Strictly Scandinavian (3 Room 65Sqm BTO)

[flowersinherhair 2]

Hi everyone! After a 4.5 years long wait, I have finally gotten my keys to my new home. My BTO is located in the west but due to privacy reasons, I will not be disclosing the exact location of my home. I have been following the forum since a couple of years back and today I have decided to start my own thread. I will be sharing my renovation journey, my thoughts and reviews. At the same time, I hope to gain valuable learning points from fellow forummers.

This is my floor plan, 3 room 65sqm BTO. I will be sharing the unit with my sibling. 

 

 

View of my living room when you enter through the door.

 

 

Another view of my living room.

 

 

Will be doing a full height cabinet for this side of my kitchen.

 

 

 

View of my living room from the kitchen. Will be doing a tempered glass swing door at the entrance, did considered a bifold door but my ID advised not to use a bifold door as it will make the whole area smaller with the kitchen completely segregated from the living room. 

 

 

Entrance to service yard, love that there is ample amount of sunlight streaming in throughout the day as this area is relatively unblocked as seen by the vast area of trees opposite. However, I heard that the area is slated for further developments so I will enjoy this scenery while it lasts. Only downside is my white cabinet might turn yellow easily due to the sunlight.

 

 

Service yard, planning to do the auto pole system as this pulley thingy is so annoying..  I will also do a basin here for washing of dirty laundry and shoes, may also do a kerb at the bottom. The problem is, the contractor will have to run a pipe across from the other end.. The pipings will be quite unsightly.. 

 

 

Washing machine will be on this side.

 

 

Common washroom. Will be doing a vanity cabinet and sliding door shower screen. Tiles and toilet bowl will remain as it is. I'm quite relieved that the tiles design look quite ok. 

 

 

Master bedroom washroom. Similarly for this washroom, tiles and toilet bowl will remain as it is. Will be doing a vanity cabinet and mirror cupboard, as well as a swingdoor shower screen. 

 

 

Master bedroom (it's so small!)

 

 

Another view of the master bed room.

 

 

Guestroom/ sibling room.

 

 

Another view of the small bedroom

 

 

Walkway to the bedrooms.

 

Edited July 30, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[flowersinherhair 2]

Mood Board

The theme chosen is Scandinavian, mostly white with calm, muted tone of grey and pastel colours. 

LIVING ROOM

 

 

KITCHEN

 

 

BEDROOM

 

 

BATHROOM

 

 

Meeting up with IDs

I have met up with a total of 6 IDs, via renotalk, through friend's recommendations as well as personal research, most quoted me about $30-$40K thereabouts, excluding electrical works. However as my budget is only about $30K for the renovation works (all in), all the IDs which I met do not meet my budget. As this is my first home, I would really like to see some creative flair in my BTO. A lot of contractors and IDs' design are very typical of Singapore HDB BTOs which is something I do not like. Eventually, I have decided to go with company I. I have been following company F since a couple of years ago and I really like some of their works. However, company I renovation costs are typically at least 10-20% higher than other IDs. I decided to go ahead with their designer package ($1600, excluding GST). The package includes the following services: Site survey and measurements, layout and space planning proposal, design concept consultation, 3D drawings (unlimited changes), and materials and colour scheme propsal. I will see how much is the final quotation and decide whether to go ahead with company I for my renovation works, alternatively I may use them partially (eg carpentry), and outsource the rest to my contractors. Btw, I will not be revealing the name of my ID and company but if you are keen, please feel free to PM me. I will probably do a review on company I once I'm done with my whole renovation works. 

 

Edited August 3, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[spooky 6]

Yay! Nice to see another 3 room t-blog. Your layout is pretty unique for a new flat, I think. Interested to see how the finished home looks like!

[flowersinherhair 2]

Feng Shui Master

I decided to consult a FSM to do an audit for my BTO. I did a lot of research on FSM and have decided to engage company W. My choices were pretty much between company W and Master C (very famous in Renotalk forum, there is an entire thread on Master C), however Master C may suggests weird arrangements and you must choose to accept these as it defeats the purpose of engaging a FSM if you do not go ahead with the Feng Shui recommendations. For Company W, prices are pretty steep but I heard good reviews from relatives. Master has been to my place for the audit 2 weeks ago, furniture arrangements were pretty straight forward, nothing too drastic. Colours advised were in line with my Scandinavian theme. However, I was advised to paint my door and gate to another colour which means additional costs. In addition, I have to place a water feature in my service yard, got to find a nice, little water feature which looks Scandi enough. 

