Ms Polar

I believed you can appeal, my contractor didn't get all through in one attempt as well.

Hi! I've managed to hack off the entire t wall with HDB approval, including the encircled part as well. I remembered paying $550 for the PE endorsement and all.

Found a pre-reno picture of my lower floor bathroom (directly below the MBR bathroom) that can show you how the two pipes are like. Do ignore the horizontal pipes at the bottom though, it's not found in the MBR bathroom.

Sorry, I can't show the insides of my cabinet here, it's a mess. What I can tell u is that, the distance between the two pipes are about 550mm. The bigger pipe is about 590mm from the wall (where the WC is), and the smaller pipe is about 720mm to the bathroom entrance. Hope u can get a clearer picture from here. IMO. It's really impossible to place a vanity top next to the WC. The two likely spots will be opposite the WC or left side of the entrance, near to the little window. The other alternative is to expand the MBR bath by hacking down the wall (next) to the WC and expand into the common room walkway and create another opening for your common bath and bedroom.. Cheers!

Hi there! I realised the proposed placement of your vanity sink top (in your MBR bathroom, next to the WC) is where two big water pipes are. You could just place a washbasin inbetween the pipes, and there will not be much room left. The pipes are really huge eyesore, I concealed the pipes with a full height cabinet after all. Hope it helps!

Hi! I'm too left with a mere 60cm after placing my queen size bed and a sliding door wardrode, but could still fit in two small beside table. I understand that King size bed is kinda tough to fit into the tight space. Anyhow, Here's what i did: Btw, care to share how much you paid for your unit, please pm me.. TIA!

No customisation of the curtain at Spotlight is needed. Just chose what you like and cut it according to the length u need. You don't even need to sew the ends, as its not too unsightly.

Hi! Is your place a corner unit? If so, it will be exactly like mine in the same orientation except that my air well is on the right and not left. I find the space where u intend to place the wardrobe quite wasted and its kinda odd to have the toilet bowl facing the bed IMO. What I did was to have the bed on the same wall as the door, and the wardrobe placed on the extreme left wall. You can consider to have another stretch of wardrode ourside the bathroom if you need more storage. Hope it helps..

Hi there! Aren't these sort of ready made curtains found in Spotlight? It comes in different width, and u can cut it according to the length u need. pretty cheap too. Just get an extendable pole from Daiso to complete the set if u window is not wider than 1.4m. For bigger windows, just get a stainless steel pipe. I used to hang it in the bathroom to create a cozy feel and conceal the ugly window.

Its a unique feature for EMs in Lor Ah Soo blk 14x. I think our units should be quite close by since there are only 3 blocks in this layout, mine is closer to Minton..btw, are u extending a mezzanine floor from your master bedroom in the air well. Ive seen my neighbours done it and converted to a walk in wardrobe. I didn't go for it back then and kinda regret now. Feel free to pm me for more info, I've done some research on this. Good luck on your reno!

Congrats! Is your new place at Lor Ah Soo? It's identical to mine..

Hi there! I'm also an EM owner here. Considering your work scope, I guessed 80-90k is generally the "market price" from most of the "branded" ID firms. However, are the ceiling, electrical, plumbing works also included in the quotation? Do consider all these details as it can easily attribute another 4-5 figures cost given the extend of the works. For myself, I engaged a contractor for wet works and a carpenter for wood works. There are also other works which i went direct like the windows and doors. That saved me quite a substantial sum as well. All in all excluding furnishing, I spent less around 60k for an overhaul. The condition of my place previously was quite bad, i could only keep the living room flooring and staircase. In turn, I used the savings i had to splurge on my dry and wet kitchen. The two kitchens amounted to more than a quarter of my reno cost. The amount of time, money and effort spent on a reno can be really exhausting. However imo, I would still go to a contractor for my next reno. Given that I will be dictating how I want all to be done at the end of the day, so what's the point to pay a premium to get things done your way. The designers may be able to sorta put together a look for you basing on their short understanding of you, but you never know if it's a design from their other customers. There will certainly be some adaption or tweak from the existing designs. The extend of such can be dependable on your budget, hope you get what I mean . Having said all, please do not misunderstand that I am condemning all IDs here, I am only relating my personal experience from the many reno projects i went through in the past. Perhaps the ones I worked with are not quite the right ones. It's a real learning curve, I would suggest that you do more research online to better prepare yourself. Hope you have a smooth reno journey and lotsa of luck in identifying the right ID.

Hi Rickoveron, many thanks for the suggestion! I've got the spikes from Daiso, hope it will help tp keep the pigeons away..

Hi Potatoes! I am staying near Serangoon Central. My balcony is west facing and very warm too in the day. I realised the pigeons are more active in the mornings, and maybe evenings. They are likely to be away in the afternoons, and hence I guessed the afternoon heat is not a problem to them.

