Finally Our Own Haven! 3 Room Bto...

[Lyamani 21]

Hi all! Finally I have decided to create my own TBlog n finally managed to figure out how to post up pics! For starters, we applied for our 3 room BTO in a Yishun Riverwalk back in 2010, after several bad queue numbers for 4 room BTO ballots took a try in the lower number 3 room category n bingo! Got it.. That was before we started our family.. Through the years and now, we are a huge family with 3 kids! Surprise! No. 4 is on its way, due in June 2014! 😅 though we tried to appeal for a change of room size, 'pro-family' HDB insisted it would be unfair for the rest to bypass this way thus we could either cancel our application and start all over again for another unit(after ruining thousands of $ on open market rental for all those years??) or just wait to sell this unit after 5 years and upgrade.. So yea we are stuck with this for now, small but well most of us grew up in a small home with several family members right? N we made it, close knit, happy n healthy! So we shall put up with this arrangement for now.. We intend to upgrade a few years down the road.. But we'll make this our cosy home til den, making sure the best arrangement is made for each n every member comfy n happy! Our kids r aged 11(from my 1st marriage in case tis confuses u readers, 11yrs old within 4yrs of marriage??!!lol),3yrs n 2yrs old..of cos e latest edition is on his way due in June..

So we were anxiously waiting for e keys collection for our home cos somehow our project had been facing delays n drags from e start, delayed commencement, pause in e middle, bla bla.. So after much anticipation, chasing and shadowing HDB, we were finally told today that our keys are finally handed over to HDB by the builders! N after chasing my project officer, we were a schedule for the 1st batch of key collection, 19th March!! Next Wednesday that is! Wow that sounded gooood! I was so stressed out to get our keys so that we could get reno n settling down done soonest and in time for baby to arrive anytime in June and think at the timeline we have now, it's nicely possible! Yay! Soo many things to do though.. Our very first home n so many things r new, especially e reno journey.. Thankfully hubby n I had started our shopping n preparation as early as Jan this year when we got updates that we may get our keys in the 1st quarter of e year.. Mostly from Spore Expo sales, online recommendations etc.. We didn't do much ID sourcing as hubby is e type that's too lazy to look around too much n wud want to settle down with the one who offers him the best quote etc.. We did sign up with e 2nd one we spoke to, paid $500 n after which we pulled out n forfeited the money! That's another story.. I just didn't feel assured or safe with him.. Was all bout money but not in making me comfortable that he will realize our dream home.. Every idea I had he simply brushed it off saying its unnecessary n can make do without it n wit cheaper materials/alternatives which would totally scrap my idea of how my place should turn out like.. Finally settled with the 3rd ID we spoke to.. Was my find.. After talking over the phone n feeling some comfort level with him, got him to email me his quotation which was pretty reasonable, hubby agreed to meet him up and found him to be very professional n refined unlike e 2nd one, really contractor standard. Finally engaged him n r hoping he keeps up to our trust..

Sooo sorry I'm a very lor soh person, very detailed n thus this has gone soo long.. As much as I have learnt n benefited from RT n others' experiences, hope to share my experience so that others can benefit the same.. So pls bear wit me! First pic of e day is our floorplan..

[Lyamani 21]

Our first purchase for our house was our fridge, washer n dryer.. Was at e audiohouse expo sale in Jan if I'm not wrong.. Love e Hitachi fridge, always wanted a black tempered glass french door fridge n hubby wanted e ice water dispenser on e front so tis had all we wanted. Huge though wonder how much space it would take in our tiny weeny kitchen.. But a family our size wud definitely do wit this right! N we got Electrolux 9kg washer n 9kg dryer separately, both front load which we intend to stack on top of e other, personally am wary of 2 in 1s as e whole appliance will be down if either one screws up so better to have individuals so tat both perform their max capacity n duties.. We always accumulate a huge load of laundry very quickly so we went for 9kg..

Dryer

Washer

[Lyamani 21]

For our bed we went to Maxcoil at Bukit Merah, they have a small showroom there n got our King sized Coralinus(was told its e highest grade they have there, some hotels r using tis range as well, is 14" thick with pure latex pillow top) mattress n bedframe as a package at $2.4k.. Apparently it was worth $4k plus but we could get a better deal at tis isolated showroom n e sales lady Cindy is very nice.. We got e storage bedframe which has super huge storage space I cud literally hide under! N e pc they had in e showroom was only a Queen size! It comes wit e same hydraulic hinges tat e big S brands carry, which I confirmed wen we went over to e expo furniture show n kaypoed e other brands😋.. Out of e headboard selections we had, we chose tis particular one which is not as fancy looking as e flatboard ones, even e bling embedded ones as they were practically comfy n neck-supporting wen we sat leaning against e headboard.. Wen sitting up reading a book, watching tv or nursing e baby etc wud be really useful.. Encourage fellow bed-seekers to try tis kinda designs out as they really give good support to ur head/neck n u don't need to prop up a pillow for support.. Haven't decided on e color n material of headboard n frame yet as we hadn't confirmed e room's colors etc yet.. Will need to go down to confirm tat one of these days.. E deal: Got 4pcs hotel range pillows, 2pcs hotel range bolsters n 1pc mattress protector!

[Lyamani 21]

So there's some update.. We got our 3D pics! Made some amendments to e very first draft ID sent us to have furniture,lights,appliances as close to what we had already purchased.. Is about 80% there..

In 2 days time on the 19th we are getting our keys n starting reno the following Monday, 24th..

[Lyamani 21]

Due to e cramped space in e kids room, we decided to place only e built in study table n custom made bunk bed (double decker with pull out) in their room n extend the wardrobe space in our room so we have a 10ft wardrobe in the MBR.. So we will have to segregate the wardrobe space such tat it fits all e family's clothes.. Hoping it shudnt be a prob as I have e habit of folding clothes mostly so lots of shelving n spaces dedicated cud do e trick.. It helps tat we have a huge storage bedframe which wud hold all my spare pillows, comforter sets etc so I don't need e wardrobe space eaten into to accommodate bedding stuffs..

[Happycouple 0]

Looking forward to see the outcome ). Hoping to learn more thru your experience once I get mine in July.. Care to share how much the cost of your reno is?

[Lyamani 21]

Hi Happycouple.. At tis point it's standing at 26k+ n tats excluding electrical costs as ID prefers to let e electrician quote us on his own based on our needs..n also excluding any misc costs tat may be incurred upon commencement of works,unexpected rectification etc..hoping things don't bust further!

[kindaichi24 2]

wah ur living room looks big

[alfredt 27]

nice 3D pics. remember to share more pictures. cheers

[Lyamani 21]

U mean from e floorplan or e 3d?hopefully it is spacious enough n not too cramped up.. 😀 gonna check it out in person tomoro so will know roughly how e actual space is like...will take some pics of e raw state to post up.. Hope will be of use to 3 roomers or Riverwalkers...

[Lyamani 21]

Hey thanks Alfredt.. Yea I like e way they look.. It looks like e hot fav theme of fellow renotalkers is Scandinavian or Industrial at e moment but we don't feel e attraction towards those themes.. Basically Modern Elegance is what we aim to achieve.. Hope things turn out as we expected all around.. Really anxious as we near the real phase.. 😬

[kindaichi24 2]

@lyamani i was referring to the floorplan. looking forward to see the real thing. u must be pretty excited now haha

[Lyamani 21]

Hi peeps! Yes finally we got our keys today and went down to see our actual unit! Wow that was really exciting! Due to the rainy weather and by the time we made it to the house was bout 5+pm so it was kinda darkening.. Thus all my pics turned out crappy even with flash so I'm not gonna post any pics now.. Rather take better ones when we go down this Sat to meet our ID onsite to discuss real time plans etc..

