Bedok Central

[DSA 0]

black black leh.. nice mehz? but hopefully it match well with the train sound

I think the criteria is how you would feel if u were in such a room & whether that is what u wanna feel in that particular room. That's the factor that clinches the deal.

Anyone buying a set of Rinnai hob & hood? Let's band together & obtain better pricing.

And might even be able to order direct from Rinnai Holdings which has a showroom near Cisco Certis at 33, Jalan Afifi Etonhouse #01-01.

Edited June 4, 2008 by DSA

[raayn 0]

See my post above with more info

Probably, even if you are sitting on the floor watching it as your height is 1.8 m. I suggest the users of your living room sit on many sofas in furniture showrooms, once they found the most comforable sofa, measure the vertical distance from the eye level to the floor - that would be the vertical distance from the centre of the TV to the floor.

hey guys, after looking at the short wall, and thinkin shld we make a panel to extend the wall, wic will den block the entrance to the lane to all rooms, OR placing the TV on the short wall...

i was thinking of doin away with the sofa and just placing huge beenies (but not so poor quality ones) those you find in AU, for lounging, if you get wat i mean.

do you think its practical to not buy sofa? its like my 4rm hall will just be a small corner if i place a sofa or coffee table...hmmmmm

[cacky 0]

darcbleu: I have the same thoughts as you for the bathroom area. But I was told that relaying tiles may not be good in the long run. Nonetheless, do some reading up on it to see if it's worth the while.

I also intend to do a vanity cabinet under the sink and perhaps try to change the sink. But as someone pointed out here ... the MBR bathroom is really small. I really don't know how much of the basin we can change. But looking at the current state one is really really sad.

DSA: Thanks for the fengshui tips. My hubby's into that for the new place, this should be a good read for him.

By the way, from this:

- Commercial facilities at Block 219 including 8 shops, 1 eating house and 1 supermarket

This means we'll be having some shops, eating house and a supermarket at the multi-storey carpark nearby, and that's good to know!!! You very good leh, dig up such info to share share with us!

So, the phone socket is in the middle of the long wall? **** silly leh. But can we shift the location huh? I thought we could. Then if the TV socket is placed on the short wall, then can still move location? I mean, what about those of us who want to place our TV on the long wall?

And thanks for sharing the info on the windows of the service yard. It didn't occur to me that we should install windows. All the while, I was just thinking of grills only actually. But given the torrential rains in Singapore, having a service yard covered with windows might be better hor. The Rinnai deal seems good leh, but too bad we not in Singapore. When are you all planning to go get it?

[eipsy 0]

Hi everyone

I m the fren mentioned by darbleu, getting my flat at Blk 219C, suppposed to collect my keys 2molo...I changed my appointment to next week.

Just realised that I know bubbly's wife too. So decided to join the forum for discussion on our new flat

Did any of you get the HDB's flooring?

Looks ugly, tinking of changing it but was dissuaded by my colleagues who have worked in HDB before.

Told him I dun like the big gaps between the tiles..he said that HDB tiles are durable (since the construction company has to adhere to HDB specs) and have 3 year warranty. You can be sure that HDB will get the contractor to rectify the tiles if anything is wrong. He said big gaps are good...if there is any expansion due to heat, your tiles won't crack. But of course, he say normally ladies (like her wife) would complain about the big gaps coz it gets dirty and become very obvious...

He also dissuaded me from getting parquet flooring for bedrooms, especially when you have kids...nice to have, but a problem to maintain. Water, urine will cause discolouration over time. And if the flooring is coloured, scratched by your kids, you can't clean it and replace it. Lamination is only 0.5mm, so not much protection. To make sure it look good, varnishing it will cost you a bomb.

He say, "If you plan to only stay for 3-5 years, you may wan to do all this fancy stuff..coz the maintenance problem would be passed to the next owner. However, the renovation work only constitute a mere 5% of your flat selling price. The next owner is not going to care what kind of flooring you have"

The best thing was when he say, "Your renovation cost should not exceed $15k."

!!! He's a very experienced estate maintenance manager, and he is also experienced property investor....what you guys tink?

[DSA 0]

...... the MBR bathroom is really small. I really don't know how much of the basin we can change. But looking at the current state one is really really sad.

You can purchase the floor plan of your unit and with the dimensions of the basin you intend to install, you can do a guesstimate of the space planning.

