My 1St Em @Serangoon N

[aqua 1]

Potatoes, ur id is much cheaper, maydream id- andrew is quite costly for carpentry, bt he appears v detailed n sharp. Eventually i engage kafu due to budget constraint n he can complete bef cny! Prsy hard now

[IPineapple 3]

Hi potatoes,

Your house is very well renovated... I think the effort is well worth it. May I have the contact of your ID pls. And also Ah Wei's contact.

Thanks v much.

dun bother calling ah wei..he never reply to call, sms and email. I got so fed up i decided to stop looking for me.

[ayazumi 0]

It is very difficult to find a contractor/ID during this period, especially before CNY as everyone is rushing to hand over existing projects or on holiday, they will not entertain new projects or enquiries. I am on hold of my renovation queries. Didn't want to waste time to contact any, and those who can entertain me may not be the good ones left or just the sales persons.

[May_dream1 14]

It is very difficult to find a contractor/ID during this period, especially before CNY as everyone is rushing to hand over existing projects or on holiday, they will not entertain new projects or enquiries. I am on hold of my renovation queries. Didn't want to waste time to contact any, and those who can entertain me may not be the good ones left or just the sales persons.

yup, i agreed.... seldom have contractors / IDs that are free now. we also want to have holidays... they also will take holidays.

[dasinia 0]

Staircase reno can be very costly if your steps are parque. To cut cost and keep to my budget, I got my ID to use laminate wood instead only for horizontal layers, painted wall for the vertical sides. I use wrought iron grilles instead of glass panels. The wooden handrail I got my ID to install already cost me 1K, not sure if it is parque.... also not sure about cost of painting the wrought iron..... if I were u, I surely ask for FOC

I don't think my ID will give that for FOC. Every additional item for the reno we always ask for discount haha as we already exceed our reno budget. When we saw the hse condition after the second inspection, e marble floor on 1st floor have to go man, as we found a long deep crack and my ID said cannot be repair, still can see the crack line. And the parque for the staircase below steps there is big chips parque ( was bite by the seller's dog) think the owner never feed the dog lo haha

So additional cost for hacking and retiiling first floor and re-parque the stairs. Thats why now just need to retain my wrought iron grilles railing and just paint it over which is my ID charge additional 350.

My reno blog will be updated by my hubby sometimes me hehe we share the experience but since i'm pregnant so most of the time he will be at the site. I only come down once in a while to discuss the chg of design or electrical work. Really stress man, a lot of small hiccups along the way. My ID seemsvery busy and the worker, we cannot even talk to them as they just follow the boss order, despite we treat them very nice.

[potatoes 0]

wah!! if andrew saw this, he sure will be very happy. hahahaha....

but most importantly, you are happily living in it now. when you going to invite me over to have a look? let me kay poh...

Yes, Andrew was one of the 2 IDs I have shortlisted to do my reno. I met him 3 times to discuss details. As a matter of fact, when I visited your place, I could see the high standard of workmanship and good design. I like Andrew's definition of "Home" which I noted it on the 1st page of my blog.

I almost signed on the dotted line until Mr Kafu came along to offer alternatives for me to meet my contrained budget lor. Sometimes things don't turn out the way u want it to happen. Kafu was able to turn things around for me and materialize my hopes of changing this ugly looking EM into a beautiful place and still meeting my budget.

May, U are most welcome to visit my place anytime.... I m now on leave until new year's day! Cheers

Edited December 21, 2011 by potatoes

[potatoes 0]

Potatoes, ur id is much cheaper, maydream id- andrew is quite costly for carpentry, bt he appears v detailed n sharp. Eventually i engage kafu due to budget constraint n he can complete bef cny! Prsy hard now

Congrats! I m happy to know that u have finally decided which ID to engage for your reno.

Since u r engaging the same ID as me, I can give u tips on how to best get your reno done well without going through unnecessary stress.

You got to get Kafu to write down in black and white the things u want him to do..... Be sure to msg him also as proof of evidence. Our ID tends to be a little forgetful cos he has to handle so many projects..... So reminders are very necessary. I didn't do some of these, so ended up doing rework:(

Wish u smooth reno journey..... Hope u can start your own blog soon

[potatoes 0]

dun bother calling ah wei..he never reply to call, sms and email. I got so fed up i decided to stop looking for me.

Hi ipineapple, don't get so discouraged or upset over Ah Wei. It took me weeks to find out his contact number. I went thru' every section in renotalk as well as his facebook pages. Also added him in facebook and left a note..... U know what? Weeks later, he replied me thru' his facebook and left me his local contact number. I msg him immediately and I was fortunate that he called me:)

So, u need to be very patient. Cheers!

Edited December 21, 2011 by potatoes

[May_dream1 14]

Yes, Andrew was one of the 2 IDs I have shortlisted to do my reno. I met him 3 times to discuss details. As a matter of fact, when I visited your place, I could see the high standard of workmanship and good design. I like Andrew's

Definition of "Home" which I noted it on the 1st page of my blog.

I ve almost signed on the dotted line until mr Kafu came along to offer alternatives for me to meet my contrained budget lor. Sometimes things don't turn out the way u want it to happen. Kafu was able to turn things around for me and materialize my hopes of changing this ugly looking EM into a beautiful place and still meeting my budget.

May, U are most welcome to visit my place anytime.... I m now on leave until new year's day! Cheers

I am still working throughout this period.... maybe next year lah... hehehehe...

I thought you spent more than budgeted? but its all money well spent lah... as long as you are happy living there. its for long term... hehehehe...

[IPineapple 3]

Hi ipineapple, don't get so discouraged or upset over Ah Wei. It took me weeks to find out his contact number. I went thru' every section in renotalk as well as his facebook pages. Also added him in facebook and left a note..... U know what? Weeks later, he replied me thru' his facebook and left me his local contact number. I msg him immediately and I was fortunate that he called me:)

So, u need to be very patient. Cheers!

thanks bro...let's see how. Anyway...my carpentery work can only start after Feb since CNY coming...so still have time to look around. Jsut fed up when people ignore you lie an idiot....despite we going to give them $$$.

[aqua 1]

Potatoes, yes, we juz start reno, but many things nt discussed n wrkers already start! No 3 d drawings too coz kafu says no time . But i hope he is gd coz he is more easygoin n frendly, n we feel beter w him, hehe.

He also charges for paint wrough iron grilles 500, for my balconny grilles, utility n dinnin corridor grilles, veri expensive.. But bo pian

[potatoes 0]

Potatoes, yes, we juz start reno, but many things nt discussed n wrkers already start! No 3 d drawings too coz kafu says no time . But i hope he is gd coz he is more easygoin n frendly, n we feel beter w him, hehe.

He also charges for paint wrough iron grilles 500, for my balconny grilles, utility n dinnin corridor grilles, veri expensive.. But bo pian

Great! All the best to your reno.! awaiting to see you start your own blog. Merry Christmas and happy new year too!

[aqua 1]

Merry xmas n lots of gd luck to u n family. No time start blog coz i hav a young bb n 3 yr old kid. Hmm, will try to post some pics later on

[Starburst18 0]

Before and After Photos

Kitchen

Before

After

Before

After

Hi Potatoes.. I love your kitchen.. tot of doing something like this for my home.. but how's the maintance of the white kitchen cabinets... will it dirty easily..

[potatoes 0]

Hi Potatoes.. I love your kitchen.. tot of doing something like this for my home.. but how's the maintance of the white kitchen cabinets... will it dirty easily..

Hi Starburst, thanks for your nice comments. My kitchen cabinets are a combination of white and maple. I wanted it white while my wife wanted maple.... So we agreed on something in between.

We do light cooking more often and occasionally heavy cooking.we find the chimney hood from Mayer is powerful and quite effective. We also created a yard mainly for our laundry the yard was also built to segregate our toilet, washing machine and rubbish bin from the kitchen.

Maintenance of kitchen cabinets? We only moved in for abt 2.5 mths. It still looks as new as before...... But We always make it a point to keep the cabinets area clean after each cooking.

Edited December 28, 2011 by potatoes