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Sharing some ideas you may consider for a modern victorian concept. For a break away from the traditional english feel, a more contemporary style blends with the victorian concept to create this modern and elegant victorian theme. White as the main color is used to create an open and airy feel, complimented with gloss finished homogeneous tiles for the living room. Some dark colors for furnishing are used to bring contrast to the surroundings. Cornices are used along the edges of the cove lights to compliment that victorian feel. Cabinets and walls have the victorian-like wood trimmings. Some pictures for reference below. More can be found in the same album at the gallery page.

hi! I'm a new owner of a new hdb, and i've seen some blogs regarding hacking of service yards. Just wondering if HDB approve this still? (or if any1 have been rejected by HDB) What will be the cost of hacking? Make good? TIA! [^_^]

Hi All, I've been through all the renovation forum included Renotalk and Hardwarezone, but I'm still having a little bit confusion with the quotes as I can see they playing around with the prices (lower one things and raise the other). With that said following is my quotation from my ID or contractor. Please share with me your experience and insight. ID HACKING, HAULAGE & PRELIMINARY WORKSHack Existing Floor Finishes at 2x ToiletsHack Existing Wall Finishes at 2x ToiletsHack All Existing Gypsum Board & Door Frame **** AreaHack Existing & Dispose 2x Ledges **** AreaHack Existing & Dispose Wardrobe at Master BedroomHack Existing & Dispose Glass Sliding Door Master BedroomHack Existing Built-in Basin at KitchenHack & Trim Existing Wall Between Common Toilet & KitchenDismantle 2x Ceiling FanConstruct New Wall using Hollow Block to Seal Up Previous Common Toilet Entrance w/ Cement SmoothSupply & Laying Corrugated Paper (Single Layer) as Floor ProtectionHaulage of New & Raw MaterialsClearing of DebrisTotal Hacking, Haulage & Preliminary Works Cost :$3,500.00WET WORKSMASTER TOILETSupply & Lay Homogeneous Floor Tiles$580.00> Selection of Tiles: Up to $3.00 psf / Up to 300x300mm> Includes: WaterproofingSupply & Lay Ceramic/Homogeneous Wall Tiles $ 1,750.00> Selection of Tiles: Up to $3.00 psf / Up to 300x600mm> Excludes: Border/Special TilesConstruct Tiled Cement Door & Shower Kerb$240.00 COMMON TOILETSupply & Lay Homogeneous Floor Tiles$550.00> Selection of Tiles: Up to $3.00 psf / Up to 300x300mm> Includes: WaterproofingSupply & Lay Ceramic/Homogeneous Wall Tiles $1,600.00> Selection of Tiles: Up to $3.00 psf / Up to 300x600mm> Excludes: Border/Special TilesConstruct Tiled Cement Door & Shower Kerb$240.00LAMINATE FLOORINGSupply & Install 8mm SUPREME Laminate Flooring at Master Bedroom (Includes: Skirting) $800.00CEILING WORKSConstruct False Ceiling w/ False **** & Master Bedroom $1,200.00PAINTING WORKSPainting Works for Whole Unit $1,600.00> FULL RANGE of Paints from DULUX/NIPPONApply Sealer Before Painting $500.00PLUMBING WORKSSupply & Connect Single Stainless Steel Piping for 2x Toilets (for HDB Exposed Piping Only)Supply Labour to Install 2 sets of W.C. BowlSupply Labour to Install 2 sets of Wash BasinSupply Labour to Install 2 sets Toilet AccessoriesLabour to Install 2 sets of shower Head SetLabour to Install 2 sets Bathroom Bidet SprayLabour to Install Storage Tank HeaterSupply & Connect 2x Hot Water Points from Storage HeaterTotal Plumbing Cost :$1,500.00OTHER WORKSSupply & Install 10mm Clear Tempered Glass Shower Screen at Toilet (L1500mm x H1800mm) (1 Fix & 1 Swing)$400.00> Exclude: Over Head Supporting Bar for Shower ScreenSupply & Install 10mm Tempered Clear Glass as Fix Panel at Common Toilet $150.00Supply & Install Bi-Fold Door at 2x Toilets (Aluminum Frame w/ Acrylic Panel)$500.00Washing of Whole House$450.00Total before GST:15,060.00GST 7%:1,054.20Total after GST:16,114.20 CONTRACTOR A Demolition Works 1 HDB Renovation Permit Application & Processing F.O.C. 2 Demolish a doorway permit F.O.C.3 Hack a doorway at common toilet 300 4 Hack existing wall tile at 2 toilet 6005 Hack existing floor tile at 2 toilet 500 6 Hack existing skirting at main bedroom 1507 Dismantle existing partition at future room 350 8 Remove existing toilet bowl,basin & door F.O.C.9 Dismantle existing vanity at kitchen 150 10 Dismantle existing wardrobe & aluminiun sliding door at main toilet 300 Sub-total 2350 B Masonry Works 1 Labour to construct hollow block to seal existing doorway at common toilet 4802 Labour to make good existing skirting at main bedroom 200 3 Supply & lay wall tile to make good existing vanity area 3004 Supply & lay wall tile to make good existing common toilet 650 5 Supply & overlay laminate flooring c/w skirting at main bedroom 9506 Supply & lay ceramic wall tiles till ceiling height at 2 toilet 2400 7 Supply & lay non slip homogeneous floor tiles at 2 toilet 10008 Supply & lay waterproofing membrane at 2 toilet 400 9 Construct 2 nos, shower kerb 160 Sub-total 6540 C Ceiling Works 1 Supply & install false ceilling **** 7002 Supply & install false ceilling at main bedroom 850 Sub-total 1550D Plumbing Works 1 To run copper piping for 2 toilet (Cold water) 880 2 Labour to install bathroom item 7503 To run outlet pvc piping for 2 toilet F.O.C Sub-total 1630E Door / Glass / Windows 1 Supply & install 1 nos sliding tempered shower screen at common toilet 7502 Supply & install 1 nos swing tempered shower screen at main toilet 550 3 Supply & install 2 nos,aluminium bi-fold doors at 2 toilet 500 0 1800 F Painting Works 1 Paint whole house exposed wall & ceiling with ICI/Nippon emulsion paint 10002 Varnish/Paint all doors, door frames & exposed pipes 300 Sub-total 1300G Miscellaneous Works 1 Whole house chemical wash 2802 Provide haulages & debris clearing services 550 3 Lay protection sheet at affect area F.O.C Sub-total 830 H Electrical Works 1 Electrical aprox 500 Sub-total 500 Total 16500