DSA: Thanks for the fengshui tips. My hubby's into that for the new place, this should be a good read for him.

风水 originated from 公元前4856年前, it has evolved to be quite the science. It's just that few are adequately well-versed in ancient Chinese to understand the ancient Chinese classic text on 风水. The importance of enhancing the well-being of your family members living under 1 roof cannot be under-estimated.

For those non-believers, they're losing out on the third most important aspect:

一命二运三风水，四积功德五读书。六名七相八敬神，九交贵人十养生。十一择业与择偶，十二趋吉要避凶。

人生若要更幸福，上述件件想清楚。

This means we'll be having some shops, eating house and a supermarket at the multi-storey carpark nearby, and that's good to know!!! You very good leh, dig up such info to share share with us!

So, the phone socket is in the middle of the long wall? **** silly leh. But can we shift the location huh? I thought we could. Then if the TV socket is placed on the short wall, then can still move location? I mean, what about those of us who want to place our TV on the long wall?

Hence I wrote a stinging email to HDB, now that I have ascertained the identify of the designer of my unit, I can forward the stinger to Surbana Internationa Consultants.

And thanks for sharing the info on the windows of the service yard. It didn't occur to me that we should install windows. All the while, I was just thinking of grills only actually. But given the torrential rains in Singapore, having a service yard covered with windows might be better hor. The Rinnai deal seems good leh, but too bad we not in Singapore. When are you all planning to go get it?

It puzzles me why Surbana Internationa Consultants did not put in a window or grille on the ledge of the service yard in its design? This calls for another stinging email to HDB. Edited June 4, 2008 by DSA

[big orange 0]

well-said!

I will add u in the family tree. Anyway i from 219C too

Thanks.

[cacky 0]

eipsy: Welcome to the group! You have made really good points there by your friend and it's useful information for me and my hubby as we want to plan the home reno to be 'children-ready'. No use looking all that good if it's not practical.

And I agree with you on the gaps in between the tiles. It is true that when dirty, the white gaps turn into grey or black and can get pretty unsightly. Then again, the HDB tiles should be of good quality. So it's quite a headache there you have. But do bear in mind that hacking of tiles does cost a lot of money. So whether you wanna do that or not is up to you.

Did your friend mention what type of tiles would be good for bedrooms then??? Hmmmmmm, renovation should not exceed S$15k ... issit possible in this time and day? Even for basic reno???

DSA: Thanks for the link to the floor plan! Ha! Wonder how they will respond to your 'stinging' email.

[eipsy 0]

Thanks, Orange

Hi DSA, what does the floor plan show? Floor area for each room? How much it cost?

by the way, for those who have their flats facing the mrt, like me...its true, you will hear the loud MRT train noise...

My parents stay at a block at Chai Chee facing the track (just a few km from bdk central), I m very used to hearing the loud churring noise of the mrt train since young...even though we stay at the 9th floor...

so, I m immune to the noise liao..my baby also immune coz she is taken care by my mum..that's why I took the unit facing the track...

the only good thing about having train track in front of your blk is I can point to my daughter and teach her, 'see train, see train'... hahaha

[darcbleu 0]

personally i think doing up the grills and windows at the service yard is a must must, as the rain would definetly splash in esp if your unit if the more "exposed" ones facing outside. i think now new units all have service yard without windows, duno who came out with this brillant idea.....the next concern is privacy of cos, as units to units and units to corridor quite near you dun wan people to peep or see what you doing there rite?

i am still against extending the short wall to accomodate the tv as i dun like the idea of confined space again in a small living room liao, wants my living room to be as spacious as possible.

i guess the mbr toilet should not have problem changing ba, but everything only can be 100% sure we got keys and see for ourselves what is the state of it...

[tfujiwara8 0]

well-said!

I will add u in the family tree. Anyway i from 219C too

Thanks.

gt my HLE approved after I feedback to them that its taking too long, and they approved within 24hrs!

now I wonder when will I be able to collect my keys! want to finish my reno by end july!

Edited June 4, 2008 by tfujiwara8

[eipsy 0]

Cacky, I will try to fish more info from him...he say $15k can leh...even for today's market rates.

