jasdy

I had wanted to opt in for HDB floor tiles 3 years back then as it's much cheaper and we can pay using cpf instead of cash. However, wife insisted she doesnt want HDB floor tiles having heard lots of horror stories from relatives. True enough, many of our neighbours who had opted in for HDB tiles were not satisfied with the quality of the tiles and the workmanship. Quite a few of them had issues with the timber skirting, which was not stuck on properly. So well, if you can afford it, best is to do your own flooring to save your headache. There's so many types of floor tiles now, we were spoilt for choice! In the end, to go with our scandinavian theme, we chose a matt homo tile. It's very nice to step on, doesnt feel as cold as gloss homo tiles even after a night's of air con. Not that slippery when it wet after mopping too. Only thing is it 'absorbs' grease, so we often see stains on the tiles, which can only be removed by thinner. But if you just close 1 eye, it sort of adds a 'raw' touch to the overall feel.

Hi mrmerry, Yes. Agree that the 3D pics appeared emotionless. We were so disappointed when we first saw it. Luckily our furniture picks worked in the end. Thanks for the compliments!

Nope, we engaged another contractor/ID in the end! Think KW was too busy for our liking.

Thanks for the compliments! elginang: The reno cost I paid to my ID was about ~$40K (main items are flooring, L-boxes and carpentry)

Our MBR:

Kitchen: Dining Table:

Bay Window:

This is my final series of post with a set of completed pics from my I.D. Living Room:

The reno is more or less done and some of the latest photos of the living room below. We spent quite a bit on the living room since we reckon we would spend the most amount of time there! Brick Feature Wall Bay Window Cabinet Living Room Entrance

Hi sxiixs, As I mentioned previously, the cheapskate in me opted for the walnut version since there was no price difference. Not sure about your budget the this console is really really expensive to me and we only committed to it because we could not find a comparable alternative. As we are still on the lookout for bedside tables, we went to check out OM Furniture during last weekend. They had opened a new outlet at Toh Guan and there was some opening sales. There were some new series and we saw a really nice TV console in oak/white with sexy pencil legs costing $1200+. I am pretty sure we would have gotten this if it was available earlier. Didn't took any photos but you can check them out. Good luck with your furniture hunting! And yeap, will be posting some of the latest pics of the living room soon.

Sharing some pics during the start of the renovation. How the false ceiling in the living room is constructed and the completed pic (wife simply loves cove lights!) The laying of electrical points that was done concurrently with the false ceiling.

To all the followers out there (if there is any after this long hiatus), my renovation is about to be completed. As work started only during Mid-Jan and continued over the CNY period, the renovation is considered to be really smooth and the contractor will be handing over the place next week. Furniture would be in on 20 and 21 March and we would officially be moving in on 28 March. Woohoo! Haven't had time to update this T-blog for the past 2 months as I was busy with work (changed to a new dept) and of cos... the renovation. Didn't really have the energy to post the nitty gritty details and the careful considerations behind the choice of tiles, laminates or even the paint colour. But in the next few posts, I would probably do a backdate and chronicle the progress of the renovation. So first of all, I shall post the "ugly" 3-D pics prepared by the firm in early Jan. For most people, the common grouse is that the reno outcome will not live up to the 3-D pics. But for us, it's the other way round, not that we are complaining. 3D of Living Room 3D of Kitchen

Hi Mrs Loo, Yr kitchen looks great and thanks for yr advice/info thru PM. Will definitely consider Caesarstone although it is a tad expensive compared to other brands.

Not really having the best experience with my shortlisted renovator. We met up with him yesterday when we received the keys to our new house. And credit to him for staying with us for an hour, taking down the exact measurements and sharing some ideas with us. However, wife and I got the niggling feeling that he is way too busy and might not have enough time for our project. Apparently, when we asked him if he could accompany us to check for defects, he was quite defensive and told us it should be done with the HDB personnel. But I was thinking better for him to be there and do the checks with us bcos once the reno work has started, I am going to hold him responsible for any defects to tiles, walls and windows that were not previously pointed our. And when wife probed him on the 3D pics, he mentioned that having 3D pics would delay the start of the renovation (we wanted to start on 7 Jan) and wasn't as efficient as sketches. But hey, we gave him the furniture specs and pics almost two weeks back and it was he who requested for the pics. He also wasn't keen to commit to mid March for handover. His reasoning was that everybody was rushing for CNY and if there are delays to other projects, ours would be affected. Is this really true? Although we are not in a rush, but still hope that we can move in by March since April is qin ming and it really doesn't make sense for us to have the keys in Dec but move in only in May. And personally, I dun think mid March is really being unreasonable. I fully understand that our project can never be completed by CNY, but one month after that? I am quite certain that tiling, ceiling works, electrical works and the brick wall should be completed before CNY and we can then start the carpentry after that. But my hunch is that he is getting way too popular (after a good recommendation on Renotalk) and could be biting off more than he could chew, plus the CNY deadline crunch. As a result, he has not been following up promptly recently. For eg, we are supposed to visit one of his client's place tmr but till now, no sms/calls from him yet. *sigh* When we first met him, we found him to be really sincere and friendly and he also came up with some good ideas. And I guess he sorts of specialises in brick walls and the Scandi theme so it seemed a good choice. But now... thinking whether we should continue using him. Till now, we have not paid him a single cent but liaising with him for more than a mth already. So dunno if we are shortchanging him. You could even argue that he does not want to overpromise and underdeliver and that we are asking for too much (3Ds, defects checking) as he is essentially a contractor? We are going to get one more quotation from another contractor as an alternative. He had done a good job at our friend's DBSS unit with excellent carpentry (not cheap too). We are sending the drawings (done by wife) below to him as a guide. As you can see, I really dun think our works are that extensive. (sorry for the unclear image as it's a pdf)

Hope everyone has enjoyed all the merrymaking during this festive period! To top-off the celebrations, we will be getting our keys from HDB tomorrow! Renovator will be joining us too to take the measurements for more effective space planning (since the space will almost always be smaller compared to the figs shown in the floor plan). For your info, I had only realised that I had engaged a Renovator after reading this blog post (courtesy of adidaem's t-blog): http://twentyseventhmay.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/choosing-the-right-interior-designerrenovatorcontractor/ Hopefully, we can confirm the quotation and 3D pics soon so that reno works will get started from the 2nd week of Jan!