Our Humble Beginnings...

[Zees 1]

Hi,

After years of reading and admiring all the T-blogs, it is finally our turn to contribute. Received our keys in Jan and since it was nearing CNY, we decided to only commit after all the new year celebrations.

Due to our tight budget, we were only looking at contractors and we had a theme in mind, thus we some sort knew what we wanted.

Met with 3 contractors and here is our honest opinion on all.

H*o : we requested a quote from the famous Mr. K but I think he was too busy with projects, we were attended to by his project executive lady K. Quote is on par with ID rates, very patient, listens to your wants and needs. during our first meeting at K's office, she listened to what we want and during that meeting she didn't really note down on what we wanted but when we received the revised quote, we have all the items listed, am really impressed with that. However, due to her young age we feel (might be wrong) that she is inexperienced. Whatever questions we asked her, she told us that it's up to us and if we like it.

S*v*n St*ges : was invited to view a neighbor's flat, D quoted us for our place. Sad to say, no connection, had his own ideas and only cared on design aspect. Quote wise, most expensive amongst all with the least carpentry.

J: after reading "lovescandi" T-blog, we or I shamelessly admit that I love love her place. If you have not seen, please read her blog. She so kindly gave me J's contact. During our meeting with J, we felt the he is very professional, sincere and honest. Tells you directly what can be done and what cannot. He gave lots of suggestions and advices.

Us being first time home buyers and novice to home renovation, we need someone who is experienced and knows what he is doing. We chose J out of the three as he and E made us feel very comfortable during our meetings. Also, we felt a sense of assurance, sincerity and flexibility.

We will be commencing reno soon, finger crossing all will go well..

Edited March 10, 2015 by Zees

[chilarvet 7]

Hi,

After years of reading and admiring all the T-blogs, it is finally our turn to contribute. Received our keys in Jan and since it was nearing CNY, we decided to only commit after all the new year celebrations.

Due to our tight budget, we were only looking at contractors and we had a theme in mind, thus we some sort knew what we wanted.

Met with 3 contractors and here is our honest opinion on all.

H*o : we requested a quote from the famous Mr. K but I think he was too busy with projects, we were attended to by his project executive lady K. Quote is on par with ID rates, very patient, listens to your wants and needs. during our first meeting at K's office, she listened to what we want and during that meeting she didn't really note down on what we wanted but when we received the revised quote, we have all the items listed, am really impressed with that. However, due to her young age we feel (might be wrong) that she is inexperienced. Whatever questions we asked her, she told us that it's up to us and if we like it.

S*v*n St*ges : was invited to view a neighbor's flat, D quoted us for our place. Sad to say, no connection, had his own ideas and only cared on design aspect. Quote wise, most expensive amongst all with the least carpentry.

J: after reading "lovescandi" T-blog, we or I shamelessly admit that I love love her place. If you have not seen, please read her blog. She so kindly gave me J's contact. During our meeting with J, we felt the he is very professional, sincere and honest. Tells you directly what can be done and what cannot. He gave lots of suggestions and advices.

Us being first time home buyers and novice to home renovation, we need someone who is experienced and knows what he is doing. We chose J out of the three as he and E made us feel very comfortable during our meetings. Also, we felt a sense of assurance, sincerity and flexibility.

We will be commencing reno soon, finger crossing all will go well..

Looking forward to see your reno. Happy renovating..

[Zees 1]

I have always been a fan of bright, airy and cluster-free homes thus we are leaning towards the scandi/minimalist theme.

Still deciding on our color theme as Hubz like white with lighter shades of wood while i like the white/dark brown theme. J gave us a few options which he suggested mixing both light and darker shades for our built in items so we have to wait till our 3D is out to see and visualize the concept.

Right now, we are getting the electrical wiring sorted out as J will need to co-ordinate with my father-in-law who is doing our electrical works for us.

In the mean time, here's our mood board;

[Zees 1]

Back for an Update,

Meeting with both J and FIL went well. Discussed all things electrical and i concluded people in the same field speaks the same language.

Hubz tried explaining what we wanted and even relayed what J told us about the wiring to him but he couldn't comprehend what he was trying to say.

Yesterday when J came, explained everything and the whole process took like what.. 15mins?

Whilst we were at our place, we were pleasantly surprised by how quick J is. Floor protection has been layed. Shower Krebs for both toilets and kitchen based up.

Pardon the very dark picture.

Once we confirm our 3D, J will start on the carpentry.

XoXo

[benetay 14]

i see the person doing for you is quite neat compared to ours a bit messy. Hope everything will turn out alright.

[Zees 1]

Hi Benetay,

To be fair, we have not started the major renovation yet.

Thanks for dropping by, am looking forward to seeing the final outcome for your home

[benetay 14]

Mine is delayed so no work will be done until hdb decides if we can hack down another wall.

Keep posting on your reno progress, I'm sure it will be awesome.

[Guest Doris Teo]

can provide J contact?

[Zees 1]

BeneTay: With the GE coming up, i am pretty sure you will probably get a reply from HDB soon.

Doris: I am sorry, i will only give u J's contact when my renovations are more or less completed. I want to see the quality and his workmanship before i recommend people to him. I hope you understand.

**Update: just received our 3D images. I like how it's done but have requested to see another colour combi before making our final decision. Will have our final 3D posted once everything is finalized.

Stay tuned..

[benetay 14]

Haha that's a good one. I think so too.

[Zees 1]

It has been a crazy week at work thus the lack of update.

FIL has done the electrical wiring for our kitchen and living room..

Our 3D's out, actually it was out a week ago but we were trying out different combinations.

And i am proud to say that we have finally confirmed our laminates.

Decided to go with the hubz's color theme (white /lighter shade of wood) since we want to achieve a spacious, clean look.

I like the 3D images and i do hope the actual turns out at least 80% similar.

Am really excited and especially since we just received J's work schedule. Carpentry will commence next week!

Fingers crossed!

[shiwei71 0]

Hi, can share contact? thanks!

[Zees 1]

Hi Shiwei71,

i will share J's contact only when my home is nearing reno completion and when i can see the quality of his workmanship.

In the meantime, stay tuned!

Edited March 31, 2015 by Zees

[Zees 1]

Hi,

popped by our place to discuss the vanity top with J and was pleasantly surprised to see our kitchen and MBR wardrobe up. Albeit alittle mis-communication in regards to the color-combination, i hope all goes well.

I'll let the pictures do the talking..

I must say, i absolutely love our kitchen. I know white is difficult to maintain but i just love how it goes with dark wood. J told us to be diligent into wiping the cabinets at least once a week.

Our shower screens are up too!

Please pardon the dark images, these were taken at night.

[Zees 1]

Now on our MBR wardrobe, We were given three 3D perspectives.

Based on 3D, we really like the feel of the 1st one. But was advised by E that it is not 100% accurate and might be different due to lighting and etc. We had a mis-communication with J on this as we wanted the darker laminate to be the main color and the light laminate, outline but J did the other way round (light laminate: Main, Darker Laminate: Outline).

Here's the laminate sample we chose:

This is the final outcome:

I don't know if it's due to white light, i feel it very bold and kinda striking. I am in two minds about this as indeed i want the room to be bright. (bed frame is black and we intend to get a white settee with storage). Sister-in-law mentioned that if we were to stick to our original color, our room will be alot dimmer. PS: i am very bad at visualizing.

Any advise?

Oh and another bummer, our TB loots are delayed apparently due to a vessel fault