Brick Wall By The Floor 5Rm Bto @sengkang

[nickguthe 30]

We just collected our keys! Can't wait to start our reno journey! Had been quietly following all the t-Blogs that inspired us a lot and now it is finally our turn to document and share this adventure with the fellow Renotalk peeps. So exciting! YAY!

Here is the floor plan...

P.S. This will mostly be the wife blogging, I hijacked my husband's RT account to blog.

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe

[Troublemaker 31]

Wow! Looks huge!

You can segregate a small area out as your balcony!

[nickguthe 30]

Thanks! Intend to partition a study in the study. Still researching and thinking

Some pics...

First the obligatory HUAT AR pineapple rolling ceremony into the living room.

Kitchen

Yard

Main Door and DB box with open net connection

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe

[nickguthe 30]

Master and Master Bath

The two bedrooms

Common Bath

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe

[nickguthe 30]

And also, we started checking and reporting defects to the BSC of our estate, just thought we will share some of the things we reported as defects. The more major ones we noticed.

• Gaps between floor tiles and skirting, need to seal again
• Scratches on window sill from window frame edge not fitting nicely (every time you open the window, you hear a screech and notice the powder coating coming off)
• Cement and paint stains on wall and floor tiles and parquet
• Wall cracks and holes

Forgot to take pictures Hopefully, they get rectified soon.

Also, months before getting our keys, we already started on our designs. We engaged our architect friend who does freelance interior design as our ID as we wanted a more hands on approach to our designs and work with someone we are comfortable without going through all the crazy ID selection. She provides the technical and professional knowledge on the designs while we bounce off ideas we like with her. We haven't got a contractor yet.

Some inspirations that got off the internet prior to the design phase.

(JQ Ong The Association)

(From Contemporist)

(From Home Adore)

Thinking of a blend of industrial (but not too raw, mostly the black lines), Scandinavian especially the use of natural materials like wood. The wife really likes the pencil legs of mid-century furniture as well . And haha, the title of this T-Blog is "Brick Wall by the Floor" because we are thinking of having a white brick wall in the living room too. Maybe. And hopefully our wallet don't bleed while we try to realise our dream home.

Can't wait!!

Edited April 26, 2014 by nickguthe

[nickguthe 30]

Our requirements to my ID about the designs

1. Brick Wall
2. Build a study partition
3. Conceal the bomb shelter
4. Squeeze the dining and living area to the side of the living with the windows (since we are going to build the study)

We decided against open kitchen concept (although we like the idea) because both of us enjoy cooking and we are lazy to deal with the grease in the house.

After bouncing off ideas, here are the designs from my ID (done a couple of months ago).

The proposed floor plan

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe

[alfredt 27]

wow. your unit looks big.

[Arshavin 4]

When Reno finished may I visit your house Look like ur ID know how to make full use of your space

[g0mug0mu 8]

wow. your unit looks big.

Even though I see so many HDB photos before, I just want to say: Wah, your units looks big

[nickguthe 30]

Probably the wide angle lens we used help create this illusion of large space. but yea I think the design of this HDB original unit is very efficient, don't have awkward unusable corners and nooks. All straightforward.

[nickguthe 30]

Have being visiting kitchen and bathroom fitting shops and trying to buy the sinks, taps, oven, hob and hood... So many choices! So little time and money.

Wish to get Renotalkers' advice on the following

On hood...

After gathering info around, seems like Fujioh hood is the only one that doesn't have the need for charcoal filter. Is it the case? For the rest, we heard that we will need to buy and change charcoal filter every 2 to 3 years. Never used hood before, hoping to get some advice for a good low maintenance hood.

On hob...

We will be getting stainless steel ones. For stainless steel, read that some brands will rust after a year of use and there are different grades of stainless steel. 303 being the lower grade one and 304 being the high grade more durable one. Any one knows if tecno hob or any other brands uses 304 grade stainless steel?

Thank you all in advance!

Edited April 28, 2014 by nickguthe

[guojiawen 101]

I like the way the photos were taken ahhaa.

Also have a 5 room BTO. But somehow your photos make your house look really huge!

[alfredt 27]

where are you getting your wash basins ?

Other RTs, where is a good place to see wall mounted basins. Seems like lots of top mounted ones, very limited choices for wall mounted versions

[nickguthe 30]

where are you getting your wash basins ?

Other RTs, where is a good place to see wall mounted basins. Seems like lots of top mounted ones, very limited choices for wall mounted versions

Those in pics are provided by HDB, we will be using top mounted ones too. Saw some nice one on Harfary's website, not sure about pricing. http://www.hafary.com.sg. Will keep a look out when we are looking for our basins in the Jalan besar area. Edited April 30, 2014 by nickguthe

[nickguthe 30]

on kitchen's design....

Some images that we drew inspiration from...

subway tiles + black lines + wood + white (from Kompacplus)

subway tiles + wood + open shelves

I know subway tiles are probably quite overused. But I can't help it and I want to have it for my kitchen, together the wood and white colour neutral look.

Also would like to have some open shelves to put condiments that are most often used, and the rest being cabinets so that the cleaning is still manageable.

Meanwhile... trying out many kitchen configuration in photoshop, just to test how it looks.

First design by ID:

One of the configuration I tested in photoshop

In the end, because of the position of the gas pipe and water pipes on left side wall of the kitchen...

the most economical way is to put the hob and sink on this side to avoid the need to route the pipes to the other side of the kitchen, and we decided that we will just buy microwave off the shelf to save money instead of buying a built-in one. So we ended up with this configuration....

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe