My First Home :)

[Sygnur 0]

He is efficient... I can say.. heee chocobanana, no need to pressure him for mine, coz mine still got long2 way...  but if the quote is ready, im more than happy...

[MsChocobanana 1]

Hi Luvalist! pls dont feel bad abt ranting.. I rant a lot too! hahah.. need somewhere to vent. And, thank you for sharing. Its really good to have first hand accounts as it help me and him to know where his standard it. Plus, other readers will also learn from this.

After reading ur experience, I can understand ur frustration. Essentially, the designer's work is split into 2 portions, design and project management. Seeing that you could have featured your house in the magazine, your place must be very nice! any blog? Obviously, he didnt do a decent job on site management. He have to be there when works are done else if do wrong, whose fault is it? Plus no proper explaination, i wonder if they ever put themselves in the owners shoes!

The TV with wires, the extra cost for installing is unacceptable!! My hubby does that for his clients FOC as part of his service for them.. most of the time, like u say, its a bit of things to install so if he can help, he will help. Becos of this, he n his clients are on good terms! Did you ask them to come back to do up the wires? Cos u already paid good money for it, n if they do such a shoddy job, get them back here to do it up! so angry, how can they just ruin a nice design (tv feature wall i assume)like that?

Sometimes when my hubby chat with me about his work, i find that he usually go all out for his clients but some are a bit funny, they measure the tiles lines n see if they are parallel to the wall! hahaa.. i duno why the client is so free. I know for sure my parents in law did a fabulous job as usual n he didnt take that into consideration, jus say "not parallel, cannot!" It was a resale flat n old flats last time were hand-built and not pre-fab like BTO nowadays. Due to this, the wall was a bit slanted, inevitably and so the tiles cant follow it 100%. the client called my husband up n make noise.. so hubby have to go over his house n spend some time explaning PLUS bring him to his other BTO projects to point out the difference before the client was convinced there was nothing to be done.

Other things like time management, he does it well even when there is some delay in material eg laminate shipment, he will give notice to the owners n explain. if before the project start n say they want it done up in 3 weeks during peak, he will let them know its not possible to have it 100% done by 3rd week, he will try his best to have it as complete as soon as possible n give time frame. If they can accept it, they can sign the contract, but if cannot he rather not take responsibilty in case of any delay. I find, if everything out in the open n honest about it, everything will be ok. If try to cover with lies, it will make things worst.

Anyway, i hope you can get the wire fixed and be featured in the magazine (the plant wall sounds nice!) I will definitely buy that publication if it does, so do tell ok!

Hello! In fact I think me and my hubby are reasonable people. We are good to pay a premium because we know that we are also paying for the ID's time and design. That's why we signed up with not the cheapest quote but someone who impressed us at the designing phase. But as the renovation progressed, we faced problem like

- things not well coordinate

- most of the time ID not ard at site and leave it to the contractor to do whatever they like, in the end a lot of defects. It's like let them do first, rectify later and if possible pray that home owners never see. In fact my hubby popped by during lunch or after work, the house is empty. If workers are there, ID are not there. For e.g. Mounting of tv, ID weren't even there. He sent 1 worker down and my hubby went to site to advise + help out. Shouldn't the ID be there to at least make sure the tv is mounted at the right height?

- my backsplash and dinning bench backing weren't up by scheduled date and ID didn't even tell us why. We kicked up a fuss and his director finally told us that it was sent back for xxx reason... Perhaps your hubby can take note, just need to manage expectations - if cannot do or got delay, rem to tell upfront. I am sure we are all reasonable pple.

- things that they made me feel like we are carrot head is installing of toilet accessories. We already went to the shop they recommended for lights, curtain and toilet accessories and they definitely earned some commission from it right. They still wanna charge us for near $400 for installing things in 2 toilets. I told him we only had a handful of items but he said he couldn't waive for us and this fee i can install unlimited things i want. super faint! I cannot install only in one toilet to save this costs. We really don't have much things, and some more we paid ikea to install ikea's stuff already. So basically it's just: MBR toilet: rain shower, bidet, toilet roll holder and 2 stainless steel toilet racks; toilet 2: connect pipes to toilet, 1 bidet and 1 toilet roll holder. We already paid for plumber fee to connect the sink pipes so we ain't making plumber to come all the way down to do extra work what.

Now our house looked very half done. Just lacking in the final touches. Likeevery time I see the untidy wires hanging from my tv I upset cox usually pay ID means everything is nicely hidden one.

Sigh. Sorry to rant at your blog!! I was kinda hoping my house can go into the mag page for the concept and plant wall we installed and of coz work with the IDas a team to make it a cozy chix place but utimately we just wanna get over and done with..good that u enjoyed this process! Have fun!

Good morning Sygnur!! I asked him nicely last night (didnt exactly pressure him much!) hahahaha..., he is working on it already!

He is efficient... I can say.. heee chocobanana, no need to pressure him for mine, coz mine still got long2 way...  but if the quote is ready, im more than happy...

[luvalist 0]

Yup my blog in my signature. But u know pple tend to think their house is the best, so maybe it's just my wishful thinking that it will made it to the mag. I still appreciate them coming back to fix some stuff though, at least they didn't just disappear but I will never wanna go through this again, take it a lesson learnt

[MsChocobanana 1]

Yup my blog in my signature. But u know pple tend to think their house is the best, so maybe it's just my wishful thinking that it will made it to the mag. I still appreciate them coming back to fix some stuff though, at least they didn't just disappear but I will never wanna go through this again, take it a lesson learnt

Wow...! Love the green wall! love the dinning area! love the kitchen! Very nice

Its nice to have a nice green wall, i wanted carpet grass at home, my dog will love it! But for some reason I cant remember, why i wasnt allowed to have that.. hmm I shall ask my ID about it!

