A Baker's 3 room BTO @ Skyline II

[matchalatte 16]

9 hours ago, ilkl said:

Hello! Looking at your floor plan, I do think this is a great idea!

I like your moodboard, some photos look very familiar to me haha, cos I favourited them too! The marble look is supposed to be on trend this year, and it goes well with metal finishes. Copper and rose gold will complement them very well too! Can't wait to see how your place will look like!

When are you getting you keys?

hi! thanks for posting on my blog. i virtually forgotten all about it lol. my keys are ready for collection actually but i can't collect it as i'm still in the process of selling my flat. waiting for my 1st appt in may! i estimate to be collecting keys in july, should be able to start reno in aug. looks like still a long way to gooooo, i'm getting impatient. 

yeah i love the marble look, and for a baker its actually more of a necessity as its suitable for pastry & chocolate making because marble's temp is cooler. but it will be expensive. i've visited around 5 contractors and all still havent gotten back to me lol.

[matchalatte 16]

so heres a 3D plan i did using the free app "roomle". 

initially we wanted to hack lots of walls but we've decided to forgo the plan due to practical reasons and just hack the wall facing the living room and replace with a 4 panel sliding door.

Edited April 14, 2017 by matchalatte

[matchalatte 16]

contractor selection

i do not feel like updating this section since its tedious to have to recall and document each experience but lets just say that after meeting 20+ contractors and 6 IDs, my chosen contractor is nick from renoguyz. read about my review on him here.

Edited January 18, 2018 by matchalatte

[honeybunny 1]

nice inspiration book! really like the marble theme!

thanks for sharing about the reno quotation process,  i think no. 4. is really jialat, he dont know how to do your reno but still must comment and say why you want to do like that, or why buy bto... in the first place its our home that we want to make into our ideal reno, not the contractor's house, people want to buy what kind of house to hack is not his business right. also bto plenty of people hack to open up living room, kitchen, or make wiw, not like its something so unusual and difficult right.

following your blog for more updates 

[ilkl 6]

Hey @matchalatte,

Your unit is really quite challenging to work around. May I suggest two things?

1. Since you are merging both bedrooms into one, maybe you can consider "sacrificing" the common bathroom? Convert it into a dry area, maybe as part of the kitchen so you can place your island at the existing designated kitchen area rather than squeezing it into the living area? Walking sideways is one thing, but if you need to move in or out any furniture then the island is going to block the way.

2. Place full height mirrors along the bomb shelter wall facing your kitchen to make the space look bigger. Essentially it will double the perceived space. Don't really know if you can put mirror on the bomb shelter door but worth considering!

 

I previously lived in a 56 sqm 3-room flat so I totally understand the importance of space planning. A bit of a headache but kinda fun figuring out ways to solve it! Jiayou!

Edited March 5, 2017 by ilkl

[matchalatte 16]

14 hours ago, honeybunny said:

nice inspiration book! really like the marble theme!

thanks for sharing about the reno quotation process,  i think no. 4. is really jialat, he dont know how to do your reno but still must comment and say why you want to do like that, or why buy bto... in the first place its our home that we want to make into our ideal reno, not the contractor's house, people want to buy what kind of house to hack is not his business right. also bto plenty of people hack to open up living room, kitchen, or make wiw, not like its something so unusual and difficult right.

following your blog for more updates 

true, i appreciate the contractor's well meaning advice but this is not something i anticipated. i guess i need to be prepared for more of this sort of response telling me my idea is "not doable" especially from those neighborhood contractors so luckily i've started to find early! thanks for the kind words and for following! 

Edited March 5, 2017 by matchalatte

[matchalatte 16]

4 hours ago, ilkl said:

Hey @matchalatte,

Your unit is really quite challenging to work around. May I suggest two things?

1. Since you are merging both bedrooms into one, maybe you can consider "sacrificing" the common bathroom? Convert it into a dry area, maybe as part of the kitchen so you can place your island at the existing designated kitchen area rather than squeezing it into the living area? Walking sideways is one thing, but if you need to move in or out any furniture then the island is going to block the way.

2. Place full height mirrors along the bomb shelter wall facing your kitchen to make the space look bigger. Essentially it will double the perceived space. Don't really know if you can put mirror on the bomb shelter door but worth considering!

 

I previously lived in a 56 sqm 3-room flat so I totally understand the importance of space planning. A bit of a headache but kinda fun figuring out ways to solve it! Jiayou!

thanks for your ideas! mines a new bto so theres a 3 year restriction on the hacking of the toilet walls. therefore cannot convert into a dry area else i think will be good. i really like a walk in pantry with all the baking tools, canned food & stuff and i dont mind converting the main bathroom to one but too bad cannot. 

as for mirror i've thought about it but not sure how it will look as im going for the danish/northern european/mid century modern and i've not really seen interiors with mirror unless you can show me some pics lol. no idea whether will clash with my color scheme or not. my initial idea was to paint the bomb shelter walls black + chalkpaint the door so since both are black the look will be seamless. ya the whole house will look dark but im going for the dark moody look so i dont really mind haha. 

and my hubby was saying if the island is there at the living room then if in future if we need new furniture they will just have to lift it up and carry it into the house no choice lol

Edited March 5, 2017 by matchalatte

[ilkl 6]

Hmmm... what about not hacking the bathroom walls and overlay instead? You can overlay with cement screed and paint over, or in the case of a kitchen, having carpentry on top of the tiles and adding a backsplash such as kompacplus or glass to hide the tiles.

