Yplailai

How do you spell busy? This week was super productive. We confirmed song cho kitchen set, takes 2 months to fabricate and ship in from Japan. Also confirmed contractor and selected laminates. Choice was clear cut, all whites and light beige wood colours. I don't see how we can go wrong with whites. Just need a little more care and effort for maintenance. initially had wanted to buy a small TV console, affordable ones look cheapskate and ugly. Made to order ones look like replicas in every HDB, designer ones cost an arm or a leg.. what to do? Until we were browsing furniture and come across this antique seating which was love at first sight for me, despite an extremely hefty price tag to it. In short, we'll be going for customised console so to match the altar laminates and blend in, so that the seat can bask in its beauty. Below is a photo of a prayer altar i found, forgot which company it was, so couldn't do credit. To be realistic, much as i wanted lots of light, the electrical works is really a headache. So will do without the lights. Previously i had wanted a sink in service yard, and after meeting different IDs and contractors who each gave their own insights, i was rather confused and hesitant to go ahead. We decided to install a very mini sink next to washing machine just to do like scrubbing until i come across this blog post about this blogger's laundry room. Do check it out if interested in sink in service yard yard (http://estella.sg/ under home i think). I shall just copy hers and save myself from headache. Lightings have not really decided, contractor recommended *** from tradehub 21 becoz of onsite service (got prob, they come to your house to fix, not ask you to bring down to shop for exchange), but their collection is a little out dated for me. I like those crystal lights from chelsea (chinese garden mrt). Still wondering about the price and suitability. That's all. Tomorrow will be the start of renovations marathon, at early 8am. Once measurements are taken, work shall commence.

Went MIA for a month. Because we were 1) waiting for bsc to rectify defects 2) meeting contractors 3) feeling sluggish and unmotivated to start on anything meanwhile we were waiting around, we tried cold calling those group buy contacts that were shared around the BTO facebook group. and somehow, (i have a feeling we hit jackpot this time round) i tried calling to get a quote for windows and chatted casually about whether we have confirmed any reno companies. I lamented on the line that we have no luck, all companies find our budget too low to work on and either tried to milk us like a cash cow or dropped our project like a hot potato. This window guy recommended a trade partner to me and told me this guy is not bad, good service, direct factory price and price is negotiable slightly. So since we have slided down the ladder back to starting, i thought there is no harm in calling too. Sent le hubby down to the office to interview the contractor and hubby came back with only positive reviews. Prior, we tried contacting the famous J&E duo and invited them down for a quotation. But boss wasn't even slightly impressed at all. To their credit, they are very responsive to sms. But there wasn't any chemistry between us and when i asked for a re-quote to take out items I didn't want, they didnt seem very keen on my biz. Very deflated and dejected, we decided to source our own sub contactors and build up the house slowly item by item. That is, when i feel like doing windows, i shall buy windows and ask for installation. Until this recommended guy came along. to be honest, i was quite sceptical abot giving biz to this stranger too, and i didnt have a good impression or opinion when he scheduled my appointment from 10am to 11am and to 2pm. Being very particular about timing, i don't appreciate punctuality issues, nonetheless, since already taken an off day, shall give benefit of doubt and wait around for him. in summary, i like this contractor too. The way he explained, the way he handled pressure (I subtly hinted him we had specially taken leave to meet him) and his quotation is affordable. Also, after deliberating for a good 2 months, we decided to go for Song Cho stainless steel kitchen set. Yes, it is no doubt expensive. About 12k (conservative estimation) for only one side of the cabinets, but the advantages outweigh the price; - one piece seamless design (no joining by silicone to turn mouldy from moisture) - stainless steel (anti cockroach, somehow these buddies love wood and cardboard) - movable (can dismantle when you move house, songcho charge about 300 fee) imagine if i invest 10k on kitchen cabinets and have to leave behind my 10k when i move house - drawers are inbuilt with blum closing Windows grills plus service yard windows 1.1k kitchen glass door 590 contractor - prayer altar, mbr wardrobe 6ft, bottom cabinets for kitchen other side, overlay toilet tiles, shower kerb and glass screen, paintings (4colours +white) change wood skirting to tiles 12k+ (no gst) space too small for customised tv console, better to buy ready made that's all, will post again when there is progress

Thanks for your generosity and share your contacts

It would be most unfair and unjust if you cannot share photos of your own house.. as for the quality of work, the photos speak for itself. Feel sorry for you though.. i feel as home owners we are not protected enough, and once signed contract, we definitely have no choice but to go through the reno and sometimes kena forced to top up and top up. Esp when we are green horns in this areas and companies are the old birds. What to do?

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.. feel sorry for you, as a new home owner, definitely can understand the pains and frustrations you are going through. Hope everything turned out fine for you in the end.

