Dwinsplace

I felt exactly the same way about brick walls. Passe, but please pass me some. Your design is already done and in fact you're almost finished with your reno right? So this might be a bit pointless but 2 thoughts popped into my head that I thought I'd share. 1. Too much texture and lines in a small space makes it feel very complex and cramped. However, some say it's cosy. Perspective I guess. 2. Small tiles in bathroom means more grouting for mildew to set into and more to clean. As it is, i'm making the tilers lay more grout in the bathroom area to make the wall as flush as possible so that it will be easier to clean. I'm loving your kitchen inspiration pic but i know I won't be able to keep my kitchen as clutter free. haha. We wanna see the designs of your house!

Yeah second charm has pretty nice stuff. It IS a bit dark and cluttered though haha. I was charged $1500 for the table 2m x 0.8m without delivery. Additional $40 for delivery which i think is fair. Just hope that the table can fit inside the lift. As for teak colour, they are able to stain it whatever colour you like. But the grain remains the same of course. And as mentioned, the finish that I saw on the completed pieces were a little on the rough side. Minty: Boat wood is becoming very popular. Multicoloured and should fit right in with your home's look. I wanted hairpin legs as well actually! Even wanted to import the pins from overseas and just DIY the table as you might have read from prev posts. Sadly my dining room is a little tight so I'm increasing the ease of entry and exit by having the table legs away from the corners.

A crowbar! I get to buy a crowbar! Mrs, are you reading this? Whoo! Manliness factor up by 10.

Also! I went to second charm today to place an order for a solid teak dining table done in the style of grafunkt's apollo table. Met the owner Shariffah who was very efficient and helpful. Her company has apparently been giving old furniture a facelift for the past 15 years but only started making furniture in the last 4 years or so. She says that they use planation teak of a high grade and so things like splitting or cracking won't be an issue. If it happens, I can go straight back to her. Honestly though, looking at the pieces around her showroom, the workmanship is good, but not at the level of the pieces you find in grafunkt or air. The finish is not as smooth and the grain not as balanced. That said, you are paying a third of the price. So you decide for yourself which you value more. I was quite happy with what they produced and her eye for finishes. So I can't wait to see the finished product. We have also just received a call from our freight forwarder! Our TB loot will arrive earlier than expected on the 5th of Aug!! Whoo! 23 parcels in total but sadly they can't give us a rough timing. Only that they will call an hour before they arrive. Stay tuned for my post on the loot! Feels like christmas!

After a bit of discussion with the Mrs, we felt that we weren't happy with how the issue with spray painting the wall sockets was handled. If there was a miscomm between the contractor and his workers, they should have removed the surface mounted boxes and spray painted them separately as they would have done normally. Not taken a short cut by just spray painting it on the wall (and the wall around it as well). Thankfully, our ID didn't kick up a fuss about it. They admitted that it was a mistake and that the electricians will remove the boxes and redo it properly. As for the paint already on the wall, she assures me that the wall paint will cover it and I will see no trace of a dark patch. Today, the aircon guys came. We got Tim from renotalk posting (I believe the company is called Imperial) and the service has been great so far. They arrived at the house on time and quickly detailed to me what needed to be done. Due to some tiling and electrical works being done, there were minor tweaks to the original routing plan but overall no major surprises. I wanted to check and make sure that the insulation and copper piping were the upgraded ones agreed upon and so I was frantically searching the next to try to decode what I saw on the packaging. Here's what I found out for those of you who will be using similar materials. G23 Copper pipes. Note that .61mm is the marking for g23. Water pipe: 16mm. Honestly not sure why bigger is better... but its supposed to be. Standard HDB is 13mm. Insulation: This was the one i was most concerned about. I know that good thick insulation means that the coolant in the copper pipes gain less heat as it travels from the compressor to the fan coil. It also helps to absorb any condensation that might occur on the pipes and prevents dripping. This was also the most stressful cos I knew I was supposed to be get 1/2 inch thick insulation. But as you can see in the first pic, the only numbers stated were 3/8inch. Which is the standard, lower quality type. After research online as well as clarification by Tim, I learnt that Armaflex codes its insulation a bit differently. The letter H in H-010 denotes the thickness of the insulation. Whereas the numbers 3/8" and in the second pic 5/8", denotes the diameter of the internal hole in the insulation. And if you go on the armaflex site, you will find that H is 1/2 inch thick. They needed two different internal diameters because 1 is for the water pipe and 1 is for the thinner copper pipe.

Hey Puggy, just checked out ByNord. Lovely photos but I'm personally more keen on stylized graphics. I live apart from the real world. That and the euro price tag scared me off. haha. Lemoncandy: I remember beds.com! Didn't know that it has expanded into this massive all inclusive store. It does have some nice cushions. Will see if we need any more bits and bobs later on but thanks for the recommendation.

