Where Thou Art, That Is Home

[snaem85 1]

hi all,

after months of stalking/peeping/viewing other members' t-blog, i've decided to start my very own thread. i hope by sharing the experience gained throughout this journey, it will be useful for newer and more junior members here. :sport-smiley-004: it has been a rather swift journey for us, thus far, though there were minor hiccups here and there. and as of current, we're 08 DAYS away from getting the keys to our very first house.

house hunting

our journey starts on 21/07/2011. after trying umpteenth times unsuccessfully for a BTO flat, we decided to get a resale house instead. with that said, we engaged a house agent recommended by a colleague and went for our house hunting almost immediately. during the house hunting, i realized that the more houses we viewed, the better it gets. really mind bobbling! however, the COV was such a turn off. the lowest COV that owners were asking for was a shocking 38K (for a very run down house) and the highest was 80K! obviously we didn't have that much money! well, what can i say? we still continued to look for our ideal house.

on 03/08/2011, after viewing around 8 units, we chanced upon this unit at bedok reservoir view. the house was in 'stock' condition and the view wasn't great (3rd floor and facing MSCP). however, i really like the location alot as it was situated in the middle of bedok and tampines. furthermore, it was a rather new unit considering the unit was built in 2000. so... here comes the golden question. how much was the COV? owner was asking for 20K, but our agent will try to lower it more for us (eventually got the house with COV of 16.8K). signed the OTP immediately, and exercised it exactly a week later. taaadaaa, the rest is history. :yamseng:

Edited September 20, 2011 by snaem85

[corner 0]

wah so near to the reservoir, can jog there

[frigginfuchsia 0]

Congrats and welcome!

here's wishing you a great reno. process ahead!!!!

[snaem85 1]

thanks all for the wishes.

ID selection

the feedbacks shared by other members from RT has certainly give me the edge on which ID company to shortlist. thus, i shortlisted a few like orangecube, plush living and summit design. the first ID we spoke to was one from idees during the expo fair which was held somewhere in august. we talked and discussed about ideas and designs for the house for almost an entire 90mins. it was certainly a tiring and exhausting process. with that said, i wonder how other bro/sis here have the energy to meet more than 10 IDs cos we confirmed + chop don't have that much energy. to cut the story short, we only did spoke to 3 IDs and all them have came back to us with their quotes.

idees: the id we talked to was a rather nice guy but we didn't have that much chemistry with him. his idea was also rather unappealing to me and his quote was on the higher side. we set our reno budget between 40k-50k, but he overshot that budget. he did include some freebies like hob and hood but i thought where got such things as free things in this world? :bangwall:

orangecube: called them to schedule for an appt. a few days later, the ID called and invited us over to their showroom. i was rather impressed with their showroom, very nice and sleek. spend about 30mins with him. he basically asked me what we liked and dislike. told us to give him a week to come up with the designs and quote. a week later, he came back with the quote and like the previous ID, also overshot the budget (plus the GST was such a turn off). he also included freebies like ipad2 and system 3 aircon. very appealing freebies but the highest quote among all 3. :dunno:

plush living: we walked in to their showroom (or should i call it an office since nothing much to show there?) and was served by this ah-beng'ish and funny ID (not darren). discuss matters for the next 90mins and told us that he will get back to us with the quote within the next few days. as promised, he did and his quote was the lowest among the 3 but certainly within the budget we set. after getting the quotes, he offered to show us around to see tiles and accessories although we have yet to confirm the final ID. that made me a lil uncomfortable cause i didn't know if he was being pushy or just being plain nice? but like i mentioned, i found him nice plus we certainly got the chemistry with him.

final verdict: after much consideration between all the 3 quotes and the chemistry we had with the individual IDs, we chose plush living. not only was their quote the cheapest, we also felt most comfortable with the ID from plush living. with that said, let's all pray and wish for a speedy and hiccup-free renovation! :sport-smiley-003:

Edited September 8, 2011 by snaem85

[mabaricows 0]

Good luck with your reno!

Having chemistry with your ID is infinitely the most important factor for a smooth reno journey..

With chemistry there is give and take, can "charm siong".. There won't be evil "saboh" attempts..

[snaem85 1]

the house in its stock condition as shown in the valuation report.

from valuation report

living room

kitchen

mbr

common bedroom

Edited September 20, 2011 by snaem85

[snaem85 1]

the finalized layout

due to the house's 'angular' dimension, our ID and us had quite a headache trying to figure out how to make full use of every inch of space in the house. and so, we have decided to combined the original living room with our mbr to make it more bigger and spacious. there will also be a 'mini' walk-in wardrobe for us. one of the rooms will be hacked down to turn it into the new living room. the entrance wall of the kitchen will also be hacked down to have that open concept. next will be the selection of tiles, lightings and toilets accessories. another headache! :dunno:

Edited September 20, 2011 by snaem85

[ejszaka 0]

Congrats, snaem85!! It's a very challenging layout to work with indeed. Are you shacked out by all that weekend and weekday night shopping yet? I am pooped!! Can't wait for reno to end, move in and life to go back to 'normal'.

[snaem85 1]

Congrats, snaem85!! It's a very challenging layout to work with indeed. Are you shacked out by all that weekend and weekday night shopping yet? I am pooped!! Can't wait for reno to end, move in and life to go back to 'normal'.

thanks yo! indeed i am very very shagged, pooped. not forgetting the preparations for my wedding cum december. make that double shagged, pooped! :bow: hopefully i can move in by then. *cross fingers*

[SClofthouse 0]

thanks yo! indeed i am very very shagged, pooped. not forgetting the preparations for my wedding cum december. make that double shagged, pooped! :bow: hopefully i can move in by then. *cross fingers*

Woo.. wedding in December, have to salute you for juggling between reno & wedding. We intend to do that too initially, have our reno 4 months before our big day. However, family & friends(过来人) advised us to separate the events (with more lead time).

Jia you, hope your reno will goes smoothly & have a blast on your big day.

[ejszaka 0]

thanks yo! indeed i am very very shagged, pooped. not forgetting the preparations for my wedding cum december. make that double shagged, pooped! :bow: hopefully i can move in by then. *cross fingers*

wah... that's a feat man. I don't envy your position. Keep the pics coming... we wanna see the progress. Kudos!

[snaem85 1]

thanks for the wishes. 3 more months to go! weeets!

tiles selection

ID brought us to LSH to choose our tiles. spent about 2hrs there. both toilets will be similar in design as i don't want to have too many different color combination throughout the house. with that said, the whole house will in shades of be white, grey and black. i will let the photos talk for itself.

last picture is the the design tiles that will we placed in both common and mbr toilet. waiting for 3D design for the final product! :dribble:

ps: used the scanner to scan the tiles. haha! thought it will be clearer than taking photos.

Edited October 16, 2011 by snaem85

[snaem85 1]

i'm a few hours away to being the owner of an asset for the next 30 years! super excited. :good:

[ejszaka 0]

Congrats man! Just keep the photos coming. Btw, I think I am using the same dark grey bathroom tiles as you.

[Yuki&jason 0]

Hi snaem85, Congatulation. finally ur BIG day arrives. looking forward on your reno process.