Urban Simplicity

[Dadajie 0]

After following the T-blogs on Renotalk for the past many weeks, I've finally given in to temptations to start my very own mini blog!

I guess it is meaningful to document the building of our FIRST home (with my hubby) and moreover this is probably the best place to seek advices!

So.... Let's get it rolling.................

Let's start off with a little introduction of our nest. It's a 3 bedroom apartment situated in the Northeast.

As it's a ground unit, we got a huge PES area which we can't wait to turn it into a family/friends chilling area.

An electrical BBQ kit would be a superb add on. Heh heh~

Another selling point about the unit which we totally fell for is the glass sliding doors which replaces the windows, giving the house a bright and airy feel.

Lovely~

While we can't wait to start working on the house, it is currently tenanted out. Booooo....

But we are not stopping there, we are meeting IDs diligently and hope to finalize all details so that once the keys are handed over, the Reno work can start immediately!

Weekends are also dedicated to furniture shopping to get new ideas and also to start budgeting.

Meanwhile, will appreciate if anyone can give me some feedback on the few ID companies below!

After hearing the many bad experiences of others with their ID/contractors, I am getting really wary.

Looking forward to hearing from anyone!

Cheers!

- IDEmboss

- United Team Lifestyle

- The Ministry of Design

[Dadajie 0]

After much struggle with Imageshack (ya... I am a noob =P), here it is!!!

Our floorplan!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited September 14, 2011 by Dadajie

[IPineapple 3]

wow MOD.....should be very, very EX..but i like their design though.

Edited September 14, 2011 by IPineapple

[Dadajie 0]

While we are still building sandcastles in the air , we have came up with some of the stuff which we wanna do for our new place.

Unfortunately, we don't have a BIG budget to do a major overhaul, so we can only choose a few major points to reno.

As for the remaining, we can only scrub scrub scrub to make it clean and add some personal touches of decors.

Hopefully, we can still pull it off without it looking like a 2nd hand... *fingers crossed*

ENTRANCE

The current DB box double up as a shoe rack as well. But looking at how the current tenant stack up the shoes one on top of another, I am certain it is not going to be sufficient for us. Especially for my shoe fetish hubby...

• Shoe rack
  
• Lighting at the entrance
  

LIVING ROOM

The living room is at original state with no false ceiling and any built in carpentry work. Gonna skip the usual feature wall and opt for off the rack consoles instead for flexibility. I'm a love or hate person who does not have much tolerance for in betweens, it just irks me if I don't get it right. So I guess I am better off buying what I can see and feel than taking such an expensive risk.

• False ceiling
  
• Lights
  

KITCHEN

This is the biggest struggle of all. Despite tenanted the house out for almost 5 years, the condition of the house is still in a pretty okay shape.

But then again, kitchen being the woman's territory, I will like it to be clean and to my taste when I takeover . Having a dry kitchen island is a dream but is probably not too possible with the space constraint and of course the budget. *grrr* So after many discussions with hubby, we've decided to give and take by keeping the current configuration and just change the cabinet doors, drawers and the table top. Yippie!

• Dismantling of kitchen table top and existing cabinet doors and drawers
  
• Replacing cabinet doors, drawers and table top
  
• Changing of hob
  
• Changing of kitchen sink and mixer
  
• Changing of the oven (that is if budget allows. the tenants have used the oven as a storage space instead! -_-''')
  

MASTER BEDROOM & BEDROOM 1

The biggest project will be in these rooms! As the rooms are tiny, totally unable to accomodate a walk in wardrobe. The only solution is to knock down the wall and combine both rooms. To maximise space planning, we hope to convert the master bedroom to a walk in wardrobe and a study area. While bedroom 1 will be the sleeping area. I'm excited just thinking about it! No more squeezing of handbags!

• Hacking wall to link the two rooms
  
• Sealing of Bedroom 1's door
  
• Wall partition for mounting of TV (I can't live without my TV!!!)
  
• Walk in wardrobe
  
• Study area
  
• Lightings
  

MASTER BEDROOM TOILET & COMMON TOILET

Super tempted to add a bathtub in the master bedroom toilet but after some serious consideration, we decided to do without it and just keep it simple by just changing the WC. With the current colour theme of black and wood colour, I am thinking how to merge it with the overall theme. Or is it really alright to have a totally different look in the toilet since it is another room?

