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stitchgal

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Everything posted by stitchgal

  1. Hi there, i'm in love with shaker style as well as that was a top priority when I designed my interior. I LOVE the blue shaker style cabinets on your mood board. Looking forward to more updates on your renovation!
  2. RENOVATION PROGRESS (12th NOV): My mix-matched stone is rectified fortunately as shown below. Another issue that I faced with regards to outsourcing my own countertop is that we failed to communicate the measurement of the countertop properly to both carpenter and countertop supplier, resulting in my bottom cabinets door smacking right into the granite lol. My carpenter grumbles a bit hahahaha saying that the countertop measurement wasn't what we originally agreed lol. I guess that's why most people get an ID as ID will make your reno process easier? Anyways, another big thanks to my carpenter for his willingness to spend an entire day to re-do the entire bottom cabinet doors (lowering them). Here's the closeup look of the kitchen granite, I'm in love with the stone despite the whole saga with it's original owner (supplier) The black granite countertops.... eh blue specks not very obvious compared to when we saw it in the factory <refer to my post above this> .... I'll be honest with ya'll, I'm not gonna say I absolutely love the black granites, don't see much blue specks on the granite. I would insist on perhaps marble vanity countertops if I can turn time around.... haha! Above is the newly installed Taobao white sink (I noticed a lot of Singaporeans got this type of oval sink from Taobao too), Taobao gold tap and stopper to complement the 'marble gold' theme that I was going for. As you can see above, the tap from taobao works really well (At least for now). I'm hoping that these Taobao purchases will last me long . Bedroom flooring.... After what seems like an ages, my contractor is removing the the layer of cardboard that was once placed on the floor to protect the floor tiles so that they can start cleaning the place. For a long time, I felt as if I've no proper flooring due to the floor being hidden underneath the cardboards. So it's very refreshing to see the actual flooring Now that I'm coming to almost an end of my renovation, I look forward to show you all how this flat will turn out with furnishing on. But before that, I'm dreading the post-reno cleaning haha! Thank you for following my reno journey, and feel free to leave any comments or feedbacks you have. Ciao.
  3. Hihi, I believe mine is the RM Statuario, without the gold 'streaks' in it. When we went to check out the Hafary tiles, there was only this option Good that there are more choices now. Re the granite supplier, I'll be able to let u know once this saga with them is over yeah? Cos right now they still owe us some items (custom-made some marble furniture) so wanna play safe first until they deliver everything to us . Are you on the lookout for a granite supplier now? If so, why not u can PM me whom u are planning to approach and I'll give u my two cents worth haha...
  4. In this post, I'll like to touch more on our countertop material saga. This has been something that my fiance and I were dealing with ever since we came back from overseas. WE SELECTED OUR OWN COUNTERTOP VENDOR: All along, we wanted marble countertops and that has been part of my design. Hence, we decided to outsource our countertop to a stone supplier that my fiance's colleague recommended, instead of going through my contractor. Selecting a stone for the countertops was our NO. 1 PRIORITY when we return to Singapore, as the renovation had been put on hold as my contractor needs the counter tops to be installed before they can proceed with the last lap of reno - installing sinks, taps, toilet accessories etc. At the stone supplier's warehouse, my fiance fell in love with this black granite because of the blue specks in it. While I'm not a big fan of this, I wanted my fiance to have a say in the design as well so I won't become an alpha female. We decided that we want this piece of granite to be our bathrooms' countertops. And there goes my original marble countertop design.........down the drain.... Like I said, I really really love to have marble countertops... however, I think at this point of the junction (having to deal with all sorts of feedback and comments from relatives on my new flat...), I was already sick of everybody having to keep telling me how hard it is to maintain my white doors and white carpentry (I became worried too hahahaa). I do not wanna be burdened by brooding over how hard it is to maintain marble countertops.... Hence, we decided to go with granite countertops for the kitchen. So the whole countertop vendor saga begins when we fixed an installation date with this vendor in late October to install our countertops. It was a weekday, so my contractor has KINDLY agreed to be there for the installation to ensure things go smoothly. However, on the installation day, this vendor did not turn up for installation, nor did he notify us that he couldn't make it until we called him. Well, I understood mistakes happen, so we fix another date for installation. God knows...On the day of the second appointment date that we have fixed, the vendor did not show up AGAIN! Neither did they inform us that they could not make it unless we called to chase them on why no one showed up or no news from them. Not to say that they were least apologetic at all. Finally, on the day of the actual installation (which was 1 week after they missed 2 appointments), they turned up, but... with the wrong stones and configuration We are actually fine if they rectify the issues because mistakes do happen and that is okay. BUT the Big boss refuses to change the stone for us. We got into 3 phone calls and multiple whatsapp with him to request him to take back the wrong stone, yet he kept insisting that 1. it's the same stone, 2. our business deal is so small compared to his other projects, 3. WE SHOULD JUST ACCEPT IT. HE KEPT ASKING US TO ACCEPT their mistake and hang up on us. Long story cut short, it took us back and forth to finally get this supplier to agree to rectify the countertop for us in the end..... You can see the mismatched stone below. When the stone vendor finally fixed our mismatched countertops on a different day, I'm happy to say that my renovation journey is coming to an end very very soon. Right now, my contractor and his sub-cons are focusing on tying up loose knots (places that we need them to rectify), cleaning and installing fixtures
  5. Hi Everyone, I apologised for the lack of updates ever since I went abroad in Sep for a month. I came back on mid-Oct, but our overseas trip did not deter our renovation from progressing while we were away. RENOVATION PROGRESS (Mid-October): My contractor and his subcons (carpenter) have been updating us with pictures of our reno progress while we were away for a month. I'll like to show you the progress of our flat when we were back in Mid-October. LIVING AREA SPACE: I had initially wanted a good size bookshelf in the study room, however later on, I decided to better utilise the space by combining my bookshelf with the TV console in the living room. The 'fireplace' mantel was something that I've been toying about forever. It didn't seem realistic to place a real fireplace in Singapore because you don't need it. But I love the idea of having a mantel so I could decorate the mantel during Xmas etc. Hence, my carpenter (thanks god to his brilliant idea!) suggests to turn the entire 'fireplace' into a storage area so we we could place our amplifier, TV box and other electronic devices in it. Love it REFRESHMENT COUNTER + DINING AREA: The dining lights was installed only recently. I've gotten this from Taobao, it's really beautiful. The only regret is, it's a tad bigger than I expected given my small dining area. I've been toying with the idea of building a kitchen island, however, I decided against it this time round as I'm worried about not having sufficient dining space. Hence, instead of an island, we build a coffee/wine counter against the bomb shelter wall. That piece of marble artwork you see over there, is laminate from Lamitak. KITCHEN: I love the kitchen backsplash we got from Hafray! It truly compliments my kitchen cabinets. Here I'm still missing a few cabinet knobs from Taobao. It's missing the countertop, which I'll share it in another post. MASTER BATHROOM: We are so in love with this bathroom door. But, I was in horror to find out that my carpenter uses transparent glass on the door. I am not as 'open' as he thought we love to be la.... So we are waiting on him to change the glass. Additionally, I told him I want a gold door knob, however, he claimed that he selected this knob colour to match the existing HDB knobs colour. Hmmm.... I'm still not liking the knobs, and I'm contemplating if I should continue burning a bigger hole in my pocket for new door knobs BEDROOM: We turned the existing HDB BTO bedroom doors into a modern contemporary design by painting the doors white, and added door trims to it. As mentioned above, the doors will be more perfect if the door knobs are gold.... >.< COMMON BATHROOM: This is the common bathroom. I decided against building a shower glass door in the shower area because I dislike the look of the metal rod on the top of the glass panels. However, my parents and relatives commented that without a shower door, water would ruined my vanity cabinet and door in no time... Now... we are looking to switch it up and install a shower door.... More $$ burned...
  6. Hi there, I feel pretty lucky that everything went pretty well. But not to say that there isn't minor imperfections, there is and we are getting them to fix it. However, all in all, I would still recommend him. You may PM me, and I'll be able to provide my contractor's info instead, and he will recommend his carpenter to you.
  7. I didn't use a farmhouse sink, instead, I'm re-using what HDB has provided for our master bedroom
  8. *Renovation updates as of 5th Sep* My cabinets are 70-80% installed already and I'm currently 1 month 1 week into my renovation I've always read that carpentry comes in last when the house is in an almost ready state, hence I'm blown away by how efficient my contractor/sub contractors are. At first I didn't believe my contractor when he assured me before the start of the renovation that my flat will be 80% done by 11 September (the day that my fiance and I fly off to Canada/US for A MONTH). Most reno (especially big scale ones like mine) took 3 months to complete. In terms of carpentry works, I'm still pending all cabinet doors to be installed, shoe cabinets, fire place and bookshelves for my living room, floor skirting and doors and door frames. MRB Closet I've hacked the wall between my MRB and the 2nd bedroom so that my MRB's closet could 'eat' into the space of the 2nd bedroom. This huge closet is then built in between two bedrooms. My contractor suggested to do sound proofing works behind this closet as shown below. This layer of soundproof is then covered by a plank of wood as shown below. It will then be plastered and painted the same colour as our white wall. My carpenter suggested to build top cabinets for us on the back of our closet. I'm not sure how accessible the top cabinets are since it's a bit too high to reach out for, but no harm to have extra storage space as he didn't charge extra for it. This is in our study room aka home office by the way. Kitchen cabinets The counter space on the right in the picture above will be our refreshment area. I'm thinking of placing our hydroflux water filter machine, coffee machine, tea and wine display. Bathrooms cabinets You guys are probably sick of seeing another picture of my bathroom (or probably I'm the one who is sick of showing my bathrooms again considering that there isn't much changes since the last, except for an additional cabinet that has been installed today). My contractor just updated us that we will be installing our vinyl flooring (F.I.N.A.L.L.Y) on Monday. I can't wait for it, considering that the complete flooring look will change the whole look of the apartment.
