weeeeeee.....

take a look at this... it shall be transform to this!

these pictures were taken as at last sunday (27 mar 2011), where the workers were not working. upon entering the main door... my kitchen wall has already gone... another perspective... another perspective where i stood at the doorway of the bomb shelter and took this picture.

yep, gonna overlay those ugly and boring white wall tiles...

in fact, the very important thing is to give your ID the measurements of whatever electrical appliances you bought. timing is very important. first, you need to agak-agak know how long is the whole renovation process gonna be, even before the ID/contractor gives you the schedule. ask when is the best time that the electrical appliances should come in, and by when he needs to know the exact dimensions of your electrical appliances that may affect his space planning, especially big items like fridge, washing machine, and even TV. for me, i have already started looking around at electrical stores like best denki, courts, harvey norman, audio house and even smaller establishments like parisilk, goh ah bee, and everjoint. i created a spreadsheet to list down the possible make and model of the electrical appliances that i was interested, and the amount offered by each seller. all these are recorded via google spreadsheet so that i can record it using my iphone wherever and whenever i am. and when my ID says he wanted the measurements of the electrical appliances i have bought, i quickly went to harvey norman and show them my spreadsheet and asked if they can match the lowest price of the various sellers of all my interested electrical appliances. see my signature on what i have bought from harvey, total damage < $7k. when i made my purchases, i told them the expected time of delivery is about a month later when my reno is almost complete. after i made my purchases, i gave my ID the measurements of the tv, fridge, washing machine. with this measurements, he can then re-assess to see what he originally designed can hold my upcoming new fridge, washing machine, and tv.

and let's move in deeper into my MBR, past my wardrobe into my bed chamber... and viewpoint 'R' shows how the platform is going to be built.

let's enter my MBR where my wardrobe is gonna be... as well as the carpentry work at viewpoint 'Q' but i've decided to re-design the wardrobe as such...

now to the MBR toilet... viewpoint 'P' illustrates the carpentry work at the sink area.

this is another perspective of my study room. and viewpoint 'L' illustrates the carpentry for the storage cabinet at the opposite side of the working desk. and viewpoint 'M' shows how the platform is going to be built.

viewpoints 'I' and 'J' are not given yet, as we're still undecided on the appearance of the feature wall yet. so it'll skip to viewpoint 'K'. this is the 3D drawing of my study room: and viewpoint 'K' illustrates the carpentry of my working desk. viewpoint 'N' and 'O' gives further details to the small little tv console for my video gaming activity.

this is the 3D of the next viewpoints: and viewpoints 'G' and 'H' illustrate the top-down view of the platform i'll be getting for my living room.

bringing you back to the 3D drawings i posted previously, i'm going to touch on the tall cabinet next to the fridge which houses the built-in oven. followed by viewpoint 'F'.

can you tell where my bomb shelter is supposed to be? it is supposed to be to the left-side of my main door, but it is going to be concealed by a feature wall, illustrated in viewpoint 'C': viewpoints 'D' and 'E' illustrates the carpentry works that are going to be undertaken within my kitchen area.

let me show you what is viewpoints 'A' and 'B' through my 3D drawings first. see the carpentry just next to my main door? viewpoints 'A' and 'B' is going to show me how the shoes cabinet and the settee are going to be built.

the tiling layout plan, woo hoo.... and the carpentry layout plan. the 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' above denotes the various "viewpoints" for each carpentry works. i'll explain in my next post.

what else do i have? the colour of the wall paints i'm gonna have is also documented. and also the materials i have chosen the only bad is that plans do not illustrate how the materials look like, or how the colour of the paints look like. because frankly speaking, i forgotten what i have chosen for most items already.

and this... not sure this is commonly given or not... but i haven't seen anything like this. and this! i would say i am very glad to see these, actually. being a civil servant myself, getting used to documenting everything in black & white to confirm the mutual understanding, this is definitely very useful to me. there was a discussion prior to giving me the above. and straightaway, i could cross-verify his understanding and i could also point out anything misunderstood or noted wrongly. at least, i am insured from getting bad surprises

this is the original layout plan, mostly adopted from hdb. and this is how it would look like when the furniture is in. i think the above two is quite commonly given by most IDs.

it has been a long time since i last update my thread, has been so busy with work and managing the reno to continue, let me share with you what my interior designer has came up for me. this is the schedule that has been worked out. so this would allow me to follow very closely on the progress of the reno.

