Melissa Ng

Yup it's a standard single size bed. When my hubby & I sat on it in the exhibition, it's MIGHTY comfortable Underneath the mattress is a solid plank, so it provides better support than most of the sofa bed you see at Courts, ikea etc. So when my mum comes over she can also sleep comfortably on this bed. It was also love at 1st sight for me I found it at the Living showcase exhibition 2008 at Expo. The company name is iNch Design Pte Ltd. They will open a showroom at Sungai Kadut ard end of this mth. I'll let u know once it's open (will call them up) Anyways due to they haven't deliver the bed yet so i'm not sure abt their service yet, hopefully they won't disappoint me. (so far only paid deposit) Will let you all know how's their service once the tatami bed arrive at my home

Here's a little side track, some of the furnitures i've bought: 2-layer tempered-glass dining table, bought from Living Showcase 2008 at Expo - at least i won't be seeing anybody's feet when i'm eating at a clear table The 2nd layer i can put stuffs like utensils, cloth, or even decors like flower petals So I felt like I've gotten 2 tables for the price of 1 dining chairs: Now this is my MOST SATISFIED buy so far It's a tatami bed-cum-sofa-cum-storage cabinet. The size & material can be customized. I shall put this in my study / chill out room The colour that I've chosen for the above tatami bed, man-made leather like bronze skin:

Covered wall in master bedroom for ceiling height wardrobe: New flat rubbish chute, haven't taken out the sticker protector reflection of light on hall tiles

Thanks very much Valerie Pls help to send my rgds to ur father in law too Meanwhile the common toilet wall design is chosen by my hubby, while i decided for the mbr toilet. We're competing on whose toilet will look better. However he cheated by installing these mosaic tiles : Then we also installed the wall lamp, which is in front of the main entrance. We're gonna ask patrick to install the dimmer for this lamp, so that when we watch movie at night, can just switch on this lamp & adjust the light accordingly, for nicer atmosphere Cornice arch at kitchen entrance, haven't dry yet when pic taken:

Currently the status of my reno that haven't do are: 1. Kitchen cabinet 2. Painting 3. Change iron gate 4. complete installation of small stuffs like toilet cabinet, door bell etc The others are completed, including my laminated bedroom floors which were just finished yesterday . I'll try to post as many pics as I can, however most pics are still in my hubby's handphone memory card. Meanwhile here's a sketch of my kitchen cabinet by Keong, drawn at the spot:

Thanks Jessie & Virgo I really hope they'll match the cabinet color i chose too Actually this tile can be easily found in major tile shops like Soon Bee Huat, Lian Seng Hin or Taugres. It's the glossy surface type & has other colour shades as well. The code for this particular one ( purple+grey) is 34811, 30x45cm & cost only $2.40 p.s.f. That's why I was thinking - instead of getting expensive mosaic or installing something else at the wall to prevent it from being stained by the cooking area, why not i just put different wall tile in btw to camouflage as decor & also can make stains less obvious. The glossy surface should also be easy to clean hahah..took years of training one But not sure he'll still continue after seeing my post here

Thanks CPE, actually it's small leh...i prefer a bigger house like the EA type ..but since my hubby does most of the cleaning so he prefer smaller hse Anyways the hacking took abt 1 day, and the tiling took abt 2 weeks for my kitchen, hall & toilet. The tilers are very hardworking

Thanks Cherry, ur right, my reno is gonna complete soon .. I’m sorry that I haven’t update this blog for so long, been very busy lately . We are getting ready to move by this month end, so lots of packing & cleaning (I didn’t realize I hv so many redundant stuffs hidden till now ). Also I couldn’t upload any pictures during office hrs due to my company block such websites Anyway I’ll try to upload some pics this week , incl some of my new furnitures

i oso went to the exhibition on sun. Went to look for furnitures actually. Compared to previous exhibitions we feel this one the public crowd not as big as previous home exhibitions. So the sales ppl were more aggresive (there was one to the point of real annoyance). Most of the exhibitors are recurring ones. We finally bought a 2-layer glass dining table ($800 incl 4 chairs) & one tatami bed-cum-sofa-cum-storage cabinet ($1350 incl single-sized spring mattress) You can check for upcoming home events at Expo from here: http://www.singapore-expo.com.sg/events_calendar.php

Hmm...steamboat is my favourite activity ...then i must re-consider liao But Prettibride i agree your glass table in the above very nice i've just been busy looking for furniture lately.. oso just wanted a unique dining table, which is not space consuming & affordable . Therefore if can't find a suitable one anywhere, i'll consider custom made..tat's y wanna find out more fr you since u custom made your table b4 ...Will check out the 'Living home' exhibition at Expo tomolo