  9. *RENOVATION PROGRESS 1ST SEP* My flat's renovation has progressed immensely in the past week! Kitchen cabinets and closets were in, most of our lights and fans have been installed, and the first coat of painting were done. We have selected the Nippon Paint Odour-less All-in-1 series. I was debating to get the Odour-less Easy Wash initially but it cost a tad bit more than the All-in-1. As you can see from the above, we've selected Nippon's Snow Flakes for our white wall. I've took a picture of the first coat of paint as follows. There is a slight difference from the actual white paint colour (ceiling colour), but I feel that it is not very obvious in the picture. I have chosen a different shade for this wall in the study room (shown below). My plan is to make this wall a little special and to divert a bit from the usual white colour so as to create a cosy corner for a home office. I'm not sure how this will turn out honestly, since this is just the first coat. The colour I've selected is called 'Rose Fragrance' from Nippon paint. Hopefully it will turn out great after the final coat. I'll be hanging some wall paintings on this wall when the room is ready. Also, as you can see on the pic above, I've have a HIDEOUS AC trunking on the wall above the door. Anyone has any ideas or recommendation on how to make this HIDEOUS AC trunking UN-hideous? We finally have the fans we bought from JB (fortunately we bought them before the sales tax were implemented!) installed in the bedrooms & living area! The one seen below (in our study room) can swivels from the left to the right and vice versa. This fan below (in our guest room) cannot swivel left and right. It's a different model from the same brand and it's smaller than the one in the study room. Our white Aeraton fan is installed in the living area as shown below. It's produces absolutely no noise, but it doesn't seem to produce as much wind as the KDK fans though. To be fair, I need to properly review it after moving in. Toilet lights are up! I bought these lights from Taobao and they are absolutely stunning! The glass is HEAVY though so I worry that I may break it eventually when I have to change to a new lightbulb lol. Oh... also, if you realise, we switch to a new toilet window as well! No more glass-panels window. My electrician said that the taobao light I bought below is quite dim. The lightbulb given by the Taobao seller is only 5W. Hence, he recommended we go buy a 8-10W lightbulb to replace it to make the toilet brighter. I regret not buying the MRB light (the one with the heavy glass) instead haha! Glimpse of my MRB: All lights and ceiling speakers have been installed perfectly. My wardrobes (currently in dismantled pieces) were also in. Glimpse of my Kitchen cabinets: Totally recommending my contractor's carpenter! I've placed a lot of emphasis on my carpentry request to ensure that the end products are what I have envisioned. For example, shaker cabinets cost A BOMB here in Singapore as they typically require spray painting. However, I'm not willing to compromise with going with non-shaker style. Hence, after some proper research on my side, I requested for my carpenter to proceed with shaker cabinets using laminates instead of spray paint. That will help save some money. Now, I know that not a lot of contractors/non-experienced carpenters will NOT agree to it, because it IS A LOT MORE time consuming for them to accept such requests at a lower fraction of profit. However, my carpenter didn't complain much (he just went into deep thought when I made such request haha). All in all, I'm still thankful to him, and I'm pretty surprise that the cabinets came in so fast. Thumbs up to his efficiency!
  10. Thank you I really do love the look and aroma of the oak wood. Now I'm crossing my fingers that the vinyl tiles matches the rooms's oak
  11. I've visited the site over lunch today. The other workers were out for lunch, except for my carpenter who was busy installing the kitchen cabinets. My kitchen suddenly looks extremely small with all the cabinets in I wanted to take a picture of the kitchen but I didn't dare to do so as I felt I'm in the way of my carpenter as he was heavily focused on the the installation. Hence, I went to check out my bedrooms' flooring. I can smell a very nice oakwood scent as I walked to the bedrooms. A layer of recycled wood has been installed in the first bedroom. The hardwood flooring installers are in the way of laying the oak wood in the MRB and 2nd bedroom (which will be converted into a home office).
