Happy Mummy

Thanks, Lilithfiend for your warm welcome and sharing Ya, I like being a mummy. I also tell others that I am a full time mummy and part time worker esp now that I work freelance only. Yes, after taking into account all of the advices and the concern for my gal's health, I think I am forgoing cement screed flooriing and yes, will have plastered walls in the kitchen as otherwise it will be very odd for the joint between the dinning and kitchen walls. I can also choose a nice paint colour plus hanging up drawing boards on the lower kitchen wall without worrying the drilling would spoil the wall tiles. Yeh!

Hahaha, this blur mummy....never study, good that never gives the cough mixture to my gal..... HKD10 only for the poster, what a find!

Thanks Mookie. Yes I don't mind to have the address. Will he have some paranakan stuff like the coloured tiles too? What's your view to incorporate a bit of that (again thru careful blending)? Thought of introducing its culture to my gal since she is 1/4 baba....

Ya, agree, sff, I am so amazed at your speed! You must be a very fast worker at work too. Hmmm... I am yet to do my shopping, so would you be able to tell me if not PM me the name and address of the company where you got your toilet ware pls? Many thanks

Ya, your are right Jaskel with your comment. Looking at my existing furniture, I would have to go for the western style though I think a bit of fusion if done carefully and tastefully, should be fine eg. white cotton lacy bedlinen with beautiful yet understated embroidery should be able to blend in - oh, I am going to ask my friend to get it from Shanghai. Die die must have one set. Actually my seller was asking me whether to buy over his oriental rose wood with mother of pearl settee. They paid $7000 for it many yrs ago. Very heavy and in good condition. But I told them no lah, somehow not for this time. If anyone who is keen on it, I will help to link you up with the seller. I see whether I can take some pictures tomorrow.

Wow, so I can pick up tips from you on this theme? Hurray! I am yet to think about my furniture but thanks for sharing the info on charlie. Would I be able to search for it on internet?

Ya, this is pretty and healthy too - just realise its an advert on vitamins! Would be good for corners with marble kopi tiam table and stools. Envy

Hi Strawberry8, I like all your 'recycle' and 're-use' recreations - rather creative I especially like your gals' drawings as my gal loves to draw too. In my new flat, I am thinking of giving her a long stretch of drawing board for her to expand her creativity and..... energy (That was what my mom did to me when I was young then - I was allowed to scribble on the walls of the rented room and I remember standing on the stool to draw when the lower space was taken up.). Also will hang up her pictures too - to save cost of buying posters mah kekeke... Oh did you hack and put up tiles in your kitchen and both toilets? I find your cost rather low for a 5-room flat. Your carpenter seemed to be very generous too to offer so many FOCs. Would you be willing to PM me their contacts? Kum siah, kum siah.

Thanks gals_mama, my neighbour to be, for your advice and sharing . How I wish there are more RT members from AMK Ave 4 like those who are from Sengkang and Fernville. Yet to read up your blog these few days, have you moved in already? Do you like the environment? I am very new to AMK Ave 4. Oh, I really like your MBR design. Ya I hope to finalize my reno partner by this week so that we can submit the permit next week - still finding ways to cut cost without affecting the quality. Tomorrow I will be visiting my flat to take some picture and measurements then hopefully can share the pictures with you gals/guys.

Thanks gimz63251073 for the poster and ideas and sorry for the delayed response......my laptop keeps hanging up on me today and am so frustrating Yes, I will have to mix and match. My existing sofa is actually a day bed bought a few years ago at Simei East Point. The shop was owned by a Malay or Arab couple and they used to design and custom make wooden furniture for their customers. I didn't know what got into my mind that day, I ended up with a day bed that I paid more than 3k and had to wait for 3 months for its delivery So now 'bo bian' die die must keep it until it runs out of its life span. But this is a very hardy piece of furniture, very heavy, so looks like I will have to wait long long to change to another one..... Hmmm.... I still can't decide on the breakfast bar counter and the rest of the furniture. The top priority is to get a dinning set as my current glass top one will not fit in with the theme. Next maybe a fabric or leather armchair, then a bookshelf cum display set, coffee table....For the MBR, it will be a bedframe, side tables, lamp, white lacy cotton bedsheets like my grandmom used to have ...... Ya, you are right, retro furnitures are expensive so I would likely end up with recycle pieces....to support the green movement mah Well I am hoping to achieve the look I want through white translucent curtains or blinds over the dated windows & window grills, flooring, plants (I have almost 20 pots) and deco. My owner's agent came to my place today to take photos to advertise for his flat and was pleasantly surprised as how I had 'enhanced' it. She thought I should try out ID Actually end of the day, I am not so worried about the theme so long the overall looks and colours are well coordinated. I am more concerned with how the design will take into account the lifestyles of individuals so that we can be efficient. Esp for my princess. I would want to have an enriching environment to encourage her to be independant, confident, neat, love to learn, respect nature, and creative. Hahaha, I learn from my good friend who's a Montessori teacher that through careful planning and organizing, we can achieve these objectives. So there's no better time to do it as I am planning for my reno yeh!

