Renovating A Geylang Apartment

[san20sg 1]

Hi All

We are two clueless new parents who just bought a geylang apartment which we have to move in by 1 July 2012 just before my delivery in August 2012.

We have not done any renovations before & does not have any clue or idea what we want or need to do. My contractor is quite nice, narrowed down to the things we need to do, and cut away all of other stuff we shd save on. So it helps to have someone who cares about our budget. Also his quotation is quite reasonable though I'm not the picky sort.

We decided to just do the kitchen, the two bathrooms, and varnish the three parquet bedroom floors and the marble living floor, repaint all doors and that is it. Only got 6-8weeks to do up all these. My contractor says it can be done. Thank goodness!

So far, I have only shortlisted 2 contractors(one recommended by my landlord & one recommended by my friend) & chose the former. Have asked others to quote too but my hubby is cautious about using someone unfamiliar. Because we do not really know what to do, there is quite a lot of wastage of time as we go from one milestone to another, choosing the aircon contractor takes almost 1.5weeks for us but we managed to get by this far.

Timeline:

1. Collect key 11 May 2012 (Fri)

2. Meet our contractor 12 May 2012 (Sat)

3. Activate power supply 14 May 2012 (Mon)

4. Contractor start work 15 May 2012 (Tue)

5. Go choose tiles 15 May 2012 (Tue)

6. Contractor start hacking 16-17 May 2012 (Wed-Thurs)

7. Hack & clear debris (completed when last checked 19 May 2012 Sat)

8. Pass downpayment cheque to contractor 19 May 2012 (Sat)

9. Decide on Aircon installer on 22 May 2012 (Tue)

10. Installing aircon 25 May 2012 (Fri)

Outstanding things to buy:

1. Sanitary stuff for bathrooms – WC + rain shower set + storage heater + basin + tap + towel rail + toilet roll holder x 2 sets) – Need to decide & buy by this weekend

2. Kichenware – washing machine + fridge + hood + hob + sink – Need to decide & buy by next weekend

I have gotten many good recommendations and relied on tips by many helpful forummers here. Will appreciate it if you will all kindly continue to help out, especially where design sense is concerned.

Edited May 23, 2012 by san20sg

[san20sg 1]

As this is a superold apartment, we do not have a proper floorplan.

Edited June 5, 2012 by san20sg

[san20sg 1]

Here are some pics of the old kitchen

By san20sg at 2012-05-22

By san20sg at 2012-05-22

These are the tiles a kind manager at Hafary helped us choose for the kitchen:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The colour is abit off. It is supposed to be matt white for the wall tiles & light brownish grey for the floor tiles.

We will be doing a gloss white laminate kitchen cabinet for this. Our kitchen renovator, a friend contact of my contractor is however overseas until 28 May 2012 so I have no idea what it will be like yet, except that the existing sink will be replaced by the stove/hob & the sink will be moved to besides it and the fridge will be moved to beside the existing stove/hob/hood area, as requested by my mum.

Will appreciate it if anyone can give any idea on a modern kitchen design? What kitchen top should it go with the white gloss cabinet?

Really have no idea what I want - so I will just leave it to the kitchen renovator when he comes back. Probably I will take a forummer's advice I read somewhere - go all drawers style for easy handling instead of cabinets as my mum is already 60+ years approaching 70.

Edited May 28, 2012 by san20sg

[san20sg 1]

These are the tiles a kind manager at Hafary helped us choose for the common bathroom and the master bathroom.I cannot decide on which one as I love both equally, luckily my contractor says can use both, one for common bathroom & the other for master bathroom.

Common bathroom - there will be a small feature wall.

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Master bathroom - there will be a small feature wall.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I need to go source for affordable sanitary ware quickly this weekend.

Edited May 23, 2012 by san20sg

[sunset way 0]

Hey san20sg,

Congrats on your purchase! Nice functional layout you have there!

Cheers,

sunset way

[san20sg 1]

Hey san20sg,

Congrats on your purchase! Nice functional layout you have there!

Cheers,

sunset way

Thank you. Thank goodness otherwise it will be so tough for us being novices.

[san20sg 1]

I really like gakuseisean's living room inspirations post and his blog: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23088&st=0 and http://moddesigninspiration.blogspot.com/

My favourite is the monochromatic luxe but I don't have the budget to carry this off.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I like these too

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

By san20sg at 2012-05-23

By san20sg at 2012-05-23

My living room has a similar layout with sliding door balcony but is of course smaller & narrower. Inspired by gakuseisean, there will be a 3seater sofa, with hanging pic on top and opposite a lowlying console and coffee table, complete with a rug but adding a ceiling fan. Just that I do not know what colour scheme should I go for?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited May 23, 2012 by san20sg

[san20sg 1]

By san20sg at 2012-05-23

By san20sg at 2012-05-23

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85/palmlodgefloorplan.jpg/

My living area and dining area are sort of segreggated in a l-shape. Appreciate if anyone can advise if I should just get black & white furniture for a modern american theme or light oak furniture for a minimalism japanese theme?

Any ideas where to get affordable furniture with classic simple lines, other than ikea?

Edited May 24, 2012 by san20sg

[san20sg 1]

Not sure if it is sufficient, $10k budget for all furniture and household applicances.

Require the following:

1. lightings (2living rm lights+3bedroom lights+1kitchen light+downlights for 2bathrooms+2storeroom lights+1balcony light+1service balcony light)+1 ceiling fan

2. fabric sofa + tv console + coffee table + rug + hanging picture

3. dining set (1.5m table+6 chairs)

4. babycot+baby wardrobe+ supersingle bed + wardrobe

5. 40"LED TV & 24" LED TV + PC + Washing machine + Fridge

[yoongf 11]

1. lightings (2living rm lights+3bedroom lights+1kitchen light+downlights for 2bathrooms+2storeroom lights+1balcony light+1service balcony light)+1 ceiling fan 3000

2. fabric sofa 1100 + tv console 300 + coffee table 200 + rug 300 + hanging picture 100

3. dining set (1.5m table+6 chairs) 1500

4. babycot 200 +baby wardrobe 200 + supersingle bed + wardrobe 200

5. 40"LED TV 2000 & 24" LED TV 300 + PC 1500 + Washing machine 700 + Fridge 700

10K can leh

[san20sg 1]

Anyone bought lightings from bro and applicances from jerome from the group buys in this forum??

I will most appreciate ur sharing of experiences. Many thanks.

[gakuseisean 4]

Hi there, you might want to check out Lush for your furniture, they are on sale now, alternatively, Harvey Norman does sell some (decent) pieces of furniture as well. Do consider the following items (I'm basing it on your preference for my Monochromatic Luxe lookbook)

Elsa Sofa (Module 8) - approx $1300 the last time I asked

Fleecy Side Table - $360

VITTSJÖ Coffee Table - $79

If you're willing to try shipping items over, CB2 from the US has some decently priced items (before taxes and shipping)

[gakuseisean 4]

Oh and if you're interested in doing the Japanese-style lookbook, Muji's catalogue (with prices in SGD) can be found here.

By any chance, do you have a floor plan that comes with dimensions?

Edited May 26, 2012 by gakuseisean

[OnTheRoad 0]

Hi! I just bought my sanitary wares from Inzwerk. Very helpful & knowledgable staff there. Can check them out, I'll be sharing abt them in my t blog once I take pics of my purchases. happy shopping!

[san20sg 1]

Many thanks gakuseisean. Will put up the measurements by tonight. Really love ur designs!

Thanks on the road- what is ur t-blog? W check it out.

Now on the way to expo electronic sales. Will check out the promotions n update here.