  12. @aldoteng & @blueygirls: I went to take pictures of my master bathroom yesterday. I wanna assured you guys (if you're thinking of having a shelving wall in the shower) that it will not compromise a lot of your showering space. As you can see from the pictures below, it can still easily fit 2 people in the shower . RENOVATION PROGRESS (26 August 2018) Fiance and I visited our home on a Sunday, 26 Aug as we hadn't been able to be onsite for the past 2 - 3 days. We (or rather I) are/am SO EXCITED to see that our LED downlights/spotlights have been installed in the living room . As reviewed on my earlier blog posts, we have gotten these downlight from Malaysia (malaysian brand LED lights instead of the famous Philips brand). What we really like about these downlights is that we can switch from WARM lighting (orange) to WARM WHITE (between white and orange) to WHITE LIGHT (white). Unfortunately right now Philips do not carry these models that allow you to switch up the colours! Pardon the huge mess on the ground... The rubbish have been there forever, I wish they can clear it soon since they are going to paint the walls soon! CURTAINS Our curtain brackets are also up (installed)! We are installing white venetian blinds in all 3 bedrooms. Speaking of curtain supplier, I count myself very lucky to came across a HIGHLY recommended curtain supplier (Mr. Ang). He's a sole proprietor I think. I met a rather rude curtain supplier named 'J' before coming across Mr. Ang, and 'J' actually told me off when I asked to meet him on a Sat or after office hours. He claimed he only work office hours due to work life balance . It was during that day when Mr Ang suddenly replied my FB message (think I might have msged him on FB weeks ago so I totally forgot HOW i even got his contact). Mr Ang is SO NICE, he is willing to meet me on a sat at my flat despite short notice to come take measurements. I requested for Mr. Ang to do the curtain brackets first (this is what my contractor recommended me to to do before the cleaning) and Mr. Ang willingly came to do it EVEN BEFORE HE COLLECTED MONEY (he didn't even request for a single cent nor deposit) from me. He's very personable and I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM FOR HIS SERVICE ,. Do note to call him/whatspp him better than FB msg him -> Find Ang Interior Decoration on FB or PM me for his mobile. KICTHEN CABINETS: Another pleasant surprise on a Sunday was, we are SO SURPRISED to see our carpenter and his teenage son moving our kitchen cabinets in ON A SUNDAY! I always feel I could trust him when working with him, but to see him and his son bring our heavy kitchen cabinets on a SUNDAY brings my respect for this man on another whole new level man cabinets still missing my shacker-style cabinet doors That's my carpenter's son. It's so touching to see father and son carrying my heavy cabinets into my house on a Sunday morning.... FULL RESPECT!
  13. Hi everyone, thank you so much for reading and following my renovation journey. Thank you! Here's an update on my renovation process (23rd August): Although majority part of the renovation goes smoothly so far, I did face a fair share of issues during the reno as well which I'll take everyone through. Tiling works in both bathrooms: The tiling works in both bathrooms are completed. I really LOVE the marble ceramic tiles that my fiance has selected from Hafary. Even though the bathroom look good, on closer inspection, certain tiles pops up a little when I ran my hand across the tiles. I'm unsure whether this is unacceptable or should I just leave it be. Recently, I've noticed a puddle of stagnant water in my common bathroom just outside the shower area . As I wasn't planning to build a shower screen in the common bathroom because I dislike the shower screen's metal rod being so close to the concealed pipes, stagnant water became a MAJOR concern to me as it is literally stagnant and the drainage area is so far from it. I don't want mosquitoes to breed in here.... At first, we were brainstorming on how else to prevent the water from spraying out of the shower area, by perhaps extending the length of the glass on both sides of the shower. However, that poses an issue as it will limit the opening of the shower. When I brought my father down to my flat today, my father suggested that this issue might be resolved by having the tiler to REDO the flooring, such that he could do some leveling work to allow the water to flow towards the drainage. I've contacted my contractor and they said they will check it out tomorrow and see what they can do.... *cross-fingers* My electrician 'RUINED' my AC trunking: To our horror, we noticed that our AC trunking was severely damaged. As you can see from the pictures, it was damaged and there are a lot of unpatched holes. I was really furious and demanded GC to fix the AC trunking, only to find out that there was ceiling speaker's wiring in the AC trunking. We verified with our electrician and found out that he was the one behind it. I wasn't sure if he has the intention to patch up the 'damages' [well, its not really damages because these can be patched up] because it has been there for a good 1.5weeks! I called him today and he said he has "forgotten" to patch it up. Anyways, I've gotten GC installers to rectify for me already. I've blindly accused GC guys, I'm so sorry... Ceiling works completed: I thought the false ceiling and box up were done nicely, I highly recommend the false ceiling sub contractor! He's a very professional, honest, reliable and nice fellow! Kitchen Backsplash completed:
  14. Haha! Yeah my contractor did feedback that I should avoid spray painted kitchen cabinets cos spray paint cabinets will become yellow after a while. Hence, I've opted for white laminate kitchen cabinets instead which I hope it helps. I'm not too worry about staining the backsplash or cabinets, but more worried about the marble countertops, unfortunately, we really 'gian' the marble countertops As for cleaning, I think I have to come up with a habit of cleaning every day after cooking if I ever do heavy cooking haha...