(need to catch him during breaktime...dun wan to be seen chatting so much at work

Talking about bedrooms, I remembered something he say about lighting. He say that nowadays pple like to do false ceiling with downlights for living room or special hanging lights (hanged from ceiling type) for their dining area...

he say no need, I agree with him on this coz I plan to just put ceiling mounted lights, one **** room and one at dining area. He suggested to me to install lightings using fluorescent tubes, easy and cheaper to change. But I told him then my home would look very bright and boring (like my parents' home)...not romantic...

He say that we can do those special lighting effects (e.g. dimmer) just in our bedroom lor. Living room/ dining area no need so fancy lighting. This one I disagree though...

He advised that we must pay attention to our curtains...he find that curtains play a very important role in enhancing the look of our rooms.

[yokoyoko 0]

gt my HLD approved after I feedback to them that its taking too long, and they approved within 24hrs!

now I wonder when will I be able to collect my keys! want to finish my reno by end july!

so gd.. i think all/most ppl have gt their HLE approved.. mine still stuck with HDB.. they mess it up.. said sales side has the copy and their side(loan) don have.. need to retrieve from them.. waste time!!

and also mess up our TV pt and etc.. what can they mess up again... haiz...

Earlier, i mentioned before there is a case where CHina workers stuffed their meal boxes, rubbish behind the walls reported few months back in spore.. ... i think our flats oso bulit by CHina company(saw chinese workers).. so when u all gt the keys.. beta go and check ard.. smell... btw.. no racism hor.. haha

hope don have all these messes for our nice estate

Edited June 4, 2008 by yokoyoko

[cacky 0]

darcbleu: I think in overseas, it's quite common to have service yard without windows, it's after all the 'yard' area. Thing is, given Singapore's climate and the rain situation, it's not possible to keep the service yard dry after the rain. So windows are important. *sigh* So extra costs there to factor for renovation. I agree with you totally about not extending the short wall. It'll only block the corridor leading to the rooms! Gotta think of how to place the furniture around in the house, I guess.

eipsy: I agree with you that even living room should have the amber lighting (romantic setting as you term it). But I think shouldn't just restrict yourself to one type of lighting. You can have a combination of both amber and flourescent type of lighting. Sometimes, you need flourescent lighting for reading. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but amber lighting tends to make my eyes feel more dry, I don't know why. You can make use of L-Box or U-Box ceilings to place your flourescent lighting and still have your pretty looking lamps for your amber lighting, best of both worlds.

Then at least you can opt as and when your mood feels like it. Oh ... and remember ah ... where you place your lighting is rather important huh. I mean, in future, if you need to change light bulbs, you'll need it to be at a convenient location whereby you can climb a ladder and just change. I've seen a friend's place, the light is just above the bed. Errrrrr, then how? You can't place a ladder on top of the bed mah. And it's right in the middle of the bed leh. Even if got ladder at the side of the bed also cannot reach.

So these things are important things you might wanna take note of when deciding on your lighting point.

yokoyoko: How did they mess up the TV point? I thought it's fixed there already?

To anyone: Can I make a request for any of you who have gotten the keys to your unit, if you have taken a picture of your bathroom in its original state, can post it up here? Hubby wants to have an idea how it looks like lah ... TIA!

Edited June 4, 2008 by cacky

[sheppy 0]

Cacky, I will try to fish more info from him...he say $15k can leh...even for today's market rates.

(need to catch him during breaktime...dun wan to be seen chatting so much at work

Talking about bedrooms, I remembered something he say about lighting. He say that nowadays pple like to do false ceiling with downlights for living room or special hanging lights (hanged from ceiling type) for their dining area...

he say no need, I agree with him on this coz I plan to just put ceiling mounted lights, one **** room and one at dining area. He suggested to me to install lightings using fluorescent tubes, easy and cheaper to change. But I told him then my home would look very bright and boring (like my parents' home)...not romantic...

He say that we can do those special lighting effects (e.g. dimmer) just in our bedroom lor. Living room/ dining area no need so fancy lighting. This one I disagree though...

He advised that we must pay attention to our curtains...he find that curtains play a very important role in enhancing the look of our rooms.

Hi guys,

I agree with eipsy's colleague that if the house already have had the flooring (tiles) done up, perhaps 15k will be sufficient for minimal renovations for the house...but for those of us who are getting standard flats w/o any flooring (Except for the 2 toilets and kitchen) i dun think we can even achieve a 20k mark.

[yokoyoko 0]

Cacky,

no la.. the TV pt they placed i at the short wall which i tot its suppose to be on the longer wall? maybe is own preference ba..