Our First Love Nest

[autumnwind 2]

Hi all,

We have been reading renotalk t-blogs like students mugging for exams since our exercise of OTP. As we have benefited a lot from the experiences shared, we thought we could also document our renovation journey here, hopefully can also exchange ideas with fellow renovators.

We would like to do the following for the whole house:
1) rewiring
2) painting
3) removal of partition (installed by prev owners) in master bedroom
4) change of windows and grilles (if budget allows)
5) change of room doors (if budget allows)
6) re-lay trunking for the 2-year old air con (if budget allows)

And the following for the kitchen:
1) Hack kitchen floor and wall tiles
2) Hack stove and sink concrete support
3) Tiling of floor and wall
4) Install kitchen cabinet, hob & hood, sink
5) Change of kitchen sliding door

We don't have a lot of budget for renovation. We are simple, plain and boring people so will keep everything simple and plain, hopefully that will translate to cost-savings too. Hee. One of our concerns is that IDs/contractors will not be interested in taking up our project due to the low budget, so will also update our experience for this aspect, hopefully will help those with the same concern.

Edited October 19, 2013 by autumnwind

[Makanology 29]

Welcome to the 3-roomer club! Can understand the budget constraint; if you are focusing on the kitchen, I think this may be workable but not sure if can squeeze in windows, grills and doors. Are they working well still? Can change the locks, re-paint them to some funky colors and change at a later phase?

[autumnwind 2]

ID/Contractor hunting:

As we have low budget and roughly knows what we want, we thought we would just engage a contractor (and not waste the ID's designing talent). However, after reading recent t-blogs, only one contractor really comes out shining and he is none other than Alan! Although we did feel a little uneasy with only one option, we went ahead and called Alan up for an appointment. He seems to be really busy as he changed our appointment date and time quite a few times. He remembered the appointment wrongly and ended up meeting us one day before the agreed appointment. Luckily we were free during this long weekend and managed to meet him. As our reno is quite simple, with main focus in the kitchen, the meeting was quite fast. Now we are waiting for his quotation reply.

We also went down to IMM and randomly walked into some of the ID firms to get experience talking to IDs, and also to have more choices. We ended up talking to 4 IDs and true enough, it was quite an experience. We thought we knew what we wanted for our kitchen - the traditional kitchen layout we both have at home, but ended up confused with additional 2 layouts suggested. Layout 1 is what we are used to, layout 2 is totally unexpected and less familiar, layout 3 seems to be quite common these days but haven't understood the beauty of this layout... Anyone would like to enlighten us..?

Layout 1 (traditional):

Layout 2 (straight lines only!):

Layout 3 (L shape)

[autumnwind 2]

Welcome to the 3-roomer club! Can understand the budget constraint; if you are focusing on the kitchen, I think this may be workable but not sure if can squeeze in windows, grills and doors. Are they working well still? Can change the locks, re-paint them to some funky colors and change at a later phase?

Thanks! Your blog was one of those we studied.

The windows seem to be working, just that we have four window types/designs in each of the rooms (kitchen, living room & 2 bedrooms). If can fit into the budget this time round, will change them. If not, like what you say, will change them at a later phase. As for the room doors, the paint coating seems to be quite thick with multiple layers. If not enough money to change, hopefully they can tahan a few more coats of paints.

[Makanology 29]

Oh different designs for the windows? We have the same problem and were wondering why our sellers chose slanted grills for bedroom and 'square' grills for the living room + common bedroom. So we decided to standardize and change cos our place is really very original with not much renovation done before!

Our doors can't be salvaged much cos the wooden part is peeling and Mr Seller drilled a lock & clasp over the storeroom door (the type where you have to hook up and then secure with small padlock)... Not sure why and we actually haven't seen the interior of the storeroom before!

Because of the incident with our seller, we have no choice but to change our main door. Scared he may do something funny after we move in. Alan said changing the main door lock is slightly cheaper than changing the whole door.

[bleucheeze 1]

ID/Contractor hunting:

As we have low budget and roughly knows what we want, we thought we would just engage a contractor (and not waste the ID's designing talent). However, after reading recent t-blogs, only one contractor really comes out shining and he is none other than Alan! Although we did feel a little uneasy with only one option, we went ahead and called Alan up for an appointment. He seems to be really busy as he changed our appointment date and time quite a few times. He remembered the appointment wrongly and ended up meeting us one day before the agreed appointment. Luckily we were free during this long weekend and managed to meet him. As our reno is quite simple, with main focus in the kitchen, the meeting was quite fast. Now we are waiting for his quotation reply.

