Telok Blangah Heights

[pressuntilshiok 0]

To all those reading,

Having learnt so much from Renotalk, thought it might be useful to give back by documenting our journey.

Ours is a 11-yr old resale flat located Telok Blangah Heights. We purchased the flat some time back due to its great view, proximity to parents, lack of afternoon sun and quiet and green surroundings.

Having gone through an exhaustive 2 months search comprising what was meant to be an initial 5 that subsequently ballooned to 10 interior designers/contractors, we settled on Judy who is with Renozone.

The 10 comprised of:

- North west

- Craftsmen

- Intradesign

- Renozone

- Renoart

- Home Guide

- Artistroom

- Summit Design

- H20 (a.k.a. Kevin)

- KNQ Associates

I guess when it comes to getting a contractor, you can say its a clash of many variables - e.g. timing, pricing, quality & workmanship, affinity, 2-way communication channel, idea propositions etc....and for us, Renozone happened to emerge as the most 'balanced' and suitable amongst them.

Right now, the next step will be tile selection for the floors this Friday and demolition works are expected to begin on Aug 13 after National Day holidays. Meanwhile, here's a picture of the floorplan.

Edited July 30, 2012 by pressuntilshiok

[theitsybits 0]

hello hello! good luck and enjoy the renovation process

[May_dream1 14]

Congrats! Very interesting floor plan!

[casa 0]

Welcome to RT

Hope to c your reno pics soon

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Smooth start to the renovation process so far.

Permits have been obtained. Tile selection finalized as well. Coordination between air-con installation (different guys) and Judy taking place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, some "before" pictures of the house before it undergoes an overhaul. One of the dilemma we faced was that most of the contractors we met highlighted that it would be a pity to hack away the granite flooring as it was expensive and quite hardy. Moreover, we could easily have saved at least SGD10k on the flooring had it been retained. Not that we had anything against granite but the choice of the pattern (called white surf) was really too obiang and I personally felt that it would restrict the colours we could utilise for the walls/furnitures etc and was rather incompatible with the woody/natural colour theme we were trying to achieve.

Before the makeover:

Entrance:

Living:

Kitchen:

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Master:

[cookiez 0]

Hi pressuntilshiok...noticed that we are having demolition works done on the same day ie 13 Aug 2012

yeah u r right...its a pity that u hv to hack away the granite flooring...i find that its the color that make the whole room dark and dull...if its in a brighter color then maybe it will look better overall~

[Babysteps 0]

Wow, your place actually looks brand new. The floor is beautiful, huge pity to hack. Too bad it doesn't fit your decor ideas.

But the toilets really need to change. I just bought TBH too, and still "interviewing" contractors. Looking forward to see more pics from you.

Good luck!

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Aircon guys came over earlier on Monday and presented me with some bad news.

Because my house design (thanks to HDB) had so many internal beams which cannot be drilled through, the trunking for the airconditioning system would be less concealed that I had imagined and worse of all, I had to install condensate pipes in 2 of 3 bedrooms to pump the water out! Arghh.....which led me to Renotalk.

Hoping some RT forumers will provide me with a breakthrough/enlightenment so that I can either run my trunking in a more discrete way (w/o incurring more costs) or that I can use 1 pump less. Solving this dilemma definitely beats playing Sudoko!

So here's the floor plan and the current suggested layout of the aircon blowers (red) and trunking (blue for water pipe, brown for copper pipe) along with the ugly condensate pumps (orange).

Aircon ledge walls surrounded by beams (thick part of the wall), hole for trunking can only be punched through a small section of the wall (where the grey switch is)

Master Bedroom layout (most straightforward as pipes leads to the aircon ledge)

Trunking for Bedroom3 (need condensate pump as there are beams blocking the piping paths to the toilet)

Edited August 10, 2012 by pressuntilshiok

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Trunking for Bedroom2 (again need condensate pump to pump water across the living area into the toilet)

Trunking for Living (also pretty straightforward, just punch hole through common toilet)

Alternatives or Suggestions anyone?

[pressuntilshiok 0]

We also decided on the laminate for the wardrobes and kitchen. After going through stringent tests of pouring/drawing/scrubbing whatever imaginable and leaving it under the hot sun to dry, the one that emerged triumphant after cleaning was Lamitak's Lofty (Code SCA1109D). We decided on a white matt laminate as it helps to brighten the place and is easily matchable with wall colours, flooring and other stuff.

Complementing the white laminate will be Admira's Nove Vintage (Code QAB889RW). I like it because it projects a very raw image and isn't too fake like some other laminates out there. It also provides a good contrast with white. In reality, it looks a tinge more reddish than in the picture so definitely more woody.

