Greycat

Wah! Linda....we r actuali the same age but u haf a 6-yr old kid liao! I envy u actually, young mommy is a bigtrend nw leh, ehhehee......

Hihi, Thank u! (for thinking of me when u were outside....heheh, still look at windows for me...) Me veli gam-dong Oh for full-ht windows, I oso keep bio-ing my neighbors (my estate 6 yrs old). All the full-ht window flats maintain their black windows le...I thot HDB dun approve to hack.... Sigh...me oso bio-ing sme evov stuff still...thot of buying the Mirage side table for my bedside but bloody exp n they refused to lower px smemre le.....my heart veli pain whenever I see evov bill... Hhehehe, tok abt GST, did u read straits times abt the lady who bght a 1-carat diamond ring for 14K so she can save $280 b4 gst....... After do reno liao hor, I will benchmark prices of my shopping items now liao....eg, 1 LV bag=1 dining table = 4 WC, ehehhehee.....

Harlow Jessi.... Just dropping by to say thanks for inviting us to ur place...looks as great as in the pictures!! And thanks to Allo n Koikoi too.... Me n BrownMse had a wonderful excursion tdy....nw got better idea liao...

Hi Linda, Mine is new flat but the original is no window cuz it was a balcony....the window n frame is add in wan.... Today went dwn to see the hse myself n oso visit a few forummer's place (cham-guan) heheehe I see the window myself, din feel so bad liao....it dint look as black in real-life....so mabbe nt changing liao. Oni the kitchen mabbe still wanna change cuz cant match glass panel in kitchen sink..... Thanks! !! We love the tiles too but its actually not white, its off-white....not whitehorse oso, some china brand, I thk its "Bo-Hua"....i saw this name on the packaging....We oso chose the closet to white. I thk it just reflects the light of the walls next to it... Thanks apple!! Yah, went dwn to see for myself tdy, windows din look dat bad.....still feels open n windy after draw to 2 sides.....mabbe wont change liao bah..... Reno is such a big headache..... Tdy last day before GST n we hafnt bought our lights!....sigh... Hope u gals bght everything liao

Hee apple.....my TO neber come dwn n check at all.... Think they too busy cuz too many ppl complain la...mine is a old unit, 6yr old liao...qutie a few units spoil bad bad type..ur TO **** "giao" too siah.....sigh actuali u can just do flooring bah.....hack n re-tile is always best option cuz it wont haf worry of popping up in future n it wont be too thick oso. Apparently, spray-painting can oso b done on floor le....I got a fren who did spray painting on kitchen floor n toilet floor to make it not so slippery. The mixture they spray can mix until they haf the rough texture wan. Its dat one in tampines industrial area wan....

Some mre pictures on Day 5 of our reno..... MBR has started tiling oredi..... 1) Foyer area...BrownMse was supposed to take a close-up of the tiles...but all he got was a picture of Ah Meng's footprints allll over the tiles. Ah Meng is our big-size foreman....hehehe 2) Living area window (left pane) + right pane Total is 4 panes oni....n its white frames + black-tint....sigh Now, got 3 "errors".......... (a) the lock gadget is broken n has dropped off (b) I cant stand the white frame w black-tint panes, looks so "sa-la" to me (mismatched) © 4 panes for 3.3m.....looks weird le. Hence when slide open (1 to each side), oni half the space is "open"....I kinda regret nw, shd haf chosen open-windows in dat case. I had thot my 3.3m~ length can fit 5-6 panels......n I wantd to be able to draw all to 1 or 2 side so it feels mre "open". Anybody has any experience to share? My living rm floorplan states 3.45m exact but minus abit here n there, I thk its 3.3m in length.....If u did sliding windows, how many panes or sliding tracks shd dat b? Many thanks for any advice/suggestion given, realli appreciate it.... I had thot my reno wld b easy enuff since Im nt doing much, cant imagine im having headache at the 1st stage of windows oni...... I had always thot windows r just windows....how difficult can it be?.....alas.....

Thanks apple... !! Hee...Im a fussy one la....dats true...my nickname is Ms "Giao" hahahaha Thanks Fish !!

Thanks Dfish....I guess small panel like my kitchen still look ok bah..... Im so bothered is becuz Im gonna make a glass panel on top of my kitchen sink there.... Hence when Im in the kitchen washg at the sink, I'll be looking at my glass panel n beyond dat, wld b the black-tint window....dats why I thot it wld b weird....1 transparent (dunno got green-tint) or nt....the other 1 is black-tint wan..... Will update wif the pictures tonite....BrownMse took a picture of the living rm one....many many frames of black window on white frame.... sibei jiarat...

Sigh....BrownMse just went to e hse n they haf put up e living rm windows oredi...oso white rim n black-tint.... I hafnt seen it but he says dat on a bigger scale (as compared to kitchen), it does look weird.... Sigh, I din read contract properly, thot dat I was quoted for white-fram windows, dun rem seeing the black-tint part le, seems dat there's gona be costs involved for changing it nw.... BrownMse says dat e lock on e windows r spoilt so they wld haf to chg them anyway, hopefully contractor can chg for us foc..... Veli sad nw....esp when my job doesnt allow me to pop by n see the renos.....pek chek....

Harlow applefreak, me had the same exact tiles as u for the kitchen walls.....can understand how u feel..... my kitchen no flooring though as it's a standard unit. But cuz mine got sme chip-off edges n we complain abt it n the hollowness of sme tiles, manage to get HDB to chg....but in the end hor, chg to a grey-ish-white tile oso (minus the flower la)..... actually hor, after u put kitchen cabinets liao, the walls not so significant liao (esp if u oso plan to put up backsplash).... Most ID or contractor wld oso say dat the kitchen cabinets r the 1st items ppl see when they walk into ur kitchen, not the floor tiles bah.....

Hihi Dfish, I thk could be....u may b right man... My whole hse windows is actuali black-black (the HDB type) so when I wantd white windows for my living rm n kitchen, my contractor quite shockd.... But my theory was dat in living area n kitchen, can oni see the white windows, wont be able to see 2 types of windows together anyway..... yah huh....mabbe ur right.....mabbe the contractor purposely put black-tint to match..... At a loss nw....BrownMse says if not black-tint, den ppl wld b able to look into kitchen (which is unfortunately next to lift lobby). I do agree with him. But living room windows not up yet, wonder if I shd get contractor to put up white-greenish tint window panes instead.... White-powder coatd n black-tint windows is not what I envisioned le....

Day 4 of reno....mre pictures taken by BrownMse tdy: Tiling of living area almost done...Balcony's been knocked dwn n window fram (minus actual window panes) r up..... Dining area also almost tiled up..just short of tiling passage way nw..... Our foyer area...BrownMse selected those grey tiles with patterns...gonna ask him to take a close-up nxt time round... Kitchen windows up...a picture frm outside.... Supposed t be white kitchen but I dint expect it to b tinted black...always thot dat white windows wld b tinted "greenish"....anyone noes wat Im toking abt?.... View of windows frm inside kitchen...doesnt look so "black-tinted" in dis case...... Original door of BR2 being tiled up....As seen frm outside Picture of tiled up door frm the inside... There's actually enuff space to put up a rack but we r gonna just make it "flush" with the walls..guess we'll box it up..... Now my biggest problem....kinda unforeseen... During earlier discussions with contractor, we had askd him n all of us thot dat the following vertical "beam" of abt 6inch cld b hacked away. Apparently, it cant.....tested it out after foreman Ah Meng tried to hack it with a hammer n hit steel. Well, at least, it can be tapered down to abt 3-4inch...still it's gonna be a bit of an eye-sore.... Now wondering if I shd do a false wall for this area (abt 1.5m wide). We r gonna b putting our sofa on this piece of wall though......hmmm....

Hi Linda, ur curtains veli nice! !! It's pretty unique with the black stripe, does it come on the cloth oredi or u sewed it in?

Hee 1pm at ur place? Can pm the venue? Ar-bo I will haf to loiter at void deck with BrownMse at 1pm dis Sat liao....ehhehe Our place shd haf finishd tiling living/dining area only by Sat....BrownMse has taken mre pictures tdy, will update my blog tonite.... A pat on the head for BrownMse!! Reno Day4, yippee!!! !!

Wah...nice n bright kitchen! The inset sink looks v cooL! !!

