Less Is More~ Our 1St New House

[sweetpoison 0]

These are the tiles I have chose for the common toilet. Was thinking that since our main colour for kitchen is white, might as well have a matching toilet! LOL!

After getting these, this is when the 'first world country problem comes'.. how do we want to place the wall tiles??

Did some research on my own, thought maybe I don't want the toilet to be too dark as it is already such a small space. Just place the black tiles behind the bathroom vanity area. My man didn't seems to buy my idea, so ID suggested to place the black tiles behind WC & shower area. Saying that it will make our rainshower & WC "pop out". I was not convinced till I saw this online.

Edited January 3, 2014 by sweetpoison

[sweetpoison 0]

Changing the common toilet entrance

They are putting up hollow blocks even before the wall for the new entrance is down.

Hacked after permit approved

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Edited January 3, 2014 by sweetpoison

[sweetpoison 0]

Hacking of the common toilet new entrance was done at the same time with the hacking of the storeroom wall. All these were done 2 days after Xmas, despite the permit for the kitchen/access area wall was still in pending.

Hacking of storeroom wall

View from Masterbed room. Now we have a passage way straight to the kitchen! As you can see, the kitchen wall wasn't down yet.

Edited January 4, 2014 by sweetpoison

[sweetpoison 0]

We spent a few hours at our place brainstorming about the kitchen that night. Trying hard to think of a plan B if the wall cannot be hacked. Where to place the fridge? What size can our fridge be? Can we have EzLiving for our laundry area? Will we be able to have a mini bar/island?

At the same time, going through every corner of the house thinking of new ideas and what we may have left out for the reno. At the end of the night, my man came out with this idea to whatsapp our ID about some of our decisions.

[sweetpoison 0]

Hacking Permits

This is the part that we have the biggest headache. For hacking of the storeroom/masterbed room wall & changing of the common toilet entrance, the permits were approved fast. For the kitchen/access wall..... boo! Another first world country problem.

Called the HDB officer handling our case on the 2nd week of reno. He said that I have to give him at least 2 weeks for the approval because the records for the bought over access area was way before 2006 & there is no record in their system. He has to send in the request form to get the records (that will take about 1 week) then once he got the records, he will send to HQ for approval (that will take around another 1 week). Nearly fainted upon hearing that... 2 weeks are really important to me. I cannot imagine how many works will be delay till to it. Quickly informed our ID & told him to plan the workflow accordingly.

Oh! Suddenly remember about how we narrow down our search for ID/contractors. Many that we have met, kept telling us that it's not possible to get that wall down! Due to fire hazard issues.. Flat too old... Unit too low... blah blah..

Even my contractor relative said the same thing! Imagine at that time, we were sharing with them our dream house idea~~... end up being splashed with cold water, still have to "bargain" for our budget and worse, receiving a quotation that has nothing (nothing!) about hacking off that wall....

Anyway, just to share. For hacking permits, please please get your contractor/ID to submit it as soon as possible and follow up closely with the HDB officer handling your permit. And be nice!

Moving on, I called my HDB officer on Boxing day. He said received the records two days ago and have sent in the documents to HQ for approval. Told me that we will have to wait till 1st or 2nd Jan 2014 for the result... Swallowed the news and told our ID to do whatever he can first.

[sweetpoison 0]

On the last day of 2013, our ID told us that HDB has approved the kitchen/access wall!! WOOHOO!! It was already in the late afternoon when we received the news. Called the HDB officer and was surprised that he was still in his office! Was asked to called him as my ID said he only received a call regarding the approval but in the system, permit was still under pending status. Told the HDB officer about it, he was really nice by explaining the situation to me. Apparently, he personally took our approved permit to his supervisor and left only after he saw his supervisor updated the system.

Anyway, everything was arranged promptly by my ID after the call. On the 2nd Jan, he personally went down to the HDB office, got the printed out permit and our wall is finally DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!

[sweetpoison 0]

Kudo to this man in the photo! My man said he was the one running the 'one man show', hacking and clearing all the debris!!

Love my place TOTALLY!!

[sweetpoison 0]

As of yesterday, the storeroom & kitchen original entrances were sealed. Will be having the air con installation (GainCity) today. And meeting up with our ID next week for a revised workflow plan!

Finally I have catch up my t-blog with my current reno works. Should have started off since day one. Hopefully I have not confuse or bored any of you.

Happy Weekends!

[alfredt 27]

your reno is progressing nicely.

[tessina 9]

Looking forward to seeing how the access balcony will be done up!

First time seeing this, interesting

[vicx1234 38]

wow the access area adds alot more space! congrats on the successful permit approval. Looks like your reno is proceeding smoothly.

[OceanEleven 203]

Yes! This is the photo I am waiting for. Very interesting looking. Given the row of windows, your place is gonna be bright and airy.

[ItsOurHome 0]

Gem Flooring - Looks even better close up.

The speed of your renovation is EXCEPTIONAL. So much done in less than a month. You've found yourself a very efficient contract.

Can't wait to see the finished product.

[newadventure 1]

Hi!

I wanna do something similar w the access area... Mind sharing your contractors name (since now he has experience doing this)?

Thank you.

Looking forward to seeing the progress of your reno.

[tltanus 0]

Kampong arang near BMW?