Old New Flat On A Shoestring Budget

[taichipanda 3]

We're getting our bedroom doors replaced... anyone knows if there are cons to getting solid timber veneer doors versus semi-hollow veneer doors for the bedrooms other than cost?

The guy getting our doors suggested sticking with semi-hollow as there will be less expansion/warping problems in the future as well as less likelihood for the door to sag at the hinges.

Personally, I prefer the feel of a solid door as I'm quite sick of the vibration and noise when you close a semi-hollow one, but the other me says that I'm not as experienced as the door guy and should take his advice... help, anybody?

My white bedroom door is also semi-hollow one but the closing is like got soft closing, no vibration or loud bang.

[kirinshibori 0]

My white bedroom door is also semi-hollow one but the closing is like got soft closing, no vibration or loud bang.

Wow, really? Do you use any special hinges for your door or are there felt strips pasted on the frame? Do share the secret to silent bedroom doors!

[kirinshibori 0]

I prefer solid... better sound insulation - which is important IMO. Something I didn't consider for my doors.

Hey, for the kitchen cabinets any backing behind the strips? Else inside may get dusty ya? Paranoid me thinks lizards and cockroaches can more easily crawl over the stuff inside too, which is kind of gross. =P

I ordered solid for bedroom doors and semi-hollow for the MBR bathroom door. Both in white ash veneer, hope it'll match well with the rest of the house...

For the kitchen cabinets, they are without backing.

Actually, there are practical reasons to the strips... The tall cabinet houses the washer and dryer, so the strips provide ventilation. The strips underneath the sink and hob provide ventilation too to prevent condensation and heat build-up respectively. For the strips above the fridge tall cabinet, they are more for aesthetic balance though, haha... The shoe cabinet has strips as well, again for ventilation, will be putting some charcoal inside to remove odours though, lol. Finally, the strips on the TV console provides ventilation for my class A audio amplifier and also allows me to hide all the appliances within and still use my remote control.

I am dreading dusting the strips though! Hope my rainbow will be up to the task...

[kirinshibori 0]

We insisted that the installers not install trimming strips at the door of each room (which is their SOP) because we wanted a contiguous floor to give an expansive look. This is the final product.

They did require us to indemnify them from expansion defects as they claimed that the strips are required to cater for expansion of the planks; however, I argued that our rooms are not that big and that they probably did not use trimming strips even if the room was 10m across, which mine wasn't. They couldn't really answer me satisfactorily, and I suspect they preferred the trimmings mainly for ease of installation. It requires a lot more work to install without trimming strips at the door way as the alignment is tricky and they cannot install multiple rooms at one time as they need to install the planks at the corridor and expand towards the rooms.

I did however find the reason why they have it in their SOP from the manufacture's installation guide. It states that a 8-10mm trimming strip is required every 12m longitudinally and every 8m laterally. There was no problem for us longitudinally as our planks were aligned perpendicular to the windows (parallel to the light entering the room) and knowing how small HDB rooms are, they hardly exceed half of the 12m. It's a different story longitudinally as the breadth of the house is about 12m across from the TV wall in the living room to the outermost wall in the MBR. Only time will tell if we'll face expansion problems in the future... fingers crossed that we won't!

[IPineapple 3]

It's slowly shaping up.

There are also 2 Ikea hacks seen here.

The dining table is using legs from the dining table in the Skogall dining set, while the table top is a 10-ply plywood with white laminate top, PVC bottom and actual wood trimming at the side. This is the offer that is still on at Ikea.

The foldable table attached to the island uses the frame from the Norbo drop-leaf table.

I bought the table for $40 from Ikea's as-is; however, the table top was damaged during the renovation, so I got my carpenter to fabricate a table top and re-use the frame. It's not evident here as the house is still rather dusty, but the solid surface is very glossy and I could have chosen hi-gloss black laminate for the table to match the sheen. But I guess matte black is good too in that scratches are less obvious.

Hi,

Are you using bamboo blind at your kitchen window? How much is that?

[adidaem 6]

I ordered solid for bedroom doors and semi-hollow for the MBR bathroom door. Both in white ash veneer, hope it'll match well with the rest of the house...