Hi All, Finally it's my turn to have my T-Blog. Wanna show my gratitude to people here coz I got lotsa info from here. I got the key of my resale flat on February 2014 and renovation started this morning TODAY. I'm not used to writing so much "." So ID search: We try to find the cheapest quotation hehehe. So after talking and got quotation from about 10 ID companies, we managed to short out the cheapest one. Ok this is the list of ID I have talked to and got their quotation. Usually I try to compare item by item: 1) Dtrenzo Interior (Upper Thomson Road) 2) ***** 3) Story of Us 4) Dezign Culture 5) Matrix Interior 6) Atelier 7) New Interior 8) Rezt and Relax 9) ... I forgot de.... Soooo at the end... our chosen ID falls toooo the first ID we talked to..... from Dtrenzo Interior... My Reno included: 1) Hack all floor except bedrooms and store rooms 2) Hack wall tiles for kitchen and toilets 3) Box up toilets pipe at (2 bathrooms) 4) Laminate flooring (12mm) for 3 bedrooms 5) Lift up platform with laminate for balcony 6) Hack wall between store room & master bedroom 7) Hack new entrance for master bathroom 8) Seal the current entrance of master bathroom with hollow brick 9) Seal the entrance for store room with hollow brick 10) Hack existing cornice for the whole house 11) Dismantle all door except EXPENSIVE MAIN DOOR 12) Homogenous floor tiles for Living, Dining, Kitchen, Yard and Toilets 13) Wall tiles oni for 2 Toilets Carpentry: 1) 11 ft storage cabinets (depth: 700mm) 2) 8ft full height feature wall 3) 6ft console suspended 4) 4 ft shoe cabinets 5) 13 ft top and 13 ft bottoms cabinet with BLUM SYSTEM (dishrack included) 6) 2*2ft tall unit for kitchen (BLUM SYSTEM) 7) 8ft sliding wardrobe for master bedroom (internal color PVC) 8) 3.5ft dresser (2ft low height with mirror and 1.5ft full height) (internal color PVC) 9) 2.5ft vanity cabinets for master bathroom included mirror 10) Glass backing for kitchen between top and bottom Ceiling: 1) L BOX & False Ceiling for Living/Dining 2) L box for 2 rooms 3) False Ceiling for Master Bedroom DOOR 1) Veneer door for 3 bedrooms 2) Sliding tempered frosted door for master bathroom 3) PD Door for Common Toilet 4) Change metal gate OTHERS: 1) Construct bathtub area 2) Drainage pipe for bath tub 3) Shower screen for bath tub (sliding) 4) All plumbing works as standard 5) All bases (standard) 6) PAINTING whole house 7) Plastering living, dining and kitchen wall 8) Box up pipe at balcony area NOT INCLUDED ELECTRICAL WORKS!!! My quotation turned out to be 46K after discounteddd... The most expensive I got was 70K =.=|| And here is my floorplan.... http://renotalk.com/forum/uploads/gallery_57536_3_81574.jpg Well, from price perspective, I feel his price is cheaper compared to all others.... From workmanship, we ever visited the client house and my hb is quite happy with it.... But from design perspective, I'm not too sure, think depend on personal.... AND maybe becoz our first priority is PRICE... We omit those with GST hehehe..... I'm also blur blur on design coz I oni see pictures... Initially I tot I also want scandinavian but I dunno how later hahaha coz just buy thing that I like... So maybe it becomes ANYHOW THEMES "."

