A Meeting Of East And West In Tampines.

[RimBlock 0]

wow! you have expensive hobbies... canon X-series of DSLR, L-glasses.... basically you can set up a studio at home...

Yep, that is what I ended up doing. I was contracting (UK contracting) at the time so have a large income and no wife or kids.

I love doing portrait or candid work but for some strange reason, after marriage, my wife expressed the opinion that having young pretty ladies visit our place so I could take photos of them was not something she was entirely happy with .

The camera still gets used but now quite rarely. I have been wanting to get the 90-200mm F2.8 IS L lens for quite a while now but at 3K I really cannot justify it as we just don't have the available cash any more. The 5D is also great but it would be hard to find the cash to replace it with another camera of the same level if it failed. The only way would be for my hobby to start making some money.

RB

[neubie 2]

Yep, that is what I ended up doing. I was contracting (UK contracting) at the time so have a large income and no wife or kids.

I love doing portrait or candid work but for some strange reason, after marriage, my wife expressed the opinion that having young pretty ladies visit our place so I could take photos of them was not something she was entirely happy with .

The camera still gets used but now quite rarely. I have been wanting to get the 90-200mm F2.8 IS L lens for quite a while now but at 3K I really cannot justify it as we just don't have the available cash any more. The 5D is also great but it would be hard to find the cash to replace it with another camera of the same level if it failed. The only way would be for my hobby to start making some money.

RB

there's a local photography forum ClubSnap where all things photgraphy is there.... lots of paid modelshoots or TFCDs there.... so u can do ur snapping outside w/o irritating your wife....lolx

if i m not mistaken, shdn't the glass be 70-200 f2.8 IS? cos i own one of this mama lens... paired with a fullframe body it works wonders.... up till now i am still using my 20D.... and my 50mm f1.4 is grossly under utilised, and looking for a new owner who can put to better use...

[RimBlock 0]

4. So where are we now (current renovation).

So we were very lucky. We managed to sell our 3 room in 1 day without a valuation report (it was in progress) fro 370K.

Since I became a PR here my CPF has been building up so we had a bit more to put down on a new property so could more or less pick or choose. The banks agreed 'in principle' that they could lend us up to around 900K which is just crazy.

So with an EM on the top of our list we looked at a few and came up with the following 3.

Two were at the very edge of our budget (5th and 10th floors) and one was a lot cheaper (2nd floor) but needed a full reno.

Second floor, front door facing the refuse collection building unblocked (not so close though), by a major road (Tamp ave 5), currently tenanted. COV was only 27K to close (Val around 525).

Fifth floor, needed work but not full reno, val around 560, COV asking 60K

Tenth floor (top storey) needed some light work plus complete toilets and kitchen reno. Val 572, COV around 70K.

We got the tenth floor one for a COV of 55K. It leaves us quite short of cash for a reno so we are looking at the basics and we will do other stuff later.

Here's a layout of the apartment.

I am just seeing if I can get the pics I took when we went to excise the OTP off my phone on to my work PC and if so I will upload now. If not then I will have to do it when I get home either tonight or tomorrow.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

there's a local photography forum ClubSnap where all things photgraphy is there.... lots of paid modelshoots or TFCDs there.... so u can do ur snapping outside w/o irritating your wife....lolx

if i m not mistaken, shdn't the glass be 70-200 f2.8 IS? cos i own one of this mama lens... paired with a fullframe body it works wonders.... up till now i am still using my 20D.... and my 50mm f1.4 is grossly under utilised, and looking for a new owner who can put to better use...

Yep, you are right 70-200. I had a few standard lenses but they came up really soft on the 5D where as the L series I have found need very little post sharpening at all.

I do read clubsnap now and then but find there is a bit more of a culture difference with myself there which makes it harder for me to fit in. Just the feeling I have from the responses (or lack of) to the few posts I have made there . But it is ok. Maybe I can jsut find a few people around Tampines interested in a coffee and maybe taking some shots. I have also been meaning to go over to the Tampines mountain bike track as well.

I don't think my wifes concern was with the ladies getting in her way. I suspect it is with me taking pictures of young ladies and her concern I may get a bit, well you know, ........

