Mangoo 1 Report post Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) Dear all,I am new to renotalk here and I would like to share my reno journey with everyone here.Hopefully it can be of help to you guys as much as I have benefited from fellow generous bloggers who have shared their wonderful experience and ideas.We gotten our keys in Sept and our renovation has "unofficially" started I will share what I mean later. The sourcing of IDs/contractors was definitely a gruelling experience for us as we really not do know what we wanted initially. After research on magazines, forums, we came out with a list of things we do not like to have in our house.1) No false ceiling2) No typical feature wall / tv consoleFrom there, we kinda know we didn prefer e modern concept theme and finally we realised we were inclined more towards e scandi theme. We like woods, naturals and more whites in the house. In total we met 7 IDs and 1 contractor and I shall share my experience with each of them.Ch** Interior - this is is first ID we met. Without having much ideas, e ID simply propose a typical layout and gave us a quotation based on e layout. The experience wasn't that pleasant as I do not feel the sincerity that e ID really want to do our biz. - OutNorth^^^^ Interior - Walking along the stretch of IDs, we went in. Definitely e ID we met was much better than e above. He shared with us e things to do and not to do. Unfortunately, we didn have much chemistry with him and during the conversation we felt there were communication issues. - OutH^^^ Concept - I would say we spent e most time with this ID. He listens to us and I could feel he knows what we are looking at. Capturing what we dislike, he will also helps us think of ideas to propose to us. He will also tells us on items that can help to save our money - ShortlistedWe*ken - I guess she is quite popular in her company. We were alittle disappointed as it took her quite awhile to captured what we want. - OutRhi** Interior - We visited him with high expectations as my friend who is doing her renovation shortlisted him to be her top 2 and she has high raves abt him. First meeting was very impressive as he could quickly capture the concept we wanted and even proposed ideas for us ie: wooden beams instead of e usual false ceiling. The 2nd meeting immediately made me changed my mind. I dunno if he has forgotten what we shared in e first meeting and he proposed to us doing false ceiling and completely forgotten abt the wooden beams he wanted to do for us. We felt that we couldn trust him and he is out from our shortlist. - OutPl*s Interior - Also recommended by e same fren and eventually my fren chose him to be e ID. I was very attracted to his passion for design and his enthusiasm in his work. During e first meeting, he asked alot of questions to ensure he knew what we were looking for. Upon leaving, he assures us he will come out with something interesting and propose a unique layout for e kitchen. We were very excited abt meeting with him again. 2nd meeting really drew us closer to signing on e dotted line to confirm him. He prepared a flipboard with images that he researched that could be e possible ideas we like and adopt. Indeed it was very close to what we like and e meetings went on smooth. – Shortlisted Top 2Lastly we met a contractor Mr K who is also very popular in here – I must say he looks cold but is quite funny at times. The communication and chemistry was good as the concepts we were looking for were very close to what he has done for some bloggers here. And finally we made our decision and Mr K will be helping us with e renovation. I guess from the shopping of IDs/contractors, one of e areas is the communication and chemistry. Do they listen and remember our needs or just proposing for the sake of proposing. Most importantly to me we must feel comfortable working with theme. To me it comes from trust, ease of communication and chemistry Shall post up more pics in e nxt post Edited October 25, 2012 by Mangoo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
multi888 1 Report post Posted October 25, 2012 Welcome to RT and goodluck on your Reno...and post your Reno pix. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) Here is my floor planRenovation has started!Cement Screed Floor - The worker did a great job! Smooth and Level. Satisfied :)We'll be doing laminate flooring for e whole house as we really like e textured of e wood. We signed up w Krono Originals at e recent exhibition at expo.Living RoomLooking from MBR to passage wayBrick wall on e way It was a hard time choosing between red vs white bricks. White bricks can go along with most furniture. For red bricks, we really have to match the theme and furniture well. We took almost abt 2 wks to finalize using red bricks. It was also K's ideas for us to use red bricks.Thanks to Pinkwhale also for e encouragement to use it hehe Now am really looking forward to see e effect Will post up more pics when done Edited October 29, 2012 by Mangoo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sygnur 0 Report post Posted October 29, 2012 Happy reno journey, mangoo...! Here's to more pics update. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigbull 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2012 All the best in your renovation. Hope to see more pics! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted October 30, 2012 Thanks Bigbull and Sygnur.Bigbull if I m not wrong, we met at pinkwhale's house Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted October 31, 2012 Popped by house today and they are preparing for the L shape brick wall and cement screed wall Feeling excited to see after it is completed We found this wall light when we were doing our lights shopping and decided to place it on our brick wall. Hope that it will turn out well Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted October 31, 2012 One of the challenge we had was e unique common toilet. The common toilet has 2 entrances; one from service yard and e other via the common passage way. Most of the units we saw had this toilet concealed with a door along e common passage way. While we were brainstorming how to "deal" with this toilet, an idea came, since it was made to be open concept, we'll make do with this idea. We are very inspired with some of these pictures. We wanted to make use of lights, woods and greens to brighten up this area Loving this cabinetThe hanging light brightens up the whole toiletThis is so industrial. Hubby asked if we can have an industrial look alike toilet haha...Hoping that our toilet will turn out well otherwise we may just conceal it with a door Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigbull 0 Report post Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) Thanks Bigbull and Sygnur.Bigbull if I m not wrong, we met at pinkwhale's house Haha. Yeah. Saw K today and we were talking about you. Heard about your concept and saw the blue sofa! Kekeke... Amazing!!! Edited October 31, 2012 by bigbull Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted November 1, 2012 Haha what did he say abt e blue sofa?I gotten his approval before I bought. He said my sofa looks like in the 70s hahaha..Haha. Yeah. Saw K today and we were talking about you. Heard about your concept and saw the blue sofa! Kekeke... Amazing!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted November 1, 2012 Updates todayCement Tv Console in the making The progress is really very fast.This is my floor plan layout. Pardon for e crooked picture as I was using my note to edit it. Saw this cute little fan. It first caught my hubby's attention and I thought aye jus a small little fan so I didn pay much attention to it. Chanced upon it again in another shop we went to. This time they on the fan and I must say dun belittle the power of this fan We decided to buy it and place it in a corner of our living room. I m attracted to it much becos of e aesthetic reason hahaa.. vain me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigbull 0 Report post Posted November 1, 2012 Haha what did he say abt e blue sofa?I gotten his approval before I bought. He said my sofa looks like in the 70s hahaha..He said you are very daring to experience with colours. The blue sofa and the red brick wall goes very well and they don't steal each other's limelight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted November 2, 2012 I hope it will turn out well also How's ur reno coming along? He said you are very daring to experience with colours. The blue sofa and the red brick wall goes very well and they don't steal each other's limelight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
revox88 0 Report post Posted November 2, 2012 Updates todayCement Tv Console in the making The progress is really very fast.This is my floor plan layout. Pardon for e crooked picture as I was using my note to edit it. Saw this cute little fan. It first caught my hubby's attention and I thought aye jus a small little fan so I didn pay much attention to it. Chanced upon it again in another shop we went to. This time they on the fan and I must say dun belittle the power of this fan We decided to buy it and place it in a corner of our living room. I m attracted to it much becos of e aesthetic reason hahaa.. vain me Hi Mangoo,Luv ur idea of cement TV console, any drawings to show the setup?Btw, how much is the fan and where to purchase? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangoo 1 Report post Posted November 2, 2012 Hi Revox88,I only hv e sketch of e outlook I saw e fan in Malaysia. I think it cost abt sgd200 odd. Is it considered expensive? Hi Mangoo,Luv ur idea of cement TV console, any drawings to show the setup?Btw, how much is the fan and where to purchase? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
