Our First Home

[jobb 0]

Hello everyone! My fiance and I have been following everyone's t-blogs ever since we decided to purchase a 5-room resale HDB flat for our first home...and now that renovations have just started, it's time to start our very own t-blog! It's also a good way to keep track of our renovation journey...

We started house hunting in March this year, managed to find one which was acceptable to us and our respective parents and started the process of buying the flat. Once we exercised the option to purchase, we started looking for IDs and learnt quite a lot on renovations from reading this forum! Eventually, we settled on the ID we were most comfortable with and renovations started yesterday!

So first up, our floor plan...we didn't want to pay HDB for it and so, we managed to get a copy from the previous owner!

Pretty standard layout...only odd corner is in the master bedroom where there's a 45 degree angle corner right in the middle of the room...that corner gave us quite a bit of headache during the planning stage of our renovation. Initially, we had planned to put a dressing table there but after consultation with the FSM who advised us not to use that corner, we decided to seal it off with a glass door. Our poor ID had to make quite a few changes to the 3D designs after our consultation with the FSM...luckily, he was super nice and understanding about it

[jobb 0]

Before we even sourced for an ID, we had already decided that everything in the house except the floor tiles must go. Good thing is we're not planning to hack any walls, so hopefully our neighbours don't have to suffer too much during renovation

Once we confirmed our ID, we spent a whole Saturday afternoon at his office selecting tiles and materials. These are the most updated 3D drawings after we made some changes following our consultation with the FSM.

Being noobs, we had a lot of comments the first time we received the drawings as a number of things like the furniture were not accurate! Our ID told us to chill as these drawings are not meant to be accurate anyway In any case, the carpentry work looks good to us and we're quite happy with our selected materials. Only thing is the dressing table will be gone and a glass door will be used to seal off that little corner As mentioned, we wanted to go with a modern theme, but as we started adding more and more dark woody features, we realized it's starting to trend towards Japanese minimlist? Got that impression when we saw another t-blog owner having a very similar theme to ours label his as such...but I guess ultimately, the theme doesn't really matter...what matters is that we both like the design of the house Hopefully it will turn out the way we envision it!

Edited October 23, 2015 by jobb

[jobb 0]

As mentioned, demolition started yesterday Feels like we've waited such a long time Yesterday was really busy as we coordinated with our ID on the electrical plans, installation of the open net terminal, measurement of our main door (which we are replacing together with a digital lock) as well as wait for our taobao goods to arrive

Photos of our living room and hallway when we went over to visit yesterday

Everything's so messy now but it's so exciting too! Hopefully our renovations will progress smoothly...

[Ahyong81 3]

Grats on your new home hope to see more updates on the renovation progress.

[jobb 0]

Grats on your new home hope to see more updates on the renovation progress.

Thanks! We'll be posting as we go along I must say your t-blog is super organized! I'm amazed at the amount of effort you put in!

[OceanEleven 203]

Why dont do a full height cabinet instead?

One less place to collect dust and and more space to keep shoes?

[jobb 0]

Why dont do a full height cabinet instead?

One less place to collect dust and and more space to keep shoes?

Hey OceanEleven! Our ID actually proposed a full height shoe cabinet initially...My fiance was ok with it but I wasn't really into it as I don't like to keep my shoes too high. 1) Hard to reach and 2) Call me superstitious but I believe in the saying that shoes shouldn't be stored above one's head So, eventually decided to do half height and extend the length to 2m so that it can fit all our shoes

[Ahyong81 3]

Hey OceanEleven! Our ID actually proposed a full height shoe cabinet initially...My fiance was ok with it but I wasn't really into it as I don't like to keep my shoes too high. 1) Hard to reach and 2) Call me superstitious but I believe in the saying that shoes shouldn't be stored above one's head So, eventually decided to do half height and extend the length to 2m so that it can fit all our shoes

I also never do full height shoe cabinet,just doing half height, i can next time still put a painting or some deco, maybe a fish tank, but subject to fs.

