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A Poor Man's Budget Home

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  • lookaround
    lookaround

    roundegg,Yolla,mysapporo, have drop you people a PM. Just for some sharing, There is pre-renovation sale ongoing at Home-Fix at Marina Square with discount up to 30%. Padlock brands such as Viro, Duro

  • lookaround
    lookaround

    When i first look at the 3D drawings, i was abit 'wow' as i did not really expect a decent 3D drawing from the ID as my reno cost is pretty small scale(about 13K). Most id either quote a reno cost of

  • lookaround
    lookaround

    Hi, so far so good. But i haven reach the end of the renovation so can really, maybe i would be able to give you a truthful answer once the entire renovation is completed. Draft 2 of the 3D drawing af

  • Author

Best Discount Store or Mega Discount Store ? :dunno:

Mega discount store.

can PM me your ID contact?

Yes, done.

ur rooms are so bright, especially the colour of the wall~ :good:

:rolleyes: , not all the rooms has bright color, the living room has a grey wall, the masterbed is has a brown wall. Bedroom 1 has a orange wall and Bedroom 2 is in tiffany blue.

  • Author

The first item i bought before the renovation is the champs storage heater as i thought the price was pretty attractive. But after shopping around, i think it wasn't really a great bargain afterall due to the salesman and internet effect.

Purchase 1x Unit of Champs Storage Heater 30L CS30-H at $219 at Gain City Expo, not sure if HoeKee sell at a cheaper price although).

gallery_59794_363_189524.jpg

Come with 1 free trolley for transporting it around.

gallery_59794_363_68772.jpg

Will try post some updates on the renovation progress every sunday if possible as weekdays have been pretty tied up due to work.

  • Author

Back to the renovation drawing board for the additional carpentry

Initially we decided to get a off the shelf wardrobe due to the following factors

-Flexibility of furnishing, do not wish the furnishings in our house to be constraint in a fixed location.

-Would like to re-arrange all the furnishings around the house

-Cost, thought that it will be cheaper to get a wardrobe off the shelf.

-Spacious room, hope to have a spacious room

We did consider the Australian OPSH wardrobe but it cost 300/ft, about $60 increase/ft compared to 4 years back. Why we did not choose it

Cons.

-Cost per ft

-This wardrobe has no wall base, we think it might be a hassle to clean and maintain it as it is located pretty near the toilet

-certain config require additional cost

Pros.

-Look stylish and customizable

-Flexibility, Can be used for other purposes(like kitchen,living and etc).

But in the end we decide to let the id propose a additional wardrobe due to the following reasons

-After shopping, we realize that off-the-shelf wardrobe might not necessary be cheaper, those nice design is only cheaper by abit or costs the same as customized wardrobe

-But usage of space as the customized wardrobe is full-length

-Friends recommend that a customized wardrobe is more durable then off-the-shelf :rolleyes: (Hopefully, we will know the answer)

-Reasonable price offered by id

-Customization of the full internal of the wardrobe promised by the id.

-Laziness :P throughout most of the renovation works completed so far , we basically "wash our hands" of the entire reno and depend on the id to manage his team of contractors. Most of the time, we are not present when reno works are on-going except for the weekend visit to view the renovation status.Thus, i am not able to answer those pm who ask me about the sub-con who perform the work.

After confirming the wardrobe with the id, we did a quick google on the net to look for inspirations to suggest to the id.

Missy found this nice wardrobe layout but i think our 6 ft wardrobe is too small for such a layout. So, we shared this concept to the id for him to draft out something for us.

gallery_59794_10_63776.jpg

Mr ID then offer and propose 2 types of wardrobe to us.

1)The traditional 4-door casement, did not meet Mr ID face 2 face as both of us are pretty busy, thus Mr ID draw a propose external view of the wardrobe and whatsapps us.

Some sharing by the id.

Pros-No sliding track to "eat" space

gallery_59794_10_16322.jpg

2)Aluminium sliding door wardrobe with mirror and proposed internal layout. :wub:

Pros - Stylish, come with a sliding mirror.

Cons - Sliding track might eat up room space.

gallery_59794_10_41991.jpg

:rolleyes: think Mr ID is 'pushing' us to select the sliding door wardrobe as he has already "prepared" a 3d drawing once we confirmed the additional wardrobe works. Though i did not request for it as our reno is already on-going. So here you, my mock MBR 3 drawings.

gallery_59794_10_52725.jpg

That's all for today, will share the discussion of the wardrobe internals next time. :yeah:

  • Author

Another day of 'headache' as we met up with the Mr ID and Carpenter in the morning to finalize the internal layout / material selections for our wardrobe. :deal: . Alot of thoughts and thinking process has to be spend thinking each layout.

