Yplailai

Our one roller coaster renovations journey thanks fellow renotalkers who are following my blog. This post serves to conclude our renovation experience and hopefully help new home owners in deciding what to do for their house. I'll not be updating anymore because 1) no point 2) talking about the same boring things my advice 1) listen to your personal friend is better than taking recommendations elsewhere. Esp friends with 3-4 renovations experience. 2) minimal carpentry is best. 3) take time to visit your neighbours in midst of their reno for an all rounded decision 4) join group buys. We have a few good purchase which is great, though how good, haven't personally test it out yet. 5) accessories buy from normal neighbourhood shops. They give very competitive pricing. One good example is my fan with light ($500 per piece. No installation) vs another shop i found ($400 foc installation) 6) when choosing anything, don't look at solely just facebook page review. Consider the reputation from online forums as well. No review is good as erm... 7) I personally like more matured workers.

Initially when i read blogs posted by others i also studied my house plan. After talking to the aircon staff, i realised how much we could hide safely and efficiently really depends on the bouse design. We are not planning to box up mbr trunking to save costs and the likelihood of me looking up and feel bothered by trunking is almost zero.

Yes, planning to buy ready made and move one of our wardrobe over. We want to have flexibility to change layout of room as and when we like. Also, my toddler is still young, dont want to commit any layout first, in case grow up, don't like, hard to change.

air-conditioning piping today aircon piping installation. We were also flipping between system 3 or 4. End up decided system 4 because 1) living room is small and 2) dont want to regret not installing when i need it very satisfied with my air-con company because they do a very neat job in installing the trunking! Initally also panicked when saw on some forums how some staff will install based on the most convenient route for them. So i called up the staff and requested to view how trunking runs on other units they are handling. the installation staff is very nice and patient to show me around the flat they are working on, and explained that every unit layout is different. If sufficient space allows, they will hide in the concealed box up (provided by hdb), if insufficient space, they will have to run under it (exposed and visible) after hearing that, more panic! I went back to study our unit and quite undecided whether it will be seen or not. Especially we already overlaid the toilet tiles so nicely. Pleasantly surprised that our layout allows aircon piping to run so nicely. The staff advised us to do box up because of the ugly trunking. But looking at the excellent job they do, i may only box up the living room mbr toilet (running inconspicuously) and luckily the rest all hidden in the box up above mbr, air con sitting above toilet entrance for least trunking mbr entrance, all three units in br2,3 and living room entering mbr and exiting onto toilet. I dont think it is necessary to box up because very neat. trunking in br2 travelling neatly under the beam. No need box up too. br3 also travelling neatly under beam (max happy) living room, will be sitting on beam. Although neat and nice trunking, i may have to box up this.

Pmyou.

Efficient and professional electrical works today electrician came down to do electrical wiring, looking at photos i think they are very neat and professional. Very happy with their services. had second thoughts about my crystal chandelier because it will be hanging low (tickling the top of hubby's head) and right in front of the cabinets. But the electrician was confident it can be hung up nicely.. mil was quite encouraging too, look weird, but as long as we enjoyed looking at it is what matters. the contractor said they will redo my kitchen cabinets and bathroom mirror and wardrobe configuration. At least taking responsibility.

@spooky iDs in general quote me about 28k after gst. This contractor cost me 15k no gst and songcho 12k. And i get extra things that ID cannot offer me like overlay of toilet, customised vanity and full length (horizontal) mirror, shower screen

@spooky He said he would come up with some hand drawn drawings before proceed and reassure us he would do the coordinating for us, just leave it to him. Next thing we know, they said no space in their office and need to park at our house. Everything also haven't do already carpentry done. I think their planning is very messy and unreliable. And never see any drawings. whereas my next door neighbour, in stark contrast doesnt need to be physically there and they have a team of 3-4 of different expertise working on site. Really, if not out of budget, self coordination is a headache thing. There is a gap at the top because need to box up and conceal wiring. I hope they dont break my chandelier when moving things.

More progress today painting is done, one man show, and very efficient. He just painted a single layer grossly over the walls, will touch up the edges and corners another day. Having mixed feelings about renovations, the only "right" choice i made so far is the wall colour. Exactly what i wanted, not pure white and not yellowish in colour. Recommended nippon cotton white 1136. Note the original white by hdb at the edges and my new cotton white colour. However, as i scrutinise the carpentry, i realised the internal laminates are already up. And some of the edges are poorly finished. Is it supposed to be like this? Also, the more i think about it, the funnier the configuration of the wardrobe appears to be. This small space for me to store 2 sets of my most precious dresses or what? I told the carpenter i wanted pigeon holes to put my bags, and the extreme left side of the wardrobe is the width of my pigeon hole. To be honest, we are feeling tinge of regret taking up this contractor who seems to be playing the "disappearing" game whenever i post any questions regarding their work. in fact, when we got married and buy a ready made wardrobe from neighbourhood furniture shop, the finishing is so much better than a customised one. And still holding up really well for 4 year's use. My best buys so far for this renovation is the song cho kitchen cabinet set and minimise my risks with this contractor. i mean, i can accept less than optimal workmanship, no choice already since our judgement is off for contractor. My advice for those going for renovations is to consider carefully your ID or contractor choice. If don't want to take risks, minimise your carpentry. And after laying the mbr bathroom tiles, we measured the bathroom width against mirror length. Guess what? They are so smart to cut mirror and fix the frame to the length before overlay. I shall wait and see how they are going to fix that.

