My Modern Zen 2-Room 35sqm (Type 1) HDB BTO Apartment Renovation Journey

[RyanYTH 87]

37 minutes ago, Sally Hik said:

I'm settling down at admiralty grove too pls post more photos of yr new renovation hie

Oh i see! Good to see a fellow neighbour! 

Mine is only a 2 room 35sqm unit tho so it's maybe more applicable to fellow 2 roomers. Nevertheless I do hope the info helps u too! 

[Sally Hik 1]

5 minutes ago, ryanyth said:

Oh i see! Good to see a fellow neighbour! 

Mine is only a 2 room 35sqm unit tho so it's maybe more applicable to fellow 2 roomers. Nevertheless I do hope the info helps u too! 

 

5 minutes ago, ryanyth said:

Oh i see! Good to see a fellow neighbour! 

Mine is only a 2 room 35sqm unit tho so it's maybe more applicable to fellow 2 roomers. Nevertheless I do hope the info helps u too! 

Mine is oso 35sqm type.

[RyanYTH 87]

49 minutes ago, Sally Hik said:

 

Mine is oso 35sqm type.

Ah ok, cool. Very applicable then

[mmoh 66]

On 9/8/2017 at 4:12 PM, ryanyth said:

I think he means pour some water in the bathroom, make sure it all flows away to ensure the bathroom water drainage works ok.

also need to open up the drainage pipe cover to check if any cement stuck there. 

[RuFus58 14]

On 9/6/2017 at 5:29 PM, mmoh said:

what you can do during your lull period:

- talk to IDs and contractors and shortlist those you have good impression with, you can let them see the actual unit after collecting keys to finalise the quote.

- start to shop around for furniture & fittings and electrical appliances. Tip: Air con will be cheaper during year end cos demand is lower. You can place deposit and arrange for delivery & installation later if you want to chope the good price.

Edited: oh ya, you already got ID liao. so can skip the 1st point

thanks mmoh, even though i have an ID, i am still working extra hard on my house design.
i want my house to be a practical place to live in, ID's vision is to make it into showroom...  that's why most of my ID design, i shoot down mercilessly.. hahaha..

end up, i have to roll up my sleeves and do it myself. luckily this forum helped alot.. alot of things my ID said not possible, i showed photos to prove her otherwise.. 
e.g. the toilet wall that andotang did below, to extend the wet area (i didn't want a small L shape shower screen)

hire friend who is an ID,  has pros and cons! while she continuously annoy me saying she knows me best, swearing i won't cook much or will regret having a bigger wet area toilet by depriving a smaller dry area etc... but at least i know i won't meet a crooked ID who will do a mediocre job or M.I.A.  plus i will have life long warranty, coz every time we meet up, i will harp on fixing some stuff.. lol.. that's what we will do during our monthly gathering as all my circle of friends have all hired her to do the reno.  the pros outweigh the cons.. i guess..

Also i went to kong tai electrical to check price! and they are definitely cheaper then gain city.  i took my friend's gain city invoice.
eg. a Hitachi 6 door fridge (RSF45FMS-SH) that my frend bought at 'bto unbeatable price' of 2.6K with 1 free rice cooker, kong tai quote me 2.2K with same free gift of rice cooker + 1 blender.
i immediately made my mind that i am not going to buy for these big name mega stores..  not really any savings as they touted to be...

 

[Songz 132]

From the pictures it seems the renovation is going smoothly 

For the usual brands like Hitachi, KDK and etc . Go to shops like *spam, Goh Ah Bee and etc will be cheaper.

Those mega only sell cheap when there is mega sale and etc. 

(Just my 2 cents worth)

[RyanYTH 87]

On 12/09/2017 at 9:47 PM, Songz said:

From the pictures it seems the renovation is going smoothly 

For the usual brands like Hitachi, KDK and etc . Go to shops like *spam, Goh Ah Bee and etc will be cheaper.

Those mega only sell cheap when there is mega sale and etc. 

(Just my 2 cents worth)

Erm actually those "in construction" photos by Rufus is done by someone else lol.

