Myshoeboxx At Serangoon

[ashleyspace 1]

Hi Ashleyspace,

Hows ur progress so far?

Oh it has make quite a big progress this week, plastering done. Toilet WC installed. But it still left <2 weeks now from the dateline only, I'm quite doubtful whether can complete on time :-(

[RemyLebeau 0]

Oh it has make quite a big progress this week, plastering done. Toilet WC installed. But it still left <2 weeks now from the dateline only, I'm quite doubtful whether can complete on time :-(

Grats..but better rush them as well and make sure it will be a good job... Mine still stuck halfway. ID went for reservist. Not sure if they still continue painting tomorrow.

[ashleyspace 1]

I love your design... tat is something tat i have in mind...

my problem now is tat between my kitchen and living room, there is a 10cm drop. spoken to afew contractors, they say the new rule is can't hv it flush straight. sigh...

looking forward to see more updates of yr flats

Glad you like it! We are so lucky the ceiling drop dividing kitchen and living room is just normal wall. I think can be hack or not depend on whether it is beam. You can email to HDB to confirm this rather than depend on contractor comment. HDB guidelines change now and then so the most straight forward way is directly email them. I done it before, asking them on fire-rated door etc, reply is prompt! Within 1-2 working days will have a reply.

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoGuidelines?OpenDocument (click the email)

Don't worry even it's a beam, just try to work out a design that will work well with the drop! Maybe have a glass sliding door between kitchen/living? Still visually widen the living, but works well with the drop.

[ashleyspace 1]

Last week, there is a major hiccups on the renovation. When we asked the aircon service guy to come for installation over the weekends, the aircon guy found out that it cannot be installed because the aircon hole wood structure is rotten! The condition is quite bad, I would never had imagine this because this wood structure is covered up normally and only can be seen from outside.

They help to remove the wood structure and here it is:-

The debris above is actually from here:-

Worse still the aircon guy found that the master bedroom window is actually has water leaking problem, because it has been covered with some masking tape along the bottom of the window from the outside. This cannot be seen when viewing the house, and even remain undiscovered until now. I think I need to take back my comment that the house is well kept :-P Haih, but I think most urgent now is need to get a way to work this out so that it doesn't slow down the schedule any further.

After discussing with our ID, here are things need to be done in sequence:-

air-cond hole structure replacement -> air-cond installation -> laminate flooring + painting -> master bedroom wardrobe carpentry

So there is some dependancy. If the air-cond hole is not covered up property, water can sip in and damage the laminate flooring so no point doing the laminate flooring first. So the most urgent thing to do now is to fix this.

Edited December 18, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

By the way, anyone can spot any defect from this kitchen wall tiles? My husband is quite particular about it, but I'm okay. I think it's not obvious and still acceptable.

Here is the kitchen wall tiles picture:-

Edited December 18, 2012 by ashleyspace

[Accire 0]

Glad you like it! We are so lucky the ceiling drop dividing kitchen and living room is just normal wall. I think can be hack or not depend on whether it is beam. You can email to HDB to confirm this rather than depend on contractor comment. HDB guidelines change now and then so the most straight forward way is directly email them. I done it before, asking them on fire-rated door etc, reply is prompt! Within 1-2 working days will have a reply.

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10324p.nsf/w/HomeRenoGuidelines?OpenDocument (click the email)

Don't worry even it's a beam, just try to work out a design that will work well with the drop! Maybe have a glass sliding door between kitchen/living? Still visually widen the living, but works well with the drop.

Thanks for the advise. With check with HDB.

[RemyLebeau 0]

By the way, anyone can spot any defect from this kitchen wall tiles? My husband is quite particular about it, but I'm okay. I think it's not obvious and still acceptable.

Here is the kitchen wall tiles picture:-

looks like got some watermarks from the bottom left 2 and 3 tiles. Am i right?

[ashleyspace 1]

The renovation is making great progress this week, almost everyday can see something is up. Within this this week, wall plastering done, L-box done, Washroom WC installed, painting in progress....

Master washroom basin and WC installed. The space is quite limited, so there is no more shower glass panel which is initially planned. We asked the ID to take it out and instead replace with some other things.

Common washroom. Bi-fold door is up, and heater installed.

Edited December 20, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

Grats..everything goes smoothly for you finally..

[ashleyspace 1]

Grats..everything goes smoothly for you finally..

Oh yeah, at last... Finger crossed, this is one week from moving in... But more relieve when seeing progress everyday. Still have carpentry haven't up yet. How's yours? Haha, I think you manage the it very well... Your progress seems so fast. How long they state in the contract to finish the reno?

Edited December 20, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

L-Box is up, haven't painted. Now all patches of white and grey...

The glass above the door has been boxed up, here is the before and after:

Before:

After:

The L-box will left some space near the window for installing curtain. However the L-box left too little space, the curtain rod will need to be a little longer than the window, so need to fix this.

Edited December 20, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Painting work just started. Common bedroom is the first room to start:-

Work in progress. First coat of paint is up... The color we choose is "Latte", a warm color suitable for bedroom.

All the color we choose are from Nippon Odourless. The right one not sure what paint, thought all paint they use should be Nippon paint? Guessing that should be for painting ceiling....

Edited December 20, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

Oh yeah, at last... Finger crossed, this is one week from moving in... But more relieve when seeing progress everyday. Still have carpentry haven't up yet. How's yours? Haha, I think you manage the it very well... Your progress seems so fast. How long they state in the contract to finish the reno?