@sunnyscandi haha.. learnt lesson the hard way

Lock advice from start of defects rectification with bsc until now (start to midst of reno) we were told to get a lock (number lock or padlock) just for the gate. I've considered the advantages of number lock, but when i tried to buy one from those "barang barang" shops, those available are those thin ones for luggage. One look at it you'll know it's too filmsy and offers weak security. If depend on it, i think i might as well choose to leave my door wide open. so i got a thick and sturdy yale padlock and left the key with bsc.. all went well until reno took over. And i was advised to get a number lock because of the difficulty in passing keys around different workers working on different days. therefore I needed to get a number lock, had a hard time running all over the place before i found this thick, secure and affordable yale number lock combination. End up contractor say some of their "uncle" workers dont know how to use my very secure number lock. -.-!! And they produced one of their own number lock. moral of the story, just check with your ID/contractor if they have their own to loan you to avoid getting stuck with 2 locks. More updates Contractor told us last night my cabinets are ready for installation today!?!?!?! and I haven't do electrical works, aircon, windows and painting yet. That's the troublesome part about doing coordination by ourselves. Because contractor's officr have no space to store our cabinets, all are parking nicely at my house now. Raw and loose pieces. Looks ugly and raw by itself and makes me wonder if the actual product will look off and funny or not? According to hubby, the altar looks huge and grand.. and me, looking at the photos, i can hardly stretch my imagination to visualise. I just hope we wont regret our choice. This is our breakfast counter corner. Good for early morning or late night maggie mee cooking, no need to balance hot bowl of maggie to dining hall. Some storage for us beside the breakfast counter. I hope the measurements balance up nicely, keeping fingers very crossed. Wardrobe looking all funny. Not so sure about this 6ft wardrobe will meet my clothing demands. To be honest, this configuration will need some getting used to

Congrats on the completion of reno and start of new life in your lovely house. Have thoroughly enjoyed your blog and the walk through of reno journey

Today sent hubby down to meet up with electrician to final confirm on our electrical needs. When i was there last week, it seems like work come to a stop because carpentry not here and waiting for toilet tiles to dry. was pleasantly surprised to find that progress is quite consistent and looks neat. Shall highly recommend my contractor when everything is completed if all goes well. photos lightly adjusted for even brightness, colour trueness maintained to best ability (i am not expert in adjusting/photo taking) Happy that the base is taking shape song cho said cabinets will come in mid july (keep changing between mid june/july, confused) highly recommend david's (songcho) service. Patient and professional and important he knows his work really well. One big plus point for him, he can maintain composure and professionalism even under pressure. Kudos to my dear hubby for painting the common bathroom door frame so neatly. I had requested contractor to help, but he need to charge $55 per door. My singapore brand paint only cost $15, labour is FOC and saved ourselves $275. Happy max.

@Machalat yes, agree on the part many salesman are quite myopic and prefer to close their own doors on businesses delivered to doorstep. Just keep my fingers crossed and pray for better luck

first headache having heard from friends abt how headache it is to liase with IDs or contractors and get them to fix stuffs / rectify problems. And how initally sales talk everything can and actual work everything cannot. I didnt think it could happen to me too. somehow, as the days roll by and the flat left vacant, my service yard kena alot of lizard ****, decorating the half wall on which my yard window tracks would sit on. Having a guts feel the window guy would act blur and just dump the track on, I watsapped him to remind him to get his guys to clean off first before installation. He voice messaged me so fast to say there is no such service. OMG. Boiling inside already. There are so many ways to tell a story nicely. He could have said he isn't confident his staff could get it cleaned up to my standards. Of coz i would definitely consider cleaning it myself up to my standards. Not happy already inside. haven't even start work already confidence shattered. All these nonsense makes me feel like one of those difficult demanding customers. But is making standard requests also deemed as demanding? Like if i go buy hp screen, and request staff to apply it on for me, don't tell me it is acceptable to pass my hp back to me to clean surface first before they start work. Edited: we are both talking about different things altogether. I was talking about the **** sitting on the surface where the track will sit, and he is imagining my whole service yard is covered with lizard waste and me asking him to clean up the whole yard *face palm* where got so unreasonable one? I just wanted a smooth surface to endure the track sits properly and securely (not too demanding right?) the problem with contractors is they don't bother to explain themselves. I tried to clarify and ask directly if dirt or no dirt just put the tracks on? And he just gave me a yes -.-!! Who wouldn't fume at such a reply? Anyway, my yard windows are professionally installed, and we are happy with it.