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Hey hey CJREDEVIL! Congrats on the new place! Camping here in anticipation of the nice transformation to come! heheh btw, man utd fan? hehe me too!

Kitchen We wanted to save money by only repairing the kitchen. Btw, we were quoted <$500 to change that particular section and to change all the hinges with dampers. However, upon closer inspection… the whole stretch of wood from the sink all the way to the right was water damaged. so not much of a choice, the whole three sections have to go. After further deliberation, we decided.. what the heck! Change the whole cabinet lah! And we did! We didn’t regret that decision. hehe The flooring tiles will also go, from the small and slippery hdb tiles to something that should be bigger (hence modern) and non-slip. We’ll also be enlarging the kitchen entrance and bringing down the washing machine partition. This is all done to make the kitchen bigger and more open! Bedroom 2 & MBR Other than adding a cabinet under the window recess and shelves on each side, there was nothing major for BR2. For the MBR, we are looking at re-laminating the bed headboard to give the room a newer and softer look. Toilets From the onset, we wanted to revamp both toilets. But the unforeseen kitchen damage had taken priority over the toilets’ revamp. We figured that the toilet was still in relatively good condition and we dropped the idea of re-doing the toilets. The major changes to the toilet would be the addition of new w/c and sinks! well.. Something’s gotta give! That's all for now~ comments very very welcome~!

Living room After much consideration, the partition must go. Yay! We’ll be creating a new tv console to match our scandi theme. Hehe~ Study room The study table needs to go. Also, after we hack the partition in the living room, there is some free play with the wall (study room and living room share a flap of wall), we’ll be creating a full height bookshelf to store some of the books we have. We will also be re-laminating the shelves and cupboard under the window to bring it up to date! Kitchen is up next..

Plans to renovate (Initial, Final) Our plan for the unit was to save as much as possible, and not do unnecessary renovation. The first important hurdle to clear was to select the theme for the house. My wife has a softspot for all things retro and we were drawn towards using retro as a theme. But as we do more research, we found that retro tend to be quite loud and not very 耐看 (timeless *dunno if it’s the right word for耐看* hehe). With time, the retro design may not be soothing for the eyes. As we pour over the design mags and books, we found an interesting concept.. “Scandinavian Style” and I quote from googling –“It combines the neutral colors of the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish landscape with a casual aged appearance. The Scandinavian color palette relies on basic colors: whites, from ecru to bright white, beiges, natural light wood tones, and light blues. The exception to the neutral color scheme is the frequent addition of bright red. Red contrasts dramatically with the mostly pale interiors to add interest. ” Think Ikea~ hehe Some pictures of scandi style to share.. This theme suited our existing home design and we can build on it to make it better. We are the lazy type who dreads cleaning, so the minimalist design theme would suit our lifestyle. After selecting the theme, we went on to figure out what to revamp. I’ll go room by room here.

hehe, that was my guiding principle when we started reno. but one thing let to another.. hahaa~ anyway... looking at your previous unit, your standards must be quite high! So can expect impressive stuff to come!

hello hello! Saw ur tblog, your old place lagi nice! I'm really interested to see how you can transform your new em to another masterpiece! Jia you! Thanks Ve_ve! Actually, it took us slightly longer than 3months from start to completion. hehe. I think it's quite long ah, the period when we bought the unit was when hdb market suddenly went bonkers and keep going higher. And heard from my agent that the waiting time from otp to completion was getting longer and longer. We were quite lucky to have bought the unit when the market was just beginning to pick up. Looking forward to see your place soon!

hey bro, hang in there man! got progress better than no progress right? hehe Hope it will be smooth sailing from now onwards.

hello hello~ thanks for the kind comments! would love to tear down the whole house and revamp everything if my pocket permits. but but but.. my pocket not deep enough to permit lah haha. so we had to choose a "newer" unit to begin with. ya huh, almost same layout! You're too modest ah, looking at ur plan your rooms are bigger! woot! oh ya, your location is to-die-for too! so close to town! hehe

owoo, woodlands is good too mah! can drop by our neighbour's area jalan jalan and do some groceries shopping! hehe Anyway, 5 years later can still move to sk???? hahaha!

ossify, Supersimon27: thanks for the warm welcome! xie xie! we are intending to keep much of the existing areas but add our own touches here and there. hehe! You're right ah, the partition must go! In fact, already gone liao , looking forward to show you guys the changes too! hehehe yah lo, it's quite good that way, i've 2 people i can pester for all my reno request! hehe Thanks for the kind comments! $$$ no enough so have to do minimal reno lo. Duo xie! yeaps, 300plus, the design and build blocks. We like seng kang for its relatively peaceful and tranquil environment. Everything seems slower here. good for relaxation laa. hahaha~

thanks rainbowgal! Florence is Jason's wife. She's handling some coordination work for my reno~

MBR and Common room My missus is pretty happy about the build-in wardrobe in the MBR. Not much to be done for the MBR and common bedroom. Both are in good condition. Laminated flooring for all the rooms. MBR and Common toilets Our “lao tu” toilet bowls and Sink. Especially the Pinkish W/c and wash basin in the common toilet! Definitely a must go! That's all for now! Phew...!

Kitchen The kitchen… First impression was good, carpentry work was decent and well maintained.. except for one portion.. the area under the sink where the wood is starting to rot from water seepage. We had the option of either repairing the portion of the cabinet, or re-do the whole kitchen. To be continued… Study room (Bedroom 3) This is a very “corporate” study room. Our intention is to turn this into a cosy little room for reading and also some space for work (like real! hahah). Overall this place should feel more fun rather than dreadful! more to follow...

