SaltedCaramel

Tiling and wet works As our tiling did not involve many different tiles and intricate design we didn’t prepare a tiling plan. And ooops… there were a few hiccups during the tiling process. Master bathroom Mosaics in master bathroom were laid at the wrong area. It was supposed to be laid at the shower area instead of the bathtub area. Our contractor rectified this promptly. We like the idea of a ledge at the shower area for shower gel and shampoo. Looking forward to soaking in the bathtub. Common bathroom Our contractor called to ask about the colour of the grout for various areas but missed out on the grout for the common bathroom wall tiles. The colour of the wall tile is beige and we had wanted the grout to be in beige. Instead, white grout was used. We asked our contractor if this could be rectified and our contractor said beige grout could be applied over the white grout. However, this wasn’t done after a few days. We decided to let it slide as we thought there was not much difference between white grout and beige grout. Hope this wouldn't bug us later. For the shower area, we prefer a drop rather than a kerb. Kitchen We had wanted glass backsplash at the kitchen and this was provided for in the quote. However, our contractor did a subway tile backsplash for us. We didn’t ask for rectification as the subway tiles backsplash looked good. We also asked our contractor to construct a cement sink support. Living Our white brick feature wall. As we want to mount our TV on the brick wall, our contractor drilled holes on the wall for the cables to pass through. To avoid any hiccup, it will be good to prepare a tiling plan to specify which tiles are to be laid at each area, how the tiles are to be laid and the colour of the grout. We are satisfied with the workmanship. The tiles are aligned and neatly laid, the grout lines are even and we didn’t find any hollowness when knocking on the tiles. Only complaint was that some of the edges and corners are not so well done. Maybe the edges or the walls are not that straight?

Had been busy unpacking the past few days. House is now super messy! . Had also been busy shopping on Amazon. Am thinking whether to buy a rug for the living. Let's continue with the journey shall we... Electrical wiring, piping and aircond trunking This stage was rather boring for me as all I see were wires, pipes and trunkings. Before the start of the electrical work, you will have to think of all the power points you need - besides the bed for bedside lamp, besides the sofa for table or floor lamp, various appliances at the TV console, kitchen countertop, study table, at the dining area for steamboat, CCTV, doorbell etc. You may also want 2-way switches for some lights. We didn’t specify any 2-way switches and was pleasantly surprised that my contractor’s electrician thought about that and installed 2-way switches for the common bathroom (as the common bathroom is accessible from the common room and the passage way) and track lights along the dining area (so that we can have lights while walking to our bedroom). It was only after a few weeks the renovation started that we browsed Renotalk more often and found that our contractor is a rather popular contractor on Renotalk. The reviews are mixed. The mixed reviews did raise some concerns but we decided to keep calm about it as he had been progressing the renovation well. *keeping fingers crossed.

You are more extreme than me as I didn't build any cabinet in the yard

Selection of tiles, laminate and craft stone As we engaged our contractor only a few days before we got our keys to the unit, he brought us to select tiles after completion of the hacking. We went to Hafary and Lian Seng Hin at Balestier. He guided us through the tile selection process and gave us some practical advice. Master bathroom The only place in our house where we used dark colour is the master bathroom. It has a grey theme. Common bathroom We chose beige as the colour scheme for our common bathroom. Kitchen As for the kitchen, we decided to use 3D subway tiles for the walls and beige tiles for our floor. Laminate For the laminate in living, dining and the 3 rooms, we chose Rustic Light Oak from the Berry Alloc Riviera series as we wanted something with light grey wood tone. I was a little worried that the eyes would be very distracting but my hubby said that the eyes made the laminate looked more natural. Ok, will just go along with hubby’s choice. Brick wall Our choice of craft stone for the brick wall. Though brick wall is overused but I really love it. I think it will look very pretty with a TV mounted on it.

Let’s Get the Party Started - Hacking Hacking started soon after we got the keys to our unit. Our contractor Whatsapped us in the morning to inform us that he had started hacking. So excited! Hacking was completed in 2 days. We didn’t visit the unit during hacking and therefore we have no photo of the hacking and the aftermath. The only photo we have was when we visited the unit after the hacking had been completed and the debris cleared. Common bathroom Kitchen Study room The hacking of the walls of the study room made the whole unit looks much bigger and brighter. The walls will be replaced by aluminium framed glass panels.

Magical day – Getting the keys to our unit We met up with our lawyer at 5:30pm to get the keys to our unit. Yay! We were finally a house owner! We went for a quick dinner to celebrate the occasion before meeting our contractor at our house. We went through our requirements with him again and discussed the power, lighting points and placement of air-conds. So excited that our renovation journey will begin soon!

Thanks for dropping by xhomesweethomex and doubleEM!

Eeny meeni miny moe - Selected IDs/Contractors We decided to engage Alan Tan from Aian Furniture and Renovation Contractor to renovate our home. Reasons that we chose Alan: Pricing was reasonable and competitive. No GST.I read that the workmanship of his sub-con is good. Before we engaged him, we went to view one of his projects and the workmanship is pretty good.Though we didn’t talk much during our first meeting, we felt comfortable with him. Hope that this will translate to good rapport and chemistry during the renovation journey.He is a registered renovation contractor with HDB since 1999. He should be a reliable and trustworthy contractor or else he won’t be in business for so long.He seemed honest and sincere.