steffie

And following in the footsteps of many Singaporeans before me, I had my first attempt at purchasing big ticket items from Taobao. I organized them into 3 batches. Items that I needed my contractor to install Furniture Decorative items I have bought items from Taobao before but always via a Singapore agent and usually only clothes and small items. I have never liaised directly with a seller on Taobao before so it was especially nerve wrecking. IMHO, for a person who scored only C6 for Mandarin, I think I had managed it pretty well. Hahahaha... Thankfully, all the sellers I contacted were very patient and understanding when I told them my Mandarin was not good. In fact, one seller (the curtain rod and accessories seller) even offered to correspond in English. I learnt that 亲 can be used to address someone and not just to mean "kiss". And when they ask me to 拍, they want me to order and not take photo. Hahahahah.... I purchased and shipped Batch 1 before renovations started and thankfully they arrived less than a week before renovations began. As I intend to keep the flooring in the living room and kitchen, the items are now all nicely placed in a corner of the living room. Batches 2 and 3 will be purchased soon and I hope that it will arrive only after the renovations are completed. I shipped all the below items + 2 vanity cabinet, 2 bathroom sink and 1 kitchen sink (which I have yet to unpack because they are too big to open up) via Amcon Express. They charged me slightly less than $300, inclusive of documentation, shipping and documentation, to bring them in. To be honest, I was surprised at how well packed the items were. All the items came well padded with either bubble wrap or newspaper, in addition to the box that they came in. In fact, the seller of the curtain rod and accessories used so much bubble wrapped and tape to secure the items that I had a hard time removing them. My scissors is now almost not usable because it's so sticky. Hahahahaha...

Everything is on track.

A good start.... Day 1 started on time.

Trying to achieve my dream home within my limited budget was definitely a huge challenge. As much as I would like a major overhaul of my place, my pocket just doesn't allow it. ID or Contractor After months of research, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do with my place. Therefore, to save on cost, I opted for a contractor instead of an ID. That, of course, meant a lot of preparatory work beforehand so that I can accurately brief the contractor what I wanted. Working with a limited budget, I had to ensure that I don't end up with costs that I wasn't prepared for. My Renovation List I listed down what I wanted to do and then started researching into how much each item would cost. After looking at the cost, I categorised the items into "Nice-to-haves" and "Must-haves". My Must-Haves New kitchen cabinets Wardrobes for all 3 bedrooms Change of lighting New wall - When we first renovated, we knocked down the wall separating BR2 and MBR to create a bigger MBR. However, when my child was born, we realized that we need more rooms as we hired a helper to care for him. However, putting a wall back would not only cost us quite a bomb but take more than a month to complete as we have to re-do the bedroom floors as well. Therefore, to save on cost as well as renovation time, we put in a partition wall instead. Although on the surface you can't really tell the difference between a partition and hollow block wall, the partition wall doesn't seem as secure. Whenever the door hits the door stopper, it creates a really loud sound. And when I try to pull the door away from the magnetic door stopper to close the door, I have to pull really hard and it feels like the door stopper it about to be yanked out from the wall. So, now that I am renovating again, I decided to erect a hollow block wall back in its place. Bathroom Floor - There is only 1 drainage in the common bathroom, near the sink. So everytime after my child bathes, the floor becomes a mini pond as the water would need to flow from one end of the bathroom to the other end where the drainage is. As such, the common bathroom floor is almost perpetually wet. To add to the problem, my dog seem to prefer the soapy water in the bathroom rather than the water in his drinking bowl. To ensure that I have a healthy dog and I don't end up breeding more mosquitos than Singapore already has, I decided to hack and re-tile the bathroom floors and create another drainage at the shower area in the common bathroom. New main door and bedroom door New gate Alternatives to my Nice-to-Haves Kitchen walls - I would love new tiles for my kitchen but that would greatly burst my budget. Therefore, to save cost, I decided to go with the current trend and plaster my wall with cement to achieve the cement screed look. Bathroom walls - I never really liked the HDB wall tiles but hacking and doing up the wall tiles again would strain my budget. Therefore, I decided to use the cheaper alternative and overlay the existing wall tiles. No one's going to notice anyway... hahaha.... Shoe cabinets - I would love a full height shoe cabinet that stretched the entire length of a wall in my living room to house all my shoes. But that would have been out of my budget. Therefore, I settled for a much shorter shoe cabinet that stretched a large part of the wall but still able to house all my shoes. Bedroom floor - I am absolutely in love with the wood-like ceramic tiles but that would have been out of my budget. To achieve the wooden floor look, I went for vinyl flooring instead. TV console - I would love one of the those swanky full height TV console. Unfortunately, that would set me back by a few thousand. It was between a custom made shoe cabinet or TV console. And no points for guessing that my shoes were more important. hahah... I decided to get a nice, swanky yet low cost TV console from Taobao instead. My Search for a Contractor I believe that the homeowner and contractor must have chemistry for the renovation to proceed well. I wanted a contractor who is experienced (since I wasn't, hahah) provided good advice and yet respect what I am trying to achieve for my own house. After months of trawling through the Renotalk forum and reading the different comments and opinions on the different contractors by forummers, I arranged to meet up with 5 contractors listed in Renotalk whom I felt were reliable and responsible, from comments given by the forummers. Edmund Ong, CX Reno (aka J&E) Kevin Tee, H2O Interior Renovation (aka Mr K) Tan Keng Sek, United Team (from Little Casa Blog) Mr Yeak Nai Chai, Basic Image and Design Ronald Goh, Designer House (aka Tiler Seng) I also met up with 2 other contractors recommended by friends who have engaged them before. Dennis Lim, Debbie Interior Maria Koh, Kepha Design All the contractors I met were very experienced and from them, I had learnt a lot about what was practical in my plans and possible cost-saving alternatives. All their quotes were also reasonable as their prices were quite close to each other. In my opinion, Ronald Goh and Kevin Tee were the most attentive and detailed. I noted that the items they included in their quote were very close to what I had briefed them (which meant they were listening when I was briefing) . Being attentive to me was important as I felt that we can avoid misunderstandings later. Both of them were also very quick and willing to respond when amendments were required. No need to chase them at all. It was a very difficult decision and after much consideration, I decided to leave my renovation in the good hands of Ronald.

All thanks to the wonderful and dedicated Renotalk forummers who shared their renovation journey, preparation for my own renovation journey was made much easier. I hope that I will be able to benefit other future homeowners by sharing my own renovation journey. As I embark on a new chapter in my life, I decided to renovate my current 5 Rm HDB flat in Sengkang which I have been staying in for the past 13 years. Except for the flooring in the living room and kitchen, every other room will get a complete makeover. Below's a floorplan of the flat. This is what the flat looks like before the renovation. One of my biggest regret is the walk in wardrobe in the MBR which the bathroom opens up to. It is quite a pain to maintain. Dark coloured clothes end up having mouldy spots because of the moisture that comes from the bathroom after a hot bath. And because of that, I have to ensure that I close the bathroom door the second I exit. This time around, it's going to be regular casement wardrobe for me - out of sight, out of mind. Hahaha... The platform in the Dining room makes it rather restrictive, especially when entertaining a larger party of people. I can't put in too many chairs as they can fall over if not careful. Plus it is a trip hazard. Lessons learnt. No more platform.

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