Apacadl On Shoe String

[Zelly 0]

Hi Zelly,

Willing to share the design of your TV console? TIA.

tv console The tv console we are planning to do is this link's picture no 5. We are intending to do 2 longish ones and stack of short cabinets on top of the floor cabinets with clear glass doors to house the audio and starhub set and to sit the TV on it. Donno if I am making sense to you guys..

[lilithfiend 0]

Thanks! will drop him a PM on carpentary and such issues. I hope he will answer me though.

he will reply..give him a few days. i'm in the same boat as you. want the world but not willing/able to pay the world.

[Zelly 0]

I saw an advert on ikea's flyers in my current flat's letter box. they are selling these mirrors in mid apr for $14.90. Was thinking of buying about 5 to 6 to put them on my dining room walls. Not sure if they will look good or how should I place them though.

ikea Mirrors

[Zelly 0]

Finally Scanned my floor plan. Not very clear though.

Floor plan

[woodflooring 0]

Hi, We can offer sanding and revarnishing of your wood floor @$1.50/Ft2 or $750 for the 3 rooms with the latest water-based finishes. If you want cheaper alternative, there is the melamine finish that we can do for $450 for the 3 bed room. But we do not encourage melamine finishes due to enviromental reason and health reason. Do visit our website - www.woodflooring.com.sg or reply us by email sales@woodflooring.com.sg

It will be a test of your coordinating and planning skill if you do not want to engage a general contractor to do all the coordination, however, the saving is there...

Cheers

Sebastian

[Zelly 0]

Week end rendevous.

Walking into furniture shops have been a dangerous adventure. Went in casa italy and came out poorer, but the good thing is, we finally bought the sofa that we have been drooling over for the past few months.

We had also gone to granite top hunting, for supply and installation.I have like soo many bay windows to cover! We had use the same specs of black galaxy 510mm x 250mm with slight curve edgings. We had either walk in or called afew shops,

Mondo, about S$65 to 70 per sq foot.

Ocean granite 90 per sq foot run, but may be slightly cheaper if u have a bigger quantity.

78deg Building 100 per sq foot run

Lian Hin 130per sq foot run.

hua Khian(i think) 450 per sq meter.

We will most likely to use ocean granite though.

Meanwhile we had emailed our floor plan and design plans to afew sub contractors for their quotes. Hopefully we get to hear from them.

Oh yeah, I never thought that curtains can be so expensive! I went to jimmy textiles and they quoted me close to $2.5k for curtains! I need to find a cheaper curtain and railing supplier.

[Umaisarah 2]

Hi Zelly

Welcome to RT!

Wish I have good news for you but like others hv said $20K for reno + furnishings & appliances is pushing it a little. Are u including air-con into the picture?

Not sure what kind of quality you going for, cuz as they say, you pay peanuts you get monkeys, hope you don't get offended.

I have put in some unit costs to help you budget, not sure if this is the lowest, or market price but is what I got from my 'research'.

I'm sure others will hv their own experience to share. If u hv not done so, do read up Ossify's blog (all 20 pages of it ) cuz tt's a rich source of info on prices for D-I-Y renovation. He's the guru

ok, here goes:

1) painting the place over with easy clean paints (still thinking of the color theme for each room) budget about $1-1.2K for whole house

2) Downlightings for dining, living, and 3 bed rooms. (yeah false ceilings too) downlights average price is $17-19 for plain white frame and 2x13W bulb. Estimate mbe u need 30-40 for whole house (since u include bedrooms), so tt's already $680, Hvn't include false ceiling price. Budget about $2.50 - 3 psf, $6.50-8 psf for L box and $8-10 psf for cove light box

3) normal energy saving lighting for toliets, kitchen and store room. Est mbe abt $30 for each light x 5 = $150

4) granite top for bay windows. Any reason why u use granite? Ossify will recommend u use acrylic . I'm using plywood+laminate, cheapest quote I got was abt $30 pfr.

5) various rewiring Are you rewiring the whole house? If yes, budget about $1-1.5k, and that's excluding replacement/extra switches or sockets u need to buy.

6) curtains(black out and day curtains) for all bed rooms and living room Oh, yes, this is a real wallet burner. Jimmy Textiles prices are not bad. $2.5K is reasonable if it's for the whole house and u want day and nite curtain. If u want cheaper, mbe u can try buying the material in JB, then get someone to sew for you? There's this mega fabric store, like a giant Spotlight, in JB but I can't remember the address. I can dig it up if you're interested. Some forummers have recommended MGL curtains at Eminent Plaza.

7) vanishing of the wooden flooring No comment on this, as hv no experience.

Living

1) Storage tv console (I have the design i want but i do not know it is workable) You'd need to hv a sense of the dimensions to enable the carpenter to quote. Mbe u want to try Google Sketchup to draw it up? One contractor told me they will quote you separately for the console (ie the one on the floor) and for cabinets or shelves on the wall. The design u want does not seem to be too complicated so they may just quote u on pfr or psf basis, and the design is flexible. Cheapest quote I got for carpentry works for TV console was $250 pfr, so say u want a 6-feet console, tt's about $1,500 already. Throw in another $1k for the stack cabinets you wanted.

