schiz0id

Thanks Jon! Haven logged in in a while. Surprised to see someone posted here again on the same day i log in. Haha! When are you moving in, neighbor?

Thanks silversurf! Happy New Year to you too! Hi Confidential, We settled on Elba in the end. Our initial choice of Bosch was a little pricey. So far so good with the Elba one. No complaints. We got the 8kg one. Hope that helps

Haha I think have to blame the photographer (me) for that. The house is actually very bright. When we first installed the lights, I was standing across the road and my house was the brightest of the whole block! Yup! Good eyes! It is champagne gold.

Hi hugobossy, hope your sis-in-law got her wardrobe fixed already. I guess in every company there will be problems. We shifted early December and got Elite movers after considering 3 different quotations from different movers. They were the cheapest and with reviews from fellow RT members, we signed up with them. On moving day, about 6 people came. They dismantled the bulky stuff and wrapped everything that wasn't boxed up, even our photo frames and our CNY fake flowers. Haha. They were also nice enough to help me dismantle my TV and the wires behind it (we had many many wires). I initially thought i'd have to go back to pack the wires and SCV box myself but they did everything for me. I was pleasantly surprised. Upon reaching our new place, they were super swift and fast, I had trouble keeping up with them and telling them where we wanted the boxes! They also removed all the plastic wraps from the things that they had wrapped earlier. They also reassembled the bulky stuff that they had dismantled earlier. Overall, I must say they are swift, fast and good. And with the extra service, I'd recommend them to anyone any day!

COMPLETED RENOVATIONS Study / Kitchen Just to show you the view from the living area. My parents' room are on the left of the study, while our 3 bedrooms are on the right of the Dry Kitchen. That's why I say the breakfast table is my favoritest spot - right smack in the middle of the house! Wet Kitchen The entrance from the Dry Kitchen, this is the cooking area, where all the yummy food comes from! The bottom cabinets are suspended, thus, no legs! The washing area, adjacent to the cooking area. I really love the color combi we chose for the wet kitchen. The frosted glass backsplash also goes well with the dish rack door. Wet Kitchen - 3D What it should turn out to look like, and it did. Told you, no complaints about the kitchens.

COMPLETED RENOVATIONS Dry Kitchen I really like this spot of the whole house. It's the centre of the house and just so nice to look at. (The laminates we chose have a hologram effect to it!) The dry kitchen with our "flying saucer". Another look of the breakfast table and a clearer view to the entrance of the Wet Kitchen. The laminate for the breakfast table is the same one we chose for the living area. Dry Kitchen - 3D The 3D of the Dry Kitchen. Turned out quite close to it. No complaints about the kitchen so far. A different 3D angle of the Dry Kitchen.

COMPLETED RENOVATIONS Study The platform turned out quite nicely. The feature wall is actually full-height cabinets. Had many people deceived during our housewarming. The 'sticks' (aka dividers) next to the altar are the same design as those on top of the shoe cabinet. Living / Study - 3D This is how it should've turned out. Quite close to the actual. Except the TV console area. (Happy thoughts.. happy thoughts.....)

COMPLETED RENOVATIONS Main Door Our new main door, with our new biometric fingerprint digital lock and our digital door viewer. Foyer Opens out to our shoe cabinet and altar. Shoe Cabinet We wanted ventilation for our shoe cabinets, so it was incorporated into the design of the doors. TV Console Our TV console is movable, thus you notice it's not aligned, cos we pushed it inwards to accommodate the Xmas tree. The altar can't be seen clearly but it's a simple cabinet with the top corners rounded. (see Foyer pic for clearer view) Our TV console is supposed to have a feature wall to hide the cables. But that, with a few others, was really a disappointment in our renovations. Will explain more after i have finished posting the photos. Happy thoughts now..

Apologies! Been busy at work and with the Xmas weekend. I sompa to post pics and my reviews and lessons by this weekend. Sompa! Photos have been taken but yet to be uploaded. Now having problems with two leaking toilets and some rectification works. Final rectification works will be done this weekend by my ID. Hopefully it's the last of the last. All these rectification works is posing to be a headache with people coming in and out of the house - one of the lessons that i'll be sharing. Check back this weekend. Lots of pics to show! Merry Xmas (there are 12 days) and Happy New Year all!