That light veli nice!! I like the dim effect n the crystals We went chelsea for quotation but b4 dat, we walkd at least 2 times thrgh balestier liao. So far, oni bght 2 lights for kitchen n a globe-shape light (mostly used for door entrance area). Realised dat all e lights I like is those dim lights but for practicality, we need to get bright lights oso, so sacrifice must b made smehow bah.....I thk die die will cost 2K bah...sigh..... Everyday I see the $$ flying away....sobs Thanks thanks! !! Will check ur blog for meeting time, hehehehe! Mabbe we shd hold gathering at basketball court or koufu...ehhehe

Hihi, Actually I saw on Jessi's blog abt the "gathering" but me n BrownMse abit shy, dunno can disturb u all or nt.... can we can we can we??!?! Den can cham-guan ur hses too!!! We'll b at our hse dis sat to take a look as tiling shd haf finishd by den. Mabbe meet electrician or smethg like dat..... Thanks 4 e offer!

Harlow harlow.....hee, me reali blur...found it liao. Wow, so many pictures!! I love ur living lights effect, shooting across the grey-painted part. V designer! Can see dat ur hse reali did a lota reno, for less than 30K, wow!! oh yah, I oso saw the light at chelsea, the one dat has crystals all rd the rim, can chnge to dim light n colorful lights wan, veli exp!!!

Hi Koikoi, was looking at ur blog last nite, hehehe.... !! Love the space after u knock dwn the study corner, reali spacious! I like! Ur hse is oso very colorful!! I love the orange wall with the lighting effect, stylo-milo!

Hee...me abit blur...I did go to the link but I neber see pics le...I oni see 2 pics of the downlights n ur perspective drawings....did I miss smething here? Me not tech-savvy..... !!

Hihi Allo, paiseh....blur me din read carefully....ur signature put reno costs less than 30K total....hee.... U finish reno liao? any pic or quotes to share? Me thinking of going chelsea to buy lights oso. Went there over weekend to check out lights n got a quote liao. Total came up to 1.8K+ after discount (bulk of it was an expensive crystal lamp la ) Their prices seem v competitve n I din expect them to carry so many designs, as gd as the balestier shops n mabbe mre!! Hhehee...ur oso online nw siah....not working ah? wat carpentry works did u do? My quotes r ard the range bah I thk. When I askd ard for quotes, seems dat all came bac 30K le...hee so we console ourselves dat its becuz of floor-area lor...n so many walls to paint, hahaha yup yup, when go there see tiles hor, BrownMse says dat I looked completely lost!!!

Hihi, Thank you for all well-wishes n advice/help rendered! Renotalk was reali useful when we were formulating our reno battleplan, hehehehe! HI Koikoi, after selectg tiles hor, den I realise I din even noe wat brand I bght....I rem alota frens ask me to choose whitehorse le....but contractor jus brought me to showrm to select n we just chose the whitest possible shade there. Hi Allo, me dun haf alota carpentry I thk....no feature wall etc. My carpentry wld includ kitchen cabinets (top n bottom) n WIW (quite long I guess as we doing L-shape). If I rem correctly, it is abt 13 feet in total (full ht). No feature wall or shoe cabinet thgy, ored 30K liao. Just curious, how much did ur quotes cost? Hi Jessie, yup me gona make BR2 into WIW. Knocked dwn a part of wall to make a wooden sliding door so we can air-con both rooms still. For BR2, im planning L-shape wardrobe on rightside n vanity on left side. Den mabbe window there can put my old sofa (abt 1.9m) so I can dump clothes there (for ironing) n oso do my ironing in e room.... In future, mabbe baby pram can temp put there oso. heeeheee