For the kitchen cabinets, they are without backing.

Actually, there are practical reasons to the strips... The tall cabinet houses the washer and dryer, so the strips provide ventilation. The strips underneath the sink and hob provide ventilation too to prevent condensation and heat build-up respectively. For the strips above the fridge tall cabinet, they are more for aesthetic balance though, haha... The shoe cabinet has strips as well, again for ventilation, will be putting some charcoal inside to remove odours though, lol. Finally, the strips on the TV console provides ventilation for my class A audio amplifier and also allows me to hide all the appliances within and still use my remote control.

I am dreading dusting the strips though! Hope my rainbow will be up to the task...

Hmm... you may want to order solid for the MBR bathroom too, to prevent the 'I woke my spouse up with my bathroom noise' effect.

The strips looks good but yeah, you have to dust regularly.

Hey you have not shown your genkan ya?

[taichipanda 3]

Wow, really? Do you use any special hinges for your door or are there felt strips pasted on the frame? Do share the secret to silent bedroom doors!

Your white door and my white door look differently... yours got the groove, mine is flat. No special hinges or felt strips on frame, just that it is so easy to close, a light push and it will swing slowly and close, sometime need to push a bit more to engage the lock.

[kirinshibori 0]

Hmm... you may want to order solid for the MBR bathroom too, to prevent the 'I woke my spouse up with my bathroom noise' effect.

The strips looks good but yeah, you have to dust regularly.

Hey you have not shown your genkan ya?

After the doors got installed, I do prefer the solid doors. But I think I can live with the semi-hollow one in the MBR bathroom. A penny saved is a penny gained!

Let me see... Genkan picture...

Busy settling in after the move on Saturday... unpacking is more laborious than moving!

[minchul 0]

Hi, can you please share how the drop in height at the genkan was achieved?

I am aiming for the same effect, but my contractor says it will be difficult.

Thank you

[Valerie Low 0]

Hi kirinshibori, May I know what is the exact laminate flooring that you using? I would like to do laminated flooring for my flat too.

Thanks!

[sh87 0]

Hi kirinshibori!

May i know how much you spent on renovation in the end? $35k?

[piknik 1]

Oh.. I love the design of the house!!! Very nice.. The ikea hacked dining table is adorable!

[kirinshibori 0]

Hi,

Are you using bamboo blind at your kitchen window? How much is that?

Haha, no money to get bamboo blinds... I used Ikea Lindmon blinds, starts from $25 for a 60cm wide one.

[kirinshibori 0]

Hi kirinshibori, May I know what is the exact laminate flooring that you using? I would like to do laminated flooring for my flat too.

Thanks!

Hmm, I don't have a model number. But it's the only oak 3-strip model for the $3.50 psf (exclude GST) Parador range from Evorich. I think Evorich's service is pretty good in terms of follow ups. They faced a lot of problems with my installation due to the lousy cement screeding done by the HDB contractor, but they still tried their best to rectify whenever I pointed our areas where I wasn't satisfied. In all, they came about 3-4 times after the installation completed to do touch ups here and there.

I would seriously consider Quickstep though, as it is highly rated in the US. I like their Eligna range, but that starts at $4.00 psf (excl GST) locally at Expo fairs. The $3.50 psf (excl GST) Gold/Classic series is quite limited in design as compared to the Parador range.

But seriously, if budget was less of an issue, I'd go for Allure vinyl tiles anytime. The feel on the feet is sooooo much better!

[kirinshibori 0]

Hi, can you please share how the drop in height at the genkan was achieved?

I am aiming for the same effect, but my contractor says it will be difficult.

Thank you

May need to go slightly technical here...

The genkan black tiles are laid on the bare concrete floor. Cement screeding was done up till -5mm from the kitchen tiles. 5mm vinyl tiles were overlaid on the existing kitchen tiles. 10mm laminate planks were laid on the cement screed to achieve a flush surface with the kitchen vinyl tiles. Take note that you'll most likely need to cut your doors in order for them to clear the installed laminates. The laminates company will take care of the trimming strip at the drop. But the drop is really not very significant. And when you move in, it's a pain for the delivery guys wheeling your heavy stuff in, lol!