  15. Hi Blueygirls, no hacking is required to build this shampoo area. I think they build it with concrete bricks or something like that. I was quoted $450 for this wall, excluding the tiles. Hope that helps!
  16. Update on my reno progress: Cement screed completed a week ago: Cement screed was finally done up last week! Can't wait to see my actual flooring done up because I'm getting sick of coming back to a grey concrete home hehehe. Vinyl Flooring tiles (selected): I went down to my vinyl supplier's supplier warehouse located in Changi last friday to select my vinyl flooring. The vinyl selection at my supplier's place weren't to my liking largely because I wanted a lighter brown tone (close to oak colour) whereas his samples consist of darker tone. Hence he said he will go down to his supplier's warehouse to check if they carry the vinyl tiles that I wanted. He then came back with 3 choices, but I still wasn't convinced that it was the tone I wanted. Therefore, he finally suggested for me to go down to his supplier's warehouse myself instead so I can take a look at the selection . I'm glad I did, because I finally found the perfect vinyl tiles that I was looking for. It left me wondering why my supplier did not suggest this to me earlier despite knowing that it's the tone that I wanted haha. Anyways, I was told that this Korean vinyl tile that I've selected cost $440 more than what he originally quoted me. I wouldn't mind paying a little more for the perfect vinyl tile The false ceiling works: False ceiling works started last Saturday and it's currently underway. Tiling works in both bathrooms: Tiling works for the two bathrooms have started roughly two weeks ago and it is still in progress. I thought it's going a bit slow but since this uncle is so experienced and serious about his job, I shall not complain and shall trust him do his job. As you can see, we are sticking to only one wall tile design as opposed to my 3D sketch, whereby I initially wanted to accentuate the marble wall tiles with peranakan tiles in the shower area. I still love the idea of having peranakan tiles in the shower area, however, I thought that since I do not have an ID to manage my reno, I don't want to confuse the tiler with so many different tile designs since my fiance and I don't have time to be there to monitor the renovation. So we took the easiest way out by selecting only 1 wall tile design for both toilets. And... its probably cheaper this way too I think . *UPDATE* My fiance went down this morning and realised that the tiles were laid so awkwardly in the shampoo shelves. Not sure why uncle tiler cannot place one full slab of tile in that small bracket instead . Fortunately the uncle tiler was there so my fiance got him to redo it. We'll see how it goes... <aren't we so anal? > Carpentry updates: Carpentry is my most favourite part of the entire renovation process (as opposed to masonary, electrical works, ceiling or plumbing). Good carpentry design does make a difference to your home I guess. But that being said, a designer once told me that a good design should not consist of too much carpentry, instead, use off-the-shelf furniture and fixtures to accentuate your design. My carpenter has provided a sketch of how my TV wall/bookshelf will look like in the living room. As you can see from the sketch, we are also building a 'fireplace' in the living room, and that we are placing our 55" TV above it. Since it's an American classic contemporary theme, a 'fireplace' is a must haha! However, my contractor raised an important concern to my carpenter yesterday, saying that the TV placement is too high (above eye level) and if we do that, we'll constantly be straining our heads (fireplace is 1m). That's a legit concern la, it makes me wonder how most American households able to accept watching TV by straining their heads up? Anyways, I believed that there should be a way out, hence I scrambled to find out from Google if there is a TV bracket that can lower the TV if needed, and fortunately, there is! I found this on Amazon last night! Another thing to share is on my kitchen cabinets, whereby when two corners of the cabinets are adjoined, you can consider getting this pull-out tray from IKEA so that you will access to the storage space deeper inside the cabinets. I got this idea thanks to Pinterest, and thanks to my carpenter, he suggested that I can easily purchase this built in tray for him to install from IKEA. The bottom pull out tray is from IKEA. I have to say it's not exactly 100% sturdy when I visited IKEA showroom and try it out. But, it's probably cheaper than elsewhere. I doubt you can really put heavy stuffs like pots and pans as illustrated on pinterest, since the minimum weight that this IKEA tray can hold is 15KG. Hence, I'll need to rethink on what to place on this tray. https://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/70271272/ (in case if you're interested)
  17. Hi Aldoteng, supporting your blog here You may want to check out this contractor I mentioned on my blog whom I didn't go with eventually. Have a initial meetup with them if possible to get a feel of them or check out their fb page on their projects. Let me know if you want their FB url, i can pass it to you. They do 3D rendering for customers too, at a cost of course