Hi Mansionette Owners out there! Need help here.. Has anyone encountered Pigenons nesting at the recess area of your balcony? I have one at my balcony, the droppings and waste are a terrible sight whenever i look out of my MBR. I have actually sought help from the Town council, what they did was to merely send two Bangla workers to clean the area with water jetspray. That helps to clear up for a short time but the pigeons returned soon after. What's worst now, i noticed there are eggs and it's owners are no where in sight. What should i do?? Really can't bring myself to rid it.. And also to all new owners out there, do give some thoughts on the placement of the aircon compressor. I think my AC contractor should not have placed the compressor in that facing as it provides a condusive and shady hide-out for the unwelcomed pests!! Thanks in advance for any help!

I have actully completed my reno last year, so i guessed its seems quite late to start a reno blog now. Moreover, thanks to my failed memory card, I lost most of my reno process pictures .. My current place is actually my 5th reno project, I've gotten my ideas from renotalk (of course), online sites and foreign home decor magazines. There are some very inspiring sites out there that will just keep your creative juices flowing, go explore... But first of all, you may like to identify your best liked themes or accent colours. Knowing what you like/ want would make it easier to find the right visuals for putting together the mood board to better brief your designer/contractor. While reading or browsing the sites, I am always in day-dream mode to visualise how the decor i see can be adapted or tweak to favour my flat layout. It's a never ending process and additive, my mind is still ticking.. It's like quite off topic if i post my house pictures here not related to "granite". Anyway, keep me posted if you are starting a reno blog, will share what i know nevertheless.. Good luck!

Hi Rocksoft! Thanks for the compliment! You are right about the EM. I worked with a contractor and carpenter. Thus the space planning, design conceptualisation and right down to cordination has to be taken care solely by myself. It was indeed a tedious process. Yes, there is a feature wall. It also acts as a partition for my storage/helper's room just right behind the TV.

Hi! This is the image of my living hall. I kept to mainly tones of white, grey and brown to stay true to the grains on the stone. Guessed the neutral color palette would allow the stone to be "blended" into the surrounding harmoniously rather than allowing it to overwhelm the space. Hope this helps!

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Hello! I think we are having the similar kind of granite flooring, mine is the Rosa porrino.. I used to be apprehensive over granite too, but realised it really went well with my modern contemporary theme. However unlike marble, you cant polish/ buff granite as its said to be one of the toughest and durable stone around and I can testify that. My granite is still shiny after gone through about 6 months of rough handling during the reno period without adequate floor protection. I did consider waxing as the only option (temporary ) to boost the shine initially. However in the end, I felt no further treatment was needed after all. I'm loving my granite now, you can easily missed hair, dust, watermarks on granite unlike those light coloured homogenous tiles I laid in the kitchen So my verdict is, keep the granite if you can.

Hi Ugene512 May i know how do you find the vinyl tiles so far.. do you have any issues using it at your kitchen/ wet area. Sorry for the bother.. TIA!

Looking at your previous posts on the TV feature wall, I realised that you built a concrete wall to construct the store room and used carpentary on the same wall to create the TV feature wall. Is there any special reason for doing so? For myself, I merely used the TV feature wall cum cabinet to seperate the living and store room to save cost..

Hi Slyphy Just wondering how about the wire management, are the wires exposed or concealed behind the feature wall (in the storage room).. Can show the behind of your feature wall? Actually, I have a similar feature wall concept like yours. TIA!

Hihi Is your system the under or on-top the counter type? I'm interested to get if it can be placed under the counter. TIA!

Hihi I like to share my experience after reading your encounter.. I have engaged Alex to change and install my casement windows some 2 months back. Not only he impressed me with his efficiency and workmanship of the finished job , he is also very open to go that extra mile to ensure my satisfaction. Having worked with countless vendors in my past 3 renovations over 6 years. I feel it's really a breeze dealing with him, he is the sort that takes only a phone call or a few sms-es to settle all rightly without much hassle. I am still getting him to do my main door gate, will post pictures when it's done. In my opinion on your encounter, i guessed its quite normal for ball park figures given over the phone to vary from the actual quote, as its quoted without accessing the actual site situation. However to be fair, you should allow him to justify the difference compared with the other quotes. I do that all the time to learn more .. As layman, I really can’t tell the materials apart. It’s not easy to do an apple to apple comparison unless you have sound knowledge on the materials. It may be crucial to get the lowest rates, it’s also a gamble to let pricing take precedence over all nevertheless. Having said all, I didn’t mean to have very deep pockets to spurge in any case. To me, its always the preparedness (and luck) to determine if we can get a better deal. Hope it helps!