[luvalist 0]

Wow carpet grass! My dog would love it too because we forbid her to go on grass! Hehe I like the greens, refresh the house. Do it! Will be interesting

Edited November 6, 2012 by luvalist

[MsChocobanana 1]

Wow carpet grass! My dog would love it too because we forbid her to go on grass! Hehe I like the greens, refresh the house. Do it! Will be interesting

Hmmmm.. ok! I shall bug my ID now! hahahaha.. (so easy to be persuaded!) lucky he doesnt come to this forum else he will be reading it and try not to answer my calls!

I also dont allow my dog to step on grass outside when i bring her down for walks, so if have carpet grass at home, she can at least feel the grass n wont get any insects/germs sticking to her paws. Lemme use this point to convince him.

[Sygnur 0]

Chocobanana... Auww... So sweet of u... Thanks so much...

Wow...! Carpet grass... Is it those real ones or fake grass? I remembered seeing rolls of 'carpet grass' ready to be cart off somewhere.. And vast field of cultivated carpet grass..

 i might not being clear here.. Wahaha... Anyway, chocobanana, that's a nice idea u have there...

[lala81 3]

Hi Mschocobanana, can pm me your husband's contact? Thank you.

Nice place btw. My parents' home is the same 5I design, so i'm quite surprised how the same floorplan has changed so much in your reno!

[MsChocobanana 1]

Goooooooood Friday Morning!

Lala81,I Pm you my hubby's contact ok.

Thank you for the compliments! Yeah, we changed the floorplan to suit our needs. Actually we have a few other ideas in mind, like to shift the kitchen to the dining area for an open concept. Our kitchen is long and unlike the newer BTO flats, there is nothing to knock down to make it more open.. and to have it in the dinner room and make kitchen, the dining and entertaining room is going to make it look very unique and chic! But, its just too bad, there are some restraint and we are unable to carry it out.

what about you? Having your house done up too? Enjoy the process ok! its very fun to choose and slowly see your ideal home being constructed.

Sgynur, dont mention! about having artifical grass as part of our house design, I tried to upload the photos of the artifical grass but photobucket have a problem with me It hangs everything I click on the <Browse file> button. So sian!

Hi Mschocobanana, can pm me your husband's contact? Thank you.

Nice place btw. My parents' home is the same 5I design, so i'm quite surprised how the same floorplan has changed so much in your reno!

Edited November 9, 2012 by MsChocobanana

[MsChocobanana 1]

The progress have been sloooow.. but still moving a long a bit by a bit.. I started to shift in some stuff, the stainless steel backing of my kitchen backsplash (is this wat it is called?) is up! I wanted to snap a picture of it, but i decided to wait till the other accessories are up before putting it up here, cos now it look bare n sterile!

Next up is room feature wall, hubby is going to find sometime to do it manually. He have cut the materials, worked on it, stained it to how he want it to be and next, he will be putting it up. I'll be sure to post this up when its done.

Seems like I'm not doing much except to source for accessories for the house. This will be shown when everythign is done up!

Update: TV wall mounted up. Our TV is perfectly flushed with the wall, so all effort that goes to the calculation and dimension planning is reaped.

[MsChocobanana 1]

Good morning all!

I know I said I wouldnt post photos og the kitchen but i really cant wait! It is about 80% complete! 20% of itsy bitsy things to work on. The dark-stainless steel theme is what I always wanted. Its sleek, easy to clean, easy to tidy up. There are lots of storage so, fraid not! Ive grown up in a household where we were lucky to have lot of snacks, cookies all squashed together in tupperware containers. Our kitchen ended up being very messy! we would drive our mum crazy by leaving crumbs all over on the tabletop, on container's cover,in grooves on the table top! and then.... there were stains and ANTS and midnight lizzards!

Hence, this grooveless, stainless steel will not trap crumps or dusts, easy to clean and sterilize! Best, I can do baking on it! I wont be afraid of the dyes,butter staining it or whatever. Well, all it not perfect, this top will have scratches overtime. Maybe some ppl wont like it, stainless steel with scratches will look 'used' just like those bakery. So im ok with it.

The only major thing left it to have a rail stretching from one end another. On it, I can hang my spices, kitchen gadgets and commonly used wares. They would help decorate the backing yet have their own functions with easy access. It will be something like in this pic but much longerof course!

Edited November 20, 2012 by MsChocobanana

[Sygnur 0]

Ooh la la.... Ur kitchen is indeed WOW!! :wub: love love the look of it even without the itsy bitsy things decorating it...

:dribble:

Cant wait for the 'tour' of ur completed reno here.

[MsChocobanana 1]

Ooh la la.... Ur kitchen is indeed WOW!! :wub: love love the look of it even without the itsy bitsy things decorating it...

:dribble:

Cant wait for the 'tour' of ur completed reno here.

Thank you Sygnur! I will be sure to look for the right rail and stuff this weekend..

I went over and took a picture of an almost complete MBR feature wall! Hubby just need to do up one more strip at the bottom and the skirting AND we can mount out TV up!

[revox88 0]

Thank you Sygnur! I will be sure to look for the right rail and stuff this weekend..

I went over and took a picture of an almost complete MBR feature wall! Hubby just need to do up one more strip at the bottom and the skirting AND we can mount out TV up!

Morn MsChoco, great feature wall!

That is also my upcoming project for my balcony.

What kind of wood did your husband use?

[MsChocobanana 1]

Morn MsChoco, great feature wall!

That is also my upcoming project for my balcony.

What kind of wood did your husband use?

Wow! Ur project as in you do them urself too?

I asked hubs, he said thats pine wood. Hope this info helps