5-Room Resale (Light Industrial) Learn & Share

[ilkl 6]

16 hours ago, CZL said:

Wow, the vertical plant make your place so welcoming and fresh. Love that feeling of fresh air in the morning.

Me too also has a wall, now thinking if possible to install as renovation already half way.

Is there many company doing this? Can Pm me the cost? 

Thanks!

We shortlisted Greenology and Vertical Green but went with VG because their system looks better and takes up less space. Greenology also need about 3 mths to grow the plants on the wall at their nursery first before installing, while VG just plants them directly on their installed backing. VG also offers one time complimentary maintenance, as mentioned before.

Cost is approximately $750 per sqm. Will need to top up for tank or tray, depending which type you choose, and the growth lights also. Ours cost $3300 (~4 sqm) excluding the required plumbing and electrical works.

Hope this helps!

Edited April 27, 2017 by ilkl

[ilkl 6]

Final Photos
Hi everyone! We have moved in for 2 weeks now and finally I have photos to share of our lovely home!

Living & Dining Area

 

Kitchen, Service Yard & Common Bathroom

 

Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom

 

Study Room and Common Bedroom still very messy so I won't be including them. Maybe once our ID has done a photoshoot for us then I will share more images. So stay tuned and hope you have enjoyed this thread!

[fifteenmay 40]

12 hours ago, ilkl said:

Final Photos
Hi everyone! We have moved in for 2 weeks now and finally I have photos to share of our lovely home!

Living & Dining Area

 

Kitchen, Service Yard & Common Bathroom

 

Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom

 

Study Room and Common Bedroom still very messy so I won't be including them. Maybe once our ID has done a photoshoot for us then I will share more images. So stay tuned and hope you have enjoyed this thread!

U took these photos yrself? Oh wow! Look so professional! Great looking hse! 

[Xavvy 2]

Super Beautiful Home!! Omg Love that feature plant wall...... Wow.. And the overall colour theme, see already very comfy and cosy~

Thanks for documenting and sharing the DIY process~ Btw roughly how much did you spent on the reno ar?
 

[hoWL 9]

What a beautiful house! Looks like a page from interior design magazine!!

Kudos to the great work!

[mopiko 0]

wow nice pics, took them yourself?

[KFC1189 11]

Hi ilkl,

You have a very impressive home. Well done!

I like your vertical garden wall a lot. It really brings nature to your home. May I know what maintenance efforts are required (daily, weekly, and monthly)? Can you choose herbs for planting so that you can eat them as well? How much is the routine maintenance fees?

[ilkl 6]

Hi guys, sorry was away for a while so haven't replied.

Thanks for the compliments! Yup took the photos using husband's DSLR and wide angle lens. Phone camera really cannot compare la.

On 5/9/2017 at 6:31 PM, KFC1189 said:

Hi ilkl,

You have a very impressive home. Well done!

I like your vertical garden wall a lot. It really brings nature to your home. May I know what maintenance efforts are required (daily, weekly, and monthly)? Can you choose herbs for planting so that you can eat them as well? How much is the routine maintenance fees?

As mentioned before, the system is meant to be as hassle-free as possible, there is no need to water the vertical garden as it has a built in timer which will turn on the watering 2 times a day, and also the growth light. Just need to pour in liquid fertiliser once a month for added nutrients, and pruning about 1-2x a month. The system is also not meant to grow herbs on it as it will diminish the aesthetics of the garden.

The first month will see some casualties, but the vendor included a complimentary maintenance at one mth where they will replace the bad plants FOC. I haven't asked how much the normal maintenance fee is, but think it's probably a little bit pricey so planning to self-maintain.



Our garden at one month - casualties highlighted. The maintenance is scheduled this Saturday.

One thing we regret is getting ferns - they really look nice but man, do they shed!! So everyday there will be dried leaves on the floor, all from the ferns. If you look closely at the floor in the photo, you will see what I mean. I'm thinking of replacing the ferns to spider plants to minimise the hassle of cleaning up the floor. So if anyone is keen on getting this vertical garden indoors, beware of the ferns!!