After much hemming and hawing, we have finally decided on a way to secure our house! As mentioned before, the mrs has agreed to give me a digital lock (so that I don't need to fuss with keys) and we will be putting it on the main gate. This is the lock of choice! the Yale YDR323G. The picture isn't really accurate. This is the normal door version the YDR323. The YDR323G has the manual unlock switch at the back panel permanently disabled so that people can't reach through the gaps in your gate and just let themselves in. The lock is released on the inside via a remote control. We picked this lock for 2 reasons. Firstly, it could take RFID card and password. But more importantly, the disabled back panel meant that we could use this gate! we LOOOOVE this gate. Old school yet its a swing door so still quiet and functional. We got dr doors to do it and minus a rather unhelpful sales lady, the person sent on site to measure and advise me on the gate was very good. Their quote for a gate+digital lock was also the best that we managed to find. Adding a small customization on the gate also. Just a small metal plate on the fixed panel side of the gate where I can paint on our door numbers. The mrs is VERY VERY worried that I'll screw it up hahaha. A husband who loves to DIY in a very precious and very expensive home is beginning to scare her.

Along the lines of black, we just had a minor issue today. I went into the house and noticed that all the wall switches were white even though I expressly requested for black. I panicked for a sec because despite all the warnings, I did not force the electrician to add the words "black switches" into the quotation and just went with faith that my ID said that he knows it should be in black. Called up the ID to tell her and she said that they know its black, but apparently there was a miscommunication between the electrician boss and his men and they thought the only ones in black were the kitchen ones. So i thought "no worries, they will get it changed" Imagine my shock when I saw one guy rattling a spray paint can, and then going up to each switch and spraying it black! Including the wall area around it!! I quickly asked my ID who told me that the wall won't be a problem cos the paint will go over and cover it up. I hope that this is true but she's the professional so I'm giving her my trust. Went home and spoke to the wife about it and she got really upset cos she hates the quality of spray paint. Generally feels and looks tacky and after use won't it scratch off etc? Then I thought "OMG! She's right! I see black switches all over renotalk! Why should I accept spray painted ones??" Clarified it with my ID and apparently, the face plate of the switches aren't spray painted. They will be black plastic. She showed me pics of the items in its original packaging. (Looks quite good actually! ) But since HDB requires wires to be exposed, we need the surface mounted boxes to house all the wires under the faceplate. And apparently, this only comes in white in singapore. So anyone who wants to have it black, does it by spray painting. I asked another renotalker stylocool and he says that his was sprayed too. So phew! Not getting cheated. All good. This is the kinda stuff that we as normal users would never know/think of. And its part of the learning process. But still a rude shock occasionally and you wonder if you really screwed up by not making sure before they executed.

They say once you go black, you never go back. And man I'm seeing more and more black in my choices. Black laminates, black tiles, black lights... lol. Thing is, we decided a long time ago that we will keep to a neutral palette. White, black, grey and add browns with woods. That way, if we have colours added via the furniture and we don't like it, we can change it. But overall, we tend not to really like colour anyway. I think at the moment, the ONLY thing we bought with colour would be our cushion covers from Society 6. A site recommended by another renotalker and it's awesome! Lots of prints that I love there as well but they are quite pricey so I'll wait till the house is done and see what spaces I have to fill.

From your ID selection process/ bed selection process, I can see that both you and your hubby are very meticulous and passionate people. For people like you, you don't need 3D and I'm sure you'll be able to guide the contractor well. Or make him do it again and again till it's what you want! haha. Good luck for the rest of it and well done on the cleaning of the sewing trestles! I wouldn't have been able to do that.

always nice to see the tiles coming up. It covers the old stuff and you really feel that you're putting your personal stamp on your home.

Hey grace, you mentioned that you have the study left to do? Are you doing your reno bit by bit? My wife wanted to take that approach but I preferred to get all the dusty work sorted at one shot. Love the christmas pic! This year I hope to do the same with my new home too!

Hey Karyn, Interesting style of writing you have, always making it a point to end on a cliffhanger. haha. But I'm falling for it hook, line and sinker. Will follow this page for more updates!

Thanks to all for your votes! Based on what you all said, and more importantly, what the MRS said, we have decided to go with option 2! Mrs says that she wouldn't even consider the walls together with the door and she would place the windows at whatever height is most soothing to the eye. But since I wanted privacy for the room, the windows couldn't be placed too low also so in the end, option 2 was the best. Bianzi: you asked why have windows at all? One reason is airflow but thats a very small concern. What we have noticed was that the corridor was kinda dark even in the day. So it was more a way to allow some natural light into that area without sacrificing the privacy of my study. Wife also likes the idea of seeing the lights on in my room so that she knows where I am when she wakes up in the middle of the night and finds me not in bed.

