Blue Is The Colour Of Dreams

[jingle 0]

Hi Peeps

Thanks to your sharing on the forum pages and on the t-blogs, I was able to get helpful information on stuff for the reno of my new place!

Decided to do the same and start a t-blog on the reno of my new place too.

Hope you enjoy reading

Cheers

Jingle

[jingle 0]

This is the floor plan for my place.

When first selecting the choice of flats, I was told by friends and relatives that the best winds come if your windows and stuff are in the north-south direction. So hubby & I scrutinized the entire neigbourhood layout and decided that our unit should be able to get good winds and also avoid the afternoon sun.

Sadly, this was not the case. The top right hand corners of the living room + the bed rooms all kenna the sun and the wind appears to be coming more from the main door area which is blocked by some random wall.

I was abit lazy and did not do that much research before key collection. We collected the keys then slowly started looking around & asking for recommendations. Eventually decided to go with strong recommendations of a friend's friend who claims that his ID did a very good job and not the hard-sell type. He said the ID will also ensure everything is properly done with zero hiccups, yes the ID got our vote.

[jingle 0]

When in discussions with the ID, I told the ID that all I wanted was a wall to be tiffany blue in colour and I have no idea how to do up the rest. I showed her some magazine cut-outs which I really fancied. She seems to understand the type of styles I want really well. She told me to leave everything in her good hands.

Soon enough, she 'released' the first batch of 3D drawings:

Living room

[jingle 0]

We also talked about the kitchen and I told her my mom didn't believe in having in having cooker hood, I kinda grew up this way too. So I would like a kitchen without any top cabinet so that cleaning would be easier and cabinets wouldn't be damaged from the cooking heat. I also wanted the service balcony doors hacked for a more spacious kitchen (after seeing a neighbour's place).

Not forgetting that HDB given kitchen tiles has the green lines (I really didn't quite like them and wanted them hidden for good), she said she will try to do something however tempered glass is gonna burst my budget if that was what I really wanted. She came up with some good options for our selections.

Kitchen

With service balcony completely hacked and cabinets all the way. I thought the colours were quite good however the kitchen looked rather weird without any top cabinet.

L shaped kitchen to 'segment' the balcony area and the cooking area. We quite liked this concept and asked her if we could switch the sink with the hob so that there wouldn't be anything above the hob and we could worry less about the heat and cabinet being spoilt. Then we can also have some top cabinet to complete the look. Having it white (without the black themes) gave it a really simple yet clean look too. We told her to revise to include top cabinets, but this got our nods

Edited December 3, 2011 by jingle

[rain 0]

Hi hi,

I can't believe that someone out there actually is thinking of the same thing as me! I am thinking of doing up my study and am quite set on using Tiffany blue for the walls. However, the blue I'm looking at is lighter than what you have in your drawing. I saw a few pictures on Internet with beautiful blue walls and they call them 'Tiffany blue'.

I have a white kitchen too, but after years of using it, I feel that having drawers rather than casement doors might be more convenient and better utilize the space eg. The plates and bowls - it's always easier to reach for them from the top rather than from out to in. I end up stacking most of them together. My sister uses a drawer to contain them and the plates and bowls are organized more neatly.

[jingle 0]

We told her we would like to have big mirrors in toilets and some simple cabinets at the bottom. Yes, would be nice to get hotel feel but then we are not after the 'luxurious' types of look. Cabinet for the masterbed room too, nothing fanciful, simple yet classic is good for me.

Masterbed Room

We didn't want too dark a wall so told her probably we ought to choose a wall colour less dark. Her thoughts were that we wanted dark laminates for the floor so our wall colours were really limited in options. She is not a fan of laminates and shared that homogeneous tiles are easier to maintain. She told us she can do either that we ask however we ought to consider more about how we are going to go about maintaining the place. Hmmm... lots of thinking to do...

Masterbed Room Toilet

I told her I didnt fancy having the mirror cut up, I would prefer an entire piece of mirror. The 'patterns' on the cabinet is a definite no-no for me - too 'flowery'. Hehehhehehhehe...

Common Toilet

I was quite happy with this drawing. However ID shared that black while stylish, may make the common toilet look smaller than it already is. She suggested changing the cabinets to a lighter colour.

