kalista 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2008 I have been waiting for the longest time imaginable to post my own t-blog here..... yippee finally, the time has come. Over the past 2months++ I have been faithfully following up and digesting the most precious informations available on renotalk for renovating my new house at the cheapest costs and I think this is the perfect opportunity for me to say thank you to everyone here on this wonderful site and also to share my joy..... Having been renting an apartment with hubby and children for past 3 years +, we thought it's time to buy our own unit since we calculated the total we spent on renting and it'll have burnt a gigantic hole in our pockets if we had renewed the lease now!!! We are blessed in a sense as we signed on a 2 years lease at a low rental just a month before the property market went berserk! Finally, I have my keys to our new house ... resale market loh - no luck for 2 years with balloting... This is my original floorplan of my 4NG flat at jalan rajah. This is the design I'm doing to the place - hehe sorry, no money to spend on ID so I be my own ID Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
junxian 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2008 spam chop first ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zeegi 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2008 Harlowz I also tried balloting for the past 1.5yrs with no luck and resorted to a resale unit too.... currently waiting for my first appointment in Sept! Good luck with the reno! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Starscream 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2008 Congrats!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Thank you! Balloting is a waste of time...like buying toto or 4D! Once we decided we didn't want to ballot anymore, we got an agent to search a house for us and we prayed hard as a family, in church and also together in our cell meetings...God really blesses us by giving us a house within 3 weeks.. and not to mention at the budget that is comfortable for us! Anyway, renovation is currently going on..... My house before..... we going to replace this with a new sink and concrete tiles cos the sink below is rusted beyond belief! Got a great quotation - hack away old and replace with new (sink we buy own) costs $900. this are the existing kitchen cabinets - hehe - very very greeeeennn; I quite like it as it has a country feel about it; I'll need to touch up a bit and give it my personal look with accessorising.... thinking of changing the lower cabinet doors to have more tones of green.. will update on the outcome. existing cornices are everwhere.... I can't get designer lights like this la.... so keeping the cornice at the living and children bedroom only.... Taking off the cornice at the mbr cos need to install new mbr built-in wardrobe and study cum play room also removing cornice to accomodate the gypson-board partition. Gotta go now... will be back soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) The mbr flooring was laminate but see how it's spoilt at the entrance to mbr toilet - I have no choice but to redo the flooring in this room. My agent & friend told me to place ceramic tiles cos laminate don't have good waterproof capabilities...hmmm, I'm thinking of just any tiles will do - cheap and darker colour a bit We didn't want to incur costs to do new wardrobes as the two common bedrooms have existing built-in wardrobes - we simply changing the look by laminating bought from home-fix costs $80+ per wardrobe (savings $1120) My children's bedroom - nothing to be done here except painting and changing cornice lights - Painting to be done ourselves This is the room that I'm going to partition to seperate into a playcorner and studyarea - studyarea to be connected to my mbr (so I can be motivated to upgrade myself by studying part-time) All set to go.... renovation very minor so will be complete within 2-3weeks! Yippee..... Edited July 17, 2008 by kalista Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
applefreak 1 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 spam chop good to see some DIY here the savings is really great if you can reuse most of the built-ins that's something good about getting resale plus you get to see the actual layout before committing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2008 Thanx Applefreak - I wish I could do more DIY like some of the forumers here; DIY would really given your house a personal touch but I'm not very good at it MBR toilet before - MBR toilet after - My new kitchen sink is up - got a promo BLANKO sink in black to offset the greeeen of my kitchen cabinets. And the kitchen wash-basin has also been changed (this is more for my 2 toddlers convenience) - before - after Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
applefreak 1 Report post Posted July 18, 2008 you really do like green don't you a lot of things in green Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2008 you really do like green don't you a lot of things in green HAHAHA Yeah, I never realised that I like green until I got a resale flat with built-in gree cabinets and green tiles and green everywhere! Hahaha, at 1st, I chose green mostly to go with the existing theme and so my new house won't end up looking like a clown or rainbow ..... but you know what? Now I actually like the tones of green offsetting each other - real country-looky! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2008 HDB permit took about 3 days and then hacking of the walls for the 2 new doorways took place. My new mbr entrance from the living room rather than from the kitchen way. mbr entrance door - frame is up this picture is of the old mbr entrance (left side hole) - will be sealing it up The door-archway to connect mbr to the study room. (hehe,sorry for the dark pictures - hubby & I juggling full time work with reno-inspection in the evenings plus lightings have been removed!) tomorrow, painting works.... yippee! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cherry 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2008 Hi Kalista, Nice layout you have there! and quite innovative to be able to incorporate a play corner for your kids. Are they the same gender that they share the same room? My baby is still young and i do not have a play corner for her, think i'll have to give up displaying my precious moments collection if i leave a play corner for her. anyway, keep it up. You have a lovely place there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilmare612 0 Report post Posted July 19, 2008 This is the design I'm doing to the place - hehe sorry, no money to spend on ID so I be my own ID Hi, may I ask which software are u using for this? Would loved to know... thank you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LGG 0 Report post Posted July 19, 2008 Who is your coordinator in charge? You all engage a contractor to oversee? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kalista 0 Report post Posted July 21, 2008 Hi Kalista, Nice layout you have there! and quite innovative to be able to incorporate a play corner for your kids. Are they the same gender that they share the same room? My baby is still young and i do not have a play corner for her, think i'll have to give up displaying my precious moments collection if i leave a play corner for her. anyway, keep it up. You have a lovely place there! Hi Cherry, my kids are still very young - my girl is 4 and my boy is 1. For us, we grew up together with our siblings sharing rooms until we were 13 so that is still a long way to go; that's y I'm getting a double-decker bed for my children's room and I created the other room as a playcorner/studycorner. This is also the only time for me and my hubby to advance our skills by studying part time, so we connected the study-corner to our mbr for "burning midnight-oils" without disturbing the children! Hi, may I ask which software are u using for this? Would loved to know... thank you. Hi ilmare612, I was using free software, smartdraw, which you can download a free trial from http://www.smartdraw.com/ .... if I'm not mistaken, the trial is for 7 days so you gotta finish your layout asap if you don't want to buy it!! And it's super duper easy and fun to use Who is your coordinator in charge? You all engage a contractor to oversee? Hi LGG, Yeah, my agent/friend recommended this contractor to us - he's been very helpful and good. But as kiasu as we are , hubby and I been going there everyday for inspection and calling our contractor for any clarifications/unhappiness/etc .... make sure no mistakes and make sure that mistakes are being rectified. I told my contractor until our house reno completed, my hubby definitely be calling him more times in a day than his own wife So, I guess the coordinator in charge ... is also us? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
