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!

Hi neighbour, finally another Punggol Sails t-blog and we also share the exact same layout! Guess we sort of know each other alr and good luck with your renovation. Hope to see more posts from you sharing your furniture and fixtures lobangs!

Congrats on your completed home! Looks great and guess it looks more industrial than scandi.

You can actually google it. ABS stands for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. Good for impact resistance so guess it's to protect the wood. Think it's very hard to do it on the edges of carpentry as it is a very thin line. I have seen quite a few "ugly" edges after visiting some homes so you can keep that in mind.

Yes, we went to take a quick look yesterday evening. There is a storewide 20% discount and more for some clearance/display items. Think slightly more items were on steeper discounts compared to a few wks ago. It was my wife's first time there though! She likes the place! She was quite fascinated with the Terrace console below. But it was way too ex! $5k after a 20% discount? But have to admit that some of their items are really value for money after a 50% discount? A dining table with marble tops. If anybody is looking for good marble dining tables/coffee tables, should really pop by Air Division. Think the whole series having a 50% sale! For eg, the dining table below is available at slightly more than $2k. Wife and I really liked this Line coffee table alot. Slightly less than $1k after a 50% discount. Although still cost considerably more than my purchase at Grafunkt, but I think it looks really classy! Perhaps afterall I prefer a white/walnut contrast to a scandi theme. Too bad I got the oak dining table alr. Can imagine Air Division's walnut dining table with frosted glass top, my purchased sofa, the walnut Grafunkt Line console and this coffee table coming together alr! Most of their sofas are pretty and feel comfy too. But easily double the price of my Cellini's too! Maybe for my second home, when I have more $$$ and hopefully more space to play with, can get a few items from this place! And the crater console was still there too. Have to agree with adidaem that it looks very masculine and probably would not fit well in a small hdb living room. Would really have given me much to reconsider if it comes in this shade: Have decided to use more "beauty shots" from the net since my photo-taking skills sucks with the iphone. To adidaem: Actually it's not just the updates on the webblog. It's also about visiting/reading so many other T-blogs here and leaving constructive comments. Most T-bloggers slowly "disappear" from RT after their reno are done. People like you, May_dream1 and pinkwhale are the exception and guess this is like a hobby or passion for you guys! As a result, many noobs like me have benefited from the advice and we really appreciate it!

Simple tentative layout of all the major fixtures drawn by me to help my ID/contractor with the 3D pics! Will also pass him all the photos of the furniture we bought and some general pics/themes that we liked so that the 3D pics will closely resemble the final outcome! Will leave the colour coordination to him, so hopefully he is able to pick the colours of the tiles/walls to fit in nicely with all the furniture we have bought. This will then bring out the overall feel/theme that we want. And very importantly, guess he needs to come up with nice and affordable ceiling/lightings designs for the living room and MBR. Wife and I are almost totally clueless about which permutation to use (white vs warm lights, cove, downlights, T5 vs LED strips/beads, crystal, normal hanging lights) and lighting is so impt to the overall feel of the house! Will be posting the 3D pics when they are done! Hopefully the first draft will be out b4 we receive out keys. The drawings will likely take at least another 1 wk plus or so.

That's an interesting coffee table! Looks really identical to the original. But always thought it was just slightly too tall though. May I know where you customised it? Was thinking of customising a long oak study table if my budget allows. Thanks in advance!

Actually for the small tables, Grafunkt still have quite a few pieces left so they said can give us a brand new one. Ok, I have learnt my lesson and subscribed to your blog. I actually visit your webblog every few days since you do update regularly (wondering how you find the time?) I actually only popped by Air Division once and that was about 2.5 wks ago. Most items we liked were quite pricey and there weren't many display piece clearances at that time but after seeing yr pics, I probably will go down to take a look today! Tks for the heads-up!

Hmm, to be honest, I do not have discerning ears but more of discerning eyes. Was thinking of getting a sound bar to avoid wire clutter. Actually, what would you recommend for a sound system if I have a limited budget of $600-800? Thanks in advance!

Maybe we were there at the same time! Wife and I were there for almost two hours from 4-6 on sat. To be honest, the clearance sale wasn't great, and the place was stuffy and dusty. Think the black crater console easily cost around $4k usually? If we had known about this, might have pondered over the Line console (which might not be a gd thing). Was the piece in relatively good condition and if you had gotten it, where do you intend to place it?

As usual, went shopping for our new home during the weekends. Starting to feel a little burnt-out already but was really happy with today's "harvest"! Was at the Taiseng area in the afternoon. It's my fourth time in the area for the past 1.5 months! Think I am already very familiar with the place already. First stop was at Lush Lush with plans to get some Eames replica chairs. Both the fibreglass and plastic versions were available. As the fibreglass versions can easily be chipped off and were almost twice as expensive, we got two white plastic ones in the end.(Spot the difference below!) We were also on the lookout for a coffee table and saw this. As we were planning to place the dining table behind our sofa, space becomes a constraint and this is a tad bulky. And our next stop was..... Grafunkt! Today we finally committed to the Grafunkt Line TV console. We managed to get it at slightly more than a 20% discount. But wife and I had a hard time deciding between the oak/walnut version. Got the walnut one in the end since there was no price diff. Guess we probably can't stick closely to the Scandinavian theme and the final result would most probably be closer to modern mid-century? (which wife prefers more!) Grafunkt was also having clearance sale for some items! And wife managed to spot the set below. Initially, she just wanted the white round one but based on my initial drawings on the floor plan, think we needed a longer one. Decided on this combo in the end. (Pardon the iphone pic) We actually carried and placed them beside an L-shaped sofa to see how the combination would look like and we even contemplated carrying it down one floor to see how it fits in with our walnut console! So all in all, a fruitful day with some surprise buys and we are almost done with all the furniture buying! (before even getting the keys....oops!)