 

Door opening ceremony 开工仪式

I consulted the calender (supplied by the FSM company which I engaged) and chose a 吉日 to enter the unit. There was a time period which I have to adhere to. Googled and found some blogs that mentioned the procedures to perform, I modified a bit and made it my own version. The standard procedures will be rolling of pineapple and sprinkling of salt, green bean, uncooked rice and chinese tea leaves(in a mixture) all over the house. 

 

 

Start work ceremony 动土仪式

I actually wanted to do the ceremony after 7th month hungry ghost festival which is late September, since I will only plan start renovation then. However, I asked around and found out that rectifying defects is also considered as 动土 since there will be drillings involved. I scurried to get a date from my FSM. In addition, I was planning to install an arm rest and even a minor installation is deemed as you have 动土. It was a simple ceremony and I got it done in 15 mins time. There was a specified date to enter the house and you have to start the ceremony at the exact hour and minute. Basically, I was advised by my FSM to get a hammer to hit the walls and floors of the house, at the same time, sprinkled a mixture of salt, uncooked rice and chinese tea leaves. I will be stopping all renovation works during the 7th month, so hopefully my defect rectifications can be done before the 7th month. 

Edited July 30, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[flowersinherhair 2]

3D drawings: Version 1

I met up with my ID yesterday to see the very draft of my 3D drawings, I was quite excited, to say the least. 

Most of the furnitures featured in the 3D drawings are the actual ones which I have shortlisted.

Hope to hear suggestions from you guys on how I can improve on the design. 

 

LIVING ROOM

- Overall, I'm quite pleased with how the living room looks.

- However, I'm planning to change the craftstone wall to beige colour and the rest of walls to beige colour too (due to fengshui reasons).

- I will be asking my ID to change the loose piece cabinet to a full height one, not sure why it was missed out as I have mentioned in the previous meetings that I would like a full height cabinet. Notice that my door has been painted grey, this is also due to fengshui reasons.

- I would like to get a mirror, but where should I put it? I wanted to do it at the DB box laminate panel but decided against it, as there will be a gap in between. Should I do a hidden mirror in the cabinet, or should I place it on the side of the cabinet, such that the mirror is facing the inner side of the door? 

- Blinds will be changed to a grey day and night curtain instead.

- Sofa will be changed to a L shaped one. I custom making my sofa so that it can fit better in the tight space. 

 

 

KITCHEN 

- My kitchen looks pretty plain, but I guess this is what a Scandi kitchen looks like.

- I will be doing a dusty blue glass backsplash so that it goes in sync with my dusty blue dining chair in the dining area.

- Should I do knobs for my drawers?

- I'm planning to place my rubbish bin under the sink as I can't really think of any space to place the bin.

- The dish drainer is located above the sink, should I do a hidden one as shown, or a open one? My ID suggested a hidden one so that the whole kitchen will look cleaner.

- As for the other side of the kitchen, I'm planning to get shelves to be drilled onto the walls. 

 

 

COMMON BEDROOM 

- The gap between the headboard and the sliding wardrobe is quite tight, I will probably have to source for a really thin headboard. 

 

 

MASTER BEDROOM

- I was a bit disappointed with my MBR, in particular with the cabinet layout, hopefully my ID and I can further fine tune it so that it will be in line with what I have visualised. 

 

COMMON TOILET

- Pretty standard bathroom layout. 

 

 

MBR TOILET

- Will be changing the sink top to kompacplus. 

Edited July 29, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[flowersinherhair 2]

2 hours ago, spooky said:

Yay! Nice to see another 3 room t-blog. Your layout is pretty unique for a new flat, I think. Interested to see how the finished home looks like!

Hi, thanks for popping by. Yea I'm looking forward to see how my finished home looks like.

[flowersinherhair 2]

Armrest installation

I participated in my BTO group buy and got my door an arm rest. This is my very first installation for my new house! Absolutely loving the arm rest as the door now stays put at an angle without the need of a door stopper, very useful when you are moving in big pieces of furnitures and materials for renovation works. The angle can be adjusted manually but I was advised by the installer not to do it too frequently as it might damage the arm rest in the long run. Installation was pretty straight forward and it took about 10-15 mins. There are 2 colours to choose from, black and silver. I chose the silver one as it suits the Scandi theme better. Paid $50 for the silver one and I thought it was quite reasonable, the arm rest also comes with a 2 year warranty. 

 

Edited July 30, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[flowersinherhair 2]

Defects inspection 

I did not want to engage the company to inspection defects initially cos I thought it is unnecessary and it is not cheap ($350 for a 3 room BTO). Moreover, my unit does not come with any of the OCS. However, I'm not sure how to check defects and I'm too lazy to do it myself too lol. My ID did picked out a few defects for me but I believed that are more. Also, the inspectors can help to detect potential risk and get the BSC to rectify them before the warranty expires. I would rather do the necessary rectifications now and save myself from repairing detectable defects in the future (imagine the time and money wasted and the frustration!). After reading the reviews, I decided to engage Absolute Inspection for the defects checking. 

 

First inspection 

The initial appointment was supposed to be in the morning, but the boss texted me the night before informing me that his staff was ill and he will be coming down personally to do the inspection in the afternoon. I was fine with that. You can go to the company website to check out the boss's credentials, he has a pretty solid CV and I trust that he knows what he is doing since he is quite an expert in this field. He is a nice and funny chap. He went around my house to check on every nook and cranny, including the air con ledge and outside of my unit! My house was plastered with so many tapes and he found a total of 86 defects! I felt oddly satisfied to see so many tapes pasted all over the place lol. The BSC defects lists was filled in for me, all I need to do is to submit the form to the BSC office. The whole inspection process took almost 4 hours! The next appointment will be a joint inspection between the inspection company and the HDB contractors. 

Edited July 31, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[spooky 6]

Did the inspection team spot any defects that really amazed you? Was considering engaging them too but in the end wanted to save the money. Did you ask what happens if at the next inspection, new defects are found? That's what happened for me and many neighbours, sigh

[flowersinherhair 2]

20 hours ago, spooky said:

Did the inspection team spot any defects that really amazed you? Was considering engaging them too but in the end wanted to save the money. Did you ask what happens if at the next inspection, new defects are found? That's what happened for me and many neighbours, sigh

Hi @spooky, I think I was am quite lucky, there were not too many major defects. Some major ones include hollowness of floor, uneven floor tiles, misalignment of service yard door etc. I would say, about 70% of the defects are cosmetic in nature. eg poor paint job, scratches on tiles, switches, rust, missing screws etc. If you are not very particular about it, I suppose it is fine with not engaging a inspection company. In fact, most of the defects will be covered up by cabinets eventually. However, there are certain things which a layman like me or even an ID can't detect, eg hollow flooring, missing cover in the fuse box (I thought it was supposed to be a hole lol), so I would say, engage an inspection team if you want a piece of mind. 

During the next inspection, the inspection team will go through the lists of defects again with the HDB contractors, I think if there are new defects, the team will highlight to the contractors. There will be a final round of check, after the third round, there will be a charge when you need to engage the inspection team to come down again. 

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by flowersinherhair

[twelfthminute 3]

We share the same aesthetics! Camping!

[izong 4]

wow your ID very good ley, give u 3d for everything!

[flowersinherhair 2]

10 hours ago, izong said:

wow your ID very good ley, give u 3d for everything!

@izong Hmm is it not a norm for the ID to give 3D for everything? For this company which I'm engaging, I paid for the design package which include all 3Ds of the entire house, and unlimited revisions.

[spooky 6]

Quite a few IDs these days don't charge extra (officially) for design, so they usually limit the drawings to 2-3 3D perspectives. But since you paid extra for their design service, it's expected that they give you all the drawings you want. Really helps in visualizing though!

[izong 4]

On 03/08/2017 at 8:52 PM, flowersinherhair said:

@izong Hmm is it not a norm for the ID to give 3D for everything? For this company which I'm engaging, I paid for the design package which include all 3Ds of the entire house, and unlimited revisions.

ohh, u paid extra for the design package!! Mine only gave me 3D when there's carpentry work involve