A Home Of Our Own@simei St 1

[nurikonagano 0]

Hi all,

First time posting in the forum though I've been reading up alot in the different threads since weeks ago.

Just got the keys to my future new home at Simei St 1 last Thursday.

Previous owner din do much maintenance, so it'll be a major renovation to change basically every corner of the house. (But that's also why we manage to negotiate for a lower COV )

Hope to share my "home building" experience here and I look forward to hearing advices from the experts around.

[jaskel 2]

Welcome to RT Happy Renovating your dream house. Hope to see more pics.

[nurikonagano 0]

Ahhh.....just learnt how to post pics here.

Here's my future home's layout. ^^

Intend to hack the wall of the storeroom to make a walk in wardrobe from the MBR

[nurikonagano 0]

Finally able to come in for some updates after a long and tiring weekend preparing for my wedding. But at least now that I've settled my banquet venue and bridal shooting package, I can focus on our future home's renovation!

Took some photos of our future home and had some discussion with my FH on the "must haves". Will start to go around and meet a few IDs for ideas on how to revamp this old unit this week. Read from some of the T-bloggers here that we can actually "steal" ideas from the IDs and engage a contractor at the end of it. But seriously am a bit braindead after being "drilled" by a few bridal studios over the past few weeks..... hope everything goes well....

Will be sharing some photos of my future home before renovation in the next post! I love the squarish layout~ But the long kitchen is quite a headache (cos I prefer an open concept kitchen) and I am still thinking hard on how I can well utilise the space in the MBR bathroom cos both of us will really love to have a bathtub. Why are all HDB toilets so small???

[nurikonagano 0]

Taken from the entrance of the house...

Build in cabinet with altar to be removed...Still thinking whether we prefer to put some display shelves here or put the TV here...

Probably gonna be the dining area unless any ID gives some really interesting ideas on how to allocate furniture in the living room

The long long kitchen that destroyed my dream to have an open concept kitchen

Ugly refuse chute that needs to be hidden somehow...

To be continued....

[nurikonagano 0]

The tiny common bathroom....actually do we need to have shower area in common bath? Or should it be a washing area instead???

Compressor in MBR to be removed from sight. Am thinking of making this corner at the windows a cosy magazine reading/relax corner like the apartment we stayed in our Taipei trip, but FH say it'll be too cramp. Hmmm....

Still hoping to squeeze a bathtub in this small little MBR bathroom...

Bedroom 2's build in wardrobe to be removed....Probably turning this smallest room in the house into an entertainment room where FH plays his PS games, and I can practise my keyboard.

That's all for the moment~ Comments and suggestions are most welcomed!

[junwei84 0]

welcome to simei st 1!

hahaha

looks like u hav a totally same layout as mine except mine is 5rm corner.. but other than tt.. ur layout is totally e same!

for ur mbr toilet.. aft tiling... if its e same as mine.. length of bathtub tt can fit is roughly bout 1.3m only.. cos we were juz measurin it e other day... hahaha

[nurikonagano 0]

Hi there!

*envy*

I had wanted a corner unit too....cos I prefer the privacy. But budget constraint u see....wedding and new home purchase (plus renovation) together is alot of money to spend. Gotta give and take...

So u planning to put a bathtub in the MBR too?

1.3m seems too small....been looking around and the smallest tub I've seen is 1.4m. And I don't really like the idea of crawling in and out the bathtub to bathe everyday....Prone to accidents mah. And tends to accumulate residues of the soap we use.

After lotsa reading up and knowing that I can't reposition the wc, I'm now trying to find those deep baths like the Japanese ofuros. Might work if I manage to find it. Will be checking with IDs if they have lobang too.

[junwei84 0]

Hi there!

*envy*

I had wanted a corner unit too....cos I prefer the privacy. But budget constraint u see....wedding and new home purchase (plus renovation) together is alot of money to spend. Gotta give and take...

So u planning to put a bathtub in the MBR too?

1.3m seems too small....been looking around and the smallest tub I've seen is 1.4m. And I don't really like the idea of crawling in and out the bathtub to bathe everyday....Prone to accidents mah. And tends to accumulate residues of the soap we use.

After lotsa reading up and knowing that I can't reposition the wc, I'm now trying to find those deep baths like the Japanese ofuros. Might work if I manage to find it. Will be checking with IDs if they have lobang too.

try www.wilton.com.sg = nam wah. saw e link in some thread on e net.. they sell bathtubs.. saw a 1.3m on their website.. though we haven gone n see yet.. in e midst of weddin preps too.. busy!

[nurikonagano 0]

try www.wilton.com.sg = nam wah. saw e link in some thread on e net.. they sell bathtubs.. saw a 1.3m on their website.. though we haven gone n see yet.. in e midst of weddin preps too.. busy!

Hmm....the link is not working. But I've heard of Nan Wah. Its somewhere at Changi area rite? Will check it out soon.

I saw your blog~

Really very very similar layout! And my house is next to the PIE too~ LOL

Now your blog becomes a very good reference for us on our space planning. ^^

[junwei84 0]

Hmm....the link is not working. But I've heard of Nan Wah. Its somewhere at Changi area rite? Will check it out soon.

