aubrey

thinking of going to jalan besar this sat to walk walk see see toilets/sinks/hob/hood/oven etc since its convenient to walk over. shall ask uncle soon where he recommend buying from and just do market research. :]

eh mrspiglet!! yr quote is lesser than mine! hahaha let me go check our yr tblog. i think may exceed 1k cos the fire rated door is already $500 and above. plus no funny cost from him too, its a flat fee.

saw this set of tiles in the toilet of my school and thought its pretty funky but i dont think i want it to cover all the walls like the one in school.. something extra, my pet puffer fish! its hiding behind my desk calendar. too cute to not post.

apples ok la on the verge of being sold. its just my mom and the fact that she would like some actual samples of his carpentry work etc etc.but she has agreed tht uncle soon is by far the most competitive and matches our budget quite nicely with the least "sales talk" which gets tiring after u meet more than 5 IDs/contractors. mrspiglet hee actually there are more than just that freebie... when we finalize then i will reveal.. but that is what he said about the door. i understand its not cheap esp when its a fire rated door, very grateful for that.. aiya i think we are spiritually sold to him already. he said he will type the quote out in english and give it to us in 1~2 days time. yokine9a ok uncle soon said that he will do an L-box for us that runs along the pipings to hide it so maybe i can ask him if we are able to install lights. i thought that its cos our paint is almost 10 years old so its only natural that it looks dark. perhaps things might be better once there's a new coat of paint on. now just headache over color scheme.

just a quick update! i have met with uncle soon earlier last week and he came to my place to get an understanding and to hear what we have to say and want to do for our place. he said he will revert sometime this week. ytd i just called him to find out approx when to expect the quote and he told me, "where are you? you gonna be home? if so i come over now okay!" haha ok he exceeds expectations! but also seem to be a little disorganized but i am not gonna fault him on that given his numerous projects. his quote is really so competitive and of cos the freebies does help a lot to swing our favour in his way. things like we wanted to change our main gate to wrought iron gate but keep our wooden door cos we dont have the budget and its not very nice to get ppl to work with a low budget yet still insist on all things but he said its ok, he will change it to another new fire-rated door for us and its complimentary.. turns out that from his quote, we were about to squeeze in a tv console, study table and bookshelf at a very very good price. his quote came up to about $23,300. not sure if we can shave off anymore also, just wondering, uncle soon's quote for tiles, he does not state the price, will we still have a good selection? also wonder if he will bring us to view his project so my mom can have a better understanding and piece of mind.

escahmobu, pls keep an eye on yr PM. i will send u some of the ID/contractor that i personally like to work with.

u want a contractor? have u called famous ah soon? u shld gv him a call if u havent.

hi yokine9a we are changing to similar louvered windows meaning glass at the top and alu at the bottom instead of sliding as both myself and mom feels that sliding renders 1 side useless. we prefer louvered ones. I dont think we can afford to squeeze in L-box and the lights and stuff with our budget.. and we cant hack the wall due to the existing altar at the wall between living and kitchen.

heheh.. pain? numb alr cos 23 years already. have u started tblog? then can go and check out yr place

heard 1 ID telling me that over time, lami floors will "Shrink" hence u will see gaps between 2 pieces, is that true?

eh metal, have u signed with ah soon? a bit confused leh..

alrighty picture time! sorry i was just playing with the jelly lens on my hp cos this one is wide angle and i can take more stuff in it but perspective is a little skewed, dont mind it. i will post proper ones from a proper cam in a while. ok so this is the living room. really dark cos the last paint job we did was really long time ago, easily 9 years? back then me and parents painted it to save $ but they're not getting any younger and i'm no professional so we didnt paint it. now that we're doing the reno, just living with it. its really dark despite me turning on the lights to take the pic. i hope after reno, it will be super bright! we'll throw away the existing shoe racks (actually it's just a bookshelf + old tv console then we decided to put shoes on it..) the sofa u see will remain cos we got it late last year. TV will be replaced (hopefully) with new one, this one to shift into mom's room. this is the 2nd part of the living room where my mom's altar is. she wants to have it at the same place so to have any fancy schmancy open concept kitchen is not possible. my tiles are the super old type, rubber vinyl. we just used this.. covering and covered the entire house with it. i dont know what's it called but its very common in older malay houses. here's my kitchen in all it's no kitchen cabinet and cluttered like mad glory!! 101% old skool goodness. u can imagine all the dust it chalks up. i guess u can say that my house is so **** DIY, lol. also, its dark and i dont like it despite painting it light warm orange in the past. (cos i like orange!) cement screed!! hahaha. that part of the covering is torn off cos of the horrible leak from my neighbour's house to mine! HDB said its not their fault cos of spalling concrete problem on my side but honestly, i think my neighbour is to share some cost with me cos according to my mom, she hears hacking and noises coming from them. >:/ more to come!!

