mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 27, 2015 And so, let the hacking games begin! Oops, don't mind the Lacoste photobomb. (Disclaimer: This is not an advertiser ad placement)[ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Whalegaga 2 Report post Posted January 28, 2015 your view (minus the bto) is . too bad seriously Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 28, 2015 your view (minus the bto) is . too bad seriously What to do... haha.. land scarce Singapore, every bit of land has to be utilised fully Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 28, 2015 (edited) Went for a quick look early in the morning, when the workers were not there yet.. The view was like wow, so open, so spacious. haha, but like a battlefield state. As per the photos, you guys can see that after much consideration, I finally decided to plunge and go all out with full open concept kitchen. All of the kitchen walls were hacked down, less the store room.Balcony tiles remained, but the balcony sliding doors were all removed, to be replaced with new ones. $1K to replace the sliding doors... Wanted to get those PD door style, slide to the side and then push out to open fully... but was quoted approx $2.9K! Had to bite my thumb and then suck on it. Haha, no budget, bo bian.Staircase side tiling were all removed, floor skirting for upper level also removed.The main door is really tiny and cramped! Not sure if the fridge can squeeze in... Recess area tiling removed as well.. The view of the kitchen from the main door entranceway. All the floor tiles removed, side tiling for staircase also removed.Store floor tiles also removed. Edited January 28, 2015 by mrbytez Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 28, 2015 (edited) The dining area..And the kitchen when viewed from dining area..The living room and balcony. Do you guys think that the grey wall is too dark? Loving this openness... (Nescafe: Open up, open up)The store, now looks a little in the middle of nowhere, after everything has been hacked down. Edited January 28, 2015 by mrbytez Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doris Chin 4 Report post Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) House looks good now and same stage as mine! I don't like dark colors for walls as it makes the house smaller.. But I guess it's individual preference. If you like it, keep it!By the way, saw you had problems with hidden electrical wires. Asked my contractor why HDB does not allow hidden wiring and he told me it's because old houses do not have thick walls. Sometimes owners will drill and hit the hidden wires, and might be electrocuted.So perhaps it's best to just remove all the connections to hidden wires, just to be safe!By the way, saw a small window at the side wall, is yours a corner unit? Edited January 29, 2015 by Doris Chin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 29, 2015 House looks good now and same stage as mine! I don't like dark colors for walls as it makes the house smaller.. But I guess it's individual preference. If you like it, keep it!By the way, saw you had problems with hidden electrical wires. Asked my contractor why HDB does not allow hidden wiring and he told me it's because old houses do not have thick walls. Sometimes owners will drill and hit the hidden wires, and might be electrocuted.So perhaps it's best to just remove all the connections to hidden wires, just to be safe!By the way, saw a small window at the side wall, is yours a corner unit?Yeah, love grey but wife prefers white. lol.. Ahh, I see where they are coming from.. Hmm maybe if I still do concealed wiring, I probably need a wiring layout plan drawn so I know where the wires are. lol. Some switches don't look good with the white box behind. Yep, corridor end unit! I didn't know about that small window until I collected the keys. Because previous owner placed a picture frame over it. The common room directly above, has that small window as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Tiles arrived! All the way from Italy! Tile selection was a headache for me, too many choices, and fickle minded me kept changing my selections. Haha, wifey objects to my choice but relented in the end. She prefers light tones still..Sand being prepped..Initially decided to go for cement screed looking tiles but last min changed to grey wood looking tiles for kitchen, and changed to cement screed tiles for the recess area outside the main door.Cement screed looking tiles for recess area outside main door. Previously selection was the cement screed looking tiles from China, but thought this looked more rough and suitable.Was given tiles selection up to $3psf, but exceeded that by twice the amount! Hope this is well worth it... Not sure how it's gonna turn out, but definitely praying hard that it will match well haha.. Greyish wood looking tiles for kitchen flooring.It's the grey one in the middle. Had a hard time choosing. Because the cream, white and brown ones all