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https://coffeebeanrenoblog.wordpress.com/ Bought my resale flat, and started to plan my reno. Created a blog to save my encounters and stuff. Going online to buy some reno and furnishing stuff as well, gonna update on the blog. https://coffeebeanrenoblog.wordpress.com/ =)

Greetings fellow renotalk forum members, I bought a resale 5RM HDB and the previous owner actually built a water feature in the living room which is no longer in use now and it is not in a good condition. Basically there is a full height metal plate covering the entire wall behind the platform and it was built as the water feature where the water pumped in from the sucker below will flow into the wall and exit from 3 of the water spouts into the pool. The pool is place right at the middle of the wall..Actually we quite like the platform and would like to keep it except the metal wall plate and the water pool. 1. Any idea/ suggestion on how to modify these ? 2. how much will it cost to remove the metal water fountain on the wall? Please help lol any comment/suggestion is welcome because i need some inspiration for this.. It will be great if you can recommend me a carpenter/ contractor who can fix/ modify this thing

SENGKANG HDB 4-ROOM MODEL 4A UNIT FOR SALE! * No agent fees Very well maintained and clean unit Marble and parquet flooring Convenient and accessible location - 1 min to LRT station, 7 mins to Sengkang MRT station Plenty of amenities around including Sports Complex, supermarkets, shopping malls, eateries, ATM and movie theater Within 1km from Nan Chiau Primary/ High School All races and Permanent Residents (PR) are eligible Please drop me a private message or call me at 8170 7241 for a discussion.

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum. Anyway, I would just like to share my experience with my contractor. I happen to like the concept of a plain and simple design for my house and apparently my contractor was able to do it and I like the outcome very much. It is a resale flat of more than 30 years by the way. Here are some pictures which I have taken in my house.

Hi all, Would need some good "lobangs" to do only kitchen renovations. Recently i went to check out this id and he is quoting me 12k for a 5000 by 3450 Kitchen size. Its not within my budget. Im thinking of having it around 5-6k. Any good contructors or id to recommend?

Hello! I just completed submitting my option fee & deposit & now waiting for my 1st appointment (Only in end September). Intending to seek help from a Feng Shui master but I'm just wondering when the survey of the Feng Shui master should be done? I heard from my agent that we can only arrange after the 1st appointment but I believe we should consult the Feng Shui Master first before looking for the interior designers right? Thanks in advance!

Hello, I'm looking at hacking of my kitchen wall to make it a open concept kind but I'm worry that it is very expensive. Any one has any idea how much it would be ? I have attached my floor plan A price range is good..

Hi all I have been quietly collecting data, (like a squirrel!) and learning everything there is to know about renovation from this forum for the past 6 months. Never knew what is kompac-huh? until now, plus there are so many different types of flooring, each week a new type appeared and it's back to good old Google for more research. And dun get me started on those wall tiles selection, there are like a hundred choices out there! Anyway, since I have a tighter than a bark on tree budget, I will have to scale down a lot of stuff and even make-do with whatever existing there is. So finally, I collected my house keys and now I can start on this exciting (really?) journey to renovate my bachelor pad. It is a 3 room HDB 30 plus years old resale and here is the floorplan. Do-able for 20k? I hope so.

Hello Friends and Forumers, like others, I have been lurking and hovering around all the wonderful t-blogs and asking all the seniors here for advice and tips... To mark my own renovation journey i'm starting very own t-blog! There will be no extravagant designs nor WOW effects, just a simple place i called HOME. Here's the floor plan: My first appointment is a month away from now so this give me sometime to decide on the long list of items to b done for a new place. This is a 30 years old resale so i reckon i will need to overhaul the whole place. I'm setting the budget as below: Budget for Renovation: $50-60K (was told it's going to be at least $50k for a resale) Budget for Furnishing and Electrical appliances: $20k Let's see if i can stay within this!

