kooky

Thanks for replying, Lauer. I realise I need to explain:- 1) Plain glass - Kitchen (where we will errect a see-through from the kitchen to look into the living room and to create natural light effect) -- this is just glass panel NOT a window (so it will not have any frame). 2) Blue glass - for all the bedrooms and service yard (for some privacy as it is facing the multi-storey carpark but allow us to see out w/o opening the windows) 3) Plain double-sided window for Study and Dinning are which are facing the common corridor (yes, total privacy and noise reduction) We chose grey frame to go with all the glass we have selected. What my husband feels is the frame should compliment the paint of the flat. My neighbours use various colours for their windows and door; there is no uniformity.

I can't move my stove/hob too far. I can shift it 20cm away which is not directly facing the toilet but still will see the toilet (if you understand what I mean).

Our contractor has given the husband some glasses and frames yesterday for us to select since we want to change all the windows in the flat. The spouse has selected altogether 3 colours, namely for the corridor, kitchen and rest of the flat (e.g.bedrooms, living room area). We have, however, just selected one type of coloured frame. Just curious - do you chose more than 3 colours for the windows? What types of material have you selected? Did you choose any double-sided glass type? I am just wonder, the look of my flat after these colours (windows) are installed. Hopefully it doesn't look out of the way.

It might be a gas issue and ring up the repair guy. But as you have pointed out, this fridge is 12 years old, is it worth repairing it? Or might be cheaper to get a new one? :-)

Rocky, I know P-type is most common. I am changing all the 3 WCs and noticed that the shop where I purchased the 3 pieces has given me S-type. I rang her up and she said there is very little difference between P-type and S-type configuration. I am not sure how true it is but my contractor didn't flag up any big issue so I take it that it can be installed in my toilets and the plumber knows what to do. Are you going to DIY?

I would have thought that the cost can be almost comparable; depending on the country of origin where the tiles are made? I am not an expert in construction field; purely my assumption.

We bought Joven but can't give review on the heaters since our flat is still under renovation.

We engaged a contractor. In fact, he is our 2nd one and hence, the delay in the whole renovation process. We were told that the earliest they can handover the flat back to us is in Mid-March.

Ah.....another EM owner! Welcome We also collected the keys last Spetember. Like yourself, we didn't start the reno until much later and due to CNY, there is nothing much been done. My 1st floor toilet is also small and will post some picture when more jobs are done in my flat. Hope to see more pictures of your new place.

No. But in the initial stage, my contractor has given me a quote on Zinc roofing but then he just informed use that he will replace this material with tile roofing. As my husband travels out every 2 weeks, we have yet to find out from the contractor why the change. My guess is the cost but yet to be confirmed.

kcwee, yeah I know it sounds bad.......LOL. But I have space constraint in my kitchen.

For owners who are staying in a EM, do you install roofing? What is the material have you chosen and the reason for choosing this? And what is the cost? We are soon to be meeting up with our contractor to decide on the material and just want to have a feel of the cost instead of becoming victim of 'carrot head'. Thanks!

I have been lurking and reading up almost all the Forum since the day I registered myself as a member of this forum. Before we purchase our flat, I don't know anything about Feng Shui and husband and I are not really superstitious. However, from this forum, I know that there are quite a few forumists have vast knowledge on Feng Shui. For the sake of discussion, my husband is born in the year of Tiger, I am born in the year of Rat and my little girl is born in Rabbit year. We bought a flat directly from HDB and hence, we did not go through the flat-viewing process where I know some people will engage a Feng Shui master/practioner along before they decide which unit to purchase. Hence, my question is does the chinese zodiac signs of the family members affect the flat? In general, what kind of flat is considered 'OK' to stay in? The first impression when we went into the flat after collection of the keys, was 'normal'; nothing eerie and the unit is not dim but we intend to make it brighter (e.g by hacking down some walls to let natural light to come into the flat, install glass and paint light colour on the walls etc). Looking forward to learn a lot from the experts!

I applaud you for the DIY working with a small budget . Nice ideas and it's harder to eventualise them and yet you have done it. Thumbs-up

Due to budget, I bought Elkay brand. However, I can't seem to be able to find the kitchen sink I bought from the internet. It is a double-bowl and pretty deep.

I enjoy this thread, the way some of you put it very funny....I am not talking about the FSM okay. I am saying the way you reply...........lol Mine is an EM, so as a ballpark figure, does that mean I must be prepared to pay at least $1000 if I want to engage service of a FSM? Is this figure the current market rate?

I don't know anything about Feng Shui. But my kitchen stove/hood is facing the common toilet door. I wonder if this is ok in Feng Shui point of view? I would also would like to know what kind of layout or stuff, in general is considered a taboo in Feng Shui? I am keen to understand more, if anyone is willing to share :-)

Thanks, Nick34!

I am thinking of taking up a renovation loan. But due to time constraint, I just have no time to go around shopping. Has any of you recently took up a renovation loan which is very attractive? Mind to share which is this bank? Thank you!

Summersan, no I have not started my own T-blog yet. My reno is at stall because the contractor needs to resubmit some drawings to HDB for approval. And because it is CNY soon, the workers are starting to taking leave. Hence, there is no pictures for me to upload. I hope to start mine after CNY :-)

Kind of! Initially, we intended to have different theme for each bathroom and the contractor calculated the cost. After discussing with my husband, we changed the tiles to same colour theme(by taking the lower cost of from the 3 themes) . The saving isn't much but we try to do saving throughout the reno, so should helps a little. Besides, we only select those matt-finished homo tiles and nothing really fanciful.

Thanks for the pointers, summersann! That's what we have discussed and intended to do. I have a toddler who is 19 months old and my mum who has grout, high blood pressure will occasional come over to stay with us and watch over the maid. That's why we decided to change the staircase. We used same colour schemes (just different in shades/tones) for all the 3 bathrooms and 2 of them, we chose the same types of wall tiles to save some cash. Trying to cut down on the unnecessary costs incurred. Took a few pics of the bathroom tiles thats been up but not quite satisfactory and told my contractor to go down to the flat to take a look. I need lots of luck........lol

From the pic, the flag of staircases seem steep. Do you have elderly folks living with you? Btw, the quote that my Contractor gave me for an overhaul is around $80-90k. It seems like the average quote for EMs and we are trying to minus out some of the reno which can be wait till later as this cost does not include furniture, home appliances etc.

You have the same floor plan as mine. I am also luck-out. 1st contractor kind of play up and after ending the saga episode, we engaged another contractor in end November. Due to this there is a delay in the entire renovation. Current contractor informed us that earliest he can hand us back the flat is mid-March *sigh* Will watch out on your T-blog for your updates :-) Best of luck to you.

Thanks, Mae. I read through your 55 pages of total 'face lift' of your flat and it is a job well done indeed. There have been some hiccups in my renovation as the 1st contractor was incompetent and we have to look for another contractor. Keep fingers crossed and hopefully I can move-in to my flat in March.