dugong6

beautifully done! Sob, for mine, I decided to do away cause my yishun unit has no government gas..actually I am still in a mini shock that there are still houses without government gas...even my mum's place at Tiong Bahru that is 30++years hve government gas! Sigh..and considering Yishun is a much younger estate compared to Tiong Bahru..still in my mini shock..

This lighting is a version of artichoke lamp, nice...I got a replica of artichoke lamp..simply can't afford the real ones...

Wah I have also bought these lamps (blue and Red)! It's beautiful! Although I don't know where I am going to put it....they are indeed lovely

Hi CJREDDEVIL...I am not too sure about having a freehand if I engaged ID! but with me cancelling the contract, I do have a freehand now! I was so restrained previously.. ...eh..oh yes yishun unit is very much affordable:)

Hm...by the way, is it really okay to share the drawings online..thought it should be since I paid for them! haha

When I recieve their quotation for the design to be implemented...it was a good S$50K++, plus the basic package of S$24K, these totalled up to be around S$70K++....and it is not inclusive of my bathroom accessories, kitchen accessories, lightings, air con, window grilles, doors, main gate.. . .... Can't convince myself to pay 70k for a 4 room re-sale flat..even if I take out expensive things such as the feature wall and the counter-sink design as well as the children's room cozy seat.. still totalled up to be 60k++ I asked the ID if I can get my separate contractor to do my carpentry work, he replied politely that I can but don't hold him responsible if things did not go as scheduled and he also hinted to me that i will have problems with electrical layout and I have to do lots of co-ordination work btw him and the contractor ... ... As the total amount is far out of my budget, I decided to void the contract mainly for the following reasons: Co-ordination problem as my ID highlighted if I get another contractor to stay within my budget ID assumingly trained is not familiar with retro design..his initial design was alot of black.both my bathrooms and kitchen as well as study room cabinets are black..he appears to be unwilling to change the colour scheme which I think is his favourite colour. Although there are retro things that are black but majority of the design are seldom black.... Not too sure if you guys felt the same way..does the retro orange with patterns appear to be very "karaoke" like? He was so proud of this pattern that he had chosen that I didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm... I can see that he is not familiar with retro theme as he was asking me where to get all these furniture.....I thought he is suppose to advise me? In the basic contract it says, ID to provide design and furnishing consultancy work. He said the cooker hood design is to break away from the consistent design of the cabinets..maybe I was paranoid, I think he is trying to save on the carpentry cost in the basic package (whereby 20ft of kitchen cabinet are inclusive) In addition, I emailed him a few bigger electrical appliances dimensions and specifically told him to accomodate them in the kitchen design layout..he did none of those. Thought and ID should be giving creative solutions for storage space? Not too sure if it is me being too difficult. Each time I make a suggestion, he will be defensive to his design and selection which makes me uncomfortable...and in the end, I also hold back what I want.. ... I remembered clearly that we enquired about the feature wall (before the signing of the basic package) and he casually mentioned it is inclusive anyway. However, when we ask him on the quotation for feature wall he said, "wah you don't know what you have signed in the basic package?" Although he said in a polite tone, but I felt cheated. Of course, what to do...I was the one who had signed. I asked him about hidden costs, he said " there is no hidden costs..." but I was weary. Just imagine paying for such a high price and yet there are more hidden costs? I went to choose the tiles in balestier, bringing my mum along (as my mum used to be a sales personnel for tiles and thus is very familiar with quality..). He was blatantly very unhappy with my mum and totally ignored her when she talks. I thought this is not tactful. He hinted to me, "this is the first time I feel so confused when choosing tiles. I always tell my customers not to bring a third party along" Although my mum may be asking too many questions, I think as a service provider, you shouldn't show displeasure so blatantly. He brought us to ONLY ONE shop to look at bathroom and kitchen accessories. My mum quietly tells me not to commit. Fortunately, that small little shop did not have the design we want.....my mother and us continued looking around in balestier after going separate ways from the ID..and realise for one of the basin, the shop that he brought us to quoted $100 more!! I started to feel that I don't trust him.. There are other incidents where I find him very critical and too defensive of his design. Although he is always willing to accomodate, his displeasure was clearly shown. To be fair, he has been professional and friendly througout but just not tactful enough to gain my trust. Finally, after much deliberation, I think I will be happier without him and decide to do my own renovation design instead...After reading a few posts on renotalk, think i would like to enjoy my renovation instead of making it an unhappy event! So I think 4.7k is worth these.... Till now, I have re-design my kitchen and living room. will show a general layout of the new design in my next post!

