Leon & Jenna Reno Experience

[Bbbddd 1]

could you share your 3D drawings here ?

[leonjennawong 53]

It's been a crazy week of middle-of-the-night waking up for all the fellow football watchers out there... And I say football watchers, not fans, because I happen to know that there are people out there who are catching the World Cup on TV just because it is the "in" thing to do now.. Wahahahaha...

Anyway. Crazy crazy crazy couple of weeks.. Let's see, Spain got whipped at the World Cup qualifiers by the country-of-tulip-lovers, Arjen Robben looks like he is still maintaining what's left of his crop of hair, Cesc Fabregas swapped his blaugrana bibs for the blues etc etc... Oh bother. Enough about the world of football. I'd better blog the latest updates before I disappear for my honeymoon tomorrow morning... MALDIVES, HERE WE COME! *scratches "maldives trip" off from the bucket list* Hehehe..

WELL OH WELL, my humble home renovation has finally started to move into a more aesthetic & colourful phase with all the tiling works being done up!! Oh I just remembered, I forgot to take photos of the air con pipe running & trunking for you all so I guess that will have to wait.

And seeing as I recognise that no one is going to be reading all this nonsense that I am typing here, and all you dearest readers are just going to go straight for the photos below, I shall waste no further finger-energies & shan't not don't delay any longer... BEHOLD BELOW... AND ENJOY!!

KITCHEN WALL & FLOOR OVERLAY - All the tiles are evenly layed with uniform grouting gap in between... Very happy with the outcome! And it looks like I have to trust CFO's taste more!(anyway she chose me, so I have to give her taste some credit. Wahahahaha... kidding kidding!) The kitchen is giving me this vintage, old-school kinda buzz right now.. Oh, do notice the "empty" box on the floor at the fore-front of the photo... That's where the hinge of the glass door will be situated..

COMMON BATHROOM FLOOR OVERLAY - The downsized photo really doesn't do this finish any justice. One of the best decisions made during this reno journey, which is to overlay the HDB bathroom floor tiles... Good recommendation by #CalvinTan.. He even swapped the original HDB PVC floor trap strainer with a stainless steel one w/o me asking!!

MASTER BATHROOM FLOOR & WALL OVERLAY - And keeping in line with the endearing phrase of "keeping the best for the last"... As I do when I save my egg yolks for later; which is something that I do more often than I would like to admit actually...... Ahem. I digress yet again. See below picture for my very beloved assorted design motif tiled wall standing proudly against the other greyish stone-finish rectangular tiles, exuding what-I-think to be a hotel-esque ambience... Yummyyyyy...

Will be back in a week's time and in the mean time, #CalvinTan & #Edgar will be doing up the false ceilings, partitioning & painting while CFO & I go for a well-deserved break!! See you all again & have a pleasant week!

Edited June 17, 2014 by leonjennawong

[freezy 2]

Hi,

Can share with me on the breakdown quotation and ID contact to william.ng1@hotmail.com

Thank you.

[leonjennawong 53]

Continued......

MASTER BATHROOM FLOOR & WALL BEING PREPARED FOR OVERLAY - My sink & WC were removed in good order.. Currently residing in my household shelter.. Totally excited about the master bathroom make over!

ASSORTED DESIGN MOTIF FEATURE WALL SUPPOSED TO BE HERE (below picture)

COMMON BATHROOM FLOOR (ONLY) BEING PREPARED FOR OVERLAY - As mentioned before, only overlaying with a simple beige-coloured Hafary rectangular tile here.. The photo had to be reduced in size, but it totally didn't do the skill of the cement worker any justice.. Very good workmanship so far!

That's all today! Will be dropping by my place tomorrow to check out some more of my house renovation! Apparently the air con piping got installed earlier today, with #Edgar on-site to supervise.. Fingers crossed that I do not have to suffer the reputed poor Gain City workmanship... Till I see you all next time, take care fellas!