called up hdb, and they confirm yes, need pe endorsement. lan lan suck thumb. similarly to footprint's, i was also quoted $500 for pe's endorsement. i agreed and get thomas to proceed already and was told that the approval should be given next week. *cross fingers*

wah piang... i got a call from thomas (my ID) late yesterday that the wall demolition work requires PE endorsement, which may cost me another $500 - $800! but when i login to hdb's website using my singpass, i see this: Items Approved: The flat owner is permitted to carry out the following renovation works subject to the HDB's terms and conditions governing renovation works in HDB residential premises. The renovation works are to be completed by 14/04/2011. 1. Replacement of existing floor finishes with (a) HOMOGENEOUS, (b) PARQUET, © PARQUET and (d) PARQUET floor finishes at (a) LIVING ROOM, (b) BEDROOM 1 (MASTER OR MAIN BEDROOM), © BEDROOM 2 and (d) BEDROOM 3. a. Maximum thickness including the tiles and screed must not exceed 50mm. b. To use the prepack mortar/waterproof screed and waterproofing membrane for wet areas such as bathroom/toilets/balconies before laying of new floor tiles. Membrane should be upturned (up to 150 mm) against the walls, kerbs and pipes. c. To use UPVC floor trap grating with long collar at the floor traps. Items Pending Approval: The following proposed renovation works are pending evaluation by our Technical Departments. We will let you know the result in due course. 1. Demolition of internal walls at (a) KITCHEN and (b) KITCHEN marked RED on plan. 15/03/2011 Arch: On condition: Cooking activities should be confined to original kitchen floor area. referring to the details under Items Pending Approval, there is no mentioning of getting PE endorsement for this. any advice? do i really need to obtain an endorsement from a PE? i asked thomas what would the PE do or certify before he could endorse. he said the PE would simply based on the drawings and give his signature and rubberstamp, and there is no need for him to do any verification or any checks on-site! my mind went "wah... just a signature and rubberstamp cost me many hundreds of dollars"

noted your experience. i will put this question across to thomas when i meet him tomolo. he was the one who advised me to get the screeding done before he start any flooring works. but there is no mention of whether the wall hacking (if done later) would defeat the purpose of screeding.

grrrrr.... my first rant of my reno journey. thomas called me this afternoon, saying that hdb doesnt allow him to apply for smooth floor rendering on my behalf and need me to apply by myself. i went WTF!? in the first place, he was the one saying that he could do everything for me, including applying from hdb the provision for smooth floor rendering as it is FOC. he said this process is needed before he could start tiling and laying the floors with laminated floorboard. otherwise, getting his guys to do the similar works requires charges. i called up hdb, and the cso asked me to call the branch office 1800 number. i called that number, and then asked me to download a form froom the website, have it duly completed and fax to the respective branch office (in my case, is sengkang branch office). ok, fine. managed to search the form and downloaded it (http://www.hdb.gov.sg/isoa072p.nsf/PC66VByFormID/HAPF00015). as i was halfway thru completing the form, i saw this clause "It will take about 3 to 4 weeks from the day the flat owner hands over the keys to the Branch Office to complete the smooth floor rendering..." i went wah piang eh! i don't care. i'm gonna give hdb **** by insisting to complete it asap. i'm gonna give thomas some lecture also when i meet him coming wed. if he knows this earlier, he could have get me to make this request as soon as i got my keys! not 2 weeks later! so guys... if ur ID or contracter prefer to do have hdb provide the smooth floor rendering FOC, do so as soon as u got the keys if u want ur reno to start asap.

according to thomas (my ID), no PE is needed. i had doubt at first but he put it across to me sounded experienced and confident, and he'll be applying for the renovation permit from hdb stating the intention to have the wall knocked. unless he came telling me say hdb doesn't approve, else i believe i am able to do so. i will update u all on my t-blog on this

