kirinshibori

The 1 gang 1/2 way switch in the picture costs $54.40 each, while the 1gang 13A power socket costs $93.50 each. What price did you get in JB?

Thanks for your encouraging words! Perhaps I should get a friend to take nice photos of the house before we continue to systematically and efficiently clutter and mess the place up, haha... Btw any bright sparks for book storage in 90m2? I have too many books and they are still sitting in boxes in my home shelter. I was thinking of installing shelves on the walls above the room doors, but money and the fear that it'll further clutter up the place are holding me back...

Apparently so... But for my carpenter, he charged me for the material cost only, after we decided to change from plywood fronts to oak veneer and ash strips. The oak veneer plywood cost about $25 per piece, and each piece is huge, I think about 8x6ft. The ash strips cost about 80-90 cents/ft. This is material cost, not including labour, which I think most carpenters will mark up since using laminates is more straightforward and saves on labour.

Let me see, where should I begin... Yes, the intent was for the "atas" Japanese style, where basic remodelling easily cost SGD$100,000. Well, my budget started at a tenth of that, so I guess something's gotta give. End result is totally my fault since I designed it, so I've technically got no ID to complain to or ask to beautify. Shaun did advise me on quite a number of feasibility issues, but the look is my pasar. As for Ikea, guilty as charged. Essentially, anything made of wood after my initial $8500 outlay on carpentry comes from Ikea. Stripes-wise, it does border on overkill. But to keep carpentry cost down, variations are a luxury and my rudimentary ID acumen weighed in to demand symmetry in design. I also dunno why we've messed up the place so efficiently. I guess it's time for some decluttering, alas time is also a luxury! If I sound like I'm trying to vindicate myself... Again, guilty as charged!

I think my kids are able to do space planning better than I can, lol! For those who like my budget dwelling, thanks for the kind words! Hopefully, my rambling provides an interesting read or at least the featured pics from arch daily give you a better insight into Japanese interiors... For those who think there's much to improve, my sentiments exactly! In all honesty, I appreciate everyone who has bothered to post in my humble thread. Your opinions are always welcomed and they often allow me to see things that I've missed or totally not thought of!

Where else but Hafary, haha... In any case, that was where Shaun brought me to. But seriously, I think all major tile stockists have these faux wood ceramic tiles. They come in 60cm x 15cm dimension, and creating a good gradient for water drainage in the bathroom is somewhat tricky. That is part of the reason why my shower area has mundane 30cm x 30cm tiles.

Thanks! The vinyl tiles are $5.95 psf excl GST and skirting. Got it from Evorich during one of the expo shows. I used the faux wood ceramic tiles for the bathrooms. Kitchen vinyl tiles. Transition from dining room laminates to kitchen vinyl tiles. Bathroom faux wood ceramic tiles. Close up of laminates (left) and faux wood ceramic tiles (right). If you're the type that needs to wash your kitchen floor regularly with water, go for ceramic tiles. The vinyl tiles are waterproof, but since they are floating and not attached permanently to the sub-floor, regular washing is not recommended as water will get trapped between the vinyl tile and the sub-floor. We prefer the feel of the vinyl tiles than the ceramic tiles though, in terms of both texture and warmth.

Thanks for the compliment. Let me try to explain how I designed the lights... There are 2 layers, General and Task lighting. As I have an open kitchen concept, the kitchen, dining, living and foyer areas are combined. General lighting are all using cool daylight CFL and consists of 2 kitchen ceiling lights (single 24W each) and the fan light (dual 18W). Task lighting are all using warm white, and include CFL and halogen bulbs. The foyer has a single 25W G9 halogen, the island has 2 pendant lamps with single 20W CFLs each, kitchen sink has 2 track spotlights with single 25W G9 halogen each, dining table has 2 pendant lamps with single 18W CFLs each and my arc lamp has a single 20W CFL. You are right that I have no cove or l-box. There are 2 tracks, one over the kitchen sink and the other over the dining table. I am not sure if these pictures address your question. But if you have further questions, I'm happy to share what I know.

Hi star70, I bought Crestar fans from A Lighting in Geylang. 55" Skylite Alumi SO housing with black acrylic blades for the living room. 50" Rainlite Alumi SO housing with black acrylic blades for the 3 bedrooms.

Thanks Valerie! Nope, no glass behind the ash strips. Other than for aesthetics, the purpose of the strips are for ventilation for the shoe cabinet, washer/dryer stack, sink and hob, so no backing boards for them.

Yep, hacked the kitchen walls to: 1. have an open concept kitchen 2. create a spacious feel 3. allow wind from the kitchen windows during the NW monsoon to ventilate the rest of the house 4. brighten up both kitchen and living/dining

Thanks! Yep, all laminates except bathroom (tiles), kitchen (vinyl) and foyer (tiles). So far no issues, maintenance is pretty straightforward, just vacuum then mop.

Ikea Toftbo bath mat at $19.90 each.

