Home Sweet Home @ Punggol Topaz

[snowy89 12]

Hi Renotalkers,

I am finally able to start on my own reno blog journey after reading many many renotalk t-blogs and to share about my excitement about building a new home together. Finally we are getting our keys for our new home soon in an area that many new young couples are going for!

We actually look for an ID or Contractor almost one year in advance before getting our keys because this is our first home and we wanted it to be swee swee. I guess we are the kan cheong and kiasu type and also the type whereby I-see-I-like-I-buy. Not very good for our pockets unfortunately.

Judging from now our theme for our home is actually quite jiak ba lang, in other words rojak because we wanted and like different themes and feel for different parts of the house.

So as usual, first thing first, here is our floor plan - a typical 4-Room BTO...

Edited February 1, 2015 by snowy89

[snowy89 12]

We only went to source for two ID before we made our choice to sign up.

First ID:

Did up my sister's house, workmanship quite alright with all the basic done ups for about 18k. However, she seemed busy and unresponsive. She came up with the quote of 28k for the layout that we wanted but did not get back to us for the revisioned quote so we striked her out.

Second ID:

We went to the expo fair and she approached us and talk to us. We find that she is able to grasp the idea that we wanted very well and did many follow ups even though we did not put any money onto the table yet. She went on to bring us to their showroom and I find that their workmanship is good with guaranteed lifetime warranty. However, the budget is a problem because it is too costly and we did not want to give up on removing any of the above items.

Nonetheless, after a few weeks, she got back to us saying that they could give us special rate if we agree to be their showroom and it fitted into our budget perfectly, slightly more than what the first ID quoted with much more things thrown in. So... we ended up signing up with her. I guess this is what they call fate.

[snowy89 12]

This post will unroll the theme to our house. Prior to that, we have many ideas as to what our house should look like. We did not really exactly like the super modern type, we both love to have the natural feel as it makes us feel more cozy and homely. The man of the house even joked that we should either do a jungle or sea theme but I think it will be too overbearing. So the perfect combination will contain a woody feel, but more like the rural resort style and confined to the living room and kitchen.

We happened to chance upon a picture that inspired us to have this idea.

A little bit of white, green and lots of brown. Actually this is also THE photo that lead us to visiting their booth and choosing Rezt & Relax as our ID.

As for our MBR, I always wanted the french theme and the man is also agreeable for it. I need to have my pretty chandelier somewhere in the house~ So with the theme in mind, we had chosen our choice of mattress after lying on about 100+ different beds. After going through the 3S in the market, we made our final choice after lying down on the Simmons truENERGY. It is so comfy that we did not want to get out of the bed after we lay down on it.

Item breakdown:

BeautyRest TruENERGY Celaeno plush firm drop top Queen size x1

Simmons deepsleep pillow x2

Anti-dust mite protector x2

Totalling of $5385.55 after 10% launch discount and 5% cashless discount

We splurged a bit on the mattress since it is argued that we spend approximately 70% of our life sleeping. We opted for the queen size bed since our MBR ain't very big either, also can save some cost at the same time. However, the mattress doesn't come with any bed frame and to get a decent looking bed frame, we will have to top up $700 and above. Unwilling to give up my dream of having a french looking bed, we went to expo exhibition and looked around their collection. We did not catch anything fancy, either the quote is too expensive like in the 2k range especially after buying such an expensive bed. *heart bleeds*

Finally, we saw one bed that caught our eye and fits the bill. The brand is "Lady America" which sells mattress mainly but we told them that we already bought our mattress and only needed the bed frame. The bed frame comes with a 3 year warranty of the hydraulic storage system, and crystals embedded into the headboard, the price tag is only $1080 after some bargaining skills. So here is how our bed looks like now, currently at my mom's place:

Bed colour is more true to this colour and till this day, I am still super in love with these crystals.

[snowy89 12]

On the second meeting of my ID, she came up with the floor plan layout for us to see.

Our main requirements:

1) The entrance of the kitchen to be changed because from my floorplan, no matter how we shift the dining table, it will still obstruct the pathway to the kitchen no matter what.

2) Combine bedroom 2 with MBR.

3) WIW!!

4) craft stone as feature wall

5) shoe cabinet

6) wardrobe for bedroom 3

So, this is the rough skeletal of how my house is going to look like, although some changes have been made since.

