Llpl's New House @ Punggol Waterway Brooks

[duomaxwell 8]

Next up, 3D drawing of our dining area and kitchen entrance

Dining Area - same as living room, the 1st draft was too "dark" for our liking. The colour scheme for 2nd draft is much better but we asked for a 3rd draft as Missy wanted a corner to be painted with Chalkboard Paint, as such the display cabinet above the settee (shown on 2nd draft) is replaced with chalkboard paint.

Kitchen Entrance - with the change of theme, we also decided to take this chance to integrate a "dry" & "wet" kitchen concept to our new flat. As a result, there will be a bar counter and our Fridge, Oven, Microwave will be situated in the "dry" kitchen area. There is a 2nd draft to correct some errors in the 1st draft and also to include the bar stool which we brought from Tao Bao.

[duomaxwell 8]

As mention previously, we did not have any preference for the theme for our house thus we just stick to the Modern Contemporary previously, however at the beginning of this year (2015), Missy suddenly declared that she would prefer Scandinavian style. As a result, we got to inform our ID and revisit the 3D drawing proposed to us previously.

The following as the 3D drawing proposed:

Living Room - As the first draft was too "Dark" for our liking, we requested to redo the 3D drawing for living thus there is a 2nd draft

Master Bedroom - we requested for a 2nd draft as we did not like the colour scheme on the 1st draft, further more, we were being advised by our friend that from Feng Shui perspective, it is not recommended to have a fan on top of the bed as it will "suck" the soul from your body when you are sleeping. As a result, there will not be any ceiling fan in any of the bedrooms. We requested for a 3rd draft after coming to a decision that a tv console is a much better choice than having 3 ledges on the tv feature wall.

Bedroom 2 - there were 3 drafts as we did not like the wardrobe laminates proposed by the ID for the 1st draft, thus the re-proposal of wardrobe laminate by ID shown on the 2nd Draft. Lastly the 3rd draft was required as Missy's Sister chose her own preferred wardrobe laminate colour and ID was kind enough to draw in the dressing table chair design according to what we purchased from Tao Bao (Shall share our purchases from Tao Bao in subsequent posts) and propose some design to the wardrobe

Bedroom 3 - We decided not to construct suspended TV feature wall and console for this bedroom as we exceeded our budget after amendment of the list of items to be done after changing our theme to Scandinavian (will list down the amendments in subsequent post), as a result 2nd draft is required. Again, our ID is kind enough to include the 3D of the chair we brought from Tao Bao for this bedroom and proposed another wardrobe design different from Bedroom 2 for the 3rd Draft.

Edited June 4, 2015 by duomaxwell

[duomaxwell 8]

Our next few Bosch Electrical Appliances (Cooker Hob, Hood, Oven, Microwave)

We brought the following from Parisilk Bosch Warehouse sales on 13 Dec 2014

Bosch Cooker Hob (PBD9331SG) & Chimney Hood (DWB097E50) @ $1450

Bosch Oven (HBG23B550J) & Microwave (HMT84G651) @ $1799 {FOC Bosch System Steam Cooker (HEZ24D300) worth RRP $599}

We feel we got a good deal when we refer to the following advertisment

We save about $1648 - $1450 = $198

We save about $1999 - $1799 = $200.

Total savings = $198 + $200 = $398

Did not purchase from Harvey Norman previously when we purchase the Bosch Fridge previously as Harvey Norman did not have stock for the FOC steam cooker, was lucky that Parisilk still has stock as we went to a few places (e.g. Courts, Best Denki) but the FOC steam cooker was out of stock as well.

As a reason we did not hesitate much when the Bosch Retail Operations Team Leader stationed at the Parisilk Warehouse Sale told us Parisilk still have stock for the FOC steam cooker.

[duomaxwell 8]

The next few post will be dedicated to some of the electrical appliances which we purchase way before collection of keys.

Firstly will be the one which i feel is a must have for every house, Fridge.

As Missy wanted to standardised the brand for all electrical appliances for the kitchen and have strong preference for Bosch, I brought her Harvey Norman Flagship Store @ Millenia Walk to take a look at Bosch kitchen appliances as i recall that there is a cooking concept store.

Missy did not except me to immediately purchase a Bosch fridge on that day itself as the focus of the day was to know more about Bosch Cooker Hob & Hood and the pros and cons compared to other brands.

But I was immediately sold when the sales person mention that Harvey Norman is currently having promotion for Bosch fridge and the price sounds so attractive. I feel that the deal was too good to be missed, further more the sales person told us not to worry about delivery date even though we told him that our flat might only be ready in Aug 2015. As such, we paid $1499 for Bosch Fridge KAN62V40 on 08 Dec 2014.

Bosch Fridge (KAN62V40)

Following are some of the photos which i started taking off Straits Time advertisement (& other sources) since end 2013 and used it to convince Missy that it's a good buy for price offered.

