Hacking Out A Home-Shaped Hole @ Cassia

[Dwinsplace 48]

Hi, can share how much is it for your flooring? And what is your experience with it so far?

Hi yogi! It's a bit hard to estimate the cost for the flooring. I paid about $6.4K for most of my 5 room flat to be covered. Except balcony, service yard and kitchen. But I must say that this is through the ID's contact. I think you can get evorich's herf for slightly cheaper at $7 psf.

As for experience, I can only say that it looks FANTASTIC! (pictures will follow shortly) The protection has only just come off and they are doing paint touch ups at the moment so I haven't had the chance to step on it with bare feet.

My only issue as mentioned in a previous post is that I opted to go without skirting. I don't regret my choice but due to walls not being straight, the thickness of the silicon used to seal the edges are also varying in thickness. And since the silicon is white, it stands out.

I'm painting the silicon the wall colour to hide things a bit. Another blogger commented that some companies have brown silicon (or whatever colour matches your floor) if you decide to go down this path also. Hope this helps!

[Dwinsplace 48]

Carpentry is done! And I think that this is the group of contractors that I most trusted. Every time I had an issue there were already aware of it and about to fix it. Granted that they messed up the purchasing of the laminate but I gotta say, I'm happy with the results.

The mechanisms are all soft close and work beautifully. The edges all align and everything is done to spec. Happy!

We made the corner an L shaped door opening so that we can use the dead space that's right in the corner. Having a traditional door system would have resulted in some very awkward reaching to get the stuff right inside. Hard to describe with words. If you drew it out then you would understand. lol. What I did not forsee however was the door being much heavier and so it sagged slightly when it was first mounted. The smart carpenter has since installed a magnet at the top center to hold it.

My tall larder on the left and a couple of small shelves on the right for what we hope will be a tiny herb garden.

Low kitchen counters only. We LOVE the raw laminate! The top will be black kompacplus and that will be fitted on tomorrow! Can't wait! Big drawers are all heavy duty to take heavy plates and stuff without damaging the drawer tracks.

[Dwinsplace 48]

Enter the dungeon! Love the lights and the study desk that spans the room. Just has an old workshop kinda feel. At least until I pile the table full of my junk.

This is a slot that my ID suggested I add. It will house an extension cord neatly so that all my computer cables can neatly go to one spot. I think its a great idea!

Absolutely adore this wire mesh cupboard on the side of the table!

Oh and this wasn't pictured but something for you to think about if you intend to do a long study table like me. It's heavy. And the center has a high chance of sagging over time. (it was actually my dad that pointed this out and not my ID. Points to experience!) The carpenters agreed and we added 2 triangular supports to the wall to lend the center some strength. So the lesson here, is to actually listen to your parents. (once in a while)

[Dwinsplace 48]

this is what the steel room currently looks like.

The reinforced glass for the windows was a nice touch we felt.

This is the door from the outside. I really like the big long handle. Maybe it's a male thing. If you look VEEEERY closely, you will see hints of silver here and there. That's me just giving the door a few highlights to make it pop a bit and look a bit more worn.

If you look even more closely, you might notice that the handle is every so slightly slanted to one side. I measured the distance of the top handle to the edge of the door and the bottom one. 4mm difference. Now I'm wondering if I should get them to fix it.

This is the door from the inside. Do you like the push handle? Let me say that this door really feels like a steel door. Solid and heavy. But still swings smoothly. So well done steel guys!

Edited September 10, 2014 by Dwinsplace

[Dwinsplace 48]

And a slightly wider look from the balcony now that the protective covering is finally removed! (Couldnt take pics from the other angle even though it looks better due to the glare)

[hellonub 5]

Wow extensive!

[Songz 132]

Great updates and the steel dungeon looks great

The wire mesh thing really add a lot to the carpentry

Any Open house for people when its done (If there is let me know as I want to see the Dungeon) ?? LoL ~~~

Edited September 11, 2014 by Songz

[Dwinsplace 48]

Great updates and the steel dungeon looks great

The wire mesh thing really add a lot to the carpentry

Any Open house for people when its done (If there is let me know as I want to see the Dungeon) ?? LoL ~~~

Thanks! A great idea by the ID and she actually got separate sources to collaborate. The mesh was from the guys that did the steel door.

Haha I'm not sure what goes into organising an open house? But it defintiely won't be soon cos we will need to move in and clear up the inevitable mess first. But i'm glad you like it!

[bianzi 52]

Yes invite me too!

[fahrenheitbunny 5]

heehee we hope to get featured in a magazine!

[mintyvintage 52]

i am always tempted when i see ur main gate....... but cant bear to change since it will cause xxx!

anwyay in love with ur steel dungeon door. super cool and noting ive seen before.

great job! how will your lighting be? noticed u used alot of dark colored tiles/laminates. so am interested to see how the lights will playup the house!

[Dwinsplace 48]

i am always tempted when i see ur main gate....... but cant bear to change since it will cause xxx!

anwyay in love with ur steel dungeon door. super cool and noting ive seen before.

great job! how will your lighting be? noticed u used alot of dark colored tiles/laminates. so am interested to see how the lights will playup the house!

Its actually quite painless to change the main gate. I watched them do it and it took about an hour to install. Doesn't affect the main door either. Don't do now la... Do next year. *poison poison*

Everytime I go down at night I kept telling myself to take pics of the lights. But currently the bulbs still aren't the ones I mean to have so it will still be a while before the lighting is the right quality.

Will post pics when I finally get round to fitting the right bulbs. lol.

[Dwinsplace 48]

This will probably be my last update before we shift in. The MyRepublic people are coming on Wednesday for the final internet installation and they want my desktop so that the configurations can be done at one shot. And yes, I still haven't figured out how to update from my phone.

Anyway, the work is pretty much all done! Kompacplus top is up and i gotta say, despite the pains, it looks great. Its thin and stylish and just feels nice.

The tap is from taobao and I think the granite sink goes so well with the counter top. Only wish that it could have been undermounted so that water/food bits can be easily swept in. Ah well, I bought the sink which was a topmount so I'll live with it.

Spent the rest of my time there fixing up a TV console that we bought of TB.

I spent the first half hour ripping open the crates and trying not to get splinters (gloves + brute strength = ) and then next half hour just looking at the pieces and trying to figure out how they fit together. No, they didn't include instructions and I didn't specify that I needed them either. Thankfully the wife sent me a picture and I could sorta figure it out.

Only small damage was a slight chip at the corner of the glass. Considering how big the piece of glass was, I'm pretty glad it arrived in 1 piece at all. So willing to let this slide.

It was supposed to look like this:

But ended up looking like this:

And I've just visited the TB website again and the guys have JUUUUUST posted a pic of the actual item so you can't really say that they didn't tell you. Still, that photo wasn't there when I bought and I'm a bit disappointed at the obvious colour difference in the wood and the handles. But the rest of it is quite similar. I suppose that's my lesson learnt. There is a huge spectrum of issues when it comes to buying wooden products from TB. Metal is much safer.

[Dwinsplace 48]

A few other TB purchases that I could finally unearth from their boxes cos the house is pretty much done:

Tolix dining chairs. The finish is lovely. The white one is quite wobbly but nothing a rubber floor protector on the bottom can't fix.

A fabric chair that the wife loves. Good stable construction. Wood finish could be finer but its decent.

Meet elephunt! Our cheap sculpture. lol And we feel it softens the feel of the house alot.

[Puggy 13]

Can't do anything to change the color of the wood? The elephant is cute though!