Partial Renovation For A 4S

[Claire Meowie 0]

Hello Everybody!

I've been quietly reading posts here and copying ideas as to how to renovate the current flat I'm staying in. We have stayed here for 25 years already!! It is an existing very old, in its original condition 4S which I'm living in with my lovely little cat. My mum comes back to stay with me during the weekends.

And, now I'm allowed to hack 'almost' anything I want or throw 'almost' anything away. Have already gotten rid of quite a few big furniture including a full size praying altar that covered one whole wall in the living room.

I would love to renovate the whole house at one go if not for a limited and small budget. I don't think I'd want to take up any renovation loan as I hate to be tied down.

So, for that matter, I'd have to choose what I want to do and do it in phases. Like do something now and then do something else after saving up for another few months + AWS. Hahaha...

While I was discussing this with friends, everyone has different suggestions. I think with a thread here, I can document all these suggestions and choose the most workable method. Some will tell me, why don't you go and do for the whole house? One time trouble only..blah blah blah. Of course, I wish.. but do whole house means lots of $$.

I have also already done a full layout plan for my house playing with Floorplanner. Well, of course I won't be able to renovate the whole house now, but it is still quite fun to play with it.

Therefore, I need to gather some more knowledge and opinions, suggestions, or advice.

So now Options I'm considering.

Option 1
Renovate my room and ignore the other parts of the house first. Afterall, it is the place where I spend most of my time.

Also if I concentrate on the room alone I can see a bigger transformation at one go. Haha. Watch too much renovation programmes on TV.

This will include:
- Install aircon (System 3, System 2, or System 1, thinking whether I should install for other rooms at one go)
- Lay laminate flooring
- Change lights
- Build platform for a queen bed. A big platform that covers about half the room, wide enough to lay a queen mattress. Install drawers under and storage at the headboard. (In fact, I already bought a new queen mattress, with no where to put. Because there was a super special staff purchase which my friend managed to obtain for me.)
- Build wardrobes, table top for laptop.

Option 2

With this option, I get some things done, but will probably not see any transformation anywhere.
- Rewiring for whole house.
- Laminate flooring for living room and rooms. (Should I?)
- Painting whole house (can do it myself to free more budget for other things like install aircon?)

Option 3
- Rewire whole house.
- Renovate my room. (Let the other parts of the house look hideous. )

- Painting of other parts of house (do on my own)

What would you choose?

In fact, I have spoken to someone and they think that I should rewire the house, since it's like 25 years old already. Question I have regarding rewiring.

- How many days does it take? Can I still live in the house while contractors do rewiring?
- Can I do a simple one now (like not deciding where the powerpoints will be and just maintain it) and add on more powerpoints where I need them when I do future renovation?
- Can I still shift powerpoints in the future?

Look forward to some suggestions, and hope to have new ideas of what I can do. Currently, my mind is all about renovating my room only, and is not able to look outside the box.

I hope I can make a decision soon and start on my renovation journey.

Here's a copy of my layout plan, and my bedroom is just beside the kitchen.

[macuser77 1]

Hi Claire,

I would recommend that you settle the "messy and troublesome" works first, and save the cosmetic ones later. If you have a tight budget, u can actually do basic reno with no fixtures. Anyway, I think it's the little touches / knick knacks that makes a house a home. "Less is more", start slowly, take your time

[Claire Meowie 0]

I really took a long time to decide and finally did something. I managed to get someone to help dispose of some really old cabinets that has been there since I was a child.

Also, arranged to give away my bed

After this, I'll have to make other decisions next which I realise mostly are inter-related... one leads to another. Cannot do 1 before do 2 and vice versa, etc. Guess I'll have to continue to break down the work into smaller parts and get them done slow, coz I don't feel like doing everything at one go, since it will mean I have to take leave off work, etc. Doing small things one by one, allows me to get the guys doing the job to come in on Saturday and do it.

Some photo updates...

Next, I will probably need to get someone to polish the flooring.

Feel like changing the skirting as well.

And clean up all these cables that we stick with masking tape. Haha!

Edited July 1, 2013 by clairezzz

[Claire Meowie 0]

Hi guys,

Just an update. I'm going to do rewiring on 1-3 August. In the meantime, what I know is I'm going to get L-box and downlights for my living room and also for my room.

For the master bedroom, my mum has requested for ceiling fan, which I'll try to source for a pretty one for her. I will also probably be installing a ceiling fan for the common room.

I will be going to buy lights and the fans, as well as wall switches too as I don't want the standard switches that come with rewiring. Hopefully, I can get nice yet simple switches.

Will update soon after the rewiring.

Edited July 16, 2013 by clairezzz