I have been following this reno blog for 1-2 years to lookout for renovation ideas as well as ID recommendations and it’s finally my turn to start my own blog . In November last year, hubby and I placed deposit for a 4-room resale unit in Jurong West. 1. Floor plan for our unit: 2. ID Selection: While awaiting for key collection which was scheduled in March 2017, we meetup with close to 15 IDs/contractors recommended by this reno blog/from other bloggers/ from friends/ from Reno road show. After 1st meeting, we shortlisted 2 IDs and it was a tough decision on which one to select as both has their pros and cons. ID 1: Could not remember where I got the contact of this ID, probably from some blog/forum. During our 1st meeting, he provided us with some good space planning ideas and most importantly he also pointed out some technical issues which all other IDs did not spot. As my living room is in between bedroom 2 and main bedroom, there will be some air-con piping issues and if we insist to install air-con in bedroom 2, some modification (installation of false beam, piping going thru my main bedroom wardrobe thereby I might need to dismantle the wardrobe, dismantling bedroom 2’s door) will be needed which mean additional renovation cost. He provided us a very comprehensive quotation within a week, included some optional items we mentioned we might be interested in, as well as some modification required if we were to install air-con in bedroom 2. Some of the items were priced higher as he prefers to use quality materials such as caesarstone tabletop and big frame toilet doors. He explained that he prefer to use more durable material since he provides longer warranty on workmanship so we would not need to keep looking for him haha ID 2: Recommended in Facebook Group “Budget Reno”. Contacted this ID as we really like the design of his BTO project as posted in the Facebook Group. During our 1st meeting, we were impressed by his strong design idea and good space planning. He promised to provide us with quotation in a week or so but we did not received it. Upon chasing for the quotation, he rushed it out the next few days and meet with us to explain the quotation personally. During the meeting then only we realized that he was down with fever yet still took the effort to meet with us. However, the quotation was not comprehensive and did not include costing for electrical works and aforementioned optional/modification works. In addition, as we would like to keep cost low by hacking bathroom floor tiles only, he is unable to do it. If want to hack must hack the whole bathroom. Final decision: Even though our heart side ID 2 as we really like their design idea but our mind told us to play safe so we decided to engage ID 1, reason being 1) To keep cost low. ID 1 is able to hack bathroom floor tiles only while keeping the wall tiles. Doing so would save us quite a lot. 2) We do not like bill shock. ID 1 quotation is quite detailed so that we know how much we are paying for every items. 3) We feel that ID 1 is more experience in resale projects. A lot of patching work needs to be done for resale house such as patching part of the false ceiling, hack away fridge & washing machine base to replace with similar tiles etc. Most ID specialize in BTO projects are not willing to take up patching work, some advised us to dismantle the whole false ceiling and rebuild new one which will cost double. We engaged ID 1 in early December which he provided us with 3D drawings about 3 weeks later. The 1st draft was unsatisfactory but after 3 changes, he got what we want. 3. Existing conditions/ Work to be done a) Kitchen (Top being 3D drawing, bottom being existing condition) We would like to keep the wall and floor tiles of kitchen as it is still in good condition. To have a neater looking kitchen, our ID suggested to get a front load washer and slot it in beneath the bottom kitchen cabinet as shown in the 3D drawing. Major works to be done include: 1) Hack off existing cabinet + fitting 2) Hack off fridge and washing machine base and replace with similar tiles. The existing kitchen has fridge base and washing machine base which we think is redundant. Imagine if we kick on the edge it’s gonna be really painful 3) Install kitchen cabinet with caesarstone work top and crystal white tempered glass backing between top and bottom cabinet 4) Our kitchen is quite small which we feel lack of storage space so we decided to install a low height cabinet next to fridge area b) Common Bathroom Major works to be done include: 1) Hack off existing floor tiles ,lay new homogenous floor tiles and construct shower kerb 2) Dismantle existing sanitary, toilet accessories and install with new one 3) Dismantle existing door and install new Big Frame Aluminium PD door c) Master Bathroom Major works to be done include: 1) Hack off existing floor tiles and lay new homogenous floor tiles 2) Overlay wall with homogenous wall tiles 3) Dismantle existing sanitary, toilet accessories and install with new one 4) Dismantle existing door and install new Big Frame Aluminium PD door 5) Construct shower kerb ,install shower screen with swing door d) Master Bedroom (Top being 3D drawing, bottom being existing condition) Major works to be done include: 1) Dismantle existing L-shape cabinet 2) Install 3ft dressing table. As I do not like exposed mirror, I quite like the top part of this dressing table design with storage swing door and embedded mirror so requested ID to design a similar one 3) Hack off existing wardrobe and install new 6ft wardrobe with full height mirror. 3D drawing for wardrobe: e) Bedroom 3-Study room (Top being 3D drawing, bottom being existing condition) Major works to be done include: 1) Hack off existing wardrobe and modify existing L-box. As the existing L-box is built in a way that is in line with the wardrobe, dismantling the wardrobe will make the L-box look odd. Therefore, modification on L-box is required to make it in line. 2) Install 9ft study table with drawer and power point area finishing (hidden power point so looks neater) f) Living Room(Top being 3D drawing, bottom being existing condition) We did not take much picture of the existing living room as it was quite empty, only has a feature wall & TV console. Major works to be done include: 1) Hack off existing feature wall & console 2) Install low, medium and full height shoe cabinet with full length mirror starting from kitchen door entrance 3) Install low height TV console with storage (continue from the aforementioned shoe cabinet) g) Air con As our air con piping is a more complicated, we decided to engage air con contractor recommended by our ID so that he can coordinate closely with the contractor on installation. Price quoted for Mitsubishi Starmex (MXY4A28VA) system 4 was comparable to gain city pricing. In addition to dismantling masterbed room wardrobe, some additional modifications needed to make way for air con piping as follows: 1) Hack off existing door frame and door for bedroom 2 and install with a new door and door frame 2) Construct false beam to box-up air-con piping in living room