Edited June 13, 2014 by leonjennawong

[leonjennawong 53]

First post as Mr & Mrs Wong... Hehe.. Thanks all who wished me well for my wedding.. It flashed by my blur face in a blurry blur, and suddenly, I am a happily married man now. Hehehehe.. Anywayyyy...

A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT GREETED ME RECENTLY WHEN I STEPPED INTO MY NEW HOUSE...

By the way, I am extremely pleased with the level of tidiness (masking tape the flooring cardboard also can look so pretty one ah.) & the amount of cardboard protection put up for my flooring & for my doors.

RENOVATION HAS STARTED! WOOHOO!!

READERS DO NOTE: Nothing can ever prepare you for the emotional high when you make your first visit to your house to see the initial progress of your house renovation.

Haha... Honestly, I think CFO & I planned and planned and planned the renovation so much that it felt like the house was never ever going to be renovated... Until you actually SEE the cardboard mats laid across your living hall with the mini-mountains of cement mix, SMELL the renovation dust in the air etc etc... All these happening in your house! And then the speed of progress just hits you right SMACK in the face! *PIAK*

Kudos to the #PoshHome team for the speed & ferocity of the renovation! RAWR!! hahaha..

Oh by the way, #PoshHome appointed a site coordinator, #Edgar, for my renovation project.

#Edgar is a young guy who really gives me a good feeling about him; He seems to be a very responsible, young & hardworking person (#CalvinTan told me off-hand that #Edgar works till very late for almost every day, even weekends... impressive vigour & drive for a young man) who will handle my project really well. From what I gathered & observed, #Edgar speaks well, and is no more than 26 years old... And also you can see that he is really sincere in learning the ropes from his sifu (#CalvinTan of couse!)... When #CalvinTan asks him to follow up on something; calls are made, doubts clarified, notes taken down earnestly - all immediately. Very impressive young man. Along the way, when I was deliberating on some decisions (telephone point conversion to LAN point, if you must know hehehe..) #Edgar even found it in him to give some suggestions & opinions, which were good & reasonable. Very happy with his appointment..

Anyway all communications from CFO & I are still communicated to the main man, #CalvinTan, who will relay all necessary information to #Edgar for his coordination/ execution on site... Have to be said that this is a really good process flow. Am really happy with this arrangement because I am assured that my message is getting across to them, and I get effective on-site coverage for my humble renovation project. Well thought-out coordination from the #PoshHome team!

Anyhoo, enough talking! I will add some commentary to each of the photos I'm posting below... Enjoy & scroll awayyyyy...

KITCHEN WALL BEING PREPARED FOR OVERLAY & CABINET CEMENT BASE IN-PROGRESS - Very good cement workmanship & smooth finish by the #PoshHome cement worker as you can tell by the completed cement base on the right-hand-side of the photo below.

MINI HEART-ATTACK-INDUCING KITCHEN FLOOR TILES - Already delivered to my place, and surprisingly they look much better than I last remembered.. Hehehe..

WATER HEATER INSTALLTION POINT RE-LOCATING TO SERVICE YARD - The #PoshHome plumber already re-routed my storage water tank heater installation point to the service yard when I got to my house. Also unexpectedly fast. Don't pray pray, chop chop curry pop. CFO & I didn't want to keep the huge-donkey water tank in the common bathroom cause erm, we think it's a little bit ugly lor... So we decided to install the entire unit at the service yard! (below photo was taken when I was standing at the service yard)

DETAILED DRAWINGS PUT UP FOR SUB-CONTRACTORS AS INSTRUCTIONS - As promised very early on by #CalvinTan, they adhered to their practice of putting up detailed drawings for the workers/ sub-contractors to follow... Can see the detailed writings of the actual tile to use at certain places, dimensions, deadlines etc etc...

To Be Continued......

Edited June 13, 2014 by leonjennawong

[traveller 0]

Hi can i have calvin tan's contact please. Thks!

[leonjennawong 53]

I HAVE A SHAMEFUL CONFESSION TO MAKE.

Erm... I lifted a big portion of my wedding speech off the Google search for "wedding speech samples in singapore". Wahahahaha!