  18. HIhi, yes I've included that on the post above yours, hope that it's helpful. When you convey your ideas to your contractor, it's very important to provide them a lot of visual aids as well as be firm with your ideas
  19. Hi all, on this post, I'll like to go through how we have worked with our contractor on our home design. Based on my experience thus far, it is really crucial to provide contractors some form of visual representation of the design you had in mind, instead of relying on verbal communication as they are very busy people and tend to miss out on certain details. During the first couple of meet-ups with my contractor, we ran him through our moodboard and the floor plan so as to brief him on the design requirement using visual aids. Our Moodboard that we presented to our contractor: Next, we took him through the masonry requirements such as which wall to hack by illustrating it on the powerpoint slide below. This is important because they have to know to apply for HDB permit. Next we provide him our ceiling and flooring requirement like the below. Then we drill down to every category of the apartment on the design requirement (Standard BTO apartment category includes: Kitchen, dining, main entrance, living, corridor, toilets, each bedroom, service yard). Below is an illustration on how we briefed out requirement for common bathroom. After all these were done, my contractor will get a ID to provide a 3D design of the house based on the requirements that I have briefed him. He is a chinese uncle who speaks limited English. Hence, I was initially worried that he may not get what I've wanted. However, when I received my first draft of my 3D design through him (he has helped to engage an ID to do a 3D for me), the design was exactly what I had in mind. He got it! I was ecstatic. Of course, I've made a few changes here and there, but the overall look and feel remains. Here are the 3D designs provided by my contractor:
  20. So much so for the fan and lightings, back to our renovation progress. We are pleasantly surprised to see our flat in a mess. No really, I'm happy that the progress has been going well so far, with our Kitchen wall and MRB wall hacked and debris were cleared. We have decided very last minute (after collecting keys) that we want to remove our service yard door and window as there have been reported cases of rusty door hinges at our estate. Additionally, I like that my whole is bright and airy without so many "blockages"! What surprised me was that I found a lot of cigarette buds, definitely more than 20, on the floor! I wonder if the workers are planning to bury these cigarette under my flooring Anyone experienced this too during renovation?? Try spotting the cigarette buds on the image below (even though it's not very obvious in the picture la ) Electrical works have started (YAY!), but to our dismay, our electrician flagged out an issue on cove lighting when we were in Malaysia buying our lights/fans. We are planning to do slits of cove lightings on the false ceiling (my finace's grand ceiling idea lol), but electrician said that the cove lightings must be done on wooden plank to hide the wiring, which will bring the false ceiling a lot lower than expected (this idea was disputed by the false ceiling sub-con saying that he cannot add that wooden plank due to reasons i cannot decipher haha!). After much going back and forth between the electrician and false ceiling guy (with my fiance being the poor middleman and the "ceiling designer"), we decided to switch up our ceiling design and go back to the basic "common" ceiling design with false ceiling only on the edges of the living room so our ceiling fan will not become a head chopper! As you can see on the picture below, electrical works have to redo with our last minute change in ceiling design.... hence, we have to pay extra money on rectification Last but not least, we had the Gain City aircon guys to come in to do trunking installation (system 4). I have requested for more senior installers as AC trunkings have always been my BIGGEST reno fear. If the AC trunking was messed up during installation, its going to affect the entire design! Hence, I'm very anal about ensuring that AC trunking is run properly so they can be concealed. I'm so fortunate to have my fiance around to dictate the Gain City installers on how to run the trunking as the installers weren't very helpful in their suggestions on how to run it so not to affect my door frames. I'm planning to redo my door frames as that was an important part of the entire interior design to make the flat an 'American classic contemporary' design lol. While we initially thought we wanted to run the AC piping at the corridor, my carpenter who is doing my door frame advised against it as it will affect my door frames. Hence, the final verdict it to run the piping inside the bedrooms. During AC trunking inspection, I noticed that the AC piping IS STILL INSTALLED SO CLOSE TO THE EXISTING DOOR FRAMES, only that it's inside the room. That leaves me no space to build classic door frames above the existing one, i was so disappointed Nonetheless, my fiance and the AC installers did explain to me that this was already the best they could do... sigh... I'm so thankful to my wonderful subcons team (my carpenter, electrician and false ceiling guys) who happen to be down when the AC installers were here, and they have offered so many good advices on how to best run the ugly AC trunking!!