to be frank, i do not wish to disclose the exact i amount i am paying to fuse concept. we've agreed on the price, and i dont wish to invite comments on how expensive it is, or whatsoever. let's just say that we have several special requests and i did my due homework before agreeing to the price. all i can say is it's about 30%-40% higher than an average home owner of a new 4-room hdb flat. we are a small family of three: me, my wife, and my 16-mths-old daughter. we are planning for a second one the master bedroom, would be for me and my wife, of course. we own a serta queen size bed and we're going to shift this from my mother's house (which we're staying now) to my new master bedroom, with the bedhead at the westside of the room. i'm also going to get my ID to build a wardrobe at the southside of the room. my wife wishes to have a tv in the room too, so i intend to shift our old 32" lcd tv and mount it onto the wall (eastside) of the room with a bracket. the room next to us would be for my daughter and also for our next one. i'm not going to get thomas to install any built-in wardrobe for this room. my wife intends to get everything kiddy for my daughter. we are looking at ikea's children furniture for few reasons: a) cheap; b) our daughter will grow and may wish for a change in few years' time, thus it's best not to have something fixed in the room and cheap to replace when the time comes. my wife is now in the midst of selecting some wall decals for the kid's bedroom enthusiastically the last room closest to the living room is going to be our study, housing our laptops and my small little area for video gaming (ps3). i have not finalised the layout of this room yet and i'm getting thomas to design for me. all i have now is i'm planning to get a sony 32" ex600 lcd tv and probably a yamaha yht-s400 soundbar for my video gaming console. like any typical guy, the first few thing i've planned for my living room is the tv and the home theatre system due to the space constraint of my living room, the biggest i should get is a 40" tv for a viewing distance of 3m - 3.5m. but i find 40" a little small for my viewing pleasure of my blu-ray collections, thus i'm going for a something slightly larger, hee hee hee i'm aiming at the 42" le7500 from LG. for my home theatre system, i've not targetted onto anything yet, but it'll most likely a yamaha one as well. due to another contraint in my house, i.e. running kid(s), i have no choice but not to have any standing or tallboy speakers. hence, i'm gonna get all-satellite speakers for a 5.1 configuration. my wife has been wanting a xbox kinect, so i've decided not to have any coffee table. we're gonna settle for an L-shaped sofa and a nice carpet for her enjoyment. as for the kitchen, we haven't really decided on the hood and hob yet. but what we'll sure get is a chimney hood, a 2- or 3-burners hob, and a built-in oven for cooking. we're aiming to get a gr-b2088lq side-by-side fridge from LG for sure. i will build a list of all these electronic and electrical appliances (including air-con) in a couple of weeks' time and will share with u all in due course meanwhile, please feel free to add me in facebook facebook.com/kuanwee.lee p.s. pls state that u got to know me from my t-blog@renotalk, ok? for those who love kids, i humbly introduce u to my daughter's "fan page": facebook.com/charlotte.lee.t.h :P

the long wait of our own property is finally here. we just collected our keys from hdb today and has gotten our interior designer to start his preliminary work today, i.e. finalising the interior measurements. ours is a feb 2008 bto project called punggol spring. and i guess my unit is one of the first fews to start our renovation work this is the floor plan published by hdb for our unit: we've been through our hunting process for interior designers or contractors which i would not elaborate much. i would just mention which interior designer i have selected: thomas of fuse concept. this is one of the designed floor plan he had done for us before we signed up with him: you may notice we planned to hack down wall between the kitchen and the living room to make ours a open-concept kitchen. note that this is not a finalised design. i'm planning to make more requests for finetuning. this is the 3d he has worked for us (before we signed up with him): note also that this may not be our confirmed design. we liked it very much at first, with led lights bordering the tv console. but my wife later worried that this design may go outdated very soon and requested for new ideas from thomas. he agreed and would return to us soon. here's a few pics of the interiors we've taken today... view into the kitchen: view into the living room, from the main door: fyi, i have opted out from tiling and doors because i find the tiles provided by hdb ugly, and the doors hollow (from those samples i've knocked in hdb hub). i prefer to get an interior designer do a full complete job. this t-blog shall document our renovation journey, which we would also share our experiences (be it good or bad) with our interior designer during the renovation process. i am not sure whether all or most interior designers / contractors / renovators adopt the practice of taking the measurements personally by themselves, as i didn't hear the same thing during my interior designer hunting process. fuse concept is the only one to share with me that the measurements stated by hdb's official floor plan may not be 100% accurate, and he would need re-take all measurements personally by himself to ensure a more accurate planning of his work (e.g. capentry, tiling, etc.) and materials budgeting. anyway, thomas has done that today and he'll make the necessary applications for renovation permit from hdb. the next time we meet would be a walkthrough of his detailed plan, in 2 to 3 weeks' time.