration pics: Pedestal sinks are so uncommon though! Or else, the less-uncommon ones are those modern, futuristic looking ones like the kind you see in mall toilets. After sourcing around a bit, J found out that Toto carries a relatively-inexpensive model: So last stop of the day: Toto, at their newly-opened store at Henderson. They had just one of the sinks in stock, but turns out it's the model with 3 faucet openings, whereas we need one with just 1. It IS possible to purchase the other kind of faucet, but since we're only having cold water in the powder room it would just confuse guests...can imagine them turning and turning away at the tap and wondering why no hot water comes out. So we'll probably be placing an order for the single-opening one, hopefully they'll be able to deliver in time.

Post-hacking day #4&5 So our guys have been clearing out all the rubble over the past 2 days, and now our place look less like a disaster zone. In fact they have been working real hard, was surprised to see a few of them still hard at work when I popped by after work on both days! Last bit of hacking done - storeroom under the stairs removed. We do want to eventually use it as a storage area, but depending on how our needs evolve (do we need an empty space? More shelves? Pull-out drawers?), we plan to do it up in a couple years' time. Living and kitchen in a (slightly more) cleaned-up state! Our unit is almost at the end of the corridor and there are 3 short flights of steps down from the lift. We were still wondering how the workers would wheel the debris away...here's the innovative solution! New MBR with the walls knocked down. You can see where the original walls were from the ceiling track. That L-shaped area is the space we "reclaimed" from the corridor. To cater for a walk-in wardrobe:D In its current condition, stairs look more like the way to some ancient ruins haha. Glad the glass shards have all been removed. Tiles deliverered! In preparation for the next phase to start on Monday - tiling!

Hacking day #3 It's the final day of hacking, and wow I'm really quite amazed at how fast the guys worked. Up till yesterday, the place was still (relatively) navigable. Today, it was really just heaps of rubble everywhere Lights are all out, thankful for flash:D Cabinetry and doors from upstairs all dismantled. And the stairs!! Back to their bare concrete banister-less form. The banisters used to be one whole glass sheet, so you can still see the bits of glass left behind. Can't imagine how it must have been to whack away the whole sheet:/ We didn't venture upstairs for obvious reasons, but I can't wait to see the hacked walls and new MBR space. And...the kitchen!!! The walls have come down, leaving behind a lovely open space(: It should look even better without the rubble. Hopefully. Haha. Asked S what those spots on the wall are, he explained something about chipping and how the tiles need a good surface to adhere to Thank you neighbours for bearing with the noise! Unfortunately we've still got a couple months to go. I'll make it up with cinnamon buns next time^^

@EMtamp nice place you've got there, and congrats on moving into your new place(: Hehe we'll be doing a barn door too actually, but it'll be for the door between living and kitchen. Your layout sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing more pics! Oh and the power socket thing you've got looks v cool, where is it from?

Hacking day #2 Guys were hard at work again today! The sight in our flat just makes me think of Ecclesiastes 3:3 which says "a time to break down, and a time to build up"... I guess currently it's clearly the former, but can't wait for the latter to start! Laminate flooring in the study (part of future kitchen) removed and tiles all hacked. Ventured upstairs to have a look today. There was still some daylight left so not so scary. And the lights are still in. (Original) MBR bath completely hacked, common bath halfway there. Tomorrow's the last day for hacking, so I guess the walls should be down by the end of the day! Excited about seeing the full future kitchen:D

PM-ed you! Yeah sadly this style is so uncommon in SG... thanks to our contractor's recommendation, we managed to find the store that carries it. Anyway I took a look at your shower area, it looks good too!

Hacking day #1 The sight that greeted us when we got to the flat today after work looked like it came straight out from an apocalypse movie...well it means some people were hard at work today! In fact even before we opened the gate, could see dust covering the area, evidence that something messy lay beyond. Pic from our contractor earlier in the day...calm before the storm Current view from the front door...stuff from the upstairs bathrooms:D Kitchen cabinetry dismantled, sliding doors from upstairs bathrooms I think Laminate flooring in the study partially removed...wow turns out the original flooring is the same as the living roomKitchen tiles allll hacked We didn't quite dare venture upstairs:p 2 more days of hacking. The walls will probably come down tmr and it'll be even more dusty. Can't wait though!

Tiles After multiple visits to various branches of the 2 big tile shops in Singapore (Hafary and Soon Bee Huat), we have finally made our tile selections and our contractor J placed the orders a couple of days ago. We ended up visiting both the Eunos and Toh Guan branches of SBH, as well as the Eunos and Balestier branches of Hafary:D And S actually visited SBH 4 out of 5 days in a row, just to make sure we were really making the best possible tile choices. For the kitchen, we’re going with a traditional wood tile flooring + white glossy subway tiles for the walls. Safe and classy. The wall tiles will run up partially with paint finish above. Hopefully can achieve this look: For the downstairs toilet, we’ve chosen a brown floral tile for the floor and wavy-edged glossy subway tiles for the wall. Half-height tiles as well for the walk with tile trim (same as kitchen backsplash) and paint above. For the MBR bathroom, we’re going with a slightly more classic yet rustic look, with beige floor tiles and wooden wall tiles. Floor-to-ceiling tiles for the shower area, half-height for the rest. Finally for what will eventually be the kids bathroom, we’ve chosen a matte white subway tile which goes with these lovely colourful pastel accent tiles (they remind me of mountain ranges!), which we will use for a 3-tile thick trim running around the middle of the wall. I really like the mint+pink ones, the tiles come in an assortment though so cannot choose. Floor to ceiling wall tiles for the entire bathroom, as we anticipate kids will probably have more trouble keeping the walls dry:p