On actual unit, I love how we r situated, we are right at the corner, the last unit of the stretch and tat gives us extra privacy which I love.. Nobody wud be walking past us, no peeping, no need to be conscious to be caught offguard by bypassers lol.. Though it's a clustered-blocks project, we are very lucky to be facing open space around us due to the layout of the project.. We have a beautiful view from living,kids room n MBR room windows which r gonna be overlooking e upcoming playground, water fountain, greenery etc tat has been planned within our project as it's highlight points.. Thus we have no obstructing views from neighboring blocks tat wud cause it to be stuffy, lack of privacy etc.. Gonna be windy without much of direct sunlight due to the way we are situated.. That also makes the house really bright and open which I love.. I'm e sort tat hates dark gloomy houses n will switch on e lights if it's dark even in the late afternoons etc so this is great.. Hope good luck too lol..

N surprisingly we felt the house is kinda spacious in the sense doesn't appear as scarily tiny as we expected it to be.. We have got all squarish and rectangular rooms n spaces without odd layout which is good..only disappointment is e kitchen which is way too crampy n worst, disappointed with e way they have planned out the service balcony! Show u y...

See how e pipes r at e service balcony? How on earth will any washer or dryer fit in there???? What on earth were they thinking??? Plain rubbish work isn't it as if to merely fulfil the duty of installing pipes n stuffs not considering the practicality of it. E other side of the svc balcony is such..

So clean neat n empty BUT we need to probably run e piping, wiring and whatever not to bring everything on the other side to this side to house the washer and dryer which is to be stacked on top of one another.. Extra costs, unnecessary works n it jus doesn't make sense. I intended to have a suspended ledge or cabinet on e opposite side of e washer+dryer to be able to do my clothes folding, laundry activities there and tis plain empty side wud have been perfect but I need to shift to tat space now n wonder how useable is e other side gonna be for my worktop plans.. Wonder is ours e only dumb layout like tis or most BTOs face tis.. How do u guys manipulate tis issue? Any advise wud be greatly appreciated..

Lya

[NingNing 28]

hi Lya,

i'm also a 3 room bto! We have the same service yard pattern!

Measure the space from the wall to the pipes. It should be more than 60cm. Thats more than enough for a 8kg sumsang washer and a dryer. I know, coz i have it too! the space is more than enough for me to fit both in, so dont think its very small. anyway, even if you wanted to, you cant shift the electricity and the pipes and the blah blah blahs over to the empty wall. Because, if you noticed, the drainage is on the small side with the plug and the tap.

My suggestion is to instead look at the space beside the washer, why not look at the wall where the window is? You have a long empty wall that you can use and since you have a nice view, you can take advantage of it. Fold clothes and enjoy nice scenery. Why not install a folding table that you can close when you are not using it. That way, you can save space and its also safer for your kids. No accidents whereby ur kids run and bang into the workstation.

You can look to ikea to have such folding tables like this :

Hope this helps.

Edited March 19, 2014 by NingNing

[Lyamani 21]

Hi NingNing thx for ur input! Ours is a 9kg washer and dryer which is supposed to be stacked on top of one another n looking at e way e pipes r situated in e svc balcony n e protruding out inlet pipe n e extension to pull down e clothes hanger etc.. Jus seems like tat side is totally cramped out for us..wen things r jutting out like tat how to stack dryer on top? Wonder if firstly our size washer dryer will fit into tat space anot.. We thot there may be some way tat plumber etc cud rerun e whole inlet n outlet thingy to e other side... Of cos wud be e best thing if somehow our items can be fit inside tis space but am worried wat happens if it doesn't... We r a big family n never run out of laundry to clear, especially wen I do separate washes for e adults n e kids, washing of comforters n bed sheets etc so we really need a big capacity washer dryer.. E other side of e svc balcony we actually intended to get ID to custom make a ledge table kinda thing or wat for my clothes folding so tat there's a designated system there but now it's all bout how e appliances placement is gonna be.. Headache headache.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Lyamani