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Lately, I have seeking for ID or Renovation companies. I realised that most companies are RADAC accredited, about half of them are not HDB approved and some are not even registered with ACRA. For myself, I will prefer to trust the company which has to be registered with ACRA with more than 5 years being registered and certain amount of paid up capital. There are probably some companies with paid up capital of $2 which means in the event of lawsuit, you can only claim up to $2 or whichever amount is the paid up capital. I just want to seek your opinion whether anyone has advice for those companies with or without RADAC Accredited / HDB Approved / ACRA Registered companies. I may get some information wrongly too. To check with RADAC, refer to this link, http://radac.org.sg/directory/ To check with HDB, refer to this link, http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoContractors?OpenDocument To check with ARCA, refer to this link, http://www.acra.gov.sg/ and click on Registered Business Entities

Hi everyone, I have been following Renotalk for some time and now being eligible to purchase a flat of my own, the time has come for me to make some contributions. After viewing more than 10 units, I finally found the place I would call home at Yishun. Although the COV was quite high for a 3 roomer, the location is excellent and the layout, clean and simple. My floor plan: Being a simple guy, here begins my simple Renovation Journey. More to come...

Hi all, I have been wanting to write about my renovation experience for a while now but have been putting it off until now . We took our keys back in July 2013 and officially moved in in Nov 2013. This forum has been a great source of information for me and I would like to give something back to the community. Hopefully, it will be of some benefit to anyone who is reading this . First of all, the floor plan: We started researching for our renovation since 2012. We read forums and flipped through home decor magazines at the library or bookstores etc. Take pictures - they might come in handy in future when you meet with contractors. A good idea is to write your notes in Google Drive so you can access them anywhere. We also kept a spreadsheet with all the quotation breakdowns from the contractors/IDs we contacted. This keeps things neat and easy to compare. Do include the prices of everything else you will need to budget for e.g. furnishings, electrical works etc. In this way, we knew for sure how much we spent in total for renovation (including all hidden costs!). Try to know what you want before going around asking for quotations. For example, we knew (after looking through countless magazines ) that we want a Scandinavian look for our house. That means: - furniture with simple and clean lines - bright, open spaces - light-color themes - wood-looking flooring - minimalism In short, there are lots of planning and research to do even before getting your keys. Do walk around home exhibitions (regularly at Expo) and furniture stores (IKEA). Shortlist the stuff that you like. Take note of prices and put them down in your budget spreadsheet. We had planned for a renovation budget of 40K (including furnishings) and I was quite proud that we spent within our budget AND did not compromise on the Scandinavian vision . Preview: I will try to narrate and dissect our renovation process in future posts in this topic so stay tuned! (I am rather slow in writing, so bear with me, hopefully just need a few weeks! ). P.S. In the meantime, you can head over to my wife's blog (http://yunzhijian.blogspot.sg/) for pictures and her views on our renovation (YES she has already finished her blog!! And I am still on my first post!!)

