Opening A New Chapter Of Our Lives ... 2nd Home In 7 Years

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Anyway for your reference, I also got a fixed glass panel and 2 sliding panels dimension 2.4m x 2.1m in my design. My quote was 2k.

Thank you, renoGirl for your post. May I know the name of your supplier?

[renoGirl 1]

Thank you, renoGirl for your post. May I know the name of your supplier?

This is what my ID quote me. So I guess, if you go directly to the supplier should be even cheaper by 2k? Since he already "earn" some before quoting me. But maybe you should ask for a quote before you tell them, its gonna be install in a landed property. Just my thoughts, maybe they feel you rich so wanna "chop" you.

[phoenix 0]

wow, for major works you're not using ID? u really quite brave. hehe..

i'm still in the midst of ID/contractor selection. can't make up my mind if i wanna use ID or not. my hb seems to think that using ID better.. save the hassle of having to deal with several contractors.

looking forward to see your end product.

gd luck ya!!

[babyQ 0]

MaCe posted a glass supplier contact b4. i called them but they erm arh don't seem to understand what i'm talking about. you can try...

http://www.carltonglass.com.sg/ tel: 6742 6882

it is very very brave of you to embark on a whole house reno solo! all the best and may everything be smooth-sailing and hassle-free!

[waileong 0]

That's not true. ID is not a necessity, and it's not about being brave.

Look, the ID's main purposes is to help you with design. They help you with space planning, (hopefully) provide innovative solutions to your reno problems, make sure your house is pretty, things make sense, can even recommend furnishings to match.

The secondary purpose is that of a project manager, to deal with all the subcons and coordinate everything.

If you don't need the design work, you can use a general contractor. You tell the guy what to do, and he'll coordinate everything. Indeed, some ID's also use general contractors to handle the project management, because they're too busy with design work to go around chasing the electricians, plumbers, tilers, carpenters, etc.

So if you know what to do, and you're not too fussy about design, there's no need for an ID, just get a good general contractor.

Indeed, that would be the prudent and money-saving thing to do because ID's typically take a percentage cut of the renovation quote.

wow, for major works you're not using ID? u really quite brave. hehe..

i'm still in the midst of ID/contractor selection. can't make up my mind if i wanna use ID or not. my hb seems to think that using ID better.. save the hassle of having to deal with several contractors.

looking forward to see your end product.

gd luck ya!!

Chunky--

Sorry to hear your woes. I think you should think further ahead, see whether you want to continue relationship with this contractor, or replace him. No point continuing with him if you don't trust him and doing the contractor's work yourself.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Sorry to hear your woes. I think you should think further ahead, see whether you want to continue relationship with this contractor, or replace him. No point continuing with him if you don't trust him and doing the contractor's work yourself.

Thank you, waileong. It's so pleasant to receive your PM and also your comments here.

The irony is, this renovation "uncle" is someone whom I have used over and over again over the past years, and he did an A&A for my mother 2 years ago. His prices had always been reasonable and I feel it's only this time around that his prices are getting kind of out of hand. The momentum of the reno market? Contractors getting greedier? Rise in costs of raw materials and labour? Whatever it is, it's a really bad time to do renovations, I feel ....

I am too far into the reno, to want to make a change in contractor. I still want my handover in mid Dec. In fact, I am also very realistic. I am not insistent on a drop-dead date. I just want work to be done nicely, and so I do not pressurize him to hurry up.

I went over to my new place and had a look at what's been done from the time I left yesterday, and this morning. What I saw lifted my moods. I wasn't expecting any nice surprises but I received one.

I'd asked for an angular false ceiling in my roof (following the shape of the pitched roof). At first, both the main con and sub con were both uncertain it could be done, because I do have alot of piping and wiring to conceal. Surprise, surprise! They did it! The steel frames for the false ceiling are all up, so it gave me a pretty good idea where the ceiling would be. Bravo, for giving me something to smile about.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

MaCe posted a glass supplier contact b4. i called them but they erm arh don't seem to understand what i'm talking about. you can try...

http://www.carltonglass.com.sg/ tel: 6742 6882

it is very very brave of you to embark on a whole house reno solo! all the best and may everything be smooth-sailing and hassle-free!

Thank you for the contact of Carlton Glass. I just called to enquire and spoke with a lady by the name of May. She said Carlton is only the glass supplier and they do not do installation. The good thing is that she quoted me $400 for each panel of glass 70cmx280cmx1.5cm. The next thing to do now is to find someone to supply the track and installation. Does anyone have a contact?

