cleong

You can look for Ikea's Rationell door damper. I use those with my door hinges as they aren't Blum and cannot be retrofitted as such. It requires a drill and some adjusting but will generally work well.

I'm flattered that you decided to do the same thing to your staircase.

Just to share, if you have space, you can use a dryer, although it would be costlier to buy as well as to run. The perks are that machine dried clothes are nice and fluffy and is not weather-dependent. The alternative is that you buy a collapsible laundry rack (which I have and store in the storeroom when not in use). Given you're not keen on using the balcony for laundry, I guess you may need to find a space to store a dryer. In my case, I had no place in my kitchen for said dryer, hence the laundry rack method.

Hasn't happened yet.

As I said, only HUDC can en bloc. HDB flats will have to wait for SERS. I have to say I would not want to be dispossessed of my EM back to a normal 4 or 5 room flat. I would be downgrading from 150sqm of space to 100sqm or less. There is a certain quality of life in having an uncluttered living space.

Copied from http://mymonies.info/HUDC_Flat The HUDC flat was built by the government to cater to the demand of middle income earners for higher quality housing. The HUDC flats are mainly for those who cannot afford private properties and yet cannot qualify for HDB flats. (Please refer to New HDB Flat).Similar to HDB flats, they are sold on 99-year leases, but it has a larger built in area though. Such flats are not being built anymore since 1987. It is relatively easy for anyone to purchase a resale HUDC flat as there is no income restriction on buyers and even private residential property owners can purchase one as well. Owners of HUDC flat do not enjoy subsidised financing from HDB. Privatizing paves the way for an eventual collective en bloc sale where the residents (hopefully) get a better price for their unit than if they sold individually on the resale market. Not too sure. Based on my observation they usually only erect a fence around the compound. No large scale upgrade to have swimming pools or such. HDB EM cannot be privatized. HUDC EM can.

Well the thing is, you're in it with this contractor for the duration of this job, and you'll be living in the house long after he's gone. If you force the issue but he's not able to do it properly then you'll be the one that has to deal with the aftermath of an idea that has been poorly executed.

Refurbishing meant that gaps were filled in and some severely damaged parquet and tiles were replaced. They used some new tiles for the skirting of the under-staircase storeroom partition as well as the realigned kitchen entrance, but the new tiles matched well with the old. After that, its just a matter of polishing the whole lot till it looked like new. But the sheen will wear off pretty quick, and I suppose if you want to shiny look, regular polishing is required. You can see the flooring before and after in the first two pictures.

I recall that my quote was fairly high until I did my own research into EM staircases (refer to Home & Decor's EM issue "Stairway to Heaven" or something) that I selected one that I wanted and to modify from there. I worked with the contractor discussing construction options and alternatives in an effort to ensure that the staircase is well supported, durable yet met my budget.

Yes, I kept the original flooring for the upstairs parquet and downstairs marble and got them refurbished. Flooring at the toilets, kitchen, balcony and front door porch were however replaced.

Balcony doors are white powder-coated with a very faint blue tint. Done by the same window contractor. The staircase was quoted at $4000 + $150 to demolish most of the existing rails, as I wanted the original steel posts to be kept as solid supports. I got the staircase builder to build a wooden post around each existing steel post, secured with screws and finished with laminate. There are six tubes inside the light box. It would require a stepladder to get to the further bulbs but for the most part, the light holders are movable inside the box and can be dragged over for changing. Its less difficult than cleaning/changing lights on a chandelier or hanging light in the stairwell, which was our other option for lighting at this area.

I have storage under the staircase, in the utility room, and also at the balcony. But more importantly we try not to keep clutter such as carton boxes of electronic products and such. Our fortnightly recycling bag is always full. I think my kitchen's configured pretty traditionally, where there's no open shelves or glass doors for practical reasons. Its not as contemporary as what an ID firm may produce, but it does the job and we're happy with the work area available as well as the storage spaces.

Dining room with recycled teak dining table set in natural finish Custom shoe cabinet next to front door (self designed and constructed to my specification)

Perspective view of kitchen layout showing washing machine and sink area Looking at the washing machine and cleaning material storage area Downstairs guest toilet More or less fully furnished home

Finally got around to taken some "lived in" photographs of my apartment, three months since we moved in I only had time and energy to take photos of the ground floor though. Living room with curtains from Jimmy Curtain Perspective view of living room Entrance to kitchen, with DIY LED counter lighting and KitchenAid Artisan taking pride of place

I bought the same Bosch oven that you've got. You might need to buy additional grilles ($50-odd) in order to be able to bake more at one go. Only one grille is provided. I had to wait a month to order in a second grille. I opted for a slightly smaller Hitachi fridge (R-Z481) than yours because there's only the two of us right now and I figure the larger capacity would go to waste. As it sits now I have got mainly drinks in the fridge compartment and a single packet of chicken plus ice cream in the freezer. I picked mine because it was 4 ticks and a reasonable price. By the time I need a bigger fridge, this one might have broken down anyway. My bathroom uses a safe colour scheme that complements the marble flooring downstairs in terms of using inoffensive colours. Don't fret too much about picking just the right tile. Unless you're going all the way out there in terms of design and idea, otherwise an inoffensive beige-y/grey sort of colour would work with just about anything.

you're unlikely to be able to pull off your entire list of works for below 50k without dropping big ticket items like carpentry, staircases. One system 4 a/c is already 4k.

Wow, the EMs in Queenstown are very expensive. How much did you pay?

98357695 - look for Boo, he does semi-d and terrace house design, installation and maintenance

The number of lighting points and type of lighting you intend to use are going to cost quite a lot more than typical single lighting points. If you're getting halogen downlights they're going to consume more power as well. Cove and downlights involve false ceilings and suchlike which are also additional renovation costs.

I bought a white one on Friday about one hour after the sale started. At that time there were three colours available: white, grape and green. I wouldn't have paid $70 more for it to be red in colour.

Just to bump it up, tomorrow (20/02/2011) is the last day for the Mayer Warehouse Sale, its at Changi North.

Staircase and added pelmet lighting Living room transformed

Kitchen entrance - before and after Staircase - before and after Our place from the opposite block. This was after the windows were fitted.

This is a log of renovations done to a 24 year old flat in Northeast Singapore. The before-and-after photos give a general idea of the condition of the flat and its eventual outcome. As we were on a budget, we avoided engaging an ID, some of the companies we approached were ID firms but we told them we did not need design input from them as we already had some things in mind. Hence there was generally no 3D drawings except for the kitchen layout. Dining room looking towards living room - before and after Dining room - before and after