aubrey

oh my, i want that kitchen!!! i want black floor tiles so badly but my mom just says no! i have to go for faint beigey ones. what are the brands for your hood and hob?

hey all, is the meeting at 10am still ongoing? i feel like going regardless if my mom can make it or not. i want to know more about blum and tandembox stuff.

alright! noted! think we're set on that!! so hope that it works just as well for us. the glass should be hardy right? least i accidentally drop a pot or what and it breaks.. hope not.

pinkpetter ok i will call closer to may, hows that! and what are spare tiles for?? familyof4 ya he forgotten about my PVC pipes in bath. that time he said its ok he FOC for me since it's only one but now he charging me $200.

just some images for ref on how i wanna do my place. will ans qns when i am home later. color scheme looks good my dream kitchen! want to use the color scheme for my room

ahahaha ok so i know im not alone when it comes to "come in whack the house" so kan cheong to see nice house!

no la the kai mu yi shi is just between a small group of friends i have, nth grand. just talking about how 1 of my friends place, when they just bought the house, they hired a lion dance troupe to dance ard, say and say then the idea grew and grew. so u didnt have any dong tu? ya lor he just loves to shock!! i cannot have him just tell me like that leh, cos ours still got to co-ordinate with flat owner etc.

hahaha so u guys also waiting huh. uncle so funny. u all starting 25 apr. i called him ytd (mon) he told me, lets start yours tmr (wed). when i told my mom she nearly fell off the chair saying how can we havent finish packing etc etc. i hope he hasnt lost my quotation! i should have zapped a copy.. ****. so means me, ivy and familyof4 will start around same time? if all goes well for me, i aim to start 4th may, u guys go ahead first k! i will not call uncle till aft 25th! and also, what do u all do for the "dong tu"? is it still dong tu if i have been stayin there? i still want to do kai mu yi shi for my completed reno. my friends offered to tie ribbon and let my mom cut the ribbon. then followed by stepping over a burning pot and must throw pineapple into the house! followed by breaking in my new oven by baking, we intend to bake pineapple tarts!

pet wed is a little out of the qns! assuming my neighbor gives the ok for us to rent her place, it can only start on 1st May for easy calculation. then at least we have the PH to move our stuff from my place to hers. maybe uncle can start on 4th May. tonight will discuss with him. and no!! we're prolly 30% complete? most of the kitchen is good to go. yokine9a let me talk to him first tonight ok? we might need to make changes here and there so will let you know again. and yea, he's really good. just that he's all over the place so can't be too hard on him. cannotisit yup keeping our toes crossed for the rental of the flat. then u can come down to have a look at ah soon's work for your next home to come! familyof4 ya me too! and i hope my place is bright bright bright! i saw my neighbour's place, the one we hope to rent. i hope after our reno our place wont look like hers cos tho her walls are white, floors are just a very light beige, it still looks "dark" to me. to all who have engaged uncle ah soon does uncle soon help to buy kitchen appliances? cos he told us to get model # or the catalog and he will help get it for us, we just pay him after goods arrive, does he do this for all of you? misc. qns where do u all put bamboo poles meant for hanging clothes out? currently we chucked it into the toilet so its very ugly. just wonder what are some of the solutions you guys have..

i'll like to ask: im more into cooking chinese style meals and the occasional western meals once in a while. hence i am thinking of getting a rinnai hob for that purpose. any opinions on the glass hob and the normal ones? i heard that glass is easier to clean but is it durable? afraid that the glass may get cracked. and if i were to get the hob that is made in jap, is the quality better??

wa so helpful! i added mine in, currently mine is the highest. /starting to think and think what did u guys do huh..?

i normally sleep at 1am. after the reno i wanna push it earlier to about 1230am and even earlier. i tell u a secret. it is quite dark! i just oversaturated my pics cos it seems more vibrant and u can tell what's what.

Dare to bare post! 100% clear images of our house now so can see the transformation right before our eyes! Living room from bedroom 2 entrance perspective Our lights & fan done from late last year Another view

UPDATE! we lucked out! i bumped into the owner of the empty flat next door!! WOOHOO! spoke to her and she doesnt mind renting for a month. she will get back to us in 2 - 3 days time. but her rent is steep! $1.2k for a month for just 1 room and placing stuff around the house. sheesh. hope to bargain it downwards.. Rar!! (war cry for bargaining) familyof4 yea thats the company that i saw at fondue's house. my mom wants to do things by the book, want to have formal quote, to sign etc etc. she just likes to have that order. yea i agree trust is important. but cant help but feel that working with ah soon sometimes i feel like im fumbling in darkness cos he wanted to hack on this wed when he has not even seen the tiles we want!! a bit scary. gongkia just now i asked him about the issue pinkpetter brought up about the hacking and permit that only allows hacking for 3 days he say he will take 2 days to hack all of the kitchen + bath & WC then if he still needs to hack he will just do it regardless of the expired permit. ya keep fingers crossed to hope for the best overall! mrspiglet ya i know what u mean. when a deal is too good to be true, it rarely is. everyone is cautious but i think uncle soon has shown us that he can deliver. and what is VO? pinkpetter ya lor, just look at lawry. currently packing now. later try to squeeze in time to take pics and upload for tiles! wa got so many replies. yea i am not sure why so many companies floating around. i just noticed the atria one at fondue's place. does the name card state his hdb license #?

wow nice step up from what i saw sat. they sure work fast. so you got the blum system? what colour are u using for your kitchen floor?