Hi Prettibride, I was seriously looking for some custom-made glass dining table, and I stumbled upon your 'Pre-reno Sale' corner - saw your custom made table for sale.. Can i pls find out where did you custom made it and how much did it cost you? You can PM me if you want... Thank you very very very much in advance

Hi Bigfoot, Congratulations & all the best to your reno Nice layout! Looking forward to seeing more pix soon p/s: fr ur intro & signature you all sound like a really cute family

Hah? Are u sure?? What kind of paint job are u doing? I saw fr ur blog ur house is quite big, got more than 1 storey. Is it EM or landed property? Hmm..maybe that's why it's on higher side..u can try to benchmark the price with nippon/ dulux professional painter

Go with your gut instinct

Ya, and they definitely add personality to your house oso, which makes it stand out fr the rest ..i must do some 'psycho-ing' to my hubby liao Thanks for the website, will surely check it out

Yeah, don't they need to make a living or pay workers? Also, after they give you the huge discount, they will probably reduce the quality of your material, or give u thinner layer of cement, paint etc..which u probably won't see the effect in short term, but they will wear out faster in a couple of years. You pay peanut you get monkey

Bunbun....ur wall decals are soooooooo nice ....i was considering of getting wall decals before, but my hubby thought they're tacky, but after seeing your picture wow i'm really tempted to get them even more And ur furry little darlings, soooooooo very very cute love at first sight

i didn't bargain too much as i thought the price was reasonable.. for my 4-rm painting only cost 1.2k (for my ici/nippon easy-wash 2~3 coat, excluding the oil base sealer, as u can see fr the pic ), which is less $100 fr the Nippon Professional painting price..u can sub-out this job if you feel can find better price...but to cut $4k fr overall without takin out any stuffs...i honestly nvr try before..sorry..

DAY 17 of Reno - Hall & store floor tiles (except for skirting ) done, kitchen floor done WOW , we are very pleased with ho bee's tiling When i first look into my hse today, i was pleasantly surprise The floor tile for hall & store are already done...and my hubby & i was sooooooo happy...the house look so different now, like the space has really open up Although there were only two workers there (they have been there since first tiling), they seem to work very fast & good Hall Floor (view from entrance) Hall floor (view from kitchen) Kitchen Wall tile btw cabinet ...seamless Kitchen wall tiles Future dining area

Thanks h4happy Will take that good advice to heart

Yeah, with the inflation now i'm just doing reno that are necessary..the rest will depend on my creativity to stretch the dollars Meanwhile my handover date is supposed to be ard june ..i admit they are pretty fast..maybe it's the nice lunch that i treated them ? hahaha ...kidding Whenever i visit them i try to be as friendly as possible, even though i don't talk much to them cos dun wanna 'kacau' them Even so, i'm ready for any possibilities, cos no reno is 100% smooth rite

yeah i agree, esp the flooring & carpentry will cost a lot. Anyway welcome to renotalk & all the best in building ur new dream home

Sorry if this question seem silly, but when you order the curtains, does the seller come over to install for you also? Thanks in advance!

just like to share an article here on my blog: http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_218951.html "March 21, 2008 Home makeovers hard hit by price hikes Spike in building material prices, labour crunch pushing renovation costs up by 20% this year By Jessica Cheam ESCALATING PRICES: The cost of reinforcing steel bars has increased by about 60 per cent in the span of one year, while cement prices have gone up by 30 per cent. PLANNING to renovate your home? If so, be prepared to pay 20 per cent more. Construction costs - for both big projects and home renovations - have risen due to a rise in raw material prices and labour costs. And they are expected to increase even more this year. Industry experts say overall construction costs are expected to rise by another 15 to 20 per cent this year - following a 40 per cent spike in the last two years. A global spike in raw material prices, and a construction resources and manpower crunch here, are to blame for the relentless rise, say market players. In particular, prices of reinforcing steel bars - used extensively in construction - have soared 64 per cent from $753 per tonne in January last year to $1,235 this January, according to data from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Rising global demand for steel, fuelled by a building boom in developing countries such as China, India and Vietnam, is pushing prices up sharply. The price of cement rose 30 per cent to $117 per tonne in the same period. Consumers' pockets are hard hit by the price hikes. Contractors say home owners now have to fork out up to 20 per cent more for renovation works. Renovating a 110 sq m five-room HDB flat, for example - which would have cost $80,000 at most at the start of last year - would now mean forking out $100,000, said contractor Steven Koh, 51, of Colorado Design. But there is good news: the extra cost of building a new home is unlikely to be passed on to flat buyers. Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore executive director Chia Hock Jin said developers cannot simply pass on the costs: 'It's the market that determines the prices.' Given the recent cooling of the property market, price hikes for homes are also unlikely. Local developer Frasers Centrepoint Homes said it has partly absorbed the rising costs and has also tried to mitigate them by adopting more efficient ways of building and securing raw material in bulk. Construction costs typically make up 20 to 25 per cent of the total cost of a development, with the bulk coming from land cost, said Mr Seah Choo Meng, executive chairman of quantity surveying firm Davis Langdon & Seah Singapore. Meanwhile, main contractors are starting to feel the pinch, with price rises eating into their profit margins. Wacon Construction & Trading, hired for a $5million spruce-up of MacRitchie Reservoir, was recently reported to have gone bust due to the hikes in raw material prices. Mr Simon Lee, executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association Limited, said contractors had only a small margin in factoring such rises into building tenders. One source of relief is the stabilising prices of sand, granite and concrete. BCA's latest data show prices of these materials are easing, after an artificial spike following Indonesia's abrupt ban of land sand exports last February. Still, compared to January last year, these prices have escalated and, in some cases such as sand, even doubled. Mr Lee said there was concern that developers were slow in paying contractors, especially those affected by the sand ban, which might exacerbate contractors' cash-flow problems. Mr Seah said he does not expect the construction crunch to abate, predicting that constructing demand will go up to $27 billion this year."

