Myshoeboxx At Serangoon

[ashleyspace 1]

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.

I can totally understand what you meant by something neat and tidy with less maintenance. When we look at showroom, many ideas are so exciting. I do love a lot renovation ideas, e.g. brick walls, wooden floor, chalk board wall, cement screed walls. But all these things requires maintenance and cost, so at last settle with things that are practical. And i find modern simple design are popular because they are easy to upkeep. Even small things like cove light, we thought over on the maintenance. Small insects might be collected up there, and after few years would be dirty and hard to clean up. However, we decide to do it because it will give a cosy lighting to the house. Also for sofa, although we like white color, but for practicality we will settle for a off-white color. :-)

By the way, we don't specify a dateline. I don't want to rush him also, because I wanted a quality product. I just want it to be done up within a reasonable schedule, not in super fast schedule. And I can understand that December is a peak time for renovation, since the other IDs I've met up also mentioned similar things. Just that I'm expecting something around 6 weeks, not 8 weeks. Now we agreed 8 weeks, things are still delaying, and this is the last week and carpentry not yet up. We chased him over progress quite frequently for the last 2 weeks, things are progressing but it's still quite worrying. :-( He promise to get the kitchen carpentry up this Thursday and let's see. I had prepare for worse case now, move in regardless whether everything is done up or not. He need to acid wash and clean-up the whole place by end of this week so that we can move in. If minor stuff not done, will still continue after we move in.

[ashleyspace 1]

By the way, our air-conditioner wooden frame has been fixed. It's fixed by contractor from town council. Can I say the Marine Parade Town council is super efficient? I just emailed to them to enquire and they have sent people to repair this straight-away. Thumbs up to them! Problem is I too busy to check email and also find another contractor to repair this due to the urgency. So end up both turn up at the same day. So finally we let the town council people fix it. For my own contractor, I need to pay $150 although nothing is installed. This is because they already done up the frame, so need to pay a minimum amount for the material cost (actual full amount is $270).

Anyway things are settled, and here is the new aluminium frame for air-conditioner. No more rotten wood and I'm sure these will last for years, much better than the wooden one.

From outside:

From inside:

Edited December 25, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Things that are yet to be rectified:

(1) L-box opening for curtain not long enough. I think at least need to be some distance from the window so curtain rod can be installed as shown in picture. Thought this is common sense? Not sure why it is done this way, puzzled. Any advice for anyone done L-box at curtain area before?

(2) We think the tap for washing feet is too high. ID said this is standard height. Not sure can be rectified or not. Is there such things as standard height? Just a little too high than what we had expected. Would be better lower than the sink to look nicer.

Let us know if you had any ideas about these 2 items.

[ashleyspace 1]

Bought the Bekvam Step Stool from Ikea last week at promo price $19.90.. What a steal..! Always been finding reason to buy this because I like the design!!! It will be useful when accessing the top kitchen and wardrobe shelves, although a small stool will do the same trick. Most importantly it still looks good when "NOT IN USE".

Haven't assembly it yet, it will put this "lego" in place when we shift in.

Edited December 25, 2012 by ashleyspace

[RemyLebeau 0]

I can totally understand what you meant by something neat and tidy with less maintenance. When we look at showroom, many ideas are so exciting. I do love a lot renovation ideas, e.g. brick walls, wooden floor, chalk board wall, cement screed walls. But all these things requires maintenance and cost, so at last settle with things that are practical. And i find modern simple design are popular because they are easy to upkeep. Even small things like cove light, we thought over on the maintenance. Small insects might be collected up there, and after few years would be dirty and hard to clean up. However, we decide to do it because it will give a cosy lighting to the house. Also for sofa, although we like white color, but for practicality we will settle for a off-white color. :-)

By the way, we don't specify a dateline. I don't want to rush him also, because I wanted a quality product. I just want it to be done up within a reasonable schedule, not in super fast schedule. And I can understand that December is a peak time for renovation, since the other IDs I've met up also mentioned similar things. Just that I'm expecting something around 6 weeks, not 8 weeks. Now we agreed 8 weeks, things are still delaying, and this is the last week and carpentry not yet up. We chased him over progress quite frequently for the last 2 weeks, things are progressing but it's still quite worrying. :-( He promise to get the kitchen carpentry up this Thursday and let's see. I had prepare for worse case now, move in regardless whether everything is done up or not. He need to acid wash and clean-up the whole place by end of this week so that we can move in. If minor stuff not done, will still continue after we move in.

i feel you..I too told him even though its a rushing project and i'm rushing you, i expect a good results & not half @#$% work. Before & after signing i keep emphasizing him this. I guess he's bored/dulan. But i don't give a sheet as i'm the one who's gonna stay there for the next 5 years & not him. He also tell me that Dec is a peak period but to play safe on my part i do ask if he have alot of on-going projects. Bcos if he do i will drop him instantly bcos i don't really want to see work delays given the time frame i had. But thankfully with certain hiccups here and there it went pretty well so far. May i know when your reno starts actually?

[RemyLebeau 0]

Things that are yet to be rectified:

(1) L-box opening for curtain not long enough. I think at least need to be some distance from the window so curtain rod can be installed as shown in picture. Thought this is common sense? Not sure why it is done this way, puzzled. Any advice for anyone done L-box at curtain area before?