Hi, I will be a new house owner soon, expecting my keys within 6 months in Punggol With the house in sight, think its time that I start my renovation planning. Reading all the articles here, its going to take a minimum of 4 months to identify a good contractor. First, my preference is a direct contractor rather than an ID. ID's prices seem to be very high, adds complication to the process. Can make a mess. I'll be really thankful if you could PM me the contacts of some good "Direct" contractors. Sure will give you a gift if I take your advice. Right now, my budget is around 25K. Within this, what I expect is; New house is a premium BTO, so; 1. Flooring is already done 2. Kitchen has full tiles and Sink 3. Bathroom has full tiles and amenities My renovation requirement; 1. Do a nice kitchen setup with cabinets, door, etc 2. Master bedroom, full length wardrobe 3. Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2, full length wardrobe 4. Hall - TV area, Shoe rack, false ceiling 5. Full length cabinet, study area for Study room 6. Cabinets in Toilets 7. Do a nice laundry setup in service area with cabinet 8. Aluminum grill for all windows 9. Simple wire grill for balcony 10 Plastering, Painting, Cleaning, Polishing 11. Additional carpentry work where required to do a nice house In addition, I will do the following, if the contractor is reasonable in pricing 1. Sofa with coffee table 2. Master bed 3. beds in 2 rooms 4. Dining table The most important is QUALITY. Looking for a Simplistic and Functional design. NO TRICKS, NO GIMMIKS. Like a contractor who says, white as white and black as black. I can share my floor plan when required. Thanks Jerry

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Blk810 Jurong West St 81 4A flat up for sale by owner. Sincerely selling 107sqm/1152 sqftHigh floor, totally unblocked, super windy and facing north/southwell kept, move in conditionnear amenities & 6 primary schools within 1km. downstairs got 1 primary and 1 secondary schoolall 3 rooms got airconmaster bedroom and 1 common bedroom got buid-in wardrobkitchen furnished with top and bottom cabinetsPlease call 9423 5750 for viewing. No agent please.

Hi all! Hubby and I are longtime lurkers of renotalk and finally decided to start our very own renoblog! After a long long wait of over 3 years (from BTO release in March 2010..), we have finally collected our keys on Childrens' Day this year! (Auspicious date! Sign of things to come..? ) Ours is a very very small 3 room in Sembawang, just 67sqm 'big'. Here is our floorplan:

Need some minor works, including 1. Power points needed (3 of them for TV etc) at bottom of wall, circuit breaker is on the top side 2. Replace old broken sockets in the kitchen (3 of them) 3 Replace old water heater, install new one 4. Power point extension for additional water heater (3KW, 220V) How much would it cost? Does it makes sense to do it DIY, since hardware shops sell everything nowdays and very cheap. If reasonable offer, then I dont mind giving job to electricians too.

