Remodeling of existing 5 room flat

[Bumblebee17 1]

7 hours ago, papermotif said:

I look at my own reno and roll my eyes at some of the silly mistakes too. If I were to have a second go, I'd pick an ID over contractor too. I'm sure you'll do just fine this time. 

Thanks for the encouragement! 

[Bumblebee17 1]

4 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

Looks good so far! 

Haha, thanks! I was reading your blog today and I must say that is a nice little English house you have  and... I’m a Arsenal fan too 

[Bumblebee17 1]

<R>

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17
Add pictures

[Bumblebee17 1]

Another shopping list

The whole house was tidied up and covered with new corrugated paper to prepare for electrical works. Meanwhile, we are working to finalize carpentry, which will be up next. And also more shopping (somehow the buying doesn’t seem to end )

Things to buy:

1. 2 zone induction hob (either Ariston or Bosch) - Brandt

2. Automated laundry system - Steigen

3. Fridge (because the husband says current fridge not nice enough to be displayed outside. Haha) - Samsung

4. Ceiling fans for living and dining areas - KDK

5. Dining table - On hold

6. Super single bed with pull-out - Star Living

7. Study chairs for kiddos - Bought

8. 2 instant water heaters (not considering storage heater. Nope, never. I’m impatient, need hot water immediately. Haha) - 707

9. Grohe shower heads. Thinking of getting the set instead. Don’t really like those that come with the heater - Scrapped

10. Philips Hue lighting system. Waiting for ID to tell me how many bulbs and strips to buy - Settled

11. Blinds for the whole house (was using curtains before and now want a change) - 5 manual and 1 motorised (Somfy motor)

12. Window netting for the whole house - Magicseal

Edited March 30, 2018 by Bumblebee17

[papermotif 0]

How's the house coming along, especially the carpentry?

[Bumblebee17 1]

@papermotif progress seems to be really slow although ID said carpentry installation will start this Thurs. I’ll post an update soon while counting down to Thurs. 

[Bumblebee17 1]

Last 2 weeks of reno period

Here we are, last 2 weeks of reno and.... the house still look rather messy, empty and nothing much to show.  Since the last update to now, only re-routing of aircon piping, false ceiling and dismantling of some windows are done.

Re-routing of aircon pipes

I was given the option to choose either my own aircon contact or ID's contact to do the re-routing. I went with option 1 since my contact was able to give a cheaper quote. My ID and I end up vomiting blood and almost cancelled their job. The job was completed in 3 days even though they promised to finish in 1. Reason? Out of the 3 days, they were ridiculously late for 2. The re-routing was done wrongly on the 1st day despite instructions given so they had to re-do everything. 2nd day, they only came to do marking. 3rd day then they finish the job.  Lesson learnt: Cheap doesn't always mean good. If you've already engaged an ID, let him/her arrange and schedule the works. At least, everything will be on schedule and you don't have to feel pai seh if ID screw the guys for not doing the job properly. Now ID had to reschedule everything to accommodate the delay the aircon guys had caused. 

False ceiling

Ceiling works for living room and bedrooms all done. Workers came today to remove the kitchen false ceiling because ID realised the doors of the top kitchen cabinets cannot open fully with the false ceiling there. Aircon trunking was also boxed up.

Dismantling of windows

My mum eventually decided she wanted to have all the windows changed. No more ugly top-hung windows. Haha! As of today, only kitchen and bathroom windows were removed. So there are now 1 big and 2 small lobangs in the house . This also caused some delay in the progress.

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17
Add pictures

[Bumblebee17 1]

Appliances purchases

During this “lull” period, we also finalized the carpentry works. Installation will start this Thurs. Can’t wait! 