[duomaxwell 8]

hi there! from the state of the construction you are likely looking at least another 2 months to key collection. strongly suggest considering alternative plans for your traditional wedding procedures.

by the way, we are also having traditional ceremony on the same day.

Wow. What a coincident.

Ya. Think we got no choice. That's my worst nightmare coming true. All the logistics and planning. Killer.

[duomaxwell 8]

Sharing a interesting Straits Time article

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/slugging-it-out-over-home-renovations-20150601

Slugging it out over home renovations

Buying a house is easier than renovating it, but how happy one is in it is more important than how it looks

PUBLISHED ON JUN 1, 2015 9:09 AM

BY FIONA CHAN

We were only five minutes into the discussion, but it was already going badly.

"And what type of sofa do you want?" our prospective interior designer asked, pen artistically poised over a floor plan of the home we had just bought.

"L-shaped," I said instantly, picturing myself stretched out lazily like a couch french fry, watching TV without having to find a footstool or turn my head.

My husband shot me a look.

"An L-shaped sofa will take up more space," was all he said, but I could tell he wasn't happy that this unilateral decision was now being enshrined in ink on our floor plan.

But I wasn't the only one who didn't see the need for consultation.

"What about your dining table?" inquired the designer, clearly intent on driving a wedge in our marriage.

Without hesitation, my husband whipped out his iPhone and showed the designer a photo of the exact dining table he wanted.

"Where is that table from?" I asked - quite courteously, I thought, considering he had never mentioned it before.

"I found it online," my husband replied blithely.

"It's... oval," I said, raising my eyebrows eloquently to convey the warning that the designer would charge more if he had to source for unusual furniture.

Unfortunately, my husband didn't speak Eloquent Eyebrow.

"Yes, it would be safer for our kids next time than a table with sharp corners," he said, a self-righteous future dad.

I wouldn't have expected it, but imagining our dream home was turning into a nightmare.

In many ways, buying a home is considerably easier than trying to renovate it.

Home purchases, after all, can be distilled into a fairly universal equation: location - taking into account distance from the city centre, an MRT station, schools, restaurants, shops and other amenities - plus the condition of the property plus the tenure of the land plus the size of the home plus any other personally desired factor.

Renovations, on the other hand, are more of an art than a science.

Everyone sort of has an idea of what he wants his house to look like, but no one knows exactly how to achieve it - or even whether it will look as good in real life as in his mind.

For our previous apartment, for instance, our contractor had talked my husband and me into installing a wall-hung mirrored display case that he said would add "oomph" to our dining room.

But its awkward position meant that it kept getting in the way of our dining chairs and I was the one who ended up saying "oomph" every time I walked into it.

Yet most home owners would agree that renovations are as important as the property purchase itself - they can turn a cookie-cutter flat, apartment or house into a personalised home.

Of course, the problems arise when you have more than one person living in a home.

Having been married for six complacent years, my husband and I thought we had a similar vision of what we wanted our home to look like.

We were both sold on the idea of a minimalist, functional, Zen-like style, filled with air and light and pale wood furniture straight out of a Muji catalogue. Together, we leafed through decor magazines, bookmarked our favourite designs and nodded approvingly at each other's choices.

But when we sat down to discuss our renovation with a bunch of interior designers last weekend, we realised we hadn't thought through all the details.

For one thing, neither of us has a particular talent for minimalism.

My husband collects transforming toys - two of each, so he can display one in car mode and one in robot mode. I, on the other hand, could probably dress all 17 seasons of Project Runway using just my summer wardrobe.

To store all our junk, my husband was keen on building enough floor-to-ceiling cupboards to rival a warehouse.

But I wanted to keep our common spaces and clean white walls as uncluttered as possible, so as to allow more air and light into our home.

"Fine," my husband said. "Then I'll turn part of the bedroom into a boys' den."

"What on earth is a boys' den?" I asked incredulously.

"You know," he replied. "For me to put my Transformer toys and PlayStation and other boys' things."

"Why can't you just put them in the living room?" was my response.

"Because a boys' den is cooler," he insisted. I couldn't argue with that because I couldn't really understand it.

For some couples, disagreements can help improve their relationships. For us, arguing over renovation works improved our relationships with the interior designers and contractors we were auditioning - just that we never liked the same ones.

One suggested converting our unusually high ceiling into an attic for storage, a proposal I had qualms about but that my husband immediately loved.

Another recommended keeping the ugly but sturdy dark parquet flooring, which I thought was a great idea but which my husband flat out rejected as "not sufficiently Muji-like".

And on it went. Like marriage counsellors, the designers gently but unerringly exposed our underlying differences and poked at our relationship sore spots.

But, as with marriage counselling, my husband and I soon found that exhaustively talking over about our differences led to better mutual understanding.

