andotang

Hi, I am just curious whether you will be removing the red and blue tape in your bathroom as I have seen so many carcass being build over the tape thus making it unremovable. I had mine removed and cleaned the wall before carpentry. I took photos of those tape position before removing. They leave a nasty sticky mess after tearing off, you need strong chemical to remove the residue. I changed all my switches to Mallia too but I didn't know they have so many colours. After looking at your invoice, I see they are only 20 cents to 40 cents, that give me a choice to change if I want a different colour faceplate. Thanks for the info.

Sorry for the late reply as I took some time to take a new picture as I feel picture speaks a thousand words. Metal gate cylinder is slightly more tricky then main door as the locking piston is always protruding out. You need a philips head screw driver and your metal gate key. First you unscrew just 1 screw as pointed by the yellow arrow in the pic. Now this pic show the cylinder for metal gate and main door, you see the locking piston is protruding out by default whereas main door is seamlessly blend in. So you need to use your metal gate key to turn the locking piston and wiggle the cylinder out, just apply little force to pull the cylinder out while turning your gate key will do. You can take out this cylinder then lock your door with your normal padlock then use this sample to go buy your cylinder from Homefix or duro headoffice.

My renovation took about 2 months, I no rush to move in. Flat is idle for 3 weeks before I moved in as my mum want to choose a auspicious date. My renovation is not a rushed project, I gave them plenty of time to do things swee swee as sometime rushed work comes with poor workmanship. Happy with my progress.

Hi moldie, interesting question. Why I choose 2rm over 3rm, well it is like the only wise choice to make at that time. The thought to buying a house arise when I plan to get married, and I need a house in bukit panjang for the Married Child Priority Scheme (MCPS) as my parents stay in bukit panjang. I was looking only at Sales of balance flat as I don't want to wait few years for the BTO, and also because there is no more new BTO in bukit panjang for the next few years, I don't see any plot of land possible within next few years. So during the SOBF Nov 2014, I see some balance flat available in bukit panjang and I hope to secure a unit for myself. They have 7 units of 2 rm and 2 units of 3 rm. So I feel my chance to get a flat is higher if I go for the 7 units instead of 2. I also see the location of all the 9 units before deciding. The 2 units of 3rm is not ideal at all where as got 3 units of 2 rm I am interested. That was the deciding factor at that time. Factoring in the fact that I can paid off the whole 2rm with CPF no need installment, whereas 3rm I need to loan and pay monthly for the next 20+ years while I am 43 yo, I don't want to be still paying at the age of 63. However, if at that time of application if there were more 3rm over 2rm, I will probably go for 3rm. I just wanted to secure a unit on the SOBF Nov 2014 exercise. All SOBF is allocated to MCPS for priority, and with my age and first timer, I stand a very good chance of successful application. So the timeline is apply in Nov 2014, apply for ROM in Dec 2014 which confirm a date in 20 Mar 2015 for official ROM, got my golden ballot number 2 in Jan 2015. So I just need to choose first choice and second choice, and balllot No.1 choosed a low level unit, probably a pioneer generation, so I got my first choice. While processing the paper work which require my married cert. which I get in 20 Mar 2015, submitted all documents and got my keys in June 2015. Then renovation from Aug and moved in end Nov 2015. As we don't plan to have any children in the future 2 rm is fine. Having stayed for coming to 2 months, so far it is a great place to be in. I am only missing one extra room and toilet over a 3rm and I am fine with it as long as you don't need to cater to sleep another person in the house. I have enough storage for wardrobe too with proper planning. I did install a curtain track in my living room in case my relative need to sleep over, I can still give some privacy using the curtain to partition a sleeping corners. I get to enjoy more rebates from the government too being smaller. Having fully paid for, my only commitment for the house is only the electrical and internet bill which I can say is very manageable. That conclude how I ended up with a 2 room BTO, it is a wise decision to make at that point of time.

Changing Letter Box Lock I have no experience and have no idea how the letter box lock works. So I opened it and study the mechanism. This is the original letter box lock from HDB. The important thing here is the metal latch which is bended in the middle. Another view of the metal latch, you have to retain this latch instead of using the new one that comes with the new lock. You will need a adjustable spanner to unscrew the big gold nut in the picture. After you removed the old lock, you swap the metal latch to the new lock, the picture here show the latch that comes with my new lock which is not bended. Then just install the new lock using a adjustable spanner. Here you see is my completed installation using the old latch. Completed pic. You see the gap is because I used the new latch which is not bended, so will have a gap. By using back your old latch, it will be a perfect fit, or at most some slight adjustment using washer and plier you will make it seamless. I completed everything in 10 minutes being a first timer. I might as well mention how to change the main door cylinder too, all you need is to unscrew the screw as pointed by the red arrow. The screw is very long, you can see the hole on the cylinder that it locked into. After that you can install the new Duro lock which can easily buy from Homefix. Only the metal gate cylinder require some skill to remove as it involve inserting the key to turn the locking lever before pulling it out.