actually i'm fine! but you know how its like when 4 ppl try to ask you about things and somehow u cant answer. i verbally asked uncle before, if he is registered with HDB and he said he is. but i always believe, if people are out to cheat you, they will. when i was at fondue's place i noted the permit was applied under a different firm from the one pet mentioned. i have faith in him, doing it the old skool way, based on "guan xi"! and lawry shld be the best person to attest for that. big company doesnt always mean the best works. i told them some of the faults lawry faced and they were taken aback by such stories and even common folks like us have common sense for design etc. guess its not that common and we shld call it unique sense. thanks lawry, pet and familyof4 for all your reassurances. i called uncle soon just now, he's back to getting busy again as always. i was just concerned and wanted to ask him for some dates cos im planning to give my mom a surprise bday present by booking tix for the cai qin concert. im not interested so i asked my aunty from msia to go with her, i'll pay so i need to know how to plan with the reno and if aunty can stay. if uncle gives the green light i think i can book the tix. kiasu sold out!! now best part is uncle wants to come hack and start everything on wed! omg shocker! i wasnt expecting that actually. i dont even mind postponing my reno for him to complete some of his on-going but wow.. he has done it again by majorly shocking me! hahaha we havent even spoken about the design of cabi whatsoever, have not met jason, have not packed enough yet and tadah!! he say he will meet me tmr to discuss. what an endearing man he is.

sigh. i met up with my close friends who stays around me and they were askin about the reno. i told them about it and hearing the freebies, they started telling me to be careful in my negotiations. asked if if i have checked uncle soon's hdb license. i could only say i didnt see any cos till date he hasnt given me a name card. i mean i trust him but somehow when asked about the license and i can only say no i have not checked, then it sorta hit me that yea i havent checked etc. i know they are just concerned for me and dont want me to get cheated by anyone. they're also the ones who told me if i can ask him to forget the freebies but ask for discount. but the quote from uncle soon is already on par or even better than market rate so how is that cheating? i went home thinking and thinking about it. not a very nice feeling. piglet ya i wont be assured unless she stays with people that we both know. she is picky which is something that i still have problems trying to come to terms with but i dont wanna argue with her. its just annoying when she sometimes shifts the "blame" to me saying we stay at other's homes, not used to it, cant sleep etc. i know i can but i know that she can't. sigh. just a simple reno yet so much little issues here and there. nvm i shall keep both our spirits up by designing our house!!! and hor, i think i get what u are saying about the pipes. kinda like my 707 heater. its cold then it starts to warm up.. i must think of where to place it.. but if i place it in kitchen, i think its gonna spoil the overall look. haiiii!

ya he did!he told us just stay in he block out everything for me! my mom believes in that but i am still skeptical!! p.s: for all the freebies uncle soon gave u, have u ever told him dont need freebies, just cut the cost of freebies off the quote? all my friends dont believe there's such a good deal and told me to do that which i think is impossible since it is a market rate quote.

pinkpetter ya its cleared out! if not seriously can consider. oh just go to hotel 81 @ bencoolen. u see for me its really free n easy. only issue is mom. she's not very good at travelling and in fact, does not want to. i think after throwing stuff away, we dont have much left in the house. the only big stuff are the fridge, the altars (one big one small) etc. i dont think we have enough to stay in hostel and rent place for storage. all in all can add to about $1k ~$1.2k which will cut us back. if only budget weren't an issue. i have to ask ah soon again about this. i hope he's alright now.. mrspiglet oh so there's a flame inside! how long does it take to heat up from the time u turn on the water? can say it's like an instant heater right? i know my neighbour on the highest floor uses citygas. so i think they will support for my place in that case. eh but not fit to stay but dont seem like we have choice. tell my mom stay hotel she say no money. tell my mom stay with relatives she say dont want to travel. beggars cant be choosers but she still want to choose. im just wedged in the middle. sigh.

i lazy to wash! but i cannot tahan to not wash at the same time.. actually how about buying the ikea rods and installing and getting the curtains separate? i initially wanted black out blinds for my room from ikea but after reading here i realised it's not exactly the best. hmmmm.

waaah a cool $800. out of budget again!! no cannot cannot i think i must buy ikea alr..

oh no... ah soon say he can hack in portions. in fact, he was the one who told us that he will work in parts. meaning to start from back and out: kitchen + bath & toilet then shift stuff to kitchen to do the rest. he said he will co-ordinate for us. and now u brought up the permit, ya hor!! how ar! oh no! i gotta call him to ask already. pet, thanks so much for those links, totally forgot the fact of backpacker's hostel. but i dont see seventh storey hotel anymore, its been cleared to make way for mrt.. hmm.

hotel very ex ard our place tho. my mom wants to be able to stay in the area, cos she works at selegie rd area. i asked, cheapest is perhaps $70 per night at waterloo hostel but if it's 2 weeks its around $980. 1 week around $490. i can stay with a friend at yishun area, its just my mom now. maybe i try it, then can feedback to those who wanna stay in while doing reno on the pros n cons.

pinkpetter the houses at my place mostly want min 1 year stay. and to rent a house is $2k n up, $1.8 if u are lucky. Rooms I heard $500 if u are lucky, and can reach $800 per room. may have to split up with mom to stay at other's place or have to follow my idea above this post.

hi there, just happened to stumble onto your thread and wow your price is fantastic for an EM! hoping for more pics to come for your house!