He explained that the mysterious "boys' den" would allow him to invite his friends over so he could spend more time at home, while the attic could let him keep his toy collection neatly without obstructing the air and light flow I was obsessed about.

And after I clarified that I only wanted to keep the ugly floors so he could save the money for his attic and den, we were on good terms once again.

The sad truth is that - based on past experiences - no matter what renovation plans we agree on, they will probably fall short of our expectations and somehow still exceed our budget.

What is key to remember, and what we almost forgot, is that it's not how good a place looks that makes it a home but how happy you are in it.

We still have a long way to go in our renovation process, but with any luck we'll both get what we want: a home that our spouse loves.

[nirvani 1]

hi there! from the state of the construction you are likely looking at least another 2 months to key collection. strongly suggest considering alternative plans for your traditional wedding procedures.

by the way, we are also having traditional ceremony on the same day.

[duomaxwell 8]

Pardon my grumbling, but i really need to get this off my chest as this has been bothering me since the start of this year (2015) and it is the collection of keys for our new flat.

As mention in the previous post, I had tried to write in to HDB appealing on the possibility for early key collection but was rejected by HDB. The following is the schedule/timeline which i attached as supporting evidence on the reason behind the need for early key collection

Coincidently, my cousin's new flat is in waterway banks and her blk is facing our blk and we took the following pictures from her living room yesterday during her House Warming. Now i can really understand why HDB could not accept our appealing as there are so many constructions ongoing.

So some lessons learnt:

1) Cannot assume collection of keys to all HDB BTO projects can be earlier than the PCD provided by HDB.

2) Don't book the banquet dinner/lunch date with hotels with a optimistic key collection date & renovation timeline/schedule.

- As we booked our banquet dinner based on the assumption (from friends experience) that collection of keys are usually 6 months before PCD (PCD is 3rd quarter 2015 (July/Aug/Sep) and 6 months before will be Jan/Feb/Mar. Worst scenario collection of keys in Mar 2015, if i allocate 2 months of defect rectification and 3 months of renovation, the house will be ready by Aug 2015).

- This turned out to be a bad move as till today (31st May 2015, we have yet to hear from HDB on the possible dates for collection of keys) but who can we blame, If we don't book our banquet dinner date with our preferred hotels, we might not be able to hold our banquet at our preferred 1st choice hotel as some Singaporeans book their banquets one year, some two years, and heard got some even three or four years (without knowing the rates of per table)

- If the collection of keys does not happen in June, we might be forced to make separate arrangement for Chinese pre-wedding customs (e.g. installation of the bridal bed (安床), tea ceremony) as the initial plan was for all this to take place in our new flat

- a huge dilemma of whether should we proceed on with renovation during Chinese Seventh Month (14th Aug to 12th Sep 2015) if collection of key happen in July or Aug, we might be able to get our flat ready if we fully utilised the one month period (Chinese 7th Month) doing renovation. However, based on all the feedback from both side of parents, we rather play safe than sorry. Would rather forgo the idea of getting our flat ready before our big day than take the risk of performing renovation during Chinese 7th Month.

- will need to forgo the chance of seeking advice from Feng Shui Master for our new flat as we understand from our ID that usually the advice from Feng Shui Master will conflict with the designs we want and time will be required to factor in advice from Feng Shui Master and "redesign" the layout of the house. Since time is not on our side. We decided to give up the idea of seeking advice from Feng Shui master.

[duomaxwell 8]

As we did not have any design theme in mind during 2013, we left it to our designer to propose a theme for our house. As you can see from the previous 3D drawing posted, the theme is mainly Modern Contemporary. We didn't had any preferences that time (2013) thus we just sticked to the proposed Modern Contemporary theme.

The following is the proposed layout which we got from our ID in Sep 2013.

Just some quick illustration on the proposed layout:

1) We decided to change the suggested study area into a small room which can fit one single size bed (Guest/Maid room)

2) The Master Bedroom will have a walk in wardrobe

3) The Master Bedroom toilet will have a bathtub (Missy wanted a "Hotel feel" to our master bedroom toilet thus the intention to have a bathtub)

4) Bedroom 2 will have a full height wardrobe and a dressing table (As Missy family members will be staying with us, this room will be occupied by her younger sister)

5) Bedroom 3 will have a full height wardrobe, a dressing table and a tv feature wall (Missy's parents will be occupying this room, thus there will be a queen size bed in this room)

6) Half of the kitchen wall will be hacked and replace by glass partition

[duomaxwell 8]

Hi! Hope you have a happy reno experience!

Thanks roberttty!!!

[duomaxwell 8]

Hi future neighbour!!

Hi future neighbour, hope all of us can have a great experience in renovating our new flat.

[Tay Yew 0]

Hi! Hope you have a happy reno experience!

[nadnut 1]

Hi future neighbour!!