After the long-winded first post, it’s time for some pictures! We’ll be sharing the layout and some pictures of our place before renovation. This is the stock layout of my 5roomer. Now for some pictures... Entrance This was the view that greeted us when we enter the unit. Very good first impression! Love the pebble floor entrance. Definitely will feature in the rejuvenation of our home! Living Room The living room is sparsely decorated and that’s to our liking. There’s something that we dun really fancy though.. If you notice the CRT TV, you’ll see that there’s actually quite a substantial depth built into the wall.. The 4 display boxes on the left of the room are actually built into the partition board. You cannot really tell from this picture, but quite a bit of living room space is eaten up by the partition board. Among the things to ponder was.. to hack the partition or not to hack?? Dining Area Sweet feature wall at the dining area. We’ll be preserving this area. to be continued...

Hello all! After months and months of hanging around in the forum, it's time to contribute to the expanding list of home owners renovating their place! Renovation works for our place is currently approaching the final stages, so we're taking this opportunity to pen down our home finding and furnishing journey. Hopefully we can get some timely advice and guidance on our maiden renovation project from fellow reno-talkers! The search for HOME After applying to 7 HDB balloting exercise (over a period of 2 years) and not having any luck :bangwall: , my wife and I first decided to take a peek into the resale market in March this year. Our home seeking journey took us all over Seng Kang and Punggol. And after a few iterations, we narrowed down our search to these few criteria: a) Seng Kang or Punggol Area b) Selling at valuation or below valuation (impt criteria! Broke lah, no choice. hehe) c) Decent condition requiring little or no renovation d) Within walking distance to town central e) Mid to high level All in all, we viewed 30+ units before finally finding our current unit. Along the way, we had our fair share of bad experiences, drama and some near misses. This was all before we met our last housing agent. He was resourceful and really attentive to details. Within the first few units with him, he was able to understand our needs. From then on, our viewings with him were mostly pleasant. The unit we bought (also the last unit we saw) fulfilled all the above criteria and you can say it was “love at first sight”! It was a few blks away from my in-laws, above average maintenance, decent distance from Seng Kang MRT, high floor and most important of all, owner was willing to sell at valuation. We made the offer after our first viewing. Incidentally, it was also the last day of the valuation report and we signed the OTP on the very same day to “save” the valuation report. We were on our way to being proud albeit poor home owners. Next up a preview of our unit's pre-reno condition.

here's part of my earlier quotation for your reference... TOILETS Supply and lay wall tiles for both toilets (overlay) $3,200.00 TOILETS Supply and lay floor tiles for both toilets (includes waterproofing) (overlay) $900.00 MASTER TOILET Supply and erect wash basin complete with tile $650.00 TOILET Supply labour to install one toilet bowls $60.00 TOILET Supply labour to install one basin $30.00 ALL Cleaning and Chemical Wash $100.00 Living Room Repair TV Console and fitting bookshelf into the study room $800.00 Living Room Supply and repair false ceiling $450.00 ALL ICI/NIPPON PAINT for all internal wall and ceiling $1,400.00

Hey hazelk, i think if you're not doing the floor, the total cost might not even come up to 10k. Your refurnishing would be abt 5k. Initially, we wanted to do up our 2 toilets (total revamp, overlaying tiles), change one section of the kitchen cabinet and overlay floor tiles, living room console and study room bookshelves. All these we were quoted from 7k to 10k max from 4 different contractors. I think it's considered mini reno ba, but there are still quite a few takers then. Good luck finding your dream contractor!

oh by the way dsman, that's a "pimped up" place you've got!! congrats! camping here for more pictures

hahaa~ "pimp" is also a slang for "very good, excellent; COOL, AWESOME" or "a male talented in attracting females." or "a well-off male" and, of course the literal meaning "a male in charge of prostitutes." hmmm.. so which one is it? *courtesy of The online slang dictionary*

Coming to the end of your reno journey liao! Yea, you're right. Hacking of kitchen and some existing partition completed. Progressing to tile laying and should be completed within the week. Cant wait for the carpentry work to start! So far Jason has been very responsive, so i would say, so far so good! Hello coffee_o, I've been hiding behind the keyboard looking at all the useful information posted by all of you. So much infor to note and see. You never see me before but I see you a lot of times liao! BTW, have PMed you the details of the hood and Hob. cheers!

Hey red_devil, your renovation progress is looking mighty fine! Allow me to kam sia you first. Jason used your house as a "showcase" before we started our renovation with him. Thanks! Hoping your reno will continue smoothly!

Oh man! very sian! I just saw ur post on the KDK fans The amount I paid for one V60WK fan almost equate to 2 of ur v60 fans! I should visit ur blog more often! hahhaa Anyway, hope that your renovation in nov will sail smoothly!

Good news for home owners and sellers alike. Should Co-Broking be regulated too? I would think there are conflict of interests too. If seller agent and buyer agent "team-up" to share the deal, it might not necessary result in the best deal for buyer, or seller? What do you guys think?

Of course I will wanna know! Will pm you. Do share with us pictures of your place yeh? Good luck to ya!

Hey hey! cool down cool down! Things can only get better right? While scouting for our flat in the anchorvale link area, we have seen some units that have done what you intend to do. Dun think that there should be a problem. Try and get a 2nd opinion from another contractor? Anyway, such a louya contractor, back out because of low profit, somemore didnt give you professional advise. It might be a good thing that he back out! Look on the brightside yea? Hope things goes better from now!