Myshoeboxx At Serangoon

[ashleyspace 1]

We have gotten a lot of inspiration from the reno-talk blogs and decide to share our renovation experience as well. We had gotten an resale 3-room HDB recently and the house is in original condition. Since we are buying from a first hand owners, the unit has not been renovated since it's built in 1985. The condition is still acceptable (considered well kept) but it is old nonetheless with some wear and tear. Decided to go for a full renovation to give it a face lift and breath a new life to the flat.

The house is 688 sqf, quite a standard size for a 3-room flat. We have bought up the unit mainly because of the location - near to Serangoon Interchange and NEX. Although the space is limited, but this unit is quite well partitioned. We like it comes with an attached master bedroom washroom. FYI, some older 3-room HDB doesn't have attached master bathroom. Maybe HDB might think it is not necessary to have attached bathroom at that period of time, just like TV is considered luxury not necessity in older times... Also some older 3-room HDB washroom is separated to "toilet" and "bathroom", which is not so convenience in my opinion. But this unit doesn't has those problems.

Renovation is an both interesting and tiring process at the same time. We are first timer in renovation, so we are excited to explore different ideas and reading up renovation blogs. At the same time, we also consciously tell ourselves to guard budget so that it doesn't go overboard. Hopefully you will enjoy reading our posts and learn from our experience and mistakes. :-)

[ashleyspace 1]

This is the floor plan for our humble 3-room HDB:

Here is the house before the renovation begins:

Living Room - still acceptable, although not the 60x60 homogeneous tiles:

Kitchen - a bit dirty, and built-in cabinet is partially rotten ~ especially near the piping.

Master bedroom (view to washroom) - washroom condition quite terrible

Master bedroom, it has a built-in wardrobe, but doesn't stand the test of time. The wardrobe has become yellowish and laminate peeling, so time to replace with a new one.

Edited January 10, 2013 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Common Washroom - condition also quite terrible and washroom door is flimsy

After looking at the house condition, here are the thoughts:

(1) Kitchen + 2 washroom - must re-do, condition is too old and dirty to accept.

(2) Living room + 2 room flooring - not ideal, but still acceptable. Most likely will re-do because once the kitchen and washroom is done up, this will not match with the rest of the areas.

(3) Open concept kitchen - we toy with this idea because the space wasn't big in the first place. Hacking the wall between the kitchen and living will open up the space and make it a more enjoyable space to live. Also we like the idea of having a "bar counter" to have few drinks with friends occasionally, can also served as a breakfast counter. Most importantly, it can serve as an divider to kitchen/living area without a wall, so visually the area become bigger without a concrete divider.

[ashleyspace 1]

I had gone through a tough time selecting IDs and contractors, because of the tight budget. To cut the story short, we have finally settle down with an ID firm from Jurong East. We are cost oriented when selecting the IDs, but I think this is a big mistake because not every ID can understand the style you want. I realized that we had spent few hours talking about the partitioning of kitchen and quotations but when it comes to the design themes probably like 5 minutes. He doesn't give much suggestions and meaningful discussion on the design theme. From this experience, I would suggest to go through the design concepts with the IDs first to see how he/she can get the idea before signing up. Better still can show some pictures to see if they can help you to design your dream house.

Most IDs in Singapore are actually doing much of contemporary style. If you're looking for something like scandinavian, industrial or more *****, really need to look into the ID's profile. Otherwise, most of their design are quite standard and may disappoint you. It will be too late to realize this after signing up with the firm.

I actually quite interested the Scandinavian design, industrial and the all-white minimalist design theme... However, due to inexperience, I didn't have guts to jump into any the themes. Also the ID we selected doesn't have much experience doing up any of these. So the actual design is more of a modern contemporary design.

Here is our 3D:

View to the kitchen -

View to the living -

Edited December 3, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

Hi there, Nice 3D you got there. Your layout is the same as mine too. All the best in your upcoming reno.

[HaiDeChen 0]

Another 3 Roomer Yay!

Don't worry too much about the Scandi style that you want, choice of furniture and laminates can work in your favour. Do lots of research, lots of scandi style T-blogs in renotalk, check out websites etc and pick the right choices!

The 3D drawing looks pretty nice.

[jsll 2]

Congrats!

Looking forward to read thru your Reno experience.

[RemyLebeau 0]

Hope your ID will update you whats going on during the works, For instance mine didnt update any plus everyday i go down to check...Grrr. Thank goodness i work at NEX and so lunch time i have to rush down and see. For those looking for ID's. Remember not to make the same mistake as mine. Alot of cock ups. But for now too late to realise but i have to pray everything will go smootly and no major screw ups in this upcoming weeks.

Edited December 2, 2012 by RemyLebeau

[ashleyspace 1]

Hope your ID will update you whats going on during the works, For instance mine didnt update any plus everyday i go down to check...Grrr. Thank goodness i work at NEX and so lunch time i have to rush down and see. For those looking for ID's. Remember not to make the same mistake as mine. Alot of cock ups. But for now too late to realise but i have to pray everything will go smootly and no major screw ups in this upcoming weeks.

You are so diligent. Our ID usually will update us when he need some decisions, e.g. direction of tiles to be layed, dimension etc. Other than that, not so much. Maybe we are more urgent than him, so we will go to the house to check after work 2-3 times a week, just to make sure there is no "serious" mistake and if any still can be rectified. It's really important to get a experienced, responsible and pro-active person, regardless ID or contractors.

Edited December 2, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

When will your reno start?

[ashleyspace 1]

Another 3 Roomer Yay!

Don't worry too much about the Scandi style that you want, choice of furniture and laminates can work in your favour. Do lots of research, lots of scandi style T-blogs in renotalk, check out websites etc and pick the right choices!

The 3D drawing looks pretty nice.

Aww, thanks for the comment. Really good to hear that, will think along that... Hopefully make the right choice! :-)

[ashleyspace 1]

We gotten the keys few weeks earlier than we had expected due to owner wanted to settle it fast since he had another new property. So renovation suddenly become an urgent thing since we are getting the keys earlier. From 1st appointment to 2nd appointment just took a mere 4 weeks and everything went smoothly.

Before even getting the 3D, our ID straight away brought us to select tiles. To ease selection, he just brought us to a larger tile shop in Jurong East - Soon Bee Huat. There is really good selection tiles from the shop, imported from different places, China, Malaysia, Europe, middle east. Actually the shop looks more like a warehouse, and it's huge. This is our first time visiting tiles shop and AGAIN we are spoilt by the choices, having hard time to decide which is better. We spent around 3 hours there and still going back and forth on the which tiles to choose! I'm so fickle-minded and cannot really visualize how's the tiles will come together.

Soon Bee Huat does has a very nice showroom which we didn't have time to visit the first time (ID with us and also has appointment after tiles selection). Then we decide to make a second visit to see the showroom before we finalize the tiles selection. Here is some photos from the showroom, it's really worth a visit:-

Warmer shades for kitchen, quite cosy:

Kitchen with black floor tiles. Easy to maintain and nice, but risk of making the area look darker.

Grey and white washroom - love it! There is some variation in the grey color and a bit cement screed like?? Definite easier to maintain than cement screed I think.

Warmer shades for washroom, very nice:-

Website for Soon Bee Huat, I think they have another showroom in Changi too:-

http://www.sbh.com.sg/default.aspx

Edited December 3, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

More photos from the showroom...

Bubble tiles, quite interesting... Maybe can put a common washroom. Hubby call it the "chicken pox" tiles!

Quite nice also, in consideration...

Edited December 9, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Initially chosen this wood look-alike tiles for the kitchen, to make it more Scandi feel. Once I told this to the ID, he said need to top-up ~300 for laying this type of tiles coz it's harder to lay (lay Zig Zag like real woods) and workmanship more expensive. I'm quite shock, didn't know this will incur additional costs. Cheapo me, haha, to save cost I had revert back to the tiles second shown below. My thinking is the kitchen area quite small and might not worth it to top up this amount just for the small area. Finally goes with my 2nd choice, greyish tiles with very slight variation in color which I also like. Hope didn't regret with the decision... Sigh... Always battle between $$$ and design i like.

Initial (for kitchen floor):-

Final choice (for kitchen floor):-

Common bathroom - black and white chicken pox tiles :-P

Tell me I am making the right choice... huh, anyway choice had been made and cannot revert back. If there is, it means the next house... :-)

Edited December 3, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

When will your reno start?

Actually it has started, now hacking complete and tiles partial... Will update more when I have more time. Renovation is really sucking up a lot of time, even for shopping small things like sanitary... :-)