countrylover

Renovation Day 4 (9 March 2008) The floor tiles are about 80% done. Still left about half the living room and household shelter and they are done! View of living room Alternate View of living room View of MBR View of common bedroom We had a busy day today. Instead of waiting for the floor tiles to be completely laid, we made use of the time (since it's a Sunday!) to prepare the plywood we bought yesterday for the feature wall in our living room and bedrooms. That includes trimming/sawing to the required lengths and thereafter painting with wood lacquer. Don't think that this is an easy task, for it took us almost 8 hrs to get about 10 pieces of plywood trimmed and painted!

I recently used a mover to move about 10 pieces of furniture to my current place. He charges $150 which I find reasonable. Will PM u his contact.

Yeah, do agree that there are limited resources in Singapore as the country style theme is not an "in thing". As such, careful planning and research has to be done, esp where budgeting is involved. The few places and IDs who claim to specialise in country style are IMHO out for a killing, as they perceive themselves to be serving a niche market. The mention of country style symbolises warmth, comfort qand cosiness and it involves a careful play of colours, texture and materials used. There are lots of ideas on how to achieve that country look and would take many posts to explain everything. But the basic things you can consider is to have lots of wooden stuff in your home eg teak, timber etc. For flooring, can consider laminated flooring or solid timber flooring. Then interplay with ginghams, florals, lace and pastels for your curtains, bed linen, cushions etc. Country style is also associated with displays of your treasures and collectibles such as china, old photos, toys etc. Painted furniture is a great way to achieve that look too. Some basic colours associated with country style : 1. blue and white 2. green and lavender 3. pastels 4. coral and cream 5. red and white I'm not an expert in this area but have been reading up a lot over the past year. Try borrowing books from the library to understand more.

How's your reno progress now? So not 100% completed yet? Think u mentioned you engaged Cottage Crafts right? I thought screeding is necessary irregardless of homogenous, ceramic etc?

```````````````````````````````````` 6 March 2008 Today is an exciting day for us because it's the first day of our renovation. We arranged to meet the flooring contractor at 8am. Unfortunately, he was late and only arrived with his workers at 9am! They started with screeding of the living room, household shelter and three bedrooms. By the end of the day about 5pm, the job was completed. Closeup of the spade Screeding done **** room Screeding done at study room Screeding done at common bedroom Screeding done at MBR This is the start of a magical transformation for our home sweet home. A great new beginning for me and my loved ones... Tomorrow, the workers will lay the beautiful tiles we bought. Can't wait to see the end result!

Cool! I got mine from Soon Bee Huat. How about you? I remember you mentioned in another thread that you will be doing your home in the country style like me? How's it going? Any photos to share? For the benefit of all, will copy & paste what I have in my blog here. ```````````````````````````````````` 5 March 2008 After a series of negotiations with contractors, hiccups and boos-boos, our renovation is FINALLY going to start officially tomorrow. Yeah! The sand contractor, cement supplier and tile company delivered their items today. It's all but sand, cement and tiles. Closeup of floor tiles Here's how our home looks like before the renovation started... Our master bedroom Our common bedroom Here's a preview and sense of how our floor tiles look like. At one glance, it looks like laminated flooring but they are in fact ceramic files designed to look like wood! Can't wait to see how the bare house filled with sand and cement now can transform into after our renovation!

That was exactly what my air-con contractor told me. He recommended Toshiba as the spare parts are more widely available in Singapore.

Thanks for the explanation. But my problem is, gotta update both blog and t-blog. Very tedious right? How do forumers here do it? Do they just copy and paste so both the blog and t-blog share the same entries? I'm too lazy to click on both sides to see how people do it.

Click here for my reno blog. Eh, what's the difference between the blog and t-blog in renotalk? Like no difference huh?

Hi neighbours Just to update all that I'm FINALLY starting my reno today after loads of hiccups and boos-boos. Yippee!! Can't wait for everything to complete and move in. Cool! That's at least $30 to $40k at least?

Thanks. Do you have the exact address of Palace of Lights? Not too sure where is the Balestier Cres Building.

Can I check if we still have to pay haulage fee to the main contractor? Or pay directly to my reno contractor? Called the office at Blk 89 but the guy said he doesn't know!

Does anybody know the office number of the main contractor at Blk 89?

Do you have some kind of blind for the glass partition? If not, hmm...no privacy huh?

I bought my country-style wallpaper from ebay and had them shipped to Singapore. Locally, you can try places like Spotlight and HomeFix DIY shops. Ikea has some country style bathroom furniture and accessories. You might want to check it out.

I've engaged the services of Logan, who does moving on a freelance basis. He charged me $150 for moving about 12 pieces of furniture, which I find reasonable. Very pleasant and friendly guy. Even took the effort to ensure that all my furniture are shrink wrapped properly. Not sure if he charges extra for more than 1 location or more items, so might need to check. Those interested can PM me for his contact.

Thanks for sharing. Can you share which ID you are engaging and your reno cost? Agree that Kaki Bukit is a nice place to shop for country furniture at wholesale prices. I find the things at Park Mall and Furniture Mall overpriced. Alternatively, can also custom make the furniture. Prices might come up to be about the same as some retail shops here.

Is that your home which they featured? Very nice!

But I'm still wondering how you could fit a bathtub in that MBR toilet. Did u have a shower screen etc? Wah like that, I also want to have one!

I'm looking for classic-looking lamps and lights. Where is a good place to get them? Notice that most shops carry mostly stylish and designer-look lights.

Well, you should feel honoured that everyone here "see you so up" mah. So, just accept it graciously!

You can try the following : http://www.my-country-home.com/index.html For more ideas, try going to the library. You can find a good resource of books on country home decor. Likewise, can also go to Borders and other major bookstores to browse the mags. Some recommended titles are Country Living and Country Home. I've recently bought some books on country decor from Amazon.com. Cheaper than if I were to buy from Singapore. Found these books which I bought especially useful : Country Living 750 Great Ideas for Decorating on a Budget: Transform Your Home Inside & Out Country Living Shortcuts to Decorating Country Style

Cool! You actually managed to put a bathtub in the small toilet?

I was actually considering Mitsubishi too but was told that Toshiba will be a better choice as the spare parts are easily avail in S'pore. Mitsubishi spare parts are not as widely avail.

Has anybody bought from these shops listed? Can comment on the quality and prices? From the look of it, they are probably not cheap. As mentioned by many, Ikea also seems to be the next best choice for me. They have a good range of affordable children's furniture. Also, because children outgrow their stuff really fast, it'll not be too practical to spend a bomb on their furniture. Worst is, they start scribbing and doing funny things to them! LOL