Edited May 12, 2017 by ilkl

[CZL 0]

Hi ilkl, is your kitchen service yard sliding door top hung or with bottom track? I am interested in the design too. 

[ilkl 6]

On 5/19/2017 at 6:33 PM, CZL said:

Hi ilkl, is your kitchen service yard sliding door top hung or with bottom track? I am interested in the design too. 

Hi CZL,

Our sliding door has one panel fixed while the other panel is top hung. Surprisingly easy to open/close as I thought it won't be as smooth but it is!

[Kobelala 8]

On 28/04/2017 at 11:40 AM, ilkl said:

Renovation Costs Breakdown
Hello, for all of you who are wondering, our renovation is not cheap but I would say it's reasonable (to us) given that we have certain expectations and my boss got semi-expensive taste. In life, there is no such thing as Cheap+Fast+Good.

Anyhoos, here are the numbers:

Hacking & Wet Works:                       $ 20,000
Carpentry:                                         $ 35,000
Glass, Windows & Misc:                    $   8,500
Electrical Works:                                $   5,500
Vinyl Flooring:                                    $   6,500
Plumbing & Painting:                          TBC
Vertical Garden:                                 $   3,300
Air-Con (System 5):                           $   5,800
Furniture & Appliances:                     $ 18,800
Sanitary, Accessories, Lights, Fans:  $   7,800
Doors, Gate, Locks & Blinds:             $   5,800

 

Our ID only involved with the first 3 items, so we paid them $63,500. Take note that this number excludes the vinyl, electrical, plumbing and painting.

 

Nice Reno !!!! Very good furniture selection too !!!  And how true is the graph  

[ilkl 6]

My t-blog was taken offline for about one day and I was sent a warning from RT admin for breach of T&Cs.

I thought the whole blog was deleted! Was sooooo sad cause spent so much effort and everything gone!

Turns out it's because I kept mentioning something not allowed (I didn't know that is a problem cause I saw a few other blogs mentioning that too) so they deleted my last comment about my ID selection.
_{Hint: It's an app.}

Doubt I will rewrite that post, so hopefully you guys got good memory!

[ilkl 6]

Fantastic Furniture and Where to Find Them

Sofa & Dining Table Set from Mix & Match

^{The model we saw at Expo and liked. Husband ended up choosing same colours. Our sofa L-shaped is reversed, though.}

We came across M&M at one of the home and renovation fairs at Expo and the husband found their sofas to be the most comfortable and good-looking (he sat on A LOT of sofas). They just opened a show room recently at Enterprise 1 at Kaki Bukit Rd 1, and they claim to be specialists in making down-feather sofa. We were served by Leslie who is probably the boss and he has very good taste and even came down to our flat during renovations to help us match our sofa colour to our theme. And the floor he used for his showroom is the same as our bedroom floors (EcoPluz' Cottage Grey) - that's why I say he got good taste hehe. We're the kind who don't like leather sofas, so we chose fabric type, and the sofa covers can be removed for washing.

We decided to get their dining sets too because the design compliments each other well and works for our kind of long living-dining room layout. Dining set colour cannot be changed but there isn't a need to when it looks great!

^{Sorry I blur out myself - very shy one, ok!}

Carpet & Pillows from Crate & Barrel

<sup>Linden Sage Green Feather-Down Pillow


Baxter Jade Rug</sup>

Got these at discounted price! Took a risk with the pillow colour but thankfully it matched very well with the sofa!

Round Ottomans from Etch & Bolts

Decided to get a large ottoman to double up as a coffee table for a child-friendly environment (my pediatric dentist friend tells all her friends to NEVER get a coffee table if they have kids – she has seen way too many dental trauma cases).

For Etch & Bolts, they let you choose your own colours so we did just that, and we got our carpenter to fabricate a round piece of laminated wood to act as a table surface (the piece of wood turned out to be more expensive than the ottoman, what-the-heck).

^{Followed this idea of having a round piece of wood over the ottoman!}

Bedside Tables from HipVan

Their bedside tables were an absolute steal at $129 each! And love the wood colour, so expensive-looking!

