Building Our Home Together

[MrsKhoo 0]

Hihi guys!

Hope the day have been good for you so far!

Well, I finally joined the renotalk family today after my many visits to this portal for reno ideas and reading the blogs of some of the forummers here.. Finding the read every rewarding in many ways and that many of you open my eyes to the world of renovation such as the material used for the reno, design ideas and even the type of furnitures, appliances that you all eventually got for your home.. Ermm... In other words, I litterally getting myself "poison" along the way coz whenever I read the blogs, I'll start to think "Hey, maybe I should get this for my house too!"... Arghhh!!.... Kekeke..

I have been toying the idea of starting a t-blog for awhile now coz I'm quite worried about no time to maintain the blog... However, decided to start it so that we can document our reno journery and that we can see how far we manage to achieve the look that we want as a home.. So... I hope that all the qian bei here can help to guide us along if we happen to ask some noob questions about renovation.. Thanks in advance yet!

Ohh... And I also want to declare that I'm not officially MrsKhoo (my username) yet but am going to be in a week plus time.... So very very busy during this time. Hoping the time could fly till after my wedding.. Very tiring now...

So enough of the lengthy introduction.... Let's get down to the main topic on our new place!

We bought a resale EA in the Northern part of Singapore in January 2014 and finally got our keys to our new place just last month... The search to our marital home was completed in only viewing about 5 to 6 houses.. Hahaha.. Yes! yes! I know.. I know.. That was fast right! We decided to buy the house as we find that it is bright and airy. We did viewed a few houses before this place and we were attracted to it on our first visit there.. Maybe because the few houses before that were ermmm.. yucky with some of the units having their floor & ceiling super dark and dirty.. Some have weird design with the orientation of the door to the bomb shelter / storeroom in the middle of the living room wall (wondering why HDB built it like that) and 1 unit asking for high COV for a place that is so rundown when alot of houses were offering $0 or little COV at that time.. And so we went back to this only house that we like again on a 2nd time at night to have a look and we still like it. So that's when we decided to make our offer that was $10k lower than the valuation price. But... the owners refused to budge on the price so no choice lor.. Since we like it then just got to accept the price lor..

Ok.. Thats all for my first post.. Will share the floor plan to my place once I find out how to attach photos.. Hahaha.. Forgive me k for the long grandfather's story and that I gong gong didnt go find out how to attach photo first before writing my first post... Will be back soon de!

Cheers!

[MrsKhoo 0]

I'm back!!

Think I manage to find out how to post photos here.. So let's see if it works..

Tada! The floor plan of our new place...

Can see, guys?

Well, its kinda a small EA.. Only about 131m2. Some of the EAs in the vicinity are at least 141m2.. So feel like I bought a smaller unit but pays the same S&CC as the other EAs. But can't complain much, i guess coz only the 2 of us will be staying there for the time-being. The space is more than enough for us and cleaning this place will definitely be a chore for me!!

Ok.. I got to go again le.. Will share during my next post on our reno contractor...

[TengLiJun 5]

wow big house

[DarkWingZ 6]

welcome to renotalk~ a lot of space to play around =D

[Songz 132]

I think your challenge will be the service yard & MBR & long living+dinning.

Good luck to your Reno in advance and hope to see how you gg to plan the layout of the house

[MrsKhoo 0]

Halo!

It has been a long break for me since my last post. Finally completed my zhong shen da si and now can start to focus on the renovation..

We are so lucky (actually is lazy la) to be able to find a contractor for our renovation. I have actually started asking around my friends to recommend me their id or contractors and one of my colleagues recommended her contractor to us. My colleague is very pleased with this contractor for her house so I got the number and started off with a simple SMS to this contractor (I should refer this contractor as L). L then called me to chat slightly. I then emailed her my floor plan and some photos of the house. I also told her what we wanted to do. She said that better to go to the house to take a look and so we did. During the visit, she advise us on what need to be done and what not. We felt comfortable in talking to her and also agree with my colleague that L gave very honest opinions on the renovation. Well, I cant say that she is the best (since we don't have any to compare with coz too lazy to find others) but L is good enough for us. The quote given is quite reasonable and L has been very responsive to our queries and thus, we agreed to just engage her. Another thing that we like about L is that she is a very easy-going person and not calculative. I'll share more along the way so that you guys know what I meant by this. In the meantime, I think I will not share the details about L till my house is fully renovated so that I can give a more complete review about her.

The renovation for my house has just started 2 days back and I will share some before-photos of the house in my next post. We have also met up with L to select tiles for our house and I will also share some photos of the tiles we selected in the next couple of posts. Got to rush off again now.. Tata!

