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Today is the day! We are finally getting our keys after waiting for a month since our completion date cos ex owner needed a 1 month extension. So just marking my journey here so i can look back in future! 10/11/2020 - Handover Day 11/11/2020 - Renovation work starts (which happens to be our 9th wedding anniversary!) 18/12/2020 - Moving day! 20/12/2020 - Handover of old 5 room flat. Yes, we have only about 5-6 weeks of reno. Quite short, but we already told our ID to make the place livable for us and not rush the kitchen reno since it the bulk of the work is mainly from there.

Hi fellow Renotalkers, I have actually been silently browsing through the renotalk forum for quite some time now, soaking in ideas and getting information and tips on what to do or not do during reno, and also what to buy and where! Having learnt alot through the t-blogs and posts here, I figure I should also share our renovation journey and perhaps some things experienced along the way. Perhaps 1 or 2 of you may also take something away, be it an inspiration or a practical lesson. Our story begins on the 14th of April 2013, when I successfully proposed to my then gf, now wife (who shall henceforth be affectionately referred to as "E"). Having successfully sealed that part of the deal, we set out looking for a place to call home, which as a lot of you know isn't the easiest thing in the world. Some of the factors we considered were as follows: - Near to either E's or my parent's home (easy for childcare needs in the future) - Within 0.5 km of an MRT station, especially on the North East Line (so that E can get to work easily) - Size of the apartment must be at least 1100 sgft (E grew up being used to lots of space at home) - Toilet must not be in the kitchen! - A yard area separate from the kitchen - Preferably North/South facing (so you don't get the evening sun) - Has to have sufficient natural light! We didn't want to ballot for a BTO because that would mean we would have to wait very long for our unit, but we were willing to do so for an EC. In particular, we tried balloting for some return units at The Topiary, but after umpteen failed attempts at balloting for 4-rms, 3 rm dual keys, we decided to look at resale flats instead. Plus, it's easier on the pocket. Our search was narrowed down to the following locations: - Upper Boon Keng opposite Kallang MRT (superb location for both private and public transport; flats which just finished MOP; but friggin expensive for a HDB) - Serangoon Central (great location but relatively old flats; expensive as well) - Potong Pasir (again, great location but the oldest flats out of our shortlist) - Sengkang (not as busy as Punggol, and valuations seem to be the cheapest here. Flats are also bigger) For those of you with more money and want to buy a HDB, you should really consider Upper Boon Keng and Jalan Membina in Tiong Bahru, but that's just my opinion haha. We viewed over 20 flats before we stepped into our current home. In fact, we put in an offer for 2 other units before this one. The first unit that we liked had a condo style layout on a high floor, relatively close to Sengkang MRT. BUT, the owner was then asking a COV of 100k (crazy!!). I think it was because he had marble floors through the living room and real parquet elsewhere. We put in an offer which was slightly in excess of half that amount, but was rejected. On hindsight, it was good that he didn't accept because that would be an insane amount just to pay for COV. The second unit was a fair bit away from the MRT, but the layout, space and facing was just superb. We put in a bid for less than their asking, but was quickly told that somebody offered them their asking. A bit of regret felt on not being able to get this unit. We were starting to get a bit tired and exasperated with the search when our agent suggested another area in Sengkang which we had not personally scouted in Prop*rtyG*ru, and we went down not expecting much. You know that feeling where you step in and feel so comfortable that you know it's home - that's the feeling that we got when we first stepped into our new home. It also helped that the former owners were very warm and nice people. We sealed the deal that evening when the owners accepted our COV offer which was a bit less than their asking. It isn't by any means the perfect home in terms of fitting all of our criteria, but it certainly comes close to it. Sorry for being long winded, so without further ado, here's presenting our floor plan: Uploaded with ImageShack.usTo be continued on my next post..

Hi all Looking for quotes for full reno for resale EA of 149sqm. Works include (but not limited to) : 1) hacking of kitchen cabinets and 2.5 walls 2) hacking of main door area to accommodate recess area 3) hacking utility door wall and 2 sides of common room walls 4) erecting half glass and full glass panels (to be discussed) 5) hacking of all flooring in living room, kitchen, bath bathrooms and recess area 6) tiling for all above areas 7) carpentry (to be discussed) Wish to know what is a good budget. Thanks!

Hi, i'm considering to get an EA from resale market or if i'm lucky get one from SBF. I'm looking at renovating the whole house but not sure what's the budget like as it's old house and usually quotations i see online are more for BTO or non-executive resale houses. Anyone here care to share their reno journey or the rough cost when renovating their EA? Of course reno is subjective, so all ideas and levels of furnishing are appreciated. Thank you!!