now i am confused... backsplash is that thingy that will be installed where my hob is right? i was told i can use tiles for that. so which is recommended? the s/s backsplash, glass or tiled backsplash?? profile means the edges?? oh ya, does colour affect price?

pet, thanks so much for all your patient explaining, helps me to understand alot. u can start a book called renovation vague terms demystified!

hi jacky777 (u like jackpot?) my replies in bold. also, those with suspended kitchen cabinets, what happens to their wm base and fridge base since the kitchen cabi does not need any base now? have already done the re-wiring plus bought lighting alr, so dont need to re-wire. except maybe to change some points here and there to make it all fit. agreed about the 10% extra charge by ID.

just suddenly realised i have not given uncle soon my email address so how is he gonna give me the quotation??? anyways... if he comes down in person, better still!! show us yr layout!

wa so nice to see u are happy with uncle soon. i am waiting for his quote too. hope that both myself + mom can agree with uncle soon on the quote cos my mom likes to talk to him, i think cos their mentality is about the same. so basically u know what u want to do and u just tell uncle soon is it? so far i got some quotes from IDs and i feel bad for not engaging them and stealing their ideas...

wii fit is fun! just get it cos u cant go wrong!!! then can get the dancing mat too. very good for staying active la. as for really exercising and losing weight i cant confirm. fun if u have a big family!

all these technical jargon is making my head swell. anyone knows what these means? Supply labor & approved Waterproofing solutions, up-turn 150mm at wall, in Kitchen Floor. - ?? the drop from my living to kitchen? Supply labor & approved Waterproofing solutions, up-turn 150mm at wall, in 2-Toilet Floor. - ??? the kerb? Supply UPVC edging for all wall & beams - Straight Edging. Supply labor & Chemical Sealant on New Plastered Wall. - have never been quoted this. always just a straight plastering cost + paint cost Supply labor & approved acid to wash all new tiled area. - nvr been quoted this as well Supply labor to Clear all Debris, during & after renovation. - $420 ex? Supply labor to install all toileteries and accessories in 2-Toilets. - $280 for this! i think its gonna cost more than the accessories itself!!!! brb from lunch to answer all else!

i got a wii fit for my birthday! its lots of fun but i wanna totally play it after reno cos i dont wanna dirty the board as some requires u to lie on the floor etc. not only is the board used for wii fit, its compatible with other games such as skiing etc. my mom, in her 60s, and myself will play wii fit together. so u can imagine us taking turns to strike a yoga pose! (the one with one of your feet on the other and both hands joined the palms lifted above your head)

gonna take some pics of my place (dont mind the messiness and lok kok ness of my place can liao) and post up asap!

to all who asked for contact, i have PM-ed you guys. dont think i wanna reveal who quoted what, but revealing quote is ok. seems like my quote shld be reasonable n can be a benchmartk for a fair quote.. country club not sure either. some quoted FOC some with cost. shld it be FOC? Michele, cannotisit, Forcevolt, escahmobu, merryman have pm-ed you guys. please share yr thoughts on what you got for comparison purposes. can check the first post in my tblog as i will update it and it contains the list of ID/Contractors i have encountered. hope this helps! pinkpetter i'll ask the ID/contractor on the cost and compare them. i met up with ah soon ytd! very cheerful man and very straightforward. told us what to do and what not to do and he told me, xiao mei recommended you ar? that xiao mei ah, making me very busy. so far got 10 ppl recommended by her. lol! how did u manage to find ah soon anyway? applefreak so are u 100% satisfied with granite top? hows the edges along the cabinets like? smoothed out or just as-is condition? regarding the plywood issue, i have yet to ask indepth cos i wanna arm myself with info from here before appearing like a carrothead in front of them. familyof4 how are your cabinets so far? are they doing good? ytd when i met with ah soon, i told him about my intention to replace my bedroom doors as some parts have started to "come out" which i suppose, is reasonable for 23years of use. he told me dont bother getting classic door. one punch and he can put a hole there. told me to get... some other wooden material which i forgot. ;p will check with him again. i quite like him despite being old school cos he's really honest to goodness contractor with real experience. /thumbs up now the test will be his quote to us. yokine9a do u think u can take some pics to show me what u mean? i find it hard to visualise.. Fanzander u have a pm!!

cannotisit, try reading honeygal for an understanding of HB, she used them and it was quite pricey. just make sure u ask all that u need to.

hello all pls give me sometime to respond, currently in office and left all name cards at home. will reply once i am home. so since so many have asked for contact, i suppose it is a fair price quoted to me by the ID? unfortunately i do not understand why his 25k is on par with the other company which charges more overall and yet is also 25k.. Q: What is the common material used in kitchen cabinet? Just plywood am I right?

fly hee hee ya i saw your shoe cabinet. not bad! asked zack about the cost but he say cannot rmb.. and also your kitchen but from the pic i cant see much. ya i told him abt my budget. then he told me if can or cannot do. so not too bad. hope he is earnest and dont give me some high quote.