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This is a late start to our renovation journey. We have gotten our keys in late Dec and since January we have begin our search for IDs and stuff. At this moment of writing, we have already done up our lights. Pictures and more details will be shared along the way!

Hi everyone! This is Mrs JohnB here. We have learnt a great deal from the users on RenoTalk. Which heater to choose, where to route the air con trunking, how to spray paint, etc. What a treasure trove of helpful homeowners and information this forum is. Thank you. We are excited to finally have a t-Blog. Please feel free to share your opinion; we are new to renovation and would appreciate your advice. So, here goes.

**Very long post** Hi All, I've been a silent reader (albeit not registered) of Renotalk t-Blog for the longest time (since 2010 - 2011), I have learnt so much and garnered so much inspiration for my 3rm BTO @ Tampines, that, I've decided to share with all of you my reno journey. I would like to apologise in advance if it seems boring, somewhat a repetitive of what you've probably seen before over the years active in this forum / somewhat similar to your reno journey and if I can't be much help. However, I do hope that my contribution will somewhat inspire someone just like how all of the t-blogs have inspired and helped me with my decisions. First up, this is our 3rm flat floorplan: We have gotten our keys in September, after a grueling 3 years wait hohohoho. But it was, to us, good timing as our wedding was in Jan 14’ and we had ample time to prepare prior to receiving the keys. Of course, ID / Contractor hunting wasn’t all that easy. Weeks after key collection, we have not made any decision to which ID / Contractor we were going to engage. It looked like we were somehow taking our own sweet time. DH decided that we both did not have the luxury of time if we were to engage contractors (he works shifts, while I was in the Oil&Gas shipping line **not anymore fr me**) therefore we agreed on engaging an ID. Truthfully, I have started ID hunting on my own 3 years prior to getting our keys. Looking at reviews, testimonials, the work they did, experience of homeowners in renotalk. Researched enough to know what I want and to know what to look for. I only started asking for Quotations late 2013. Of 5 quotations, we met only ONE (we didn’t go ahead with them). & Just about when I wanted to settle with D**s&T**s (meeting the ID and signing the contract), I stumbled upon what would be our ID right now. It’s important that DH feels comfortable with the ID and the price. Design Profession gave us Assurance, Competitive price & Friendship. Most importantly, they can deliver our wants towards the design. I didn’t want our house to be cluttered i.e: to put decorations just for the sake of putting them. DH & I are more towards practicality (cleaning time, dust problems etc etc) than aesthetic (ok maybe 50% aesthetic) so our house should be a balance of both. We wanted industrial theme but I would like for it to be towards being minimalist. Therefore, we embarked on our Minimalist industrial theme (no craftstone brickwall, no cement screeding flooring – due to fear of it cracking in the future and no unnecessary decorative wall etc). Our reno journey started in October 2014, spearheaded by our ID, Rae Foo from Design Profession. He has given us a lot of suggestions, kept up with my questions (I ask A LOT of qns) and is very efficient. In fact, we only go to our house for checks on weekends. The rest of the days, Rae will be there and will update me with pictures. Right now, the renovation has slowed down as we are waiting for our bedroom lights to arrive and for the painting to be done. ANYWAY! Pictures time!! (feel free to ask me any qns and I will be glad to answer them) P.S: I will update in sequence later on the type of floorings, lightings, appliances, painting, air-con & carpentry. For now, an update of our house thus far. =) 1. Before Overlaying of Kitchen Tiles 2. After Overlaying of Kitchen Tiles 3. Laying of living room

we have gotten our 4 rms BTO flat at greenleaf tampines. It has been in the news a while back for its poor workmanship and tons of defects so we were kinda sketical during key collection day on 2nd dec. haha lucky for us, the defects are pretty minimal and they are implementing this tour thingy where the BSC contractor will walk the house with you to write down the defects so you dun have to write down yourself. so it is kinda a good thing. the skirtings were a shade of dark brown and pretty hideous and we r considering whether to hack it or paint it over. the flooring were a off white shade of yellow and the brown skirting make it even more obvious. the kitchen flooring and walls were also a yellowish tint.. duno y hdb uses this kind of ugly tiles.. cheap perhaps? 2 months prior to the key collection date, i start to stalk renotalk and etc and try to come out with a design that i like. i like things simple and thus was fancinated by the japanese minimalist and scandanavian look. I want to keep the whole house to a 60 percent white, 30 percent wood and 10 percent black color combi and maybe a bright color funiture to pop the colors in the living room i am a 3D artist by profession so i spent countless night trying to find the right funitures and look. i intend to find a contractor instead of an ID since i have the design. hopefully it will be cheaper since i am on a budget as well. i came up with the following concept. now while the BSC is fixing up the defects, we am finding a contracter. trying not to rush and find a lousy one , espcially after seeing so many horror stories on disaster renovation on renotalk and fb. hope u like it =)