(Aiyah I did add my own personal touch to it of course... Don't judge me too quickly ok.. Hehehe..)

Well well.. CFO & I decided to overwrite #CalvinTan's decision to use the V02 Pioneered Oak, and instead, we are going for V03 Eden Oak #Alsafloor vinyl flooring! (And I cannot stress enough that it's with #CalvinTan's respected approval once again... )

V03 EDEN OAK IS THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE!! (V02 Pioneered Oak is the one on the left in case you want to know)

Just prior to deciding the exact #Alsafloor colour choice to proceed with, CFO & I popped down to the #PoshHome showroom & physically compared the #Alsafloor sample piece (the one that #Bilrich sent over to #PoshHome) against the chosen #PoshHome TV console (for reference)... And it was a SUCCESS!! Woohoo!

COLOUR COMPARISONS OF V03 EDEN OAK AGAINST TV CONSOLE - TOP VIEW

COLOUR COMPARISONS OF V03 EDEN OAK AGAINST TV CONSOLE - OF THE FLOOR (ignore cement screed if you can)

Anddddd... With that, #CalvinTan will coordinate seperately with the #Bilrich flooring installers for the right renovation progress phase to pop in and overlay the #Alsaflooring for my dream house...

See ya'll again!*poof!* (magically disappears)

[binzz 10]

yeah, did get abit more space as my previous flat is a 4 room, needed the upgrade after having 2 young kids + 1 dog and not enuf space for them to run about without knocking into walls.. I cant help to laugh at the instant shower part, i hope i will be able to use gas heater as my current place i am using gas heater and really like them than the instant one, havent tried storage heater though. Previously i was using rinnai stainless steel hob (not inner flame) and it served me well for my light cooking, just that this round, the only electricals i will be buying will be aircon and hob, so thinking to get a glass one as it may be easier cleaning up.. Not getting hood as i didn't use at all for the past 6 years even though i had it, call me lazy.. hahahaa..

[leonjennawong 53]

The sofa looks really nice, i love fabric sofas. Having a tight budget on my reno and mine is resale 5 room (still havent get keys and checking out alot of prices from here ), alot of my budget went into hacking and tiling, so will be using back all my existing furniture, else i sure get the same sofa.. hehe.. Am looking at rinnai inner flame glass hob, can share how much you got it for?

Thanks for your kind comments! Yeah I love my sofa so much!! my friend bought a resale house recently and she shared the costs of hacking and structural works with me.. REALLY SO EXPENSIVE. Oh my gosh. But you do get that great space!

Unfortunately I can't really remember the Rinnai inner flame glass hob cost wor.. Because I bought the stainless steel hob as part of a package (along with my built in oven, cooker hood & the 2x #CalvinTan-condemned instantaneous shower heaters)... Had traded in the values of the instantaneous shower heaters & the stainless steel hob, and still gotta top up a couple of hundred more! Basically a lot more expensive than the stainless steel version! Hehehe..

Edited June 5, 2014 by leonjennawong

[sleepykunst 1]

Congrats and all the best to your wedding! I know what you mean... By the time my wedding drew near, I was quite sick and tired of it too and can't wait for it to be over. LOL.

[binzz 10]

The sofa looks really nice, i love fabric sofas. Having a tight budget on my reno and mine is resale 5 room (still havent get keys and checking out alot of prices from here ), alot of my budget went into hacking and tiling, so will be using back all my existing furniture, else i sure get the same sofa.. hehe.. Am looking at rinnai inner flame glass hob, can share how much you got it for?

[leonjennawong 53]

Try using a a bigger font next time, there are old folks here with fading eyesight.

So sorry! I have since edited the post to enlarge the font.. Hehehe.. don't know how that happened lei.. =/

[OceanEleven 203]

Our kitchen design has been changed... Not just ONCE, but TWICE...... It doesn't look like our 3D rendering anymore... I suppose we will only really know what it looks like when the renovation is completed...

