The Home We've Been Looking Forward To

[pinkpetter 0]

Don't worry too much lah, just bring your ID/contractor and electrician to your new place and let them provide you with as many alternatives as possible. Your brother must be really tall...with size 14 shoes. He can place his shoes outside cos its unlikely they will be stolen.

How about having 3-4 flat lower racks at the bottom to let your bro and dad place their shoes. Instead of placing them straight in, can put their shoes at 90 degrees (side ways). The upper racks will be tilted and reserve for the ladies.

mm sounds like a possible idea! Will present them.. Thanks!

Haha he has quite a lot of "branded" shoes he gets from overseas (cos his shoes can hardly be bought here) so might still get stolen. heh But

Yes. Eastpoint basement.

Would recommend you to pay someone to do it. Its not easy painting a house. I used to work before many years ago part time as painter.. lol..

We've painted the interiors of a terrace house before. So I think can manage. The only probs will be the pipes and doors... Just that have to calculate how much I will save. if save $100-$200 then probably will let them paint ba.

pinkpetter r u confirming ur id liao? mind pm me which id u selected??

PMing you in a sec.

[oogachaga 2]

A big place and great layout! Congrats!

Looking forward to the transformation.

Good luck!

[pinkpetter 0]

mmm I'm also looking forward to it however I dun think it'll be as beautiful as yours though. Budget la heh.

I have a small question for you guys. When you bargained with your IDs/Contractors... how much did you manage to reduce?

[klipp-klapp 0]

mm In a bid to try and save more money, Not only will we paint our own place.. I intend to sand and paint the door frames and main door too.

I bookmarking a couple of threads here so when I need to, I can find the info easily.

Bookmark:

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15555

But meanwhile I haven't seen anyone trying to paint the pipes themselves... anyone got any tips?

Finally is your turn to do reno after doing homework for quite a while ...

My family tried to paint our pipes on our own before....

The previous painter we hired (my dad's fren) painted the house's metal gate, door frames and pipes light purple becos he thinks is nice (without consulting us). Dad accepted cos friend mah, not good to scold ...

So after living with the purple pipes for a few yrs we decided it is time to paint it back to a "normal" color ... I helped to paint the metal gate and door frame ... very tiring and my workmanship is lousy ... a lot of flaking and drip marks ...

My dad painted the pipes ... he used brush at first .. but too slow so he put on a pair of plastic gloves followed by a pair of cloth gloves and dip his hands into the paint and "handpainted" the pipes ...

*This is not a tip ... just a funnie story to share haaa ... cos not advisable

[pinkpetter 0]

Finally is your turn to do reno after doing homework for quite a while ...

My family tried to paint our pipes on our own before....

The previous painter we hired (my dad's fren) painted the house's metal gate, door frames and pipes light purple becos he thinks is nice (without consulting us). Dad accepted cos friend mah, not good to scold ...

So after living with the purple pipes for a few yrs we decided it is time to paint it back to a "normal" color ... I helped to paint the metal gate and door frame ... very tiring and my workmanship is lousy ... a lot of flaking and drip marks ...

My dad painted the pipes ... he used brush at first .. but too slow so he put on a pair of plastic gloves followed by a pair of cloth gloves and dip his hands into the paint and "handpainted" the pipes ...

*This is not a tip ... just a funnie story to share haaa ... cos not advisable

Purple pipes?! .... lol unless your walls are purple... I would have jumped if I saw PURPLE!

Well your real life story really making think twice about painting. hehe

[payretep 0]

haha hi! mmm 5 pages and I haven't started reno..

Thanks!! but now I headache abt my stupid shoe cabinet.

hey pinkpetter, I bet i can hit 5 pages without starting the reno process too, cos my reno is so far away~

Shoe cabinets are very important, especially if you have billions of shoes like my WTB..

[pinkpetter 0]

hahha we dun have billions.. but my bro's shoes are big. Some are Nike Size 14 sports shoes... take up a lot of space and cannot fit into off-the-shelf shoe cabinets. Need to custom make the shoe cabinet to fit his shoes.

[pinkpetter 0]

**Contractor Confirming Update**

For people who PM me on who my contractor and ID is, I cannot answer you yet cos I'm not confirmed. Anyway I do think it's more advisable for you to suss out people who already have some work done with the contractor...

When I sign up with the person it means I'm comfortable with the price and the person... doesn't mean that the person wun give me problems right? So maybe it more advisable, if you're looking for someone, ask those who have half-done reno.

As for me I went to visit a home with a contractor yesterday. I really like this contractor but her price is a little more than what we planned for which makes it really hard for me. But like many of you say, it's important to go with someone you feel secure about and for quality. The work I saw done in the house was good. The tiles very nicely laid. But the carpentry wasn't done yet and the contractor offered me to see see next week. House belongs to a forummer by the way. heh heh.

This coming Monday,we'll go see another person's work and then I'd have to decide already.

Buying a place, moving to a new place is such a nerve wrecking exp. First round if the viewing and the choosing of the unit, then the Contractors, then the Actual Reno process, Then the furniture, then the moving part. OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Edited November 15, 2008 by pinkpetter

[payretep 0]

**Contractor Confirming Update**

For people who PM me on who my contractor and ID is, I cannot answer you yet cos I'm not confirmed. Anyway I do think it's more advisable for you to suss out people who already have some work done with the contractor...

