Our First Home & Keeping It Simple

[pinkturtle 0]

Hello!!!

I had contemplated long & hard on creating a t-blog but I am feeling especially happy today which made decide to start this reno blog.

The reason why I'm happy -- the long awaited TOP status of the flat we bought has been finally approved! It's one step closer to getting our keys. yippie! We are just praying that the keys would come faster so that we can vacate our rented 4-room flat ASAP!!

Honestly, it feels like there are so many things to do all of a sudden. Luckily, we have started to look around for IDs/Contractors but we have yet to commit to one.

The theme for our reno: KISS (Keep It Simple & Scandinavian)

So mostly the colours we will be looking at are white & off-white, light wood/birch, teal/Tiffany blue/sea blue.

My hubby feels that we should be practical in our expenditure. Hence we are looking to do the reno below $12k (reno alone). The reason is because that we have paid a premium for the DBSS furnishings & we feel that it's better to set aside $ for other things (and we also just came back from our honeymoon, thus we're quite low in cash). haha.. We will be doing just the necessities and build/buy the rest as the time passes.

He's pretty firm about this but let's see whether we can keep to the budget.

That's all for today. I shall continue soon.

[Aristotle 0]

Looking forward for progress.

[LLChing 0]

Got a good, practical head on his shoulder, that hubby of yours

Congrats on getting your keys soon. Which part of Spore is your DBSS?

[pinkturtle 0]

@Aristotle: Thanks!

@LLChing: haha.. Our DBSS will be @ Toa Payoh -- The Peak.

This is our interim floor plan that we use to show our IDs/Contractors. The measurements are not accurate to the dot but it's the best we could do. The markings were done by the hubby on the 1:100 drawing given by the developer.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Rant] The floor area is actually quite small. Minus the balcony, planter and air-con ledge, we are left with a floor space of about 90++ to max 100 sqm. [/Rant] hahahaha..

The good thing is that most furnishings are already in but we hope the QC is good. I heard that a number of past DBSS developments had lots of issues with developer's QC. Hence, we aren't too sure how much time we need to give the contractors while the developers do their rectification works for the house. Anyone has any experience?

[troides 0]

Hello future neighbour

Hope to see more of your reno soon

[pinkturtle 0]

Hello future neighbour

Hope to see more of your reno soon

Hello!! Glad to see a fellow neighbour here!

Are you one of the lucky residents who will be getting the keys soon?

I was really hoping to get the keys by late May or early June but sadly, my block is one of the last few to receive the keys..

I have to either talk to my landlord to prolong my stay or pitch a tent somewhere in Toa Payoh. haha.

[LLChing 0]

We went to The Peak showroom when it was in the market because of the centralised location. Also went to the one at Bishan, Clementi, Yuan Ching and Tampines. Due to household income, not eligible though agent tried to convince us to apply by sidetracking (HDB loophole). Loved The Arc.

[pinkturtle 0]

We agreed that we will not have any feature wall.

Firstly, we don't like the feel of a feature wall. Secondly, we want to see more of the wall colour of our living room. Thirdly, hubby finds that it would be a hassle in the future if we want to change tv, HTS, etc cos all the wires are hidden behind the wall.

And lastly, taking the feature wall out of the carpentry works really helps to reduce our budget.

Hence, we are looking at media consoles instead. The TV will be resting on the console so that we can hide the cables without any trunking. To be less boring with the console area, we are also looking at racks/shelves to add variety to the plain media console.

Here are some ideas that we like. Simple & clean.

My hubby was saying that if we choose light coloured laminates, there will be dark lines around the edges? Is there a way to not have such lines? I've noticed this and it can be quite distracting. Is there a way to have a smooth edge finish like a solid wood console?

[troides 0]

My key collection is scheduled in May. Have you joined the FB group? Alot of discussion going on there

Your hubby thinks like mine -> no feature wall.

Hello!! Glad to see a fellow neighbour here!

Are you one of the lucky residents who will be getting the keys soon?

I was really hoping to get the keys by late May or early June but sadly, my block is one of the last few to receive the keys..

I have to either talk to my landlord to prolong my stay or pitch a tent somewhere in Toa Payoh. haha.

[pinkturtle 0]

My key collection is scheduled in May. Have you joined the FB group? Alot of discussion going on there

Your hubby thinks like mine -> no feature wall.

Wah! You guys are really very lucky! :dribble:

Hope Hoi Hup expedite the key collection process. Just too slow in my opinion.

