Umaisarah

Wah, Thursday was a v tiring day. Spent almost whole day at the new place, from 10:30 am to about 4 pm. Met about 6-7 contractors, designers, etc etc. First thing we arrived, the seller agent apologised coz the seller aredi go and cut off the power and water supply. So, no air con and water! Thank goodness it was windy, and none of us had urgent need go toilet The seller really calculative, grr..... Anyway, my hubby got some good pictures of the place. Here are some that I would like to share. This is pic of block from the roadside. Mine is the 4th unit from the top floor. The one without any curtains etc. Living/Dining Room, balcony and passageway to bedrooms. At the end there, you can see the balcony of the master bedroom. Views from balconies and bedrooms, the one thing which sold the house to me From Masterbedroom balcony Master Bedroom, with L-shape bay window. Going to need a lot of curtains! Will post some more pictures soon.

Hi, Porcupine! Guess what, I have 3 kids too, and a maid! Tt's why we bought a 4-bedder instead of 3-bedder I'm not putting my maid in the household shelter so she's taking a room which will double up as a work-room. So I've got to do up study areas in the bedrooms. Now figuring out the best bed design for my daughters. Actually bunk beds not too bad. Check out my Reno blog if u want to know what I have in mind

Tomorrow will be a full-day for me onsite at my new place. (Well, going to be my new place in 2 months time. Now I only own 5% of the place ) Going to make full use of the day coz paiseh to ask the owner to come back again. Owner quite siong lah.... here's a link to the unit's floor plan. It's a 4-br, and it has nice unblocked views from the living and dining room. [jus realised link don't work. Will post e layout later] Tomorrow going to take more detailed pictures of the whole house coz the last time we were there, it was 2nd viewing before we confirm to buy and so photos taken were in a hurry. Rondy - forgot to add, I really like your avatar. Is that your son? SO CUTE!!!!!

Hi Merydith - yah, very close to my fave eating place, Spize at Simpang Bedok Hi Rondy - that area supposed to grow in value over time coz the 4th uni will be close by. so rental income supposed to be good. Tt's why Optima sold 100%. but i duno got casino there leh.... Hi Ossify - Thanks for the warm words of welcome Hi Muesli - I really put my heart into tt kitchen when we did it about six years ago. I'm going to miss my pantry with the pull-out steel drawers! Maybe 5 years time if got $$, I'm going to redesign the whole kitchen.

One of the 1st problems I will face when we move, will be WHERE AM I GOING TO PUT ALL OF THESE STUFF???? Tonight, my hubby's friend is coming down to cart off some of the furniture which we know cannot make it in the new home. Actually, some of it are our old furniture which is still in good condition that we didn't throw away. Like leather sofa, Ikea CD cabinet, TV consoles. I like to change furniture every few years, heh heh. Now cannot do anymore coz all $$ go into monthly instalments and loan Here are some pics of my current house. As you can see, I like wood. My kitchen currently country-style. Another view of my kitchen. I'm going to miss all that space! My current place is abt 130 sqm, the new one is 143sqm. Looks bigger on paper, right? But after u minus the balconies, bay windows, extra bathrooms and stupid household shelter, the living space is actually smaller.

I think, many years down the road, when I'm old and wrinkly, and sitting in my rocking chair looking at the setting sun, I will ask myself why I decided to uproot my family from our comfortable HDB home in one of the most sought-after district in Singapore, to set up a condo nest in the east. Anyway, let me introduce myself. My name is....let's call me Umaisarah, shall we.....and this is my Reno Blog. I currently live in the estate where recently one thousand people applied to buy one unit there (I don't remember the exact details). Mine is one of the first newish flats to be built in that area, so it's about 15 years old already, but still looking good (like Madonna). I bought it at resale, so had to cough up quite a lot of dough for it, so I didn't make much when I sold it off. Got quite a good price for it, because the valuation was pretty good. I have been staying there for about 8 years already. Why we (hubby and I) decided to sell it: a. we live on lower floor, so with all the new flats going up, we're going to lose the unblocked view we're currently enjoying. So better sell now, when it's not so bad. b. we are subject to the ethnic quota so, maybe election's round the corner or something, because suddenly, our block was eligible for all races to buy, so why wait? SELL, SELL, SELL! Actually, we have been trying to market our unit for a whole year (since early 2009) but tt time, ethnic quota still on and we DIDN'T GET A SINGLE VIEWING. So sad....but once quota lifted late last year, we got like 3 viewings in 1 hour and managed to sell within 5 weeks of hard sell by my agent. If anyone need lobang for good agent, PM me! c. my hubby works in the east, so more convenient for him to travel to work. d. I kind of fancy a change of wind. Been living in that part of the country for most of my life. Never lived in the east. Someone told me pace of life is more relaxed. Eastenders, is this really true??? I'm having deep pangs of regret of moving out of the location . It's a very good one, coz the school is very nearby, 5 minutes drive to Orchard Road (not that I go there everyday, no $$), good connections to everywhere, and it was me and my hubby's childhood playground. I'll probably move back to it closer to retirement. Ask my daughters to buy house there and I tumpang them. Okay, I haven't started on the reno part. Have patience, my dears. Am warming up to it.