Hi, I'm new here. We will acquire our flat in Aug. It is a 4A corner unit, resale. We are looking to get a contractor to renovate the unit for us but don't know where and how to start. We've contacted Aian Furniture and Renovation, Henry from Impress 21 and H2o Design. Any other contractors to recommend? We are not Mandarin-speaking. Please also advise us on how to start about. We aren't sure what to do. All we know is that if we hire an ID, they will do everything for us. But we're looking to cut costs. Would appreciate all advice, thank you!

Finally decided to start a thread after hanging around for couple of months though my reno has started closed to 1 mth already hehe...Think it will be like a reno diary! Let's begin with the original house floor plan. It's a very simple 2 bedroom unit, with a service yard & a store room @ Bedok area. After several weeks of research, i was pretty clear in the design direction I like a modern them, not a very "woody" person..and i dont want industrial or scandi. Also, i managed to find a studio design that i really like. 1. Layout with requirements 2. My reference studio design!!

Hi, my fiancee and I just bought a resale 5rm flat. We are at an impasse regarding the design of our recess area. We would really appreciate any kind advice from the experts here at renotalk. Thank you!! Her Idea: Break a portion of the corridor wall to create an entrance to our living area at the expense of our kitchen. My idea: To extend the corridor and align it to our living area space, so that we have a bigger kitchen.

bought a 5I resale, very tempted to do a t-blog....

Hi to all renotalk readers, I have started my make over weeks ago and finally I created an account here to share the process. So far, it's an enjoyable process. From amending the 3Ds design to choosing of tiles and laminates. I'm a cool person the tiles and laminates are all Matt finishing. Nothing is glossy. My ID brought me to Hafary to select the tiles. This is floor tiles option 1. This is floor tiles option 2. Decided for option 1 as the other looks kind of boring. This will be for living and kitchen flooring. ID suggest to lay 300x600 for kitchen as the exposed floor area is not much. Look nicer in this way. I'm ok lo.. Trust him. Mention that I'm not into gloosy finishing. My bathroom tiles will be in Matt too. This will be bathroom flooring. This will be bathroom wall. I always love the idea of having subway tiles for kitchen. So I shortlisted these few, will decide after 3D is out. It's a tiring day choosing the tiles. Can't imagine when it come to choosing laminates. To be continued.....