I saw your blog~

Really very very similar layout! And my house is next to the PIE too~ LOL

Now your blog becomes a very good reference for us on our space planning. ^^

hahaha.. u can read up jeffcraze blog too.. his unit is our area too.. yea yea nam wah is in changi..

we had quite some probs gettin the HDB to aprrove wall hacking.. the HDB guy came like 3 times before finally approving.. so if u plan on hackin ur walls and in rush of gettin ur flat done up.. better tell ur contractor to speed up e permit application

[nurikonagano 0]

hahaha.. u can read up jeffcraze blog too.. his unit is our area too.. yea yea nam wah is in changi..

we had quite some probs gettin the HDB to aprrove wall hacking.. the HDB guy came like 3 times before finally approving.. so if u plan on hackin ur walls and in rush of gettin ur flat done up.. better tell ur contractor to speed up e permit application

Oooh....will go check out jeffcraze now.

My wedding is early Dec. So I guess we should have sufficient time for the reno bah...

Actually my FH is in the construction line himself. So I think hacking and tiling works will be done by his own workers. Will let him know that he can't take his own sweet time to apply for the permit then. Definitely gonna hack down a wall or 2 for our new house....

I've been reading up on IDs recommendations in the forum but still seem to be getting nowhere....maybe I should just get a few contacts and start emailing them for quotations.

[nurikonagano 0]

Emailed a few IDs but not all get back so far...

Getting abit tired of all the liaising work (cos I'm also trying to order a custom made bathtub from Taiwan. So lotsa emails ding donging here and there....)and decided to make things easier for myself.

FH's cousin is an ID herself. Had spoken to her before but din want to restrict myself to only one person's opinion. That's why I'm still looking around. But upon reading the different T-blogs and comments in the forum, seems like even the most recommended ID/renovator can give problems in the most unexpected way. So I guess I'll just save myself from the trouble and use FH's cousin as our ID, and hope everything goes well. *fingers crossed*

Well....the good thing about getting someone u know is that u don have to be so "ke qi" for your requirements. The bad thing is, she won't be that "ke qi" to u either.....haiz... somehow feel that we are at the lowest of her priority list.....suppose to be meeting her for a more detailed discussion this week, but it's postponed to next Saturday cos she's not free. I can't wait to see something more concrete for our new house siah.....

[emobebe 1]

Emailed a few IDs but not all get back so far...

Getting abit tired of all the liaising work (cos I'm also trying to order a custom made bathtub from Taiwan. So lotsa emails ding donging here and there....)and decided to make things easier for myself.

FH's cousin is an ID herself. Had spoken to her before but din want to restrict myself to only one person's opinion. That's why I'm still looking around. But upon reading the different T-blogs and comments in the forum, seems like even the most recommended ID/renovator can give problems in the most unexpected way. So I guess I'll just save myself from the trouble and use FH's cousin as our ID, and hope everything goes well. *fingers crossed*

Well....the good thing about getting someone u know is that u don have to be so "ke qi" for your requirements. The bad thing is, she won't be that "ke qi" to u either.....haiz... somehow feel that we are at the lowest of her priority list.....suppose to be meeting her for a more detailed discussion this week, but it's postponed to next Saturday cos she's not free. I can't wait to see something more concrete for our new house siah.....

I can understand how you feel. I also feel burn out a bit but this time I narrow down to Contractor IDs cos I think my design is simple and I guess any contractor also can do it. So, waiting for their quotes now. Will finalised soon cos I really lazy to go around. LOL

Cheers:) Emobebe

[nurikonagano 0]

I can understand how you feel. I also feel burn out a bit but this time I narrow down to Contractor IDs cos I think my design is simple and I guess any contractor also can do it. So, waiting for their quotes now. Will finalised soon cos I really lazy to go around. LOL

Cheers:) Emobebe

Yar....actually I've kinda lost the excitement as time goes compared to the day I got the keys. Guess I'll need to get some things moving to "spark" that flame in me again. LOL~

Actually it's not completely no progression....last weekend did go down to my FH's contractor friend's factory to take a look at their marble samples for our living and bathroom tiling. But seriously, I'm not able to visualise how it'll look when completed. So we just picked a few, grabbed some samples, and shall wait for our ID to take a look and give some opinions on which are the better choices to go with her suggested designs.

Realised that it's not so easy to pick the right marble for our new house. Saw this white base, dark grey veins marble which I really like, but was told by the "experts" that they'll get stained easily.

Then we saw this big slab of dark brown marble which we're considering for our bathrooms. But the slab itself is divided into the light tone (orangy) and the dark tone (dark brown near to black). Asked FH's fren what if we only like the dark tone part? He say they'll try their best to match the colour but the final results might be slightly different from what we visualise (HUH??).

Then we were discouraged from taking another kind of marble which looks nice with very defined veins for our bathroom cos the cracks at the underside of the marble is very deep and won't be as "durable". haiz....

So the best thing I learnt from this marble tile selection is - “原來不是美就好了”