idealistic

wahaha! if not can buy those aluminium pole which cost about $7 bucks, and will have the same visual beauty of the rectractable hanger haizz, duno if that is good to use and worth the expense anyone has recommendation?

thats lucky of you! i have to wait for rescheduling of openet installation cos my timing is not right. At first it seems to be nice timing for reno and openet installation together. But by the time they finishing hacking and tiling, the installation run has ended. So have to wait for 2nd run

Have been thinking whether to install this retractable clothes hanger. Anyone use this? Is this durable and effortless to use? If lotsa strength required (w/o remote control type), then it serves no difference from bamboo poles

Share another funny story in tiling: He promised that 2 tilers will be in-charged for our house. First week of tiling gone and we have only see 1 worker everytime when we are there. Qns: Thought there are 2 tilers? Reply: Another tiler will come during floor tiling Floor tiling started and still the same Reply: At least 1 worker will be in the house all the time One day, no sight of worker Reply: Dun question his way of organizing his workers Of cos, bottom line is so long as everything is on schedule it's fine. If in the first place he did not give the false promise, we won't have question loz. All these queries can be avoided if he tells us truthfully that only managed to book 1 tiler due to peak season. Something commendable is that his tiler provided to us has the rightful skill. Thumb up for Mr Ah Lam 1 good worker is enough.

Lesson Learnt in tiling stage: Esp for those taking package, confirm with your contractor how much they can buffer. Often, they will tell you if the price difference for the tile you have chosen is minimal like 20 - 30 cents psf, they will not charge you. Do not accept this, have a firm cut off point and write down in black and white. When tiling is about to start, he informed us that we need to top-up the difference for foyer and masterbedroom bathroom wall tiles only. We accept it and confirm with him that no top-up needed for the rest of the tiles. But... towards the end of tiling work, he slammed more top-up on us. In short, we top-up additional for - foyer - mbr bathroom wall tiles - common bathroom wall tiles - living room We understand we need to top-up for the tiles which he conveyed to us during our meetup. However, never expect to have another round of additional top-up after earlier agreement on tiles. Reason being due to his miscalculation.

NEXT STAGE: TILING Here goes, tiling in progress:

The chair is very rotten. One look and you will know how rotten it is and nobody will want it. If i want, i will cover and label it. He is fully aware as during tiling work i have highlighted "Why so funny, how come the chair is still here?" and he replied they will throw away. Hacking alone is full of dust and the chair is already beyond usage. HAHA, ya, well..more like maybe we need to sit to monitor the workers rather than he monitor

wow, can feel your frustration and anger.

definitely of monetary value, it's aluminium. 1st: "dispose" window aircon on first day (when plenty of debris uncleared) 2nd: charge $250 for clearing of debris (when contract stated is foc) 3rd: "dispose" all window grilles (when tiling has not started and bear in mind that other grilles do not hinder the reno. Only kitchen grille need to be removed for tiling work. And moreover the windows are done by another contractor) Below is the old chair mentioned earlier which is there even till carpentry work. And by commited to clear all debris, i do not understand why the chair is not disposed. It's a joke over the last 2 months. Maybe i should charge my contractor for helping him to dispose the chair eh

LOL, grille or not depends on your needs and who is staying there. Talking about windows, we engage other contractor to do. There is a minor dispute here. While we conclude to change whole house window and grille, the hacking and disposal are still under progress. The id needs to know as the next stage will involve tiling works. After we inform the id about our decision, the grilles are removed immediately on the very day. And based on phone conversation, he will remove and will place the grilles aside. Since he mentioned that, we did not make further confirmation. However, the whole house grilles are gone and out of sight. Question is why are the grilles "disposed" off and not only the kitchen grilles (the only place which will affect tiling), but all grilles in the house. Hacking is not completed at the point in time and not a single tile is up. The pace of removing and disposing the grilles are really too quick to believe. When we queried on the very night, he claimed he did not say will leave it aside and he will always ask his worker to dispose all "rubbish" (and this time no charge for that disposal ya..). Joking part is till the end of reno, an old study chair left by ex-owner is there throughout and in the end, we are the ones to dispose it away. One word said by him -- miscommunication. Since we have engaged a window contractor, they will definitely be responsible for removing and disposing the grilles before installing new ones. At least, the window contractor did not increase the price he has quoted after the loss for trade-in, so issue closed. Lesson Learnt: Label everything you want to keep or pen it down in writing.