[snowy89 12]

There was a Bosch one-day warehouse sale somewhere this month, and we went to look see. It was never a good idea to do so, because we ended up burning a hole into our pockets as usual. I only wanted to get their washing machine and dryer since there are many good reviews on this brand for their washing machine... but we ended up with 1 washing machine, 1 dryer, 1 built-in microwave oven and 1 oven and the man wasn't too pleased about it.

WAS28448SG - $1460

8KG Front loader Washing Machine (Germany made)

WTE84105GB - $719

7KG Dryer

HBG23B550J - $999

Stainless steel 60cm Built-in single oven with cleaning aid.

HMT84G651 - $499
Built-in microwave oven with grilling function.

Total damage: $3677 including FOC delivery and stacking kit with 2 years warranty on all the products.

The sale was up to 70% so it was already much cheaper than usual so that was my strategy on how I convinced the man to buy all the above items. I mean, how often is it to buy Bosch items for such cheap prices? Lol.

[DaddyWinter 10]

welcome to RT~ looks like you have a good budget for your home furnishing.. * drooling at your bed quality *

Heard of Rezt & Relax, they do a lot of marketing on facebook~ Hope you will have a smooth reno~

Sometimes it can be frustrating even when it is only a minor thing which does not go your way... hahaha ~

[snowy89 12]

Thank you DaddyWinter, we bought the stuffs one by one, so didn't really feel the pressure. The bed and bed frame were bought more than 6 months ago and placed at my mom's house at the current moment. The rest of the stuffs like lightings and bathing accessories I intend to taobao. Haha.

For the reno process, I will make sure my ID does her work properly, otherwise ..

[diva79 5]

I like your layout...many possibilities.

Like reducing the size of the bedroom 2 to make way for a more spacious maste bedroom. Or replacing the master bedroom toilet walls with glass walls to create open concept bathroom.

Anyway..welcome to Renotalk forum!

[snowy89 12]

diva79: I also wanted a half glass wall MBR bathroom initially but was told that if I hack the walls then the warranty for HDB will be void. So this "fish tank" idea will be incorporated to the kitchen area instead. Thanks for the warm welcome btw!

[kwoni 5]

How's the quote from Rezt & Relax? Heard their quotes are all on the high side

[ma5quer 3]

My layout is very similar to yours just that mine is a 5 room. I will also be combining bedroom 2 with master bedroom, with a different configuration for WIW so I can bring forward the master bedroom door to just beside the common bathroom entrance, for even more space.

Now I'm wondering if it's a smart move since I will need a more powerful aircon to cool the big room

[Feliciachua 3]

Welcome to RT!! my layout is almost the same as urs too..and we also wanted to combine our WIW with our bedroom 2 to have a WIW..but because of concern of difficult to sell next time, we aborted the idea..next house then do..hope to show you more pics of my reno soon!

[jabbathehutt 3]

Expending one room just for a walk-in wardrobe may be a little too excessive.

[snowy89 12]

kwoni: Their quote is on the high side as compared to many of the quotes here. The original quote for my house reno is 47k but after many many rounds of special discount, it has been greatly reduced. Also, because we agreed to be their show flat after, so I guess that kind of offset the entire cost. Hopefully the reno workmanship will be super good since they want us to be their show flat right? Cannot be show bad quality stuff. Hahaha.

ma5quer: The man wanted to retain the room so that won't have much hacking, so in actual fact, we only switched the door positioning into our MBR. I have too many clothes seriously so I need the wardrobe space! Even with my 16ft L shape wardrobe I doubt I have enough. So there is no way I can squeeze my clothes into a wardrobe that is built into the MBR itself.

FeliciaChua: For mine the next owner just have to accept it, hack the cupboards and change back the entrance of the door. Or they can use it as a private study room anyways. But I intend to stay 10 years minimum. So already get back the value bah. Sure, looking forward to seeing more reno posts, can serve as a guidance for me as well!

Jabbethehutt: Only the man and me are intending to stay in the house, so we just wanted comfortable living for now. We also built a desk area next to the WIW so that my man can do his gaming whereas I do my online shopping there. So it is a 2-in-1 room. Quite ideal IMO. The spare room can be our guest/future baby room.

[snowy89 12]

The man and I have been toying with the idea of having a green kitchen, also because it blends with the natural greenery feel, with a slight European touch. However, it has been such a dilemma between a quirky green kitchen or just stick to the safe, brown kitchen. Simply cannot make up my mind. The man is more for the green kitchen but I still have my doubts. I have share some pictures that I scoured over the net for inspiration for the kitchen.

White cabinets with some splashes of green and black graphite.

White with brown theme, similar to the living room theme.

Which one of them is the nicer one?