Project Punggol Breeze

[atomy 0]

Hi Paloma,

I'm new here.

Could you kindly PM me the name and contact details of your contractor? And breakdown of your renovation costs?

Thanks!

[paloma 1]

for carpet, can go joo chiat plaza area to take a look. got quite a few shop selling. i bought my shaggy carpet from ling's carpet.

Thanks, we'll go check the place out.

[paloma 1]

Hi Paloma, your place is getting prettier and prettier by the day !

Thanks bc2! How's ur place coming along? Did you get your armchair in the end?

[paloma 1]

Since we started this tblog, we've been getting lots of questions about our renovation costs. I thought I'll just put it here that I won't be sharing my renovation cost or any breakdown.

Initially I did, but after thinking it through, I decided not to. The main reason is that after we went through our reno process, we learnt that it's not helpful to compare quotations because there are many variables (material, dimension, workmanship, etc.) that determines the final price. And since every reno differs, it may not be fair to my contractor if I share my cost.

That said, we do welcome questions and are happy to share our reno experience. But I hope people understand why I do not share my cost freely. If you are really interested to find out the cost, I'm happy to refer you to my contractor so that he can give you a quotation.

[theitsybits 0]

Hi kelhy, this is Mr Paloma. Just thought I'll share something about the lighting at our place.

As far as I understand there are a few different kinds of lighting. One of them is the general lighting or ambient lighting and the other ones are known as task lighting and accent lighting. General lighting gives the ambient light, accent lighting lights up something you want highlighted (eg. paintings, brick wall in my case). And task lighting is targeted lighting for certain tasks like reading (reading lamp) etc.

I think for a space to be visually interesting, you'll need to use these different kinds of lighting to create some texture. In other words, it's always more interesting to have some parts of the house/space darker and some parts brighter. What I wanted to avoid was to have "office lighting" - where everything is lighted evenly. My personal opinion is that it's harsh on the eyes and less interesting.

For my tiny 4-room flat, our 4 down lights in our light box provides the ambient, the LED track lights gives the accent and the dining lamps provides the task lighting for meals. So it's not as bright as an office, but it's not dark either. In fact, most of the time, we'll keep our light box switched off and turn on only our track lights and doorway spotlight. And that's more than sufficient for our needs.

We were also quite adamant to get warm white for all our bulbs. Actually many people think that warm white=darker. But that's actually not true. The color of lights is known as color temperature and is measured in kelvins. The brightness of a bulb is measured in lumens. Color temperature has nothing to do with brightness (correct me if I'm wrong). It's possible to have white lights and still be dark or warm white and be bright.

Anyway, apologies for the long-windedness. It's my pet topic and I just can't stop talking about it. ha.

oh man, this sounds super chim..

anyway, looking even nicer than when i visited!

[BoBochacha 0]

Thanks bc2! How's ur place coming along? Did you get your armchair in the end?

Hi Paloma,

We have moved in for abt 2 weeks and unpacking is around 80% unpacked. We were still dealing with some minor touch ups up until last Thursday. However, as of last week, I told my ID very curtly and firmly that I no longer want Any more touch ups to be done because instead of fixing the minor imperfections, it's getting a little worse when they try to do touch ups. It was driving me a little mad. So my mum and I decided that we would rather live with minor imperfections than a major disaster in trying to make better. Anyone has such a frustrating experience before?

Also we just want to move on and start staying in the new place and not have contractors come in and out of the house otherwise the work will continue to stream in never ending. Overall, I think our ID and his workers did a good job of the place, there are some stuff they dida very good job, but there are some which was not as great and I had the pain of trying to get it rectified as much as possible, though not always as successful.

Still awaiting for some furniture to come in but last I heard my 3-seter will delayed by over at least 2 mths the shop misquoted me the wrong ETA! But after a bit of noise to the shop owner she decided to offer me a T-loan until my shipment arrives. We shall see

Yes, I did decide to go ahead with my armchair order and to stick with the orange color we had in mind, becos I plan to deserve a red color furniture for my own bedroom instead! It will not come in till sep or october which is fine. Our dining table arrived with 2 pathetic chairs so we need to hunt for 2 more chairs hehehe

Been so busy moving house that I fell sick for abt 1 over week. So haven't been updating with pictures.

Btw your place gives me lots of inspiration

[Sandrababe 0]

Today, the remaining electrical stuff in our house - some lights, fan and doorbell were finally installed.

