Timeless Cozy Corner

[BeeNbee 0]

Choosing ID

We met a total of 5 IDs (I "***" their names to be fair to them, as I believe opinions are subjective).

1. C*****n - Ms A & J

They are one of the big ID companies and you can always see them at EXPO exhibition. We met one of their ID in EXPO about 3 years ago after we registered for BTO. The guy was friendly & seems knowledgeable. Their designs looked great too. We told him we will look for him when the date for our keys collection draws nearer. So the past 3 years, we are quite determine to use them. However, when we tried to contact the ID, he cannot be reached. When we went to ask the company, they said he had left the company ><

Anyway, since we shortlisted them so long ago, we decided to sit down & talk to their another ID, Ms. A, about our reno. To cut the long story short... this ID met us once to go through our wishlist & floorplan. Before she could send the quotation to us, she informed me that she is leaving the company ><" Her manager, Ms. J, then took over our case and met us to go through the quotation.

Conclusion: Not taken up. They had the most expensive quote. (But they do give you free upgrades such as all BLUM tracks & Caesarstone. Nothing is free lol)

2. S** 9 Interior - Mr L

Super direct, friendly & genuinely nice guy! He was recommended by our friend whose home was amazingly done up. We went to visit and the design definitely have WOW-factor. Mr Lam had with many years of experience working for the big companies prior to starting his own. Very very friendly & straightforward - which we like. No hidden agenda, no gimmicks. However, he is more of a Contractor-ID... meaning he can suggest some good design ideas along the way but you have to know exactly what you want right from the start. Whatever design we want, he can do it as per pictures/samples we showed him. He will come out with nice 3Ds too.

Conclusion: Sadly we do not know exactly what we want . We only know what feel we like when we see certain photos but have no idea how to piece everything together. Hence, we need an ID to help us. For those who know what design you want, I will recommend him.

3. The D****n P******e - Mr R

Knew Mr R (the boss of the firm) through my cousin. He said they are a boutique firm. Went to see his website portfolio and they looked promising. So after 3 rounds of meeting (go through floorplan & quotation), we decided to engage them & paid him S$1.5k design fee. Unfortunately... it was a mistake Every time we asked him something via whatsapp, he don't reply for hours & days. He said the 3Ds will be ready in about 2-3 weeks but was delayed for weeks. No explanation was given despite us chasing for it. When he eventually sent us the 3Ds, there were missing views + they looked horrible! The designs were so-template and off-the-rack (remember we paid for design fee). It seems like he had outsource to some pre-graduate student to do the drawings. So flat & ugly! And there was 1 interesting comment he made during one of our meetings: "Now all the young couples usually give me a reno budget of S$100k." SAY WHAT??? It was like a slap in the face that our reno budget of S$40k was too little for him. If he want big fish, then don't accept our project la. Throughout the process ever since we engaged him, he made our dollars felt so tiny & unworthy for him to spend effort on. Because he looked & sounded promising initially, we wanted to use him and cut out sooo many items inside our quotation.

Conclusion: Terminated him. When we politely asked for a partial refund of the design fee, he never even bother to reply. We will totally understand it is business & be okay even if he says cannot. But no reply at all. What attitude. Maybe for those with S$100k reno budget, he will be nicer? hahaha.

4. B-T** - Mr S

Recommended by my friend's neighbor. Mr S is pretty experienced. He told us many renovation problems that he encountered that sometimes cannot be foreseen.

Conclusion: Quotation price is acceptable. However, we do not have chemistry with him.

5. Avant Ga**e C******e - Mr B

Recommended by my friend's husband's ex-colleague (lol). Best attitude ID we met. Here's why:

• Prior to the meeting, same as most IDs, Mr B emailed us and asked for our floor plans + some questions such as the theme we like, budget etc.
• 1st Meeting: He came with a sketched-up proposal floor plan for us, together with some photos with the designs he think we will like! (based on the answers we gave him) Very impressed that he did his homework because the rest we met always came to the first meeting with empty floor plan.
• Attitude: He is very sincere to want to do our house reno. Response time to our messages was prompt too.
• Price: Reasonable. He will try his best to work with the budget given to him. (I heard from him that he did some young couple's home with S$18k-$20k budget because they have kids & really finances really tight... so he will try to help them the best he can.)

Conclusion: We picked him

Reno is starting today!​ *YAYYY* He just sent us some photos of the floor protection done and the delivered floor tiles. *excited* Let's pray our reno journey will be a smooth & on-schedule one!

Hi there

Can you share the contact of #2? I'm looking for a contractor-ID and your review seemed like what we are looking for.

Thanks!

[yakult 3]

Hi there

Can you share the contact of #2? I'm looking for a contractor-ID and your review seemed like what we are looking for.

Thanks!

Hello! PM-ed you!

[yakult 3]

"Night Walk" & HERF for Bedrooms

We reached our place at 7+pm yesterday after work. With no lightings, we literally had a "night-walk" with our ID around our house using our iPhones torch-lights. As he had some sketches drawn & pasted on the walls at various locations, he brought us from point-to-point to take a look and for us to choose either option "A" or "B". Of course, if we have other suggestions, we can tell him too. But the options he gave were sufficient for us to decide

@ Dining Area: Bronze Tinted Glass layout - we chose Option A

@ Kitchen Area - Full Height Tempered Glass Doors Panel - we chose Option B

(We didn't take photo of the option that we didn't choose.)