Here's an idea of what we have in mind for the exterior and interior design. White glossy will be replaced with white matt. Silver strip to be replaced with woody laminate. Handles to remain the same. Interior will be 25% shelves & drawers and the remaining 75% hanging racks (2 levels). All 3 wardrobes are about 1.8M long.

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Came across some really nice, simple design which really represented what we had in mind. Saw this while surfing for laminates.

Really loved the kitchen design and cabinet in the living.

Had wanted to do a feature wall for the living area as well and since I was into all the wood/natural feel - when I came across this one day, I thought it would fit very well into the theme. Only problem was how to find the right wood and eventually, how to clean it when its done. Finally scrapped the idea cos it wasn't practical, especially when you have kids. Who knows, they might start pulling out the wooden blocks to play with them and everything will be chaos.

[pressuntilshiok 0]

4th day since the start of the renovations.

Glad to see that the hacking has been completed and the debris cleared. Also, the materials have all arrived for tiling works beginning next week.

Had a long discussion with Judy yesterday regarding almost everything in the house. Glad to note that there will only be 1 master-tiler working on the entire house (estimated to take 3 weeks). Hope that this will increase the consistency of the workmanship to be in-line with our expectations.

Meanwhile some pictures to update on the progress:

[pressuntilshiok 0]

Today's entry is regarding my love > hate > disgusted relationship with Wasser-Bath - the official showroom/dealer for the brand IXISS.

It began a couple of weeks ago when my wife and I decided to get 2 packages each comprising of a sink and WC that cost SGD598/set. We were assured this was the best price by Jane - the salesperson assisting us. A couple of days later, I headed down to Heritage and Universal Union and saw that they carried IXISS products too. Upon enquiry, I realized the same items were going at a cheaper SGD550/set. As I had already purchased some items from Universal Union, I asked to throw in the IXISS WC and toilet basins but after making calls for almost an hour - Christina (a very approachable lady from Universal Union) told me that the items weren't in stock and that the guys at IXISS basically made her 'run circles' without giving her any firm answers on who was in-charge (excuses like "all our stock used for condo project etc...also given").

As I was pretty happy with the service rendered by Jane from Wasser Bath, I called and asked if they had stock and if she could match the discounted price quoted by Heritage/Universal Union. If they could, I'd give them the business. Shortly, she replied that they had stock (SURPRISE - when others couldn't get their hands on it) and that it was possible to match the discount though the decision was an 'exceptional' one by her boss (somehow, I didn't feel so lucky but felt like a cabbage instead). Happy that I had secured the WC/Sink of our choice, I popped by the Balestier showroom to make payment and since I had gotten everything IXISS, I'd thought I get the accessories like towel rack and toilet roll holder to complete the set.

I fancied something nice, which seemed really sturdy with good finishing and was quoted SGD138/set. Given my earlier encounter with them, I told Jane that I hoped history wouldn't repeat itself and was repeatedly assured that this was the "BEST POSSIBLE PRICE". Feeling satisfied that I had settled everything for the toilets, I went home and reviewed other aspects of the house but curiousity got the better of me in the evening and I picked up the phone to call Heritage (initially, out of fun). To my horror/disgust, they were selling the same items for SGD88/set before GST i.e. I could have saved almost SGD100 had I ordered it through them. Already starting to boil, I called Jane and related this to her AGAIN. Best of all, they actually wanted to know which shop I had enquired from (which I obviously didn't disclose).

So I told Jane to void my earlier purchase as I could no longer trust Wasser Bath and proceeded to place my order with Heritage. Shortly after, Heritage called to inform me that IXISS had told them there was no stock left. Surprise, or no surprise...history repeated itself again (as with my earlier encounter with the WC/Sink). My very very strong hunch tells me that the owner of Wasser Bath (who probably also own the IXISS franchise) told his guys to stop supplying the items to all retailers except Wasser Bath. Otherwise, I can find no logic as to why Wasser Bath is always able to get their hands on stocks that others can't.

Clearly, they are not keen to make the brand popular but are more keen to rip people off. So home-owners, beware of IXISS and Wasser Bath. As much as I like the product and think that the finishing is good, the guys that are bringing it in to Singapore aren't really doing a decent job of promoting the brand. Perhaps its time to inform the head office in Germany that this is happening to IXISS.

[pressuntilshiok 0]

More progress on the house.... Uncle Cai has been hard at work doing up the place.

Was pleasantly surprised to see the wall tiles for the toilets up already only after 2 days of work. Kitchen wall has been completed and so has the mortar base too although changes would be made to accommodate the fridge and washing machine. Meanwhile some pictures to update the status of things.