I haven't even roll pineapple yet lol.

Soon tho. Will be posting my "1st day opening" soon! 

Edited September 14, 2017 by ryanyth

[RyanYTH 87]

New Entry: Blog Entry Date: 15th September 2017 Friday

Its the EVE of my Key Collection Day!!!
Less than 16 hours more till I finally collect my keys! Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Items to bring for both Ceremonial and Practical Defect Checking purposes.

[mmoh 66]

Oranges for 大吉大利 i guess. It is also common to 洒五谷on the floor.

Masking tape + marker to indicate the defects.

Level or dunno wat is this call where there are 3 water bubbles to measure the sockets are slanted or not.

You can borrow a pole with steel ball from bsc to knock on the tiles to chk for hollowness.

Happy key collection and door opening tomorrow!

[RyanYTH 87]

38 minutes ago, mmoh said:

Oranges for 大吉大利 i guess. It is also common to 洒五谷on the floor.

Masking tape + marker to indicate the defects.

Level or dunno wat is this call where there are 3 water bubbles to measure the sockets are slanted or not.

You can borrow a pole with steel ball from bsc to knock on the tiles to chk for hollowness.

Happy key collection and door opening tomorrow!

Thanks mmoh!!

[RuFus58 14]

On 9/15/2017 at 5:57 PM, ryanyth said:

New Entry: Blog Entry Date: 15th September 2017 Friday

Its the EVE of my Key Collection Day!!!
Less than 16 hours more till I finally collect my keys! Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Items to bring for both Ceremonial and Practical Defect Checking purposes.

Wow! i was so excited to see the pics, coz our flr plan is almost the same!
thank you very much for sharing and hope u can share more from different angles.. hahaha.. thanks in advance.

Happy to see the living room look spacious.. as you know, my heart is set on 65 inch curve tv.
the kitchen however looks very small.. i mean, place fridge, washing machine, sink and stove, how much kitchen cabinets can i fit in?

maybe i have to bank in on the top cabinets so that i have adequate space to store stuff.. (hope u can share pics on of kitchen celing, wanted to see the laundry rack. have i feeling i might remove it if it too low...

The bedroom sliding door seems bulky and clumpy.. (can share the floor pics, i want to see the track lines and how much space the doors take) i might have to replace with barn door or seal it with bricks and have door type (like 45sqm rooms)

can also share pics on the DBbox. would like to see how much space it take up... its right smack in the living room, the area i plan to put my TV. not sure the door when open will take up how much space.

Congrats Ryan, really happy that you have finally gotten the keys..  and good to see your ID getting all down business to help you.. wishing your a very smooth reno!

Pls do share more pics..  

[RyanYTH 87]

3 hours ago, RuFus58 said:

Wow! i was so excited to see the pics, coz our flr plan is almost the same!
thank you very much for sharing and hope u can share more from different angles.. hahaha.. thanks in advance.

Happy to see the living room look spacious.. as you know, my heart is set on 65 inch curve tv.
the kitchen however looks very small.. i mean, place fridge, washing machine, sink and stove, how much kitchen cabinets can i fit in?

maybe i have to bank in on the top cabinets so that i have adequate space to store stuff.. (hope u can share pics on of kitchen celing, wanted to see the laundry rack. have i feeling i might remove it if it too low...

The bedroom sliding door seems bulky and clumpy.. (can share the floor pics, i want to see the track lines and how much space the doors take) i might have to replace with barn door or seal it with bricks and have door type (like 45sqm rooms)

can also share pics on the DBbox. would like to see how much space it take up... its right smack in the living room, the area i plan to put my TV. not sure the door when open will take up how much space.

Congrats Ryan, really happy that you have finally gotten the keys..  and good to see your ID getting all down business to help you.. wishing your a very smooth reno!

Pls do share more pics..  

Thanks Rufus.

No worries I will be retaking the pictures with more angles. That entry blog pictures will be changed to better quality ones.

For TV, while a 65 inch can fit, the border around it is going to be very thin (Around 1cm) which will make overall look abit funny. I've opted for 55inch which will look much more uniform.