We also went down to IMM and randomly walked into some of the ID firms to get experience talking to IDs, and also to have more choices. We ended up talking to 4 IDs and true enough, it was quite an experience. We thought we knew what we wanted for our kitchen - the traditional kitchen layout we both have at home, but ended up confused with additional 2 layouts suggested. Layout 1 is what we are used to, layout 2 is totally unexpected and less familiar, layout 3 seems to be quite common these days but haven't understood the beauty of this layout... Anyone would like to enlighten us..?

Layout 1 (traditional):

Layout 2 (straight lines only!):

Layout 3 (L shape)

I think layout 2 and 3 make more sense, cos the working triangle is more compact/ shorter walking distance. Personally I prefer layout 2. For layout 1, imagine while cooking, u need to get something from fridge and then walk over to the sink to wash it.... No offence ya.

[Makanology 29]

If you are shortlisting layout 2, you may wanna swop positions for the sink with hob. IMHO, the sink if placed nearer to the rubbish chute will come in handy when you wanna throw away wet trash bags! And if the hob is open fire, next to window may pose a risk of the fire being blown out.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Makanology

[retchlow 7]

my vote goes to layout 2 too!

[autumnwind 2]

Oh different designs for the windows? We have the same problem and were wondering why our sellers chose slanted grills for bedroom and 'square' grills for the living room + common bedroom. So we decided to standardize and change cos our place is really very original with not much renovation done before!

Our doors can't be salvaged much cos the wooden part is peeling and Mr Seller drilled a lock & clasp over the storeroom door (the type where you have to hook up and then secure with small padlock)... Not sure why and we actually haven't seen the interior of the storeroom before!

Because of the incident with our seller, we have no choice but to change our main door. Scared he may do something funny after we move in. Alan said changing the main door lock is slightly cheaper than changing the whole door.

3 of the 4 windows:

I think for our case the sellers probably only changed the windows when it really cannot make it, so there are four designs from four different times. Yah, our place quite original too! Good and bad, I guess. At least less things to hack... hee...

Maybe your Mr Seller used to hide gold bars in the storeroom! Lol.

Our unit will be undergoing HIP (home improvement program), will include main gate and main door! For the time being, will just change the padlock on the gate.

[autumnwind 2]

I think layout 2 and 3 make more sense, cos the working triangle is more compact/ shorter walking distance. Personally I prefer layout 2. For layout 1, imagine while cooking, u need to get something from fridge and then walk over to the sink to wash it.... No offence ya.

If you are shortlisting layout 2, you may wanna swop positions for the sink with hob. IMHO, the sink if placed nearer to the rubbish chute will come in handy when you wanna throw away wet trash bags! And if the hob is open fire, next to window may pose a risk of the fire being blown out.

my vote goes to layout 2 too!

Oh yah! Forgot all about working triangle!! Haha. Dunno what I was thinking...

When the ID was designing, she suggested to put the hob closer to the window for better ventilation so that the "cooking air" will not be trapped in the middle... Though I totally agree with wet trash bags! Can't imagine the bag dripping with water while I walk to the rubbish chute Talking about water...with the sink in the middle of the kitchen top...I think I will flood left right everywhere whenever I wash the dishes and esp pots & pans! That means I'll need to think about where to put my kitchen appliances like microwave, rice cooker, blender... Hmm...

[Makanology 29]

Where is the sewage hole for the sink now? Try not to shift your sink too far away. If the outgoing pipe from your new sink to the sewage hole gets clogged up, may be hard to clear cos of the additional pipe length. I am experiencing something like this now for my parents' place so must maintain regularly

[autumnwind 2]

Where is the sewage hole for the sink now? Try not to shift your sink too far away. If the outgoing pipe from your new sink to the sewage hole gets clogged up, may be hard to clear cos of the additional pipe length. I am experiencing something like this now for my parents' place so must maintain regularly

This is the original kitchen floor plan:

Current the kitchen looks like this:

In that case, I think I will still put the sink next to the windows so that the pipe length won't be too long. Taking into working triangle into consideration, here is layout 4! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

[Makanology 29]

Layout 4 not bad. Where are you gonna put your dining table?

[Coolgee 0]

I would choose Layout 2 but with the hob n sink swapped... Somehow used to the sink on right hand side

Layout 3 would feel like you hit an obstruction ( restricted space) though functionally ok as wm can be kept behind...

Just my thoughts

[Khng 2]

This is the original kitchen floor plan:

Current the kitchen looks like this:

In that case, I think I will still put the sink next to the windows so that the pipe length won't be too long. Taking into working triangle into consideration, here is layout 4! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

Why don't you want to have top and bottom cabinet on the left & full height cabinet on the right next to the fridge?

I'm thinking with he light source from the window, the right side countertop would be dark as the fridge is blocking.

The full height cabinet can have 2 sides. On one side can be the built in oven & a tall larder with pull out racks on the other side.

You will also get a longer countertop on the right in this way which I think not only look better but more functional.

Just my 2 cents worth.