$35K Massive Overhaul - Single Lady 1st Abode

[laknock 0]

13 hours ago, bipps said:

$35k is a very tight budget for resale especially due to alot of retiling works. My costing does not include living and 3 bedroom flooring as it costs additional $15k, just need to live with the existing yellowish marble tiles. It's going to be a fun process! Don't be shy to compare quotes!

Ya agreed on that. flooring and wall for kitchen, wc1 & wc 2 can cost up to 20k++ not to mention your floor area is bigger than current BTO.  

 

[bipps 4]

On 3/27/2016 at 9:52 PM, Jtkp said:

congrats on getting your flat. look forward to seeing your progress on the reno.

 

I am getting my keys for my resale end april and my budget is roughly 35k too as im also single and not willing to spend too much. hope to see more updates from u and maybe can recommend me your company in the future.

Yeapyeap! So far so good except for some delays and some things done wrongly which can be rectified or even convinced by him to do it the opposite way. When dealing with direct contractors, always have realistic expectations. 

[bipps 4]

29th March - Waterproofing for Toilets, Kitchen flooring, screeding of kitchen walls, toilet wall tiling, LED downlights up and running! 

Waterproofing for kitchen floor

 

Wall tiling for common toilet  

Selected travertine look tiles that should be laid horizontally for the raw marble effect, JL lay it vertically without my knowing and managed to convinced me this looks trendier and tilers charges a little more for vertical laying. WHATEVER..It actually didn't look that bad.. and my friend whose house is also undergoing reno says it looks more posh this way  in betweens are kinda dark but once grouting is done the tiles will look pieced. 

Anyone noticed I did a box up? Didn't hesitate to box it up so I can have a huge a** mirror flushed against the wall where my sink is gonna be (follow ex owner sink location). JL initially discouraged me saying 哪里好。。这里可以放东西吗。。你放mirror then 你怎么放牙刷？？but I insisted.

 Let the before/after pictures do the talking....

AFTER BOX UP

BEFORE BOX UP

 

 

NIGHT VIEW

6-inch 12W Square LED Downlights from JB . Was worried four 12W lights would be too dim for a single guest room, turns out to be fine. Only mistake was each room was to have 2 white light and 2 warm light instead of having 4 super bright white lights. Small issue, will have it rectified when JL is free. Gotta feeling he will forget if tell him too early. 

DAY VIEW

 

 

[bipps 4]

Today is the day I receive 1st shipment of taobao items from Peeka, got some mirrors, sink, chandelier, customized bathroom vanity. Waiting my 2nd shipment fo less fragile items from Amcom hopefully within next few days~

This is 314kg of bulky and fragile taobao items. Total shipment costs $530...have yet to opened the wooden crates as I didn't have enough time during lunchbreak, keeping fingers crossed that nothing is crack or damage when I unbox them this weekend! 

[bipps 4]

31st March - Partition wall for walk-in wardrobe area, master toilet tiling, re-positioning of master toilet door

Walk-in wardrobe area

Die die also must squeeze one WIW inside my room! size doesn't bother me anymore...The insides looked cramped though, might need to reconsider my pole system's configurations...looking like a dungeon without lights inside 

From master bedroom door area

Hello from the other side.......~~

 

 

[bipps 4]

Re-positioning of master toilet door opening, what is patched up in cement is the previous door opening. Thank goodness I didn't tell my mom I did this minor re-positioning even I myself find it silly. Being very ann*l here about door openings and basic fengshui. No I don't want to sleep directly across my toilet door for hygiene reasons as well, the further the door is the better. 

Basic fengshui diagram on toilet door positioning. Good enough!

http://fengshuibeginner.com/14-must-see-bedroom-feng-shui-taboos/

Master toilet tiling (done few days back but I forgot to enter my master bedroom to check on them the last time)

Why JL must do vertical tiling for all my toilets!! He says this is new condo style, really meh? I don't live in condo and also never notice those tiles in condos. Anyone can confirm this is the latest trend in laying tiles to look more posh? I'm crazy over all things marble and this looks weird. JL offered to relay the tiles if I insist but I didn't think it was necessary, maybe I grow into liking it once grouting is done. 