RB

[reizzz 0]

I don't think my wifes concern was with the ladies getting in her way. I suspect it is with me taking pictures of young ladies and her concern I may get a bit, well you know, ........

RB

i think most, if not all, wives are like that

[neubie 2]

Yep, you are right 70-200. I had a few standard lenses but they came up really soft on the 5D where as the L series I have found need very little post sharpening at all.

I do read clubsnap now and then but find there is a bit more of a culture difference with myself there which makes it harder for me to fit in. Just the feeling I have from the responses (or lack of) to the few posts I have made there . But it is ok. Maybe I can jsut find a few people around Tampines interested in a coffee and maybe taking some shots. I have also been meaning to go over to the Tampines mountain bike track as well.

I don't think my wifes concern was with the ladies getting in her way. I suspect it is with me taking pictures of young ladies and her concern I may get a bit, well you know, ........

RB

tried this?

[Banned 1]

We are shifting from the 900 series to the 100 series (in front of the OCBC building by Century Square). My younger son goes to Sparkle Tots in Blk 940 and my oldest goes to St Hildas and is just about to sit his PSLE. We wanted somewhere close to save moving the kids around too much. We looked around the 400 series and the 700 / 800 / 200 series of blocks but there were three units in the 100 series . I like the EM's as I am used to living in landed properties as the majority of properties in the UK are houses. My wife is understanding and so relented to us getting an EM (I thinks she secretly also likes them but shhh, don't let her know I told you).

RB

Wow cool.. I have always like EM but unaffordable for u.. End up getting one at the 800+ series.. Very near ur kids' school..

[RimBlock 0]

i think most, if not all, wives are like that

Yes and I really do not understand it. I mean I would have no issue with her taking photos of strange attractive men when I was not around......oh wait, hang on, that is not quite right is it .

tried this?

Yes, I have posted there for critique a while back. Good forums but really push for a pro standard.

Wow cool.. I have always like EM but unaffordable for u.. End up getting one at the 800+ series.. Very near ur kids' school..

Not a high floor corner unit with parquet floor upstairs was it. behind the Prime mart ?. We viewed one there and it had great views but we were not so hot on the layout. We prefer the longer old style with the rectangular balcony rather than the square one.

RB

[Banned 1]

Yes and I really do not understand it. I mean I would have no issue with her taking photos of strange attractive men when I was not around......oh wait, hang on, that is not quite right is it .

Yes, I have posted there for critique a while back. Good forums but really push for a pro standard.

Not a high floor corner unit with parquet floor upstairs was it. behind the Prime mart ?. We viewed one there and it had great views but we were not so hot on the layout. We prefer the longer old style with the rectangular balcony rather than the square one.

RB

opps.. got some typo.. I mean I have always like EM but unaffordable for me.. End up getting one 4A at the 800+ series..

[leechaorui 2]

Congras on getting an EM. You will have much more room to renovate and use. I think it will be able to house your children more comfortably.

When you become a citizen, you will be able to buy a landed house with your own garden. Look forward to seeing more of your postings.

[RimBlock 0]

opps.. got some typo.. I mean I have always like EM but unaffordable for me.. End up getting one 4A at the 800+ series..

Ahh, my mistake also . My father-in-law has a 4a in the 900 series he rents out (he lives with my brother and sister-in-law). The unit is pretty big and I see someone else in the 900 series did a blog about 1 year ago on a 4A reno where the 3rd bedroom was knocked out to make a bigger master bedroom. Very nice result although not sure of the effect on valuation of turning a 4 room in to a 3 room.

Congras on getting an EM. You will have much more room to renovate and use. I think it will be able to house your children more comfortably.

When you become a citizen, you will be able to buy a landed house with your own garden. Look forward to seeing more of your postings.

The kids will have much more space to run around in and I am sure they will use all of it. I think we will need double size sound blocking foam under the laminate flooring so as to minimise the impact to those downstairs .

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Ok, times up. Image came back to us with a quote and so we have to do and see them tonight.

I will update later or tomorrow depending how time goes.

