A Baker's 3 room BTO @ Skyline II

[bykaraanne 30]

With all the decor it really is picture perfect! But as a 2 year homeowner who started out with decor pieces abound (Pinterest cray), I can tell you your husband is unfortunately right lol.

nice = dust

less stuff = less nice = easier to clean lol

now every time I buy a new piece of decor or furniture I will think twice because it means one more thing to dust  it gets dirty pretty much Everyday in my place, especially being a smaller home (3R). I dust one day can tell the next day already dusty, floors even more so. 

But if you don’t mind the upkeep, your place is really gorgeous! Totally will be repinned like mad on Pinterest.  and I highly suspect those silly Pinterest perfect angmoh homes, they all live in places with no dust one, if not how?!! 

[matchalatte 16]

2 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

With all the decor it really is picture perfect! But as a 2 year homeowner who started out with decor pieces abound (Pinterest cray), I can tell you your husband is unfortunately right lol.

nice = dust

less stuff = less nice = easier to clean lol

now every time I buy a new piece of decor or furniture I will think twice because it means one more thing to dust  it gets dirty pretty much Everyday in my place, especially being a smaller home (3R). I dust one day can tell the next day already dusty, floors even more so. 

But if you don’t mind the upkeep, your place is really gorgeous! Totally will be repinned like mad on Pinterest.  and I highly suspect those silly Pinterest perfect angmoh homes, they all live in places with no dust one, if not how?!! 

haha i totally agree with you, my place gets dusty really quickly too, worse since i have lots of furry things like rugs and cushions. right now what i do is actually to use a feather duster to dust everything onto the floor, then i sweep or vacuum them up. its been manageable so far. fingers crossed i can continue with this upkeep lol. i got really carried away when i see homes like these, i think they look ridiculous! i like them though.

i really do believe they live in a less dusty place compared to ours, else they may have housekeepers to do the cleaning for them lol

[bykaraanne 30]

A lot of them live in the suburbs so defo less dust. I am quite type A clean freak so honestly I started minimalizing everything so I can keep things clean as much as possible. Haha. I clean everyday/week so the less things the better. Lol. 

Now my angmoh chu dream is quite far already. Cleaning #1. 

But yes maximalist houses v nice. Decor + throws + cushions  

[binchotan 0]

15 hours ago, matchalatte said:

haha i totally agree with you, my place gets dusty really quickly too, worse since i have lots of furry things like rugs and cushions. right now what i do is actually to use a feather duster to dust everything onto the floor, then i sweep or vacuum them up. its been manageable so far. fingers crossed i can continue with this upkeep lol. i got really carried away when i see homes like these, i think they look ridiculous! i like them though.

i really do believe they live in a less dusty place compared to ours, else they may have housekeepers to do the cleaning for them lol

Nice house you have with all the decor ......but takes alot of effort in cleaning huh.....

btw, is that your bedroom?

Edited January 17, 2018 by binchotan

[pandacel 0]

I like your cushion covers! Aiya why didn't I think of buying individually designed covers. Do you mind sharing the links?

[matchalatte 16]

5 hours ago, binchotan said:

Nice house you have with all the decor ......but takes alot of effort in cleaning huh.....

btw, is that your bedroom?

nope, those arent my house unfortunately! my bedroom isnt this nice lol

[matchalatte 16]

1 hour ago, pandacel said:

I like your cushion covers! Aiya why didn't I think of buying individually designed covers. Do you mind sharing the links?

thanks babe, what does individually designed covers mean? you mean you got yours in a set? here you go :

http://www.dwntme.com/h.ZZJhmw2

http://www.dwntme.com/h.ZZJfCUU

the grey furry one is from ikea.

Edited January 17, 2018 by matchalatte

[matchalatte 16]

16 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

A lot of them live in the suburbs so defo less dust. I am quite type A clean freak so honestly I started minimalizing everything so I can keep things clean as much as possible. Haha. I clean everyday/week so the less things the better. Lol. 

Now my angmoh chu dream is quite far already. Cleaning #1. 

