Our Love Shack - Modern Retro- Yishun 4a

[dugong6 0]

Hi dugong, have you gotten use to life in yishun yet?

To be frank, the answer is no...when i was staying in Telok Blangah, getting to work is less than 40 mins..(considering all the transportation for my spouse and kids).now that I am in the north, I take almost 1 hour or more and got to pay for ERP charges cause I have to use CTE to avoid all the jams. Nevertheless husband always remind me that we are saving 1k extra every month, even if we were to pay for more fuel and ERP charges!

Other than traffic, I think Yishun is a wonderful place...yet to go to upper pierce reservoir, but visited Yishun Park, nice cosy place! I like the fresh air too:) have you been living in Yishun too?

[budgetice 0]

To be frank, the answer is no...when i was staying in Telok Blangah, getting to work is less than 40 mins..(considering all the transportation for my spouse and kids).now that I am in the north, I take almost 1 hour or more and got to pay for ERP charges cause I have to use CTE to avoid all the jams. Nevertheless husband always remind me that we are saving 1k extra every month, even if we were to pay for more fuel and ERP charges!

Other than traffic, I think Yishun is a wonderful place...yet to go to upper pierce reservoir, but visited Yishun Park, nice cosy place! I like the fresh air too:) have you been living in Yishun too?

I have been living in yishun for the past 20 years.. they are building more and more hdb here, enjoy the greenary while you can..

[babyleomummy 0]

What was the reason why you shifted to Yishun?

To be frank, the answer is no...when i was staying in Telok Blangah, getting to work is less than 40 mins..(considering all the transportation for my spouse and kids).now that I am in the north, I take almost 1 hour or more and got to pay for ERP charges cause I have to use CTE to avoid all the jams. Nevertheless husband always remind me that we are saving 1k extra every month, even if we were to pay for more fuel and ERP charges!

Other than traffic, I think Yishun is a wonderful place...yet to go to upper pierce reservoir, but visited Yishun Park, nice cosy place! I like the fresh air too:) have you been living in Yishun too?

[dugong6 0]

What was the reason why you shifted to Yishun?

re-financing! want to free some cash but yet have a roof over the head:)

[Ashley291010 0]

<!--quoteo(post=524013:date=Apr 25 2010, 10:51 AM:name=budgetice)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (budgetice @ Apr 25 2010, 10:51 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=524013"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->wow.... didnt know the toilet will be big enough for a bathtub... <img src="http://www.renotalk.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="ohmy.gif" />

our ID say even shower screen also got problem...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The toilet is so small, don't bother about the shower screen, waste of space and limits comfort when bathing! Just let it be wet and dry later...alternatively, go for shower curtains, they can be nice decor pieces too! But I still feel there is no need for all these as the bathrooms are too small! As for bathtub, go for no frills (i.e. no massage, no lights, minimum outline space...basically just a big hole....you could also go for a direct built-in bath tub using tiles...I used to have this for my previous flat.

<img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/chanyy36/13.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

wow how much did u spent on the custom tub like that?

[Wolfgang11sg 0]

<!--quoteo(post=495252:date=Jan 12 2010, 09:28 AM:name=Supersimon27)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Supersimon27 @ Jan 12 2010, 09:28 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=495252"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ya lor a bit wasted . Or many u do min with them ? Like tiling or do 1 kitchen with them ... at least can save the 4.7k?

Or the contract say die die must do 20k de?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

When I recieve their quotation for the design to be implemented...it was a good S$50K++, plus the basic package of S$24K, these totalled up to be around <b>S$70K++</b>....and it is not inclusive of my bathroom accessories, kitchen accessories, lightings, air con, window grilles, doors, main gate.. . ....

Can't convince myself to pay 70k for a 4 room re-sale flat..even if I take out expensive things such as the feature wall and the counter-sink design as well as the children's room cozy seat.. still totalled up to be 60k++

I asked the ID if I can get my separate contractor to do my carpentry work, he replied politely that I can but don't hold him responsible if things did not go as scheduled and he also hinted to me that i will have problems with electrical layout and I have to do lots of co-ordination work btw him and the contractor ... ...