Living room

Let me post some night shots... Genkan Kitchen/Genkan lights Kitchen

Hi salad, It's from Parador and carried by Evorich. Refer to post #89 for further info. Sales person is Kas Chin (mobile: 92226003). Service is pretty good.

Unfortunately, they seldom have a booth at Expo. I last saw them there around Nov/Dec last year. I actually opted for Parador as they have 12-month installment plan, haha... Another point to ponder over... I think the sales pitch that woods around the region expands and contracts less than continental woods does have some truth in them. Unfortunately, I can't stand Supreme's price and designs, haha... Another thing is that the extra sealant pushed by Kronotex may be useful as the plank edge that sits under the wall skirting will definitely benefit from some waterproof sealant that also serves as some sort of gasket between the planks and walls. Lastly, upgrade your underlay (luckily my sales guy threw it in at the $3.50 psf price) as it does make a significant difference. I can't imagine how wretched I'd feel if I'm having the thin white underlay that comes standard, especially since the the levelness of my floor is such a joke!

Guest room is done... Kids' room is a controlled mess, lol... Notice the upside down handle installed on the kids' room door... awaiting the door guy to change a new door for me... apparently due to the holes cut, they cannot just reverse the handles.

All up cost is unfortunately nearer $45K, but that's including everything, e.g. appliances, furniture, utensils, etc. to move in condition. Carpentry cost me $9k with spare change. Other renovation work done with my contractor is significantly less than $20k. Laminate and vinyl flooring is around $3.3k.

May need to go slightly technical here... The genkan black tiles are laid on the bare concrete floor. Cement screeding was done up till -5mm from the kitchen tiles. 5mm vinyl tiles were overlaid on the existing kitchen tiles. 10mm laminate planks were laid on the cement screed to achieve a flush surface with the kitchen vinyl tiles. Take note that you'll most likely need to cut your doors in order for them to clear the installed laminates. The laminates company will take care of the trimming strip at the drop. But the drop is really not very significant. And when you move in, it's a pain for the delivery guys wheeling your heavy stuff in, lol!

Hmm, I don't have a model number. But it's the only oak 3-strip model for the $3.50 psf (exclude GST) Parador range from Evorich. I think Evorich's service is pretty good in terms of follow ups. They faced a lot of problems with my installation due to the lousy cement screeding done by the HDB contractor, but they still tried their best to rectify whenever I pointed our areas where I wasn't satisfied. In all, they came about 3-4 times after the installation completed to do touch ups here and there. I would seriously consider Quickstep though, as it is highly rated in the US. I like their Eligna range, but that starts at $4.00 psf (excl GST) locally at Expo fairs. The $3.50 psf (excl GST) Gold/Classic series is quite limited in design as compared to the Parador range. But seriously, if budget was less of an issue, I'd go for Allure vinyl tiles anytime. The feel on the feet is sooooo much better!

Haha, no money to get bamboo blinds... I used Ikea Lindmon blinds, starts from $25 for a 60cm wide one.

After the doors got installed, I do prefer the solid doors. But I think I can live with the semi-hollow one in the MBR bathroom. A penny saved is a penny gained! Let me see... Genkan picture... Busy settling in after the move on Saturday... unpacking is more laborious than moving!

We insisted that the installers not install trimming strips at the door of each room (which is their SOP) because we wanted a contiguous floor to give an expansive look. This is the final product. They did require us to indemnify them from expansion defects as they claimed that the strips are required to cater for expansion of the planks; however, I argued that our rooms are not that big and that they probably did not use trimming strips even if the room was 10m across, which mine wasn't. They couldn't really answer me satisfactorily, and I suspect they preferred the trimmings mainly for ease of installation. It requires a lot more work to install without trimming strips at the door way as the alignment is tricky and they cannot install multiple rooms at one time as they need to install the planks at the corridor and expand towards the rooms. I did however find the reason why they have it in their SOP from the manufacture's installation guide. It states that a 8-10mm trimming strip is required every 12m longitudinally and every 8m laterally. There was no problem for us longitudinally as our planks were aligned perpendicular to the windows (parallel to the light entering the room) and knowing how small HDB rooms are, they hardly exceed half of the 12m. It's a different story longitudinally as the breadth of the house is about 12m across from the TV wall in the living room to the outermost wall in the MBR. Only time will tell if we'll face expansion problems in the future... fingers crossed that we won't!

I ordered solid for bedroom doors and semi-hollow for the MBR bathroom door. Both in white ash veneer, hope it'll match well with the rest of the house... For the kitchen cabinets, they are without backing. Actually, there are practical reasons to the strips... The tall cabinet houses the washer and dryer, so the strips provide ventilation. The strips underneath the sink and hob provide ventilation too to prevent condensation and heat build-up respectively. For the strips above the fridge tall cabinet, they are more for aesthetic balance though, haha... The shoe cabinet has strips as well, again for ventilation, will be putting some charcoal inside to remove odours though, lol. Finally, the strips on the TV console provides ventilation for my class A audio amplifier and also allows me to hide all the appliances within and still use my remote control. I am dreading dusting the strips though! Hope my rainbow will be up to the task...