haha really? more to dirty green i guess, the window is so dirty during the reno process. Still can't clean it now due to major issue of openet wire seems to be stucked in ceiling have to wait for the worker to rectify, ceiling works will make the whole living room dusty again.. so move in date still unable to determine when this issue is not solved. I'm contemplating to retain the windows at first. Because feel that window is the most unnoticeable in a house and retaining it can save few thousands (plus grilles). When we view the house, we have noticed that the windows in the house is of different colour, black on one side and silver on the other side. So initially opt to change only the black to silver. But upon further check after handover, we decided to change all to silver with green glass. Because of missing grilles after removing window aircon for 2 bedrooms. Green is as good as clear in fact, fresh and bright and more modern feel (and people will notice that the windows are new haha). Unless you wish to block the view and sunlight from outside, then go after darker glass.

it's green. Post cny blues, will update again soon

Wall built for vanity outside bathroom at masterbedroom. Another purpose is to separate the bathroom door which is facing the bed. Windows installed!

Look at the funny hanging switch dangling in mid-air! Hacking for kitchen 2 side walls hacked. Spacious after hacking

I have thought of having swivel tv in my living room, so i can watch while dining. But abolish the idea, cos it does not last. And restricted tv size. Have also heard people who do that ended up in fixed position most of the time. So do give it a thought!

You must have got tons of ideas with early preparation. Magazine is another good source. Sad to say, my ID is unable to provide design we are looking for. Rejected directly when he presents his first 3d design for our feature wall. In order to save time, we spend time digging for feature wall design which we have shortlisted and send to him to conceptualize the style we want. And finally draft out one which is 98% similar to what we provide to him. TV console design also given by us, exactly the same design. Otherwise, dun think he can come out with anything unique. Sigh.. If you can do without feature wall, dun do. You can save alot by doing so. I can't due to layout as i need to block the entrance from direct view. Some simple ones without feature wall can also look nice.

wahaha, so anxious. wait lah, will post stage by stage

Precisely!! $250 to dispose! when it is supposed to be FOC Know what is "roti prata" now?!? More to come

yea, cos i'm doing overhaul of entire unit and normally for package, the items are very basic like tiles hacking, tiling job, plumbing, painting, bathroom door, acid wash etc. For some companies, they have package that covers the basic needed for resale house. Today just complete all glass work Consider major stuff completed. Left touch up and rectification work which have to wait till after CNY. Still covering all the furniture cos we have problem with the openet wire which suspect stuck in ceiling and ceiling work will cause dust everywhere again. Countless cleaning wor..

Welcome back, my aircon in one piece

After a day of hardwork with help from a friend, our diy hacking is completed. Yeh! and save $750 Following the next working day, our ID to start with the reno work. Beforehand, we have checked with him what they will do on their first day and he has told us they will start hacking first from bathroom. On their first day, according to our neighbour, about 4-5 workers came, but left 1 worker to do hacking. There are 2 window aircons in 2 bedrooms and both have been "removed" on their very first day of work without our knowledge. There are plenty of debris lying on the floor (esp after our DIY hacking) and instead of clearing them, they spend the time to dismantle the aircon from the window and "dispose" them. We called the ID immediately when we notice the aircon is missing on that night after our work. We have intention to give to our family and are really shocked that both are taken away on first day of hacking. Without checking, his answer is that the aircon has been dismantled in pieces when removing from window. That is untrue anyway as the aircon is taken away in one piece. We ask him to return at least one to us. Only then, he sent it back to the house. The next issue is instead of FOC disposal of debris as per our contract, he charges us $250 for disposal by saying we have too much debris to clear. Wondering what use is the contract for? PERSONAL ADVICE: Label and instruct your ID on every single details as clear as possible.

Baroque's package for resale flat does not include hacking. He quoted a total of $750 for hacking of existing cabinets ($150 per set), kitchen sink support ($200) and simple cornice ($250). And FOC clearing of debris. To save costs, we do the hacking ourselves. The cornice in the house is of simple design and the previous owner has build-in cabinet in the rooms. One of the bedrooms, with cornice and cabinet See the items on the floor? During the handover day, the ex-owner is still packing! We have in fact given him maximum period to handover and extend a few more days out of goodwill for him. On the same day, we started our "dong tu". DIY hacking

there are 3 rooms too, for some units along the corridor the ID slammed the first additional charge, read on to find out more

Some pic taken during deal confirmation, which is way back last year Living Room entrance to Kitchen Common Toilet MBR Toilet All require major overhaul. A long reno journey is about to begin shortly, with much blood boiling from Day 1

Figuring upload of my very first pic here Here's my floorplan; simple squarish layout which is what we want