But yes maximalist houses v nice. Decor + throws + cushions  

girl your home is fine the way it is! you should update with the current "state"! is it the same as when you first moved in? did you add/remove anything? i super love angmoh chu!!

haha i like to console myself that at least the ones i got are nice clutter aka decor. because during our parents/grandparents' days they didnt really have lots of storage so tons of ugly stuff like biscuit tins lie around on table tops and those are clutter as well lol. i dont have rice cooker nor hot water flask so i already have less things on the countertop. now i just need to focus on dusting all my decor haha

[kingandbin 13]

Hello @matchalatte! Happy New Year! 

Logged on after a long time to find that your home is already complete. IT IS SO GORGEOUS!!! (must caps cause I rly wanna emphasize)  Can't be more happy for you. Your place has such character and good taste! Even IDs won't be able to do as good a job me thinks.

I showed your photos to my husband and couldn't stop going, "Can you believe this is a HDB! Looks like Pinterest pics leh". There's quite a bit of decor but everything looks in place. I've been struggling with picking out the right soft furnishings/extra chapalang stuff for my home cause it's starting to look a little cluttered imo. That's the issue with minimalist-type homes~

[matchalatte 16]

1 hour ago, kingandbin said:

Hello @matchalatte! Happy New Year! 

Logged on after a long time to find that your home is already complete. IT IS SO GORGEOUS!!! (must caps cause I rly wanna emphasize)  Can't be more happy for you. Your place has such character and good taste! Even IDs won't be able to do as good a job me thinks.

I showed your photos to my husband and couldn't stop going, "Can you believe this is a HDB! Looks like Pinterest pics leh". There's quite a bit of decor but everything looks in place. I've been struggling with picking out the right soft furnishings/extra chapalang stuff for my home cause it's starting to look a little cluttered imo. That's the issue with minimalist-type homes~

sweetie im soooo happy to see you around here again! missed you so much, most people seem to just "disappear" after their reno is complete. 

yes i've moved in 2 months ago! got carried away with all the nice decor of the nordic homes on pinterest & instagram so i keep buying & decorating lol. thanks so much for your kind words, means alot to me coming from someone like you, you have one of the nicest homes around here. 

i think minimalist homes can have a few decors too, i've seen some nice ones and in my opinion as long as they're not overbearing ie striking in color they can still look nice. a few plants would be good for a start, you can never go wrong with greenery! in fact i adore the "jungalow" style haha. then i would probably get a couple of furnishings like clock, cushions in white, cream or grey, posters with maybe black wordings against a white bg would be nice too. for me im totally big on decor so its easy for me to go overboard haha. better stop suggesting to you! are you still furnishing your home?

[matchalatte 16]

so, a pic of the bedroom! was hesitant to upload pics coz it wasnt really done (still isnt). looks pretty tame compared to the rest of the house! also cant seem to get a good angle coz the room is sooo small. 

bedsheets are from taobao. i swear taobao has the nicest and cheapest sheets. the quality is really good and it probably cost like 10 bucks for a set of bedsheet, 2 pillow cases and a quilt cover. 

the room is also really great to sleep in because its so dark lol. once you draw the curtains you're in complete darkness even during the day. 

the other side of the bed where my tv console is. honestly not much space as you can see, just enough for walking.

[matchalatte 16]

my review of nick of renoguyz

finally the review of my chosen contractor! sorry to you guys who pm-ed me asking for my contractor's contact. i decided not to reveal who it was until the whole reno is over mainly because i wanted to be objective in my review and of course, the other selfish reason being hes very famous around here la, i didnt really want to "burden" him with more projects.