DB Box is indeed bad design to put in living room. The max length of study table that I can comfortably put is 1.2m only. Anymore and it will protrude too much. And because I'm putting my computer table there, I will need to remove DB Box door as I won't be able to open it if my table is there. Jason say can change it to Sliding door type so I'm ok.

Bedroom sliding door is terrible! If you get yours, I'm sure u will also want to remove.it's bulky, takes up precious space and it smells bad ughhh.

I will be making a post complete with masking tape markings to illustrate what I mean.

Edited September 18, 2017 by ryanyth

[RyanYTH 87]

Blog Entry Date: 19th September 2017 Tuesday
Click Here to go back to Page 1 - Table of Contents

Close Up Views of Bedroom Sliding Door and Living Room DB Box

Bedroom Sliding Door:

Bedroom Sliding Door Open:


Bedroom Sliding Door Closed:


Size of the False Wall Partition + Bedroom Sliding Door when close is 70cm x 30cm as shown in this below picture.

 

Bedroom Sliding Door Top Rail Track:
Terrible mechanism. Push abit will get stuck. Uggh. Very bad rust smell also.

Another View of Bedroom Sliding Door Top Rail Track:

View from Inside Bedroom with Sliding Door Closed:


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living Room DB Box:

Living Room DB Box Door Closed:
(When door is closed, your computer/study table at most can only length 1.2m++ otherwise it will protrude out too much.

Living Room DB Box Door Open:
The door for the DB Box is the swing open type. That means if you put study table right beside it,
you will have difficulty opening the DB Box Door. (I request for my ID to change these
doors to sliding type so i can put my table there, and still be able to access to DB Box space.

Since the DB Box is die die HDB do not allow to remove, might as well make use of it.
The bottom part i think quite useful can use it to store Small Broom, Dustpan etc.

Click Here for the Next Blog Entry:
1 week after Key Collection. BSC Defect Rectification in progress, Laying of Aircon Piping

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Edited May 13, 2020 by hdb2roomrenovation

[Stream 4]

8 hours ago, ryanyth said:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living Room DB Box:

Living Room DB Box Door Closed:
(When door is closed, your computer/study table at most can only length 1.2m++ otherwise it will protrude out too much.

Living Room DB Box Door Open:
The door for the DB Box is the swing open type. That means if you put study table right beside it,
you will have difficulty opening the DB Box Door. (I request for my ID to change these
doors to sliding type so i can put my table there, and still be able to access to DB Box space.

Since the DB Box is die die HDB do not allow to remove, might as well make use of it.
The bottom part i think quite useful can use it to store Small Broom, Dustpan etc.

 

If you want bigger table space, one way is to custom made L-Shape table to fit into that corner. The DB doors will have to be modified where the top door opens above table top and similar idea for bottom door.

Mine is the 45sm type (similar layout as HDB showflat) and I'm converting bottom portion of DB box to shoe cabinet, and add open shelve in the middle to put my barang barang.

BTW, are you concealing additional lighting/power points. I'm still undecided about this as concerned about HDB fine etc.

[RyanYTH 87]

4 hours ago, Stream said:

If you want bigger table space, one way is to custom made L-Shape table to fit into that corner. The DB doors will have to be modified where the top door opens above table top and similar idea for bottom door.

Mine is the 45sm type (similar layout as HDB showflat) and I'm converting bottom portion of DB box to shoe cabinet, and add open shelve in the middle to put my barang barang.

BTW, are you concealing additional lighting/power points. I'm still undecided about this as concerned about HDB fine etc.

Is true, L-Shape custom made table can be made to fit, however price wise will subsequently increase exponentially.
Anything custom made, is always very very expensive. Personally, for me is if can don't custom build, then dont.

My friend stays in the 45sqm type, and the position of DB Box is alot better flushed near the Kitchen instead of sticking out of nowhere.
I understand that later versions of 35sqm have since corrected this issue.

Sorry what do u mean by "concealing additional lighting / power points?"

Edited September 19, 2017 by ryanyth