kaykay

Thanks. My wife thinks I am crazy tho.. Thanks bro I think it is similar to kompacplus. I got it from Prospec Surfaces at Penjuru. However, I am not at liberty to share the price here as I got it at a very friendly price. Sorry bro. Hi, I did not hire any ID. I just engaged a main contractor for the major jobs. I knew exactly what I wanted before I started, so the decision to do without one.

Thanks for your advice. I chose white grouting. I hope it does indeed gives a more rustic feel when stains appear.. haha. Haha, yes it was too late. However, the tiles do feel solid enough after 24 hours to let my mind at ease now.. This is how the mosaic looks after grouting and polishing. I lurve it so much. I think my kitchen looks a million dollars.. Haha.. It surely does feel so after me putting in the entire weekend in it. It was a good thing that wifey was out shopping in Bangkok and I could concentrate fully on this project without having to provide chauffeur services. I also did up the breakfast counter, the side cover panel, and the back cover panel, after my friend helped to deliver this 3 pieces to my doorstep. They were too big to fit in my sedan. My son doing his work at the breakfast counter after installation. Love it max! I also just installed the chimney hood halfway. I will be bringing the cover panels to be cut by the professionals. I simply have no guts to cut stainless steel sheets properly, and the dust that will be created, oh man it could be catastrophic to household harmony. This is how it looks at the moment. Wired it up already for testing already. Working perfectly. I will post final pictures after I installed the cabinet doors and the hood panels. Pardon the naked looks of the cabinets for the moment.

Yup thanks. I bought the jigsaw blade to cut stainless steel. Fixing the hood should be my DIY project for the next weekend. BTW I only have a jigsaw, a masonary drill, and a cordless drill for screw driving. Thanks. Yup I saved quite a fair bit. Thanks. I thought so too. I added more after taking the shot. Haha, not the DIY king lah. It's just my passion. Thinking back, I think I should have posted this topic in the DIY forum instead of in the t blog forum. Haha.. I have completed the last row of mosaics, and the small 2.5" overhang ledge. The horizontal overhang was very tedious. I am always worried gravity will overcome the adhesive strength of the mortar, so I had to push and push and push and push... And it now results in sore shoulders, aching back, and worrisome thought of it coming down out of the blue.. I should have thought ahead and got ready some wood to prop it up while it dries.. sigh.. The last row also took a long time to prepare, as the height is not level, and cuts on the entire width on the mosaics were necessary. I have yet to do the grouting. What colour grout should I use, other than the usual white? I am afraid the cooking will discolour the white grouts too easily.. Red? Blue? Grey?

Thanks bro. Your post came in just on time. Started my tiling at 9 in the evening, and just completed 3 rows of mosaics. This truly is one of the most back breaking task I have encountered so far. See pic for a preview. Wall is only partially done. Will post final results when completed. Mixing of the mortar was a pain without the power tool. Preparing the mosaics.. Tomorrow will be round 2, I need sleep now.

I am now halfway through my kitchen cabinet building. The basic structure has been up. And I am mighty satisfied with how it turns up. I changed the colour of the counter top to a darker colour to match my maple dining table. Installed the faucet, stove, and oven on the same day. Of course, to save $$, I even transported the counter top back home in my trusty Nissan. For the backsplash, I will be installing the mosaic this weekend. A sneek preview. The sense of achievement is truly immense. Almost orgasmic.. Lol..

THE DREADED BEAM. I am building an open concept kitchen, which contains no top-hung cabinets. I bought a chimney hood, and now I am having extreme headache on how to mount this chimney hood on this even wall with a horizontal beam running across. I saw this, and am wondering if anyone knows where I can get the stainless steel sheet to be cut to the dimensions I want so it can fit the beam perfectly? If anyone knows such a shop or service, please let me know. (Please note that this is not my photo. And I seriously cannot remember where I copied this photo from. If you happen to be the owner of this photo, please accept both my thanks and apologies sincerely.) Thank you.

I am now left with a lot of LeGrand face plates for 1-gang and 2-gang switches. Anybody interested to take them? $1 per piece, or take all (20 x 1-gang)+(10 x 2-gang) at $25. These items are retailing at $1.50 to $2 per piece. If you are using dark grey pole switches, the silver plates will look like the one on the LEFT.

My laminates for the bedrooms. I chose Bilrich for the flooring. Their signature range of laminate floor has natural wood grains embedded consistent with the printed designs. It almost feels like natural wood. I love this colour too. And it's made in France!! No kidding you..

Thanks guys. Yes indeed it is a lot of DIY. Somehow I enjoy it tremendously, and the satisfaction I get is overwhelming. The cost savings was most enjoyable too. This is my 6 yr old son helping me out during the painting. However, I must say that I could have completed the painting much faster if I have done it all by myself. Haha.. My cheapo Ikea cabinet used as my floating TV console. I had to modify the cabinet to accommodate the wire trunking and the wall sockets within.

