Christine_D

Phew! My last post was more than a month ago. The finishing touches were stressful and the moving in was not easy. After the move in, you have to settle down, buy things that can make your house more livable....and that was what my hubby and I were doing for more than a month. This is excluding of course our work commitments and all. Finally! We have settled in already.... The neighborhood is quite and our neighbors are quite friendly too. Got a new friend, the Auntie who knocks at our door and brings/sells Yakult every Saturday....hehehehhe. As for the pictures....coming very soon. Hubby is finding his inner "inspiration" before taking pictures. hehehehhee

The wardrobe is done and I’m overjoyed when I saw the picture. Hubby loves it too. The doors are white and it hides our toilet too. The vanity cabinet in the Master Bedroom toilet has been attached to the wall. I love the “industrial” finish of the cabinet. Tomorrow is another site inspection. Hopefully, what needs to be done is done and what needs to be rectified has been rectified. Good luck to us!

Now, that the final date of the completion is near, hubby and I wanted to make sure that everything goes as planned. Last Tuesday, hubby went to the flat to see what has been done. We don’t want that because of too much trust that everything is going to be ok, we’ll be caught off guard and it will not be done on time. Although it is not perfect, we could say, it’s turning out nicely. Every renovation has its hiccups and we are not exempted from it. Hehehehe. The TV console is almost done. Red and the background is gray. Rather unusual color, not everybody would dare to have it, but we both like it. This is the carcass of the feature wall/cabinet of the bunker.... A door within a door. Somehow I didn’t expect that the cabinet is a bit thick. Crossing my fingers and hoping it’s not going to be too cramped when you enter the flat. The Kitchen cabinets were put up also. The carcass is red but the cabinet doors are going to be white. We’re waiting for the red backsplash to be installed. The kitchen tiles will be spray coated with white so it’s not going to be “too red”.

Came 3:00PM and the deliveries came one by one, the lights, the hob, hood and oven and the toilet accessories. This is the oven The downlights The Dining Chandelier Room Light The hood being measured by the carpenter Couldn’t check everything as they were inside the boxes. Fingers-crossed that no item was damaged. We’ll find out in the coming week. Waaaaahhhh!!! Poor hubby, today is Sunday and he has a 12 hour duty at the hospital. He has been complaining already of body aches since last night. Told him that we're almost there... The final week is near before the moving in. Waaaaaa!!!! This is going to be one of the busiest days of our lives but a fulfilling one. I'm pretty sure everyone here at Reno Talk feels the same. The biggest day is the move in day. All the hard work will be WORTH it!

They were also doing the MBR wardrobe……so far, loving the looks of it. Now, I’m wondering if hubby and I will fight who will have the bigger part of the wardrobe. Hehehehe. To be honest, hubby has a lot of shirts and I think he has more clothes than me! When we had a peek at our MBR Toilet, we saw our vanity cabinet, looks like a big stone or something....weeeee ! It's also done! Cool looking cabinet. The color and the finish is like industrial type. Another Goth-inspired I should say. hehehe Our contractor and electrician also came to discuss some of the things that need to be fixed. Our electrician confirmed the drawing hubby made where the lights and switches are to be placed. Pheeewww! I think there were more than a dozen of people that came at the flat yesterday. We only had our lunch at around 3:00PM. We bought pizza for the workers. We believe that happy workers are more productive. Hehehe.

Reno Week 5 Yesterday was such a long and tiring day. We literally camped at the flat most of the day coz almost all of the deliveries were done yesterday. We were quite surprised when we arrived there. Last Wednesday the flat was clean, yesterday it was chaos again. Carpentry works were done yesterday. All the cabinets were in the living room., ready to be installed. The kitchen was a mess…..a happy mess. Hehehhee. The floor is done…yeeebaahhh!!! Most parts of the cabinets were up. The kitchen counter was installed. Now left with the counter top. They already put the kitchen sink. They were waiting for the delivery of the Hob, Hood and Oven so they can measure it and install it too.