[bykaraanne 30]

Condo style is horizontal leh... My prev EC rental was horizontal, my HDB is vertical which I think is ugly, my relay was done in horizontal

[Luxexplorer 2]

I think horizontal tiling has been the standard forever but vertical tiling could visually " elongate" the space and it doesn't look too bad here. Could be something new which has yet to catch on because everyone just assume that's the horizontal is the norm; )

That said , my tiler and contractor ran through laying direction and pros and cons  before starting work so could just ask your ID  to give you a heads up especially if they decided not to follow the norm 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Luxexplorer

[bipps 4]

3 hours ago, Luxexplorer said:

I think horizontal tiling has been the standard forever but vertical tiling could visually " elongate" the space and it doesn't look too bad here. Could be something new which has yet to catch on because everyone just assume that's the horizontal is the norm; )

That said , my tiler and contractor ran through laying direction and pros and cons  before starting work so could just ask your ID  to give you a heads up especially if they decided not to follow the norm 

I have to agree it didn't look that bad here whether condo style or not design is pretty much subjected to personal tastes, and not trying to mimic condo but I thought the greyish white marble grains looked better when layed horizontally. After this toilet tiling incident I make it a point to be informed on similar decisions that would affect the entire look and feel I'm going for. 

[bipps 4]

19 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

Condo style is horizontal leh... My prev EC rental was horizontal, my HDB is vertical which I think is ugly, my relay was done in horizontal

That's what I thought too! He says now is trend to do it vertically...not arguing on this with him and most of my friends which I complained to like the common toilet tiling. Not sure if it's the same for master toilet..cause I'm still growing to like it!! Maybe it will look better when the floor tiling is done?

[bykaraanne 30]

5 minutes ago, bipps said:

That's what I thought too! He says now is trend to do it vertically...not arguing on this with him and most of my friends which I complained to like the common toilet tiling. Not sure if it's the same for master toilet..cause I'm still growing to like it!! Maybe it will look better when the floor tiling is done?

It's not as obvious really la! It's a personal preference kinda thing.  but yes it will look more complete with the flooring. 

But as for him saying its trend to do vertically like not v true leh. Haha. But as long as you can grow to like it it's okay!!  

For the record I think the common toilet one looks good!

oh and I agree the marble one would look better horizontal! But now never grout yet so don't look that complete. Grouted in white would be better.

Edited April 1, 2016 by bykaraanne

[Changbp 5]

In my opinion the travertine one should look more nice laid vertically due to the running grains.

The marble one laid horizontally would look more nice but that is only if you can get equal width of each tile distributed on the length of walls. Meaning full length for each tile and not having to cut shorter tiles to meet the ends of the walls. Then it would become out of symmetry and not look as nice.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Changbp

[Laozhabor 0]

4 hours ago, bipps said:

That's what I thought too! He says now is trend to do it vertically...not arguing on this with him and most of my friends which I complained to like the common toilet tiling. Not sure if it's the same for master toilet..cause I'm still growing to like it!! Maybe it will look better when the floor tiling is done?

I think your toilet look  posh but then is it hard to maintain ? Or easier ? 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Laozhabor

[bipps 4]

4 hours ago, Laozhabor said:

I think your toilet look  posh but then is it hard to maintain ? Or easier ? 

I haven't thought that far about maintenance as these are marble look ceramic tiles they should be easy to maintain as long as it's cleaned regularly. Plus, I've never clean bathrooms before but gotta start learning how-to when I start to live in. Will start to buy bleach to do thorough cleansing every week. I heard mould hates bleach. 

5 hours ago, Changbp said:

In my opinion the travertine one should look more nice laid vertically due to the running grains.

The marble one laid horizontally would look more nice but that is only if you can get equal width of each tile distributed on the length of walls. Meaning full length for each tile and not having to cut shorter tiles to meet the ends of the walls. Then it would become out of symmetry and not look as nice.

Well thought explanation! I really wish they place more thought into tiles layout as the same tiles next to each other gives away their ceramic nature instead of 'marble' 

[bipps 4]

3rd April - Grouting for Master toilet wall tiles looks nicer now and the vertically laid tiles didn't look so obvious anymore. Still, would prefer horizontal ones...lemme grow into it a little more....