i think nick or renoguyz requires no introduction. obviously i read much about him and what his personality was like from the tons of people who met him - things about him being blunt & sarcastic but in the beginning it was more difficult dealing with him than i could imagine because we couldnt really see eye to eye in many things and we do not have the kind of "chemistry" that some people have with their contractor and ID. but that wasnt a major concern as its more important to be able to deliver than to be a good salesman. as you probably can tell, i do not like typical HDB cookie cutter ID style design with lots of built in carpentry and im very anal in some of my requirements so i feel that nick thinks im very troublesome. afterall who on earth would want all drawers for kitchen cabinets and who the helI still does laminate countertop nowadays? during the time we met at my place after key collection, he was just so unfriendly to the point of being scary. he just squatted at one corner looking very sullen while his assistant terence went around taking measurements. at that moment i wondered whether i chose the right person to take up my project. even hubby was appalled. but soon, i started to see the positive side of him. 

i dont want to go into the nitty gritty details of the whole reno, but lets just say that no reno process is smooth sailing. there will be lots of miscommunication and mistakes along the way but the most important thing is the willingness and promptness to rectify. that was one good thing about nick. another plus point is he has seriously VERY GOOD subcons. all his people are absolutely amazingly skilled with very good workmanship. because of the control freak that i am, im not the kind to visit my unit once a week so i actually had the "honor" in meeting most of the subcons - hacker, tiler, painter, electrician, plumber and carpenter. the only two people i did not manage to meet were the service yard window guy and the parquet polishing guy but even them did an awesome job and i really have lots of respect for these people, including nick who manage to source for these people to work for him. i do not think its easy at all. 

of course, another thing is nick is not profit driven so hes not the kind who will encourage you to do all sorts of things. in fact lots of times he would go like "dont do this la, so expensive, not good to use, you will regret one day". and since hes not profit driven at all, i actually HAD to beg to pay him a deposit and up til the end of everything i only paid him 50% and he only collected the balance 2 months after i moved in  

so would i recommend? absolutely positively YES but (theres always a but) do not expect lots of hand holding meaning if you're expecting him to constantly update or whatsapp you the progress, sorry to say, there is none. for me at least there is none. many times i had to ask him for updates then he will do it. i also hardly see him around, maybe only 3 times throughout the 3 month reno period. he does not turn up to supervise everytime something is being done, preferring to arrange for things via phone. sometimes i feel like i have to update him on mistakes instead, which i dont really mind but i would actually prefer him to be more proactive. thats the problem with engaging someone famous i guess. 

so overall no regrets at all! hes not the cheapest but his rates are reasonable. most importantly his subcons are good, because ultimately, workmanship still plays an important part. 

 

[pandacel 0]

Thanks for the cushion links! Lol I have approached nick too and he also squatted at one corner of the house while his assistants took measurements.  I guess it's just his style la. He was one of our final 2 choices but we picked another contractor in the end coz hubby prefers one that will handle the project alone.

There was a cabinet that I self designed. What really impressed me about nick was that he was able to draw up the 3d image of the cabinet using software while we were discussing and even improvised on my design. I'm hopeless at using those softwares lol.

[bykaraanne 30]

Kitchen picccccccssssss  island 

anyway, my home is largely the same. Been contemplating changing to a 3 seater sofa but u know how tiny our 3R is, especially my orientation. I’m selling a bunch of stuff away tho.

 

[matchalatte 16]

5 hours ago, pandacel said:

Thanks for the cushion links! Lol I have approached nick too and he also squatted at one corner of the house while his assistants took measurements.  I guess it's just his style la. He was one of our final 2 choices but we picked another contractor in the end coz hubby prefers one that will handle the project alone.

There was a cabinet that I self designed. What really impressed me about nick was that he was able to draw up the 3d image of the cabinet using software while we were discussing and even improvised on my design. I'm hopeless at using those softwares lol.

woah he actually came down to take measurements and did up 3D drawings and you didnt use him in the end? he didnt mind? lol. all those measurements & stuff were done after i paid him a deposit. i think i wouldnt use him if i didnt pay him a deposit and he come and squat at my house haha. then again quite heng i went with him in the end because he does have very good subcons. 

what does it mean that yr hubby wants someone to handle the project alone? initially nick didnt oversee my project personally, his assistant terence did. but he made alot of mistakes with instructions/measurements so nick took over. 

you even designed yr own cabinet? applause! i wanna see leh, have this feeling your home looks spectacular! stop being shy already and do up a blog! lol