Hello everyone! I decided to start this t-blog not so much to document our renovation process (will try to as much as I can), but mainly to share things, especially tips and other little nuggets of info, which I have learnt during this period and during another renovation I was involved in 4 years back. Renovation is a time-consuming and multi-faceted process, and when I started out, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of things I didn’t know. Doing research helped (thank you, Renotalkers!), but even now there are still so many things I am still learning for my second renovation. Hopefully this thread will benefit others Contents for easier reference: Introduction & The Unit ID-Contractor Conundrum Theme - Moodboard & 3D Renders Hacking & Wet Works Tiling Special Request Going Green - Vertical Garden & Growing Herbs Air-conditioning - Toshiba System 5 Vinyl Flooring - Eco Pluz Painting - Dulux Colour of the Year & Colour Play Testers Painting Boo-Boo & DIY Paint Effect & DIY Spray Paint Switch Boxes DIY More Painting Plumbing & Citygas Piping Box-up & Concealed Shower - Insani24.de Carpentry - Laminate Selection Carpentry - Design & Planning with Results: Shoe Rack, Study Room Bookcase, TV Console & Feature Wall Dry & Wet Kitchen Master Bedroom Wardrobe & Bathroom Fibre Termination Point Installation at TV Console Hood Installation Hassle Fan Installation Doors, Main Gate, Digital Locks, and Blinds Vertical Garden Part 2 - Installation & Planting Final Photos Renovation Costs Choosing Our ID and Feedback of Our ID (deleted) Fantastic Furniture and Where to Find Them - M&M, Crate & Barrel, Etch & Bolts, HipVan, Naiise, Comfort Furniture Introduction: Husband and I got married in 2015 and we spent quite some time waiting to buy a resale flat because “the boss” has very high expectations and yet not-so-high budget, so took a while before “the one” came along…… … and even after marrying her, he asked for patience because he really really wanted to get a unit near his parents’ place. So bo pian, yours truly patiently waited but no good units came up and finally had to put my foot down and force the boss to look for alternative areas. Long story short, we did manage to find a good unit not-so-near his parents (I did a little hurray, I admit), price was a little high but boss willing to pay, and we also had to patiently wait for the previous owners to move out before we could get our renovation started. The unit: Our new house has a very interesting layout which appealed to us, mainly the long combined living and dining room. The master room is also situated away from the common rooms, which means more privacy, but also posed some challenges because the space is limited and we can’t knock down some walls to combine the bedrooms. No walk-in wardrobe, for sure... Here are photos we took right after getting our keys... If you noticed, the previous owners had combined the two common bedrooms into one, so this is actually the current layout:

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Any bought rain shower set from taobao for old HDB unit? Seems like most not compatible.

Hi All, Anyone engaged ID Urban Habitat Design for their reno? How is the workmanship and service? We received a quote from them and is reasonable compared to engaging Contractors. However their payment term is not flexible. Asking 10% Upon confirmation, 40% before commencement of site and Masonry works , 40% before confirmation and fabrication of carpentry and 10% Handover. Although this is standard payment terms, we tried negotiating but not successful. 50% payment required even before starting any work. Appreciate any feedback.

APOLOGIES ON THE LENGTHY INPUT We really have no luck on applying for BTO. We tried 4 x but all our queue number are over the units available. We are a young couples but luck is really not on our side. Its a blessing in disguise i guess! Therefore, we've decided to get a resale in the east, for one big reason - SPACE!!!!! We will be collecting our key somewhere in April 17. We have decided not to hack the whole flooring, kitchen cabinet and toilet (Will need to change the toilet bowl for hygiene purposes) I will update my renovation progress once its started! Here is my floor plan and the works we have ask for quotation. The quotation that we got is quite reasonable. We have decided to go with this ID as we felt confidence and the chemistry we had since day 1 was fantastic and we have seen his work in his FB. Demolition Works Dismantle casement wardrobe at bedroom 2, 3 & master bedroom Plumbing Works Dismantle & install & connect inlet & outlet piping for kitchen sink Provide labour to dismantle & install 2 WC at both toilet Carpentry works (inc soft closing hinges) Design & fabricate L8ft suspended TV console using plywood w/ laminate finish @ living room Design & fabricate (L1600mm x Full height) TV feature wall using solid plywood w/ laminate @ living room Design & fabricate (L400mm x D400mm) 02 nos. of side cabinet using solid plywood w/ laminate @ tv feature wall (include 2 Grey mirror doors) Design & fabricate (L4200mm x D50mm x H450mm) storage bench using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ dining Design & fabricate (L4200mm x D50mm x H1000mm) bench backing using solid plywod w/ laminate finsih @ dining Design & fabricate (L2200mm x B1000mm x H750mm) dining table using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ dining Design & fabricate (L2500mm x Full height) Lshaped sliding wardrobe using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ bedroom 3 (inc rectangle groove design) Design & fabricate (L400mm x D400mm) 02 nos of suspended ledge using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ bedroom 3 Design & fabricate (L3000mm x Full height) open wardrobe using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ main bedroom (inc internal pvc color) Design & fabricate 02 nos of (L550mm x Full height) sliding door using solid plywood w/ clear mirror finish @ master bedroom Design & fabricate (L1600mm x D300mm x H1000mm) side console c/w ledge & clear mirror using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ living Design & fabricate (L400mm x D400mm) 02 nos of suspended ledge using solid plywood w/ laminate finish @ master bedroom Resilient flooring works Supply and lay high end resilient flooring @ current balcony Miscellaneous works Supply & install 5 curtain pelmets Supply & construct (L2900mm x H1000mm) partition wall @ new guest room Supply & construct false wall (L1800mm x full height) using gypsum board w/ paint finish @ bedroom 3 Supply & construct false wall (L1800mm x full height) using gypsum board w/ paint finish @ master bedroom Supply & paint Nippon for whole unit (max 6 colours) ( inc odourless all in one, easy wash with Teflon & 3 in 1 med fresh) (inc doorframe) Supply & paint 4 wooden bedroom doors Disposal of all renovation debris Cardboard protection for all affected area Chemical & general cleaning upon completion Door / Aluminium Works Supply & install (L2400mm x H2000mm) White aluminium frame bifold glass door @ new guest room Supply & install (L2900mm x H1000mm) white aluminium frame glass panel @ new guest room

