hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 Hi all,finally got down to starting our own t-blog here. Anyway to cut a long story short, after 2 failed attempts in the Aug 07 and Oct 07 bi-monthly ballots, we finally struck gold in Dec 07. That was the Sengkang/Hougang Punggol ballot and there were 5000+ applications for 270 flats.Although our number was 179, we managed to get our choice unit, a 15th floor (top level) EA within 5 min walk from Sengkang MRT and Compasspoint. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
applefreak 1 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 hi hobbes187, welcome to sengkang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haroldism 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 spam chop no:2~welcome~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 OPENING OF DOORWe collected our keys in late Jan, went to open the door that very day and this was what the flat looked like. The first thing that struck us was the ugly bathroom and kitchen tiles. We had long discussions over these and finally decided to hack them all off Living roomDining room - We plan to hack away the wall to the study room to make the living/dining room largerStudy room - This will be converted to part of the living roomMaster bedroom - Not the biggest of bedrooms but still passableMBR Toilet - Ugly tiles and ugly vanity top! Both will go! Kitchen tiles - Will be hacking them off as well. Why must HDB lay such colours? Cant they just use white? Kitchen Toilets - Again the same peachy colour. Hacking them off!Bedroom 2Reporting DefectsWell, after searching through the entire house trying to find every little thing, I reported all of them to HDB. Some of the tiles sounded hollow to me so I thought I'll try my luck and ask them to hack. But after the HDB officer and contractor came down, they told me all my tiles were redone a few months before I got the keys and those that I tot were hollow were not (sadly, a fact confirmed by my ID ).So I had to fork out my own money for all the hacking of the tiles but I did manage to get HDB to replace all my power points, tel sockets and SCV points to new ones cos the old ones were yellow. Also theychanged my door bell button, viewfinder, cleaned my balcony doors and polished all the windows. Other than that I couldnt find much problems with the flat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
compassvale 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 welcome to sengkang! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 (edited) Selecting IDThis is the most time, energy and brain power consuming part of my reno so far. I had to go thru 8 different quotes, compare every little detail,meet up with the seemingly reasonable ones and select the special one from among them all!I narrowed down to 2 IDs but eventually selected Max Ng from Ideal House due to his reasonable quote, responsiveness and most importantly, the ease with which we could communicate with him. (I have met yaya IDs who think their ideas are the best and dont care about what you want! )Anyway we've signed our package with Max and now we're officially begun our reno! Hopefully we can start work in early May as planned.Selecting Fengshui MasterAs my parents believe strongly in fengshui, they wanted me to get a FS master to have a look at my place before reno begins. So I engage Mst Tan from Wayonnet who has been our regular FSM for years. He visited our flat and after looking at the FS, he recommended us some colours. Our auspicious colours are beige, white, red, blue, yellow and green. And our inauspicous colour is BLACK! There goes the contemporary modern theme that we were planning to have...So now back to the drawing board with our ID and decided to go for the resort theme with emphasis on brown and beige. Edited March 9, 2008 by hobbes187 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluberi 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 spam chop! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 Selecting TilesWe went with Max to select tiles at Hafary Balestier today. The place was pretty crowded and we had fun choosing the tiles for the entire house. As we are going for the resort feel, most of our tiles are chosen to give a warm feel to the house.All the tiles we chose today - From this overview you can see the kind of warm resort feel that we are trying to achiveLiving room (top) and Balcony tiles (bottom) - The living room homo tiles will be in 60x60 while the balcony ones will be 60x30. Chose the rougher balcony tiles to give an outdoor feel.Kitchen and service balcony floor (top) and wall tiles (bottom) - I really like the combi of the kitchen. The floor tile is really unique. It will be matched by a wooden laminate on my kitchen cabinet.Kitchen toilet wall (left top), floor(right) and wall feature tiles (left bottom) - We are thinking of putting the feature piece behind the WC and the shower head.MBR toilet wall (left top), wall feature (left bottom) and floor tiles (right) - The flower tiles will be used in the shower area only. It should give a nice hotel effect with the new vanity cabinet and large mirror Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vowsh 1 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 Selecting TilesWe went with Max to select tiles at Hafary Balestier today. The place was pretty crowded and we had fun choosing the tiles for the entire house. As we are going for the resort feel, most of our tiles are chosen to give a warm feel to the house.All the tiles we chose today - From this overview you can see the kind of warm resort feel that we are trying to achiveLiving room (top) and Balcony tiles (bottom) - The living room homo tiles will be in 60x60 while the balcony ones will be 60x30. Chose the rougher balcony tiles to give an outdoor feel.Kitchen and service balcony floor (top) and wall tiles (bottom) - I really like the combi of the kitchen. The floor tile is really unique. It will be matched by a wooden laminate on my kitchen cabinet.Kitchen toilet wall (left top), floor(right) and wall feature tiles (left bottom) - We are thinking of putting the feature piece behind the WC and the shower head.MBR toilet wall (left top), wall feature (left bottom) and floor tiles (right) - The flower tiles will be used in the shower area only. It should give a nice hotel effect with the new vanity cabinet and large mirrorU got a big space. How much is your reno cost? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 U got a big space. How much is your reno cost?Hi my reno cost is $38k excl furnitures and electricals. I did full house tiling (living, dining, balcony, kitchen), kitchen hack and tile, 2 toilets hack and tile, MBR toilet vanity cabinet w/mirror, MBR sliding glass shower screen, kitchen cabinet (~34ft), 2 wardrobes (total ~11ft), full height shoe cabinet, TV console, shelter feature wall, full house window grills, casement window for balcony and service yard, mitsubishi sys 3 non-inverter aircon, false ceiling in living, dining, foyer, MBR, change both toilet bi-fold doors and hack off study rm. Plus all the other usual kerbs, pipes and stuff like that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ranval9 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 hihi welcome to sengkang !!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ctgal 0 Report post Posted March 9, 2008 hi hobbes187,i saw ur tblog thru the Ideal House Thread..my new house is also in sengkang - blk 202....EAwondering if you are doing anything to the balcony steel infront of your living room cos im thinking of ideas on how to cover the steel... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 10, 2008 hi hobbes187,i saw ur tblog thru the Ideal House Thread..my new house is also in sengkang - blk 202....EAwondering if you are doing anything to the balcony steel infront of your living room cos im thinking of ideas on how to cover the steel...Thats a coincidence cos I'm at 202 also! Which 202 are you at? PM me if not convenient to list here.Anyway I'm covering the steel ledge at the balcony. I'm doing fixed window panels at the bottom part and casement windows at the top. This will hopefully give a full height window kind of effect !! I chose casement over sliding to maximise the amt of air coming in from outside. But if i'm not wrong, HDB rules state that we need at least 5 panels... I was hoping to install only 4 casement panels cos I saw some ppl in my block install only 4... Will get my ID to check that out.When did u get your flat and how much? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darrenelle 0 Report post Posted March 10, 2008 Hello, I am also going to start my Sengkang home. Hoping to confirm with a Reno firm soon. I like your layout. My EA's layout is different. Bomb shelter in the middle of the house!! Don't have much to choose from when it's our turn to pick a unit.Can read my blog to see the layout. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes187 0 Report post Posted March 10, 2008 I believe u are at the 289 - 290++ area right? Those were my 3rd choice flats when I went for selection. I like the kitchen with 2 exits and the large study area. But only problem to me was too far from compasspoint.Anyway from your blog I think layout 1 is nice. Makes the house look spacious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
