kooky

Both husband and I are not into FS but reading this forum, it does give us some knowledge. I joined RenoTalk after we bought our flat so that's to say I didn't engage a FSM beforehand to confirm if the flat is suitable for our family member which I know one who believes in FS will engage a FSM and ask him/her to go with them when viewing a unit before they purchase it. I also read that avoid using RED for kichen cabinets and the stove do not face the toilet. Based on this saying, it means there is a clash with FS because we have chosen Burgundy for our kitchen and because we have created an additional room in the kitchen for our helper, the layout in the kitchen is very small which leave us not much space-planning in the kitchen, hence we can't really relocate the stove to avoid it facing the common toilet. I suppose we will just have to live with what we have and not worry to much.

I like Mele but can't afford it now since we have blow our budget on reno! We just settled with Samsung washer and fridge as long as they can do the job. As you have hacked away the wall in your common room, definitely the 2nd floor is brighter than ours. Well done and I can see that your reno is progressing well, Spikedoll!

Would you mind to share where did you purchase that wall-mounted dual face clock? Thank you.

You are too modest! Actually, when I relooked at all the laminates and tiles we have selected, all of them are pretty simple and not too 'loud'. MBR bathroom - only 1/3 of a side of the wall is tiled red roses, rest of the wall tiles are white 2 common bathrooms - only 1 side of the wall is red tiles, rest are white kitchen cabinets - only top part will be rose laminates, rest are plain burgundy gloss finished shoes cabinet - faint floral on black laminate daughter's wardrobe - faint yellow floral on white laminate Do you think it's too much 'flowers'? *Most of the laminates we had chosen in the preliminary round have been removed and re-selected*

I like the 3D drawings of your bathrooms! They look so much interesting than mine. It seems like the progress of your renovation is far quicker than mine. And looking forward to see more pictures :-)

I prefer tulips to roses and never thought to use florals as the theme for the flat! but after going through the laminate catalogue, I feel that there are limited choices since my spouse didn't like wood-grain which I am quite comfortable with it at least for some carpentry works. Just not what I expected but there you go :-)

Hi ping1, I am renovating my flat now and just speaking from experience, we chose tiles based on these:- 1) lifestyle & preferences Do you have young kids or intend to have kids in the near future? Do you have a helper/maid to do housework? Do you have elderly living with you? Do you have any preferred colours scheme? 2) Budget Cost you have side aside for your renovation. As you have pointed out granite is expensive and if you have other stuff to buy during the reno, would you be straddled with the budget you have set aside? Yes, black granite is indeed not easy to match furniture. Which is why most ppl only use this material on a small area (e.g.kitchen, vanity top); not on a large scale. Hope you have a smooth renovation!

After reviewing with the contractor and carpenter this afternoon, we have decided to use just one colour instead of 2 for the kitchen cabinets, so we have omitted the rose laminate which was previously selected. Here is the plain Burgundy laminate which we have finalised.

Leather-look laminate for Shoes cabinet and windows recess area cabinets in the living area.

These are the tiles we had selected for the 2 bathrooms - one on the ground floor and the other on 2nd floor. On the left, the laminate for the vanity area, the image on the right-hand side is the solid surface selected for the vanity top.

Laminate selected for MBR's toilet Image on the Left- Laminate for vanity area. Image on the Right - solid surface vanity top

Laminate for TV console in the MBR.

My spouse is an old-fashion school boy......LOL who doesn't like woodgrains , our choices in laminate designs/textures have been tremendously reduced! For uniformity, we have decided to broadly use this laminate for most of the carpentry works in the unit (e.g. wardrobes, windows recess areas and cupboard).

We went down to select and confirmed laminates for our carpentry works. It was a good experience to see these stuff in bigger pieces as those shown in the catalogues are just small samples which can be hard to visualise them. We spent about 2 hours before we locked in the colours and textures. Will post some images shortly.......stay tune :-)

I would like to post more pics, Spikedoll but the progress is crawling! I went down to meet the contractor with my husband during lunch and today, the roofing guys then came down to take measurement of the service yard so that they can build the structure but it would take a few hours before the structure is up . I can't afford to stay to snap pics as I need to go back to the office for a conference call. There is still no work done on the staircase, hence, I didn't post any update. I hope the reno will speed up next week since all the approvals have been received from HDB. I will try to take some more pics by then. Thanks for the patience, 'paisei'!

We just bought this set of dinning furniture last year. Feel it would be a waste to discard it, hence, will be bringing it with us.

This is the type of clay tiles we will use for our roof.

spikedoll, thank you so much! As usual, you are extremely helpful and informative! I will definitely going to spend some time this evening to read up the thread which you have provided :-)

We have initially chose wood for the tread (the part where we step on) and changing the wood handrail to tempered glass. As we are walking out of the flat, the contractor suggested to us that we can change and use tiles for the treads too. I quite like the idea but on safety aspect, I am skeptical and worry that it may chip-off easily and harder to maintain(e.g. ceramic or homogenous tiles), slippery and also aesthetically it is not so nice? Does anyone has any experience with tiled stairs? And why would you recommend or not recommend it?

My flat is currently under renovation. Inspected it this afternoon with my husband. We have initially chose wood for the tread (the part where we step on) and changing the wood handrail to tempered glass. As we are walking out of the flat, the contractor suggested to us that we can change and use tiles for the treads too. I quite like the idea but on safety aspect, I am skeptical and worry that it may chip-off easily and harder to maintained (e.g. ceramic or homogenous tiles), slippery and also aesthetically it is not so nice? Does anyone has any experience with tiled stairs? And why would you recommend or not recommend it? Thank you all :-)

Currently, I need to climb 2.5 storey daily to get to my bedroom. So far so good and take it as a form of exercise. So moving in to a flat which I owned and it is only double-storey, I feel it should be fine. Whether if I will move out from my flat in future, it depends on my health condition I suppose. Since I have just bought this flat, I double I can retire and have to work my arse off to pay off the housing loan. I hope to stay in employment, I will be health both physically and mentally!

Me too! I Let the tunnel (which you called it fat roots)......LOL runs in the toilets since they are not exposed like the one in the kitchen. We will only do box-up in 2 places to keep low of our budget deficit.

Thanks, breezy! It cost a few thousands dollar; not the cheapest but we love the design/look. We were told it is real cowhides. We seated on it and my husband refuses to lift up his butt............LOL We saw it in a shop in Marina Square; can't remember the name of the shop. Will have to find the card which is given by the friendly salesperson. Will get back to you this evening?

I would think your MBR bathroom is not too dark. Wait till you see the common bathroom of mine.....dim even during daytime!

HappyAng, how many months is your preggy wife now? Congrats to both of you! We have yet to decide the paint colours for our flat. Husband and I have some preferences and we have yet to come to agreement.....haha. Looking at the progress of my flat, yours is more consistent. My contractor seems to take longer so we doubt the reno will be completed by mid-March. We will be lucky if the flat can be handed back to us by end March instead.