When I sign up with the person it means I'm comfortable with the price and the person... doesn't mean that the person wun give me problems right? So maybe it more advisable, if you're looking for someone, ask those who have half-done reno.

As for me I went to visit a home with a contractor yesterday. I really like this contractor but her price is a little more than what we planned for which makes it really hard for me. But like many of you say, it's important to go with someone you feel secure about and for quality. The work I saw done in the house was good. The tiles very nicely laid. But the carpentry wasn't done yet and the contractor offered me to see see next week. House belongs to a forummer by the way. heh heh.

This coming Monday,we'll go see another person's work and then I'd have to decide already.

Buying a place, moving to a new place is such a nerve wrecking exp. First round if the viewing and the choosing of the unit, then the Contractors, then the Actual Reno process, Then the furniture, then the moving part. OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Wah, sounds like a stressful period for you huh?

Well, although finding someone whom you are comfortable with is not the most important thing to look out for (most important should be reputation and good feedback from their clients bah), I think it's a good to have if you can effectively communicate with ur contractor bah. At least, it should save u alot of blood vomiting when you wana convey a certain idea to the contractor about what you want.

All the best to your final selection!

[pinkpetter 0]

Very. Cos we have a short period for reno and a smaller budget. So very stressed really. the only good thing is that 3 of us are free during the period for reno so can go and see every day.

[luckable 0]

Very. Cos we have a short period for reno and a smaller budget. So very stressed really. the only good thing is that 3 of us are free during the period for reno so can go and see every day.

I totally understand.. But i think the most stressed part is "Money No Enough".. Hahaha..

When u plan to move in ??? Before CNY ??

[pinkpetter 0]

I totally understand.. But i think the most stressed part is "Money No Enough".. Hahaha..

When u plan to move in ??? Before CNY ??

YES the money no enough is the more stressful lor.

heh heh I plan to move in before 1st Jan. but like I said.. it's a plan. But that's really the best for us. heh

I was thinking about my electrical and lighting points today...

Green dots are the lights... light blue boxes are electrical points (either socket, telephone/ tv points)

Also notice that the wall at the main door is gone? After a LONNGGGG discussion, my parents still decided the wall should go. So we now have place for shoe cabinet liao!! hehe judging from the electrical points think you all can also tell where the fridge will go.

[nath.adrie 0]

You mentioned that a wall has to go, right. That means must get HDB's approval to hack down the wall, which takes time. Thus, if you still aiming to move in before 2009, you will have to confirm the contractor and get them to send in the renovation permit fast. =)

I guess you will already more or less done a preliminary layout for all the rooms before you draw out the electrical pts. If so, it might be good to add in those things (e.g. beds, study table, wardrobe, TV, etc) in to your layout, then you can see if the electrical pts are sufficient or not. Btw, your electrical pts don't include light switchs location right? Coz, those are usually found near the entrances. Hee, no lights for store room?

[crazymama 0]

YES the money no enough is the more stressful lor.

heh heh I plan to move in before 1st Jan. but like I said.. it's a plan. But that's really the best for us. heh

I was thinking about my electrical and lighting points today...

Green dots are the lights... light blue boxes are electrical points (either socket, telephone/ tv points)

Also notice that the wall at the main door is gone? After a LONNGGGG discussion, my parents still decided the wall should go. So we now have place for shoe cabinet liao!! hehe judging from the electrical points think you all can also tell where the fridge will go.

Hey Pinkpetter

I wish u all the luck in yr renovation ya........smooth sailing ....i cant wait to see yr designs ......

Dont stress yrself too much ......add in more winkles nia lol....like me lol

[pinkpetter 0]

You mentioned that a wall has to go, right. That means must get HDB's approval to hack down the wall, which takes time. Thus, if you still aiming to move in before 2009, you will have to confirm the contractor and get them to send in the renovation permit fast. =)

I guess you will already more or less done a preliminary layout for all the rooms before you draw out the electrical pts. If so, it might be good to add in those things (e.g. beds, study table, wardrobe, TV, etc) in to your layout, then you can see if the electrical pts are sufficient or not. Btw, your electrical pts don't include light switchs location right? Coz, those are usually found near the entrances. Hee, no lights for store room?

yup!! Luckily it's a *hackable* wall as in not a bold lined one in the floorplan. So HDB shouldn't give us too much trouble. Will be jiggling keys this weekend so will need to get power supply, so that can start work next week. He will prolly submit the plans on Friday so that can get the permit earlier.

YES I uploaded this pic then I remembered the store room!!! hahahahaha so blur hor! so YES the storeroom got light!!!!

I didn't plot the light switches wor cos I din wan the whole thing to look too messy but you're right the switches will be near doorways lor

I already told all my family members that their own room is their own problem so they had to report to me their electrical points then I just plot for the contractor only. hehe will do a couple of extra just in case but not much

Hey Pinkpetter

I wish u all the luck in yr renovation ya........smooth sailing ....i cant wait to see yr designs ......

Dont stress yrself too much ......add in more winkles nia lol....like me lol

Already a lot ah. and got pimples. cos dun sleep well. haiz. now going to think about what colour my kitchen will be haha.

Sadly I wun have nice nice 3D designs like you all cos I get contractor wor. but will prolly have some hand drawn ones

Edited November 17, 2008 by pinkpetter