2) Tiling of Balcony (2m x 2.5m). No comments as hv no experience, but you can easily budget the price range of tile you want and multiply by the area you want tiled.

MBR

1) short cabinets at the bay window No helpful comment here

2) wall paper 1 side of the wall, else it will be via decals. You can choose a nice wallpaper design from Goodrich for less than $100 per roll, but its the labour charge to do it up that costs a bomb. Goodrich costs $300 per wall. I think curtain places like Jimmy Textile can also do, and their installation costs is cheaper by mbe $100. If you're thinking of wall decals that cover most of the wall, Winkplay charges $10-14 psf without installation.

Anyway good luck on your reno! Look fwd to your postings to see if u can succeed in psycho-ing your hubby to up yr reno budget

[Umaisarah 2]

btw, cute title u hv for yr blog. For a minute there I thot Lonely Planet had put another guide book out on a strange country called apacadl .

what does that stand for? Sorry I dun understand Chinese

[Zelly 0]

btw, cute title u hv for yr blog. For a minute there I thot Lonely Planet had put another guide book out on a strange country called apacadl .

what does that stand for? Sorry I dun understand Chinese

It is short for Ai Pi Ai Chi Ai Dua Liap, meaning wanting cheap, wanting good, and wanting big on a shoe string budget. It is sorta spoof on myself.

[Zelly 0]

1) painting the place over with easy clean paints (still thinking of the color theme for each room) budget about $1-1.2K for whole house

I was quoted 1.5! I need your painter contacts!

2) Downlightings for dining, living, and 3 bed rooms. (yeah false ceilings too) downlights average price is $17-19 for plain white frame and 2x13W bulb. Estimate mbe u need 30-40 for whole house (since u include bedrooms), so tt's already $680, Hvn't include false ceiling price. Budget about $2.50 - 3 psf, $6.50-8 psf for L box and $8-10 psf for cove light box

3) normal energy saving lighting for toliets, kitchen and store room. Est mbe abt $30 for each light x 5 = $150

Yeah, I know it is sooo expensive. I have calculated 36 down and 10 normal energy saving lightings. We are not doing any cove lighting to save some money.

4) granite top for bay windows. Any reason why u use granite? Ossify will recommend u use acrylic . I'm using plywood+laminate, cheapest quote I got was abt $30 pfr.

We have direct west sun shining on the bay windows. Acylic and laminate may warp or spoil fast. It is also my cfo's wish list.

5) various rewiring Are you rewiring the whole house? If yes, budget about $1-1.5k, and that's excluding replacement/extra switches or sockets u need to buy.

Oh Not the whole house rewiring, just extention and adding new lighting points and ic switches. We trying to minimise this though.

6) curtains(black out and day curtains) for all bed rooms and living room Oh, yes, this is a real wallet burner. Jimmy Textiles prices are not bad. $2.5K is reasonable if it's for the whole house and u want day and nite curtain. If u want cheaper, mbe u can try buying the material in JB, then get someone to sew for you? There's this mega fabric store, like a giant Spotlight, in JB but I can't remember the address. I can dig it up if you're interested. Some forummers have recommended MGL curtains at Eminent Plaza.

CFO said to stick to good l'o SG. It comes with only 1 layer for the other 2 bed rooms. I will need to check out MGL then!

7) vanishing of the wooden flooring No comment on this, as hv no experience.

Living

1) Storage tv console (I have the design i want but i do not know it is workable) You'd need to hv a sense of the dimensions to enable the carpenter to quote. Mbe u want to try Google Sketchup to draw it up? One contractor told me they will quote you separately for the console (ie the one on the floor) and for cabinets or shelves on the wall. The design u want does not seem to be too complicated so they may just quote u on pfr or psf basis, and the design is flexible. Cheapest quote I got for carpentry works for TV console was $250 pfr, so say u want a 6-feet console, tt's about $1,500 already. Throw in another $1k for the stack cabinets you wanted.

Sigh. I am hoping i can get it at $2000. Pray hard.....

2) Tiling of Balcony (2m x 2.5m). No comments as hv no experience, but you can easily budget the price range of tile you want and multiply by the area you want tiled.

*crossing my fingers that this can be minimal cost*

MBR

1) short cabinets at the bay window No helpful comment here

2) wall paper 1 side of the wall, else it will be via decals. You can choose a nice wallpaper design from Goodrich for less than $100 per roll, but its the labour charge to do it up that costs a bomb. Goodrich costs $300 per wall. I think curtain places like Jimmy Textile can also do, and their installation costs is cheaper by mbe $100. If you're thinking of wall decals that cover most of the wall, Winkplay charges $10-14 psf without installation.

