Our 4-Bedder Resale Condo Reno Journey 54.5k (excl electric works)

[fingerscross 3]

Piece of Advice:

We bought a set of "Marble" bathroom set from Taobao (refer to link below). Product turned out to be melamine instead (refer to photo). Upon checking the link again, we failed to realised that the weight of the product would have given it away. Guess we were too excited to buy something so beautiful ... ... if only we had been more diligent 

https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000003547386.html

[Songz 132]

From the picture it seems they are doing some great job there 

For purchase online (Esp Taobao), got to be really careful. I got my own fair share of things which did not really turn out well 

[Clarence Lye 10]

On 10/2/2017 at 9:49 PM, fingerscross said:

Piece of Advice:

We bought a set of "Marble" bathroom set from Taobao (refer to link below). Product turned out to be melamine instead (refer to photo). Upon checking the link again, we failed to realised that the weight of the product would have given it away. Guess we were too excited to buy something so beautiful ... ... if only we had been more diligent 

https://ezbuy.sg/product/20000003547386.html

but still look pretty..

[fingerscross 3]

6 hours ago, Songz said:

From the picture it seems they are doing some great job there 

For purchase online (Esp Taobao), got to be really careful. I got my own fair share of things which did not really turn out well 

Well, taobao purchases can be a disappointment sometimes, but its still kind of fun n addictive for us bcos its like opening up a present. 

So far its more hits than misses. Quite glad with our taobao loots, esp our toilet n kitchen mixers. Some of the marble products were genuine marble. Think the key word here is "natural marble".

6 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

but still look pretty..

I agree it looks pretty. And its safer too since dropping these on the floor definitely wont cause a chipped or cracked tile. But still dissapointed. To say it in a language ladies would understand.... Its like expecting a chanel/gucci bag as a birthday present but u open it and you see charles n keith.....still pretty but....

Edited October 4, 2017 by fingerscross

[Songz 132]

On 10/4/2017 at 4:51 PM, fingerscross said:

Well, taobao purchases can be a disappointment sometimes, but its still kind of fun n addictive for us bcos its like opening up a present. 

So far its more hits than misses. Quite glad with our taobao loots, esp our toilet n kitchen mixers. Some of the marble products were genuine marble. Think the key word here is "natural marble".

I agree it looks pretty. And its safer too since dropping these on the floor definitely wont cause a chipped or cracked tile. But still dissapointed. To say it in a language ladies would understand.... Its like expecting a chanel/gucci bag as a birthday present but u open it and you see charles n keith.....still pretty but....

Hahaha ~~~

Agree with you but always read reviews which people comment, helps a lot to prevent getting bad product

[fingerscross 3]

My ID The Perfectionist

The first time we met Wayne, he aldy gave off a perfectionist vibe. Everythg drawn on the floor plan must be neat. When i am unable to explain somethg and i drew roughly on the floor plan. He would erase till there was 0 trace then draw again neatly. 

Before we get to the drama that happened on wed night n thurs morning. I shall first talk about the bare cement behind the kitchen cabinets.

When the hackers removed the kitchen cabinets and i saw the wall, the first thing that came to my mind was Gollum frm Lord of the Rings. I looked over at my ID and i cld see that this was also bugging him. So decided not to mention anythg abt plastering cos i didnt want to be shocked by an obsene VO. Well my guess was right, he got the wet work guys to plaster smooth the wall. Wife and me were really pleased about this when we did a site visit.

Edited October 6, 2017 by fingerscross

[fingerscross 3]

Toilet Tiles Laid Wrongly

Now i thought over a day and wondered if i shld post this. But i figured everyone makes mistakes, its how we go abt to rectify it that matters.

When the tiler was halfway thru overlaying the feature wall at mastertoilet, i recd a watsapp update frm id. Without realising its diff i promptly replied..."wow looks good"

In the evening while running with wife in the park she mentioned that it looks diff frm 3D. She pointed out that the honeycomb tiles were supposed to be 2 in a row, and the smooth tiles 1/2 on each side. So thats why the wall looks like it has very little honeycomb tiles. 