Hi Jar! You said it! It costs a bomb to do full reno. Hubby and I went for a contractor instead of an ID and decided only parts of the flat. We almost went nuts from the quotes of other IDs. hahahaha. Anyway, good luck. Hope you'll find the best deal, a good ID/contractor and have a smooth reno too.

Hi Stardust! Nice view from your windows! Hope you have a smooth reno too

Hi Stardust! I think it's just hubby's camera that makes it look big. Hubby loves red and he specifically told the painter to paint it fire engine red. hehehehehe. It's our lucky color too. Blue is a good color also for MBR. I'm pretty sure your MBR will turn out great!

A sneak peak at the Master Bed Room. .... with a splash of red! And just when you thought everything is perfect.....hubby saw this..... .... a long crack at the MBR door frame....eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!! We've spoken with our Contractor and they will rectify it as soon as possible... phew! Tomorrow will be a long day again....there will be lots of deliveries and we'll be spending the whole day there. We'll keep you posted again tomorrow.

It's one of those rare days last Wednesday that Hubby managed to see what's going on at the flat and what works were being done. He was surprised and quite pleased that the flat is clean, the doors were installed and the Toilet floor and wall tiles were nicely done. Finally! The Living Room is clean....yeahhhh! I'm in love with these doors. The Master Bedroom has a sliding door while the rest are the normal ones. Almost done with the Common Toilet. Hubby's "Goth inspired" MBR Toilet.

Whooooppppsss....reached the maximum number of pictures in the previous entry. The Living Room Feature Wall painted in Smoke Pearl Gray The TV console will be at this wall as well. The view of the living room The pictures are not that good as Hubby did not bring his camera and i'm using mine. Hubby not in the mood to take pictures coz he just finished his 12hour night shift and i drag him along with me to see the flat. We're at 70% done with the renovation. Next week will be carpentry works. Yahooooo!!!! We're almost at the finish line.

Week 4 - The Painting Works Two weeks ago, I arranged for the Painters to do the work last Thursday. As we are unable to supervise coz hubby and I were woking, we gave them the combination to the lock and asked them to do their work. Probably you're gonna think we are crazy and too trusting but we have no choice . Hubby and I can't take any leave as we saving it for the moving day. Well, our trust paid off. We went there this morning and it was nicely done! The painter whom i always forget his name was there too. We did a site inspection and paid him for the nice work he has done. We told him we might be calling him again as we want them to do some touch up, if necessary, once the lights are up. I'm loving the immaculate white walls of the whole flat. They painted it with Snowflakes(1164) from Nippon Odour~less series. Master Bedroom Master Bedroom Feature Wall in Fire Engine Red Feels like heaven if you are in the Common Rooms aka The White Rooms White Room No. 1 White Room No. 2 - This will be our Study Room also

Hi Hafiizh! Thanks! Saw the bar stools for your kitchen and we really like them. Maybe we'll visit the shop where you bought them one of these days. Hope they have it in red. Ey, love your big windows as well.

Week 3: Toilet Wall and Floor, Kitchen Base, Washing Machine and Dryer Base and Wardrobe Weekends is our only day when we can inspect the progress of the work being done. Yesterday, we also met the painter from http://www.singaporepaintingservices.com/. The price is reasonable and competitive. They will be able to commence work this Wednesday and should be able to finish by Friday, 1 July. Can't wait to see the finish product. Surely the flat will look different once it is painted. Our contractor informed us that they should be able to finish by 3rd week of July. I'm getting excited already! Toilet Walls and Floor is done already. Just left with the toilet accessories. Common Toilet - Cream and Brown to match with the Kitchen floor Master Toilet - White, Gray and Black Kitchen, Washing Machine and Dryer Base The L-Shape will Hubby's breafast/coffee counter The L-Shape Wardrobe which will take up one side of the room will also hide the Master toilet

Before the renovation, Hubby and I were contemplating on what our theme will be. After buying half a dozen of magazines, hundreds of hours on the internet, we decided to go for the Modern Contemporary look. We went for the colors White(Hubby's favorite ), Gray(we think it's cute ), Black(is the new white ) and a splash of Red(our wedding motif! ). Hubby is the king of the Kitchen, that is his turf. I don't have a picture of his kitchen inspiration, it's all in his head. The Living Room and the Master Bedroom is my area. And as for my inspiration....Tadan! I soooo like the colors but will change a bit the furniture design to make it modern contemporary.

