Transformation Of A 5I Flat At Hougang

[enrico 0]

Finally after being mainly an idle bystander watching and reading the various transformations of homes, I have finally decided to start my own T-blog.

To start off with, here is my floor plan. Its an old flat of 121 sq metres located in Hougang, quite similar to some of other members of Renotalk (Reiki and gnipihz).

Edited September 25, 2011 by enrico

[enrico 0]

We had been on the hunt for a flat to call our home. Had tried BTOs but were always "rewarded" with fantastically high queue numbers. Flirted with the idea of applying for DBSS and EC flats too. Besides that, we looked at the Resale market...hoping to find something that we like...

In the end, we stumbled across a 5I flat at Hougang. Although the flat was old and in serious need of a major overhaul, we were excited of the prospect of it being transformed into our own home shaped in the style we want

These are the pictures that we took during our 2nd viewing of the flat...

In May we went for the 1st appointment and in Aug we became the owners of the flat! Heee....

[enrico 0]

We carried out the "grand opening" of our flat with the traditional opening sequence...

1) Roll pineapple into the flat after opening the front door

2) Scatter mixture of rice and salt at each corner of the house

3) Left some fruits and a bowl of green beans with wet cotton wool

The picture of our vacant flat after that...

The fruits and green beans after a week...

[gnipihz 1]

Hey!

I just came back to Sg and the 1st T-blog I see got mention me!! hahaha.

Really almost identical floorplan!

Looking forward to see yours. By the way, on my floorplan, inside the kitchen there are windows which are not there. I saw your floorplan and pictures have the windows!!

So nice... Envious of a even brighter kitchen. Can that ledge outside that window be aircon ledge for you?

[enrico 0]

Hey!

I just came back to Sg and the 1st T-blog I see got mention me!! hahaha.

Really almost identical floorplan!

Looking forward to see yours. By the way, on my floorplan, inside the kitchen there are windows which are not there. I saw your floorplan and pictures have the windows!!

So nice... Envious of a even brighter kitchen. Can that ledge outside that window be aircon ledge for you?

The previous owner did his aircon bracket at the Master Bedroom side. Think the rest of the block did likewise.

Hmmm...so you don't have the windows? Means the natural lighting to the kitchen only comes from the back?

[gnipihz 1]

Yeah... I don't have the side windows in the kitchen at all. It's just such a nice ledge that it almost like the new HDB where it can be an aircon ledge. =P

My entire block also does the aircon at the mbr window area.

Looking forward to see more updates from you!

[enrico 0]

After deciding to purchase the flat, both of us cracked our brains on how to revamp our flat. Should it be modern contemporary, minimalist, retro or country? Should there be walk-in wardrobe for the master bedroom? We sourced interior design books, forums such as Renotalk and SingaporeBrides for inspiration? Some of the members on Renotalk also have designs very similar to ours (Reiki and gnipihz) which we can gain ideas from !! The IKEA catalogue also came in useful for ideas too....haha

Went down to IMM to have a look around for IDs to see any of them can be able to give us a good design that is also value-for-money. We spent some time talking to 2 ID firms and both asked us to give them around 2 weeks for them to come up with something. So we continued to wait in expectation....One of them came back with an astronomical quote for our reno!!

Tried e-mailing a few contractors/ID through different contacts (friends' recommendations, Renotalk feedback, etc) to increase our options - 4 in all.

Out of which, 3 of them gave us quotes. All of them seem (including the other ID firm from IMM) to be able to meet our budget.....Argh! How to decide??

After a thorough "evaluation" we decided to engage the ID recommended by some of the Renotalk members - Wawe Design!!! We were quite satisfied with Wee Kuang who will be our ID and felt confident enough that he will be able to deliver!

[enrico 0]

After deciding to engage WaWe Design, we decided to embark on a "spending trip" to purchase some of the items we needed...starting with the sanitary fittings at Genova....

Followed by our cooker hood, hob and oven...

Edited October 29, 2011 by enrico

[enrico 0]

The electrician uncle has helped to remove the wallpaper/plaster on the walls as well as to remove the electrical trunking and grilles before the actual demolition works can begin. Have to say they have done it quite systematically with the grilles nicely stacked up and the waste in gunny sacks...

[Reiki 0]

Welcome to RT and Congrats on the house purchase, enrico.

Yup, we have the same house layout with the exact two sets of windows in the kitchen. This is one reason why I bought my place as it really makes the kitchen airy and bright. Hehe, the only difference, both our units are a mirror reflection to each other.

I was told by my RC Chairman, who is a neighbour, that there are only 97 flats of 5I with 2 windows areas in the kitchen islandwide.

Happy Reno, enrico

[enrico 0]

Thanks Reiki!

Being told that the notice for reno will be pasted these few days!!

[enrico 0]

Hacking started last week...

Haven't had time to update here but here are some of the pics...

Storeroom hacked and linked to master bedroom:

Sealing up previous entrance of master bedroom:

Tiles and new door frames:

[enrico 0]

Tiling for our bathrooms have started!

Common bathroom:

Master bathroom:

[potatoes 0]

Nice Reno. happy reno journey

[yaolong 0]

Welcome to RT! Looking forward to your photos.