spiffysue

Windows When hacking began, I sourced for my own window guy instead of IDs contact. I found the infamous Alex and contacted him. He came down for a site visit to access my windows and give me a quotation. Unfortunately, my bedroom windows (the lovely cottage ones - pictured below) cannot be changed because they are 3/4 length He told me if we want them changed, we would have to get a PE to endorse. And this costs $3500!!!! We were too excited and didn't check the windows properly. They are in really bad condition. Some of them don't have handles. The metal is very dirty and the owner pasted solar film which melted over time. So gross. Alex advised us to not spend money changing. He said he would replace all the handles for FREE for me. And he can arrange a window chemical wash to clean them up. I was very impressed with his attitude. We agreed to do our windows with him. We changed all other windows in the house, and chose a matte black frame. He invited me down to his factory to take a look at the metal. We then told him that we don't like thin frames, and asked if he had a thicker one. He did... and when we couldn't imagine how it looked (because the factory doesnt have full window frame samples - only small pieces of metal), he actually invited us to his own flat to take a look!! Because he himself chose the thicker frames and its just so kind of him to welcome us into his own home. His level of patience and customer service standards are really superb. Workmanship is good too. I'd recommend him to anyone doing windows! Here's some pics:

WOW that is really cool.. great area too, very central

Confirming design, layout and hacking As we were pretty sure of what we wanted, we shared this with T. He discussed with us on the feasibility as well as adding advice here & there, whenever required. These are some of the requested aspects we wanted included in our place: - cement screed floors - vinyl for the rooms - matt black window frames - exposed brick - subway tiles - open kitchen concept + island - convert Master Bedroom into a WIW Hacking began as soon as we collected keys. We hacked: - the storeroom - the wall between kitchen and living - half the wall between kitchen and balcony --> so that more light can enter the kitchen - a door between Master bedroom and bedroom 3 Initially, we wanted to hack the entire wall between Master bedroom and bedroom 3. We wanted to replace it with a sliding glass door, so that the entire WIW would be seen when in the bedroom. Something like this: Sadly... we couldn't do that, because we would be facing the TOILET. hahaha, imagine lying in bed and staring at a toilet bowl.

Themes & ID/Contractor-hunting I've always like the Manhattan look - exposed bricks, subway tiles, lots of sunlight and clean lines. Long before we even purchased the house, i always pictured my house to look that way I use 'my' here loosely, because fiance is a super 'anything also ok' kind of person. [i.e. i made all the aesthetic decisions] Not 'loft' because that tends to be quite industrial. I was quite sure of what i wanted, so we were very torn between getting an ID or contractor. Here's the list of pro/cons that I've concluded. IDs: - usually a little more expensive - can be stifling - they try and dissuade you about certain design decisions. some can be quite egoistic and get offended when you don't agree with their taste - cookie-cutter designs - can advise you on certain design decisions such as colour palette, etc. things you may not have considered - if you can find one that is on the same page as you, it could be a great partnership Contractors: - hard to communicate a-typical designs to them - may overlook finer details that could spoil an entire look - usually less expensive - more technical experience + more practical ******************8 We met with about 5-6 IDs/Contractors. Some were downright absurd. I realize the younger IDs tend to be very impractical. They suggest crazy designs that do nothing functionally. We had 1 ID (young!! i think younger than us even) who quoted us $80k -____-" his design included a brick chimney in the middle of my kitchen. WTF - chimney in SG??? lol. needless to say, we didn't engage him. The contractors we met were recommended on renotalk and i'm sure they are really responsible + good workmanship. but they were too bz to take our project up. In the end, we went with an ID. We were afraid that being first-time renovators, we wouldn't be able to properly communicate with a contractor on finer details. The ID company we went with is quite known. We chose them because they don't do the usual designs - quite adventurous and open to new concepts. My ID 'T' is also older and experienced; i like that he didn't propose any absurd designs and everything he suggested was practical. In retrospect though, this ''older and experienced'' thing is a double-edged sword. I will review them in detail at the end .. anyway, my reno is still ongoing and there's been a fair share of tension/hiccups. but i shall not comment on them till the final handover. let's see if they buck-up in the next 2 weeks. BTW. my reno started in mid-july so it's been very long already. sigh.

here's the pics of the house in its original condition: the balcony + shoe cabinets. we decided to keep the shoe cabinets and re-paint them ourselves, our own DIY proj. kitchen is on the left.. you can see a little 'window' that the previous owner did.. quite cute. living area: kitchen: one of the bedrooms: master toilet (horrific condition): can see the amount of work that was needed!!

i knowww.. but in the end, big does have its cons. we had to reno SO MUCH.. omg, really wanna vomit blood. but more on that later.. haha

thanks! we love it too, and didn't know there's such a thing as 4 bedrooms for HDB.. it was a pleasant surprise! where did u buy in the end? it's at blk 400+ in Tampines, near the new Tampines East MRT (have to wait till 2016 tho.....)

thanks everyone!! it's at Tampines and approx 1550 sqf. yup the windows were a huge draw.. i especially loved the 3/4 length windows in the bedrooms, 'cos they are a bit cottage-y. i'll post more photos tonight

managed to figure it out! here's my floorplan: i'll be back to post more!

hi everyone! it's 8th oct and my carpentry is finally coming in tmr.. now that almost all decisions have been made, i can finally find time to breathe and pen down this crazy journey called reno. i'm not that great with dates, so i'm just gonna sum up the experiences i've had by topics rather than by exact days. haha, i can't even recall the exact order of some stuff.. everything just swooshed by. ok, time to flashback now ********************************* it all started with finding the right place. when we started looking for a place, we only had the following criteria: - high floor - windy - lots of natural light we were very blessed and found an awesome agent that was so on-the-ball that it quite stunned us, really. initially we never even wanted to go through an agent; we were doing all the hunting by ourselves. but when we met this guy by accident, he was so enthusiastic that his energy kinda rubbed off on us, and we decided to just give him a chance. unlike some other 'nua' agents we'd encountered (u know, the kind that says they'll hunt for u but never get back), he got back to us within a few days with almost 20 listings after seeing countless units, we were almost decided on a particular unit. the price was really good, it was clean and nice, and some walls were alr hacked which would save us some $. but somehow it hadn't quite stolen our hearts. it was okaaaaaaay, but not WAH. our agent said that when you see 'The One', you'd just know it.. so take our time to search. after a few weeks, he got a new listing and asked us to take a look with him. the moment we stepped in, we really KNEW it was the right unit for us. we paid the OTP the very next morning! the unit fulfilled our 3 criteria, and had other bonus points too: - corner unit - 4 bedrooms, instead of 3 [very special & rare!] - unblocked view - a huge kitchen - my fiance's dream bcos he has a thing for kitchens/islands - new MRT station being 5 min away i'd post my floorplan now.. but i can't seem to do it??? i'm a tech idiot. can someone kindly tell me how to post a photo? i hosted a photo on flickr but when insert the URL, only the URL shows. . help!

You can view the photo here

Hi guys, i have a brand new 56'' Crestar ceiling fan for sale. It's matte black. Full warranty as totally unused. We bought it, installed it, but realized it's too near our track light so took it down immediately. Retailing at Chan Huat for $300. Letting go at $250. PM me if interested, or text at 97807221. Thanks!