Hi HKChing Read your blog after doing search for Casa Merah in the forums. Am moving there soon, too. Hope to get my keys in early April. Bought at sub-sale in Jan, so quite ex , but still not as ex as current prices. My fren was telling me current owners asking for $900 psf, because of Optima! Quite crazy right? Not worth it, I think. Anyway, very glad that I stumbled into your blog so I can see how the reno will turn out. Liked your TV console and feature wall, very simple but classy. And your use of wallpapers. And I'm really happy to stumble onto your website coz I'm planning to do a bed just like your son's! I will hv 2 daughters staying in 1 room (a 10 year-old and 7 year-old). The rooms are really tiny so hv to save as much space as possible. I think the bay window bed will turn out nice. Hope to start my reno blog soon, once I hv pictures of the unit to share. Going there tomorrow to reccee and do site showround with some IDs & contractors. So excited. Btw, where did you get your floor plan? Hv been trying to get one which is of the right scale, but no luck. Even the owner's agent dun hv a proper copy and she used to work for Wing Tai, the developer! Can we get one from the management office or something?

Hi. I need to have contact for Peter urgently. Can someone PM me pls?

thanks! I just PM you for e contact.

Hi User101 Tried to PM you but your inbox full. What's your contractor's contact? Can PM me? or email to umaisarah@yahoo.com Thanks!

Hi Kas. Did you order from the company? Any idea what's the wind speed like? Don't want to end up with a nice-looking white elephant.

Hi everyone Saw this very unique bookshelf in a home decor magazine a few months ago and wanted to have one for my kids bedroom. Did a little research and found out that the bookshelf is handmade in powder-coated metal by this korean designer in her studio in Seoul, and so, you guessed it, it costs a bomb (US$2,500 to be exact, before shipping!!!) So I'm thinking of doing it locally, if there's any contractor willing and confident enough to do it at a reasonable price. Does anyone know of any contractor who is good at metal works to recommend? Not sure if those contractors which do window grilles and gates can do the job or not? Thanks!

Hi Yuen Yuen I want to know too. Can PM me, pls? Btw, does anyone know, if carpenter usually do false ceilings too? coz I'm thinking of going ala carte for my reno but I don't want to go too ala carte and my design is such that the feature wall's feature is extended to the false ceiling/L Box too. so has to be done by 1 contractor (either ceiling or wall contractor). Many thanks.

Hi everyone! Watch out, ignorant newbie here. This is a fairly long post, so do bear with me. And my apologies if this topic has been discussed ad nauseam before. I really need wisdom from experienced people out there. First, a bit of background: I'll be moving into a 4-br condo in Tanah Merah, getting my keys in early April and I need to move out of my present place by end April or early May. So I only hv about 3-4 weeks for on-site renovation. I can't get access to my new place so easily coz the present owner is quite sticky about it even tho the place is empty and brand new. So, as much as possible, I want to bring in contractors/carpenters/ID to measure, have a feel, etc etc, at one time so I don't have to keep asking to access the unit. Now, this is my dilemma: I more or less know what I want to do already in terms of design and what materials to use. This is the reno works I plan to get done: - TV feature wall (Wood strips + spray-painted glass)+ TV console **** room (suspended design in wood/laminate) - false ceiling or L-Box ****/dining area - bed + study desk + book shelves at 2 kids bedroom - master bedroom bedhead, feature wall and study desk - wooden top for bay windows (4 bedrooms) - decking at balconies (living and master bedroom) Initially, I’ve approached two ID companies (Inner Room, Home Guide) and one reno contractor -- - to design and quote for me. So far, I only hv 1 quote from Classic for about $17K. For drawings, they want a $500 non-refundable deposit. I haven’t seen any drawings from the ID companies (not sure if I will get any since I haven’t confirmed with them. What’s the usual practice??) So my question: Is it better to use a general renovation contractor or to engage a ID firm or to hire separate contractors for different parts of the work and somehow project manage it? What's the diff between reno contractor and ID firm, coz a contractor will usually hv their own in-house designers, right? My idea is to do it this way: - hire general contractor to do reno works in living/dining and master bedroom (plus wiring and misc works) - hire carpenter to do carpentry work in kids bedrooms - hire company to do decking and bay windows (I’m thinking of using Goodhill) Is this too much of a hassle to do? Can I ask the contractor to project manage the others for me? Because they would know better the timing and sequence, right? Would reno contractors generally do that for the clients? Will they charge more because we don’t hire their own carpenter and so on? The reason why I thought of engaging a separate carpenter is that I have better control over cost and quality of materials used. If you do it via the contractor, I may be stuck with 2nd rate carpenters because the best ones are taken up to do the major (or more expensive) projects. I’m aware that doing it my way may end up costing me more, so right now I’m still exploring options and comparing costs. My 2nd plan is to hire a contractor to do everything. But then, my next question is, is a contractor cheaper than an ID firm, eg will the quote from Classic cost more than a quote from say Inner Room, everything else remaining the same (in terms of quality, quantity etc)? Appreciate any advice from all of you at Renotalk. For those who have done it my way, what are the pitfalls and problems to watch out for? And of course, recommendations on reliable and quality reno contractors or ID firms will be very much appreciated Thanks! PS ....very strange, that the name of the reno contractor got 'dashed' when I preview the post. Is the company 'blacklisted' or something??