coldflamez

sure, pm sent! If you want to keep the budget down, you will really have to prioritize what are the impt areas that you really need to renovate. For us, we decided not to have wall tiles for the kitchen as we don't expect to do heavy cooking... We also kept the bathroom and toilet wall tiles as the condition wasn't too bad and they fit in with the theme that we have in mind. If you just do the basic without much carpentry, it's definitely very possible to go below 20k. Stay tuned to see how we construct our very own tv console.

Yup, we think so too. Other than the kitchen cabinet, we did a platform for the bed, a built in wardrobe, a low cupboard and another cupboard/settee besides the bed... Think easier to understand from the pic itself, haha...

That's a good idea! But too bad we cant position it that way because there is a pillar in between the doors... So both doors will open in towards the pillar instead..

Hacking is usually very cheap and should be completed in 1-2 days, so below $1k seems possible...

lol, nice one! As they seem quite religious, think you could also approach from another angle, saying that it is bad fengsui for the undies to face your main door, they should be able to understand that ba... But of cos, the danger is just that they will hang in another direction but you will still get to see them, haha....

Sure, pm sent to you and also to Velv. Think i should hurry up to post more pictures of the final product, haha....

Samsung only have 40" tv, i think... The series 5 530 model cost 949, i think... And they said the 550 model is discontinued liao, even though i can still see in other normal stores.

I also got the same tv just yesterday at the same offer! Comes with $100 voucher, 1 HDMI cable, free mounting and delivery, right? But hor... The sneaky thing about audio house/philips is that the hourly special is no different from their normal deal, cos a salesman already offer me that package even before the hourly special. I waited for the hourly special and it turned out to be the same deal... But nvm loh, still decided to get it in the end..

Think we spent around 23k in total, including laminate flooring which was done by another contractor. This was the second lowest quote that we got. The lowest quote we got was actually from a neighbourhood shop in yishun (by around 1 or 2k), but we didn't have as much confidence in that contractor. We had more confidence in Alan as he did some reno work for my wife's company before, so we knew that his standard was quite good. If we had gone with an ID, think it would have easily costed us extra 5k for the same items done...

We have thought of sealing one of the doors but decided not to as that will reduce ventilation... We like the location precisely because it is quite windy, so decided to just live with the 2 doors loh...

Hacking of the wall between the 2 bedrooms and replacement of windows completed in another day.

Ok, just adding the after-hacking pics before i zzz.... Progress was quite fast, all these hacking and clearing of debris in 1 day.

On the same day that we signed the quotation with our contractor, Alan, he drove us immediately to Soon Bee Huat (SBH) Showroom at Toh Guan Road for us to choose our tiles! We were a bit pleasantly surprised by how efficient he was. He told us that once we selected the tiles, he could immediately apply for the HDB permit and start the hacking work once it was approved. Over at the SBH, the variety was really good and the best part was that there was a giantic showroom on the whole of the second floor to show how the tiles could be used.. Liked it a lot as it gave us a clearer picture of the full effect of using certain tiles... After spending a few hours there, we finally decided on the homogeneous tiles below: The greyish tile in the left picture was supposed to be used for the living and kitchen, and the dark blue tile for the utility room as we wanted to go for something unique... The wooden-like tiles were to be used for our bathroom, toilet and vanity area. But we had a change of mind a few days after selecting the tile and decided in the end to use glossy white tiles for the living room, and the grey one for both kitchen and utility. Luckily, our contractor allowed us to change the dark blue tiles. That's a gd point that we liked abt him, he was quite flexible and accommodated us when we had a change of ideas, provided that the work has not been done already.

Have adjusted and grouped some of the pics for easy viewing.. The condition was not too bad, just old i guess... Here is the last set of photos of the original house. All the rooms are squarish, so not much problem there. Will be knocking down the wall between bedroom 1 and 2 to create a bigger master room. Will also create a opening directly to the bathroom from the enlarged bedroom.

I'm not sure why some of the pics still appear quite big even though i resized them in photobucket... Any advice, anyone?

This is the antique window grills in the living room and another room. For some reason, HDB did not replace them when they did the upgrading 10 years ago... The flooring is vinyl tiles which could actually be peeled off! Save on hacking cost, haha... The bathroom and toilet are separate from each other... As you can see, they are quite small... Condition not too bad as they were also upgraded by HDB.

it really depends on what items... not advisable to buy tv as they will be switched for very long already... Heard from some of the other forumers that fridge and washing machine is worth considering as they will not be switched on at all... But of cos many people would have opened and closed the doors already.. So depends on how steep the discount is and what is your own preference, i guess...

Ok, pm sent. Ya, i also checked with many contractors and IDs before i finally settled on mine. It is tiring, but it will really help you to have a clearer picture of what you want.. For me, the tough part was rejecting those who gave very good service but whom i have to reject cos they were more expensive...

Thks, although technically i have been around for a couple of months already... haha...

Here are the pictures of the original condition. Squarish Living room Long Kitchen

yup, agree that it's not too difficult to assemble... Just note that you might need 2 person if you are assembling a heavy item..

Here is the revised layout. Will be hacking between 2 bedrooms to create a big bedroom and also will be creating a opening to the bathroom. As this is an old flat, there is only 1 separate bathroom and 1 separate toilet... But it's fine for me as i grew up in a similar layout.

Sure, will send you a pm. Wow, your first post is in my blog.

Wow, you are fast! Was editing my signature and you replied already... lol.. Yup, will post more picture. But pls pardon me if i'm slow, cos i wish to upload my pics in sequence instead of jumping straight to the finished pic. I engaged a contractor, not a ID. Wanted to wait and see how's the experience first before recommending. Now that almost everything is done, feel more assured that i'll be recommending a good contractor.

Hi everyone, I have gained plenty of ideas and advice from this forum over the last few months. Didn't start a t-blog initially as i was super busy with work and the reno process... Now that things have settled down, i think it is about time to share with everyone my reno journey over the last few months! We got our keys to our 4 room resale in Dec 2009. Even before getting the keys, we started searching and meeting up with IDs and contractors already but it took us until Jan 2010 before we finally confirmed our contractor whose price was reasonably good and whom we felt confident in. Without much ado, here is the floorplan of our cosy sty!