Dear all, We have just gotten our keys to a new standard 4-room HDB flat. Totally clueless about reno quotation. Would appreciate any advice on the quotation below - is it reasonable or not? Thanks for all the advice. Masonry works – tiles range $3 psf and below Homogenous floor tiles **** and dining area (60 by 60cm) – $1950 Homogeneous floor tiles at passageway (60 by 60cm) – $525 Overlay kitchen floor tiles – $850 Overlay common toilet floor tiles – $480 Overlay common toilet wall tiles – $1350 Overlay master toilet floor tiles – $480 Overlay master toilet floor tiles – $1350 Construct kitchen base c/w side tile finish 19.5ft – $350 Construct fridge and washing machine base c/w tile finish - $200 Construct shower screen kerb at master toilet c/w side tile finish - FOC Construct shower screen kerb at common toilet c/w side tile finish – FOC Lay craftstone at dining area L8ft x H8ft - $2400 Lay level up floor level at 3 bedrooms – by client Laminate flooring works Lmainate flooring master bedroom - $975 Lamiate flooring bedroom 2 – $715 Lamiate flooring bedroom 3 – $715 Kitchen Kitchen cabinet top hung laminate finish 17.5ft- $2100 Kitchen cabinet bottom hung laminate finish 17.5ft- $2100 Granite kitchen work top black galaxy 17.5ft – $2100 Full height kitchen cabinet for built in oven in laminate finish - $600 Install dish drainer – FOC Install kitchen hob and hood – FOC Main Entrance Full ht shoe cabinet in laminate finish 3ft – $840 Living Area Full ht feature wall in laminate finish 6ft – $1680 Suspended TV console c/w flip up glass door in laminate finish 6ft – $900 Designated sette c/w storage in laminate finish 11ft - $1650 Master bedroom Designated 6” height platform c/w storage 90 sqft - $2340 Designated half-height cushion bedhead for queen size bed approx. 6ft x 2ft - $650 Walk in L-shaped sliding and casement full ht wardrobe in laminate finish 11ft – $3520 Master bathroom Suspended vanity in laminate finish 3ft – $360 Solid surface vanity top 3ft – $240 Storage mirror in laminate finish 3ft – $420 Plumbing Works Supply labour to install 2 set of bathroom accessories ($150) Supply and install tap, inlet and outlet piping and kitchen sink ($120) Glass work To supply & install a 10mm clear tempered glass at kitchen entrance. 3ft W x 7ft H $ 600.00 To supply & install 1 set 10mm swing clear tempered glass shower screen at master-toilet. (1 fix panel & 1 swing door) $ 388.00 To supply & install a 10mm clear tempered glass at master toilet entrance. 3ft W x 7ft H $ 600.00 False Ceiling 1. L-Box cw false ceiling Living & Dining Hall. ($900) 2. false ceiling at passage way. ($400) 3. L-Box cw false ceiling Living & Dining Hall at Master bedroom. (FOC) Window Grilles based on 3ft height – Lump sum $1200 To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at Main bedroom (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at bedroom 1(SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at bedroom 2 (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver **** room (SMG 361) To supply labour and material to install sliding window grilles aluminum silver at service yard (SMG 361)

