Budget Home In Punggol Emerald: Retro Modern Fusion

[Sappyd 8]

Ok.. Camping here for your complete kitchen project.. Im just as excited as you are..

[VincentWangZx 11]

Going to collect the keys today!! Hope I can put up pictures! Excited much!

[mavicaste 58]

So we took a trip to IKEA yesterday for some IDEA about what we would like to have in our home. =) What an educational trip it was! Apparently our kitchen is actually considered to be bigger than most HDB flats with our profile (Model A series; our kitchen is a good 4.475m x 2.4m). We were glad to hear that, because the kitchen is really central to home living for us. We learned from the rather honest sales rep that worktops with a solid top (acrylic or otherwise) would cost a lot more than wood (at least ten times more). We also learned that there will be a contractor who will come down to our kitchen to take a look at our kitchen and will do a site measurement for a fixed price of $40 so that the installation team can be better informed of things like where the piping needs to run for the sink and the cooker hob. The total time it takes from ordering the kitchen set till it's fully installed is no more than 10 days. If that is true, I think that's absolutely wonderful. Hence, we began dreaming about our simple kitchen. We aim to keep the material cost below 1,500, as the cost of installation is counted as $28 psf (that amounts to $1,400 for a 50 sq. ft. cabinet). Hopefully we can keep it to below $3,000!

Now I have a very silly question. If I want to just insert an image directly without using My Media, what should I do? I keep getting hung whenever I try to add an image. =S

You may want to use external image host services such as Photobucket and ImageShack and link the images in your posts. Google Drive has the ability to host the images you store on it as well.

[francisg 2]

Congratulations to you, my apartment is in blk 226b, hopefully I will get the keys next month

[myzticalz 14]

Camping as well! All ikea kitchen-ers coming in

[VincentWangZx 11]

Finally I have figured out how to host images on Google Drive! Thanks mavicaste for the tip! =) So, here are the pictures of our IKEA wishlist as well as our live photos of the first visit in our home!

This display shelf is absolutely gorgeous. My wife asked me:" Put what huh?"

We absolutely love this double door cabinet! Will fit nicely in our bedroom. =)

Our Master Bedroom! =)

The other view of our master bedroom where the pole system wardrobe will be. =)


More coming up soon! =)

Edited January 29, 2014 by VincentWangZx

[VincentWangZx 11]

Now I have another problem; I can't post images correctly if they are shot in portrait mode!

[VincentWangZx 11]

SO I've been trying to solve an issue of not having false ceilings but yet having a flatlight solution in my living room. And lo and behold! I found out about PIXI! Anybody else heard of LED flatlights? They look promising. They look simple to install too. Here's what they look like.

They're so flat! According to the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgYlJ3my8d0), they can be installed to the existing wiring that you have on your ceiling. I hope they ship to Singapore!

In other news, here's a little topview floorplan with some furnishing done up. It's not entirely up to scale and the windows are not right. But if anyone wants a little idea about what it can look like feel free to save a copy for yourselves.

[VincentWangZx 11]

So here are some more pictures of my empty flat. =)

[VincentWangZx 11]

Ok that really looked weird. But hope you don't mind. Haha. They can't seem to process it in portrait mode leh!

This slim cabinet came pre-installed! I'm impressed with HDB really. The top part contains a box that handles all the electricity and network connections. Our HDB is Fibre Broadband ready. I think that is wonderful news. The bottom part is empty but has a usable space where you can put shoes if you install the shelfs!

Edited February 4, 2014 by VincentWangZx

[retchlow 7]

wow..the skirtings in new flats are black in color! so nice.

[VincentWangZx 11]

Haha, actually it's dark brown, and I'm gonna paint it white! My wife thinks it was quite badly done. Marked out quite a few spots for redoing. But the thing is the option to have skirting done was made by the previous couple before us who later on gave up the flat (we bought it during the Sale of Balance Flat exercise in March 2012). =)

[Songz 132]

SO I've been trying to solve an issue of not having false ceilings but yet having a flatlight solution in my living room. And lo and behold! I found out about PIXI! Anybody else heard of LED flatlights? They look promising. They look simple to install too. Here's what they look like.

My friend told me abt this light too but not sure if voltage is compatible as online review show it will have a flimsy sound, mix reviews.

[VincentWangZx 11]

So we went to meet with two company representatives (I'm not saying who, haha) yesterday to check on what our options are. Let's just say that the difference between the two are as the sky is different from the ground (the Chinese will get this： 差天跟地). With that much of a difference, it wasn't very hard to decide. This changed my impression thoroughly of engaging an ID. I had always thought up till now that engaging one would be an extravagant expense out of reach for those with a small budget, but I was wrong. It was a matter of finding those who were profit-oriented vs those who were customer-oriented. The added benefit of engaging an ID is basically one additional brain that will think alongside you in your space planning, whereas a contractor will basically listen to what you think you want to do, and let you know if it is technically possible or not. So a conversation with a contractor might go something like this: 'You want to hack this wall ah? The electrician need to do trunking for this switch here cos HDB does not allow contractors to conceal if they want to relocate the switchpoint". For an ID, they don't zero in on particular requests. They start with "How would you like your kitchen to look like? Any particular type of inspiration/look/feel?" Then they go on to calculate the space required for functional living in order for the design to make practical sense. They do highlight some technical requirements as well, but they do their best to achieve the design that we are trying to achieve.

My overall feel is that if you were to talk to a contractor, you would go away feeling more worried. An ID (a good and sensible one) would help you visualize the entire home's space and layout. In my case for some reason, the contractor is charging more for the different works they are doing even though they claim to be a one-stop service company with their own electrician, plumber and carpenter. In the end, we have decided to go along with an ID instead, with an affordable budget of 10k+ (inclusive of carpentry for kitchen and studio).

Edited February 12, 2014 by VincentWangZx

[mavicaste 58]

So you have dropped the idea of getting an Ikea kitchen?