  21. We have made quite a progress after my last update. My fiance and I drove to JB last weekend to get our lightings and fans as like many couples in Singapore because that saved us a lot of money, and we are happy to have stick to our lightings/fans budget (we budgeted S$1.5K for 3 fans and lightings. The budget we set aside was derived from another blogger as well as it being based on my finace's own calculation on the amount of lights/fans we needed). We have disagreed on which living room's ceiling fan to get initially. I have wanted a white KDK fan (I think it's around $300+- RM as quoted by YES Electrical [good review from friends so check it out if you want KDK fans]) as I thought it could potentially save us some money, however, my fiance wants the light woodgrain Aeratron fan ($1+K RM) because he thinks KDK fan looks 'ugly'. He argued 'half' jokingly that the KDK fan will spoil his ceiling design and that the Aeratron fan will make his ceiling even more 'chio' . Since he was the one who designed our false ceiling and lightings, he got his way . Never did we thought the light woodgrain Aeratron fan is so popular that it is out of stock in JB (we tried visiting a few outlets) and that it will only be available in September (this was literally my fiance's reaction: ). Eventually, we decided on a white Aeratron fan since we can't wait till Sep. If you decide to get your lights/fans in M'sia, remember to keep the invoices from your purchases for GST declaration at the Singapore custom. Security at the Singapore custom was really tight that evening and everyone around our vicinity were asked to open up their car boots for checks. They even shone flash lights into your cars to ensure you don't bring in weird things or people. For us, luckily I had my invoices ready for the officer when we were being asked. Anyways, here's the Aeraton fans for you purview (We got ours at HT Lightings): LED lightings: We are doing false ceiling in the Living/Dining as well as our Master Bedroom. Hence, part of our JB trip was to search for downlights/spotlights. We knew we wanted the 3-colour tone downlights which provide the sort of warm ambience when needed but yet to have the flexibility to switch to white light if we ever needed. Between Samsung (more expensive) and a brand we never heard of (cheaper), we chose to trust the shop owner at HT Lightings and go with the Malaysian brand. The shopowner said there has never have been any complaints about the brand thus far. However, me being the renozilla that I am, weren't convinced, so we called and verified with our electrician on the downlights that we were getting. He gave us the 'green lights' to go ahead, afterwhich I felt a lot more assured . I'll be able to share more on these downlights once they have been installed, if anyone is interested. Our JB trip consists of our visit to: 1. Tampoi Lightings - slightly pricier and very crowded. No bargain 2. Ego Enterprise 億联电器批发企业 - recommended by our electrician to get electric heater here. We decided to go with City gas heater eventually but decided to check this place out to get downlights. It was pretty far out and we even lost our way there. When we got there, there weren't much choice to select, as they carry only Philips lightings without the 3-colour tone that we were looking. However, we got our white spotlights here, and the price was A LOT cheaper than the stores that Singaporeans flock to. 3. HT Lighting - this is where we got a majority of our lights and fans here. The staff were so friendly, and don't forget to bargain
  22. Yay! Thank you for reading and following my blog When will you be starting your reno?
  23. Design Theme and Style: American Classic Contemporary Design Pinterest has been my 'best friend' when it comes to sourcing for a design theme. I feel that the hardest part is to merge your own idea with your partner's idea, unless both parties have the exact SAME vision of their house. Hence, constant communication and compromises are ever so important during this process. My fiance LOVED marble and wanted to incorporated that to the theme. He initially wanted marble flooring, which was disputed by an ID we met. The ID claimed it is not necessary to splurge on marble flooring for a HDB flat because that wouldn't eventually fetch you a higher selling price when you eventually sell off your flat. That's so true! I'm glad the ID has managed to 'convince' my fiance otherwise! Nonetheless, despite not real marble flooring, we are still looking to include procelain marble into the design. Flooring wise, we are looking to do Vinyl flooring in the living/dining/service yard area while laying parquet for the 3 bedrooms. Vinyl Flooring suppliers: We have been out and about sourcing for a vinyl flooring supplier and it is really by golden chance that we chanced upon this wholesale vinyl flooring shop at Sungei Kadut that supplies to other vinyl flooring stores when we were around that area (went to Gain City). Their price is very competitive! G***h***: We are getting out vinyl tiles here! It is $2 psf cheaper than MOST suppliers! Jo****w***: The vinyl tiles came from German (not sure if it's made in Germany, that you gotta check with them). Their tiles are beautiful and the quality is really good. The only downside is the price! Vo*****er: We visited the warehouse or store, looks more like warehouse. The price is competitive but I was hesitant about the quality of the tiles. Si****** Fl******: I don't quite remember our experience here, but i believe the reason it is off the list is either it is expensive. T** F**** G******: It's more expensive than the supplier we are getting from.
