Pasir Ris 4 Room Hdb - Full Renovation With Wj Design

[chrizz 0]

Some more pictures since I wasn't allowed to post all in one post

Macro MA-10FE Gas Heater

Rinnai RD 600 CG Dryer

The last two are new additions to the family since today! Bought for $990 as a package from City Gas at TripleOne Somerset, Clifford actually recommended us to get a gas dryer. Energy saving as well as faster While we're at it, he also told us to check out the gas heater. There's actually 3 models that we had our eye on, Ferolli, Macro and Rinnai, with Macro being the cheapest. Apparently they receive more complaints about the other two models so we went for this.

[chrizz 0]

So we didn't sit still over the past period. As mentioned, we went to hafary to select a.. ehem... "few" samples...

I've gotten enormous respect for interior designers now, seeing how much goes into a renovation. I probably underestimated the amount of choice available because this is almost overwhelming. In a good way!

First confirmed choice is the living/kitchen/laundry room floor and the TV feature wall tiles. We chose a gorgeous glossy tile for the floor with just a tiny bit of red veins in it, combined with a feature tile that's more friendly to bumping into it than our original craftstone idea.

We then used the lid of an old box to create a sort of mock-up room for the bathrooms. Everyone had different opinions about the colour scheme for the floor, wall and feature tiles, so this was actually a really neat trick to get a good feel for how it's going to look.

Ignore the purple background, haha

The common bathroom was going to be a warm Mediterranean colour tone, with a so-called "running tone" tile. I think it's gonna look gorgeous. The wife isn't too convinced yet, but let's hope she can appreciate the design when it's in there

Next step was to select our solid surface materials for.... everything.....

Next matching exercise coming up!

[chrizz 0]

The solid surfaces we are choosing from for the bathrooms, paired with their respective tiles:

The second set is for the master bathroom. It's going to have a very modern spa look and feel to the room, which is going to be a little tricky because the space is really not very big, and we're still going to cram a bathtub in there >.>

Here's a picture of the bathroom as it currently looks.

I guess it may be a little dark, but there's nothing good lighting can't fix.

Little note for all toilet shoppers out there who read this. Being a first time home owner I never knew about this, but Clifford told us to measure how far the toilet drain pipe is from the wall. It can range anywhere between 3 inches and 10-12 inches, and you have to buy a toilet that's available in your type! Fortunately ours is 6 inches from the wall, which seems to be pretty standard

But back to the topic of solid surfaces! We decided to go for a simple black countertop for the bar counter, to make it have a really sleek, modern and cozy feel. Our initial thought was something like this:

During our last meeting, Clifford showed us a sample of a gorgeous granite from India, which could be an awesome alternative. If the extra cost is low enough, we're probably gonna go ahead and change it to that

So now that all the tiles and countertop materials have been selected, time for the next item on our checklist:

Laminates!

[ucypmas 0]

Some of the "silly" mistakes we made that others could learn from:

1. Shifting of toilets.

Not possible, so don't bother trying to make this work. If you do find a contractor willing to do this he risks a fine, demerit points, and you have to pay to get it fixed to the original state again. Not worth it.

2. Concealed electrical wiring

Not allowed, with the exception of the concealed wiring done by HDB themselves in newer flats. We still need to figure out how to make our house look as nice as possible without concealing wiring in the wall. We can of course run it through a fake ceiling, behind feature walls, etc, so hiding most should be doable. I'd like to hide a lot of cabling behind skirting as well, but let's see what Clifford has to say about that tomorrow.

3. Expecting all these items from the ID/Contractor

The ID/Contractor you engage will not do: electrical work, aircon, lighting. He/she will be able to advise on someone they have worked with in the past, but these are very specific trades that require specialist work. Keep in mind that when you get your quotation, this is definitely not the final amount!

