A Bright & Airy Executive Maisonette

[frigginfuchsia 0]

pfuuuuwaaaaahhhhh! LOVELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[adidaem 6]

Such an eventful day... the plumbing in the MBR loo has problems... hot n cold water pipes switched and to solve that tiles had to be hacked, contractor had to go down n get more tiles and all this in the midst of rushing about for really important wedding preps for both us and our contractor. Did I also mention the electrical box thingy had a problem and we were also outta electricity for a while?

Luckily I was feeling quite zen about the whole ROM thing, so apart from difficulties in putting on make-up in the black toilet, having to use bottled water to wash my face and brush my teeth and not being able to use the loo, I was just feeling bemused. At least it's memorable.

So the MBR shower is out of action (till Friday I think) cos we have to wait for Grohe people have to come down and calibrate both the thermostatic mixers (plumber dunno how to do it), silicon and paint touch-ups are still on-going, hopefully kitchen backsplash and hood will be up tomorrow, realised that we can't open the fridge door fully cos of a protruding electrical point, and the smaller KDK fans are making noises at high speed, and the aircon drainage in my room makes a loud drippy noise in the toilet, and the stupid balcony doors by Pang Giap still irritates the h*** out of me cos we can't close them properly... Grrr...

But... to put things into perspective, amidst all this reno stuff the house is still so beautiful and we are both happy to be living here. Guess that just puts me in a good mood.

[dinobros 1]

Adidaem: you got good taste..

Beautiful house. Your place has the same layout as mine but your view is 100X better.

What will you use the 1st floor study room for?

[dinobros 1]

Love your Living Room Window. SWEET

It changes the feel of the house completely

[adidaem 6]

Hi Adidaem,

Your EM looks fantastic! I feel so panicky after reading your reno blog because:

1. My ID had not proposed even a single design
   
2. She says we have to expose EVERY single switch/point/water pipe/aircon trunking
   

I have repeatedly told her that I would really like to conceal all these but she just bluntly told me "CANNOT".

I see that even the ugly white box for the switches has also been concealed.

May you enlighten me how to achieve that?

Hi Jon, thanks for your compliment. Lemme see if I can answer some of your questions:

1. Ac trunkings: (i) the position of the blowers was extensively discussed between my IDs, the ac contractor and main contractor to minimise pipes/trunks. (ii) The ac truckings are mostly concealed in the false ceiling. According to my contractor, the ac trunking must be run at a gradient so it's not so easy to plan the config/layout. I dunno anything more than that but it can be done cos mine is all concealed.

2. Electrical outlets and switches: Where possible, my contractor hid them in carpentry or false/constructed walls. We have quite a few of those false walls around, eg where the shoe rack is. Carpentry the best example is probably in the 2BR where the switches are in the wardrobe for easy access from the bed. Your ID is right that switches/trunking cannot be concealed in HDB walls, but there are work-arounds to that. For reference do read Reiki's T-Blog.

3. Water pipes and heaters: They are boxed up or hidden in false ceilings. Again, my IDs noted where the ugly big pipes are and then planned the design around them so that they can be hidden. The ones in my black toilets, where they cannot be hidden are painted over. Your ID is not wrong to say that it should not be done... I run the risk that if there are leaks I'll tear down the walls. But to be honest, all condos and new HDBs conceal the pipes too so I dunno why we can't do that.

I feel like being lost at sea even at this BEGINNING of my reno! ARGH if i had not paid the deposit, i would immediately switch to yours!

In fact, can you let me know who is your ID? i might just forfeit my deposit as i nearly quarrelled with her today when i brought up the topic on DESIGN.

She told me "you go think yourself lor, so many designs, how i know which one you like"

ARGHHH Frustrating!!!!

Hope to hear from you soon.

Desperate Jon.

Mabbe it's worth forfeiting your deposit to save you the heartache of looking at a reno result that you'll hate, which sounds likely to be the case now? Maybe you can share your scary ID's name/company to help others.