Thanks Jaskel. Must learn from all the 'qian bei' here

Thanks Mookie for your quick response. Ya....my daughter is the one that have my concern most

Hi All I must first thank my sis who introduced this forum to me. For the past 1.5 weeks, I have been reading up many interesting articles and am really amazed that there are so many talented and helpful people around to render support to one another. Like gal_mama, I have also bought a 4-room unit at AMK Ave 4 and my unit is just 3 blocks away from her. The layout of the flat is exactly like her - see http://s953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/ga...t=floorplan.jpg (Pardon me, gal_mama, I am borrowing your floor plan here as my scanner is not working now. I also do not have photos as I am yet to collect the keys). I have gone for my first appointment last week and will complete my 2nd appointment in mid Aug. I am planning to start my reno in 1st week of Aug and hope to complete everything by end of Aug so that I can move in mid Sep when my current lease expires. We are excited with this very humble unit as finally we can settle down – this will be our 4th move for my princess before she turns 4 next year! Haha, I think I am quite expert in moving house liao I have gone thru the process of selecting ID/contractors (started b4 checking out RT and all are referrals except for one walk-in) and by this week must decide on one so that I could meet my permit and reno deadlines. I have decided on a retro/ resort theme partly becos I want to save cost and partly becos my existing living room furniture should be able to fit into this theme. This flat comes with terrazzo tiles in living and bedrooms, yellow mosaic tiles and white wall tiles in kitchen and bathroom. It also has clear iron window glass panels and iron grills (those oblong design which my parents picked many years ago). As the house is quite well maintained. I therefore intend to 1) keep the terrazzo flooring 2) have cement screeding for the flooring & wall in the kitchen 3) put up new floor and wall tiles for the 2 bath rooms 4) hack away store-room in the kitchen to provide a dining area with laminated flooring (a 3-ft platform is added to it to extend the area) 5) take down 2 small arches and plaster up the wall that is currently covered with tiles 6) cover up the additional entrance of the master bedroom toilet which opens from the kitchen 7) open up an entrance between MBR and BR2 8) put in a 7-ft full height WIW in MBR 9) put in a L-shape or C-shape kitchen cabinet With basic ceiling work (L-boxes in living and cornices in bedrooms), whole house rewiring, plumbing, painting, small jobs here and there plus the above-mentioned work, my quotation from the contractor came up to $26.5k which I thought is high as I am yet to add furniture, lightings, furnishing and appliances which easily will come to another $12k! That will make my total bills almost $40k ie exceeded my budget of $30k by $10k  So here are some of the challenges and questions that I hope all the great minds in RT will be able to guide me : 1) What is a realistic budget (for wet work) for a 4-room resale flat with major renovation in 2 bathrooms & kitchen? 2) Overlaying or hacking of tiles – for a flat of about 30 years old, is it true that I must hack out all my floor and wall tiles whether I am doing cement screeding or tiling? I was hoping that I could do overlaying to save time and cost. 3) Cement Screeding - is it true that the cost of doing cement screeding is the same as putting up wall or floor tiles because of the need to have good workmanship and sealant required? If there is differential, how much saving (%) should there be for cement screeding? 4) Is cement screeded flooring difficult to maintain? As it can be dusty for the first month, does that mean it is not advisable for my princess who is a bit asthmatic? (I love the back to ‘kampong’ look with cement floor, but contractors that I talked to have not been supportive and came up with a lot of reasons not to do it). 5) Apart from a sink and kitchen stove, there is no built in kitchen cabinets. So would the cost of hacking and plastering on affected walls justify a pricing of $2,750? 6) My dinning laminated area is about 70 sq ft so is the quote of $500 on China made product too expensive? 7) Apart from the downlights in living, is the wiring/electrical work at $2,400 reasonable? I didn’t expect it to be so ex 8) Is it reasonable to charge labor cost for installing bathroom accessories and taps for kitchen sink? 9) Is the quote of $120 psf reasonable for the kitchen cabinet which is made of solid plywood with laminated finish & ABS, 1 set of drawers and dish rack as well as soft closing (no Blum tho)? 10) Likewise for the WIW, is $260 psf reasonable with solid ply doors and pvc insert? 11) Last but not least, would it be a lot more expensive if I were to engage an ID? But my work is so simple leh as I don’t fancy featured walls nor too many fixtures……. Tend to get bored after a while. Very very stressed now becos I am doing everything alone so am really look forward to your help please. ps : pardon me if you find another similar posting somewhere - first time am doing up a blog and my posting went missing. Very low tech person lah.......paiseh