Looking through Mr ID's design, we came out with our own wardrobe internal layout for Mr Carpenter to advice. All the wardrobe layout came with a sliding mirror which can slides across to the other end. Mr ID also added that the sliding mirror in the wardrobe can be change to a full length mirror door at a additional cost of a wardrobe door but the cons would be, the full length would eat a additional 1 inch of floor space.

:sport-smiley-018:

Pardon me for the wardrobe front-view drawings as i get 'U' for Arts.

Layout #1

Based on the layout of Mr ID's 3 door aluminium wardrobe, there will be a removable board which can be removed if the clothes on the hanger 2 are too long.

gallery_59794_10_220374.jpg

2)Layout #2

A longer hanger for both of us to hang more clothes, with removable board and a common central storage to be shared.

gallery_59794_10_5195.jpg

Layout #3

About the same layout 2 except that the detachable board is replaced with a fixed drawer.

gallery_59794_10_48641.jpg

4)Layout #4

Each side will have its own unique style.

One side will have only the top and bottom hanger + a pull out drawer, while the other side will have many compartments for clothes.

gallery_59794_10_179505.jpg

Since this is a customized wardrobe and Mr ID gave us the freedom to choose any of the laminates, we decided to 'breakaway' from his 3d drawings and decide not to use those standard woody grain surface for our wardrobe so as to be unique. The carpenter casually mentioned since our kitchen is so colourful, why not choose something colorful for the wardrobe body. :lol: Mr ID also added in that the PVC board used can be change to 'coloured' PVC board but that will cost an additional $30 more pfr to fit in a colorful wardrobe theme.

:sport-smiley-004:

Although i was tempted but in the end decide not to as it might not blend well with the MBR bed that i have bought. So in the end, we chose one of the wavy pearlescents laminates for the wardrobe body.

gallery_59794_10_145565.jpg

After the whole wardrobe selection ordeal, i think i have sort of graduated as a "expert" in wardrobe layout internals. :notti:

Although Mr id might not necessary provide the cheapest price for the wardrobe but at least so far the renovation has been hassle-free and most of his quoted price is pretty reasonable after i did some online comparison.

Before i end this post, i thought the $200 pfr customized wardrobe shared by a fellow reno-talker(she engaged a malaysian carpenter to do the job) was the cheapest until i saw this super 'cheap' $185 pfr wardrobe advertisement. Wonder if any reno-talkers has tried this renovator before?

gallery_59794_10_88864.jpg

  • Author

Can u pm me ur ID contacts. Thanks!

Neojava, have send you the id contact.

There was no action in the flat last week as we have scheduled for the rest of the remaining carpentry and additional carpentry to be delivered at one go. After meeting up with the Mr Carpenter, he estimate he would be able to deliver all the goods by next monday 16/6 :P (that's if i do not add in any additional works at the last minute) and he will confirm further on with me this friday 13/6 if they could meet the timeline. They would require my presence on tuesday 14/6 to advice on some specific internals section of the wardrobe.

Nevertheless, i will share the washing machines that we have bought.

Initially, Missy was considering a Bosch but in the end, after some "PO-LO-SO" from the salesman, we narrow down between Samsung eco-bubble wash and LG Direct Drive Motor 6 motion wash. In the end, we settled for this LG model

1)LG WD Washing Machine 1480TDT - $770

http://www.lg.com/sg/washing-machines/lg-WD-1480TDT/reviews

Lastly, i am wondering if anyone in RT have ever ordered furniture from TB (Like sofa, dining table and etc).

Edited by lookaround

Hi,

Thank you very much for your sharing.

I am getting my key next month, Could you kindly pm me your ID contact.

Thank you very much.

For adventurous people, you might want to try to read home and décor magazines to get ideas, then engage specialized contractors (e.g. carpenter to do wardrobes and cabinets, tillers to do tiling and plumbers to do sanitary work) to do the work. You will be amazed at how much you can save by not going through ID. The IDs design but they normally engage these specialized contractors to do the work anyway.

  • Author

Hi,

Thank you very much for your sharing.

I am getting my key next month, Could you kindly pm me your ID contact.

Thank you very much.

Battle, check your pm.

For adventurous people, you might want to try to read home and décor magazines to get ideas, then engage specialized contractors (e.g. carpenter to do wardrobes and cabinets, tillers to do tiling and plumbers to do sanitary work) to do the work. You will be amazed at how much you can save by not going through ID. The IDs design but they normally engage these specialized contractors to do the work anyway.

wroomwroom, this might not be true if you did not manage to engage the real "contractors." Nowadays, alot of the so-called contractor also charge about the same as what a reasonable id would charged. One must really have the necessary contact or know the "market/cost price", if not will be tio makan GAO GAO by the so called contractors and having to deal with many parties especially when there are damages on the renovation. Some contractors also "outsource" some of their works to other parties, so the cost-saving parts is only possible if you could get a "honest" contractor or the working party. Even for my reno, i think it could still be cheaper by at least another 15%, if i manage to get the contractor. (but i think very hard)

Time for my renovation updates.