[Chunky Monkey 2]

All Sunday (4th Nov) afternoon and evening, my husband and I were at Classic Furniture (Tg Katong Shopping Complex) to review and confirm our kitchen design with our designer. This was probably the 3rd time we had gone through the kitchen plan and I am hopeful that installation would be swift and painless.

We discussed the locations, sizes, clearance, buffers etc etc for my main contractor to build cement bases for the kitchen, as well as positions of sockets, telephone and tv points. And went into great details working out the size of my kitchen island and the various sizes of pull out baskets underneath it.

The original plan was to have an island that is 1.8m long but we toyed with increasing it to 1.9m long, so as to fit an additional pull out basket. We tried to work that in, into the floor plan but it proved a bit too tight for my husband's comfort, and so we reverted to 1.8m once more. With a 1.8m island, we can have a mobile unit that can slide over the island as well as a side row of cabinets. This versatility made my husband really happy. It was his idea afterall.

I was told by my designer that they can no longer take new bookings because they are way too busy, and the factory is over worked. I am glad I put down my downpayment 2 months' ago to secure my delivery.

I spent some time searching for a few glass contractors and faxed to them what I required. This experience says alot about the companies who responded, and those who didn't. It was a pleasure speaking with companies who were not only prompt in their replies, but also keen to make a sale. I cannot believe that in this time and day, there are actually companies who cannot be bothered i.e. "sorry, the sales person didn't come in today. He/she will get back to you tomorrow". Sorry too. I can't deal with such tardiness. I am already satisfied that I have a few quotations to compare and I think I should be able to come to a decision soon ....

Edited November 5, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[Chunky Monkey 2]

6 Nov 2007

Rise and shine (well, not quite. It's raining) early in the morning. DH will take some time off in the morning to accompany me to Geylang (definitely not a place for a woman to be there alone). We are going to our favourite lighting shop. National Electric, on Geylang Road, between Lor 22 and Lor 24.

Will update the prices here later in the evening .....

[applefreak 1]

lights, something that makes or breaks a home design...

[Chunky Monkey 2]

lights, something that makes or breaks a home design...

applefreak, you are absolutely right. But we are not arty farty people, and so we are not going to have creative light fixtures. Zilch.

Luckily for us, my DH and I are a super pragmatic couple (much to the frustration of our extended family! LOL). When we choose lightings, we think about who's job it is to clean and wipe the light fittings. And since neither of us want to waste our time cleaning, we are going with downlights all over the house. LOL! That's why no chandeliers for us either. (it's such a fad)

There will be some areas where downlights would not be possible, and hence we'd to choose some external lightings. And even so, we chose very simple designs that are easy to open, when we need to replace the bulbs.

Edited November 6, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[applefreak 1]

totally agree with you on the cleaning part

that's why my home lights are all those simple round plastic cover type

most important thing is the lights must fit in, instead of stand out

when one looks at the overall design

[Chunky Monkey 2]

most important thing is the lights must fit in, instead of stand out

when one looks at the overall design

Indeed. I am keeping my fingers crossed those light fixtures we bought (other than downlights) will blend nicely with the new and old furniture.

If any one of them sticks out ackwardly, I will have them changed.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

I can't recall which thread it was that I commented about the height required, for my contractor to run 3 rows of mosaic tiles across the walls of my master bathroom.

The height of my WC cistern is 735mm, and my DH and I had thought that 1000mm would be sufficient to not only stay clear of the cistern, but also provide the visual separation from the top of the cistern. But it turned out that the shower mixture (on the other side of the bathroom) will be installed at the 1000mm mark, and hence, I will need to raise the height of the my mosaic to 1100mm instead.

It's terribly frigtening to get these things wrong but it does give me the sense of accomplishment when my main con and I can thrash things out before actual work is done. No hasty acts, and less pain.

Edited November 6, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[Chunky Monkey 2]

7 Nov 2007

Today is the day we decide on the tiling pattern for our living room. DH and I have been using Powerpoint to toy with different ways of laying the floor tiles, and it's between laying them diagonally or just laying them straight.

As for our kitchen, which we will be using long wood-like ceramic, we pretty much have nailed a pattern that we want. DH thinks we should not lay them like bricks, which is plain and too predictable. I was playing with the herringbone patten but it seems like such a challenge to lay it. And DH thinks the herringbone pattern will only look good for small parquet, and not long tiles.

DH reckons the tiler could just cut irregular lengths of the tiles and so lay them randomly. I reminded DH that "random" to contractors is like asking them to "any old how lay the tiles" and it may come out looking like a mess "rojak". So, I painstakingly created a pattern that looks random but in actual fact it's not. We will try the layout on the spot today, to see if it will actually look nice.

Wish us luck!