Hi SGBuzz, thanks for your encouragement, I am definitely looking forward to life in Yishun! As for our renovation, we had engaged an ID, and below are the drawings. Although they are not final, but it does show what are expected from a decent ID company... ID-floorplan The main designs are the hacked walls of the kitchen, a reduced kitchen space and a connecting door btw the children 's room and masterbed room Living Room 1 <<The design turns out fine for the living room. it consists of a tv cabinet with glass shelves on the feature wall before the drawings are provided, I have indicate to the ID that we want a standing TV design as I dislike having a hole in the feature wall for the TV bracket..this will only give opportunities for dust and spider web to gather...>> Living Room 2 <<I showed the ID a picture of a retro display cabinet. The picture did not show a similar replica...Although it looks nice, the rounded feeling is very much taken away due to the connecting top end with the ceiling. Would also like to share that the ID also inserted our existing furniture in the drawing which I appreciated>> Kitchen 1 <<We discussed with the ID that the cabinets and all appliances should only be one side of the wall. The kitchen space is also reduced to create a children playarea. Offhand, I like this layout and design>> Kitchen 2 <<a L-shaped sink area is usually used to separate wet and dry area. However, with my reduced kitchen, this design does not make aesthetic sense. if I were to place my washing machine against the window in the wet area, there should be around 1.2 m walking space btw the L-shaped sink and the washing machine. Or if I were to place my washing machine after the dustbin wall, it would not be right also. For both cases, my L-shaped sink will end up to be in the middle of my reduced kitchen which makes it aesthetically not so desirable. Therefore decided to have a counter-like sink instead and also find it unconventional and pleasing to the eyes.....>> MBR Bathroom http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c...36/master_2.jpg <<I am happy with this Masterbed room design....back to the MBR Bathroom. Just imagine waking up in a yellow/green room (soothing to the eyes) and suddenly feeling "red-hot" in the bathroom...to me the mood and colour schemes are not right>> Masterbed Room 2 http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c...36/master_1.jpg <<I have indicated that I do not want a conventional way of installing the cabinets therefore suggested to my ID to have an L-shaped cabinet just right outside the toilet. This separate the wardrobe space and the sleeping area. However, he initially designed with a full height wardrobe making the room looks VERY small...I suggested to him to have low cabinets at the other side so that, from the MBR entrance perspective, there is minimal visual blockage.>> Bedroom_2-1 http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c...y36/study_2.jpg <<this will be my study room and storage area for both books and my childrens' toys. I like this design particularly on the part of the four big drawers at the left bottom of the drawing, these are perfect storage space for children's toys...>> Bedroom_2-2 http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c...y36/study_1.jpg <<this drawing shows a retractable table extended out, my consideration was to have 4 persons sitting in the study room for work or play...I like this design concept too.>> Bedroom_3-1 http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c...6/kidsRoom_2.jpg <<This shows the connecting sliding door to the masterbed room . I have created this to allow my toddlers to go to toilet at the shortest distance especially during their bedtime instead of walking one big round...although it may not seem necessary, but I had wanted to minimise distractions so that my toddlers can go toilet and straight to their beds...>> Bedroom_3-2 http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/c.../kidsRoom_1.jpg <<nothing special about these cabinets...just that it has round edges..similar to the rest of the built-in for the design concept Sad to say, After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to void our contract and pay the 20% basic package which amounts to around 4.7k......

I will be moving from downtown area to north area. Still feeling a little apprehensive on the new environment. Gone will be the days of 10 mins bus ride to places like chinatown, orchard road, marina square, vivocity . . .and I will also be far away from the southern ridges. In fact feeling rather down.. ... I will take consolation with the opportunity to re-design my newly bought resale flat! In this blog, I will only be covering the main concepts and pictorial design. As it is done by a very close relative of mine, I was not too worried with other considerations...Attach is the floorplan. Our idea is to create more living room space, and hack a connecting door between kids room and masterbed room. All edges will be rounded wherever possible including wall edges and cabinets Colours will be contrast and as much as possible stick to primary colours... For a start here is a picture of the Original Floor plan and pre-renovation condition. Living Room 1 Living Room 2 Common Toilet Kitchen MBR Toilet Masterbed Room Bedroom_2 Bedroom_3-1 Bedroom_3-2 I will be attaching some concept drawings soon! from the ID that I have engaged....