[Dwinsplace 48]

congrats on your nuptials and good luck for the reno!

[MrsKhoo 0]

Finally got some time to update the blog...

Ok.. Without saying much, I have attached pictures to share on the original condition of the house before we start the renovation.

[MrsKhoo 0]

Cont'd from the earlier post..

Well, the previous owners had kept the house in quite a good condition except for some wear and tear over the years. We just feel that we have to renovate the kitchen, both toilets, 1 of the common room and the masterbedroom (since the previous owner had hacked the wall to connect both the rooms together). We wont be touching the tv console thou as the condition seems to be okay. The quote given by the contractor comes to slightly less than $33k.

The details of the work to be carried out are as follows: -

Kitchen

1. Hacking of kitchen wall and floor tiles,

2. Supply & lay heavy-duty homogenous flooring & full height designers' wall tiles.

3. Applicaton of waterproofing membrane

4. Supply labour & material to change stainless steel piping for kitchen

5. Supply labout & matertial to run washing machine inlet/outlet pipe

6. Supply & construct kitchen cabinet base c/w tiles finishing

7. Desing & fabricate top & bottom kitchen cabinet in laminate finish c/w ABS trimming solid ply doors

8. Supply & install 2 pcs galss panels.

9. Supply & install stainless steel dish rack

10. Custom made KompacPlus for kitchen worktop in single profile

11. Supply & install 1 sets bamboo stick holder

Living, Dining Hall & Study Room

1. Supply labout & tools to dismantle existing display cabinet & feature wall at entrance

2. Supply & install double leaf non fire-rated soild nyatohply door to main entrance

3. Design & fabricate full ht shoe cabinet cum display cabinet in laminate finish c/w swing door

Master Bedroom

1. Supply labour & tools to dismantle existing walk-in wardrobe

2. Design & fabricate full ht sliding wardrobe in laminate finish c/w all custom fittings

3. Design & fabricate full ht feature wall backing for wardrobe in laminate finish

4. Design & fabricate storage platform in different step in laminate finish c/w light pelmet

5. Supply & install fibrous plaster false ceiling to master bedroom

Bedroom 2

1. Supply & install wooden door frame for new entrance

2. Design & fabricate full ht casement wardrobe in laminate finish

Bathrooms

1. Hacking of bathroom wall and floor tiles

2. Supply & lay heavy-duty homogenous flooring & full height designers' wall tiles.

3. Applicaton of waterproofing membrane

4. Supply labour & material to change stainless steel piping for both bathroom

5. Supply labour to install 2 sets pedestal pans and wash basins

6. Supply & install 2 white powdered coated aluminium bi-fold doors

7. Design & fabricate top & bottom mirror & vanity cabinet in laminate finish for master bathroom

8. Custom made kompacplus for vanity top in single profile for master bathroom

9. Supply & install clear tempered glass shower screen for master bathroom

Miscellaneous works

1. Supply labour to install whole house necesary accessories

2. Supply labour & material to do painting for the whole house using ICI/ Nippon paint c/w (5+1) colour including all door frame, door and piping

3. Haulage & debris removal fees

4. Supply & install 3 solid nyatohply door for 3 bedrooms

5. Supply & install 3 hot water point for both bathrooms

6. Supply & install matching skirting for existing homogenous tiles

7. Sliding door track for master bedroom

Well, that's all for this post for now. Will try to update as soon as I can. See ya...

[MrsKhoo 0]

wow big house

Thanks TengLiJun.. The house is big for the 2 of us for now but I have always prefer a bigger house so that we have the extra space for guests and stuff.

welcome to renotalk~ a lot of space to play around =D

DarkWingZ, Thanks! Yes, it looks like we have alot of space to play with.. Can play hide and seek worr.. LOL..

I think your challenge will be the service yard & MBR & long living+dinning.

Good luck to your Reno in advance and hope to see how you gg to plan the layout of the house

Hi Songz, I have been following your blog before I started mine. Nice to see you here! Ya.. I think is due to the odd shape of the service yard and the kitchen that may have some problems but we are only doing the kitchen for now.. We'll just leave the service yard as it is except to repaint it. We'll see how the living area turns out..

congrats on your nuptials and good luck for the reno!

Dwinsplace, thanks! Has been a very hectic time for both my husband and I. Finally settle the wedding and thought can concentrate on our renovation when our car starts to give us problems. Super sianz again coz we may have to spend a couple of thousands to fix the problem.. Arghhh.... Just hope that after the checks, it'll turn out to a less serious problem.. Wish us luck too on the car ya!