My IDs are Atelier M+A: http://www.atelier-ma.com/en/

We had many design discussion sessions with Ai Hwa & Hari before finalising the layout. Think that should be the way cos how else to decide on a layout that you'll like right?

Btw for tiles 1st time we went together to look at tiles. Once my SO and I were comfortable with their selection criteria (basically they were pickier than us), we told them to go ahead and pick the tiles for us. But before the order was placed they still show us the tiles they selected for our final decision.

[adidaem 6]

pfuuuuwaaaaahhhhh! LOVELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks frigginfuchsia!

Adidaem: you got good taste..

Beautiful house. Your place has the same layout as mine but your view is 100X better.

What will you use the 1st floor study room for?

It will be the study/guest room. We intend to get a sofa bed and a study table. So when the bed is not opened up, we can use the sofa... ok, probably not cos the living room is way nicer.

View-wise it can't beat the Forfar or Duxton Plains ones, but we are contented with the relatively unblocked view and privacy.

Love your Living Room Window. SWEET

It changes the feel of the house completely

Thanks! Yeah man, really gives a totally different feel. Gives a feel like the living room is an extension of the balcony from certain angles. Gotta take pics of that to show you guys.

Really love it!

[mae29 2]

Sis Adi

Your maisonette is not only Bright & Airy, but also Beautiful & Amazing!!!

[newnyew 1]

So gorgeously white n nice!

[adidaem 6]

Hi Adidaem,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I suspect that the reason she isn't so keen in putting in effort to do up my house is because i did not let them do the carpentry for kitchen & wardrobes.

maybe the carpentry work brings in the most margin rather than the wet works?

I had decided to use a carpentry specialist for the kitchen & wardrobes. but to be fair i did let her do the feature vanity in 3 toilets & feature wall for store.

Hai... just feeling short changed. there's not a single 3D or perspective drawings at all.

The deposit is $6K+. Do you think i can request to get back half if i decided to cancel?

Unhappy Jon =(

To be honest based on what I see in my apartment, if you don't let your ID do your carpentry, it's really hard for her to conceal the switches and pipes. It's just not possible cos of how things have to be planned.

I'm not sure if you can get the deposit back... have to look at your contract but my gut feel is probably not...

[adidaem 6]

Sis Adi

Your maisonette is not only Bright & Airy, but also Beautiful & Amazing!!!

So gorgeously white n nice!

Thanks Mae-jie and newnyew!

[adidaem 6]

We just finished our thank you dinner/drinks for our IDs n contractors. It was fun chatting with them and teasing them about the whole process now that we can look back at it.

Guess that's as happy an ending as it can get?

[swiper 0]

On with the master bedroom...

The MBR looks bigger than I remember it to be. Headboard designed by my ID with walnut veneer, with the lights the room looks really bright at night.

The headboard has drawers and a flap down panel.

May I know whether you have other light source beside the headboard light? Also, where did you get your track spotlight from and how much? Thx.

Edited September 3, 2011 by swiper

[adidaem 6]

May I know whether you have other light source beside the headboard light? Also, where did you get your track spotlight from and how much? Thx.

The MBR also has 4 LED downlights. Those lights are not very bright, so the headboard ones really help.

Track spotlights are from Lightcraft. Think is around 600+ for 6 units plus the tracks (sold by length).

[mango13 0]

The MBR also has 4 LED downlights. Those lights are not very bright, so the headboard ones really help.

Track spotlights are from Lightcraft. Think is around 600+ for 6 units plus the tracks (sold by length).

Hi adidaem, just finished ur 12 pages t-blog. Have to say wonderful reno after ur 100% effort :bow:

[adidaem 6]

Hi adidaem, just finished ur 12 pages t-blog. Have to say wonderful reno after ur 100% effort :bow:

Thanks mango13. Think we are lucky to have a relatively smooth reno.

All the best for yours too.