Thanks! Yup, i'm almost fully unpacked so will update real soon! The final product was not what we had discussed but *shrugz* oh well.. that's bygones. Lots of lessons learnt Will share soon!

Apologies for the loooooong absence. Had some problems towards the end of our renovations and was busy sorting those out and running around to get last minute stuff. Moved in last Monday and started on my new job on Tuesday, so as you can tell, it's been a pretty hectic past week and I haven't finished unpacking. Only managed to setup my computer today to log into RT. Will share more on our problems and hopefully can help some of you avoid or look out for. Especially those of you who are super tied up for time. Have learnt a lot in the past 2 weeks of renovations. Will definitely post more pictures of our completed house soon before christmas frenzy starts!

Electrical wirings can't be seen cos they are tucked inside the plasterboards Daikin aircon is not too bad. Quite quiet and it's cold enough for me. Was using a daikin at my old place so I can attest for its performance.

Was given a nice surprise today.. ID smsed me early this morning to say Carpenter says he's on his way to the house. He was supposed to only come on Tuesday. But since he wanted to be early, I wouldn't refuse! CARPENTRY Platform and full height cabinet was up in the Study today. Doors will be added soon. Dry kitchen full height cabinets were also up today. The laminate has a protective covering thus it doesn't look glossy though it should. Not completed yet, will take pics again when the breakfast table is installed tomoro Painting works will be finishing tomorrow. They had lots of areas to touch up thus the slight delay. Uncle said will finish in the morning. Chemical washing cannot be done large scale already since carpentry is already up. Will have to see how things go from hereon. Rubbish will all be cleared tomorrow morning. Can't wait to finally see a CLEAN place. More updates tomorrow!!

Thanks reine, I can't wait too!

CEILING/PLASTERING UPDATES So after scolding people the past few days, the ID (after incessant nagging and scolding from my parents) finally gave his ultimatum to the plastering boss yesterday and one shot there were almost 10 people just doing plastering of our living area and false ceiling and box-ups. What they would usually take a week to do, they managed to finish in 7 hours. They did till 11pm last night. Started gathering people after lunch and people started trickling in til about 4pm, they were in full force. BOX-UP Box-up done in my brother's room (BR2). Hides the 2 arghly water pipes that were running across. The wardrobes have also finished on Friday and have been covered to protect against painting works. Box-up done in my other brother's room (BR4). Also hides the water pipes and electrical trunking. The water heater is installed in his toilet so water pipes were installed to run to my toilet (kitchen). The yellow and beige paint chosen for his room also waiting one more coat. Box-up done in the dry kitchen to cover up water pipe and citygas copper pipe. After nudging by my parents, my ID threw in all the 3 box-ups for free. FALSE CEILING Just a sneak peek of the false ceiling that was all done. The orange arrows show the two strips that we will be having cove lights, Between the cove lights are L-boxes for our many downlights. [My living area alone has 21 downlights ] The yellow arrow shows my dining false ceiling, affectionately known as the 'flying saucer'. Our 'flying saucer' - a suspended ceiling with cove lighting all around. The two strips of recessed areas in the false ceiling will have downlights in them. Painting works are ongoing today and tomorrow. Painter uncles say will definitely finish painting by tomorrow. Chemical wash will take place tomorrow night. Hope things will continue going zoom-zoom!!

Finally.... After almost 7 weeks since we started hacking, the house is starting to take shape and look like it popped out from our 3D drawings. INSTALLATION UPDATE Main gate was delivered yesterday. Bronze wrought iron gate. Fire-rated main door yet to arrive thus you can still see the support in the door frame, eagerly waiting for the main door to be installed. The toilet doors have also arrived. Sand-blasted glass doors for that nice clean look. My parents' 'shower screen' also installed (It's also a casement door that will open up to the shower area and toilet bowl) There is the actual toilet door yet to be fixed up that will be just below the aircon unit. Aircon for all the rooms also installed yesterday and protected with a plastic sheet. [Changed our minds and got the Daikin ones instead] The window grilles came yesterday, but I didn't allow him to install. Simply because painting works were still ongoing. Like I told my ID, why make the painters spend time to cover up the grilles nicely before painting, then have them go around it carefully, and then still have to clean the spots that were accidentally painted over?! *grumble* Might as well, one shot let them paint finish, then the grilles can be fixed up. No time wasted. Afterall, the grilles people could not do installation for a few areas because plastering was not finished yet when they came yesterday morning. So one shot do.