Hi! We are also looking at renovating our BTO and would appreciate much if you can share which contractor you finally decided on, any hacking or flooring done and what's the estimate total. The feature wall is also done by the contractor? Beautiful home by the way

I was thinking these are items that is clean and easy to move in (alr have an allocated spot) and dont need to conceal wires or anything like that so shall save up for that before buying it and right before moving in. We are have a comfortable place to stay at the moment, so no real urgent rush to move. Certain things like window grills, no money also must do first before renovations start.

Wow! Admire your determination to DIY as much as possible. For me.. still looking around and reading through everyone's blog for ideas. Luckily we are in no hurry to move, can slowly look around.

It's been a while since i last updated. We are busy checking for defects and looking around for contractors and furnishings. After doing the math, all we see is the flashing of $$$ signs in front of our eyes and all we hear is the ringing of the cashier register. While waiting around for quotation, i did a rough estimation of other hidden costs.. window needed grills for security and safety. Window panels for service yard. Estimated to be 1.2k lightings not an option to do it last (although we are not in a rush to move in) we can't leave the ceiling with a hole and exposed wires right? To save money and space, i will bid a tearful goodbye to all my lightings around the house and install fan with light. About 300 per fan? So i need abt 4. Also need lights for service yard, bathroom x2, entrance, living room track light, dining room, walkway in front of rooms. Shall make a trip down to JB and look around. fridge and washing machine have to set aside 2k for those. Last resort i shall get those last. aircon needed alot of ticks for electrical bills saving. About 4k for system 4 cooker and hob i dont really understand how it works, but a rough estimate of 1k should be sufficient for a decent set living room sofa 1k tv 500-1000? Will check out IT fairs sound system another 500-1000 Dining hall dining table and chairs 1k? security surveillance camera 500? doors 3 bedrooms 2bathrooms 1kitchen another 1k at least on a really tight budget, we need more than 10k to set up a simple home.

Fengshui if you are intending to hire someone and look at geomancy, it is best to do it before engaging ID/contractor. Fengshui of site, does affect colour choice and materials. Like in out case. we are really lucky that our fengshui largely falls in place with what i have intended to do. No weird positioning of tv/sofa/dining table/bed or repositioning of entrances. And my chosen white/cream/lightwood theme is indeed best suited for us. the affected areas bathroom: initially i had wanted wooden tiles in the mbr and peranakan tiles in the common bathroom. Just nice it clashed and we had to use stones/slate tiles. And the hdb tiles that came along was a dark grey colour. Looks like fate would allow me to save money and not do tiles if i run out of budget. (Think in positive way). rolling of pineapple ceremony we've also read some blog posts about how we should roll a big fat pineapple for luck, bowling style into the flat for good luck. And scattering of salt and rice combi for cleansing. We are so confused with this tradition and decided to follow what our friend has advised. key collection and checking for defects has nothing to do with cleansing (yes, the salt and rice mixture does apply). If it is a resale flat, you wouldn't be rolling a pineapple and scattering those rice and salt in every flat you view right? Viewing flat is just viewing and checking it out. so, the proper procedure would be to select a good date for praying, before actual renovations start. And the rolling of pineapple is the last step right before we move in. Disclaimer: i'm just sharing what steps we are taking, so far whatever advice we have followed, or given to us by friend has worked for us. Peaceful and harmonious household, smooth sailing career and stable life. Imho, you can follow whatever you believe in, as long as it makes you happy. getting ready Praying ceremony will commence this sat at unearthly hours of 4am.. the three of us are pretty thick skinned i would say. And hubs and i have already moved a big powerful fan, a bucket with newspapers, old rags, magic clean and wipes, an umbrella, 2 stools, packet drinks. We'll bring a night light and post it notes on sat..

thinking if i should to a peranakan floor tiled common bathroom as a feature place. or should i stick to my minimalist theme.

Thanks fifteenmay! i was put into perspective properly after the last round of discussions. some sneaky ways of deflating the quotation: 1) excluding electrical works no false ceiling is 1k and with is 2k 2) excluding gst and later telling you have gst 3) in my case after studying both quotation thoroughly, i realised the first cabinet quoted was 4ft and the last was 11ft. And from the argument, my guts feeling was she intentionally quoted 4ft so she can "honestly" up it to 11ft (top up for my requirements) to be honest, 28k is acceptable to me too, but i am very troubled by the ID not being open and up front.

