Errandz

Hi Paladin, I suppose the key question is, the $800 savings and the sense of satisfaction - is it worth the time and the effort and the pains taken? I understand that the answer to that is personal to each and everyone.. I remember painting my parents house with my friends when I was a teen.. We did a horrible job.. There were patches at places we deemed not impt, eg behind the door in my room and what nots.. It was lots of fun and my parents din mind it.. I believe for people who paint their place frequently (I know a family that does every year), DIY will def be the way to go.. But for those who plan to do it once for a decade, you might wannna note that a pro(real pro) job will last that 10yrs and the extra spent, will be a nominal amount when u look at it as a yearly thing.

Hi there, Could I have the contacts too.. I am also looking to put fans at my new place.. Thanks!

Hi Zero453, I am interested in the hob.. Could you share the contact w me? Thanks!

I used to go for their carnivals yearly with my parents up till about 5 years ago.. The norm would be your usual electronics.. TV, Stereos, Shavers, Irons, Cookers, Vacuum cleaners etc etc. Not sure if there's been a major shift in the way the carnivals go.

You have really done an awesome job turning your balcony to become something akin to the outdoor patio sorta styling... Great job!

========== Oops, I assumed your flooring was marble just by glancing at the sheen and reflections in your pictures..

I initially was apprehensive about asking for your contacts as alot of them appeared to be personal contacts. But if you do not mind sharing, I would be very thankful for the contacts too..!

I had no idea about ikea hacker! I am hooked onto it. (Yes i love the idea of DIY) SO many many possibilities opening up...! Thank you so much for this valuable link!

Hi everyone, I am curious to know what it means in fengshui to have the flat opening into the living room.. and what are the rectifications for it?

Hi Kobelala, Yes! Been in yishun for over 20 years... And now, have signed up for yet another decade or more... Hi Et209, I get what you mean. I had very similar notions too. However, after alot of consideration, I thought I oughta at least give the wife conversion of the original BR3 to become MBR, n original MBR to study.. Also, the other reason for not putting everything on hold is the consideration that we will also be using the house for 1-2yrs before going overseas.. And that is the idealistic plan. If the overseas stint gets pushed later, it would make living in a place sparcely done up not too pleasant for her. All said and done, there is the ever important issue of the budget too.. If we cant afford even this, we'll have to just make do with what we end up with..

I really am in awe. Your house is lovely.. And the price you have put in to make it so, is amazing. If only I could find some way to turn the house I've gotten to become my home, with the little budget I have. Also, it clearly shows that time, and the right contacts, helps alot. Congrats on such a great place.

Finally, collected our keys yesterday. A little bit of history over the past week - 27 Apr : Went for completion(2nd appt) @ HDB. Everything went smoothly and we were legally owners of our very own house. But we didn't have the keys as we had agreed to give the seller an additional week to move out. 4 May : We went down to the house to take over the house and finally really own our own house with keys and all. However, when we got there, we found that the house still had one dining table left there and there was alot of small items scattered all over the house. [see pics below] The seller's agent had failed to inform that the house had to be cleared of all the items and the impression the seller had was that only the bulky items needed to be cleared. When we reached there, the seller was doing all she could to try and clear everything at the last minute. In the end, we decided to give another 24hrs for the seller to clear everything. 5th May : We went down during lunch and inspected the house. Everything was ok now, and so we collected the keys. We are owners of our very own house. 6th May : I went down this morning to take photos of the house. Will try and scale down the pics' sizes and put some up when I have time tonight or in the next few days. Have plans to go over and sweep, vacuum, wash and mop the place over the elections long weekend break.

Wow, the marble really looks exceptional in your after pictures. Mind if I enquire on what exactly you mean by refurbished? Did you have it polished? If so, how much does it cost to get that done?

I realli like what you have done while keeping to your plan of 'nothing fancy; simple'... I shall hope to emulate this mentality and see what possibilities I can squeeze out of my house-to-be..

Hi, Can I have the contact too? Thank you!