look really good as well... But tentatively, the flooring for living and dining will be grey till budget allows, so got the grey one to match.. Would definitely pick the brown one (Last right), for room flooring colour in future. Edited January 29, 2015 by mrbytez Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Bought LED downlight for living room and MBR. 12W. Some with tri colour and dimming feature using remote control.. lol.Price seemed pretty reasonable for the 12W, Tri-colour and dimming LED downlight.Also saw some really nice looking Legrand switches in grey colour. Bought a few different switches as sample to test out first, grey for grey walls, white for white walls. haha. The bad thing is they don't have grey back boxes for the switches, so if I'm gonna get grey front, I will only have white back. So heh heh heh... have to find a way to do magic with the box They seem quite popular on Facebook.. Prices were reasonable, service was friendly as well, spent a really long time there because fickle me couldn't decide on what to get. Lucky I went early on a weekday, otherwise they normally don't have time to talk for that long, and test every light to make sure it works before I bring them back home. There's delivery service I think for about $25. If you're there when they're packed, you have to bring the lights home without testing on the spot. If they don't work, bring them back again. Not much of selection if you're gonna browse for ceiling or wall lights though. Plus finally decided on a fridge model, didn't want to keep pondering over the fridge. Heard from the salesman that the Samsung model which requires plumbing, also requires a change of water filter every 6 months, and that the filter will cost about $100 range.. So decided not to go to that hassle and picked the Hitachi W690FP3MSX in Glass Black option. Comes with the Auto Ice Maker feature which I mentioned, was a MUST. Also comes with water dispenser which I didn't need but well, it seems to be featured together with most of the other auto ice maker refrigerators.. The water tank is separate for ice maker and water dispenser. Managed to squeeze the price down a bit more. This comes with 2 years agent warranty, and 10 years warranty on the compressor. Current promo was a free rice cooker. So ok, that settles the rice cooker at the same time. Edited January 29, 2015 by mrbytez Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZzzMonster 7 Report post Posted January 29, 2015 Hi mrbytez, may I know where is the lighting shop you get the lights from? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 30, 2015 Hi mrbytez, may I know where is the lighting shop you get the lights from?It's at Pioneer Junction.. #04-15 (End of Jurong West Area).They having some sale now. Haha, cos I bought the 12W at $18, now $13 only. Gonna drop by and pick up ceiling lights for my common room too. Price dropped from $55 to $35 for 24W, lucky the saleslady told me the boss every now and then will have promo sale.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZzzMonster 7 Report post Posted January 30, 2015 Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ray Tay Hong Choon 4 Report post Posted January 30, 2015 Be warned that the hickory tiles from SBH has warping issue. I have just installed the HT-Coffee and I have to get the contractor to hack out quite a few tiles due to serious warping problem. There are still some tile warping which can still be seen with naked eyes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 30, 2015 Be warned that the hickory tiles from SBH has warping issue. I have just installed the HT-Coffee and I have to get the contractor to hack out quite a few tiles due to serious warping problem. There are still some tile warping which can still be seen with naked eyes.What? Any pics of your tiles to show the warp?They haven't laid the tiles yet. Any idea if it's a batch problem or just that the tiles are like this? Such a pity.. these tiles look really nice.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrbytez 6 Report post Posted January 30, 2015 (edited) Hacking only took a day to complete. Now it's time to make good the area which were hacked. Screeding over the staircase tiles and staircase sidewall. Wanted to hack the sidewalls as well, to reveal the steps in their full glory, but new railings or glass panels will cost $3-5K+. No-go for now. The balcony doors already added on $1k to the bill. Plus, instead of normal cement screed for flooring, I've opted to try self levelling compound by topping up another $500 odd. Hopefully it'll turn out as what I "envision" it to be.The kitchen flooring.The balcony sliding doors and frames were hacked, awaiting new sliding doors.Kraus Kitchen Sink Faucet arrived too! Yet to unbox.Just happened to see this. Haha, the horoscope also recommends me to have greys and black as the colour theme of the house! lol... Edited January 30, 2015 by mrbytez Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