[OceanEleven 203]

Hey OceanEleven! Our ID actually proposed a full height shoe cabinet initially...My fiance was ok with it but I wasn't really into it as I don't like to keep my shoes too high. 1) Hard to reach and 2) Call me superstitious but I believe in the saying that shoes shouldn't be stored above one's head So, eventually decided to do half height and extend the length to 2m so that it can fit all our shoes

LOL, understood, my understanding is that dont "walk under" so taller is fine for me.

Just feel that top area is kinda wasted, any deco there is not easily noticeable and the flat top is the perfect bed for dust.

Also more space wont go wasted, for more new members will need more shoe slots too.

[Khng 2]

Must be FS. I recalled someone said shoes cannot be placed higher than the person?

I would second having taller cabinets. Can keep other stuff and need not be just shoes. The shelves are adjustable).

Edited October 23, 2015 by Khng

[jobb 0]

Must be FS. I recalled someone said shoes cannot be placed higher than the person?

I would second having taller cabinets. Can keep other stuff and need not be just shoes. The shelves are adjustable).

Actually the FSM didn't say anything about this...it was just me remembering such a saying from my childhood At my parent's place, we have always had a half height shoe cabinet and I've developed a habit of putting letters/keys/bags on the top when I get home So, decided to get the same half height shoe cabinet for our new home too! To help with cleanliness, I asked the ID to put cover the top of the cabinet with tempered glass...just that it can't be seen from the angle in the 3D drawing

[Ahyong81 3]

Actually the FSM didn't say anything about this...it was just me remembering such a saying from my childhood At my parent's place, we have always had a half height shoe cabinet and I've developed a habit of putting letters/keys/bags on the top when I get home So, decided to get the same half height shoe cabinet for our new home too! To help with cleanliness, I asked the ID to put cover the top of the cabinet with tempered glass...just that it can't be seen from the angle in the 3D drawing

Its going to be the perfect home for you and your other half.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Ahyong81

[jobb 0]

This post is all about the furniture we've bought for our house so far... I'll post according to the rooms in the house...

The master bedroom shall be first since the very first piece of furniture we bought was our mattress, almost 2 months before we even decided on buying our house. It was really unexpected and perhaps a rather impulsive buy as we weren't even sure if we were really going ahead to purchase a house yet! I remember going to City Square Mall to eat dessert when we noticed a few shops selling mattresses on the upper floors. We decided to go in to take a look and the rest is history...We were sold on the Sealy mattress and went to Sealy palace the next day to place a deposit for a queen sized mattress. Good thing was storing the mattress in their warehouse was free and there was no deadline. And that, was how we started our shopping spree for stuff to add to our future home...

Next, we had to think about the bed frame. I have always wanted a storage bed frame since I thought it would be useful to have a place to store the extra comforters, bedsheets and pillow cases. We looked almost everywhere but were not too crazy about the usual box designs. Most of the storage bed frames were really expensive too...usually above $1k . So, it wasn't until we were walking past a shop at furniture mall when we chanced upon this wooden bed frame

which was love at first sight! Unfortunately, the price was over our budget and reluctantly, we left the shop empty handed...

Luckily, my fiance managed to find out that another place was selling this same model at a cheaper price through someone's t-blog in this forum! So, we went down to the shop and low and behold, they were really selling the same model and the price was within our budget! We wasted no time in putting down a deposit and from now, we just need to wait for renovations to end before arranging for delivery

Last but not least, we also decided to place a rug in our master bedroom as we won't be changing the homogenous floor tiles throughout the house. I was worried that we might feel cold when we wake up in the morning and have to step bare-foot on those tiles. So, we searched on Taobao to find a rug since it is so much cheaper than buying one locally. This is the rug we ordered and we're currently still waiting for the shipment to arrive

That's all for the master bedroom...will continue the other rooms in the subsequent posts...

[yakult 3]

Hello!

I have similar kitchen colour theme as yours! Just that my laminate is running on horizontal instead of vertical. Looking forward to more updates!

[nextstep 3]

I also love none full hight shoe cabinet, not too much abt FS, is more a personal preference.

So can put keys, letter and notes for other family member is needed.