Also, we finally confirmed on the HERF for our bedrooms yesterday!

Seems like most suppliers offered many types of light-colored wood pattern (most popular now) or brown wood pattern with reddish tones. However, we wanted dark-brown that looks like those real hardwood floors. Few months ago, the darkest color our ID managed to get for us is blackish/grey. Looks great too, but dark-brown will be ideal.

Then few weeks ago, our ID received new catalog from one of his HERF suppliers. And they have the dark-brown wood pattern we are looking for!

He brought the sample for us to see yesterday. We request to bring it home to take a look under morning sunlight...

It's actually darker than photo shown. Closer to the catalog sample color when not under direct sunlight. Did a feet-test & it feels awesome! Can't wait for it to be installed!

Edited November 5, 2015 by yakult

[yakult 3]

End of Week 5

It started raining when we're on our way to check-out the progress of our place today. So we decided to pop-by the Community Center right outside the bus stop to take a look (and avoid walking in the rain).

Inside the Community Center, there is a Food Court, Prima Deli, Cheers & NTUC + Unity Pharmacy. I can say I am very pleased with this FairPrice! They have quite a comprehensive range of products, fairly spacious & not crowded! Best part: it's only 200m from our place!

Lots of my favorite Salmon~~~ (can't wait to stock them up in our new big fridge!)

Coconut, Blue & Red Berries...


They have a small corner of Japanese food! Love these ramen when my in-laws bought them back from Tokyo last year.

When we stepped out of the FairPrice, the rain had stopped!

We were there to check on the painting-works...

Household Shelter's Door painted to white to match the kitchen wall tiles...


Living room...


MBR...

We actually chosen another color for the other 2 bedrooms. However, the color turned out with a faint-pink tone. It's nice, but not something hubby & I fancy. So we decided to paint the 2 bedrooms to this light shade of grey that's in MBR.

The painting job we saw today were not fantastic at all the door frames & wall connecting points. ID said they will do touch-up. Can someone tell me is this normal???

I hope they will do the re-paint & touch-up soon!

Edited November 8, 2015 by yakult

[Ahyong81 3]

Lol your kitchen glass door will be similar to mine.

[bykaraanne 30]

Why got pics of NTUC food? Haha!

But good progress!! I see the bathroom tiles are up!

[yakult 3]

Lol your kitchen glass door will be similar to mine.

Yea! Your house is looking awesome!

[Ahyong81 3]

Lol kara got live update from me for my house, she never live update me her house. Sob sob.

[Ahyong81 3]

This few days busy working and moving stuff in so no time to post image. Lazy to use my tablet to post image. Only will do so at laptop haha

[yakult 3]

Why got pics of NTUC food? Haha!

But good progress!! I see the bathroom tiles are up!

Hahaha oops! I finally can post photos using photobucket IMG, so uploaded photos with my phone, and was editing the post on laptop. yes the tiles are up!

[yakult 3]

Week 6

According to ID Mr.B, most of this week's works are done in factories such as Tempered Glass Panels for kitchen & bathroom. Others will be:

• Painting of 2 bedrooms & touch-up the painting job of entire house
• Installation of HERF to all 3 bedrooms this Friday (finally!)
• Delivery of lighting (yay can go visit our place at night soon! hahaha)
• Going through all Carpentry drawings this Saturday! If all is well, Mr.B can order materials and proceed with fabrication! He said it will take about 2 weeks We will also be going to BLUM showroom to take a look at the heavy-duty drawers that we want to add.

Took the opportunity of PH & started packing yesterday. Managed to pack in all those won't-need-them-for-the-next-2-months stuff... such as books, bags, perfumes & nail-polishes, and toiletries. I realized i have so much TOILETRIES (shower gels & shampoo & body lotions & hand creams...) that it took about 2 boxes to pack them all in. All are given to me as presents with most of them still in their original box/package. Can't wait to put them out in our new MBR bathroom & guest bathroom! All my guests will be happy with nice nice shower sets

[nextstep 3]

After painting done, things will be very fast liao!!

BLUM is a very dangerous place (with all the shinning drawers will make you wanna spend more),

remember to ask about the free house call service and also ask about the started kit that you can buy later for organise your cabinets. But I think it will be very useful, but is also a way to get you buy more things later.

Edited November 11, 2015 by nextstep

[yakult 3]

After painting done, things will be very fast liao!!

BLUM is a very dangerous place (with all the shinning drawers will make you wanna spend more),

remember to ask about the free house call service and also ask about the started kit that you can buy later for organise your cabinets. But I think it will be very useful, but is also a way to get you buy more things later.

Wah... I hope i don't fall in love too much with all the pretty BLUM drawers tomorrow ><" Gonna pay our next payment to ID tomorrow so that might stop me from over-spending (i hope!)

[TOKARA 0]

hi, how much is ur joven 35L?

[yakult 3]

hi, how much is ur joven 35L?

Hello! Got it at S$260 from HoeKee.