cath76

The ceiling fans and lights were installed over the weekend. Living room Kitchen E says that the kitchen looks even better now with the lighting evened out & I agree too. He added that the installation process wasn't 100% smooth, since the installers delivered a wrong item. E had to rush down to the retailer to get the item while the other two were being installed. We thought we had a good bargain initially but didn't expect the service to be that shoddy. I'm kinda fuming here but E says the fans are now in place and that's what matters. Next major event would be the installation of the solid surface kitchen tops and general cleaning this week. @lilithfiend: Thanks for the compliment! Credit goes to E who dreamed up that idea.

Likewise, much progress in the common toilet too. The white scheme for the kitchen is falling into place as well. The sink, cooker hob and partition are installed. E says that the light grey solid surface will be next. I think the ceiling fans will be installed soon. E says that will help the night photos very much then. Thanks for all the view/comments in our t-blog so far. E & I are very grateful for all the advice and input we've gotten so far.

Some updates after a busy week... The paint work is mostly done. We've chosen two-tone schemes for the living room... and common bedroom. (Excuse the clutter!) The MBR toilet is shaping up nicely too. Since the last post, the sanitaryware, bi-fold door and shower screen have been put up. Cont'd...

The tiling works are all done for both toilet and the kitchen while the electrical work has started. The new light for the common toilet has yet to be installed but the area around the window has been finished off neatly. All the grouting is done too. We are now seeing the MBR toilet for the first time in white light (the original bulb was a filament bulb). The one wall in the kitchen designated for tiling is also complete while the other walls have been screeded. Such a difference from when we first saw the kitchen with the original tiles falling off. The new lights for the living room are also up. A fresh coat of paint will make a difference soon. The gas hob, sanitary ware and paints have also arrived. I think the next major item should be the kitchen cabinets. Once they are in, the whole look will start to take shape.

Do you mean the chipped front steps? They are original condition and we haven't decided if we'll have them replaced yet. As for the rest of the tiling works, we did have some concerns initially but it just took E one call to Jeremy (DeFong) and the tiles were rectified within the week. More credit to Jeremy for taking the initiative to fix the chipped MBR toilet floor tile without prompting from E. Thanks, dexufto! The tiling and grouting works are almost done and things are starting to look good. Both toilets are taking shape nicely... The next big items will be the sanitaryware, I suppose. The kitchen floor tiles and cabinet bases are also mostly in place. We chose large light grey ones to keep the kitchen looking spacious. E's picked up the kitchen sink and tap too. We've also just finalised our selection of kitchen laminates, solid surface colors and paint colours. I know it sure wasn't easy co-ordinating our choices while I'm overseas; changed my selections at least three times before E put his foot down. *Sorry for driving you up the wall with my indicisiveness, dear* E says that the lights are due to be up by the week too. Looking forward to more exciting developments...

All four walls in the master bedroom toilet have been tiled too; can't wait to see the "marble" tiles in person. E's sampled the wall joints here too and they look ok. The master bedroom toilet floor's mostly done too. E said that the original floor tiles were supposed to be a darker shade of grey but the supplier was out of stock till late July. I think the lighter shade works well. The right side of the toilet was also slightly raised to form a shower space on the left; we plan to have a shower screen installed. E noticed a flaw there though (where the red arrow points to)... The chip on the floor tile & the gap in the wall tile look quite bad. E also said that the steps leading up to the unit suffered a chip too. Two issues more to resolve no doubt but after this week, I think we don't have to worry ourselves silly for now.

Twelfth day in and I'm feeling so much more relieved with E's good news. The kitchen's still the main staging area. The wall of tiles that were initially installed wrongly have been fixed; it lengthens the look of the kitchen. More progress in the toilet with all four walls tiled from floor to ceiling. Jeremy (DeFong) has come through. The corners seemed to have been reworked and are definitely neater now. E sampled nine joints and they look ok. They should look even better when the grouting is done. The tiles above the toilet window have been redone too. Again, nothing glaring or out-of-line this time.

Our unit's just a few blocks behind the MRT station; we think the location's great. Wow, I didn't notice that detail before. Cheap and effective.

Wow, I'm so heartened by the replies from fellow forumers. Kind of in two minds about the situation... POSITIVE E noticed that some portions of the wall were slightly uneven. Maybe like what d'lotus says, the completed grouting will make things look better. We also understand that some variations are unavoidable (agree with davidbslee, we can't expect absolute perfection when we are not perfect ourselves). NEGATIVE E said that the rest of the normal (i.e. uncut) tiles were laid out quite neatly, so that could point to problems with measuring & cutting of the tiles. Although variations are unavoidable, they shouldn't be *that* obvious. As it is, I can only wait for more situation reports & pictures from E. Poor E's tied up with course now & still making a point to visit the flat every day. Fingers crossed for things to work out smoothly.

*Second of two posts.* Anyway, they started waterproofing both toilets on 30/6 One wall of tiles in the master bedroom has also been put up and like E said, the tiles with the marble-like finish look very classy. However, E said that cut tiles with uneven dimensions were present again and this time, the variances seemed like 3-4mm. (E couldn't measure the dimensions as the waterproofing was still wet.) Another combined picture showing the the uneven dimensions of the cut tiles. I'm wondering if such uneven lines are normal or acceptable? (I hope I'm not overreacting.) Right now, I can't help but feel concerned about the workmanship. Feeling quite helpless too as E tackles the reno alone while I'm overseas. E says things will work out ok and to give Jeremy/DeFong some more time to settle the issue.

Hi all, The tiling works have begun on 28/6 and there's been much progress so far. *First of two posts.* Some of the kitchen wall tiles are up and E says the glossy white tiles look great except... they've been laid vertically instead of horizontally, different from what E communicated with Jeremy (DeFong). E says that Jeremy would get that sorted out in due time. The toilet wall tiles went up on 29/6 as you can see but... E noted that the tiles cut to fit the corners had uneven dimensions, with the edges differing by 1-2mm between each tile. The combined photos show the uneven dimensions more clearly. Uneven tiles also spotted above the toilet window as well... E called up Jeremy about this and Jeremy said that he would take care of the matter as well.

The kitchen and two bathrooms are getting renovated. In addition, we're getting the whole unit repainted, replacing the door and some of the windows too. After the initial burst of activity/progress on the first day, nothing else has happened since. The tiles were supposed to've gone up yesterday but that's been pushed back to next week. I'm getting a little concerned but E says not to worry. He's meeting DeFong this weekend too so I hope there'll be some good news round the corner.

The renovation's started and so much's been done in the first day! All the hacking work's been done as you can see in the following pictures... Kitchen Reverse angle of the kitchen The main toilet The master bedroom toilet E said that he was just as surprised at the speed of the progress. He also noted that the living room & MBR floor were neatly covered with corrugated cardboard to protect the original flooring. That's definitely a big plus point there. More pictures as the work goes on...

Sorry for lack of updates... swamped at work lately. Our unit's a 73 sqm 3A model and we're doing the kitchen and two bathrooms. The unit will get a new coat of paint too and the windows will get a minor refresh. E's picked out the tiles over the weekend; they will be in line with our mostly white scheme for the kitchen and main toilet. E says the master bedroom toilet will get a classy look too. No tile samples to show but I think it'll be ok. E & his cousin also did a quick final clean up of the flat; his cousin's wide angle lens makes the flat look larger than it really is, I suppose. The kitchen A reverse angle of the kitchen The main toilet The master bedroom toilet So here are the last few views of the flat before reno. I think the work starts tomorrow; feeling nervous yet excited.