hdb4ever

Really looking forward to updates too!

Yes I felt that way too! The sofa is from the Bambu line at Castlery. The dining set I bought from IconicHaus.

Major renovation works... In my first post, I described some limitations of this flat layout. So in this post I'll describe some renovation ($$$) decisions I've made to address them. 1. Odd angle at the bottom of the living area. To achieve a more rectangular layout in the living+dining areas, a partition wall will be added (see picture below), and my TV will be mounted on it. It will also have a built in "cubbyhole" to contain the router, media devices and such. 2. Narrow walkway thanks to location of storeroom. Am hacking away the entire storeroom and in its place build wall-to-ceiling storage cabinets which are flush against the wall and less deep. While the depth will be about half of the existing storeroom, in practical terms I won't lose much space since the storeroom otherwise can't be completely filled anyway, as you need some allowance to even get into the storeroom. I also feel that storage cabinets facilitate greater ease of access to stored items compared to this storeroom 3. Difficult to move in kitchen without sacrificing cabinets. The solution seems to be hacking the wall between kitchen and dining area, and build a bar/cabinet outwards into the dining area. Yes that transforms it into an "open concept" kitchen which I'm not too thrilled about since the main door faces the kitchen! Nonetheless this arrangement gives me more clearance to move in the kitchen area without compromising on kitchen storage and counter space. I suppose I'll just need to make sure the kitchen looks good whenever any guests arrive then More natural light! One plus point of hacking the kitchen wall is that I will get even more natural light in via the kitchen windows. And since I was getting more natural light from the right side of the flat, why not get more natural light from the left side too? So off with the wall and door of Bedroom 3, to be replaced with a glass door and a half-glass wall. Did I mention that my flat is on a high floor and has unblocked view all around? Hacking so many walls does leave fewer walls on which to hang stuff.... But it does contribute to the Japandi feel that I am going for. Renovations indicated on the floor plan here Ok now on to the issue that doesn't seem to have a solution... 4. Common bathroom windows are in the yard. "Merging" the service yard with the kitchen is a common renovation step that most HDB flat owners take to enlarge their (small) kitchens. But this doesn't seem to be an option available to me because it would not be good to have someone's stink bomb seeping into the kitchen! As to the potential issue of someone peeking into common toilet from the ser ice yard (this scenario is possible should I have over-inquisitive guests of course_), the previous owner did this: When I first entered the common bathroom, I couldn't figure out why it was the only room that was so dark at mid-day. As it turns out, the previous owner covered the common bathroom's windows with a cabinet and placed a ventilation fan. I suppose that's one way of addressing it, but I prefer letting in as much natural light as possible (Japandi theme remember?) so this cabinet arrangement will have to go. So looks like no solution. The common bathroom's window will be as it is in the service yard. And the service yard has to remain as a distinct service yard, enclosed and separate (via bifold door) from the kitchen. On the plus side though, now with my kitchen "exposed" because the kitchen wall is getting hacked, keeping the service yard separate from the kitchen means that guests won't have to view my laundry upon entering my place!!

About the theme... As a soloist, it's important that my home is bright (without inducing headaches) and uncluttered (no need to spend too much time cleaning). So whitish walls are a must and wood-like flooring too. I started by looking at Muji and Scaninavian themes, but I quickly found these to be a little too light for my taste. Which then led me to Japandi. So what is Japandi? As the name suggests, Japandi is a theme incorporating both Scandinavian and Japanese elements. Elements present in Japandi include: A lot of natural light A lot of natural material especially wood Contrasts of light and darker pastel shades Functional decorations Clean lines and little clutter Greenery Some examples of what a mix of these could look like below: In short, it has elements of Muji and Scandinavian that I like, while offering more options in terms of color palette. So excited was I about this theme that I'd even bought 3 pieces of furniture long before renovation started The sofa Dark charcoal sofa would make it a standout against the whitish walls. Frame is elegant bended wood. Best of all, the sofa seats and sofa covers are removable and there is some clearance below the sofa - which means easy to clean!! The dining table and chairs Pale wooden frames for charcoal seats and a whitish marble table top! I hope I won't curse when I need to maintain this marble table top though lol The bed frame A dark walnut bedframe with plenty of storage: below the bed and even in the headboard. Again a great contrast against whitish walls, wood-like tiles and the lighter bedroom wardrobe laminate that I have in mind.

Greetings! I have been lurking and quietly reading many threads and posts here for many moons now. I've recently received the keys for my resale HDB flat and my renovations are about to start. So I'm sharing my experiences here in the hope that they can benefit others the way I have from the other T-blogs here on Renotalk! First some words about HDB's new Resale flat process... Since the start of 2018, HDB has implemented a HDB Resale Portal which makes it easier for buyers (and I assume sellers) to make transactions for their resale flats. So has it been easy? I must say that HDB has delivered on their promise. Comparing my experience to those of my friends (who bought their resale flats in previous years), mine took much less time and was so convenient! A valuation request (after submitting Option to Purchase online) was processed and responded to in just 3 working days. My resale application submission (again online) was processed and approved in just 10 working days. And 8 weeks later, I was signing papers and received my keys at HDB Hub! Yes you read that right - only one trip to HDB Hub is needed now. HDB staff (or at least the ones who worked on my application) are hardworking people. I was getting SMS notifications on Saturdays and even evenings to alert me to updates I needed to view or follow up on at the HDB Resale Portal. And my completion session at HDB Hub took barely any time at all. Kudos to HDB! What I'm looking for... As a soloist, I need a nice place which does not involve too much maintenance. Logically, I would have gone for a flexi (2-room) flat then, and for a while I was tempted - especially after viewing the beautiful renovation pictures of 2-room flats on Renotalk. Smaller flat means less maintenance, so it's perfect right? But as I looked around my current home, I realised that I would need some place more spacious. So 5-room and EAs are too big, but 2-room is too small. 3-room sounds just nice but 4-room offers more options and possibilities. So a 4-room it is! The floorplan... This is a 104sqm 4-room flat with a rather peculiar layout. The shapes and sizes of the bedrooms, bathrooms and yard are fine. I also love the sheer size of the dining and living areas. There are about 4 meters worth of windows in the living/dining area, so it gets a lot of natural light (especially since I have unblocked views all around this flat). Only a few characteristics of this place did cause me some hesitation at first though 1. The odd angle in the living area. Sure the sofa and TV could run parallel against one of the 2 walls, but then aligning the dining table the same way would result in a weird angle against the living room windows. 2. The location of the store room makes the path in from the main door somewhat narrow 3. Kitchen has an odd angle and not a perfect rectangle, which limits the placement of cabinets etc. I can also imagine it being very difficult to move around if I were to line the kitchen walls with cabinets! 4. The common bathroom has windows opening up into the yard. This means the kitchen can't be "expanded" into the yard (by breaking the walls) because...we can't have people peeking in right? Nonetheless, these are issues that can probably be addressed with some planning and $$$ (i.e. renovation). And so here's the floorplan!

Have really enjoyed reading this thread. Am assuming that the renovation has been completed? Able to provide updated pics on lived-in look Tigaroo?