Contacted ID when i got back and told him abt this, together with my solution. Which is to overlay a row of honeycomb tiles in between mirror cabinet and constructed vanity. ID ok ok no prob.....then he must hav chk 3D drawing, called back and said he will redo the whole wall bcos its his fault, on top of that will also overlay the in between cabinet tiles as per my request FOC. When we told him we will go down and see how the tiles look in actual, he said its ok  he aldy informed tiler to hack away and redo the next day. We decided to grab our torch lights and take that 5 mins drive to the site anyway

When we went into the toilet n flicked on the lights....what greeted us was a completed wall and a constructed shampoo rack(We did this to hide whatever disfigured tiles that resulted frm the hacking of the kerb).

Both wifey n me agreed the workmanship was good n it wld be a waste to hack n redo. Standing in front of the wall, i could sense the effort the tiler took to knock every tile into place n ensure it is level to the tile next to it. It looked different from 3D, yes , but it sill looked quite good. 

ID was quite adamant on redoing because he cld sense that my wife was just accepting it and not wowed by it. As for me, i was quite glad the mistake was made so it brought abt the solution of overlaying more of those dreaded white tiles. 

Finally convinced ID that my solution will work and we will discuss on site the next day morning(thur)

On thur morning i found myself like an ID trying to convince a demanding client not to hack away and redo. It seems our roles have changed. He was just extremely apologetic about the whole thing and wanted to right the wrong.  I suggested doing a LED strip to highlight the in between cabinet tiles and make that wall the focal point. ID finally relented on not redoing the feature wall.

Overall i am quite glad the tiles were laid the way it is, seems like a blessing in disguise.  Now when we shower we can just on the LED strip, mood will be alot diff frm switching on the white fluorescent ceiling downlight.

 

[fingerscross 3]

So far my fav part of the house....the curve false ceiling. Requested ID to do this because my main door faces the window directly. So instead of doing a partition to block the energy flow, i decided to design this curve false ceiling to channel the energy back into the dining which is the centre of the house. The false ceiling guys followed to a tee what i drew on the floor plan. Really impressed with the workmanship. 

Edited October 6, 2017 by fingerscross
Corrected some spelling n grammar errors

[Songz 132]

Woah !!!

Great work and responsibility from your ID and his workers 

Like you said, there are bound to be problems and mistakes, most important is able to admit and resolve it 

[fingerscross 3]

On 07/10/2017 at 11:58 AM, Songz said:

Woah !!!

Great work and responsibility from your ID and his workers 

Like you said, there are bound to be problems and mistakes, most important is able to admit and resolve it 

Yup, i really appreciate the effort of ID and his workers involved in this project.

[fingerscross 3]

Thought i just post a funny incident since i like to keep my reno journey a light hearted one. Just realised this blog is linked in Inspire's facebook...so in case my ID reads this, just joking ah bro

So the day after hacking was electrical work day 1. I dropped by for a site visit kpo kpo. Saw this hanging at the dustbin

[fingerscross 3]

So i took a photo watsapp my wife, " eh free gift from id ah?"

She replied, "ewwww why is that thg there?"

I replied back, " dunno, mayb upstairs one fly down so workers hang there in case neighbour come to claim."

Wife replied, "throw away lah, wait your id tink u kinky bring girl here at night"

I replied, "cannot, maybe wayne put there to keep the workers motivated leh". So i left it there for 2 days but no one came to claim and tiling has aldy started by then.

While attending my 2nd son's graduation ceremony. Mood was serious and couples all around us looking proudly at their kids gng up on stage. Wife suddenly whispered to me, "eh that thg at the bin u throw away aldy onot?"

I told her with a straight face, "havn't bcos place v dusty n tilers use it as a mask when they cut the tile." She gave me a dirty look and the 2 of us just bust out laughing.

For the record, its been discarded. I m kinky but not that kinky

 

[mingzlee 0]

hi i just bought a resale condo too. going to completion soon. Able to pm me your ID contact

[fingerscross 3]

11 hours ago, mingzlee said:

hi i just bought a resale condo too. going to completion soon. Able to pm me your ID contact

PM sent

[fingerscross 3]

We spent 3.5 hrs measuring and finalising carpentry on Wed. By the time we were done it was aldy dark n too late to take photos.

Did a site visit this morning, wet works officially completed. Very pleased with the way all the floor tiles are done. Tiler made an effort to choose matching grains for kitchen tiles. Exceptionally happy with the slope i requested for mastertoilet. Some rooms aldy have a first coat of paint up. With all reno projects, the bottleneck is always at the carpentry. Hopefully they are able to get the kitchen cabinet up soon so that the quartz top guys can come and take measurements.

Mastertoilet slope