I notice a ramp up in your floor plan, does that mean your common bathroom floor is lower than the kitchen? Any BTO restrictions regarding the toilet floor? Can you screed over it to level up? Sorry I'm just throwing out ideas here...

As for the mirror, there's something from Home & Decor Sg: http://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/articles/82484-7-clever-ways-hide-your-bomb-shelter/bomb-shelter-6--slide-6

The mirror idea is this picture:

 

I think mirrors can go with any theme esp if done up full height like the pic above. Just ignore their subway tiles and concrete side table...

2 hours ago, matchalatte said:

and my hubby was saying if the island is there at the living room then if in future if we need new furniture they will just have to lift it up and carry it into the house no choice lol

But how abt your bed etc? Are you going to shift in your bed and sofa before the island is constructed? The ceiling isn't that high that the whole bed can go above the island, right?

[ilkl 6]

http://www.guojiawen.com/2014/07/59-renovation-day-64-21-june.html

[matchalatte 16]

2 hours ago, ilkl said:

Hmmm... what about not hacking the bathroom walls and overlay instead? You can overlay with cement screed and paint over, or in the case of a kitchen, having carpentry on top of the tiles and adding a backsplash such as kompacplus or glass to hide the tiles.

I notice a ramp up in your floor plan, does that mean your common bathroom floor is lower than the kitchen? Any BTO restrictions regarding the toilet floor? Can you screed over it to level up? Sorry I'm just throwing out ideas here...

As for the mirror, there's something from Home & Decor Sg: http://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/articles/82484-7-clever-ways-hide-your-bomb-shelter/bomb-shelter-6--slide-6

The mirror idea is this picture:

 

I think mirrors can go with any theme esp if done up full height like the pic above. Just ignore their subway tiles and concrete side table...

But how abt your bed etc? Are you going to shift in your bed and sofa before the island is constructed? The ceiling isn't that high that the whole bed can go above the island, right?

overlaying is ok but i thought you meant to convert it to a dry kitchen. so how would i be able to do that if i dont hack the walls? 

i need to go think about the mirror thing! the one you showed me from home & decor looks seamless, really nice. i dont really like the second one though because of the cut out. i've also seen them pasting the mirror at the DB box and precisely because of the cut out i dont want it. its like 4 pcs of mirror joining together. suppose if we want a totally full height and one piece of big mirror also need to take into consideration whether the lift can go in or not also right? im staying at 20+ storey. 

yes need to do planning to shift everything in before doing the island. my main concern is more towards down the road like when u need new furniture next time after we move in. thats why my hubby say will have to haul up above the island. mattress will have to carry horizontally over the island, same goes for sofa. the rest of the furniture should be flat packed and assembled inside the house ba. 

[ilkl 6]

Oh sorry I had a brain fart and forgot that you'll need to hack away the wall separating the bathroom and the kitchen first, and since that's not allowed, no can do. Ignore me then!

[matchalatte 16]

(reserved)

Edited March 5, 2017 by matchalatte

[matchalatte 16]

feeling abit overwhelmed about meeting with contractors plus more to come, not even sure what i should be looking out for anymore. do you actually need to find someone who understands your designs? because i can hardly find one that im happy with their portfolio. most of the time they do the usual contemporary style that are really popular here like ie. glossy cabinets with a boxy dish rack, two tone wardrobe, cove light, elaborate display cabinet/tv console etc, these are things i really dont like. im kinda worried they dont understand what i want because after meeting them, almost half will give me blank stares or tell me things like im the first one who request for blah blah blah. today, this youngish contractor/ID i met dont even know what subway/metro tiles are hmm. good thing i started sourcing early. talking about tiles, im looking at the possible backsplash for my kitchen cabinets. im thinking of grey subway tiles or slim rectangular ones, no idea if they even have a name :

also, i think subway tiles placed diagonally look amazing :

or should i do marble? i love these hexagon tiles too :

honestly too many choices and i cant make up my mind.

Edited March 5, 2017 by matchalatte

[Jolene Heng 6]

Hexagon is nice!! i thought of this or the subway tiles too, but i think of all the cleaning between the grouts i scared already!

[matchalatte 16]

5 hours ago, Jolene Heng said:

Hexagon is nice!! i thought of this or the subway tiles too, but i think of all the cleaning between the grouts i scared already!

true! i think must be diligent in cleaning but since you dont cook much u can afford to do it! plus its still better than tiny tiny mosaic that many people do for backsplash. or can do black or dark grouting also, less maintenance. any idea if it will be ok to buy tiles from taobao? really tempted coz they have so many nice & cheap ones!