Updates so we met up with my ID to understand the package more. And after the meet, we weren't sure if we wanted to go ahead and engage this ID 1) the last quotation is even more itemised and detailed with each installation and electric socket listed out but, the bill swelled from initial 24k inc gst to 28k inc gst The first package included window grills, doors and non blum hinges, while the last excluded window grills, doors and using blum hinges. And we had to argue which quotation it was. End up i had to dig out my printed copy to prove my point while ID insisted it was a revised one?!?! Whatever positive feelings i had vanished when argument started, which i felt shouldn't be so. So we are quite prepared to drop this ID our plans are something like: a row of storage caninets along the bomb shelter, a prayer altar, a TV feature wall and console, kitchen (parallel row of top & bottom cabinets) and a bedroom 6ft wardrobe, a sink in the service yard. we didnt ask for false ceiling, flooring, bathroom works, no hacking no tiling no layering.. and it is alr 28k! feeling like a cash cow right now, it sucks totally Side track a little, i have a very close friend who is doing fengshui, and he is very well versed in Chinese culture and rituals. He has given us countless valuable advice from our pre wedding rites, to baby's first month and first birthday. While hubby and I are not particularly superstitious about prayers and all, we didn't mind to follow cultural rites as closely as possible. It's great to have someone who is knowledgeable in this aspects and guide you along. so this friend will help us buy all the pineapple and what nots for rolling good luck. He has advised us to look at fengshui first before deciding on carpentry and colours with the ID or contractor. So yep, we have slided down the ladder all the way back to starting point.

Inspirations kitchen We will be doing a bright kitchen with lots of power sockets for all our cooking wares. I had wanted lights below the suspended cabinets so that i can see my food better or view recipe book at night or rainy weather. It will be helpful too, when i needed to get up at night to find some night crunch or to fix a bottle of formula for the baby without having to light up the whole kitchen. i was told glass is expensive, and it will eat into my budget if i have glass doors like the photo. Also, i dont have much pretty and beautiful kitchen ware to showcase. It's going to look very messy with all my mismatched wares towering on the top and covering whatever light there is. and if i just display a few choice china, it is a dreadful waste of good space. My kitchen is small enough as it is and we're going to inherit all my MIL's treasures. Idea KIVed I was wondering if my ID can do some deep drawers for me to hide away my pots and pans and for easy access. I don't want to be shifting the front rows of pots each time i wanted to reach the back. Does that makes sense? Living room To save cost and maintenance efforts, we wont be doing up a false ceiling. And that makes it difficult for me to add lights. We weren't too keen on dusting that false ceiling. So the next best way i thought of is to add it to the feature wall! My thoughts on designing a home when you are a set of full time working parents, juggling your career, and an inquisitive toddler (who wants to open up every single door and explore), the one thing constantly on your mind is how to get one more hour of sleep. And the last thing you'd want is to do maintenance on the house. That's why we are not going to install a shower screen in both bathrooms and just keep it simple and functional.

Hi! I'm new to this renotalk. What is a mood board and how to do it?

great news came my way today! key collection will be set for next week. And be meeting ID from company A tomorrow night to tie up loose ends before commitment. this is layout of our houseplan. the good our bto is a small project of 3 parallel block of flats that sit on a north south position along a stretch of road. our unit is on the east side, so all rooms and living room will capture the morning sun slightly. The other half of the building will bake under the sun from noon to evening and my unit will be cool when we come home. Service yard faces a field, no blockage of view or light, and hopefully captures the morning sun too. The bad low floor. View? What view? I get a very magnified view of the grass patch. Havent found time to go down to site, but heard from hubby there's a very nice street lamp post right outside our living room window.

Pm sent

Looking forward to your updates as i have exactly the same layout as you.

Background We are an expanding family, with elderly and an infant Budget we are running on budget of 20k, and are quite prepared to top it up to 26k max if the value is there. Theme minimalist, zen, Scandinavian inspired. Features we want - easy to maintain -minimal cleaning -won't get tired of looking at the house in future -a well equipped kitchen (we love to cook!) -light coloured walls and furniture for illusion of a bigger space. -lots of light to brighten up the house and lots of electrical sockets -some sort of a vertical garden to grow our own herbs (maybe can DIY) -lots of space

We have been looking forward to ownership of a flat, a paradise that truly belonged to us and where we can build a home. We are all set to collect keys soon and have started looking around for an ID. To minimise all the hassle and stress of going through a list of IDs, i have shortlisted 3 companies, one recommended by our friends and 2 from internet. 1) company A: prices are competitive, itemised and detailed quotation. ID very keen and consistent in following up with me (i checked price almost 6 months ago). Portfolio so-so only. 2) company B: prices competitive, quotation quite general. ID very pleasant to speak with, listens to me. The designs are quite refreshing too. And best part of all, i found out we had a mutual friend, and this mutual friend gave a very positive character reference. 3) company C: prices are slightly higher than the other 2, general quotation. I found this company from facebook and because they claimed to have dealt with alot of hotel receptions and photos looked impressive, i decided no harm to enquire. However, ID refuses to meet me at a location to my convenience, and i had to travel all the way to toa payoh (midway the skies poured and i had a baby with me!!!!!) so thus they were eliminated because i didnt have a pleasant experience or opinion. Luckily I didn't proceed further too, because i read online about some reno horror experience with this company and from the photos it really looked very bad defects, not something minor you can close an eye or rectify that easily. It was a tough fight between company A and B, but eventually hubby and i decided to go for A because we can feel her sincerity in doing our super tight budget... i believe with clear communications, she can help us achieve our dream look at a reasonable budget

Hi! Could you please share with me the contact for J&E pls? Many thanks