A quick update After much dragging our feet abt it n much discussion/argument/frustration over e final reno design, alas! We have signed with our contractor and started reno works. Our "Dong-Tu" was on 24th Jun (Sunday) and our contractor was kind enuff to sacrifice his Sunday morn church to come n help us...apparently, dat was a gd day n many other hses were "Dong-Tu-ing" as well. hehehe To describe my contractor sourcing process, we basically askd ard frm frens/colleagues for reliable recommendations n shortlisted 3. 1) Chinese speaking contractor who was honest n provided full quote. We oso visitd his shop n seen his pictures of other houses he did. But in the end, didnt sign up wif him as we felt dat we cldnt communicate well wif him (in terms of design terms n ideas). Quote was quite ok lah.... 2) Hokkien speaking sub-con who was v hands-on. He brought us to other hses renovatd by him to show us his finishing n ideas. When we saw his quote though, we realised dat he was tagging on to an ID firm n his quote din show many exp items eg. cupboards. Final quote wld b expensive. 3) English speaking contractor who gave us a very clear n precise quote. He was oso v professional n highlighted what we can do to improve the quality of finishings. Surprisingly, his quote was cheap too. Finally, contractor no3 won us over..What made us decide to sign up wif him was probably his professionalism. He was unable to answer our questions on hacking, construction etc n he gaf us alternatives when we posed him questions. For example, we r gonna close off a door n board it up. Contractor 2 told us to use a cupboard to hide it. But contractor no3 highlighted that when done, the walls wld haf different finishing n we wld need plastering to even it out, b4 painting. Well, so far reno works haf just startd 1 day (actual work startd tdy) n it seems to b full force. In fact, the workers haf startd tiling on Day 1, cldnt believe it... Me gonna let pictures do the talking. A big pat on e back for BrownMse who went dwn to our hse tdy to check on reno n buy workers drinks n kopi. Hacked a door size for connecting my MBR to BR2, will put a sliding door here. Room looks brighter nw. Frm my MBR. Wall on right wld b used to mount TV most probably... View on BR2 (WIW rm). Looks at my MBR toilet door, gonna be in line..... View frm BR3 (baby's room in future). BR2 door gonna b concealed so dat only entrance wld b frm MBR. Workers laying hom-tiles in living room, v excited!!! Clap clap!!! My kitchen looking out to my scvc balcony. Teared away the door n window. Smething exciting coming up! Don b mistaken, the doors there are jus teared out frm my bedrms, dunno why e workers lef it there.... A view of wat's outside my door. Plants were put up by neighbors so I haf a free greenview, hehehehe. good for lazy me n BrownMse... Btw, see dat strip near e rightside of wall dats not tiled? BrownMse claims dat when he went to see reno, workers told hm to squeeze btw n walk btw dat thin 10cm strip....hahahahahhahaha!!!! (Evil me....) Hacked away my balcony door to enlarge my living area. Unfortunately, smething unexpected came up. (Refer to 2nd picture below) The 10cm strip of wall behind the teared dwn balcny door cannot b removed, it is a pillar. Sigh. A bit disappointed.... Last picture: View of hse when u first step in at main door. I like the windows nw but too bad, die die gotta put window oso.....looks so bright nw..

Hi Oonik girl, Just came to hear abt ur plight. Dont b discouraged, ganbatte! U may wan to consider doing smestuff urself, such as painting to cut dwn costs? Maybe contractor will b cheaper, I can pm u my contractor details if u need.... If ur gonna sign wif another ID/contractor, rem to look at pymt schedule carefully. If ur nt comfortable wif it, can always chg e pymt schedule so dat it is in line wif the work stages. I changed my pymt schedule cuz I felt it was nt so safe to pay all upfront n my contractor was ok wif it. Jiayou!

Harlow apple... Yah, aircon trunking can b a nightmare. I just met up w air-con guy frm Hongtar on Sat to discuss aircon piping. Not sure if u order aircon oredi, but Hongtar is gd I find. They had total 3 visits, 1 to tell us how they will run the trunking so we can finalise our false ceiling design, 1 to run trunking (b4 electrical works but after any hacking), last visit to put up actual aircon unit after painting. They're oso cheap! Depending on ur layout n wer u put e aircon, piping will b different.... After aircon-guy visit, I curse n swear dat hw come HDB got sooo many structural beams?!?! Ar-boil at hdb n wonder how they design oso..... The aircon guy will need to see ur layout n advise u on how best to lay the gas pipe n water pipe for safety...No false ceiling will b hard to hide e pipes but if got problem in future, u wont haf to tear dwn false ceiling to solve prob oso, pros n cons bah..... I haf sme structural beams across my passageway so the beam is lowered by abt 1-2in to cover e pipes (gotta tell contractor to box it up)..... Hope this helps u