*meow Residence* 4 Room: Where The Sun Rises

[myzticalz 14]

Hello!

Have been lurking around for the past 2-3 years and finally, my flat is here. Okay, the Mister and I like cats (& dogs) AND we are also on a super tight budget that's why I've named our house the "Meow Residence" cause we're neow ("cheapskate" in hokkien) - Mister is so going to kill me if he knows what I named our house. Ha!

Anyway, here is also where the sun rises as this is the location where we can be found and our home gets very good, strong morning sunlight everyday from 7am to 12noon.

Let's cut straight to the point, this is how small our flat is (THE FLOOR PLAN):-

[claypot 46]

WELCOME to RT, meow residents

[kindaichi24 2]

lol i think the kitchen measurement abit wrong leh. 360...however ur living room is like so big. i thot it was 5 room

[myzticalz 14]

Thanks claypot for the welcome.

And, because we are so so so so "meow~", we really aren't looking at doing much for the home. So renovation is really kept to be at the minimum and we will only focus on 'top and bottom' e.g. heaven and earth.

What's heaven and earth leh? Top is mostly for ceilings and lights then the bottom will be our kitchen cabinets! Mister likes to soak in warm water every now and then so we have to have a bathtub (a must have thing!). So, if you're looking at a "meow~" couple, of course, we are always looking out for the cheapest (hopefully, good!) contractor/ID. And to communicate what I want, I've created a file of how the house should be like from aerial view:-

Haha, okay, the first thing everyone (including Mister) saw this and the reaction was, "WAH, you need so many lights in the living room boh?!"

Answer is NO lah but I am not a contractor/ID so this one I must ask the pro if it's correct anot. And yes, there are no dining lights cause we like to be flexible and shift our dining tables everywhere

Can feel free to comment on the lights, more opinions the better so I can refine my stuff too, hehes.

[myzticalz 14]

lol i think the kitchen measurement abit wrong leh. 360...however ur living room is like so big. i thot it was 5 room

Bingo~ that one is totally off sia, it's 3600. Hahas, yeah living room is bigger than most rooms (but still small to me ) The most headache one is the MBR, totally can't think of a way to put a wardrobe without touching windows (+ still have walkable space)

[ahhboi 15]

Depend on what type of light u had at the corridor, if hanging light, be careful the bomb shelter door won't bang into it. lol

[myzticalz 14]

Depend on what type of light u had at the corridor, if hanging light, be careful the bomb shelter door won't bang into it. lol

Point noted! I never thought of it sia, now I must go back and see how tall is that door already, was thinking of putting track lights. Hahas, hopefully not full length door.

[myzticalz 14]

You know, there is always a link between, Cheap, Good, Fast (cheaper, better, faster~). If you want cheap and good, you cannot expect fast. If you want good and fast, you cannot expect cheap and lastly, if you want fast and cheap, you cannot expect good! Haha, so I am looking for cheap and good renovation, I know I cannot expect it to be fast liao.

So, true to that, the following are some weird and the common defects I found in our home and this means we need more time for BSC to rectify:-

1) Hollow Tiles

2) Crack Tiles

3) Gaps in parquet

4) Weird coin shaped metal in skirting

5) Choked drainage

The above is the choked drainage in the common toilet. Cement has already harden and water takes 5minutes to fully flow through (I think if I shower, I can flood my entire toilet already lah).

Another weird defect, coin shaped metal stuck in between skirting and tiles =.= Can they leave a thousand dollar note instead, I'd much prefer that

Have submitted the defects list to BSC and hopefully, they can help rectify the defects before end of April (they said they needed 3-4 weeks). In the meanwhile, I am shopping at Taobao/JB/Singapore, hahas.

To the new home owners, must remember to check carefully when you get your keys, especially when there are so many news floating around about popping tiles and lousy quality of materials used. *Jiayou!*

Edited March 24, 2014 by myzticalz

[Songz 132]

Welcome to RT.

That is a lot of lighting you got there, think you can cut down some when you finalize with your ID.

All the best for your Reno.

[myzticalz 14]

Thanks Songz! Haha, yeah, hopefully can refined the lights design with the assigned contractor/ID.

And here are some photographs of how it looks like inside the *meow residence*!

The living room/dining area

The Kitchen

The Passage Way leading to Rooms

Okay, so for this particular wall at the passage way leading to room - it is either to hack the wall down and build up a glass wall OR I'll draw and paint bricks! Hahas, it's such a trend for bricks wall but Mister don't like it (citing trap dust ar, take up space ar, rough edges ar). Ya, he and his nonsense. So, I told him, I'll then paint bricks a like on the walls instead and no stopping me! Mister said go ahead IF I have the energy to slowly paint it. I better prove him wrong. An example how the bricks wall will look like is as follows.

One of my good friend has done this for her bedroom so I know it is do-able just need time (3 days?). I am roping her help in to paint the walls together. Stay tuneeeed~

*Psst, if you have any idea what colour/paint should the bricks wall be, please let me know! I am in a dilemma on choosing colours for that bricks lookalike~*

Edited March 25, 2014 by myzticalz

[claypot 46]

Why don't use wallpaper that has brick wall designs?

