5-Room Renovation In East

[Dannie 0]

The next important phase of the renovation would be to plaster the entire apartment, walls and ceiling. After the plastering, the look and feel of the apartment improved 300%. This is because the walls and ceiling will be extremely smooth and all edges will be perfect angle due to the cornering plates they use for all edges. Once plastered, the entire place looks as though it was a Condo unit which usually has all these details looked into.

 

Above: Bedroom 2 fully plastered with false ceiling installed. Awaiting built-in wardrobe.

 

Above: Study room fully plastered with false ceiling installed. Awaiting built-in Book cabinet.

 

 

Above: Plastered Service Yard. Looking great!

 

Above: Plastered living area. Still in a mess though.

The next phase would be to get a family contact to come in for application of sealant to the walls and to paint entire walls and ceilings for the whole apartment. Heard this contact's workmanship is excellent.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

Gotten call from contractor. The hard top for the sink was returned to factory and a new one being fabricated. this is because they cut using old sink measurement. I have a new sink. Alamak.

[ayazumi 0]

Looks great. Keep it up

[Dannie 0]

Sigh. Contractor just called again. Apparently the tiles we chose were different in sizing. 29.8cmx60cm versus 30cmx60cm. Lesson learnt.

Both our toilets have this issue and we used different tiles for different parts of the wall.

Appreciate contractor calling me to update me every step even though it may be bad news. Let's hope that the finished result will be good. Please learn from my lesson.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

Off topic a little. Wifey chose this vacuum cleaner, insisting it is very silent. But it uses a bag. I prefer bagless. Anyone used this Rowenta vacuum cleaner before? Any feedback? Is it and quiet?

[Dannie 0]

My major renovation works were the complete overhaul of both MBR and common toilet. While the excitment is there, along they way there were hiccups. But its a learning journey. 1st home, 1st renovation, 1st lesson. Perhaps its my attention to detail (or lack of) which leads to some worries here and there. No doubt my contractor is doing a good job. But every visit comes with some little surprises. Thankfully my contractor has been picking up my calls and listening to my ranting...

Anyway, the solid top for the kitchen has been installed. Chose grey theme to fit the current floor tiles in the kitchen. Using a BLANCO sink which sells for $399 from Hoe Kee...

 

The cooker hob and hood has not been installed yet. Perhaps it is the last step? I'm not too sure... The glass backsplash has not been installed yet. I am still working with contractor to build a skirting below the top cabinet to install T5 light tubes.

 

This is the BLANCO sink I am talking about. Will fit in a G.Ferretti kitchen tap. Also tiling the top on the window part and running a black glass across it so as to separate the yard from the kitchen area.

For the lighting around here, have purchase from lightings.com.sg a 2M and 1M track with 7 modules fitted with Philips 7W LEDs. I hope the effect will turn out well. Stay tuned...

When more is being done up I will update on this portion again.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

This portion updates on the works in the MBR and common toilets.... this comes with the most suspense... and worries...

For the MBR toilet, we will build a hollow wall to incorporate a sunken area to hold up the shampoos and bathfoams etc. Contractor has offered good advise to lengten the dimensions as opposed to my own drawings and dimensions:

 

 

As you can see, the sunken area is much larger as he and his tiler have experience doing the same for condos and private houses. They suggested the new dimensions and I took it. It will be more practical to follow through on the new idea they said. The wall will be a feature also to house the rain shower which was bought from Living Phenomenon.

 

Also 60% of the walls have been tiled up...

 

As for the common toilet, the same goes that about 60% of the tiles have been put up.

 

Contractor will help to run the cold/hot pipes at floor level rather than follow the previous home owner's which runs along the ceiling and down. To do so, they will run it from the Yard to enter the common and MBR toilet via floor level.

That's the update for now.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

Sigh. In the latest visit, my brand new window had a handle smashed off literally.

 

This is very upsetting...

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[fishponder 0]

Oh my, how did that handle come off totally like that?

[NeoBY 1]

Looks like kenna knocked off.

[ayazumi 0]

Could be someone tried opening the window, but too rough to the handle.

[Dannie 0]

I'm not too sure. I called my contractor to look into it. Let's see what he does to delight. :/

[Dannie 0]

Phew! Its been a week of dropping by the apartment and looking into areas to right any wrongs. With regards to the MBR toilet, realised that the tiling of the kerb around the PVC pipe has been done up nicely BUT wrongly. Informed contractor and it was nicely redone accordingly.

 

Above it the wrongly done kerb. The actual one is supposed to follow the shape of the cabinet which is more of a rectangular shape. Of course, my contractor got it redone within 2-days. See below.

 

Anyway, the toilet has been tiled up. Contractor called me to discussed about edging of tiles at right angle. Because the surface has a different tone against its inside, he suggested using PVC edging to form the right angle. Good point raised.

 

They did up the wall cavity as per my drawing and the result looks good.

Below here is the tiled up Common Toilet.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

Next completed item is the Washing Machine Kerb. Nicely done up too! Pardon the darkness. No lights yet at the yard.

 

Have also tiled up the area in front of sink. After the black glass is up, this area can be used to place stuff on eg. washing liquids.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie

[Dannie 0]

The TV console for the MBR was delivered also:

 

A refresh on how it should look like:

 

 

However, I nv planned how the wiring should be done and it was decided on the day of delivery. Till now we have not really decided how to solve this problem. The carpenters drilled some holes but I am still worried about ease of use. Best thing was that they drilled a hole on the TV mount area without looking at my mounting bracket! In the end, mine was unusable because of the current hole and the screws are all mounted on the centre area. I needed a new on that is wider for more stability.

Called all the electronics majors like Harvey Norman, Gain City, Challenger and COURTS. For a 42-inch TV, the range of brackets typically costs $120. In the end, with some simple internet research I got the BEST DEAL IN TOWN. Went to this warehouse store in TOH GUAN CENTRE. Its called Planet Element. Bought it from Tony. A fantastic and friendly person. They do installation for you also for a fee. WEBSITE Guess what? I needed a bracket urgently and I managed to get him to open shop for me on a sunday! He drove all the way down to open shop once I made an appointment to meet up on Sunday afternoon, all within 30min of my first call to him. Next time when I decide to mount my living room TV I am sure to go back to him for brackets and service again!

In the end got this heavy duty one which the electronics giant sells also. Just that I bought it at 30% CHEAPER!!!!

 Got the middle row, third from the left, with the many holes in the bracket. This is suitable for TV wall mount which is onto wooden console with wirings the run into the console rather than hanging down.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Darnie