  24. Hi Everyone! FOLLOW MY BLOG: https://dayre.me/stitchgal INSTAGRAM: @calichanby I've collected my keys on 19 July 2018 and I'm really looking forward towards witnessing the complete makeover of our 5-room BTO flat. My fiance and I were really lucky to ballot a 5-room sales-of-balance flat in a matured estate in Singapore on Oct 2015. I still cannot believe that our 3 years wait has finally came to an end. During the past 3 years, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading through people's renovation journey, and no doubt I've learned a great deal about construction and renovation (well... I'm still a noob to say the least), however, no words can expressed how thankful I am to all the previous homeowners cum bloggers who shared many good tip (THANK YOU all!!). Now, as I blogged my renovation process, I hope that this blog in some ways or so helps other new homeowners during this VERY STRESSFUL process (no joke when we said it's stressful... you probably read that in every homeowner's reno blogs! ). Putting the sleepless nights aside, I'll filmed a glimpse of our bare unit (for my memory before this transforms so we can compare the before VS after). ID & Contractor Search: We have started our ID & Contractor search ONE year before our key collection date. After so many horror stories about scams, I did my due diligence to meet up with IDs/contractors that only have RAVES. So here is it. I'm trying to be as obvious as possible in naming them because I thought you guys should know who they are, because 98% of the ones we visited are pretty good! 1. Aid*n T: I came across Mr A's profile online and I kinda knew immediately that this designer will be able to deliver 101% of my expectation. His extensive portfolio impressed me and his design outlook is exactly what I had in mind. If you're into the ang moh home interior design style (classic contemporary like I do, he's the one for you!). We met up with Mr A twice at his then newly renovated office (indeed, his office's interior design represents who he is as a designer!). He is warm, friendly and no doubt he understands what we want, and has offered more ideas to us than we would have bargained for. He is one true designer unlike many other renovation companies out there who called themselves ID but they are just.. contractors. Mr A is also on TV (mediacorp's interior design reality show, season 2). All in all, I'll go to him in future if I'm richer haha... I strongly recommend him to anyone who is into REAL DESIGN and is willing to splurge on a true interior designer. *RECOMMENDED* 2. ER Stu***: I came across this ID firm because of it high reviews online (literally 5 stars). Met up with Mr E and Ms N a couple of time. They are very sincere and I would say experienced in this field. Top notch service from them, especially Ms N, who is willing to go all out to offer you new, unique ideas for your home. I really appreciate their advice during that period to make things work (what i wanted was beyond my budget so they kept offering me alternatives to lower cost without compromising the design!). However, ultimately we didn't go with them not because they aren't good but because I am quite adamant about the interior style (American classic contemporary) I want and that do cost a bomb. The quotation I received eventually isn't far off from what Mr A from Aid*n T quoted. *RECOMMENDED* 3. Te*g Ho*g R*novate: This is a contractor firm, not ID firm. However, I somehow knew about them online and I've checked their extensive portfolio on FB and I must say that I'm thoroughly impressed with their works, especially carpentry work. Most importantly, they can do the shaker stye cabinets at a third of what most ID firms quoted. We met up with the younger daughter of the owner, now, I would say that I may not feel as much 'chemistry' with her compared to ER Stu*** & Aid*n T, however the quote was reasonable and we believed that we can save at least 20% if we go with contractor rather than an ID, because at this stage, we already knew what we wanted for our home. We WOULD HAVE signed on with them if it wasn't for my father who strongly recommended his best friend to take on our renovation project. *RECOMMENDED* 4. The Associ*ti*n: I was recommended to this ID firm by a friend who did her renovation with them in 2016. Unfortunately her ID has left the company, so we met up with someone else instead. I don't remember his name, but during the first meeting, we kinda felt that we were just another random customer he was meeting. He didn't give us the feeling that he really want our business. Hence, the first meeting was also the last 5. Earthwe**: This is a contractor firm which I got to know from renotalk. We met up with Mr E and Mr W near my parents' place and we had a good conversation. Mr. E also seems trustable. However, I feel that at times, he may not understand my design POV which worries me a little. Given that he came from a contractor background instead of interior design background, design may not be his forte however he does recommended a lot of practical suggestions. In conclusion, we have more or less decided to go with Te*g Ho*g R*novate n hope to save some $ yet not compromised on the design aesthetic that I was going for. HOWEVER, in the end, we have decided to engage my father's best friend (who is a contractor) to do our renovation due to my dad's insistence haha. So there we go, we have handed this project to a family friend and renovation has just began!
  25. Hi Ah Huat tiling, Can you PM me your company's website and contact please? I'm looking for hacking/making good services for 5-rm BTO: 1. Hacking the wall between kitchen & dining 2. Hacking the wall between MRB and 2nd bedroom 3. Hacking service yard wall/windows
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