[jingle 0]

Hi hi,

I can't believe that someone out there actually is thinking of the same thing as me! I am thinking of doing up my study and am quite set on using Tiffany blue for the walls. However, the blue I'm looking at is lighter than what you have in your drawing. I saw a few pictures on Internet with beautiful blue walls and they call them 'Tiffany blue'.

I have a white kitchen too, but after years of using it, I feel that having drawers rather than casement doors might be more convenient and better utilize the space eg. The plates and bowls - it's always easier to reach for them from the top rather than from out to in. I end up stacking most of them together. My sister uses a drawer to contain them and the plates and bowls are organized more neatly.

Rain - Great minds think alike! Yupz, it looks really like the colour of tiffany jewellery's gift box!

Thanks for your suggestions about the drawers, however my place is almost 90% done. I'm so so so late in updating the blogs. Its my first try at such stuff and I thought since hubby got some really useful help and advice from this forum, I should just try to complete the blog and share with other peeps too.

[rain 0]

I see. You sound like you are at the beginning stage so I thought you might want some input

[piknik 1]

halo, pls update this blog more. I am curious abt the final result!

[jingle 0]

Me & hubby went back, discussed about what we wanted for our new place, $$, housekeeping and cleaning.

Eventually decided with the following:

- drop laminates and go with homogeneous tiles for the whole flat

- since HDB given toilet tiles are grey, we should go with grey tones for toilet cabinets

- we liked the idea of a seperate cooking and utility area so L shape kitchen for us

- no need cooker hood, therefore change and swop areas with sink and have some top cabinets

- if we take white for kitchen cabinets, the green lines should look fine so no need for tempered glass backings

- frosted glass doors for both the toilets instead of PD or bi-fold

- clear glass door for kitchen too so that the smoke and stuff doesn't get out

Oh yah in case you are wondering why there isn't pics of other rooms, that's because there isn't any carpentry works done. Just painting that's all, we haven't decided what to do. One will likely be a lounge cum study room and the other a guest room first and a future kids room when they come along.

Went back & conveyed our thoughts to ID. She got the drawings revised and showed us the 2nd 'release':

Kitchen

No change to cabinet colour, only tempered glass backing removed.

Position of sink and hob exchanged, added in top cabinets and dish rack.

MBR Toilet

A whole piece of glass across the toilet and cabinets changed to dark grey.

Common Toilet

Cabinet changed to light grey since this toilet is smaller and a brighter colour would make it appear more spacious.

[Terencetcw 0]

nice laminate colours

Im having hard time to choose the kitchen laminates too...

[jingle 0]

I see. You sound like you are at the beginning stage so I thought you might want some input

Rain, if you really like the tiffany blue walls, go for it. when it's up, you will feel really happy. Are you going to do it for your study room only? what about the colours of other rooms... In my later posts, you will see a decision gone wrong on the wall colours. Luckily for me, it was a reversible decision.

[jingle 0]

After choosing floor tiles, ID's action was like super fast. She applied for PE's approval to hack the kitchen service balcony doors and then got her people in to chop chop start work. Thankfully, hubby works shift and gets one week day and one weekend off. He does most of the supervision and will update me of status. I only manage to pop by on weekends to see how is everything going.

Sorry sorry... We forgot to take pictures of the original state and are only able to capture some of the 'before' look.

Some pics before any reno was done:

Kitchen

This was the green stripes I was talking about that runs across the kitchen walls.

Pic of how service balcony used to be like, supposed to have two windows with the door in the middle. Sorry i know this is quite a lousy pic

'Common' Corridor:

You will be able to see the bomb shelter handle. The ID originally quoted a 'feature' panel to hide the wall coz we told her doesn't look good. After we heard the quote, we told her that we can accept seeing the handle as it is coz we rather spend the money elsewhere.

[jingle 0]

For the rooms, we only managed to snap pics after the sand and cement mix came in.

Living Rm & Bedrms:

Living Rm

Study/Lounge Rm

Guest/Children Rm

Masterbed Rm - this pic is taken frm inside the MBR toilet.

[jingle 0]

We didn't overlay the toilet tiles. Only intending to do up cabinets, put in shower screen coz I dont like whole toilet gets wet everytime we bathe. Hubby would like a rain shower, ID agreed to help to install after we buy one ourselves - Yay!

Common Toilet:

MBR Toilet:

Edited December 5, 2011 by jingle