[pinkturtle 0]

We went to The Peak showroom when it was in the market because of the centralised location. Also went to the one at Bishan, Clementi, Yuan Ching and Tampines. Due to household income, not eligible though agent tried to convince us to apply by sidetracking (HDB loophole). Loved The Arc.

We were one of the last few to get the flats. We went to different developments too (Park Central, Bishan) but we found The Peak to be more acceptable. That time, PC was left with two units and they were really trying very hard to sell them off (they offered washer + dryer free).

But those units were directly beside the dumpsters.

[pinkturtle 0]

Looking at the floorplan, floor space is kinda limited. So we are really trying to maximize every space possible while keeping to our budget.

Initially, this was our first idea that we presented to the first contractor we met.

Bay windows will be utilized as a storage area [MBR and 1 bedroom].

The unoccupied bedroom will be used as a temp work area cum entertainment room. Planning ahead, we are reserving this room for our kid, when he/she comes along. One extra wardrobe in the MBR cos my hubby doesn't have space for his clothes.

Study desk in the MBR cos hubby works from time-to-time at home.

Fans in the rooms to save floorspace (by not using standing ones) and electricity.

He was quite meticulous and started sketching, measuring and discussing on some of his concerns. We concluded that the MBR was too small for such a layout. And he felt that the placement of the ceiling fan should be at the living area instead of right smack at the centre.

We liked his enthusiasm and his straightforwardness but he was kinda hard to get hold of. And he kept forgetting things. We managed to meet him again for the second time but he still did not get his quotes. At the second meeting, he promised to give us a quotation by the next day which he totally forgot about it up till now. My hubby said just forget about him and move on. Maybe he wasn't willing to do our reno cos it's too small scale? But I find his actions very irresponsible.

We did meet two others. The first at an expo exhibition. She was a nice lady and their company had a gd offer for The Peak residents. But we couldn't really communicate our ideas to her and hence, we didn't consider.

This was the second layout we thought of. Not much change from the previous layout but we shifted the table to the centre of the MBR.

We showed the third ID and he said it could be done. In our opinion, he's very enthusiastic and sincere. We almost went with him but hubby says that though he feels OK with the ID, it seems like there is quite a mix review of the ID's firm. So he's not really comfortable in engaging him.

We met the fourth ID because hubby has heard positive reviews of this firm. Hubby dropped an e-mail and we got a prompt reply. The first meeting, he was slightly late. I was slightly reserved initially but after discussing our ideas with him, he sounded very sincere and earnest. We showed the second layout to him and he did some measurements on the floorplan. He said it was a little too tight to do such a layout. We proposed another layout like the one below.

He said this is more feasible. He gave us a reasonable quotation (not one of the lowest but still within budget). We met him again to view his works. My hubby thinks that his carpenter is not bad (maybe cos of the laminates that the owner chose) and his ceiling works is gd.

We will probably be signing up with him after changing some details in the quotation.

[pinkturtle 0]

Looking for furniture within our budget is quite painful. Since these items are meant to last, we decided to make sure it would.

For dining table, we went with Cellini's oak dining table

The one above has a solid top but we choose the cheaper one with the oak wood top. It comes with two comfortable white oak chairs and one oak bench.

For the sofa, we are looking at a tann L-shape leather sofa. Saw a few but still trying to commit to one.

We are also looking at getting a noguchi inspired coffee table. Anyone has any idea where to get them at gd prices? Saw one at comfortfurnitures but they only have one in black or cherry wood colour. We are thinking of getting one in a lighter colour instead.

Lastly, we had a hard time looking for a bed for the MBR that suits our colour theme. We want a platform bed which has storage below. Initially, the quotes given from contractors and IDs were out of our budget. IFC had a few stores carrying such designs but they are mostly dark-coloured teak wood.

Luckily I spotted a perfect match while surfing Ikea's website. I am really happy with the find. It's frame and deck is made of solid birch, hence it's quite sturdy. So we went down to Ikea to check out the build of the bed (hubby rolled around on the bed) and concluded that it was fine. wheeeee!

[lovenestinjw 0]

I like ur dining table, that's what i'm also looking for. which Cellini did you go? Can share your damage?

[pinkturtle 0]

I like ur dining table, that's what i'm also looking for. which Cellini did you go? Can share your damage?

We saw the table for the first time at furniture mall @ beach road. But we bought ours when we went to IFC. haha

Damage around $1.6k (includes a bench and two chairs). One bench costs about $300+ and a chair is about $150++. I can't quite remember the price of the chairs.