Such similar experience, same locstion as my current ID, same attitude, same same pattern, sincerely hope its not the same company/ID. we are thinking of doing likewise to the current ID / company too.

As the total amount is far out of my budget, I decided to void the contract mainly for the following reasons:

Co-ordination problem as my ID highlighted if I get another contractor to stay within my budget

ID assumingly trained is not familiar with retro design..his initial design was alot of black.both my bathrooms and kitchen as well as study room cabinets are black..he appears to be unwilling to change the colour scheme which I think is his favourite colour. Although there are retro things that are black but majority of the design are seldom black....

Not too sure if you guys felt the same way..does the retro orange with patterns appear to be very "karaoke" like? He was so proud of this pattern that he had chosen that I didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm...

I can see that he is not familiar with retro theme as he was asking me where to get all these furniture.....I thought he is suppose to advise me? In the basic contract it says, ID to provide design and furnishing consultancy work.

He said the cooker hood design is to break away from the consistent design of the cabinets..maybe I was paranoid, I think he is trying to save on the carpentry cost in the basic package (whereby 20ft of kitchen cabinet are inclusive)

In addition, I emailed him a few bigger electrical appliances dimensions and specifically told him to accomodate them in the kitchen design layout..he did none of those. Thought and ID should be giving creative solutions for storage space?

Not too sure if it is me being too difficult. Each time I make a suggestion, he will be defensive to his design and selection which makes me uncomfortable...and in the end, I also hold back what I want.. ...

I remembered clearly that we enquired about the feature wall (before the signing of the basic package) and he casually mentioned it is inclusive <b>anyway</b>. However, when we ask him on the quotation for feature wall he said, "wah you don't know what you have signed in the basic package?" Although he said in a polite tone, but I felt cheated. Of course, what to do...I was the one who had signed.

I asked him about hidden costs, he said " there is no hidden costs..." but I was weary. Just imagine paying for such a high price and yet there are more hidden costs?

I went to choose the tiles in balestier, bringing my mum along (as my mum used to be a sales personnel for tiles and thus is very familiar with quality..). He was blatantly very unhappy with my mum and totally ignored her when she talks. I thought this is not tactful. He hinted to me, "this is the first time I feel so confused when choosing tiles. I always tell my customers not to bring a third party along" Although my mum may be asking too many questions, I think as a service provider, you shouldn't show displeasure so blatantly.

He brought us to ONLY ONE shop to look at bathroom and kitchen accessories. My mum quietly tells me not to commit. Fortunately, that small little shop did not have the design we want.....my mother and us continued looking around in balestier after going separate ways from the ID..and realise for one of the basin, the shop that he brought us to quoted $100 more!! I started to feel that I don't trust him..

There are other incidents where I find him very critical and too defensive of his design. Although he is always willing to accomodate, his displeasure was clearly shown. To be fair, he has been professional and friendly througout but just not tactful enough to gain my trust.

Finally, after much deliberation, I think I will be happier without him and decide to do my own renovation design instead...After reading a few posts on renotalk, think i would like to enjoy my renovation instead of making it an unhappy event! So I think 4.7k is worth these....

Till now, I have re-design my kitchen and living room. will show a general layout of the new design in my next post!

[Wolfgang11sg 0]

Such similar experience, same location of my current ID/company, same attitude, same same pattern, sincerely hope it's not the same ID/company that we had signed the contract with too. We are thinking of doing likewise and move on with another company too.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Wolfgang11sg

[Wolfgang11sg 0]

love yr design and beautiful place.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Wolfgang11sg

[glacial 0]

Hi there, we have recently bought a 4A yishun flat, exactly the same layout as yours. But we didn't manage to get approval for the hacking of kitchen walls and for the walls that connect the master and the other common room. May I know roughly which blk you're staying in? Many thanks!