baby81984

Hi, thank you for your kind words.. we are hardly experts enough to give classes.. we are just love to try out new ideas we see off the net.. we will be happy to give our 2 cents worth to anyone who has difficulties with DIY-ing... cheers!

tks. it would be better if the paint doesn't come off when i peel off the sticker thou....

tks! it's really quite fun after you start... we can't stop now... the clock mechanism, i recommend you get it at neighbourhood places.. those shops where they sell nearly everything like household items, etc.. some of the clock hands are really nice... if you get ikea, you might need to spray it into other colors as the white clocks ikea has comes with red hands (i think)... you can get the clocks from neighbourhood stores for as low as 3 - 4 bucks... the only thing is that the clock medhanisms are usually rectangular in shapes and they might be not concealed nicely. you might need to tamper with the mechanism somewhat... you can get the pallet from most industrial places... i do suggest that you and ur hubby go scouting with 1 bike... that way, if you happen to find a pallet, you can take a cab home with the pallet while ur hubby rides home.. preferably, you should look out at places which deals with papers, plastic, etc... try not to go for areas which deals with metals, food, etc... my experience is that the pallets that are discarded are usually dirty or wet or damaged... you can ask anyone around before removing the pallets.. they are usually accomodating as the pallets are to be thrown away anyway... Happy diy-ing!

yo dex, your flat looks lovely! great work on the transformation!! enjoy ur new place!! i like your stove covers as well.. i need to figure out how to DIY a couple...

the same thing is happening with my MBR shower glass door... i think it might be the hinge tt needs oiling?? not sure...

me and gim had spent around 28k plus to date for the house and we have included every single thing we spent on the house, right down to the sponge we are using for cleaning plates... it's definitely not easy and had been a learning experience for both me and gim... but the thing is do be very very meticulous and plan in advance.. we shop around and ask around for quotes and often go to the cheapest as long as it does not compromise on the quality of work done... you definitely need to be realistic thou... i did not budget 10k for my furniture simply because i know that we can't afford it... but some of the things we could not save on coz we know that we would not be happy if we did... we hacked a fair bit of the house, the walls and so on... tt took up a bit of money but we felt it was money well spent... it would be good to do up a spreadsheet so as to see all possible hidden costs so that you could be properly prepared... for example, hacking fees does not end at the 1k or so for 2 walls... you will still have to spend money to make good the walls! ensure that all these are properly budget for and trust mi, your money could go to a long way... me and gim also outsource whenever possible.. while we seriously do not know what to look out for or how to spot defects, we try to learn or we simply use our common sense... for example, we outsource the windows direct. we may not know what they were doing.. but at least we know enough to check that the windows were sliding properly, locks working well, sides of the windows properly cemented and no funny looking bumps... it took just 1 day of leave to get that settled... another way to save wat to buy yourself whenever possible.. we had the luxury of gim's parent's car sometimes and boy, did we make full use of that... we bought mattress, sofa frames, table glass, table frames, blah blah from an assortment of ikea, neighborhood shops, or my office area... at our most impromtu moment, we actually lugged home a 2m cupboard frame and the boxes home by bus! tough, definitely... but look at how much it saved us! each delivery by ikea costed around 50 if i'm not wrong.. go figure! you can look at my blog if you are interested in our savings.. from my primary calculations i saved about 10k outsourcing rather then goin thru 1 contractor.. i would be happy to share with you anything you wish to know... i'm still updating the blog as days pass (actually gim does most of the updating.. hahah!)... but it's been a really fun process! enjoy!

nah... it was a 2 yrs subscription lah... but yeah.. very pretty... hahhah...

i used a penknife to trim and scrape off the excess peeling parts... then polish the edges... back breaking work... but at least it looks way better now...

did some hard work with our hob last weekend... my hob at the 1st glance... on a closer look... the edges...... after 1.5 hours of hard work... now all edges look like this.... it's super hard work.... but it's really satisfying when i see everything nice and neat...