I so agree with you on how exciting it is to have our own place. The wife and I are really looking forward to it. Almost as much as we looked forward to getting hitched. And my shortlisted 4, I haven't even contacted them.. Have been busy with work and what nots week after week and haven't even made a call out.. I really should..

Oh, have you started your ID/contractor hunt? I shortlisted about 4 (contractors for my case; expect IDs all more ex) at the moment, but I don't know if its too early to starting hounding them.

Hey tangerinez, Actuali the room doesnt seem to be a very good thing.. It makes the living room quite a bit smaller plus it loses most of the natural light.. The only place that light enters now is from the balcony.. Also its shape is an L cos of the room.. If you didnt mention the toilets I wouldnt have realised your master is at the corner of the house. I envy you for that! My wife and I want our master to be the corner room (we feel there's more privacy), and so we have to hack a wall and build another wall to swap the MBR with the rm beside.. And its funny you mention stalking my blog, cos I am already stalking yours seeing as to how we have very similar appt dates and floor plans too.. But note my disclaimer, there's really very lil we're probably going to be doing, so you might not find much on our blog.. Dun bother with the agent la.. His/her aim is to grate on nerves in the hope that they can try and guilt buyers into a higher price.. It rarely happens but then there are the naive souls out there after all.. If he had been your agent, he'd probably be complaining to the sellers then that they are robbing you instead.... Same situation for us too. The seller want completion as late as possible. But we are ok with it as at the moment we aren't really rushing, yet... I suppose we just have to hope that the rules favour us many years down the road if we wanna sell our places...

Hi tangerinez, How did your 1st appt go? Hope everything went smoothly for you guys. And when's the 2nd appt scheduled to be?

We had our first appointment on Tuesday, 1st March at 8.45am. Things went mostly well. I say mostly because, the wife and I have to go back tomorrow. The reason being, we need to resign the loan amount document. What happened was that HDB has sent a letter regarding the AHG that we are eligible for, seperately from the main letter regarding the 1st appointment. The problem here was that I never got such a letter. Because of that, I didnt bring along the necessary documents needed for the AHG (12 months payslip plus 12 months CPF contribution statement). Hence we signed a loan amount document which did not factor the AHG. And so tomorrow, or more correctly later today, we are going down to sign the amended document. Lesson to others : IF you are hoping to get the AHG, bring the documents I mentioned above. Thats in case you too do not receive the AHG letter. And I am still wondering why that letter had to be sent seperately, esp if they were sending it just a day apart. Another note : 2nd appt set! 27th April...!

Its great to find another couple here with similar timelines.. It'll be great to compare notes and share pointers and progress.. Anyway, at the moment we're collating the list of well recommended contractors since we are tight on budget and also this round of reno is not the major revamp of the house.. We're keepin that for after our return from overseas probably. Once we firm up our list, we'll post it up.. You got any good contractors do let us know k?

First appointment : 1st March 2011 Looking forward to it. Following that, expect the 2nd appointment to be mid-late April. If everything goes well, come May, we'll have our own place..!

Would anybody be able to share Iz's contact with me? Thank you so much!

Hi, I would like to have your contractor details too.. Could you pm me? Thanks

After speaking to the Mrs for a bit over the varied versions of the floor plan I drew up, we seem to have come to the concensus to have the initial reno to be limited the following. Following our return from overseas, we'll open up the living room at the expense of one of the rooms to give us a nice a spacious hall & dining area. We might consider also opening up the kitchen by hacking the kitchen entrance wall but thats years later and we've decided that we can do without making that call at present. Right now, the only concern is on how to maximise the storage we get from the Walk-In-Wardrobe, within the 2m X 2m square space which has doors/openings on two of the side and windows on the third.. Anyone out there has experience with small WIW spaces? How did you manage to work it without it being too cramped? Would a 2m (~6.5 ft) wall space for poles be considered a decent amount of space for the average Singaporean clothes space? The wife always wanted a WIW and its something I'd like to have for her, but on my part I wanna make the most of it where I can, such that it is functional too and not just 'for-show'...