Black yet comfortable house!

[rinee 4]

So I have been reading up lots of Reno t-Blogs ever since we had balloted for our flat. It had been a long four years wait when we finally got our keys. We got our keys in late July this year and got our shortlisted IDs/contractors to come down for actual site measurements and to revise their quotations accordingly. In the end, we decided on an ID though he does not have the cheapest quotation.

Our unit layout: 

The main reason we chose him was that he seemed to be able to visualize the house that we wanted. I had a certain idea on how I want my house to be but there were some parts where I am unsure on the practicability of them. With the 3D drawn, we started the renovation on end Sept 2016.

The main colours that we are going to use in the house is oak wood, white and black. I do not think that there is any specific theme. I am hoping that the house will look simple and clean.

First off, tiling started! We had decided to lay the same floor tiles (black with light grey stripes) for living and bedrooms. Grouting is black but currently it looked white as the dust had accumulated =.=.

Next off, black floor tiles and marble-like wall tiles for both bathrooms, For the wall tiles, due to budget constraints, we only overlay the default feature wall ( black for master toilet, white for common toilet)

 

Edited March 22, 2017 by rinee

[rinee 4]

There were also some tiling works to be done in the kitchen. We did not like the default HDB design on the wall so we chose the ever-popular sub-way tiles to overlay. However, this time round, the grouting will be white. Though my ID persuaded me to have them in grey so that the design of the sub-way tiles will be obvious. I like it to be a subtle design. We also hacked half the kitchen wall so that more light can reach our "dining" area.

[rinee 4]

With all the tilings done, we moved on to lighting.

We had a long discussion with our ID on the lighting arrangement. We wanted our house to be bright (because there were too much black =P) but yet no false ceiling. We totally hate the look of the 'hole' that most false ceilings will have in order to accommodate the aircon unit. 

In the end , we decided on track lights for living room and masterbed room. Simple Ceiling Lights will be fixed for the rest of the rooms, kitchen and service yard.

We also decided on our choice of doors. I will never expected myself to say this, but we had chose a very traditionally looking wood door. Yet, it matched well with the rest of the house. Oh well, money is saved to be splurge elsewhere then~

Doors will be painted white. I am still thinking whether to leave the door frame white or to paint them black?

Edited November 17, 2016 by rinee

[rinee 4]

Carpentry will be a big topic to talk about. My personal view is that carpentry will really set the atmosphere of the house. As first-time owners, we had so many requirements and ideas to build into this small little 4 room flat. Colour wise, we did not want to have white and since our floor are black, the colour of the cabinets will need to brighten up the house.

So we came down with this list of basic requirements:

Living room

1. A four feet fish tank
2. A full height shoe cabinet
3. TV console
4. Space to have a Mahjong Table (=P)

Kitchen

1. Only bottom cabinets
2. Caesarstone kitchen top ( I fell in love with one of the marble-like colour)
3. Blum hinges and tracks

Common bedrooms

1. Casement wardrobe 
2.  Integrated Table ( for one of the bedroom)

Master bedroom

1. Platform bed (King size)
2. L-shape wardrobe ( with tinted glass and black mirror , top-hung system and bi-fold door)

Edited November 17, 2016 by rinee

[rinee 4]

So the carpenter came and take the actual measurements for those carpentry. He also gave a lot of good advice for newbies like us. Of them all, I love my master bedroom wardrobe but it also burned a hole in our pockets.. A sketch that the carpenter drew on the spot for us because we cannot visualize.

They only took three days to get the majority of the carpentry up. They will be back to do some patch up works.

Sneak pics!!

Living room

Common bedroom

Edited November 17, 2016 by rinee

[ventot 1]

  On 11/17/2016 at 8:02 AM, rinee said:

With all the tilings done, we moved on to lighting.

We had a long discussion with our ID on the lighting arrangement. We wanted our house to be bright (because there were too much black =P) but yet no false ceiling. We totally hate the look of the 'hole' that most false ceilings will have in order to accommodate the aircon unit. 

