JL1516

dining.... this is the timber frame that is to hold the laminate planks and of course, along the way furniture started coming in, and was stashed in any corner that would not be in the carpenter's way

The idea was to build feature walls for hall and dining area. Timber walls that create the 'planked' look

In the meantime we also got our fans, KDK baby fans for rooms and hall. Had wanted something bigger for the hall, but felt that 52inch blades were a little too big. Also got this ventilator for WC room.. it seemed to work quite well

A brief respite and clean up.... before works started again with the carpentry moving in...

Just some updates... been busy trying to put things right Got the window grilles changed to something that looked more similar Lightings and ceiling works also done

You can check out http://www.comfortfurniture.com.sg/ sorry cant remember prices Nope, did not see the material at all. Had asked them to come over to see my existing grille and do something matching. I guess this is an important lesson in managing renovation....

Got the invisible grille contractor to do add on grilles for bedroom windows. I had expected the same look and feel as the orginal grilles supplied by developer, but when I checked, mine looked more like a child gate that has been fixed on top half of window. The bars are also different in thickness and oval. The contractor tells me this is the norm... anyone has any experience? I am thinking of asking them to dismantling it, and taking it back, cos it is below expectation

Hi! Can I check who you got to do the add-on grilles to the windows? can share contact pls?

In the meantime, the decking guys (not Jiawei's guys but another company I had engaged separately) had come to do the balcony. I had chose natural colour for the wood. So I got a big surprise when I saw this They had given me a deep walnut colour instead! Called the guy up and told him this was not the colour chosen in the contract In the end they came back to polish off the paint and gave it a clear lacquer instead Looks a bit better now. But to be frank I am not sure if some of the woodpaint had already been absorbed and the colour now still looks darker than it should have been Sigh.... Anyway I had chosen Heveatech wood, which was supposed to be a multilaminate of rubber wood, which they claimed to be most durable and resistant.

Was away past few days and took this pic of my hotel's coffee corner. I like the interplay of the red, wood colours, will try to adopt this concept for dining chairs

Back to furniture. This was a dining table I almost got, but did not, out of consideration it might be hard to match chairs. I did not like their chairs as it was too heavy. But the wood grain on the table and the legs were lovely.

Next up was the false ceiling. I must say Jiawei's guys were quite efficient and tidy. There was hardly any mess around, compared to my previous ceiling experience in other homes, where it felt like a snowstorm had descended. The window bays were also decked, but by another contractor that we engaged earlier. They ran out of trimmings of the same colour, so have placed a temporary trimming, which will be replaced.

Work got underway at the same time. First up were the protection to prevent accidents The view was still ok, and I did feel psychologically safer Next the wirings We opted for complete false ceilings, vs cove/L box, as we needed a fan in the hall as well as in each room + I hated the idea of having dust, insects and creepies roost on the coves.

Thanks much for your contact! I can see now that work has begun how difficult it would be to coordinate everyone, if there was no central person. I went to quite a few places to look at sofa sets, eg Lorgans, Tan Boon Liat shops, Lush, even Ikea. Unfortunately the great to look at ones, eg the retro midcentury ones, were not exactly very comfortable to sit on, as they characteristically only had thin cushions or prickly fabric. Actually I quite liked the Ikea stockholm sofa, but at 3999, the price was un-Ikea-ish. Eventually the scanteak warehouse sale proved too much temptation, and I got this piece Nothing fancy, but clean lines. What I liked about this was you could get cushion and cover replacements from them, even for models no longer in production (so they claim)

There is something I am still mulling over though... I have a toilet that is like this. It has a toilet bowl and a sink, and nothing else. And yes, no windows It's officially called a powder room. I am suspecting they call it that because you can probably only use it to powder your face. And if anyone happens to crap inside the stink will make you turn so green that you have to put even more powder. Not sure if anyone has experience with such a set up? How does one ventilate such a room?

Anyway this was a set of chairs I liked at the start of my planning. I was on the verge of getting them when I realised that the buttons can be dislodged easily, especially when you had naughty kids ... so it was called off too.

Well, while waiting for the work to start, can tell a bit of story... When I started, I had this concept of creating a 'tree' as a feature piece... a bit like this I sent JW a couple of tree pictures. Was thinking he would probably dismiss them, but on the contrary, he became quite excited about the concept of creating a feature tree. He sketched out a concept of a 'big tree' feature in the living hall wall. Whilst it was technically challenging, he seemed game to try. But at that point it was me who started to chicken out cos I was not too sure how it would turn out, and what I could do if I got sick of it after some time. I also wasn't sure if he would give me a tree like this... and I certainly did not like the idea of sitting under a spooky tree to watch TV so the idea was called off...

It's actually 1389 sqft. Would have liked something bigger, as I like a spacious and uncluttered habitat. Since space is fixed, I guess will have to work harder on the 'uncluttered' part. Thanks I do like the area. I think he is trying to transition between a pure ID to eventually ID cum contractor...frankly I'm not too sure myself Will ask him one day.

Thank you for the warm welcome and nice words. Another 'first' I have with this unit is to have engaged an ID+contractor. All the renovations I have previously had were done by 100% contractors. These were people who came to see your unit, asked you to tell them what you wanted, then scribbled the quote on a piece of paper. Then when the work was done, you will get a shock, and they will tell you 'it's like that one' This was why I had originally intended to keep renovations to a minimal for this unit, ie buy off the shelf and have as little fixtures as possible. In fact, as most fittings were done, any additional works were minor. Hence many contractors would not even be interested, let alone IDs. But while buying off the shelf would generally be a cheaper option than customisation, the risk was that one may end up with a 'rental unit' look. So it was with a little luck that I stumbled upon this forum, and saw the 'strictly scandinavian' blog by Lunareverie, and decided to check out the same contractor ID Jiawei of TWCS. Impression was good, he appeared sincere and earnest, very glad he was not the PCK type of contractor, but your regular GenX/Y buddy character that you could actually talk to. Good that he spent time listening and also contributing his ideas, and was not just commercially driven Some reno should start this week, so I'll try to share some of the initial ideas I had over next few posts...

This is the view from our balcony This is the interior. It's really quite a compact place, so I have been trying to make sure we do not have too many things or large pieces which will make the place feel congested.

Starting a T blog is very unlike me. But there is a first time to everything. We got a new apartment in the west. This would also be our 3rd move in about 6 years. So in a way I'm a little less excited and unfazed about the reno (especially having experienced some real bad jobs before) Nevertheless with age piling up, the inertia to relocate gets higher. And worries about whether we will like the new place, and if it will be as good, if not better than our current place But back to the new place, this is a regular 4 BR layout. What I have always found a challenge is such a narrow living hall, which can make the place feel claustrophobic if not utilised properly. Personally I prefer such a living space, where there is wide frontage and access to larger span of windows. Incidentally I also like such warm colours and furnishing

Does anyone know of shops specialising in KDK fans or installer contacts that are good at this? Tks in adv

Just want to ask those with experience, can I install ventilator fan in the false ceiling, because I have a toilet that has no windows at all Tks JL

Pl pm me your contacts. Do they also take charge of your electrical (ie lighting) installation? Tks JL