Wah thats like having Optimus Prime in your living room. haha. Looks **** powerful! I opted for the one a grade below what you bought and I signed up with MyRepublic too but so far the service has been a bit bleah. How's your experience?

nice to see the finished product! Well done! It looks very cosy

Alright forum people! I need your tasteful votes! Issue: Placement of window (for light and a bit of air) on steel walls. Privacy must still be maintained. We came up with 2 options that resolved the lines differently so this is a purely aesthetic thing. Option 1: Height of bottom of windows are aligned with top of door frame. The wall panels then seem to be more even. However the window is very near the ceiling and the ID says it makes the wall look weird. Option 2: Height of middle of windows are aligned with the top of the door frame. The windows are further from the ceiling and if you just focus on the wall, the proportions seem ok. But I'm wondering if the break from the line of the door makes it seem like a separate piece. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Its stretches the ENTIRE breadth of the toilet! Sounds impressive right? Until you take into account that the ENTIRE toilet is tiiiiiiny. lol

Not much new to has happened since the last post. Wetworks are pretty much done and we're moving into electrical works. Nice to see the finished toilet with sink ledge and toiletry ledge up! I think it will really be gorgeous once the fittings and lights are installed. Finally all the old wiring is gone and you can see burn marks all around the old lights! The previous family might have blown a number of ballasts for it to look like that. Can't wait for the new coat of paint to cover it all up. Now the house is filled with new spools of wires and wire casings, and I saw them sweeping up the leftover sand and cement. Feels like we're entering a new phase! Sadly we still need to use a lot of the normal white casings. It was simply too expensive to go with the black PVC pipe for the whole house. I'm consoling myself that it might look too complicated with all those black lines running all over the place also. (A part of me thinks that it will be nice. The flesh is willing but the pocket is weak. lol) Was tracing the white casings to all the different lights and switches that we have planned and I noticed that the master bedroom lights were really tucked into a corner even though we wanted the bed to be in the centre of the room. Just goes to show that regular checks are necessary! I'm not saying that the ID is bad, she's handling the matter as I type. But its just another pair of eyes to pick out discrepancies or maybe even details that weren't expressly discussed. You know your lifestyle and needs best. And it never hurts to just ask your ID nicely to confirm a few doubts. Anyway, hopefully more will be done soon and I'll be able to post more pictures!

Haha you're complaining that your contractors are moving too fast! Thats got to be a first. I always hear people trying to rush their contractors and I personally had to ask my ID why the workers seem to stop work so early. 17 days into my reno and I've only just put up the hollow brick wall.

Hey Raydon, after reading your post, i decided to try harder to peel it off and it does rip off! Only the edges have that icky glue left behind. Which my dad says can be easily washed off with soap and water. So yay!!

Hey guys! I would like to sell my queen sized bedframe. PM if you're interested. It's a chocolate brown, pvc leather wrapped, storage bed. (LOTS of storage) The brand is max coil and i've had it for 2 years. The hydraulics have a 10 year warranty and is german made. There's nothing wrong with it, i just wanted to change haha. Just a note that the frame is very very sturdy and there's a lot of storage so some of you might find that its a little high if you use very thick mattresses. You would have to arrange your own transportation though. Looking at $700 since it's second hand.

Last post today is an irritation. Old owner pasted some form of privacy plastic film over his window? Maybe he was very sensitive about people peeping at him changing. (he doesn't have a good body) ANYHOW! It looks terrible and now I'm most likely forced to replace the two panes of glass. ID recommends the whole window so that the look and colour will be more consistent. Replacing 2 alone will probably be quite obvious. I tried peeling off a bit but it's glue is the type that will stick to the glass forever. Very hard to remove.

Gas heater is also in. The guys came super late and ran the pipe from the side of my kitchen new the main door, around the edge of the ceiling, past the service yard door and down the side of the door to cut into my kitchen counter where the hob will be. They also tapped out one pipe through the corner of the service yard door to fit the gas heater itself. They said that aluminium doors can have a hole cut out to fit around the pipe. I quite like the copper actually.

After hacking off the skirting, the tilers noticed that the old tiles near the edge were a bit hollow. So they hacked them out and screeded over before the vinyl gets overlayed. Plus points for dedication! This was an interesting problem! At the shoe cabinet area, we plan to have tiles followed by vinyl. However, the old tiles, plus the screed and then the thickness of the new tile, meant that the height of the floor was raised. But since the vinyl is already thinner than the new tile, it meant there would be a step from the tile to the vinyl. The tiler suggested making a step at first but I thought it would be super silly and probably just irritating to walk over in the long run. So in the end they agreed to slope it out for me. As long as we don't have furniture thats flush to the floor we should not be able to tell the difference. When you walk over it you can sorta feel it, but it should be ok.