1ST PHASE OF TORTUROUS CHANGE FOR KITCHEN

- Have since removed top kitchen cabinets for the side with the cooking hob (because #CalvinTan advised that the cooker hood doesn't look nice with cabinets on its sides)

- Our backsplash with the rectangular 'old white HDB tiles' will be extended upwards on that side of the wall, all the way up to the ceiling

Warning - ridiculous ranting ahead:

Haiya... I am a very imaginative but boring guy... And initially, the type of kitchen that I want is those grey/brownish colours with a modern look (glass etc.) So, when I first knew that CFO wanted a vibrant colour for her kitchen cabinets, I honestly had to take some conscious effort to change my preference to try to like the kitchen design that she loves so much...

And then, when I finally managed to psycho myself that the kitchen mint cabinet is indeed a nice interesting colour/theme, and when I was ALL SET in my mind for the kitchen in the 3D drawing...

THESE CHANGES have to come along and make me go Nooooooooooo!

Aiya, have to change my expectation again & have to learn to like something all over again. It's like playing with my heart you know. Torturous on my poor soul... Hahaha...

2ND PHASE OF TORTUROUS CHANGE FOR KITCHEN

- We went down to Hafary to check out the tiles recently with #CalvinTan & CFO dropped another bomb on me! She fell in love (we seem to be a couple that keep falling in love with things.) with this pattern-more-than-badminton assorted design glazed porcelain tiles and wanted it in our house!

WAH! (I told you before that I am very boring one, so I had a mini heart-attack when she eagerly pointed out the tiles.. hehehe but I still love her very much btw. )

You can see the heart-attack-inducing tile further down in this same post.. Hehe.. In the end, #CalvinTan advised to overlay this tile on the kitchen floor

- Still on the 2nd phase of torturous change; As a result of the additional pattern-more-than-badminton assorted design glazed porcelain tiles, #CalvinTan also advised us to change the previously-already-confirmed colours of the #Kompacplus counter top & kitchen cabinet! The #Kompacplus colour changed to a lighter colour, and the kitchen cabinet is now a shade of green that is indescribable.. Hahaha.. Loss for words... I had another episode of me going Nooooooooooo...... BUT. Aiya, as long as my beloved CFO is happy.

THIS IS THE HEART-ATTACK-INDUCING TILE FROM HAFARY (Oct Musichall Mult, 20x20cm, $4.20psf, from Spain), comes with the small diamond white glazed porcelain additions (Décor Taco Dome Nacar, 4x4cm, $0.50ppc, from Spain):

Try using a a bigger font next time, there are old folks here with fading eyesight.

[guojiawen 101]

Woah.. With all the purchases, I think you guys may have a mini heart attack when you tabulate your total spendings on reno. LOL!

[leonjennawong 53]

Feeling particularly inspired these 2 days... hehe... It's been a long time since I last blogged so quickly after my last update..

I'm telling you, it's surely because I'm a bit bo-chup about my wedding now liao... (CFO hardly reads this space so I think I can get away with this statement... HAHA! Readers, don't bao-toh! )

ANYWAY. I'm about to rant about something.

Our kitchen design has been changed... Not just ONCE, but TWICE...... It doesn't look like our 3D rendering anymore... I suppose we will only really know what it looks like when the renovation is completed...

1ST PHASE OF TORTUROUS CHANGE FOR KITCHEN
- Have since removed top kitchen cabinets for the side with the cooking hob (because #CalvinTan advised that the cooker hood doesn't look nice with cabinets on its sides)
- Our backsplash with the rectangular 'old white HDB tiles' will be extended upwards on that side of the wall, all the way up to the ceiling

Warning - ridiculous ranting ahead:
Haiya... I am a very imaginative but boring guy... And initially, the type of kitchen that I want is those grey/brownish colours with a modern look (glass etc.) So, when I first knew that CFO wanted a vibrant colour for her kitchen cabinets, I honestly had to take some conscious effort to change my preference to try to like the kitchen design that she loves so much...
And then, when I finally managed to psycho myself that the kitchen mint cabinet is indeed a nice interesting colour/theme, and when I was ALL SET in my mind for the kitchen in the 3D drawing...
THESE CHANGES have to come along and make me go Nooooooooooo!
Aiya, have to change my expectation again & have to learn to like something all over again. It's like playing with my heart you know. Torturous on my poor soul... Hahaha...