[duomaxwell 8]

The following are the 3D drawings which we got during in Oct 2013. (All are changed due to design changes and concept changes as time passes from Oct 2013 to present)

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Area

Master Bedroom

[duomaxwell 8]

The following are the extracts of the items which we will be performing for the renovation of our flat

(P.S. the following list are done in Sep 2013, don't be shocked as we will be making quite a fair bit of changes to the list as our thinking and experience changes along the way since Sep 2013 till today. Now i understand what the senior staff at Ch** Interior Design meant when he say it's too early for both us. Haha.)

A Living/Dining/Maids Room

1 To design & construct false ceiling w/ cove lighting effect

2 To design & construct est. L 12.5ft full ht partition wall using gypsum board

3 To supply & install normal wooden door frame

4 To design & construct est L 9ft full ht display / shoe cabinet using solid-ply laminate

5 To design & construct est L 8.5ft full ht Tv feature wall using solid-ply laminate

6 To design & construct est L 8.5ft suspended Tv console using solid-ply laimate c/w internal polyester

7 To design & construct est L 9.5ft full ht mirror featured wall using solid-ply laminate & mirror c/w pivot door

8 To design & construct est L 6.5ft full ht wardrobe using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

9 To supply & install semi solid veneer door w/lever handle & hinges

B Kitchen / Service Yard

1 To supply labour to hack est L 8 ft half ht existing wall (Subject to HDB Approval)

2 To supply labour to make good damaged area

3 To design & construct kitchen cabinet base, fridge base, washing machine base w/tiles finishing

4 To design & construct est L 19 ft top & 15.5ft btm kitchen cabinet using solid-ply laminate c/w:

I Anti slam drawers

II Anti slam hinges

III Stainless Steel Dish rack

IV To install cooker & cooker hood

V Internal polyester

5 To design & construct est L 4 ft ht cabinet using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

6 To supply & install est L 15.5 ft quartz top for kitchen work top c/w back splash (caesarstone)

7 To supply & install est L 15.5 ft tempered spray painted glass in between top & bottom kitchen cabinet

8 To supply & install est L 8 ft divider using 10mm thick tempered clear glass (1500mm ht)

9 To supply & install est L 3.5 ft swing door using 10mm thick tempered clear glass w/handle

C Master Bedroom

1 To design & construct false ceiling w/cover lighting effect

2 To design & construct est L 12 ft full ht wardrobe suing solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

3 To supply & install est L 6 ft full ht partition w/ sliding door using 10mm thick tempered tinted glass

4 To design & construct est L 6 ft suspended Tv feature wall using soild-ply laminate (1200m ht)

5 To supply & install est L 2ft full ht clear mirror

D Bedroom 2

1 To design & construct est L 5.5 ft full ht wardrobe using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

2 To design & construct est L 2.5 ft suspended dressing / study table w/ drawers using solid-ply laminate

E Bedroom 3

1 To design & construct est L 6 ft full ht wardrobe using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

2 To design & construct est L 7.5 ft suspended Tv feature wall using soild-ply laminate (1200m ht)

3 To design & construct est L 2 ft suspended TV console using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

4 To design & construct est L 2 ft dresser table using solid-ply laminate c/w internal polyester

5 To design & construct est L 3.5 ft full ht partition using gypsum board

F Master Bathroom

1 To supply labour to dismantle existing bathroom accessories

2 To design & construct bathtub base w/tiles finishing (Max $3.40 psf)

3 To design & construct est L 2.5 ft suspended vanity cabinet using acrylic

4 To design & construct est L 4.5 ft suspended mirror cabinets using solid-ply laminate w/ mirror (1200mm ht)

5 To supply & install est L 2.5 ft solid surface c/w back splash on top of vanity cabinet

6 To supply & install fixed panel using 10mm thick tempered clear glass

G Common Bathroom

1 To supply labour to dismantle existing bathroom accessories

2 To design & construct shower curb w/ tiles finishing

3 To design & construct est L 2.5 ft suspended vanity cabinet using acrylic

4 To design & construct est L 2.5 ft suspended mirror cabinet using solid-ply laminate w / mirror (1200mm ht)

5 To supply & install est L 2.5 ft solid surface c/w back splash on top on vanity cabinet

6 To supply & install shower screen using 10mm thick tempered clear glasss (L-Shape)

H Miscellaneous works

1 To paint whole unit interior wall using NIPPON / ICI paint (no limit of colour)

2 To lay cardboard protection for working areas

3 To chemical wash the whole unit

4 To clear & discard debris

I Professional Services

1 Design Consolation

2 Space planning

3 3D perspective & detail drawings

4 Material & colour proposal

5 Site Management / Project management

To provide internal polyester or high rated PVC for all carpentry internal storage

To provide blum soft closing runner track for all drawers

To provide soft closing hinges & AA track for all the carpentry