Hihi guys! Hope the day have been good for you so far! Well, I finally joined the renotalk family today after my many visits to this portal for reno ideas and reading the blogs of some of the forummers here.. Finding the read every rewarding in many ways and that many of you open my eyes to the world of renovation such as the material used for the reno, design ideas and even the type of furnitures, appliances that you all eventually got for your home.. Ermm... In other words, I litterally getting myself "poison" along the way coz whenever I read the blogs, I'll start to think "Hey, maybe I should get this for my house too!"... Arghhh!!.... Kekeke.. I have been toying the idea of starting a t-blog for awhile now coz I'm quite worried about no time to maintain the blog... However, decided to start it so that we can document our reno journery and that we can see how far we manage to achieve the look that we want as a home.. So... I hope that all the qian bei here can help to guide us along if we happen to ask some noob questions about renovation.. Thanks in advance yet! Ohh... And I also want to declare that I'm not officially MrsKhoo (my username) yet but am going to be in a week plus time.... So very very busy during this time. Hoping the time could fly till after my wedding.. Very tiring now... So enough of the lengthy introduction.... Let's get down to the main topic on our new place! We bought a resale EA in the Northern part of Singapore in January 2014 and finally got our keys to our new place just last month... The search to our marital home was completed in only viewing about 5 to 6 houses.. Hahaha.. Yes! yes! I know.. I know.. That was fast right! We decided to buy the house as we find that it is bright and airy. We did viewed a few houses before this place and we were attracted to it on our first visit there.. Maybe because the few houses before that were ermmm.. yucky with some of the units having their floor & ceiling super dark and dirty.. Some have weird design with the orientation of the door to the bomb shelter / storeroom in the middle of the living room wall (wondering why HDB built it like that) and 1 unit asking for high COV for a place that is so rundown when alot of houses were offering $0 or little COV at that time.. And so we went back to this only house that we like again on a 2nd time at night to have a look and we still like it. So that's when we decided to make our offer that was $10k lower than the valuation price. But... the owners refused to budge on the price so no choice lor.. Since we like it then just got to accept the price lor.. Ok.. Thats all for my first post.. Will share the floor plan to my place once I find out how to attach photos.. Hahaha.. Forgive me k for the long grandfather's story and that I gong gong didnt go find out how to attach photo first before writing my first post... Will be back soon de! Cheers!

Hi all. I've been house-hunting for a month now (even though my current house haven't sold yet, lol). Target is a 4-bedroom HDB, high floor, windy, unblock, no west sun, the works lah. But of course trying to find the ideal house is next to impossible. I saw one which was nearly 95% there. A 'premium' EA in Tampines, very close to where TPE meets PIE, the blocks' facade are very distinctive (brick reddish-brown), if you are a Tampines dweller, you probably know which block I'm talking about. Anyway, this unit is on the top floor (check). It has high ceilings (check), it has a balcony with superb unblock views (check). It has simple reno (check, coz this time round I want an unrenovated house so I can do it to my taste). It has a service balcony (check), store room (check) and a good-sized kitchen (check). Location and price is also right (check) The only thing left on my checklist is the bedrooms. It has 3 good-sized bedrooms, all facing the unblock views. The 4th bedroom is actually the study room which they've turned into a bedroom. The only problem with this room is that the bedroom windows overlook the service balcony. Now, what architect design a study room such that it overlooks the place where you hang your clothes and keep your aircon compressor? smh. **** stupid, i tell u. Anyway, bo pian, the house lidat, what to do right? So, I'm quite willing to accept the house for what it is, but my hubby is not too keen because of this issue. So I'm trying to find ways on how I can do the ID such that the situation with the 4th bedroom is not so bad. Most likely my youngest daughter (12 y.o) will be using this room. I thought of extending the room into the service balcony but it's not possible coz the common toilet window is there. One way is to to decorate that part of the service balcony with lots of plants and greenery so that it's pleasant to look at if she looks out of the window. My hubby thought of sealing off the windows and making new ones near the ceiling, mainly for ventilation purposes, but it'll be quite depressing not to have windows in a bedroom right? Welcome any ideas from RT forummers on how they would fix the situation. Anyone have same problem of windows overlooking service balcony or something equally unpleasant? Our decision to make offer on this unit hinges on this issue. If we can find a creative way to fix it, I think my hubby is open to buying it.

Hello All, I just signed the dotted lines for my property at Tampines Court. It is a maisonette and I need some serious renovation. Anyone here staying in Tampines Court who recently did renovation works? Any ID or contractors here who have carried out renovation work for Tampines Court? Please advise. Thanks