Here are some of the things we bought for our flat: All the lights are from Lightings.com.sg(Jalan Besar). After weeks of comparing prices from a lot of shops, we find theirs very competitive. We managed to save a lot! Philips Downlight Simple Bedroom Lights Dining Room Chandelier Mattress and Bedframe from Bed and Bedding Centre in Balestier. They were having a sale and we managed to get the Slumberland Mattress Nature Series and Bedframe for less than $1500!

Week 2: The Re-wiring, Air-con installation, False Ceiling and the Toilet Tiles The re-wiring of the whole flat is done. I think it just took them a day or two to do it. There will be a total to 12 down lights and 1 chandelier in the middle for the living room, a chandelier in the Dining Room, 2 normal lights in the Kitchen plus 2 hanging lights for my hubby's breakfast counter , Common Rooms and Master Bedroom. Of course, this is aside from the heater and Aircon. Phew! False Ceiling is up as well after the re-wiring. Aircon installation's done. Bought our Sanyo System 3 Aircon from Gain City. It's not an inverter but it's ok. We're not heavy users anyway. Toilet Wall Tiles for Master Bedroom and Common Toilet is almost finished. They haven't done the floor tiles yet as they want to make sure that it's not leaking. Don't want to get a "valid" complain from the neighbor downstairs. Master Room Toilet, love the wall tiles. Common Toilet Slowly, the flat is turning into our home with our own personalities.

Hi Jaskel! Thanks so much! Yeah, im wishing too that the reno will be smooth but i guess every reno has it's bumps. Got a word from our contractor 2 days ago, the neighbor downstairs complained that there is a leak on their toilet ceiling due to the works done in our toilet. When our contractor did an inspection on their flat, the stains are already dark yellow, meaning it's an old mark and not due to our reno. waaaaaa!!!!! !! Neighbor downstairs probably thought that since we are new owners, they can get away with it. Our contractor settled it with them and offered to paint their toilet ceiling. Lucky them, got free paint!

The flat is 5I. It will cost a bomb if we are going to do a full renovation. Hubby and I decided to do just some parts of the house...the Kitchen, Common Toilet, False Ceiling, Bomb Shelter, TV Console, Master Bedroom and MBR Toilet. We decided for the 2 other bedrooms we'll just paint it for the mean time. Once we have enough funds, only then we will touch it. Week One, all about the hacking. They took out the existing cabinets in the Kitchen and Master Bedroom, took out the cornices and hack the tiles in the 2 toilets. Hacking of the Kitchen Cabinets: The Cornices: Common Toilet:

We took a few pictures before the renovation started: This is the Living Room and the Dining Room: The Kitchen: The Common Toilet: The Master Bedroom The MBR Toilet:

After years of renting a place and constantly moving from one flat to another almost every 2 years, we got fed up and decided to buy our own from the open market. February 2011 we started hunting for a flat. We were very blessed to have an Agent who is so patient, responsible, and understands what we want. He guided us in every step and reminded us if we have an appointment with the Bank, Lawyer and HDB. Had our 1st appointment in 1 Apr 2011 and collected our keys in 13 May 2011. And we all thought it ends there....but we wanted the flat to have our own personality. It'll be our Home for maybe as long as we live. Everyday, I visit Renotalk Forum, read other people's journey. Renovating your house is not easy. You gotta find good deals , good ID/contractors and sometimes you just want to bang your head on the wall due to stress. But hey, it'll be worth it. And so....our journey begins.... Our Contractor is ClosetRobe and the designer is Esther Tan. Lucky to find them at Singapore Expo on one of their Road Shows. Reno Start Date: 6 June 2011 Expected Completion: end of July 2011