I was quoted $600 (or isit $700) for 1 wall using Good rich textured!. I am looking for those big decals design that can cover part of the wall to make it more interesting.

CFO had my proposal of increasing the budget. Never mind, when the time comes, he will up abit. . The toliets, kitchen and air con are aready there, We are just using whatever is existing.

[Zelly 0]

This week was more talk to my laptop mode than physcial going down to see various sub contractors mode. I have sent out to afew IDs and contractors too, to see if their quotes are competitive.

We also found out some things about our new place:

1) balcony is tiled with deep gray tiles This will save us about $500

2) All bed rooms and living/dining room has false ceiling. This will save us about $1500. But we have a problem of how to place our living room fan now.

3) The bedrooms timber floors are vanished darker than what was shown earlier.

4) We may get the keys our place in early May!

CFO is in a teak wood craze. I was googling for some timber wood outdoor flooring and found this web site of diy teak decking and shown to CFO. He said check out the price, if it is within our means, we can still diy after we have moved in.

One of the lighting shops we emailed to gave us this quotation, and I am wondering if this is a fair deal:

lighting point (wiring and installation of lights) - $35 each

downlights (6.5" screw type with 2x9W lights) if get from the shop - $22 each

round lights (those bigger size energy saving screw type with 2x9W lights i think) - $38 each

SCV rerouting - $100

3 way remote control light switches (wiring and remote) - $150 each set

If there is a lighting point, the installation will be foc if we buy the lights from them.

Forgot to ask about changing 2 to 4 socket switch cost though.

[zerochristy 0]

Hi

curtains> You can take a look at my t-blog our curtain maker are from JB. If you find it troublesome to go to JB you can get them to come into SG to quote you and bring the material to you too.

Storage tv console> we did only a wall panel than slot our tv console below which we buy from outside whice is cheaper.

Wallpaper> Can get from Eurpoa Wallpaper think their office is at Toh Guan and I heard its cheaper.

dark timber floors> Maybe its the sunlight expose to the timber floor so the floor become darker. It happen to all wood our house also got lots of wood thingy.. my hub also a woody lover

[Zelly 0]

Hi

curtains> You can take a look at my t-blog our curtain maker are from JB. If you find it troublesome to go to JB you can get them to come into SG to quote you and bring the material to you too.

Cool! I will PM you on the details to see the workmanship and etc.

Storage tv console> we did only a wall panel than slot our tv console below which we buy from outside whice is cheaper.

CFO want to have heavy storage spaces in the tv console. I just hope it will not cost an arm and leg. I have been pointin out tv console with good storage spaces to him, but he is not biting.

Wallpaper> Can get from Eurpoa Wallpaper think their office is at Toh Guan and I heard its cheaper.

Thanks! I will give them a ring to check on their services and their wall paper. Their office is alittle far though.

dark timber floors> Maybe its the sunlight expose to the timber floor so the floor become darker. It happen to all wood our house also got lots of wood thingy.. my hub also a woody lover

I like deep wood color though. But we are trying to make the place look bigger so we are trying to use more glass and whites. We are using wood furnitures to make up of the lack of woodiness.

[zerochristy 0]

Wallpaper> I believe they can being the sample to your place too

[Zelly 0]

I have to admit we have not been actively meeting ID/contractors/sub contractors for the passed week or so. Our mode operati is in the form of emails and phone calls for the initial contact.

As our scope is pretty small, many contractors I have approached did not return with any quotes. . Nevertheless, I will just stick with the ones I have. Based on the existing pool of quotes I have, sans the lights(we told them we will do our own purchasing) and granite top for the bay windows (going to the supplier directly and a psfr is below 100), they ranged from 7k+ to 9k+.

I have to say the most cost ineffective or boh chup quote I have gotten is from submit design, which the bulk goes into ascetics rather than practical. Imagine them quoting me the use of laminated wood for my toilet bay window which will get wet every time when someone bathe! doing a false ceiling when i mentioned repeatedly I want a ceiling fan for my living room. The worse was the tv console, which i said I do not like feature walls and I want to build some storage there. The so called design they gave was a suspended tv console with little storage, and a super duper expensive feature wall with glass cabinets on each end for display pieces. Anyway i threw away their quote.

Impress21 was pretty okie, but I felt that there are some areas where they had put the cookie cutter mold, like feature wall (again!) and charging certain things pretty expensive. But they do have other things which are cheaper.

So far Hup Lam furniture got back to us based on our measurements and the items requested. The carpentry quotes was the cheapest among the ones we received. But the rest of the items is more expensive.

We are still pending a few more quotes, so we are just doing our summary of each quotes before deciding our course of action.

Our furnishings are more or less settled where we would want to buy from, left the electrical appliances to scout around. We can only buy them when we have the keys to our house and measure each area. For curtains we have identified a few mobile curtain maker recommended in RT and some shops along Joo chiat area.

I think our goal of total cost of everything not more than 22k seems to have a ray of hope.