Starting this blog to document our renovation journey. To start off, this is the layout of our humble abode. We've just gotten our 3D rendering done but will still be making amendments. Pictures of tiles we chose for each area. These are our gorgeous kitchen tiles. At first we wanted a different color to segregate the service yard but looking at the 3D we changed our minds and preferred to just have the peranakan tiles. Hexagon tiles for master bathroom shower feature. Matched with the wall and floor tiles. Love the grey marble tile for the common bathroom wall. I've always wanted some hexagon tiles but in order to save costs we kept it to the foyer area which isn't too big. Due to budget constraints, we decided to overlay vinyl for our bedrooms and living rooms. We chose the combi on the right. The lighter tile to be in the living room and the darker one in the bedrooms.

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Hi Everyone! I've been reading posts on Renotalk for a few months now, and find it a very helpful source of information. Decided that I will contribute by sharing my renovation journey! Flat Type: Resale 4 room Model A1 Size: 102 sqm Theme: Scandinavian with a splash of pastels - main colours light wood, white, light grey with splashes of pastel pink and mint Budget: $40K plus $10K for furniture ID: Y** Living - after one month of meeting and comparing quotes with 10 over ID/contractors, we decided to go with this ID as their price was most competitive, and the ID was responsive and gave us helpful ideas on how to save costs. Floorplan: The previous owner actually partitioned part of the living room into a Study. My hubby likes it because he can use it as his man-cave! The Store used to be in the living room, but the previous owner has removed it and carved space for it it out of an existing bedroom. Some photos of the "Before": Kitchen Service Balcony Living Room Master Bedroom Master Bedroom Toilet Common Room Common Room Toilet

Hi Everyone, this would be my second time posting my house renovation on renotalk. my last reno was a 4 room bto in fernvale 6 years ago.. and middle of this year, my hubby convinced me to sell the house to move nearer to my parents' and my daughters' future school.it was a dilemma as we were staying right opposite seletar mall and i love the convenience. but hubby had valid points on why we should sell and so i agreed to put our first hse on the mkt.We sold our house within 3 months but took longer to find a hse that we both like and so had to move into my parents' hse to stay for the meantime. House hunting We were looking at serangoon central 5 room flats initially, but the prices of the 30 year old flats were way above valuation and we learnt it the hard way as we had placed the $1000 deposit on a flat before valuation came out to be 55k less than the offered price!!! omg.. had to forgo the $1000 deposit as we did not exercise the option in the end. Le Sigh,gave up the dream of staying at serangoon central area and started looking at amk ave 10 ( prices were similar to serangoon central!) and even hougang but we couldn't find a flat we both like. moved on to serangoon north eventually and found a new listing for a 5 room flat on property guru and we made an appt immediately with the agent. hubby liked the hse after viewing as it was bit like "condo layout" i.e. rooms along a corridor.As for me,it was more of a "lets see if i can turn it into me dream house". We made an offer and seller wanted 90 days extension before putting in option and 3 months extension after sale is completed! can't believe we agreed and here we are, waiting for the day we can start renovation. here is our floor plan of our second home!

Hi, My Wife and myself have recently seen a 4 room flat at Telok Blangah close to Vivo. My Wife seems to like it but I am rather skeptical as the flat is close to 30yrs and asking price is about $450k plus. Have enquired with others and they said it is a good buy as my grants have not been included yet. And there's renovation to be done as well. Would like your opinion on it and if I have missed any information do let me know.