ashly

Hi, Chanced upon your blog and thought you are very witty and candid. Like your style. I rarely log in and saw that my bathroom blog is kinda lonely: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/66255-my-throne-rooms/ I just want to say that if we meet a good contractor, life is made a little easier. I got Dorothy to do up my bathrooms as she was sincere and followed up closely. She listens to your ideas and proposes relevant ideas. I like her easy-going style and would strongly recommend her if not for her young plumber. A question for you: are you a guy or girl? You are able to tear down shower screen and sink yourself - that's like a guy; but you had a 'fiance' and is perfectionistic - which suggests that you are a girl.

My review: As a contractor, Dorothy is prompt in her replies and follow-up. She is capable of offering sound advice in terms of tile-selection and cabinet laminates even when she knew that I was going to use another carpenter. I was interested in a Hafary tile that cost $4.80 per sq ft. Dorothy wasted no time in going down to Soon Bee Huat to look for similar but cheaper tiles and place them at my doorstep. When we told her that the glass panels were broken or tile was chipped, she promised to replace them without any question. I feel that she is quite easy to talk to and work with. Her tilers, Xiao Hei and Ah Huat, did my master bathroom and common bathroom respectively. I would say they are good. Ah Huat is slightly better I think. The grout lines are very thin compared to Xiao Hei's. He also seems to be more meticulous - he tiled up the part that we wouldn't be able to see from inside while Xiao Hei didn't. Not that Xiao Hei did a lousy job though. Dorothy said that Ah Huat is her condo tiler and according to Dorothy, condos are more difficult to tile. Not sure if this is the reason Ah Huat 'seems to be better'. The electricians are young and nice, but one of the switches had the Legrand label upside-down. Nice people, but not very meticulous. Her painter who painted the bathroom ceiling, box-up and the affected walls, I must say, was not very professional though. He painted a patch on an area that he did not have to paint, but fortunately, that could be covered by our bed frame. And some parts on the same wall he was supposed to paint were not covered with paint! He also didn't cover the rainshowers when he was painting the ceiling. So my Grohe rainshowers have lots of little white specks on them. Sigh. My main gripe is her young plumber who seems to have mood-swings. When he is in a good mood, he is nice and tries his best. When he is not, I feel that I am at his mercy. Of the four times he came to my place, the first and fourth times were good mood. The jobs are well done. The second and third were not. As a result, my storage heater was installed 'creatively' in my opinion. A bit slanted lah. Overall, the experience with Dorothy is quite good. Unlike my previous reno, I didn't feel very stressed about the progress of the reno although my common bathroom took longer than expected to tile. My previous experience with an errant contractor made me very cautious with Dorothy, but I am glad that Dorothy didn't take it personally.

Common Bathroom: The old and the new

It's time for me to repay this helpful and informative forum. I have engaged Dorothy from In-Lookz Home to do my bathrooms. All but the carpentry are her works. Master Bathroom: The old and the new