Project: Home @ Punggol Spring

[weeeeeee..... 1]

the long wait of our own property is finally here. we just collected our keys from hdb today and has gotten our interior designer to start his preliminary work today, i.e. finalising the interior measurements.

ours is a feb 2008 bto project called punggol spring. and i guess my unit is one of the first fews to start our renovation work

this is the floor plan published by hdb for our unit:

we've been through our hunting process for interior designers or contractors which i would not elaborate much. i would just mention which interior designer i have selected: thomas of fuse concept. this is one of the designed floor plan he had done for us before we signed up with him:

you may notice we planned to hack down wall between the kitchen and the living room to make ours a open-concept kitchen.

note that this is not a finalised design. i'm planning to make more requests for finetuning.

this is the 3d he has worked for us (before we signed up with him):

note also that this may not be our confirmed design. we liked it very much at first, with led lights bordering the tv console. but my wife later worried that this design may go outdated very soon and requested for new ideas from thomas. he agreed and would return to us soon.

here's a few pics of the interiors we've taken today...

view into the kitchen:

view into the living room, from the main door:

fyi, i have opted out from tiling and doors because i find the tiles provided by hdb ugly, and the doors hollow (from those samples i've knocked in hdb hub). i prefer to get an interior designer do a full complete job.

this t-blog shall document our renovation journey, which we would also share our experiences (be it good or bad) with our interior designer during the renovation process.

i am not sure whether all or most interior designers / contractors / renovators adopt the practice of taking the measurements personally by themselves, as i didn't hear the same thing during my interior designer hunting process. fuse concept is the only one to share with me that the measurements stated by hdb's official floor plan may not be 100% accurate, and he would need re-take all measurements personally by himself to ensure a more accurate planning of his work (e.g. capentry, tiling, etc.) and materials budgeting.

anyway, thomas has done that today and he'll make the necessary applications for renovation permit from hdb. the next time we meet would be a walkthrough of his detailed plan, in 2 to 3 weeks' time.

[romeo78 0]

good luck and have smooth reno journey fellow springer. Cheers.

Edited February 21, 2011 by romeo78

[LaLaLee 0]

Hi,

I apply for punggol spring too... but i have't got the key yet . soon we will be neighbour..

Looking forward to see your reno process as i got the same sq feet and same layout.

I still got no idea how i want my new house to be .... so i be looking out for your post

Cheers

laLa

[abupapa 0]

hi, how much does your reno cost in total ?

Edited February 22, 2011 by abupapa

[kyxyy 0]

Nice! Hope to see your progress soon!

[angeliqueho81 0]

nice layout!

[footprint 0]

cant wait to see progress!

my friend also waiting for key collection too..

[hafiizh 0]

Eh bro, your house layout exactly like mine!

Your fellow punggol lodge neighbor,

Hafiizh

[weeeeeee..... 1]

hi, how much does your reno cost in total ?

to be frank, i do not wish to disclose the exact i amount i am paying to fuse concept. we've agreed on the price, and i dont wish to invite comments on how expensive it is, or whatsoever. let's just say that we have several special requests and i did my due homework before agreeing to the price. all i can say is it's about 30%-40% higher than an average home owner of a new 4-room hdb flat.

we are a small family of three: me, my wife, and my 16-mths-old daughter. we are planning for a second one

the master bedroom, would be for me and my wife, of course. we own a serta queen size bed and we're going to shift this from my mother's house (which we're staying now) to my new master bedroom, with the bedhead at the westside of the room. i'm also going to get my ID to build a wardrobe at the southside of the room. my wife wishes to have a tv in the room too, so i intend to shift our old 32" lcd tv and mount it onto the wall (eastside) of the room with a bracket.

the room next to us would be for my daughter and also for our next one. i'm not going to get thomas to install any built-in wardrobe for this room. my wife intends to get everything kiddy for my daughter. we are looking at ikea's children furniture for few reasons: a) cheap; b) our daughter will grow and may wish for a change in few years' time, thus it's best not to have something fixed in the room and cheap to replace when the time comes. my wife is now in the midst of selecting some wall decals for the kid's bedroom enthusiastically

the last room closest to the living room is going to be our study, housing our laptops and my small little area for video gaming (ps3). i have not finalised the layout of this room yet and i'm getting thomas to design for me. all i have now is i'm planning to get a sony 32" ex600 lcd tv and probably a yamaha yht-s400 soundbar for my video gaming console.