After taking a break from reno for awhile, I kind of forgot how dusty and dirty it can get, with all the drilling and stuff. The cleaning after that was really back breaking.

That said, we were really pleased with our new fan - a black Relite petite. Initially, we were bent on getting the Haiku fan, but when the price spiralled out of hand, we told ourselves we weren't going to pay $900 for a ceiling fan.

So we got ourselves a white baby KDK fan from Goh Ah Bee. But then, two days ago, Mr Paloma spotted the Relite fan in the latest home & decor issue. It was exactly what we wanted - black and simple - so we decided to get it!

So now, we are going to let go of our KDK fan. It's white, with a 44-inch blade and is remote-controlled. It's still in its original packaging, unopened, and we have the receipt for warranty. The price is $170, and we are willing to deliver it to the buyer. Please PM me if you are interested!

The black Relite petite fan

The KDK fan we are letting go

Hi Paloma

Could you share where you have got the living room track lights in black from? Is it the same as the one in your bedroom? thanks alot!

Edited July 14, 2012 by Sandrababe

[nyc76 0]

Hi I am newbie here. I like your reno, particularly the mbr brickwall...can I have your contractor's contacts and costing? Thank you very much!

[paloma 1]

oh man, this sounds super chim..

anyway, looking even nicer than when i visited!

Haha not chim lar Thanks girl, hope your reno is going well?

[paloma 1]

Hi Paloma,

We have moved in for abt 2 weeks and unpacking is around 80% unpacked. We were still dealing with some minor touch ups up until last Thursday. However, as of last week, I told my ID very curtly and firmly that I no longer want Any more touch ups to be done because instead of fixing the minor imperfections, it's getting a little worse when they try to do touch ups. It was driving me a little mad. So my mum and I decided that we would rather live with minor imperfections than a major disaster in trying to make better. Anyone has such a frustrating experience before?

Also we just want to move on and start staying in the new place and not have contractors come in and out of the house otherwise the work will continue to stream in never ending. Overall, I think our ID and his workers did a good job of the place, there are some stuff they dida very good job, but there are some which was not as great and I had the pain of trying to get it rectified as much as possible, though not always as successful.

Still awaiting for some furniture to come in but last I heard my 3-seter will delayed by over at least 2 mths the shop misquoted me the wrong ETA! But after a bit of noise to the shop owner she decided to offer me a T-loan until my shipment arrives. We shall see

Yes, I did decide to go ahead with my armchair order and to stick with the orange color we had in mind, becos I plan to deserve a red color furniture for my own bedroom instead! It will not come in till sep or october which is fine. Our dining table arrived with 2 pathetic chairs so we need to hunt for 2 more chairs hehehe

Been so busy moving house that I fell sick for abt 1 over week. So haven't been updating with pictures.

Btw your place gives me lots of inspiration

Oh dear, do take care of yourself. Moving house can be very stressful. And the cleaning and unpacking is not very fun too!

There were certain things we were not completely satisfied too but we kind of give and take. I guess for reno, things will never be perfect because it involves alot of workmanship. But good to hear you have moved in, I'm sure you'll start enjoying your place in the weeks to come!

[paloma 1]

Hi Paloma

Could you share where you have got the living room track lights in black from? Is it the same as the one in your bedroom? thanks alot!

Hi Sandra, the track lights are from Chuan Huat in Balestier. The one in the bedroom are from lightings.com.sg. But there isn't much of a difference really. The only thing is that we are using LED lights in the living room and halogen in the room.

[Beetleclick 0]

Hi,

Able to pm me your reno qoutation? Cause i wonder did our id over qoute us in some items.

Cheers

[justinyeo 0]

Hi Paloma,

It's with great interest that I've been viewing your thread, think you really worked the minimalist & scandinavian style really well despite the space constraints the new flats r facing!! its a great source of inspiration =))

keep posting, ultra like ur brick wall and kitchen!

[ryan81 0]

Hi,

May I know where u get the yellow stool and the price? Tks!!

[theitsybits 0]

Haha not chim lar Thanks girl, hope your reno is going well?

chim ar..lights also got so many kind..it's only after reno den realized that there's so much to choose and decide on..sometimes, things we barely know much about..

K finished almost everything le..waiting for carpentry..which is..not going very well, just gotta wait and hope they get delivered..