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Hi everyone! It has been a while since I updated the blog! But a lot of progress so far in the reno works. Though it was rather slow initially. But after some discussion and clarification - more manpower has been put in and works are fast on the way. Updates as of today: Staircase: Entire staircase has been done! We will be keeping the existing skirting - going to have it varnished and repainted to a dark walnut colour. Bedrooms: False ceilings all done. First coat of base coat done for all rooms: First coat of painting done for all rooms except our Master bedroom cos we haven't chose our colour cos we cant make up our mind. Tiling: All four toilets have been tiled (like FINALLY!) Bathtub completed just a few days ago. Still have some touch up to do. Honestly, I'm not too pleased with the tiles we chose for the 2nd storey toilet. I guess once seeing it on such a huge scale - i kinda wished we chose another design. But too late - the HB keeps telling me that once its washed and all accessories and lightings in - it will look v nice! oookay - for now I just smile more! Tiling of Granny room completed today. realised i didn't take a photo of the completed look. Tiling of Dining room completed. Think we made a good choice of choosing the bigger size! Kitchen is in the progress of tiling now. The walls are done. Floor almost. The 2nd photo (was taken much earlier) shows the wall tiles clearly. Yard - floor tiles have been completed. Now awaiting the completion of the sink support tiling. We had some leaks - so plumber came in to fix that. The TV feature wall installation is in progress now. Cant wait for that to be completed. Carpentry: We told the carpenter to come and measure so that he can start works for all wardrobes and master toilet vanity asap. We still haven't chosen our laminate colour. We will by end of the week. until the next update! Seeya!

Hi! What a lovely house! Congrats! Wondering who did your landscaping? We are looking to do some landscaping for our landed home too. Thanks for the reply!

Hi! Beautiful home! It really looks like a resort! Which company did you engage for your landscaping? And also your door sign, did your contractor do it for u? We are doing up our terrace house now. Really like to do some landscaping. : ) Thank you for your reply.

Hahaha! So I did the little test you mentioned - walked all the way out to check out the boundary wall (then realised there is quite a bit of rubbish there - had the urge to just sweep it all away! But no equipment) So i checked it out - and YES! I can see the SKY! Yeah! So it is not illegal! Thank you for pointing this out.

Thank you for your reply!

Question about carpentry laminate: I really need help with this. I saw some designs which i really like. And would like to do this for my cabinets and feature wall in the house. These "V" shape design. See below: really like these vertical lines design. my carpenter said i got to choose a laminate that has lines and he will paste it in such a way that the lines form these "V" shapes. is that correct? any suggestions/advice? Thanks everyone! Also saw this carpentry (see below) LOVE the colour and think it will be a perfect match for our living tiles. Both of these photos above were from the same project. I love this laminate. wondering why it had a strip strip look - as in it looks like they were strips pieced together (especially the first photo). maybe my eyes are not seeing it clearly and it is the design. anyone familiar with this? Sorry if this is a really silly question. Anyone done these kind of designs in their home? Appreciate the advice. Thanks for helping out with this. the HB says choice of laminate is up to me! so got to make sure i better choose properly.

gulp! ok, maybe i must say it is NOT fully sheltered. showing photos here to show what i mean. so this is the roof that the previous owner has done. its just an extension of the concrete ceiling from the original building. this is how the yard looks like. so correction it is not fully sheltered.

Updates: Toilet on 3rd floor has been tiled! Realised I didnt take the photos of the other toilet. T Wall to make two rooms: Prepping walls in Kitchen to be tiled soon. Cant wait to see the kitchen all tiled up cos we LOVE our tiles. Really simple though but we want a really bright house. Cant seem to find the photos of the tiles of the kitchen. Beams for the yard:

Busy like crazy and only had time to post now. Our yard area has a roof (done by the previous owner) and one concrete (i don't know what that's called) ceiling wall from the original house - it is considered indoors as none of the yard is exposed above. And we can see concrete ceiling part its leaky. and the ceiling paint is peeling off. Anyway, our contractor said he will see to it and not to worry. I believe we are in good hands. The yard area - being prepped to be flushed and filled with concrete. At the area, we will be doing a concrete sink and base for our washers and dishwasher. Also, the leveling of the yard to the IC level (anyway what does IC stand for? I know its the drain thingy on the ground though - just dont know what IC stands for) is something that he is not charging us. He told us don't worry, that it will all turn out well. And knowing him and how we had the opportunity to talk other clients and see their several he has done, we are confident it will all be ok. We can see he isn't calculative and so far we are happy with what he has done in the house. Updates: toilets on 3rd floor tiling all completed! the wall to make one huge bedroom into two is completed! Aircon piping (first round is all done) Electrical first round all done. Piping done! First flight of staircase from the 3rd storey is tiled! Yeah! 2nd storey huge toilet is half way tiled. In terms of tiling, still have a lot more to do. Had a chat with the guy and he said the tiling will be done from the top floor first and then slowly move down. So now with the 2 3rd storey toilets done and the first flight of stairs completed, the next is the 2nd storey bathroom and then he will continue with the stairs. Well, we just cannot wait for the tiling and wet works to be done! Truly cant wait to see the newly tiled house! All the tiles have been delivered to the house. Been rainy these past few days. Mango Tree Also had the pruners to come prune the mango tree cos the leaves were growing so fast! cost $250. then now we just purchased a tree pole pruner and i think we can do it on our own after we observed how they did it and now that we got the equipment. Water Feature We have been thinking about getting a water feature for the car porch area. is good for the fengshui! Saw one really nice fukai one! but it was oh so expensive. We also saw one in Fu Luo Shou building - much less expensive. But not as pretty as the one from Fukai. Still mulling over it. Not a need at the moment - probably get it much later when we move in. I got to think about maintenance too. Wondering cos i have to put it at the corner of the car porch area which is exposed to rain/sun/ So wondering how it will be like to maintain. Saw this (photo taken from Website) feature at IMM. So nice! Other one the HB liked at Fu Lou Shou: Carpentry Meeting Just met our carpenter - and finalized all the drawings. We haven't selected the laminate and colours yet. We told him that we would like to do it after the house is tiled so that we can see what suits the house best. So far, happy with our carpenter. He is very proactive and helpful and nice guy! From simplecloset. So on the whole - now house is pretty much being tiled. really wish it can be tiled faster. Cant believe it is already coming to end of sept! We are moving mid dec. So hopefully all works goes on smoothly. Tiling of 2nd storey Bathroom: Staircase - we chose to tile it. Got really nice and huge tiles for the staircase. We will varnish and repaint the skirting for the stairs. All skirting for the house will be the same colour as stairs. As for the rooms and walkway and family area - we are going to overlay vinyl. We have selected something that is similar to the staircase tiles. Selected Vinyl Flooring: All Tiles are here! Tiles for Living, foyer & Dining: Love these tiles! Really want to have the house looking bright and big! The tiles are here! That's all for now!

Hi Snoozee! Woah, been a very crazy week so no time to update. Yes, everything that you said is correct and we did consider it as well. Today we are meeting our contractor again to discuss and settle it. There will be some changes to the yard - he has suggested raising the level up to the IC level and flush everything. So lets see again the whole plan after today's discussion. Updates: More waterproofing to be done above the yard area too. Sigh. Money flying away! One toilet tiling is almost done. And the second one is almost finished. nice to see the tiles up! On the whole, work, we feel is a little slow. We dont have a schedule (cos our contractor says its hard to give one but he assures us work will be completed within the time frame) Having always been to IDs during our previous renos - this time its quite tough for us as now we really have to coordinate like crazy and check and check and check. Take tons of photo. Sometimes a bit tough to talk to so many people and along the way the message can get mixed up! Have to be on the ball all the time. So far, we have been looking around for sofa, fridge and still thinking about the lights - the 2 important lights for the foyer and living. Sigh - dunno when we will get the ideal ones without bursting our pockets.

Updates: So we had our meeting today with contractor. We resolved the kitchen cabinet issue. it will be 620mm and the wall will be extended by a bit for us. We also talked about the yard and how we needed a longer base as we decided to place our dishwasher and 2 washing machines in the yard. Waterproofing: sigh, had to also extend waterproofing to the yard too. gonna cost us more again. Air con: The air-con piping is almost complete for the whole house. Tiling: nice to see that some tiling works have begun. Our 3rd storey toilet wall one side has been tiled. Our neighbour has also started their renovation today! Saw the huge dumpster in their car porch. They just bought the place just after us. Looks like we may complete our reno around the same time. At least, when we move in by the end of the yr, they may have completed their reno!

correct! It was one of our fengshui requirements too.

Yes, indeed. just checked the model specs we bought. its less than 600mm.

Lights, lights and LIGHTS!! That is the BIG decision now we have to make with regards to our choice of lights for the foyer and living area. Ideally we would like to buy two similar lights (one big & one smaller) so that the entire area will look nice and in sync. These are our choices so far: Choice 1 ---- Lighting Centre: We saw these! really nice! they has 3 sizes. so we thought take the huge and medium ones. It is brass - so it will last really well. in terms of how design - its pretty nice. But really expensive - it will cost us about $2500 for two of these (one huge & 1 medium). Choice 2 ------ Chan Huat this one - the huge version has 24 bulbs! and the smaller version - realize this picture is the small size. we r looking at the medium one which is slightly bigger. These two cost $2400. I prefer Choice 2. but we r really seeing if we can find something else - which wont cost us above $2000. oh my! such a tough time searching for the perfect lights!

Hi Snoozee! Wow, thank you so much for your post. I will take note of this information. Wah, after your post, i went to check the old photos (prior to hacking) and realize that the old carpentry was sticking out too. it was 620mm but that wall there is 600mm. actually it seems ok to leave it like that. The carpenter suggestion was to extend the wall to 620mm. which means that the yellow parts had to be hacked to fix the whole thing. If we keep it as status quo - then it will look ugly as it is not flushed so its whether we are willing to accept it that way. lets say we just extend the wall to 620mm (so that the cabinet is flushed with the wall) but dont hack the yellow parts - then the gate (we are removing the existing one) will become smaller. which i think is ok, isnt it? also must check the dimension of our oven - cos we are building in on this side of the wall. Below is the design for this entire wall. if oven is 620mm then no choice must stick to that. appreciate your advice Snoozee