In the end , we decided on track lights for living room and masterbed room. Simple Ceiling Lights will be fixed for the rest of the rooms, kitchen and service yard.

We also decided on our choice of doors. I will never expected myself to say this, but we had chose a very traditionally looking wood door. Yet, it matched well with the rest of the house. Oh well, money is saved to be splurge elsewhere then~

Doors will be painted white. I am still thinking whether to leave the door frame white or to paint them black?

i think better to leave the door frame white  

[ventot 1]

  On 11/17/2016 at 7:41 AM, rinee said:

So I have been reading up lots of Reno t-Blogs ever since we had balloted for our flat. It had been a long four years wait when we finally got our keys. We got our keys in late July this year and got our shortlisted IDs/contractors to come down for actual site measurements and to revise their quotations accordingly. In the end, we decided on an ID though he does not have the cheapest quotation.

The main reason we chose him was that he seemed to be able to visualize the house that we wanted. I had a certain idea on how I want my house to be but there were some parts where I am unsure on the practicability of them. With the 3D drawn, we started the renovation on end Sept 2016.

The main colours that we are going to use in the house is oak wood, white and black. I do not think that there is any specific theme. I am hoping that the house will look simple and clean.

First off, tiling started! We had decided to lay the same floor tiles (black with light grey stripes) for living and bedrooms. Grouting is black but currently it looked white as the dust had accumulated =.=.

Next off, black floor tiles and marble-like wall tiles for both bathrooms, For the wall tiles, due to budget constraints, we only overlay the default feature wall ( black for master toilet, white for common toilet)

 

i like your theme 

[jaiyerika 5]

Nice choice for tiles i like the black and white crack thingy. =)  how much does it cost per tile? where did you bought it? sorry for the barage of inquiry. 

[rinee 4]

  On 11/17/2016 at 10:42 AM, ventot said:

i think better to leave the door frame white  

Thanks for the suggestion. After some thinking, I also feel that white will look better! White it shall be! 

[rinee 4]

  On 11/17/2016 at 10:44 PM, jaiyerika said:

Nice choice for tiles i like the black and white crack thingy. =)  how much does it cost per tile? where did you bought it? sorry for the barage of inquiry. 

Are you referring to the toilet wall tiles? We got them from Hafary. The black one is around $3.20  while the white one is about $3 I think. 

[rinee 4]

Ktichen and Toilet Tops are put in today! 

I could not wait for the renovation to finish. Current look for the house:

Edited November 18, 2016 by rinee

[infinity2015 1]

so beautiful, may i know what is the countertop material and price pls ? thanks.

[rinee 4]

  On 11/18/2016 at 9:32 AM, infinity2015 said:

so beautiful, may i know what is the countertop material and price pls ? thanks.

Hi, this is from casearstone, vanilla noir. Price wise, it is slightly higher at about $200+ per feet.

[rinee 4]

Just a random short update as I was feeling bored today.

Before getting the keys, our mantra was always to get only the required but of high quality items.

so today, we shall talk about taps and rainshower etc. 

I have always dreamt to have toilets like those in the hotels. Dark comfortable toilet with marble walls, grohe tap and accessories but alas, we do not have so much money to burn.

And so we compromised. Things that touches water and require effort to replace, we went for quality while the rest we sourced from tmall.

Searching through, we gradually realised that grohe items that were make in Germany cost quite a fortune in singapore. We did not want to get the lower end grohe which was make in Thailand. As such, we decided to source them from the internet specifically insani24 website.

we got ourselves the following at a steal of 1.5k

1) 2 rain showers with thermostats 

2) 2 high taps for the toilet

3) 1 kitchen tap

The items had arrived and they were really solid and heavy. Best part is I can have hot water in our toilet basin. I really considered these to be my best buys!

[ventot 1]

  On 11/18/2016 at 8:47 AM, rinee said:

Ktichen and Toilet Tops are put in today! 

I could not wait for the renovation to finish. Current look for the house:

soooo nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! excited for you!!!!