RB

[berry_surprise 0]

i cannot view ur pics with ur photobucket. weird.

[RimBlock 0]

Hmm, I am just home and ready to upload some more pics and I cannot get to photobucket or view the pics I posted previously so I suspect photobucket may be down for the time being.

So where are we now ? ...continued.

We travelled to the Asia furniture fair with a mission in mind. Speak to as many renovation companies as possible. We came with multiple copies of our floor plan, a very tight budget and some basic idea of what we wanted done.

The list of work... (O) = optional, the rest is considered essential.

Remove cheap laminate flooring.

Lay Malaysian quality laminate flooring & skirting.

Re-plaster the whole house

Re-install the wall for the utility room (frosted glass, with sliding doors).

Hack everything in the 3 toilets and replace tiles, waterproofing and plumbing.

vanity units in the two upstairs toilets.

hack and re-tile the kitchen

Install 23ft cabinets with solid top

Exchange solid top for granite top (O)

Remove tiled balcony roof and false ceiling (O)

Install glass ceiling for the balcony (O)

Replace stair handrails with turned wooden 'country' style bannister (O)

Replace stairs with wood matching the laminate flooring (O)

repaint the whole house.

We gave them a budget of 20-25K. The optional items we wanted priced for a second round of renovation around the middle of next year. Having just finished paying the loans for the renovation of our current place we really do not want another set of loan.

We spoke to;

Image

Rest and relax (two ID's)

Home Success

Urban Design

Most of the people were helpful although only one gave us suggestions or alternatives (more on this later).

We have yet to hear from Rest and Relaxs ID's. One of them did mention that we would be looking at 30-40K just to do the kitchen and toilets though .

Urban Design we are still waiting on.

Image we saw today.

Their quote had quite a few things missing and when we added them in so it matched the other quote from Home Success they were around 6K more expensive. The guy we dealt with was very pleasant but did little in the way of offer suggestions.

Home Success.

We made Sharon from Home Success on the way out of the exhibition hall as Home Success had only a small booth. When we started talking about the packages they were advertising, it seemed like we may be able to get most of the stuff done for around 30K which considering the faces the other IDs were pulling at the 20-25K budget made us consider so we sat down with her and pulled out the floor plan.

We mentioned the things we would like room by room and Sharon made suggestions, honest comments, and generally tried to improve on our ideas or make them workable. Being more experienced (she is around our age so mid 30's to early 40's) and having children of her own meant that her suggestion were much more practical and child safe. We liked the idea of a glass wall for the kitchen. She mentioned that it would be difficult to maintain if we cooked regularly as the fat or fumes would build up over time. We were looking for a window solution for the utility room and she made it clear that having an opening window would restrict the porch area if we moved the front door back to the original position. She then called over her husband (Henry) who suggested a glass wall with double sliding glass doors. Sharon and Henry were able to work together and give us rough figures for each item or suggestion we made on the spot.

Sharon then confirmed that they would have the quote ready for the following weekend if we could come down to their offices (Bukit Timah (sp?)). When we mentioned we do not drive they said they would come to us

. They won two gold stars and top of our list there and then.... but the battle is not over yet.

Henry came over last Sunday and stayed at our place for 3 hours whilst going over the quote, taking photos of our furniture, taking feed back about what we liked and didn't like about our current renovation and was willing to just chit chat for a while. Again, big gold star for being willing to make the effort and spend the time. Their quote was higher than expected but after chopping out a few things like glass toilet doors which we are not so bothered about and other little things we got it down to 6K less than the Image quote and that is just about possible for us. Sharon and Henry are certainly top runners at this time.

One thing that came as a bit of a shock to us is that neither to the two quotes include toilets, sinks, taps, showers etc. These we all have to source ourselves (with their help) but it all adds again to the cost. Electrical work was also not included .

We will chase Urban Design tomorrow and see what they come up with.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Ok, photobucket is back again.

Here are some shots of the new apartment (owners still living there).

Corridor

View from the front door

Utility room with wall hacked away (the arch is on the dining room side of the main door)

Staircase from the door.

cont. in next post.