• Changing of WC
  • Changing of taps and showerheads
    
  • Lightings
    

  Other than the above, it will be just some general stuff such as painting of the whole apartment, polishing of the floor.

  Not too sure how the quote will turn out for the above reno. Hope it is cheap cheap then I can do MORE! Heeeeee~

  Gonna find time to blog about the themes and styles I likey!

  Always welcome feedback or advices!

  Till again~~~

[Dadajie 0]

Deciding on the theme of the house is probably one of the toughest decision so far.

After reading so many decor magazines and browsing through so many websites, it is hard not to be confused.

This one nice, that one nice, everything also nice!!!

But one cannot be greedy. Hahaha~ So we have decided to take advantage of the sliding doors we have and go for a bright and airy look.

White and wood colour seems like a great combi to bring out the look. But I will still love a splash of colour in the house - think olive green or pastel purple or bright red!

Of course, this is not final.

Everyday, there's new ideas! Gotta stay focused!!!

By dadajie at 2011-09-14

By dadajie at 2011-09-14

By dadajie at 2011-09-14

By dadajie at 2011-09-14

By dadajie at 2011-09-14

[Terencetcw 0]

Congrats on your new purchase

I have hard time browsing through magazine too..especially Home&Deco (U can give it a try to gain some ideas)

-

As for your kitchen...I have this though that replacing the doors and re-laminate all the cabinets (as my previous owner theme is so old school - Pink+ blue in each different door~~ ) Ohh dear~

I did ask around for quotes to laminate all the doors vs. building a new kicthen.

Answer: Contractor (as my previous owner is doing his carpentry work he did all the wood work himself) told me that not much differences on laminating, because they have to dismantle the doors and bring it back to the factory (1 cost), then from there start to measure and customize (1 cost), your lamination material (1 cost), shipment to your house and install (1 cost) ...

New: Slightly more exp by 20% i guess, as he told me not much difference so ...i opt for new

Maybe u can share with me the price for laminate whole kitchen cost via (PM), as my build in wardrobe (he did it himself) in remaining 2 rooms comes with same kitchen colour theme (Pink + blue) Omg....

But i love your idea of WIW wish i have space to do one~ hehe

Any pics to share hehe

[Yuki&jason 0]

Hi dadajie, Congrates ! i'm simple LOVE the design on the Living room, especially the wall behide the sofa !

[Dadajie 0]

Congrats on your new purchase

I have hard time browsing through magazine too..especially Home&Deco (U can give it a try to gain some ideas)

-

As for your kitchen...I have this though that replacing the doors and re-laminate all the cabinets (as my previous owner theme is so old school - Pink+ blue in each different door~~ ) Ohh dear~

I did ask around for quotes to laminate all the doors vs. building a new kicthen.

Answer: Contractor (as my previous owner is doing his carpentry work he did all the wood work himself) told me that not much differences on laminating, because they have to dismantle the doors and bring it back to the factory (1 cost), then from there start to measure and customize (1 cost), your lamination material (1 cost), shipment to your house and install (1 cost) ...

New: Slightly more exp by 20% i guess, as he told me not much difference so ...i opt for new

Maybe u can share with me the price for laminate whole kitchen cost via (PM), as my build in wardrobe (he did it himself) in remaining 2 rooms comes with same kitchen colour theme (Pink + blue) Omg....

But i love your idea of WIW wish i have space to do one~ hehe

Any pics to share hehe

Hi Terencetcw, I spoke to my ID bout laminates for the kitchen initially but he mentioned that actually laminates ain't much cheaper and usually can't be done on tabletop cos of the functionality. -_- thought it might look weird if all the doors look new and the tabletop looks 'cui'. So he proposed to changed both the doors and tabletop and just fix onto the current configuration. The rough quote I get for that wasn't very cheap (lemme know if you like to know the quote for this instead) I am abit lost cos this is my virgin Reno experience and I have no idea what is the market rate to do up a kitchen. Maybe u can PM me your quote by the contractor for a whole new kitchen?? Oh boy, the feeling of having to keep to budget but wanna do everything possible is sooooo miserable! Hahaha.

[Dreaming 0]

White and wood is nice! We are doing the same too! We are trying to combine modern white with light colored wood (+green of course) to bring out our resort theme. Your pictures are inspiring to us!

Once you got your theme, everything will progress very well. Good luck!

[frigginfuchsia 0]

Welcome to renotalk

and congrats on yr new home.

We worked on a tight budget... kept the original 23 year old floor tiles for the living, master bedrooms & 2 common rooms. ( they were in lovely condition thus we could not bear to hack them too) That probably kept us within our budget.

Besides the above, we managed to keep half of the kitchen's original subway style tiles which we love ( we got away with that since we we going for vintage rather than modern... then told our ID the budget and to work within that. Thankfully he was quite accommodating ....

sometimes... being on a budget forces us to be a tad more innovative and to look into alternative usage of material.

We'll definitely! look forward to images of yr new home

happy renovating!!!

[Dadajie 0]

White and wood is nice! We are doing the same too! We are trying to combine modern white with light colored wood (+green of course) to bring out our resort theme. Your pictures are inspiring to us!

Once you got your theme, everything will progress very well. Good luck!

Thanks Dreaming! It feels good to have someone agree with my idea! Heee~

How is the progress of your reno???

Looks like I need to read your blog to get more ideas!

[Dadajie 0]

Welcome to renotalk

and congrats on yr new home.

We worked on a tight budget... kept the original 23 year old floor tiles for the living, master bedrooms & 2 common rooms. ( they were in lovely condition thus we could not bear to hack them too) That probably kept us within our budget.

Besides the above, we managed to keep half of the kitchen's original subway style tiles which we love ( we got away with that since we we going for vintage rather than modern... then told our ID the budget and to work within that. Thankfully he was quite accommodating ....

sometimes... being on a budget forces us to be a tad more innovative and to look into alternative usage of material.

We'll definitely! look forward to images of yr new home

happy renovating!!!

Hihi! Wow... 23 years old tile, the previous owner must have taken very good care of it!

And you are right, hacking it away will be a waste, what more it fits into your theme.

Are those marbles???

I am facing a problem... unfortunately my tiles are hormogenous tiles instead and after speaking to the IDs, they mentioned that hormogenous tiles cant be polished. But the lines in between the tiles are turning yellowish in colour...

Am not too sure how I can remove those stains......

My mum suggested brushing with a toothbrush -_-''' That will be quite abit to brush. Hahaha.

[pinkwhale 0]

Hi.. Congrats on ur new home!

Is it possible to redo the grout line for ur hormogenous tiles? Like reapply or something?

[Dadajie 0]

After weeks of furniture shopping, hubby and I have a brief idea of what we want.

A L shaped sofa is for sure, cos lazy him wanna stretch his feet.

He also fell for the Noguchi coffee table at first sight when I brought him to Lush.

For someone who doesn't have much wants or ideas for the new house, it is important that I take his little suggestions into big considerations. And *ahem* I do like the Noguchi table too la. Heee~ Just that it seems to be pretty common already.

I've seen so many people with their very own Noguchi. I guess pretty things are just well sought after. Shall take it as an affirmation of my taste instead. =P

Some thoughts here!!! Gonna AIM and BUY!

Dining table

By dadajie at 2011-09-15

Wing Chair. Absolutely love the shade of green! But am wondering if a L shaped sofa + arm chair will make the place look too crowded?

By dadajie at 2011-09-15

The legendary Noguchi coffee table! Good thing is that we can choose the shade of the table stand!

By dadajie at 2011-09-15

Tragg bench from Lush as well. Am thinking of putting a bench or lounge chair at the WIW area. Machiam those boutique stores. Heh heh!

By dadajie at 2011-09-15

Another love! Totally different from the above feel, I know. But who doesn't love colours!!! With a black chandelier hanging from above this sofa... Pretty!

Need some advice if it will look weird if I go for a different feel in the rooms???

By dadajie at 2011-09-15

[Dadajie 0]

Hi.. Congrats on ur new home!

Is it possible to redo the grout line for ur hormogenous tiles? Like reapply or something?

Hihi! Thanks for your suggestions! Can it be done? I will be so thankful if it can be done.

Let me go check with my ID!

I am still thinking I can't escape the fate of scrubbing it with a toothbrush and some chemicals. Hahaha.