25th june is next week!!!! aiyo!!! so excited for u! can't wait to see ur progress! hee... actually the whole reno process really needs to do research... mi and gim were looking back last weekend and we realised we easily save about 10k just coordinating some of the works ourselves... which is a lot of money!! even basic things like installing WC, tiling, etc, can easily see a great difference in many contractors... i've got a colleague who got a quotation of 9k plus just for 2 toilets, 1 prayer alter and painting whole place!!! to think that my whole bill with my contractor was also 9k plus which definitely includes much more stuff.... -_-""" definitely need to find someone you can be comfortable with... you need to interact with that same person for many weeks!! good luck!!!

oh yah.. i totally understand wat u mean... the paint kinda pools into a lump at the corners... end up the shape looks not so sharp..... i originally wanted to painted the cage gold... but end up i didn't like the effect of painting it... lucky i onli painted the top part... end up i spray paint it black... spray paint definitely looks way better....

nice!!! i can kinda imagine ur home already.. will look so cozy!!! pssst.. can just buy any legs and spray it black.... hahahaha...

hahahah.. gim beat mi to the reply... spray paint is alot nicer and smoother effect... thou there's really a wastage... but no choice lah..... by the way, matt black is **** cool!! i nearly went nuts when the shop i got the matt black spray had onli 1 bottle in stock!!! arghhh... and i search the whole bras basah but could not find it!! haizzzz... my bird cage is a mixture of matt black and glossy black (which is lacquer over the matt black) and i kinda like the effect! hee... good luck and remember to show ur DIYs!!

abit wrong... windows (all black frames): - kitchen : clear - living room : light tinted - MBR and common room : dark tinted

argh!! looking at ur ventilation fan reminds mi of mine... mine still at the hospital.. oso dunno will come back or not.. haizz... remember not to install ur ventilation fan until the last moment!

if i really have to choose, i think option 1 might be a better idea.. can maximise storage area since the wall of the storeroom would not be hacked, so might as well use it... i dun think you would open your fridge and cupboards at the same time.. so entrance would not pose a problem... however, are you sure you wish to have your sink and hob on opposite ends?? generally, most ppl would prefer to have them side by side... for eg, i like to wash my veges in the sink then throw them direct into the pan for cooking... if you put it on opp ends, the water might drip on the floor, need to walk over oso.... but up to u lah... just my personal habit... cheers!

oopss... i would say both got advantages n disadvantages.... but dun be fooled by the sales pitch... if u wanna feel what the real thing feels like, dun bother with the samples they show u.... come my house feel.... real life example loh.... definitely nothing like what they show u...

i oso dunno... haizz.. i see le oso sad... coz there's no way they can take out the mis-aligned stuff and put back without risking more holes!! oh yah.. the plumber was also telling me that mayb the tiles not level then i told him "like tt ok loh.. i look for ronald... he do the tiles 1..." hahahah.... i really dun wanna be so picky... but small mistakes like that will glare right at me for the next 10 years... every single time i hang up my clothes, i wash my hands, blah blah... it's right in front of my eyes... how to ignore?!?!

hahahah... we didn't really bargain... i just told the guy i'm looking for a front loader W/M and my budget is 300 plus.. then he offered mi tt... hahaha.. which i of coz just grabbed.. seeing the retail price is 100 plus more.. on hindside, maybe still can get even more discount if try to bargain more?? hahahha.... but seriously lah.. tt was a very happy buy... i happy coz w/m within budget... gim happy coz he got his front loader... hahahah...

hahaha... u good, i will say... not good, i oso say de.. ah seng that side i no need worry... i have utmost faith in his tiling skills...

i was expecting a 2-3 hours kinda thing as well... ended up we spent the entire day there... we were like painting the house, touch up here and there, sweep, blah blah... and he's still at it!!! wah lao.. ultimate.... hope everything can be rectified nice nice...

hahah... no need to be scared ba... ronald quite responsible.. really got anything, he will rectify very fast... but i certainly hope nothing goes wrong for u!