Hi

Maybe you can be a bit more specific on what you meant by shifting toilets. You are not allowed to relocate the toilet (obviously), or move the position of the water closet (except in some EMs, I think). You should be able to move the toilet entrance in most flats. Mine was moved twice (once by previous owner, once by me, both times HDB approved of course).

As for lighting - your ID/contractor should be providing you with a lighting plan. This should not have been randomly generated and would have included your inputs / preferences. The renovation quote should also include per unit cost of electrical work, which would be the cost of engaging the electrician of the ID to do the work at your place. From the lighting and power plans, you would be able to know the rough cost of electricals. Most people don't look at this until too late, then LL and pay up or reduce their requirements.

You will of course need to buy your own lights - these are personal preferences and there are dozens of shops to look at and buy from.

[chrizz 0]

Hey ucypmas,

You're right, I could've been more clear. I was talking about repositioning the actual toilet bowls. We're going to be shifting the location of the common bathroom entrance as well to make better use of the space inside the bathroom, especially because we can't change the location of the toilet bowls.

And regarding the lighting, Clifford's actually working out the details of the lighting plan right now He knows exactly what we want, but I know an incredibly talented lighting consultant who's gonna take a look at the whole thing and make some recommendations as well.

He didn't include the per unit cost of electrical works for us yet, but we're free to use either his guy or engage an outside contractor, so there's transparency there. I've already gotten 2 quotations that I can compare to, so I know if the prices I get from his guy are off, but I highly doubt it in the first place.

Yesterday we took a look at the larger size samples for our tiles and laminates. My wife and I are in loooooove with the living room and kitchen tiles and laminates, but the bathrooms need a little tweaking. The floor tiles for the common bathroom had odd dark smudges on the full size samples and the master bathroom floor tile just didn't match the wall and feature tile, so we're gonna reselect those.

Over the next week we're going to be receiving our first 3D renderings, so we're -really- excited about it

Might be nice to share a few very early Google SketchUp models with everyone so you can get a better impression of what the place is going to look like!

Below are screenshots of the models for our TV feature wall, display cabinet (post contract add-on), bar counter, kitchen (left and right side) and the laundry room.

[chrizz 0]

Yeahhhhh! Our 3D renderings are here! It doesn't quite capture the subtleties of the materials that we've selected, but it paints a pretty amazing picture of what our home is going to look like!

I'm just going to shut up now and let WJ's renderings do the talking

There's a few issues with the the rendering, like the floortiles look much more orange than our actual selection, the bar counter feature stone should be black, and our bedroom floor is a darkbrown laminate, not tiles, but these are small matters that can easily be fixed.

It's amazing to see our dream visualised so beautifully, and knowing that the actual result is going to be even better than this is just incredible

We're gonna settle the last issues on Saturday and then Clifford's going to apply for our reno permit. Time to start the actual work!

[hilikusleech 0]

The wife here

A little update on our renovation :

We went back to our place with Clifford to sort out certain details and measurements. Previous owners had rockstone walls

in certain areas. We prefer a smooth surface so we've decided to dig a little deeper into our pockets and plaster the whole house.

We also realized that we were quite ambitious with our bathrooms. We had initially wanted to go with a decently sized vanity cabinet for both rooms but this might make the space quite tight. As such, we will have to re-think our sink/cabinet design and settle for something that occupies less space and yet, fits well with our theme.

In other news, Clifford has applied for our reno permit! We are super excited about this as it marks the next big step in this whole renovation process. We were told that the hacking works could start in the first week of September if all goes well So between now and then, chrizz and I are hoping to get the electrician and aircon guy to come down. We need a quote from the electrician, based on our requirements and we would really like the aircon guy to come down for an initial survey of the place as we foresee some challenges with regards to how we're going to run the ducting/pipes/etc.

In the meantime, we would also like to get a headstart with furnishings. We are looking for modern pieces with simple, clean lines that will fit in nicely with the theme of the house. After going through some thousands of posts from reno gurus in here, there are a few stores that we are really quite excited to check out. These include : BoConcept, Lush, Mod Living, Molecule, etc. If there are any other stores like these, known for unique, modern pieces that are not too exorbitantly priced, we would love to hear about them!

