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Ok, i think this is the time for me to start my blog after stalking RT for 2 months. Let's started with the floor plan. After 5 weeks looking for our 1st house and yeay, finally i got what we're looking to. Of course, it's not perfect neither "exactly" what we want. We have several criteria on looking for our "own house", i.e bright kitchen, high floor, etc,etc. Here 's the floor plan that we have and yes, our house is all about functionality. There's a big cabinet on passage way and hopefully it'll be the only cabinet we're going to have in the future. I kind of people who like the neat concept. - industrial/scandinavian is not piece of cake. Start from looking ID right after the book the 1st appointment...oh man...it's not easy even very hard for me to decide (as my wife is preggy and she ask me to do all the stuff). I did quote via and renotalk and you know what..almost every single day my phone ring and it's from ID. I can say, how competitive is ID business in here. But, some of them is totally not impressed. There are 1 ID is keep calling me, start from the ID, the PM, etc (totally not impressed). Just make it short, below is the ID that i met up, start from the beginning : 1. One ****rkz We went to the interior exhibition in Expo and met with them. They're asking us to put a deposit 1st (very pushy i can say) We just directly skipped them. 2. Di**s. Id name is Mr J I went there as recommended by my friend and walked in to their showroom (still remember it's on the last day of hungry ghost festival) What i can say their service is not bad. The ID is able to revise every single of my requirement. However, we have to drop this ID Reason : communication problem - i'm not a Chinese speaking and the ID is not fluent in English and not a HDB registered yet. 3. A** Sp**e De***n I met up with the owner - i guess, N**k P**g. My 1st impression of him is very good until the day i received his quotation. Well, it's a on high side however, the negotiation is still on going. Ok, things to consider. 4. K**ng Y**, Id name is mr J (again) I sent an email quotation to them and yes, they could fit my budget. After that, i met with him on his showroom. At that moment, i was not really comfortable. Yes, he explained many things to me. I.e : concealed piping, etc. But he's more like sales person, keep on asking if we can make a deal today. The good news, i asked him again to revise the quotation here and there and he's entertaining me. He even asked me to look the current ongoing project. And yes, as some people make a comment in here. They're not really good on carpentry i can say. So, we decide to dropped them. 5. In***e L***ng, Id name is mr O I contacted them after my wife said...why you didn't ask your colleague and yes, i quoted to him as my colleague engaged him as their ID. Met up on their showroom, wait for 1.5 weeks to get the quotation and another surprise. It's **** expensive. It's almost 50% above my initial budget- I always say my concept and budget upfront. And another thing is their more on "design wise". That's maybe what we're paying for.So, it's dropped. 6. V**la, Id name is mr A Read few great feedback about them, and yes i quoted them. I received a quotation after another 1.5 weeks. The ID is pretty straight forward but again i don't like his style to asking me to deal on that day and keep on trying to revise the quote. I asked him on the meeting itself, how much is the best price and OMG, he revised it many times even after i left my appointment. What on my mind is "your mark up is really in there". Decide to dropped. 7. T*t & D*t, Id name is mr J (again) Look on their FB page and wow, so many compliment for them. I decided to send a quotation to them and met up. 1st impression is she's a great ID i believe. She's a straight forward ID. Ask what we're looking on, budget, etc. I didn't expect to much from them, since they look "popular ID" but well, their service is in there. I contacted her after few weeks and she's still entertain me by reply and give some suggestions. Decide to KIV 8. De***n4***e, id name is mrs R Happened to know this ID when i on the way back via bus. I explored this ID via google and yes, they have so many package. I believe most of you know which ID i'm referring to. I decided to do walk in few days after and well, he's really friendly. He explained which 1 (package) is the most suitable for us and i'm really impressed with him. So, i almost sign my renovation with him, will meet up next week. Decide to : considered 9. Un***d T**m, id Name is Mrs J (again) Seems J is the initial that i always meet.hahahaha...I decided to walk in when i walked around after office hour and ask for quotation. Well, she's a nice lady. Explain to me a lot of stuff (i.e Blum system, granite and Quartz, etc). Received her quotation and i'm surprised...it's not as expensive as i expected. She even helped me to fit/expected measure of the remaining space on my kitchen table top. I'm contemplating now, whether i have to choose this ID or #8. Decide to : considered 10. E m***rn, id name is mr E My friend introduced his ID to me and waiting for the quotation now. 11. C***ic D***gn, id name is mr R Again, it's my friend referral. He's very fast - give me a quotation after a day and the review is this ID is not really good. His quotation is really brief and i'm not really comfortable with this 12. Others S***e D***ne : my friend recommendation but the response is very slow. He updated after my 1 month email. dropped for sure. U***ax : another famous ID i guess, and recommend by friend too. Well, no feedback after the 1st quotation and i asked few things via email. In****r L**. One more funny ID - for me. Seems like no coordination on this company. 2 people contacted me and asked the same quotation..come on...it looks no coordination or high competition to get customer.... few more (i can't remember the name). Anyway, after tired looking for ID...I selected 2 of them now. Looking for any review or i'll just go ahead and sign...that's what i always on my mind. I'll continue with furniture , bathroom and kitchen stuff later... Stay tuned... Ps: please do not ask who's the ID name. I believe it's the matter of personal preference. We're not looking for best ID (always pro and cons in there) but it's for the most suitable ID.

Here's my 5rm resale flat layout. It's a point block and I really love how spacious the living room is

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...

Hi there! We will be receiving our 4-room BTO Flat keys soon. Our preferred theme is Japanese Minimalist / Zen / Muji style with creative storage ideas. Does anyone have any IDs / contractors to recommend? Thank you!

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!

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 =)

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

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.

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