like any typical guy, the first few thing i've planned for my living room is the tv and the home theatre system

due to the space constraint of my living room, the biggest i should get is a 40" tv for a viewing distance of 3m - 3.5m. but i find 40" a little small for my viewing pleasure of my blu-ray collections, thus i'm going for a something slightly larger, hee hee hee i'm aiming at the 42" le7500 from LG. for my home theatre system, i've not targetted onto anything yet, but it'll most likely a yamaha one as well. due to another contraint in my house, i.e. running kid(s), i have no choice but not to have any standing or tallboy speakers. hence, i'm gonna get all-satellite speakers for a 5.1 configuration. my wife has been wanting a xbox kinect, so i've decided not to have any coffee table. we're gonna settle for an L-shaped sofa and a nice carpet for her enjoyment.

as for the kitchen, we haven't really decided on the hood and hob yet. but what we'll sure get is a chimney hood, a 2- or 3-burners hob, and a built-in oven for cooking. we're aiming to get a gr-b2088lq side-by-side fridge from LG for sure.

i will build a list of all these electronic and electrical appliances (including air-con) in a couple of weeks' time and will share with u all in due course

meanwhile, please feel free to add me in facebook

facebook.com/kuanwee.lee

p.s. pls state that u got to know me from my t-blog@renotalk, ok?

for those who love kids, i humbly introduce u to my daughter's "fan page":

facebook.com/charlotte.lee.t.h :P

[Friendly_people 0]

Hi Wee, thanks for sharing the infomation here! =)

I am also a Springer waiting for our keys and so soon we will be neighbours. Now starting to look for ideas and contractor....

tough work but really excited..=)

our kitchen seems very small!....

I try not to go for open concept bcos afraid the oil stain flow to living room...

but now dun know how sia...

anyway, see that u are looking for decals, I have a colleague working on it. u can PM me if you are interested.

cheers

[waikwok 0]

hiihi, for your open concept kitchen, do you need PE to endorse to hack the wall ?

[weeeeeee..... 1]

hiihi, for your open concept kitchen, do you need PE to endorse to hack the wall ?

according to thomas (my ID), no PE is needed. i had doubt at first but he put it across to me sounded experienced and confident, and he'll be applying for the renovation permit from hdb stating the intention to have the wall knocked. unless he came telling me say hdb doesn't approve, else i believe i am able to do so.

i will update u all on my t-blog on this

[footprint 0]

Think no need PE but still need to apply for HDB permit. hee.

coz I'm hacking mine too.

but ya, the ID will handle all, minimize our headaches on liaising! hee.

Waiting for more updates soon!

[weeeeeee..... 1]

grrrrr....

my first rant of my reno journey.

thomas called me this afternoon, saying that hdb doesnt allow him to apply for smooth floor rendering on my behalf and need me to apply by myself. i went WTF!?

in the first place, he was the one saying that he could do everything for me, including applying from hdb the provision for smooth floor rendering as it is FOC. he said this process is needed before he could start tiling and laying the floors with laminated floorboard. otherwise, getting his guys to do the similar works requires charges.

i called up hdb, and the cso asked me to call the branch office 1800 number. i called that number, and then asked me to download a form froom the website, have it duly completed and fax to the respective branch office (in my case, is sengkang branch office). ok, fine. managed to search the form and downloaded it (http://www.hdb.gov.sg/isoa072p.nsf/PC66VByFormID/HAPF00015). as i was halfway thru completing the form, i saw this clause "It will take about 3 to 4 weeks from the day the flat owner hands over the keys to the

Branch Office to complete the smooth floor rendering..."

i went wah piang eh! i don't care. i'm gonna give hdb **** by insisting to complete it asap. i'm gonna give thomas some lecture also when i meet him coming wed. if he knows this earlier, he could have get me to make this request as soon as i got my keys! not 2 weeks later!

so guys... if ur ID or contracter prefer to do have hdb provide the smooth floor rendering FOC, do so as soon as u got the keys if u want ur reno to start asap.

[creatrixnator 0]

hi,

in my experience, even though they say 4 weeks it's just the max.

HDB told me the 'contractors were very busy', this was just before cny, but they were able to do it within a week or so.

re- doing cement screed as soon as possible - not advisable if you want to hack your walls

as the area previously taken up by walls need to be smoothened as well

i made the 'mistake' of doing it before hacking (before engaging contractor really), he had to do up that portion (no extra cost...but still)

heard from my neighbour that cement screed need to be dry before laying of laminates. so that will add to the delay as well....