Hey guys! We have just started our renovation journey and thought to share with everyone who reads this forum! Everyone has been exceptionally helpful and assisted us a lot on the journey to finding our contractor as well as furnishings and such. Very excited to get the party started! Located just beside a huge canal, it kinda reminds us of a lake...... therefore the name: "Lake" House We collected our keys in May 2014 and spent a total of approximately 4 months settling our defects. At the same time, we were finding a contractor whom we are comfortable with. We already had our rough designs ready and needed someone to execute it confidently with professional suggestions along the way. We were really pleased to come across MrJ & MrE. They replied promptly and professionally to all of our doubts and understood what we wanted as soon as we had our first discussion. First up, here is our floor plan Our "Lake" View Day 1 (06/10/14) Signed at MrJ & MrE's factory and had a discussion with the both of them regarding all our designs and layout. MrJ did a sketch on all of our carpentry works and understood what we wanted. He then passed us a couple of booklets of laminates for us to browse through. Day 4 (09/10/14) Met with MrE and electrician; ironed out all of our doubts and did planning of lighting and other electrical works. Electrician was really helpful and provided some really good suggestions. Thereafter, we caught up with MrJ at the Lamitak factory to view bigger pieces of the laminates that we shortlisted(a whole bunch of them!) We had serious problem deciding on what laminates to use as the range was massive; when we always thought that a certain design was exactly what we wanted, we will come across another that wavered our decision. Looking at the bigger pieces really helped. It looked so different than when it was in a little sample piece in the booklet. Just when we were about to part our ways, we were informed that the electrician has already started work! How efficient Meanwhile, here's our styleboard Day 6 (11/10/14) A really fruitful day! Met MrE at Hafary (Eunos branch) to select bathroom and kitchen tiles. We were overwhelmed by the wide varieties of tiles. Thankfully MrE introduced us to the sales executive there and she was really helpful. Some pictures of the place There's a good variety of tiles which were in our budget, enough to drive us crazy while finalising our tile, therefore we would advise homeowners to not venture to too many stores to look at more choices because this would only confuse you - making your selection process a nightmare. MrJ met us soon after and we discussed on a couple of changes in our designs and they were really flexible about it. We were glad that they were not the kind who would request for a topup when informed of any changes. Looking at how confused we were, they also gave us ample time to finalise our tiles and laminates.

I've been marking down notes and learning the ropes from you guys in renotalk who made it possible by sharing your experiences. 3 years have passed. Now here is where we begin our renovation process. This will be a slow but comprehensive renovation as we wouldn't like to rush into things. Hope you guys will appreciate this compilation of the steps we took to build our home.

Hi all, I've been silent reader all this while and I must agree this is really a very informative reno forum! And yes, I am another Alanist. Hehe.. I've collected my keys in early Dec'13 and my renovation started in late Dec'13. Till now, my renovation is almost completed. I must say that I am quite lucky as there wasn't many hiccups in the process of renovation. When there is minor hiccup, Alan is usually fast in doing rectification. I usually do site visit like once or twice per week. I enjoy working with Alan and his team of sub-cons. I have talked to his tilers, electrician, carpenter and his Bangladeshi painter. They are all very friendly and soft spoken (especially Ah Gui, the carpenter). Ah Gui was telling me I was his fastest client. Usually carpentry discussion takes like 1.5 to 2hrs. For my case, it only take less than an hour. Haha! Ok, before I go on further, let me share with you my floor plan and the original state of the house. Floor plan: Living room: Kitchen: Master bedroom: Master bathroom: Common bathroom: http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c297/Bashful2014/48352C05-7FA6-452B-A1B3-3066C1FCCFD1_zpsforgoccc.jpg Bedroom: http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c297/Bashful2014/4D3A2E2F-7746-4EB6-9110-F3EAB6AB102D_zpszt4vynke.jpg Following is the renovation plan. I have quite a lot of hackings and wall building. http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c297/Bashful2014/36DBE00D-2191-466B-A9C5-ACED400CFD61_zpsgg721vkm.jpg And that's it for now. I will try to post the renovated photos ASAP. I am still doing the final cleaning up. Stay tuned...

Hello World! We bought an EM in the West back in Oct 2013. Knowing that we ain't going to do much to the new house, decided to go slow on the renovation. As usual, first thing first is the floor plan.

PCD is 4th Qtr 2013. I have done 'research' work more than six months ago. Read up alot though I think we didn't do enough, we have our ID firm confirmed during an exhibition show. Have done extensive Magazine, website reno and design read up, visiting friend's home, appliances 'research', reno advices and so on. Below is the floor plan of the house. Shall update more when nearer to the reno date Hope this is a good start

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After 2 years+ of waiting, fiancé and I finally received our keys to our 4 room BTO flat on 7th June 2013 We weren't in a hurry to move in so we decided to take our time with the renovations; also because our wedding is in 1 December 2013 and we're afraid that finances might be a bit tight. But last week, we met with one interior designer (Spacious Planners @ IMM) and one contractor (the much recommended Mr K from renotalk), and fiancé and I started getting excited with the renovations and all. In the end, we might just start our renovations earlier and hopefully, have the house ready by November 2013 *rubs hands with glee* Here's the floor-plan of my little home which I call TCC - The Chews Corner