I was initially disappointed :( when i make a surprise visit to the flat as there seem to be no "visible" changes in the flat but somehow the flooring is abit dusty and the flat is "stuffy." Just as i was about to leave feeling disappointed, i suddenly had the thought to "clean" the flooring. After i was done, i was :) .

Could anyone notice the difference :sport-smiley-004: ? Take a look at the image below and compare it with the next image.

Original condition at the start of the reno.

gallery_59794_363_268883.jpg

gallery_59794_10_85857.jpg

Yes, yes, did you notice that there is a aluminium windows grilles and sliding window now. Sliding horizontal window grilles and sliding windows. I then realized that no wonder my flat is so stuffy and the flooring is abit dusty , it must be during the installation of the sliding windows and window grills, they closed all the windows. No wonder i am feeling stuffy as the entire flat has been 'boxed up.'

The grilles for the living room

gallery_59794_10_99390.jpg

Was amazed when i could open up the windows grilles this way, this could definitely make general cleaning of the windows much easier.

Room grillesgallery_59794_10_89938.jpg

From this picture, it look as if there is no grilles.

gallery_59794_10_64678.jpg

Lastly, presenting the main bedroom windows grilles

gallery_59794_10_88270.jpg

Did you manage to observe that the grilles is different :)

Lastly, did a check with id and he informed that all the carpentry items will be delivered on next week and requested that i get ready all the additional small small items that required installation. Looks like my renovation journey is really ending soon. Posting in the reno t-chat sometimes is pretty troublesome, have to upload pictures to the gallery and each post is limited to 6 images.

Renovation journey so far is still pretty smooth-sailing, keeping my finger-crossed till the carpentry works is delivered next week.

Edited by lookaround

Hi looking around, thank u for sharing the information and tips.

Could u kindly provide me ur I'D contact pls? Tks!

Battle, check your pm.

wroomwroom, this might not be true if you did not manage to engage the real "contractors." Nowadays, alot of the so-called contractor also charge about the same as what a reasonable id would charged. One must really have the necessary contact or know the "market/cost price", if not will be tio makan GAO GAO by the so called contractors and having to deal with many parties especially when there are damages on the renovation. Some contractors also "outsource" some of their works to other parties, so the cost-saving parts is only possible if you could get a "honest" contractor or the working party. Even for my reno, i think it could still be cheaper by at least another 15%, if i manage to get the contractor. (but i think very hard)

Time for my renovation updates.

I was initially disappointed :( when i make a surprise visit to the flat as there seem to be no "visible" changes in the flat but somehow the flooring is abit dusty and the flat is "stuffy." Just as i was about to leave feeling disappointed, i suddenly had the thought to "clean" the flooring. After i was done, i was :) .

Could anyone notice the difference :sport-smiley-004: ? Take a look at the image below and compare it with the next image.

Original condition at the start of the reno.

gallery_59794_363_268883.jpg

gallery_59794_10_85857.jpg

Yes, yes, did you notice that there is a aluminium windows grilles and sliding window now. Sliding horizontal window grilles and sliding windows. I then realized that no wonder my flat is so stuffy and the flooring is abit dusty , it must be during the installation of the sliding windows and window grills, they closed all the windows. No wonder i am feeling stuffy as the entire flat has been 'boxed up.'

The grilles for the living room

gallery_59794_10_99390.jpg

Was amazed when i could open up the windows grilles this way, this could definitely make general cleaning of the windows much easier.

Room grillesgallery_59794_10_89938.jpg

From this picture, it look as if there is no grilles.

gallery_59794_10_64678.jpg

Lastly, presenting the main bedroom windows grilles

gallery_59794_10_88270.jpg

Did you manage to observe that the grilles is different :)

Lastly, did a check with id and he informed that all the carpentry items will be delivered on next week and requested that i get ready all the additional small small items that required installation. Looks like my renovation journey is really ending soon. Posting in the reno t-chat sometimes is pretty troublesome, have to upload pictures to the gallery and each post is limited to 6 images.

Renovation journey so far is still pretty smooth-sailing, keeping my finger-crossed till the carpentry works is delivered next week.

Hi, the Grilles are nice!!! Did u get the grilles yourself or your id got it for u? can I roughly know how much it'll cost for a 5 room flat? do you have any contacts for this?

thanks

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