Maybe I can tell you about my Philips hue bulb setup in my house and you see if it is what you wanted. All bulbs comes in E27 connectors and there is a bridge(device) you have to connect to your router. Once you turn on your bulb, it will link/talk to the bridge which allow you to control the lights thru your handphone. Thru the philips hue apps you can set your lights to any colour any intensity to your preference. I then bought a philips hue tap switch which allow me to save 4 preset on each tap switch. Example of the 4 settings is All Off/Blue/50% Brightness/90% Brightness. So when I reach home, I turn on the wall switch which light I want to on, then press the hue tap to change to the preset I want which is usually the 90% daylight. This totally eliminate the need to use my handphone to switch on my lights and it runs on kinetic power, no need battery. I would also advice you not to have 1 master switch to on all your lights as sometime u want only certain lights on for mood. I have a total of 12 bulbs in living room, using 1 switch for every 2 lights. I usually only turn on 4 to 6 lights and I rotate them to spread the lifespan. As for the automated part, I can control my lights as long as I have access to internet on my PC or 4G on my handphone. Thru the philips hue apps on 4G, when i reaching home like downstairs, I would launch the apps and change to another scene, my wife at home would feel the change in light colors and she knows I am downstairs and open the door for me. The first time I used this feature it freaked her out cos I changed to red. Costing depends on how many bulb you need, they are about $70 each. I bought my E27 downlight holder for $10 each, so about $80 per point and I have 12. Hue tap is $89. Starter kit about $280 including the bridge with 3 bulbs. Maintenance is as good as not necessary as E27 holder hardly spoil, if your hue bulb spoil very easy to replace as it is E27 type, unlike those flat led downlight with drivers, you will have a hard time getting replacement especially if the shop you bought from closed for business. Not to mention the crumps that will fall off from the false ceiling while replacing and touching those wires. E27 is just screw on and that's it. No need drivers. The only set back I would say is it takes some planning to install the E27 downlight or pendant lamp. You can see my tblog should have some pictures. And google philips hue light and hue tap for more information. HTH.

Hi 2Roomer, my ID uses her company padlock which is numbered on it, then she gave me 2 keys for me and my wife. The ID's tiler, plumber, painter, cleaner, electrician, carpenter all have keys to all the padlock my ID's company uses. This arrangement is very good as all her workers can access all renovation site without owners or ID's present. However we only lock the front gate, not the main door, throughout the whole renovation period only my main gate is locked, main door can still open to peep inside. Upon completion, I changed all my lock cylinder to duro for 1 master key access for main door, main gate and letter box. The original lock cylinder from HDB kept as spare. I did pass to ID my keys from HDB for her to put on her padlock and she returned me back after putting her company's padlock. If you meet ID onsite to put on their padlock then you no need pass your HDB keys to anyone. Hope this solve your doubt for your upcoming reno.

I believe your WIW walls is hollow inside so it will not be able to take the weight of any doors that you are going to install on it. U hv to try to mount to the ceiling. That leave you to venetian blind, which I feel will be too heavy for a full height blind, thinking of pulling the blind up require so much strength you will not bother to close it next time. Install a curtain track inside the door and curtains open to left and right and will be hidden from view from outside when not in use. If you managed to installed glass door, you can use opaque glass laminate to paste on the glass for privacy. Just my suggestion.

PM-ed. Thanks for the compliment.

PMed but I forgot to mention it takes 4 to 6 weeks for them to make and ship to singapore from indon.

Moved In. Aftermath Part 3. Here is my home entertainment and where I spend most of my time on it. As mentioned I have no feature wall or tv and sofa, and i am glad because really no space to accommodate them in my 2 room bto, every inch of space is precious. ikea wall shelf, cheap and practical. Hooks underneath is very useful. Hidden all my cables and wires into the Sitoca cable compartment already yet still very unsighting but at least all excess cables not dangling around on table top. Asked ID to drill ceiling hooks for me around the house so i can hang christmas and CNY decorations. Ultimately will be getting some green garland to hang around the house for some greenery as wife forbid me to get real plant fearing ants. Added a Muji wall clock too few days ago. Also a Muji table clock with temperature indication so I can decide whether to turn on aircon. The space behind my entertainment centre is used to dry our clothing as we removed the ceiling one in the kitchen provided my HDB. The custom made bar height dining table really served it's purpose, we hanged our daily clothing there when changing into working clothes. Can also push my rattan chair underneath it to make space. Moved in almost a month now and I yet to buy both of my ceiling fan. Haiku is moving office to tampines and they will be having some promo on Jan 16, so that would be a good time to buy my bedroom fan, they never give discount or free gift, so this event is the only chance to get some benefit from bigass. Each fan is $1249 before gst and also need $80 for installation. Really not cheap. So think I will only buy 1 for the bedroom as we sleep over 8 hours every night so the electrical bill saving there can be substantial. As for the living room, I only spend about 3 hours on my computer daily so no point buy a haiku, will be getting a normal DC fan with reverse function. Saw the 52" Aero from Phylux which is actually the Elmark DC fan for half the price of haiku and after seeing sapphire89 blogged the picture, that one is on top of my list now. All DC fan really expensive, start from $600 up. I am glad my house is pretty cozy as temperature always around 28 degree without aircon, probably due to weather this time around the year is cooler. When sleeping in bedroom, no need even turn on aircon as it is quite cool, I am guessing the cold wind outside blow my room wall until very cold, so room become cool and I don't have any electronic in the room which produce heat. And we don't even open our windows fearing dust attack. So it is a blessing to get such good condition for sleeping. Moved in 28 days only turn on room aircon 3 times. Now become must force myself to turn on aircon because if aircon too long never on can spoil. Merry Christmas 2016 everyone.