Hi guys, Most of the works have been done. I am only left with carpentry. And the mosaic project. In fact I have already moved in for a couple of weeks. Yes, without carpentry. I am simply put off by the high cost quoted by all contractors and carpenters, that I think to myself that there has to be a cheap yet good (yes, it's a paradox) carpentry system I can source. Cal me a cheapo if you must, but for my tight pockets it sure provides me some relief. Various visits to Ikea is convincing me that their kitchen solutions can work. So I am jumping in. DIY. Include the countertop too. I will be using phenolic board for the countertop. It is infact the same material as a well known brand we currently see around. I am very fortunate to have a friend in that same industry, and am able to get it cheap. Here's a peek of the sample: So far I have put up 2 base cabinets. It was real fun, and rewarding. My contractor left me the plumbing lead like this: I just have to irrigate my way out. And the result, after hunting down the parts, and speaking with the shop owners at Kelantan Lane: It was indeed a lot of elbow grease, throw in some blisters and an aching back. Haha. Mounting of the kitchen sink I bought via Taobao gave me nights of planning, and lots of youtube research. I love YouTube!! As it is an undermount sink, the precision involved was rather high. This is what I decide on. I tried putting my weight on it. Thank God it was steady. I pray it remains steady after 5 years. The mosaics will go up after the full installation of the cabinets. Next up will be the installation of the built in oven, and even the chinmey hood. I have been reading the installation guides, and it seems not too intimidating. My electrician have also left me connecting parts for easy elect connections. I do hope to be able to provide pics along the way. This is now my full time weekend project. I think I will take the next 3 weekends to complete everything. Oh ya, for those of you wondering about the cost: The cheapest kitchen carpentry quote I received was $4,400+. Total of 23 foot run. (Solid surface top, 3 drawers) I am doing it up for less than $2,500, more if I decide on more drawers later. Current plan is with 7 drawers. More pics over the next weekend. Wish me luck.

Hi All, It's been such a long time I visited this forum to update. I must sincerely apologise for the absence. It has been a start-stop renovation project for me. My contractor has also been patient enough, although at times tearing his hair out trying to accommodate to my urgent requests. Some updates on the mosaics. I bought the following tools to ready myself for this DIY project. What is missing is the glass wheel scorer, which is commonly recommended at US websites. This tool is so elusive, and imposible to find locally. Anyone has any clues? I got myself a simple tile cutter instead, and tested cutting some mosaics I brought along to the hardware shops. Achieved a more than 90% success clean-cut rate at the shop. I will probably stick with that. As for the rest of the house, reno is almost complete, save the carpentry. It will be slightly delayed though. I am sure thankful that I have a place to squat while waiting for reno to complete. More pictures later.

Hi Marcel, are you leaving the kitchen wall above the backsplash untiled? If so, what is the paint you are using for this high grease, high humidity wall?

Hi Dwin, I am now a firm believer in gas heater after using one for 15 years. I initially got converted when they had a promotion for gas heater. Got myself a Rinnai heater for close to nothing. And it lasted 14 years before it broke down. Gas leaks should be the least of the concerns since the gas pipes are run by city gas. I mean, right? Lol.. Running cost of gas, factoring 10 showers a day plus a complete meal of home cooked dinner 5 times a week, costs me a grand total of $9 per month. I would like to think that the cost savings I had should have more than covered a few gas heaters over 15 years. My previous mbr toilet has a hot water pipe length of more than 12m. My waiting time is about 30 seconds. I used the water during this time to wet my hair and rinse off shampoo. Of course I had to bend forward to rinse the hair and not let the cool water come in contact with the body. Haha. For my new flat, I just booked another gas heater. This time I will expect shorter cool water time as the total hot water pipe length for either the common or mbr toilet is only 1m plus. My laundry was also very near the previous gas heater. The closest the clothes got to the heater would be less than 10cm. I also had the phobia of clothes catching fire. Of course it never did. The first heater (battery operated) lasted 14 years before it broke down. The 2nd one (AC powered) performed even better, too bad I sold the flat 6 months from acquiring it. I am one who shuns the look of a bulky heater tank in the toilet. And I totally loathe the idea of waiting for 10 mins, and the need for walking out of the cosy bedroom in my boxers just to switch on the heater located in the common toilet, early in the morning at 6.

Thanks so much bro. This is great help. I will pay one or two of these shops a visit soon. I will decide if I want to carry out the DIY installation after the visit.

Thanks for the heads up, kstoh. I will not be boarding up the opening on top of the wall between the 2 rooms. What I will do is to DIY some frosted acrylic pieces to form the following pic attached for air ventilation. For added ventilation, the small room without windows will have a 48" ceiling fan to aid in air replacement. Noted on the mosiac tiles installation. I must admit that there is a fine line between optimism and pure foolishness. And I am currently not sure which side I fall into. However, I may have been bouyed by my confidence from my previous successful attempts at DIY, namely self installation of laminate floors for 3 bedrooms, building a wood cabinet from scratch for my 3x2x2 marine fish tank, or my self installation of a 2.4m kitchen cabinet with worktop from IKEA within one day. I have a sneaky feeling I may just see it through.. Unless I chicken out nearer the installation.. Lol..