After much discussion and research, we started ticking off items on the shopping list with the following purchases from Lazada (during 12.12 sale) and Goh Ah Bee (our all-time favourite. Call - Ask price - Like - Buy. Chop chop curry pork )

1. Samsung fridge (Hubs wanted a nice fridge to show off and I wanted a door-in-door like Kdrama) 

2. Brandt 2 zone induction (on my mother’s order)

3. Sony 65” 4K tv (we are Sony fans)

4. Eques digital door viewer (No more squinting through the small peephole. More importantly, my mum and the kids can see who is at the door easily and I don't have to worry they anyhow open door to anyone)

5. Neato robot vacuum (can’t live without one)

6. Philips Hue light strips, dimmer switch, bridge and tap switch (we’re going for smart lighting) 

7. 707 instant water heaters (Princeton)

8. KDK ceiling fans for the living and dining areas

 

We will also be getting the following

1. Stegien automated laundry system - Site assessment done. Just waiting for me to “say yes”

2. Roller blinds (1 motorized and the rest manual) from Jackson Global. They offered $600 for Somfy motor which is $50 cheaper than the one I was recommended to enquire (i-one). Site measurement is done. Waiting for final quote.

3. Insect netting from Magicseal (on hold until all windows are up)

4. Tracklights from Diyovation. Found this seller while browsing through 1 of the blogs here.

 

Items pending purchase

1. More Philips Hue light strips (only managed to get 5m from the 12.12 sale). ID says I need 25m for the entire house 

2. Sound bar. Hubs is keen to splurge on a Sony one which costs about $1k. Will update if we eventually end up with one

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17
Clean up

[Bumblebee17 1]

<R>

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17

[Bumblebee17 1]

Carpentry

Installation of carpentry and windows started last Thurs. 

We went over to our place to take a quick look today after lunch. Happened to meet ID there. He said he is going to all his sites to check on progress. Since he is there, we took the opportunity to clarify some queries and also decide on colour for painting. We left the house assured that everything should turn out right. 

1. Foyer/mud room - I intend to install motion sensor here so that we don't have to fumble for the switch when entering or leaving the house. (This is the official reason. The real reason is because I watched too much Kdrama and liked how their apartments have motion sensor lighting at the entrance.)

2. Front of TV console/cabinet - TV will be mounted in the middle. 2 side cabinets will house the kids’ toys.

3. Back of TV console/cabinet - 2 middle cabinets for barang barang that we don’t use or use often. Will be quite untouchable because there will be a bicycle pole right in front of the cabinets. 2 side panels will be full length glass. 

4. Pantry/toy display - This is where the fridge, coffee maker, dry food, snacks will be. Top cabinets will have glass doors so that our LEGO and Transformers can be displayed there.

5. Kitchen/service yard - Top and bottom cabinets at the kitchen area. Customized so that short people like me and my mum can reach for items in the top cabinet easily. Service yard area starts from the tall units to the kitchen window. Laundry sink will be at the glass block. The tall units will house laundry baskets, detergents, ironing board, Dyson handheld vacuum cleaner, steam mop etc. A section of the glass block will be covered up because the walls were uneven. This was only known during installation. Sad. There are other options but need to wait for the cabinet doors to be installed then can decide.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17
Clean up

[Bumblebee17 1]

6. Common toilet

7. Master room toilet

Edited January 9, 2018 by Bumblebee17
Clean up

[Bumblebee17 1]

While all the above have been going on, I was hard at work too!  From receiving deliveries of our purchases to running around to buy stuff that we didn’t manage to buy online (track lights and more Philips Hue light strips). Also managed to confirm purchase and installation of automated laundry system and blinds. Insect netting site measurement will be done this Thurs. Have to see if it can done earlier.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Bumblebee17

[KFC1189 11]

The progress of your home renovation is looking good! May I know how much did you pay for the Neato cleaning robot? Which automated laundry drying system did you get?

[KFC1189 11]

Recently I bought this Xiaomi Roborock cleaning robot from Taobao. This is a second generation cleaning robot that comes a water tank attached at the bottom of the robot. It vacuums first and immediately mops the floor. Its performance is excellent! I can even control it with an app when I am overseas.

Edited December 26, 2017 by KFC1189

[Clarence Lye 10]

3 hours ago, KFC1189 said:

Recently I bought this Xiaomi Roborock cleaning robot from Taobao. This is a second generation cleaning robot that comes a water tank attached at the bottom of the robot. It vacuums first and immediately mops the floor. Its performance is excellent! I can even control it with an app when I am overseas.

is it good? i'm looking to get one. how much did u paid for it