Earlier this week my neighbor started renovation. Due to an unpleasant experience a few months ago with this exact same unit I made it a point to take a look at the HDB permit. Sure enough, no renovation work is allowed on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday. The permit is valid till 5th August. Alas, today (Saturday!) I was woken up at 9+ in the morning by knocking and machinery work. Thinking that maybe it would be a quick job I patiently waited for it to finish so I could fall back to sleep. Finally called HDB at 11.30am to lodge a complaint. There was just no use waiting. Clearly they were not going to cease any time soon. I was routed to EMS to make a report since HDB is closed during weekends. The officer I spoke to promised to get in touch with the contractor regarding them flouting the rule. I also messaged my friend to update him on the situation because the night before I was telling him that I was looking forward to sleeping in today after functioning on a daily average of 3 hours sleep for the past week due to the noise. He offered to follow up with the calls if necessary. The noise continued incessantly except for twice when the workers had a break. My friend made at least 5 calls in the next 6-7 hours and every time he was promised that an officer would come to check. You would think the officer was sent from somewhere in Malaysia? Or maybe HDB does not reimburse transport allowance to their employees so they have to walk? In any case, nothing was done at all for those agonizing hours when I was lying in bed like a zombie with a pounding headache! All that knocking and eeeeeee....eeeeeeee from the machine stopped only at 7pm! And to think that renovation has to stop at 6pm even on weekdays! I have heard many cases of NATO from government agencies over the years. Seriously, after my experience of countless empty promises today I must say that they are unfortunately very true! As for the reason why I paid attention to the permit this time is because this is actually the SECOND renovation in the past 6 months! Some time after Chinese New Year my nightmare began. Since renovations are nothing to be alarmed about I just tried to bear with it, even though I sleep in the morning. After about a month there were still stacks and stacks of cement in the corridor so I told myself to rough it out a bit more. By about 1.5-2 months I could not stand the nuisance any more (no respite during weekends also) so my friend and I went to talk with the owner. What shocked us was that he denied about the renovation even though we saw a worker carrying a bucket of tools emerging from the bedroom behind him. There was also another bucket lying on the floor in the living room. When we pointed them out to him he relented and promised to tell his workers to be aware of the noise level. However, there was no improvement and since there was no HDB permit I wrote to Town Council instead. TC "taichi" the case to HDB and I dropped it as there was no permit, which after so long I presumed was expired and taken down. Barely 3 months have passed when I have to suffer again. I can tolerate the weekday noise if I have to. But I will absolutely not stand it when I am entitled to some peace and quiet during weekends! What is the use of HDB issuing permits when they will ignore complaints when irresponsible contractors flout the rules? May as well save some trees! Who knows how long I have to grin and bear it this time? The previous renovation took about 2 months and I was severely sleep-deprived. But hey... I survived the god-awful, bloody frustrating knocking and knocking and knocking but I do not want to go through it again! Especially when they have no right to do a single knocking on weekends! Below is the offending unit #12-452 in Blk 824 Jurong West Street 81. (photo taken in April when we popped by to talk to the owner) Totally irresponsible contractor! Totally incompetent HDB! PS: Not only have both renovations affected my quality of life and well-being, the wall tiles in my unit have sustained huge crack lines from ceiling to floor in various places as well!

Hi all, I need some advises as to whether my kitchen quotation is reasonable for a resale 4A! I will only be doing up my kitchen cabinet, changing it from long layout to L-shaped instead. I am not sure if my quotation is considered steep for such renovation as I will not be hacking off my walls and floors. Appreciate fellow friends who are experience in renovation to help! Breakdown as follows: Hacking Works Supply labour and equipment to hack off existing stove support Supply labour and equipment to dismantle existing top and bottom cabinet Total - $1500 Masonry Works Supply labour and material to apply waterproofing membrane base on HDB standard - $150 Supply labour and material to construct 50mm ht cabinet base with side tiling - $400 Supply labour and material to construct 50mm ht fridge base with side tiling - $180 Supply labour and material to install stainless stain rubbish chute - $300 Supply labour and material to erect new half height wall using hollow blocks - $480 Supply labour and material to apply cement screeding - $280 Total - $1790 Plumbing Works Supply labour and material lay inlet for sink using stainless steel piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for washing machine using stainless stain piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for basin using stainless stain piping - $250 Supply labour and material lay inlet for sink using PVC piping - $150 Supply labour and material lay inlet for washing machine using PVC piping - $120 Supply labour for installation of taps - $80Supply labour for installation of kitchen sink - $120 Total - $1220Carpentry Works (Using solid plywood in laminated finished c/w ABS edging for all doors only, cabinet door c/w inhouse soft closing) Design, fabricate and install top and bottom kitchen cabinet using high pressure laminate finish and ABS edging (TOP 17FT, BOTTOM 17 FT) - $4200 Supply and install full height cabinet - $1100 Supply and install solid surface kitchen worktop c/w 50mm ht backsplash and 38mm ht edging - $1190 Total - $6490 Miscellaneous Works HDB renovation application and permit - $200 Purchase of sand - $400 Haulage services - $350 Flooring protection using corrugated board - $250 Clearing off rubbish and debris to designated area - $200 General cleaning for the whole unit - $250 Total - $1650 GRAND TOTAL - $12650