(2) We think the tap for washing feet is too high. ID said this is standard height. Not sure can be rectified or not. Is there such things as standard height? Just a little too high than what we had expected. Would be better lower than the sink to look nicer.

Let us know if you had any ideas about these 2 items.

As for your curtains you've already ordered them? If you do, call the person again and see if any changes can be done for the curtain rod. At the same time try informing your ID to keep him in the loop. Btw did you ask your ID about the curtain rods would be able to fit in?

[Rover 0]

Likely the L-box opening need to be extended. Else, if the curtain rod is to be made to fit into the current spacing, the curtains will hv gaps at the edge n can't totally shade the entire windows.

[ashleyspace 1]

Likely the L-box opening need to be extended. Else, if the curtain rod is to be made to fit into the current spacing, the curtains will hv gaps at the edge n can't totally shade the entire windows.

This is what I think also. I would like curtain to be slightly longer than the window so that it will cover perfectly. Feedback this to him, and he said will fix lor...

[ashleyspace 1]

Painting is done, place look neater now.

The living room is almost up now except the wiring and downlight. We chose Nippon chalk white and Urban Grey for the wall painting. Urban grey is the lightest tone of grey in the Odourless series, and looks almost like white. However it will still contrast when put together with white color. We are satisfied for the living color.

Chosen stylish grey for master bedroom. The effect is... khm.. darker than what I've thought? And it highlight all the unevenness on the wall. Now think back I'm so glad last minute decide to plaster the living room, else would be pathetic to see the living room wall look like this. I've chosen wrong color for the wall because the 3 walls in the room which is also not even does not look so obvious when it's painted white.

Compare the plastered wall in the living above and this wall, it really makes a huge difference! I think it's really good money put into to plaster although it's not cheap. Now I think the effect is quite far from the grey wall seen from the furniture store showroom :-( Wish can repaint this wall to latte like the common room :-P

Edited December 26, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Air-conditioner is installed. We bought the system 2 Inverter air conditioner from Best Tech IMM. Chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industry because the sales person highly recommended this for energy saving. It is the most energy saving after comparing other popular brands like Panasonic,Mitsubishi Electric etc. Energy consumption is our top priority so we will go with this. Note that Mitsubishi Heavy Industry is not the same as Mitsubishi Electric, although they come from the same parent company. The latter is not as energy conserving. Gain City also carries the the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Air-Conditioner. I googled about this online as not heard of this brand before this, and from the review should be okay.

It cost us about $2100, and we top-up $150 for a stainless steel bracket.

Best Tech promise will give good quality copper wiring and also Class'O insulator material, so the price is 'slightly' more expensive. After we had bought, lately we just found out from Internet that this company has some bad reviews. Anyway the installation went smoothly, and we haven't got a chance to really test it yet. Hopefully no problem.

Edited December 26, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

Next step is the furnishing... We would like to go for all-white minimalism, so most of the stuff will be white and some would be wood like. Will be also looking for little items with splash of color to spice up the place. Inspiration will be Scandinavian or Swedish decoration.

Here is the inspiration:-

Place some pictures and "big" letter behind the sofa. Also intend to buy some green artificial plant to live up the place. For the rug, for practical reason, considering a grey/black or grey/brown color.

Another example with lots of picture hang on the wall. Love the wood parquet for kitchen, if I have a second house, then I think I'll go for wooden tiles. So cosy!!

White color cabinet. Love it. Also like the white light. Considering the Ikea maskros at the moment.

The white kitchen! Like the black pendant light and the wooden color dining table. For dining table, I'll be getting either a wooden color or all-white table. Prefer wood at the moment.

Also like the green toy very much. Saw one is Star Living! Not sure to get or not coz not very practical, haha... It looks like it can serves as a stool but I think won't comfortable sitting for long la. Just for fun I think.

Edited December 26, 2012 by ashleyspace

[ashleyspace 1]

As for your curtains you've already ordered them? If you do, call the person again and see if any changes can be done for the curtain rod. At the same time try informing your ID to keep him in the loop. Btw did you ask your ID about the curtain rods would be able to fit in?

Not yet order but intend to buy one that slightly longer than the window so that can cover nicely. Might be using blind, but regardless which type still need more space than that I think.

[RemyLebeau 0]

Not yet order but intend to buy one that slightly longer than the window so that can cover nicely. Might be using blind, but regardless which type still need more space than that I think.

Ic, my damage for all 3 rooms is $750. Blinds for main and curtains for bedroom. Do u think its expensive?

[cookiez 0]

Ic, my damage for all 3 rooms is $750. Blinds for main and curtains for bedroom. Do u think its expensive?

must depend on the material used on the blinds and curtains...they can be expensive becos of better material used...

I hv rainbow blinds (zebra blinds) for my living room and plain roller blinds for 2 bedrooms...total $550.

[MrsLoo 1]

must depend on the material used on the blinds and curtains...they can be expensive becos of better material used...

I hv rainbow blinds (zebra blinds) for my living room and plain roller blinds for 2 bedrooms...total $550.

cookiez,

Urs are cheap. I was quoted $14.90/sqft for rainbow, which means my 1 bedroom will be $505 already. I do normal roller blinds that cost $6-7/sqft for 2 bedrooms n living is already $700. Urs, good buy leh.