Trash Cans from Naiise

Ordered this Tubelor Rosewood trash cans from Naiise (had to email them to ask them specially for the wood pattern which I saw online, otherwise it's all single colours). Adore the fact that it's open and yet conceals the plastic bag. Everyone who visited our house complimented us on the trash cans! 

Counter Stools from Comfort Furniture
We previously bought a pair of leather counter stools from Commune but the leather was spotty and they had few stock remaining so had to get a refund instead.

^{Grayson barstool from COMMUNE. Has been discontinued.}

Looking for counter stools was not easy, as most places only sell bar stools with seating height of ~75cm but we needed counter stools with seating height of ~60cm since our island counter is 94cm high.

Luckily we found these at Comfort Furniture selling for $129 each. Can choose the fabric colour as well. Currently we need to wait 2 months before we can receive the items... so will only be getting them next month!

^{Fondue barchairs from Comfort Furniture - in different heights}

[twelfthminute 3]

Thanks for furniture reco!! I'm gonna steal the ottoman + wood laminate idea too. 

[ilkl 6]

Hello guys! It's been a while since my last post.... We've moved in for 4 months now and we're very happy at our new home, but I thought I'd share some things which hopefully will be useful for my fellow RT readers!

Air-Con Leakage

So within 3 months, we got our first leakage from our master bedroom AC (which is the only one being turned on every night)

Water came out of the joint between the blower unit and the trunking. We called All Best and they promptly sent someone down to fix it since there is a 5-year Installation Warranty. According to them, there was too much condensation and so they double taped the joint and reassured us it won't happen again.

Less than 2 wks later, water leaked not from the joint, but from the drainage pipe below this very same AC unit:

So we called All Best again, and this time around, our original installer came down. After he inspected, he said there is likely blockage in our drainage pipe due to "jelly" formation, causing backflow and thus, leakage. He advised us to call their servicing team down to suck the drainage pipe. There is one problem, however. The drainage pipe goes into our master bathroom, and the end of that pipe is now concealed inside the box up which we had done up for the shower area.

So here's TIP #1: As ugly as it is to have an AC drainage pipe in your bathroom, don't conceal it because your AC servicing team can access the end of the pipe to suck out any blockage inside, which in return reduces risk of leakage.

But the installer had an idea, he says since part of the drainage pipe outside at the AC ledge is still accessible, they can cut the pipe and fix a "T" joint to it - thus creating an access for them to suction the drainage pipe. He conveyed the message to the servicing team, and when they came down to our place, that's exactly what they did. However, during the suctioning, he could hear a blockage present, and he told us likely there is a problem at the concealed end of the drainage pipe - the contractor probably blocked it with debris etc.

This is where my husband got a little fed up with the "push-here-push-there, blame other people" attitude these people have. From the sounds of it, the AC guy says it's the contractor's fault. Ok, so we informed our ID, and although he was responsive despite our project ending many months back, he sounded like it was not his fault and we will need to pay them some labour fee to knock open a hole in our box up to access the AC drainage pipe.

I decided to look through my photos of the renovation process, and after seeing this photo, my husband was convinced the problem was here:

He says the drainage pipe is blocked because it is taped up. I myself am skeptical, so was my ID. They taped it to prevent debris from getting into the pipe while they did the box-up etc, and would have removed it after, at least that's what I thought (Cannot be so blur, right?). But my husband was insistent, so the ID arranged for tiler to come and solve this mystery once and for all.

TIP #2: Take loads of photos to document your renovation process - they end up being very useful sometimes!!

Today, the tiler came and this is what we saw:

Pipe is still taped up. And best of all, it's confined inside the metal frame and water is just pooling there!!! WIN LIAO LOR.

So which genius did this? My guess is the box-up guys, but of course no-one will admit right? At least our ID got nothing to say liao. But I'm not blaming him, not really, because at least he still follows through with us when problems crop up in our house.

For now, the hole in the box up will be covered back with a tile which will be sealed up with silicone once the drainage pipe is extended into the hole in the ground. So still look pretty... but on hindsight, we would not have concealed the drainage pipe if we knew what we know now!!

Hope this is a lesson for everyone!