More updates, and hopefully photos, to come! Cheers everyone

Edited August 26, 2013 by hilikusleech

[chrizz 0]

Time for some pre-hacking pictures. Monday's the big day, and the renovation is finally going to actually START!

We dropped by the immediately affected neighbours upstairs and on our floor to let them know about the mess, with a box of Merci chocolate. They were really cool about it

Anyway, BEFORE picture time!

Our living room area from roughly the same point as our rendering:

The current kitchen barcounter

The other side of the current kitchen

Removing this arc is going to open up the place so much.. and our display cabinet is going to look gorgeous here

Big full on view of the spot where our feature wall is going to be.

Master bedroom where our feature wall and walk-in wardrobe are going to be.

More to come!

[chrizz 0]

The master bathroom. I tried a shot from the inside but it's too small to get anything...

And the common bathroom right now

The current service yard area.

And bedrooms numbers 2... (going to be a study/gym area)

And 3, which will be our guest and ultimately, baby room

We're ready for this, let's go!

[melvingwj87 0]

Hi Chrizz,

Nice design for your house!

Hope you have a smooth Reno journey!

[chrizz 0]

Thanks Melvin! We just put the hammer to the Roman style arc, which was incredibly satisfying

Now to check back tonight and see how much has been destroyed

[RenoJoy 6]

nice blog!

Did you like do a total overhaul? living room, toilets, kitchen? How much did you spend?

what's the floor area of your place?

[greglhc 30]

Hack hack hack! With such a square apartment, it's gonna look great!

Hope you managed to find the bedframe

[chrizz 0]

nice blog!

Did you like do a total overhaul? living room, toilets, kitchen? How much did you spend?

what's the floor area of your place?

Thanks RenoJoy! We started with a "full" reno, then it became a FULL reno. We're hacking floor, walls, ceiling, windows, grills, doors... everything... It's crazy >.>

Floor space is 108m2 and our reno fee has gone north of 70k now >.>

I've started justifying it by thinking it's still cheaper than a car and this I know I will enjoy much more

Hack hack hack! With such a square apartment, it's gonna look great!

Hope you managed to find the bedframe

I hope so Greg! My wife and I and later Clifford spent countless weeks planning the space.

The bedframe is a little tricky, the burger bed isn't -exactly- what we're looking for but a good alternative. We're gonna drop by Park Mall sometime soon and see what we can find there, but definitely keeping ethnicraft in mind too

And yes! Hack, Hack, Hack! Yesterday at 12 noon the wife and I put a ceremonial hammer to the roman arc in the middle of the room, all excited to get started, and 6 hours later we come back to this:

Bam, shock! A solid 10cm of floor, wall, ceiling, kitchen cabinets and whatnot! That went faster than we thought! 24 hours later (aka 30 minutes ago haha) the house is already empty again. Super efficient!

It's incredible to see how fast things are moving forward now, especially compared to the snail's pace that we've been doing the design, hahaha. Now to put my signature on the revised quotation and double confirm the tiles and laminate codes.

[chrizz 0]

Well, the big blue thing has been replaced with strategically positioned sandcastles-in-the-making, big bags of cement and tiling mix, and.. All our tiles are in! They're in a big pile, nicely in their respective boxes, with absolutely nothing interesting to see, so even though I took a picture because I felt I should, it'd be kinda lame to post it.

So I won't!

Coming weekend we got a lotta stuff to confirm. Gotta change a hob (accidentally bought the wrong one from Hoe Kee, haha), shop for a bedframe, toss in some lights.

P.S. After hacking our bathroom wall, there's 151cm space, and my bathtub is 149cm long. Clifford's gonna have a hard time with that >.> Sorry man! <.<

It's gonna be put in on Monday so I'll update again then