Okay, so for this particular wall at the passage way leading to room - it is either to hack the wall down and build up a glass wall OR I'll draw and paint bricks! Hahas, it's such a trend for bricks wall but Mister don't like it (citing trap dust ar, take up space ar, rough edges ar). Ya, he and his nonsense. So, I told him, I'll then paint bricks a like on the walls instead and no stopping me! Mister said go ahead IF I have the energy to slowly paint it. I better prove him wrong. An example how the bricks wall will look like is as follows.

One of my good friend has done this for her bedroom so I know it is do-able just need time (3 days?). I am roping her help in to paint the walls together. Stay tuneeeed~

*Psst, if you have any idea what colour/paint should the bricks wall be, please let me know! I am in a dilemma on choosing colours for that bricks lookalike~*

[myzticalz 14]

Why don't use wallpaper that has brick wall designs?

Mister's logic again - wallpaper is more expensive (and we don't have a huge budget to begin with), I will easily damage wallpaper cause I'm very clumsy, in our humid weather, wallpaper cannot survive well =X

That's the reasons he quote when I ask him about wallpaper.

[Troublemaker 31]

Thanks Songz! Haha, yeah, hopefully can refined the lights design with the assigned contractor/ID.

And here are some photographs of how it looks like inside the *meow residence*!

The living room/dining area

The Kitchen

The Passage Way leading to Rooms

Okay, so for this particular wall at the passage way leading to room - it is either to hack the wall down and build up a glass wall OR I'll draw and paint bricks! Hahas, it's such a trend for bricks wall but Mister don't like it (citing trap dust ar, take up space ar, rough edges ar). Ya, he and his nonsense. So, I told him, I'll then paint bricks a like on the walls instead and no stopping me! Mister said go ahead IF I have the energy to slowly paint it. I better prove him wrong. An example how the bricks wall will look like is as follows.

One of my good friend has done this for her bedroom so I know it is do-able just need time (3 days?). I am roping her help in to paint the walls together. Stay tuneeeed~

*Psst, if you have any idea what colour/paint should the bricks wall be, please let me know! I am in a dilemma on choosing colours for that bricks lookalike~*

Wow! That's a huge project! Do share with us after u have painted them!

[myzticalz 14]

Wow! That's a huge project! Do share with us after u have painted them!

Definitely! Am excited about that too, I just hope my passion don't die off as time passes.

[myzticalz 14]

The search for someone within our budget

Okay, so here goes. As per the layout, we really aren't doing much for our home~ I guess the most expensive thing in our will be electrical stuff, kitchen cabinets and our bathtub? We do have contacts (within our families) for such ala carte items but felt that we should not be relying on family and also to reduce any conflicts (what if this so-and-so relative did not do a good job etc), we will source from external. Worse come worse, if the quote is super expensive, then we may have to fall back and get relatives' help then.

1. ID number 1 (I****H****) - A young female ID replied to my query about my renovation. We met her up one Friday night and discuss about what we wanted and what we don't want. Overall, felt quite comfortable with her but no chemistry although she tried to talk to me about Taobao when I told her I may be buying stuff from Taobao. Quotation came up to $17k (but there are alot of missing items)

2. ID number 2 (Z*****J**) - Mister and I felt very very comfortable with this ID, clicked well, speak our lingo, knows exactly what we want. But, still, her prices are way higher than what was recommended (we have quotes from another friend who used them). If the ID can charge someone else cheaper than me, why can't they charge me the same? Quite disappointed on the pricing wise but KIV still. Quotation came up to $19k.

3. Contractor 1 (J**M**) - I left after talking to this Contractor for 15 minutes. Told him I wanted to have a false ceiling across my living rooms with lights and he said it will be ugly. *my fragile heart breaks* And I have this particular design of L shape kitchen cabinet to be done with stove right smack in the middle, he said it can't be done as well. Okay, that is the most important feature of my home, so sorry, out you go.

4. ID number 3 (R****) - We asked for quote way back in Jan/Feb but did not follow up as we were sick of meeting people without viewing the actual unit. Therefore, we arrange to meet this ID last night at our flat. Was supposed to meet at 830pm but he was late. Mister was super pissed off (he went on and on blabbering about young people nowadays always late, the PUB guy tell him seldom see young people like us who will come on time/on the dot, our friends always late for appointment etc etc). Hahas, anyways, despite his blabbering, Mister still bought soya milk for the ID. ID came at about 845pm and we talk about how we wanted the whole unit to be. Not bad, he listens! And he only give opinions where necessary. Not pushy to push all his ideas to us, this ID's take is you tell me what you want to do, I do for you *full stop* Wow, impressed. Even Mister felt comfortable in the ID's style. Haha, but our flat is really very simple, even the ID also say, this is an easy one. Total quote: $17k

Anyway, ID number 3 seems like a sure go, but, let's just see his pricing as well. And, should I look for another last one to make it a 5 selection to choose from?

5. We (or rather, I) have decided to go ala carte style. The renovations we are looking are pretty basic and can be coordinated by me and Mister. We do not have a huge budget that we can play around and since Mister's working on flexible timings, he can always meet the contractors now and then. So, we decided to do it ala carte (with each individual vendors coming in!) Hope that this won't be a wrong choice.

Edited July 25, 2014 by myzticalz