2ND PHASE OF TORTUROUS CHANGE FOR KITCHEN
- We went down to Hafary to check out the tiles recently with #CalvinTan & CFO dropped another bomb on me! She fell in love (we seem to be a couple that keep falling in love with things.) with this pattern-more-than-badminton assorted design glazed porcelain tiles and wanted it in our house!

WAH! (I told you before that I am very boring one, so I had a mini heart-attack when she eagerly pointed out the tiles.. hehehe but I still love her very much btw. )

You can see the heart-attack-inducing tile further down in this same post.. Hehe.. In the end, #CalvinTan advised to overlay this tile on the kitchen floor

- Still on the 2nd phase of torturous change; As a result of the additional pattern-more-than-badminton assorted design glazed porcelain tiles, #CalvinTan also advised us to change the previously-already-confirmed colours of the #Kompacplus counter top & kitchen cabinet! The #Kompacplus colour changed to a lighter colour, and the kitchen cabinet is now a shade of green that is indescribable.. Hahaha.. Loss for words... I had another episode of me going Nooooooooooo...... BUT. Aiya, as long as my beloved CFO is happy.

THIS IS THE HEART-ATTACK-INDUCING TILE FROM HAFARY (Oct Musichall Mult, 20x20cm, $4.20psf, from Spain), comes with the small diamond white glazed porcelain additions (Décor Taco Dome Nacar, 4x4cm, $0.50ppc, from Spain):


AND THIS IS THE NEW #KOMPACPLUS COUNTER TOP, KITCHEN CABINET, BACK-SPLASH & FLOOR TILE COLOUR COMBINATION


Seriously very thankful that we are engaging a brilliant interior designer in #CalvinTan, otherwise I am sure CFO & I would've had many sleepless nights & even disagreements over the colour combinations... PHEW.

OK moving on!

And next up, other updates on Hafary choices!
During our visit to Hafary with #CalvinTan, we made some on-the-spot decisions with his expert advice & decided on the following tile choices:

#1) We had decided to overlay the common bathroom floor tiles about a week before the Hafary visit. Because the current floor tiles are reputed to be a hassle to clean & maintain. Saw similar tiles in another owners home (only stayed in for a month plus, and in that time, the tiles just gathered soooo much dirt!) & also heard feedback from other existing HDB BTO home owners on these tiles trapping a lot of dirt & grime, and they complained that they have to scrub the tiles every other day...

I suppose CFO & I were also a bit sub-consciously aghast at this dirt-trapping characteristic when we saw the HDB toilet floor tiles for the first time... (At this point, #CalvinTan just said, I told you so, and you are not the first couple who wont believe me. Bleah )

COMMON BATHROOM FLOOR BEIGE-COLOURED PORCELAIN TILE CHOICE FROM HAFARY (EPK60RC121, 30x60cm, $3.00psf, from China)


#2) Had also decided to overlay the master bathroom wall & floor tiles to achieve the posh look! Am super-duper excited about this! Will have a assorted design motif wall & overlay the rest of the wall & floor surfaces with the same darker stone finish. I wont talk much more for this, look at the photos below!WOOHOO!

MASTER BATHROOM MOTIF WALL PORCELAIN TILE CHOICE FROM HAFARY (Rio Retro Mix, 20x20cm, $8.90psf, from Spain)


MASTER BATHROOM WALL & FLOOR PORCELAIN TILE CHOICES FROM HAFARY (XSNZ3620, 30x60cm, $3.00psf, from China) - the slightly darker tile colour that has #CalvinTan's hand on it



And that's all for today! Really hectic week ahead of me. God.

Tomorrow onwards will be on leave to settle my wedding stuffs! Wish me luck!

Edited June 3, 2014 by leonjennawong