breakster

Hello everybody, I've signed up with posh home calvin+ephron (gonna refer them as the C+E tag team). My reno start date by FSM is march 7 or 8. And after that everything is fast and furious. Ephron was so fast in carrying out reno works, permit...tiles selection, haulage...laying of tiles...overlay of toilets...and you know the best part? I haven't went up to my unit even once since they started work. All we did was communicate thru watsapp and sending reference pics...i trust them so much that i can sit back and relax... Here's some of the pics ephron took for me... kitchen wall tiles. Original tiles i choose was 600x300 but after some discussion and a few reference pics...Calvin advise me to use small tiles with black gout lines around 2mm width. According to him these are old hdb tiles nobody wants...guess i can have it for free then...haha Living room. off white matte tiles. So to get that little industrial look i guess i need to play with the wall colours. No false ceiling or L-box or cove lights...just the normal pvc tube for lighting points. This one should be common toilet if i am not wrong. Waiting for the floor tiles to be up. This is how we communicate....keeping my fingers crossed i dun get a shock when i make my first visit to the unit...hahahah

Hi bianzi, Dun really think there is any disadvantages of overlaying, to me it is just to cover the original tiles since i can't hack it as it is under warranty from the HDB. For resale old flats there could be leakage problem which requires waterproofing. But your resale flat is only 6 years to me it is relatively new. Yes overlaying could cut cost for your case since you save on hacking the tiles but...overlay on top of the existing tiles maybe kinda 'risky' since the new tiles is sitting on top of the original tiles and bonded only via cement? Not too sure what is use to bond the new and old tiles together, i do hop the new tiles won't pop out if there is any knocking on the wall. So to me i would rather hack everything and get the ID to waterproof it if necessary and then lay the new tiles. Perfect. Hacking one toilet could cost between $250 to $500 maybe?

Hi @guojiawen @songz thanks for the welcome! Yes actually singapore and taiwan have a lot of similarities in design...but it come across to me that they have a lot of carpentry work putting focus on storage. Maybe their carpentry work is cheaper. I will only be doing wardrobe for MBR and kitchen cabinets with inner coloured pvc. The other two rooms will be for cutiepie and maybe my study room...not gonna have any customised cabinets for these two rooms.. No false ceilings or covelights. Wife say why build home for lizard...keke...also its too low for my liking...so the only way is the old skool pvc or metal pipes for the lighting points and fans. Or you can hack the ceiling...illegal...haha...i like ceiling fan where the air circulation is better, so my ID will need to plan properly how the fan and lights sits together...wife doesnt like fan that comes with lights so its a big challenge. Toilet and kitchen will be overlayed...if hdb provide all whites tiles i may just accept it...but the current tiles i don't approve!! ugly! I did not opt in for the hdb floor and door...hdb should allow us to opt out for the toilet and kitchen tiles as well... so the majority of our cost will be on the flooring and overlay of the toilets + cabinets and hacking of the kitchen wall. Next post i will list down the things that i've bought for the house.

Started to slowly source for ID around Sep last year...Made three blast of quotation request to reno_nation, renotalk and renoquotes.....kinda regret cos my phone started flooding with unknown numbers....pls stop alry...made me realise there are many ID firms in the market all hungry to get your business...probably close to a thousand of them? Nonetheless...its quite impossible for me to go to each and every ID's office (mon - fri got work leh + visit kid over at MIL's place aft work)....(sat - sun take care of kid so in law can rest) so i requested them to head over to MIL's place at night instead which most are willing to do so... List of IDs and contractor i've the pleasure of speaking with and repeating the same thing over the past few months...there are alot more contacts received from the three blast but i narrowed my selections to these few... 1. Urban Design (爱与狠...） 2. Carpenters (new bird id...quotation acceptable....visited my site and we ponder very long over the utility box area how to make it sweeee...still waiting for revised quotation which never came) 3. Omus Living (never provide quotation....maybe he dun like me) 4. Creaction (slow...need to sent reminder for quotation....end up quotation is a mess and rocket price) 5. Contractor / friend's recommendation can't remember his co's name (experienced! the know how type. I like his explanations and was looking forward to his quote....but maybe he dun like me also) 6. IDcube (brought his intern along for meeting...experienced and know how...quotation within expectation! but problem is he might let his intern take over when the actual work starts) 7. The80'sStudio (senior....brought his supplier girlfriend along...haha...wife was impressed with him...fixed a date to visit his office...but end up he postponed the appointment and thereafter no news...maybe he decided he dun like me) 8. NID design studio (very very nice guy...experienced...well organised...quotation is kinda ex i think...but i like him..) 9. Posh Home (只有爱...after the steady promo from tblogger leonjennawong....quotation steady...Italy tiles somemore) Tips:#1 find a ID with car...can pick u up and drive you go jiak hong #2 try not to blast request for quotation with numerous sites at the same time unless u can stand the influx of calls and emails...maybe one site at a time? #3 always ask the ID to go over to your place instead...haha...save on transport #4 find ID who is a local or one who stays in singapore...some of the IDs are from malaysia and they travel back home every night then u might start to wonder why your sms doesn't work #5 find out if the ID draws a basic pay or just commission or both. Stay away from those just on commission cos they will be busy hunting for contracts whereas one with a basic can actually slow things down and be more prudent with your project

I've some posts ready in my RT blog but somehow i dun really like it...not much action there...i prefer T-blog...not sure is there any difference between the two...also i can't seem to remove the watermark in the album although i've unchecked the option from the admin... some reference design...alot are sourced from searchome.net and www.decoplus.com.tw i really like styles from taiwan maybe because i am a big fanz the country? oh yes...the food..the people...the 歡迎光臨, the streets, the mountains, the 花莲 coastline....yes...就是愛台灣啦！ the renovation scene in taiwan is kinda thriving...they have dedicated reno programs on tv and designers speak about how they magically transform the houses...definitely more freeplay not like the layout of our BTO...so standard...so ugly...think put a few color tiles in the toilet is pretty...pls la hdb...mai kei kiang leh... some style that i like...think can be applied to hdb also hor?

Hi Hi Just some small intro and we'll keep things rollin as soon as i start my reno! Waited for 4 long years from the option date and its finally ready for me to zheng the house. Without RT i will not have learn and know all the cool places and know what to look out for when renovating. THANK YOU RT and all the bloggers here!! Me (Bento) and wife (Meow) my little baby girl (Cutiepie) will be the residents. Of cos must show the floor plan so here it is...does it look similar? hahaha

Howdy leonjennawong! Thanks for keeping us entertained with your Tblog...I've 'engaged' posh home as well...met him once for an initial talk about my design. A second time at his office and his quotation is rock steady plus he did not miss any of the items that i requested to do for my house. I will start a Tblog soon to document. His other designer name ephron is equally helpful as he drove me to OSK and Hafary to take a look at the tiles and lights which is near their office. Yes calvin will be busy from now on after all the promotion you gave him...so i've made it a point to click with his colleague in case calvin is too busy. The reason why i say 'engaged' is becos i told him verbally thru watsapp that he will be appointed as my ID and told him my start work date will be early march. Calvin straight away say no time! cos he need to apply permit and all...so without any delay, ephron came to my place aft work that night and collected the keys from me. The next day he went up to take measurement on the walls that are to be hack. What can i say....POWER SERVICE and we haven't sign the contract yet. Guess it will be a smooth journey from now. Look out for my tblog soon!!

Hi cynthiazen, Are you doing any thing to your utility box area in the living room next to your main door and kitchen?

Hi elin1029, Is that laminate you are using for your cabinets? can you share more info on the material? Thank you!