i think should be no prob, i read some where in thread they accepted even small jobs like just the kitchen. However i think it also depends on their schedule. When i told patrick i outsource some stuffs in house, he's oso very ok, nvr question me at all. Yeah, i agree with you no id/contractor will be able to please every single person on everything. For me i also hv reasonable expectation. In terms of pricing every id/ contractor earn their profit in different ways, they'll definitely need to compensate certain cost with cheaper material or higher price for some other items. If not how can they make a living, especially with the price hike of raw materials now? (pls see news below) http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_218951.html "March 21, 2008 Home makeovers hard hit by price hikes Spike in building material prices, labour crunch pushing renovation costs up by 20% this year By Jessica Cheam ESCALATING PRICES: The cost of reinforcing steel bars has increased by about 60 per cent in the span of one year, while cement prices have gone up by 30 per cent. PLANNING to renovate your home? If so, be prepared to pay 20 per cent more. Construction costs - for both big projects and home renovations - have risen due to a rise in raw material prices and labour costs. And they are expected to increase even more this year. Industry experts say overall construction costs are expected to rise by another 15 to 20 per cent this year - following a 40 per cent spike in the last two years. A global spike in raw material prices, and a construction resources and manpower crunch here, are to blame for the relentless rise, say market players. In particular, prices of reinforcing steel bars - used extensively in construction - have soared 64 per cent from $753 per tonne in January last year to $1,235 this January, according to data from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Rising global demand for steel, fuelled by a building boom in developing countries such as China, India and Vietnam, is pushing prices up sharply. The price of cement rose 30 per cent to $117 per tonne in the same period. Consumers' pockets are hard hit by the price hikes. Contractors say home owners now have to fork out up to 20 per cent more for renovation works. Renovating a 110 sq m five-room HDB flat, for example - which would have cost $80,000 at most at the start of last year - would now mean forking out $100,000, said contractor Steven Koh, 51, of Colorado Design. But there is good news: the extra cost of building a new home is unlikely to be passed on to flat buyers. Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore executive director Chia Hock Jin said developers cannot simply pass on the costs: 'It's the market that determines the prices.' Given the recent cooling of the property market, price hikes for homes are also unlikely. Local developer Frasers Centrepoint Homes said it has partly absorbed the rising costs and has also tried to mitigate them by adopting more efficient ways of building and securing raw material in bulk. Construction costs typically make up 20 to 25 per cent of the total cost of a development, with the bulk coming from land cost, said Mr Seah Choo Meng, executive chairman of quantity surveying firm Davis Langdon & Seah Singapore. Meanwhile, main contractors are starting to feel the pinch, with price rises eating into their profit margins. Wacon Construction & Trading, hired for a $5million spruce-up of MacRitchie Reservoir, was recently reported to have gone bust due to the hikes in raw material prices. Mr Simon Lee, executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association Limited, said contractors had only a small margin in factoring such rises into building tenders. One source of relief is the stabilising prices of sand, granite and concrete. BCA's latest data show prices of these materials are easing, after an artificial spike following Indonesia's abrupt ban of land sand exports last February. Still, compared to January last year, these prices have escalated and, in some cases such as sand, even doubled. Mr Lee said there was concern that developers were slow in paying contractors, especially those affected by the sand ban, which might exacerbate contractors' cash-flow problems. Mr Seah said he does not expect the construction crunch to abate, predicting that constructing demand will go up to $27 billion this year."