today is really not a very good day...... we had high hopes of having a nice toilet, with the plumber coming in and our spray paint guys coming in to touch up.... but all went down the drain.... spray paint issues..... the entire spray painting of 2 toilet walls, 1 toilet floor and 1 kitchen floor was supposed to be carried out over the course of 4 days... last monday to thursday... we wanted all pipes and a acrylic board to be sprayed as well so gim actually took leave to be on site to tell the workers what to do... i went down on wed and thursday as well to inspect.... minor issues: back of pipes not sprayed.... walls very rough at certain spots... can see bubbles somemore! s/s pipes dun even feel as thou there's epoxy on it.... certain obvious spots on pipes not sprayed.... major issue: OUR VENTILATION FAN WAS SPOILT!!!! ok... i was not really tt pissed... just sian... we went to the boss, talked to him in person and he got someone to come down today... supposely to rectify..... shock no 1: person say they are apparently NOT obliged to spray the pipes... but out of GOODWILL, they spray.. so it seems as thou i shouldn't complain that there are certain spots unsprayed... bear in mind that when i signed up with the company, i asked them if pipes will be sprayed, their answer was "if u wan, we can spray it for you. no problem." shock no 2: i had to explain to 3 different ppl that the ventilation fan was working perfectly fine on their 1st day of work and it was damaged only when i inspected my house on the 4th day... in between, no other person had excess to the house... apparently their communication is lacking which explains y i had to explain 3 times or they are just trying to shrink their responsibility.... shock no 3: my walls are apparently SUPPOSED to be rough... it's definitely NOTHING like what i've felt in person at the company... NOTHING... they insist that it's supposed to be rough due to the flakes.... shock no 4: ceiling, pipe area will not be a circle (will post up pictures to illustrate) coz apparently their spray gun cannot spray that corner... again, it was not told... in fact, the boss told us small corners oso can spray... solution: they just touch up whatever i felt was really too glaring but back of pipes are still undone... the ventilation which took them super long to tinker around? they told mi to take back to the manufacturer since it's under warrenty... i'm definitely not free to do that and i told them i will pass them the warrenty card and they will settle it for mi.... i dun care what they do, i just want a functioning ventilation fan at the end of the day.... had a dispute with them as well over the payment... total payment was 2700 and we paid 300 deposit... he asked for 2k payment for the job completed.... to me, the job is and only will be completed if i dun have to see him again... having a ventilation that is SPOILT by them which is still pending to be installed is definitely nothing like a job completed!!! but we will pass them the 2k cheque along with the warrenty card... but i totally regret goin to them.... service is BAD!!! not to mention quality... and the misinterpretation.... argh!!

ronald, at this rate u are goin... u are goin to be left with no workers....

i'm still at the house.... in fact, been here since 10am... i've decided to personally supervise the last bits of the reno process in hopes that there will be no more hiccups...but.... start with plumbing works 1st... no 1, plumber was late... car broke down... we still never mind... coz it's just installing 2 toilet accessories n 1 kitchen basin.. we tot it should be quite fast.. what we wanted to install... Kitchen kitchen basin & tap common toilet shower accessories with mixer basin & tap hook glass shelf S/S rack toilet paper holder Master bedroom shower accessories with mixer basin & tap towel rack mirror cabinet not a lot actually... coz most is just drill hole and screw in... he's been at it since 1030am... and STILL not done!!! oh yah.. he loves to chat on the phone as well.... out of what he HAS done, there were screw ups..... Kitchen he actually silicon the basin to my S/S top with the protective covering in between.... why he did that, i have totally no idea... oh yah.. his silicon skills totally cannot make it... super uneven.... and looks **** bad on my s/S top... i will silicon the hob myself... i think even i can do a better job... common toilet basin is crooked... it's actually slanted on 1 side... s/s rack got 1 additional hole drilled... clothes hanger is mis aligned with the rack... master bedroom he haven't even finished n i dread to check it... i seriously cannot understand y simple things like that cannnot be done properly... ronald, i hate to say this.. but you really should change a plumber... he's not only cannot make it, but oso cock eyed... gim will post up the pictures shortly...