sethho 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) The entire journey from searching, negotiating, to actually getting the keys on May 18 feels surreal. TBH, my wife and I are still in fatigue after all the ups and downs through the journey.Visited 11x 3rm corner units within the estate of our parents over 3 months: met a greedy owner and encountered inexperience agent on viewing our 1st unit , but also gained an excellent agent who was very patient to meet our needs... found our 1st love that fits all our need in the 4th visit, but our cheque for OTP was rejected as the owners cannot come to a consensus after 3 weeks of consideration... spent a demoralized CNY + another month of searching because of the inflated expectation from the last unit we offered.... Finally found our love nest that is NOT a corner unit and its NOT within the estate of our parents. Hahaha...talk about 'who/what you end up with, may not be what you hope for'. But we love it!It's just 3 MRT station away from our parents, 10mins walk away from Clementi Mall, windy top floor with high ceiling, unique and only 7 other units per floor to ensure decent privacy, larger floor size vs most other 3rm corners we visited, and lower COV that we can save for our overhaul!The unique feature - it is 'eye' shaped 3NG with only the living room window facing the corridor. Furthermore, the standalone lift well has been 'abandoned' after the lift upgrade last year, giving us the option to buy the corridor access right beside our main entrance *SECRET PLAN*I always fantasize breaking a small hole thru the structural wall between the lift well for a fireman's pole and other implements for my super villian's secret lair!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!...but that is just a fantasy of my 'inner child' Edited May 20, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 Congrats!! Must record every steps of the Reno and let me know if u need any help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) I will post the photos of the original unit on Monday before hacking starts.For IDs/contractors, we visited 10 in total. In order of meeting up:Roy Tan from IR Design We had some difficulty finding his office because it is within a garage. We were pretty comfortable with him and he gave us very practical ideas. However, we decide to drop him ultimately because we are on a tight schedule and he came back with the 1st quote after more than a week.William from Summit Design StudioPretty experience team lead that can visualize quickly what we require. He emailed us the 1st quote 4 days after our meet up. However, we were worried that the quality of work may drop since he was currently engaged in 9 other projects, while managing 5 team members with 3-4 projects each.Johnny Lee from A&D Interior DecorationsAnother 'lao jiao' ID who can advise us what can or cannot be done. He is very polite and customer focus like William. But the 1st quote was too generalized and he lump sub-totals for each category of work without showing the cost of each item. We are wary of hidden cost, so he was the first to drop even though he was the first to email us a quote.Rick Fok from Ideal HouseHe score high in almost all aspect - comfort level, listening and understanding our need, patience and accommodation, etc. We were keen to engage him.... except due to over-budget, we had to drop him reluctantly What we also like is his attitude when we inform him of our decision to go with another ID. He wish for a good reno journey and offer to advise us anytime again Xavier from Habitat InteriorOk, he was late for our appointment, but he made it up by driving us to the next ID appointment. We had a feeling he may not be interested in our project, as he does reno mainly for condos. So I cannot really comment much.Edmund from DX InteriorI had to travel all the way to Bedok Reservoir for the meet up. He did not seem to show much interest, so I did not expect to receive any quote... he has not email or contact me after our meet up so farMerane from Inside LivingMy wife and I like her attitude and attention to details. She even came back during both public holidays just to meet up with us. She is shortlisted within our top 3 IDs for consideration. We wished we have met her earlier so that we have more time to adjust some items to meet our budget. But comparing to the top 2 in our list (perhaps because of the time she spent on drawing out floor plan/lighting designs to the exact scale) we did not have time to look into the 3rd quote.Andrew from Designer GuyDue to conflict in schedule, we had only 10mins for a general discussion, before I pass on all the details to his apprentice for the 1st quote. 1st impression - very down to earth kind of guy who converse mainly in Mandarin. 2nd visit, with wife this time, we ended having a 3 hour discussion on Monday night He gets derailed at times, but with good info and examples. So we are still appreciative, even though it was really tiring. Due to his good attitude, "slow to warm up" comfort level and reasonable quote, he is shortlisted in our top 3 as well.Alan Tan from Aian Furniture & Renovation ContractorI shortlisted him immediately upon the first meet up. Another down to earth kind of guy, who is patient and works hard for his customers. His fame in RT and among house wives for quality workmanship is well known + his quote is very reasonable. 1st ID to offer Rewiring in his quote, that is not only lower than some sub-con, but also inclusive of gangs and decent design switches below $3k.Jeskel from RT!! Ok, I will leave this to my wife to comment. All I can say is, he is efficient in providing us a quote on the spot, at the end of our 2hrs discussion in the first meet up. I have to thank him here again for meeting up given such a short notice period. Feel free to PM me if you need any of the the above ID/contractor's contact. Edited May 20, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 Congrats!! Must record every steps of the Reno and let me know if u need any help. Hello May! Thank you again for allowing us to visit your beautiful home Yes, Ader and I will be taking photo whenever we can to track the transformation! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AderKong 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 Hello May! Thank you again for allowing us to visit your beautiful home Yes, Ader and I will be taking photo whenever we can to track the transformation!Hello fellow RT forumers, this is "THE wife" reporting in Yah, like Seth said, it was really a draining and tedious process from house search till confirming the reno contractor...I barely have 4 hours' sleep every night since weeks ago But I must say, it can be quite fun & engaging, and I never realised I have such good endurance in "shopping" (looking at lights, kitchen/toilet accessories, furniture, home appliances, etc), especially under the hot sun! Well, posting of this T-blog will mean the beginning of another round of hectic journey...of the reno, sourcing & purchase of white goods, furniture, and LIGHTS!!! which Seth & I found sooooooo difficult to find our "love-at-first-sight" Well, wish us luck! Hope everything will go super shun-shun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AderKong 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 Congrats!! Must record every steps of the Reno and let me know if u need any help. Hi May! Thanks to your recommendation of Andrew, so far so good, I like his attitude And really appreciate your genrousity in showing us your house despite the last-min request. Your house is simply beautiful I am this will be seconded by all the RT forumers who will be going for your housewarming tomorrow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 Hi May! Thanks to your recommendation of Andrew, so far so good, I like his attitude And really appreciate your genrousity in showing us your house despite the last-min request. Your house is simply beautiful I am this will be seconded by all the RT forumers who will be going for your housewarming tomorrow Hi Aderkong,You are just too generous with your words! my home is simple and easy to maintain. That was my 1st criteria while doing reno. Too lazy to clean up....Would like to go see your house too when it's done. Then you and "THE husband" can show me around.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) We are in a dilemma for lighting. We wanted cool lights for all our L-box, which is planned for our living room and new master bedroomOur challenge is deciding between Philips screw-in type light-bulb for long term saving VS. PLC push/pull and snap housebrands that comes with ballast. Philips light-bulb only comes in day or warm colour, but does not have ballast which not only saves energy consumption, but also will not have the problem of 'heating' that reduces live span of the light-bulb and lamp. One alternative is to either install both day and warm light-bulbs into a single lamp to produce the mix cool lighting effect, OR alternate day and warm light bulbs in a row of L-box down lightsVS.PLC down lights are mostly China made 'house brand', that can fit energy efficient light builds and use Australia made ballast. You can easily find GE or Ostram cool light builds anywhere.However, energy consumption and heat generation is still almost double from having 2 light bulbs + 1 ballast per lamp.Anyone can advice or recommend if it is worth while to invest on Philips $38 downlight, or leave it to chance for house brand PLC light to have the same life span as well, but with less savings? Edited May 20, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) For the benefit of everyone here...Among all our purchase so far to renovate and furnish our new home, the first purchase is by far our best We got a rare deal from the local distributor of Omazz (Royal Franco) king size bed mattress at 80% discount as it was a display piece with some minor stains.Nett Price. Inclusive GST. Inclusive of delivery. Free mattress protector.So if you are also interested in getting Omazz/Lotus at an affordable budget, consider going to Park Mall to try your luck.Cheers! Edited May 20, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 (edited) Continuing while looking forward to any good advice on my lighting dilemma... Here is the hacking and constructions required (visible on the original floor plan) for the overhaulRED - HackingWalls between living room and kitchenStoreroomMBR toilet wallOriginal doors and frames in the new MBRAll sinks and W/CsGREEN - ConstructionLeveling up of floor to extend dining area (approx 4ft extension)Wall in study/guest roomVanity area - to fit shower area into MBR toiletWiW - over where the storeroom is originally atBLUE - New DoorwayNew doorway for MBR toiletNew doorway for study/guest room to MBR toilet (purpose: air conditioning, prevent moisture to seep in, reduction of noise from compressor, etc)New doorway from MBR to MBR toiletNew MBR entranceThe reason why we have the MBR in the originally common room is obvious - we can hack off the storeroom for a bigger space to fit in the WiW. (NOTE: to all potential husbands out there, DO NOT LET YOUR WIFE WATCH THE HEINEKEN COMMERCIAL IF THEY HAVE NOT SEEN IT!) We compromise by having a new doorway from MBR to the MBR toilet, while allowing study/guest room to have easy access to it as well. This created a box in area, which is perfect for smokers not to dirty other parts of the house, and will also be where we have our aircon compressor to reduce noise pollution. The other benefit is that the WiW and study room will not otherwise be more humid.Of course, there are some disadvantage that we have to live with as well...Like the new MBR is narrower (2900 vs 3200), especially so when we try to fit the bed and TV console. So we had to customise a suspended TV console to make up for the space - we still would only have barely 50+ cm walk space between bed and console thoughIf you like to DIY a bit, you can get easily get a wall shelf from IKEA and work with your carpenter to install and tweak in a wiring box to hide the cables, switches, etc. It can be extremely sturdy just by adding silicon seal along the wall and that also prevents possible laminate warping.Here is one that I like: Edited May 21, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 Ok going off now to decide on tiles and to take pic before hacking starts coming Mon.Wish me good luck on HDB approvals for all the hacking and constructions! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
May_dream1 14 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 (edited) Good luck in getting approval from hdb. Took me a while to get that. Edited May 21, 2011 by May_dream1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sethho 0 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 (edited) Good luck in getting approval from hdb. Took me a while to get that. Thanks again May Just received confirmation this afternoon... only 2 items have been rejected:1. Hacking of MBR toilet wall - I guess they are assuming we intend to extend the toilet floor space. We have to highlight it is just a basin at the vanity area2. New doorway entrance to MBR - There is a pretty low beam (barely 2m from ground) at the new door way which we are prepared to customize for a 'shorter' door....not sure why this got rejected. We will investigate with our HDB officer.Just glad we got indemity to start earlier, or else we are not able to start on May 23.Andrew promise us 2/3D by this Thurs...will post when we get them! Edited May 21, 2011 by sethho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sleek 2 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 welcome to RT blog and wishing the both of you a smooth reno. nice to see couples blogging together, been awhile since we have such t-blogs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AderKong 0 Report post Posted May 21, 2011 welcome to RT blog and wishing the both of you a smooth reno. nice to see couples blogging together, been awhile since we have such t-blogs Thanks, sleek We have benefited a great deal from reading the experience and info shared by other RT forumers hence we feel that we should reciprocate and do likewise share ours too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