Yup, confirm. My fengshui master also said the same thing. No-no to toilets in the middle of the unit. Squarish layout is super favoured.

Hmmm.... if you get the pure white strips, you won't get to see the color change. Have to ask yourself, what's the main purpose of the cove lights - to add brightness to the living area or to use them as a 'talking point'. If you try them on a different color setting, would you still get two different tones of the same color? Not sure how LEDs work but could it be some loose wiring somewhere? I'm not sure if the two rows are from the same strip of lights or it's different strips. If same strip then probably installation error, if different strip, then factory error?

Thanks sleek! Hope we can both move in soon!

Just back from the new place.. The plasterers were at work there til 11pm. Before you take pity on my neighbours, it's no noise kinda work. Just plastering and touching up the joints of the plasterboards in the false ceiling. Anyway, still no one living immediately upstairs and downstairs of me. The plasterers managed to finish in one day, what would've normally taken one week to complete (according to the boss). Well, too bad for him.. Deadline was set weeks ago, he should've assigned more people the past few days. Oh well, all done already! That's most important. Will upload the pics tomoro when I get a better picture in the day. The schedule for the next few days (the final lap) - Sunday - Painting Monday - Painting, Washing Tuesday - Lighting and Sanitary Installation, Carpentry, Grilles & Doors Installation, Touch-up works (tiler/plasterer) Wednesday - Carpentry, Touch-up works (tiler/plasterer) If works go according to schedule, we should be in good time. Praying hard. Last lap already.

Haha! Yeah, can't argue with that

Hahaha! Not too sure about that and doubt I'll try it to tell you but I'm guessing it also depends on the force upon impact.

Hey eden, The plasterboard they used to cover the arghly recessed area is more commonly known as gypsum board. It looks sturdy but if you hit it, I think there'll be a dent or in worst case scenario, might leave a hole in your wall. If you're talking about putting a nail on it, my carpenter advised against putting a shelf on it. If you wanna hang a picture or something light I suppose it can withstand the weight. Hope that helps

Hey kunxeno, We were also advised the same thing. We have 2 bathrooms, 3 people and the salesperson said a 25L is good enough. We initially wanted to get a bigger one too but bought the 25L one instead. I'm not sure about your bathroom layout but I'm guessing horizontal is more inconspicuous when you install. It may jut out from some beam if you choose the vertical one. But I think you can ask further for clarifications. Hope this helps

CEILING UPDATE The guys started working on the false ceilings today. Should be finishing by Saturday so that painting can come in on Sunday. Caught sight of this laser level that he installed high up near the ceiling to get the right level for the brackets to hold the plasterboards. When the laser flashed across the whole ceiling, it was very very apparent that HDB ceilings really lacked such nifty devices when they were built 20 years ago - the ceiling was gravely uneven. The finished 'skeleton' of the false ceiling. As my living room is quite big, it took him the whole day just to do up the skeletal frame for the whole living area. CITYGAS Citygas was here to install the copper piping for the gas today too. Looking good! Just look at the wiring in my wet kitchen alone! Almost looks like the wires came from the copper pipe. Haha! PAINTING UPDATE The painters were here today again and they managed to complete ALL the ceilings with 3 coats of white paint today. This box of 9 different colours came up in the evening, in preparation for the final colour coats on the walls this Sunday. Yup, 9. Works are going much faster today. We had 13 people in the house at one point. 13! If only everyday were like that. Next week is when the real fun starts. ALL the stuff we bought will finally be installed! Yippeeeee!! Can't wait!!