WHATahome!

[Starrain 4]

Hey pipsqueak..

I remember reading from your blog that you will not be having any doors under sink? Or was it someone else..

Can you please post a photo of the cabinet door open for me? Is there any frame between the concrete tiles and the cabinet door to hold the hinges?

[pipsqueak 3]

34 minutes ago, Starrain said:

Hey pipsqueak..

I remember reading from your blog that you will not be having any doors under sink? Or was it someone else..

Can you please post a photo of the cabinet door open for me? Is there any frame between the concrete tiles and the cabinet door to hold the hinges?

hello @Starrain you are right, i will not be having any doors under my vanity sinks for both toilets. You would probably like to refer to @owlNbear t-blog instead - she installed cabinet doors for her concrete vanity. 

[Starrain 4]

Oh.. sorry! I was talking about the kitchen sink! Haha! Not bathroom.

I wanted to see the concrete support and the door got any wooden frame to hold the hinges or not.

[pipsqueak 3]

42 minutes ago, Starrain said:

Oh.. sorry! I was talking about the kitchen sink! Haha! Not bathroom.

I wanted to see the concrete support and the door got any wooden frame to hold the hinges or not.

@Starrain Haha oh I see, yup my kitchen sink has a concrete base, but is covered on all sides by carpentry and the countertop. Yes if i do not remember wrongly there is a wooden frame to support the hinges. I will take a photo on my next visit and show you.  

[seal33 0]

hi can i have nick's contacts? thanks a lot

[pipsqueak 3]

hi @seal33 you can contact Nick at +65 9690 7887

[owlNbear 2]

On 7/4/2016 at 3:20 PM, pipsqueak said:

Installation of gas heater and carpentry updates

Not sure if we are the chillest couple or what but our renovation is sure taking an awfully long time and we are only starting to get gancheong because it's a little too close to our wedding and so we are starting to chase Nick lol. 

Here are some updates in the meantime

Thanks to @bykaraanne advice on gas heaters (it was really helpful for us!) - we decided to heed her advice and install the Macro brand as well. We haven't tried it yet..maybe will do a review of this once we take a shower or something here ahha.

Carpentry was installed only week before but I must admit that the delay was largely due to us (or me ahem) being fickle-minded over the laminates.  Please go to the laminate factory to have a look at the full sized samples because the small pieces will tell you nothing about how the whole design/grain looks like eventually.

We were going back and forth over lighter shades of wood to darker shades..we ended up on the dark spectrum as evident below.

Our shoe cabinet, with space below for us to slot in shoes which we wear more often.

Kitchen cabinets not fully installed yet.

And our wardrobe area which will also be a study area on the other side.

Some boo-boos found during our inspection...

1) We wanted Nick to customize a drawer to fit the Ikea cutlery trays and we mentioned it many times but he was either too busy or he forgot.  So he will be fabricating another one for us based on our current drawer's measurements.

2) Gap between shoe cabinet and db box was supposed to be wide enough to house a stool for us to wear our shoes but the gap ended up to be around 5cm wide. He wanted to box up the area and paint it but we are counter proposing that he inserts some planks to make a small shelving for us to leave our mails and keys instead. We will see how this goes. 

So glad I stopped by Renotalk to check for updates. Your progress looks fantastic! I'm super in love with the dark raw wooden look of the laminates. It adds a really classic vintage look and just transforms the entire place into a non-hdb look, haha. Also, with so many grains it's easy to go wrong but I think you nailed the look. So jealous that you're getting customised trays. My carpenter didn't want to do one for me, he said it would cost a lot. Boo. 

Hope things are picking up speed now. I totally feel you on rushing the contractors. Sometimes I think they just take it for granted if we don't apply any pressure on them.

Edited July 14, 2016 by owlNbear

[pipsqueak 3]

thank you so much @owlNbear for the reassurance, i would be thankful if my house turns out half as nice as yours! how's living in your new place? hope you're enjoying every bit of your crib!  

 

[Starrain 4]

Hey pipsqueak!

I've check out @owlNbear blog and saw the wood frame there! 

Thank you and also thanks to @owlNbear  for posting the picture before I even ask!

[owlNbear 2]

11 hours ago, pipsqueak said:

thank you so much @owlNbear for the reassurance, i would be thankful if my house turns out half as nice as yours! how's living in your new place? hope you're enjoying every bit of your crib!  

 

From the looks of it you're well on your way to a gorgeous home  

I'm enjoying it a lot! But being a first time home owner just realised that maintaining a house is very shag...no joke...hahah.

5 hours ago, Starrain said:

Hey pipsqueak!

I've check out @owlNbear blog and saw the wood frame there! 

Thank you and also thanks to @owlNbear  for posting the picture before I even ask!

Haha no prob!

[DTDT 1]

Hi, May I have nick's contact too? 

[pipsqueak 3]

hi @DTDT  you can contact Nick at +65 9690 7887

[kingandbin 13]

Hihi @pipsqueak! Love your writing style and your home looks like it's coming together really nicely! I approached Nick too but was abit scared of his frankness and sarcasm. 

The dark laminates are a good choice! Very gorgeous   your toilets are looking great too - what did you decide to do with the aircon trunking in the end? 

Excited for your reno and hope to see more pictures! 

[Starrain 4]

Hey! Saw Nick update your home at his Fb =))

[mwerkz 0]

On 28 March 2016 at 5:54 PM, pipsqueak said:

ID/Contractor process

We met up with at least 4-5 contractors and IDs and this took us nearly half a year, partly due to us not being actively involved in this until recently haha. Here's our experience with some of them;

1. D from Urban Design

Recommended by my friend who had her renovations done by him. He was very nice, and prompt with following up on quotes. His quote was the second lowest and we liked him, except for a small issue which we felt that there was a lack of chemistry.

2. J&E 

Famous in this forum as most of you would know. I had extremely high expectations and was really looking forward to meeting them. However, I was left disappointed because E cancelled our appointments two times before he finally met us and they were late upon meeting us - I guess it felt like they were not very keen to take our jobs although we understand that they are very busy. Quote was surprisingly one of the highest considering they are more contractors than IDs.

3. E from De Style

Referred to him by a friend (via a networking event). He was very promising and we clicked with him on our first meeting (maybe due to us being around the same age and we felt he understood our design requirements). Unfortunately, subsequent meetings showed that he was not willing to compromise on the quote and our budget and so we decided not to engage him.

4. Nick from Renoguyz

Nick was the very first person we went to for a quote. As mentioned by others who have met him before, he was dressed in t-shirt and berms and slippers and he met us in Macs to discuss the quote. He was blunt and straight to the point, calling some of my ideas "snake with many legs" haha but i guess we really liked his honesty and sarcasm. He was also the last person we met to revise the quote and we decided to engage him on the spot because he was both reasonable and we liked how he highlighted some of the potential problems/issues and there was no sugar-coating at all. 

Another reason we chose Nick was because we wanted a contractor and not an ID - somebody who is experienced in the area of knowing what problems may arise in the technicality and practicality of renovations, while I am somewhat confident enough of us coming up with our own designs (all inspired of course, from pinterest ) . He's proved to be the right choice..so far 

Can share D of urban design contact with me? I would have like nick to do up my place. Sadly he doesn't do condo according to what he told me. Would like to see if I have chemistry with d considering how u describe him. Thanks n advance!