[Songz 132]

What car is it ?

If you want I got a workshop which I went recently and is quite experienced and charges are reasonable.

PM me if you are interested.

[MrsKhoo 0]

What car is it ?

If you want I got a workshop which I went recently and is quite experienced and charges are reasonable.

PM me if you are interested.

Hi Songz, thanks for the offer. Very kind of u! We actually have found a few workshops and are comparing the prices now. The problem is with the gearbox and that is why it'll cost us a couple of thousands to repair it. Nowadays, the car prices so sky-high so want to change car also cannot. Its either we give up the car or continue to keep it. Judging from our needs and travel patterns, think continuing to keep it seems a better way for us.

[Songz 132]

Totally agree.

Esp when COE just rises again yesterday.

Good luck for your workshop hunting.

[MrsKhoo 0]

Good Day Everyone!!

Its back to work as usual after the long weekend.. *Cough Cough*.. Didnt get to enjoy the weekends as was sick and spent most of my time sleeping.. So very sianz that we didnt get to go out to hunt for the sanitary items as per what we had planned earlier.

Ok.. Enough of the small talk.. Hee.. I just want to show you guys the tiles that we had chosen for our kitchen and the bathrooms.. We had actually went to choose the tiles much earlier but didnt have the time to post here. We went to Hafary at Balestier to choose the tiles. Met up with our contractor, L there.

Wow... Seems like there are alot of choices.. The quote given by L actually stated that we can choose tiles up to $2.80/ sq ft but L did not actually limit us when we were there. She say that we can choose what we like and if the difference is not big, she can absorb the price for us. So we chose the following tiles for our bathrooms and kitchen.

Common bathroom

Wall tiles

Floor tiles



MBR Bathroom

Wall tiles & feature wall

For the bathroom in the MBR, we had chosen this wooden plank-look alike (the tiles at the back) for the feature wall at the shower area and the price for this is about $10+ per sq ft (cant remb the exact price). For the rest of the bathroom, we will be using the one that is in the front. For the feature wall, our contractor did tell us that we may have to top up about $300 for this since it is quite pricey. We decided to KIV the feature wall but it is really nice!

Floor tiles

As for the kitchen, hmm.. I wanted a rustic look to the kitchen and at the same time, I wanted to have a kitchen that requires little maintenance so I thought of having wall tiles that mimic the concrete look which will still allow me to clean the wall easily so I told L that I am looking for cement screed-looking tiles and she suggested that we just cement screed the walls to achieve the look. Okay.. Suggestion accepted!

We didnt really think much on the cost savings that we will now have since we chose to cement screed instead of wall tiles for the kitchen walls. So when L said to us that because of this, she will absorb the cost of the $300 for the feature wall of our MBR bathroom and on top of that she will include false ceiling for us for the kitchen too! We were like WOW! I am thinking this contractor is really honest! She can actually keep quiet and not tell us about the cost savings but she didnt and on top of that she is willing to suggest further on the false ceiling in the kitchen that she will also throw in for us. THUMBS UP for L!

In addition, we also chose black metro tiles for the walls between the top and the bottom cabinets and concrete-like floor tiles for the kitchen with the rest of the walls cement screed.

We are keeping the existing tiles and laminate flooring for the living room and bedrooms so we wont be doing any tiling for these areas.

We are very eager to see how the kitchen and bathrooms will turn out.. Hahaha.. At the same time, quite worried on the choice of our tiles for the bathrooms...

Edited July 29, 2014 by MrsKhoo

[MrsKhoo 0]

Cont'd from the earlier post....

Seems like our worries are for nothing.. The reno at our place had started more than a week ago and the progress have been smooth so far. L told us that the tiling will be completed by this week and we will be meeting up with her this Saturday to discuss on the lighting points and the aircon.

On their first day of work, they already completed the hacking of the tiles in both the bathrooms and the kitchen. Including the removal of the cabinets in the kitchen and the MBR. So last week, they have already started with the tiling and we went to take some photos of their work. They have completed the tiling for the common bathroom and partial for the bathroom in the MBR. So here are some photos of their progress. Resolution may not be clear as photos were taken during the evening time.

Common Bathroom

OMG... I'm loving the wall tiles of the common bathroom!! Looks good...

MBR Bathroom





Nothing much to show for the kitchen since the screeding and the tiling is yet completed.

I think that's all for today... Will update again after we meet up with our contractor this Saturday....

Have a good week ahead!