True true. For a start when you see no one at site we do feel panic at times. Slowly when it started to progress, its kinda relief and the feels so good. Mine so far pretty ok i hope. Left a few things not done such as

*2nd coat of painting followed by

*air con installation - pipings all done

*box up the entrance and room doors above something similar to urs

*false wall

*lights (false ceiling not cut yet for the downlight/switches not up

*window grills/doors

*full height mirror - finale

*solid surface - finale

Went to visit but no one was there..Hopefully tml got some work done. Based on his information since mine is total overhaul roughly will take at least 6 - 7 weeks. But i've given him a dateline to complete and gave him some leeway due to the fact that my timing is rather short. So far my carpentry is already up and main problem is the fridge i buy. Hopefully got no issues bringing it in cos my tv console is quite near the entrance if you see from my thread.

[ashleyspace 1]

True true. For a start when you see no one at site we do feel panic at times. Slowly when it started to progress, its kinda relief and the feels so good. Mine so far pretty ok i hope. Left a few things not done such as

*2nd coat of painting followed by

*air con installation - pipings all done

*box up the entrance and room doors above something similar to urs

*false wall

*lights (false ceiling not cut yet for the downlight/switches not up

*window grills/doors

*full height mirror - finale

*solid surface - finale

Went to visit but no one was there..Hopefully tml got some work done. Based on his information since mine is total overhaul roughly will take at least 6 - 7 weeks. But i've given him a dateline to complete and gave him some leeway due to the fact that my timing is rather short. So far my carpentry is already up and main problem is the fridge i buy. Hopefully got no issues bringing it in cos my tv console is quite near the entrance if you see from my thread.

The things you've planned to do is more than us. :-) We don't have the false wall, and no full height mirror. Initially has a feature wall with full height black mirror, but at last we decide to cut cost and instead use that amount to plaster the wall for living room instead. I think the feature wall like make-up, definitely nice to have. However if foundation not done property (not plastered), effect won't be good also. So decide to go with just plaster and forgo the feature wall instead. We also didn't change the window grills and room doors. Only repaint them. The main door design is quite out (classic door), so we'll change that. Considering the amount of renovation you're doing, your schedule is really really good. Really excited to see your design turn into reality. Seems that you've done up quite a lot and should be total transformation! What is your design theme by the way?

The ID we got from InnerView, IMM. They only promised to finish the project in 2-month time, is a bit longer than standard renovation time. We had paid $100 deposit initially after negotiating and quite satisfied on the renovation quotations. However we forgot to discuss on the schedule. So the second time, when we decide to sign with them, they told us about this 2-month schedule. But we already paid the deposit so it's a disadvantage to us if not to sign. Although $100 deposit is not a lot, but still something to hold us back. So my advice is not to pay any deposit first, e.g. to lock up the price, special deal etc. Remember must have a good feel that the contractor/ID can deliver the design you want and also within reasonable schedule, then only sign-up with them.

Edited December 25, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

The things you've planned to do is more than us. :-) We don't have the false wall, and no full height mirror. Initially has a feature wall with full height black mirror, but at last we decide to cut cost and instead use that amount to plaster the wall for living room instead. I think the feature wall like make-up, definitely nice to have. However if foundation not done property (not plastered), effect won't be good also. So decide to go with just plaster and forgo the feature wall instead. We also didn't change the window grills and room doors. Only repaint them. The main door design is quite out (classic door), so we'll change that. Considering the amount of renovation you're doing, your schedule is really really good. Really excited to see your design turn into reality. Seems that you've done up quite a lot and should be total transformation! What is your design theme by the way?

The ID we got from InnerView, IMM. They only promised to finish the project in 2-month time, is a bit longer than standard renovation time. We had paid $100 deposit initially after negotiating and quite satisfied on the renovation quotations. However we forgot to discuss on the schedule. So the second time, when we decide to sign with them, they told us about this 2-month schedule. But we already paid the deposit so it's a disadvantage to us if not to sign. Although $100 deposit is not a lot, but still something to hold us back. So my advice is not to pay any deposit first, e.g. to lock up the price, special deal etc. Remember must have a good feel that the contractor/ID can deliver the design you want and also within reasonable schedule, then only sign-up with them.

For a start i too wanted a feature wall cos of its effect but after careful consideration due to finance issues, I've decided to drop it's not necessarily a need to have. In fact i wanted to keep the window grills but when i look at it again with all the black stains all over due to previous owner not taking care of it i've decided to change straightaway. Actual intention was to do it when i have spare cash but when i think about all the works and items need to be moved here and there...i've made up my mind. To be honest with you, i have no idea what theme is mine. All i know when i visit the ID's, i've tell them that i want something neat and tidy so that cleaning is much easier. Probably due to OCD i had. Thefore he said it's gonna be a modern theme which i find its common in the market.

May i ask you. Before you sign with them did you specify a dateline when to complete? I too didn't discuss whats the schedule gonna be like. Every monday i will ask him what works gonna be done this week and how long each work gonna take. I will pester till he reply. Do not call or whatsoever as sms can be used as evidence against him for the delays. How much have you paid so far? Actually its all part of sales tactics to make you sign with them and when they see your weakness they will take advantage of you. Also even though you have good connections, it might dissapoint you at the end of the day bcos they promise till the cow can jump over the moon. I've learnt the hardway during reno. So my nxt time when i reach 35 and when i settle down i will be very very cautious.