Hello all

This forum has been a great source to us on HDB designs and practical issues, so we thought of sharing our experience and hope that it may someday inspired others too.

Some basic background of our unit

- situated somewhere in Seng Kang

- built ready in 2001

- 5 room HDB, corner unit with no balcony

- 110 sqm

- the last renovation was in 2001 (country style)

We have from day 1 wanted to freshen up the house to feel "homely" but has hold on till today as we were broke after purchasing the unit (last few years the COV is crazy.....). So after a year plus we finally save enough to start renovating our unit!! For past 3 months we have been flipping magazines, browsing internet, talking to colleagues, discussing with ID/ contractors, shopping, to decide how we want to do up the house. It has been a little tiring especially with our baby is tagged along for all these excursions, haa.

Ultimately, we decided on a black and white theme for the house. We decided not to go to too many ID/ contractors as we felt (also read in this forum) that it is very draining to keep repeating our ideas to different people. 4 is the max that we wanted to go through.

- one is her colleague recommendation. She saw a photo of her colleague house and like how it was designed.

- one is his SIL recommendation. It is commented they have good workmanship and so far his SIS has not heard any complains from the people his SIL recommended.

- one is the very popular contractor in this forum. I believe he do not need further introduction.

- There should be one more, a contractor recommended by her aunt. However, we did not approach this contractor as managing the above 3 has been difficult (becos of work commitments and baby needs over weekend).

As we penned this blog together, we will identify ourselves using the following way:

Her/ She = Wife

His/ He = Hubby

End of part 1

Part two will describe a little more of the present condition of the house and hopefully we figure out how to post pictures!!

Attached my floor plan.

As you can see, the living room is spacious and the kitchen is long. This means that bedrooms will be a little smaller, which is disappointing..

From your title, it appears that your theme is black and white. Not sure if you will find it useful, but if you look at my blog, you will find that my toilets are all black and white, my dry kitchen all white, and wet kitchen all black. Have fun!

Good luck with your reno!

We also went with a black and white theme with our house (with splashes of brown here and there) and we're loving it so I'm sure you'll enjoy the process too!

Good, another B&W house. Will stay tuned for your progress.

My sis has the same exact layout in SK. Yes, the living room is spacious which is good, especially when you have kids to run around or hosts house parties with many guests. Bedroom 2 can comfortably fit two singles, and Bedroom 3 one single and study table.

Wow your living room area looks really big.

Before photos please? Can't wait to see what happens with the space!

Good luck with your reno, applaud your discipline in waiting till there's enough savings then commence Reno, prudence!

Your HDB layout looks quite a bit like my old flat's, kitchen is really big and long. Miss having a bigger kitchen.

Sorry all, was tied up with work and also have to look after our baby at night.

Now part 2 of our blog :

- Floor plan (done)

- Pictures of existing condition

1. Kitchen

2. Living room

3. Bedrooms

He used to have more pictures (of the house) in his Note 2 few months back but the phone went short-circuit and all pictures is deleted because chip and board of the phone is changed all together when servicing.

So the pictures we putting up is the last moments before we 动土 (ie. start renovation/ hacking the first few floor tiles).

Pictures coming up next ....

Part 2 - Kitchen existing condition

COUNTRY STYLE Kitchen!!

She loves and adores country style designs and has wanted to persuade him to consider going along with such style for our renovation. But she didn't really put in much effort in doing so as she is well aware he is very critical of country style and would never agree doing so. Hahaha

He felt that country style is not suitable in singapore context (seldom see people going for such style, though in our house hunting we saw few units before). It is also not easy to maintain and most importantly he felt this style 不耐看 after a while (ie. loses its appeal within a short period).

Coming back, as mentioned in our first post. The last renovation was done almost 13 years ago, so it may look a little run down (or this is just being country style LOL...)

Edited November 8, 201313 yr by virieslove

Living room from Kitchen entrance:

Living room from main door:

Living room from bedroom:

Part 2 - Living room existing condition

SPACIOUS SPACE?

He loves full height window glass panel! While ours cannot match to those beautiful full glass window commonly seen in newly built condo, we guess this is the closest it can be..

We have always felt the living room is very big and spacious, and especially so when one is to look at the floor plan. Let's see after renovation if this notion still hold water..He somehow feel that while spacious, it may not be that big after all....

Edited November 8, 201313 yr by virieslove

Bedroom 3:

Bedroom 2:

Part 2 - Bed rooms existing condition

PLAIN VANILLA..

Nothing to shout about, bare minimum stuff left behind. Not sure if the space in these bedrooms look small.. We aim of putting 2 beds, 1 wardrobe, and 1 study table in one of the rooms. Must think of some layout so it will still feel roomy after putting these items or....

Good luck with your reno, applaud your discipline in waiting till there's enough savings then commence Reno, prudence!

Your HDB layout looks quite a bit like my old flat's, kitchen is really big and long. Miss having a bigger kitchen.

Haha no choice, cash down significantly after paying for COV. Must applaud those at power landing us and many others to such predicament...

We never really need to cook in our life, we certainly want to explore into cooking after our renovation and see if we are born with such talents to do a mid-life career change to a cook/ pastry/ dessert chef. LOL