musicbox

Do you cook heavily or are you planning to have kids? for family with kids I don't advice to have this kind of design. Is your kitchen really dark that you require this? For me I use tempered glass door for my kitchen entrance door, but not backsplash

Well, I might not got this "minimalist" concept right but when I renovated my house, i go for simple and practical design. Just black and white. Till now, I must say these 2 colours match perfectly.

You can do a fake door to cover up the bomb shelter

There is no maintenance required, but after a long time the paper might tear off by itself. So far my wall paper still ok after 1 and a half year of pasting on the wall.

Mine was a resale condo and I did basically everything. Can refer here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com

You may refer to below: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/09/montella-wallpaper.html

if you decided on black laminate, must blend with red on the cabinet to bring out the retro feel, the floor will be white, wood colour does not match

it is expensive. But not sure is it becoz u only do a little work. Is hard to find someone to do just one bedroom, unless u can find a trustworthy contractor yourself.

If you're looking for CCTV, i recommend this IP camera: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2012/03/foscam-fi8918w-indoor-pantilt-wireless.html The cost is much cheaper and it can have motion detection i.e. only record when there's movement, if you install CCTV, you'll need to watch through the whole day video to catch the culprit which will make your eyes pop out......

It is a must to install cameras at home. Nowadays with IP camera (can work as CCTV), the cost is substantially lowered, you may refer to here for details and reviews: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2012/03/foscam-fi8918w-indoor-pantilt-wireless.html

I would think just a simple IP camera can solve your problem. Just set the motion detection function, and if anyone enter your house, the camera will detect it and send emails with images to you. If you are viewing from computer, it'll auto record the video and store in your hardisk. see here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2012/03/foscam-fi8918w-indoor-pantilt-wireless.html

You can consider this type: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2012/03/foscam-fi8918w-indoor-pantilt-wireless.html cheap and good!

Normally for HDB the wire is not concealed. For mine, it is a condo and all the wires were concealed in the wall. When I change my air-con, I requested for rewiring, the quotation includes the rewiring, touching up costs. It cost me $3k+ for Daikin system 4, and not many contractor willing to do this.

My quote in Nov 2010 for your comparison: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cheap-quotation-for-cabinet-wardrobe.html and: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/10/finally-revealing-my-overall-renovation.html

$30k budget for a 4 rooms flat is tight? Hahaha, this ready puzzle me. My reno was around $50k for 1152sqft, 3 bedrooms condo. BUT, I hacked ALL the existing designs and revamp it to a new designs and my $50K include air-cons, cabinets, toilets, tiles etc. I can't believe how people spend $ nowadays, my sis just got her 5 room NEW flat and when she asked for quote from ID, the ID also said $30K budget very tight, I asked her, what do you want to do for a NEW flat? my full heights cabinets for 3 rooms, toilet vacinity, kitchen cabinets and table top, feature wall in living room, big mirror in dining table, only cost me around $11k. I really don't understand why $30k is tight. OK, for contact, look for Mr Tan at 96354336, he is specialised in tiles and he sub-contract too, he can be your major contractor that look after the whole renovation. If you're interested to see my house, see here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/

You can do the planning now, i.e. 1) if you prefer ID, go around to get quotes 2) If you prefer to get contractor, check out the magazines and pictures to get ideal and find a good and reliable contractor

My brother's house is vynl laminate in the living hall, it looks fine to me. I guess you got to do good maintenance, i.e. don't let the water drip down from the side of the wood. And if someone walking hard, you'll hear the "kik kok kik kok" sound. My son likes to crawl around my brother house and keep making the sound.......

I would choose carpentry, reason: 1) carpentry feature wall hides the cable, that's the main purpose of feature wall. 2) Tiles give a hard feel to your wall, and do you want to see lines on the joints? 3) if you're thinking of putting tiles or wallpaper to the carpentry, then it will be more expensive, laminate is still the better choice. 4) wall paper does peel off over time, especially if you're using for TV wall where the heat will make the paper worse. Btw, my wallpaper for 1 and a half wall is around $500 from montella, see here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/search/label/Wallpaper I use it for my dining area and for my MBR. For pictures on my feature wall, click here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/09/feature-wall-and-tv-console-in-living.html Plan your wiring properly if you're doing a feature wall

I'm using downlight around the fan, with false ceiling:

My cabinets are all glossy whites, including wardrobes and kitchen cabinets. My kitchen cabinets is with black solid surface but i regret getting this type of material. I don't advise on getting white furniture, is hard to maintain especially if you're thinking of leather sofa. You may refer here for pictures: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/search/label/kitchen and other posts on the wardrobes.

Majority of ppl think hood doesn't work, but I guess these ppl don't really clean their hoods. A suction hood is better than any other hoods, but sad that HDB cannot use this type, so left with the chimney type, and those slim type. Get the chimney type if possible, as this type really can work, but if budget minds, get the slim type, reason: 1) for decoration purpose, ha! 2) it does work a little bit if you maintain it well, i.e. wash the net everytime after cook. 3) The price is not much, around $200 4) It gives some sort of protection to your top cabinet, unless u don't mind to see your cabinet turn yellowish 5) A hood, no matter how lousy, will still better than nothing Just my view. If you would like to see my hood, click here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/10/rinnai-hob-rb-3va-and-rinnai-hood-rh.html

wat's ur budget? I done mine for $495, you may see here: http://mylittlecasa.blogspot.com/2011/09/montella-wallpaper.html

Mine is the King size Maxcoil orthopedic mattress with the storage bedframe, so far so good, quite comfortable and no complain.

Courts has quite a few brands to choose from including 4 Stars, Kingkoil and Maxcoil. I bought my Maxcoil from courts and so far the mattress are quite ok. There're quite many items u can buy from courts, and can easily hit the $2999, if free LED TV why not?

From what I see the metal is connected to the cabinet, for sure the burden of the TV is on the door, which a frequent closing and opening will give you problem afterwards. Don't forget those wires connected to the TV, so when you open the cabinet, it'll be full of wires and not as what you see in the picture, it won't be as neat as that. The TV is on the outer part of the cabinet, so no issue on heat releasing. I suppose you'll drill a hole on the TV console below for the wires to be connected down, if already have a TV console, why do you need the cabinet to put CD? Must as well do a simple feature wall? If you don't have DVD players or other gadgets, you can just hand your TV on the wall like this: