5I resale: Modern Mix with a baby

[pitterpat 0]

INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone, I can finally start sharing my reno journey with you guys (project begins 6th Aug 2018)!  This will be our first matrimonial home. We got married 3 years back but as I had a BTO with my mum, we had to wait till 5 year MOP is up before selling current 3rm to share our first home. Last year we also had a baby, so it is high time we get a bigger place as our current home got horribly cluttered without any planned space for 2 additional people. We actually handed over our 1k cheque on the spot within an hour of viewing this home (our 10th). It was spacious, nicely lit and breezy, high floor, nice marble flooring (thought we could save on flooring), not much direct sunlight and non-scheming-looking agents lol. 

Hope nobody minds I copy the style of presentation from various threads...

Unit: 5I Resale @ 1,302 sqft
Theme: Mostly Modern (thanks to marble flooring), some luxe, some scandi
Duration: 8 weeks (so many holidays this period!)
Budget: 80,000 (spending thus far: 79,396 ;_; going to go over budget...)

Here is our floor plan:

Our current living plan:
Major hacking of kitchen and service yard walls for open concept
Building cabinet to store ironing board, vacuum cleaners and clothing rail to hang clothes to iron infront of common bathroom
Building Kitchen Island
Boxing up wall recesses **** room and master bedroom
Hacking away store room door, sealing its door and shifting 2 bedroom doors for wardrobe space
Bedroom 3 is my work room for sewing, photography, art etc.
Bedroom 2 is husband's working area mixed with some baby spaces (we foresee him only wanting his own room when he's 7 or 10, so he sleeps in our master bedroom)
TV at study (now play area), will have baby's mat, toys and activity centres.

 

Edited September 25, 2018 by pitterpat

[pitterpat 0]

ID/CONTRACTOR SEARCH

L from HM (our chosen one): A friend recommended her to us and I have also visited their home before and found her ideas refreshing (making better use of supposedly wasted space). Their online portfolio isn't very wow but kitchens look great. She got me to send her our floorplan and ideas beforehand so we can discuss better.

Visited her office after work on a Tuesday. She is very friendly and easy to talk to. I let her guide me on what is currently present and what we hope to do before she bounced her ideas/suggestions off me (which I found all to be very wise). I find her practical as she didn't push for customizations but more for saving money (e.g. some can get furniture instead of built-in). She also said nowadays people just overlay instead of hack away, but mostly kitchens are painted instead of tiled to save money.

 

She also came up with great suggestions on how to utilise our space. I am quite afraid of spending over budget but hope to see what can be done. She also shared that her quote involves quality materials by default because her basic promise to clients is a quality home that can last a lifetime, not a cheaper quotation for low quality materials just to meet our budget. Her contractors will also be confused if they are to use sub par materials to build up the home. High integrity. She took 1week+ to prepare our quotation.

 

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A from Se...: Wonderful ID. I loved his way of working right from the beginning but alas we cannot afford him. He was recommended by a friend and probably won't take us on if we didn't have connections! He owns and does his own designing, like L above, and he's an awesome visualiser. He was the only one who planned our space based on how we will use it and who we are. I was bowled over by his ideas as well as his on-the-spot drawings of interiors. I wanted to frame up his floor plan and drawings! He works mostly with private homes as well so taste can be quite luxe. He taught me how to use our space wisely, living area and dining (plus hack away kitchen wall install a kitchen island and waaah) for hosting gatherings, study to use as play area so we can keep an eye on our baby/toddler when we cook...

 

We didn't pick him in the end because I can't bring myself to haggle with him.  He sells value, not price, so in a perfect world where I have tons of money to spare I'd pick him and let him have free reign, but we are on a tight budget so had no choice but to turn him down.

 

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A from Pr..: 1 of 3 preferred IDs requested via renotalk. A lady called me to set up appointment and shared that another designer will be taking care of my account. On the day itself I texted her saying I sent a second email and she say the designer should have contacted me which I replied "unfortunately no".. then the designer reached out an hour before meetup time.

 

Visited their office on a Wednesday evening. The recep served me water while i sat down to wait for A to get his things ready. We got down to business after I turned down looking through their portfolio coz I already saw online (that's why I requested for them). 

 

A felt a little more chill than L so I didn't feel like I could safely leave the entire project in his hands. He was quite concerned over us wasting money on re-dos so suggested we hack away our kitchen tiles and re-waterproof instead of overlaying. He also said 20 year old flat electrician sure will say need to rewire and hack false ceiling away to be on the safe side.

 

He then shared the example book of his works.

A told me he will take 2 weeks to send me a quotation. Didn't offer any space planning ideas on the spot like L did.

 

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A from Re..: Found through a forum recommendation. Portfolio visuals are very strong. Love the entire home looks.

 

Very friendly person, asked me to share floorplan and ideas before meeting so we can discuss more on lifestyle and how to build our home around it. Also flexible over places to meet. However, I found her too focused on details instead of overall space usage. There was not much space planning and she can be a bit too chatty. Our meeting ended up running overtime and she had to take many calls in between.

 

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A from Ad...: 1 of the 5 renotalk IDs that took up our request. Sounded a little awkward over the phone when planning a schedule but I like their portfolio so decided to meet up. Also a little fearful because their range all above 50k. Very flexible and willing to meet at more convenient location.

 

Edited August 5, 2018 by pitterpat

[pitterpat 0]

INTERIOR (BEFORE)

View from entrance (previous owner 19 years ago managed to combine balcony with interior, and we plan to use this area as living room and small reading nook; taped area on floor is where our sofa will be). Check out bad planning... master bathroom ventilation windows are those brown things right there on the wall:

View from 'balcony' (will get IKEA's Stal shoe cabinet to fit within the 28cm space on right, a bench for putting on shoes, and left side we will use as open area to park our baby's pram and install open shelves at top to place keys and paraphernalia). You can also see opening to kitchen from here:

View of dining hall and study area, which we will use as our baby's play area. We will also be hacking away the kitchen and service yard wall on the right for an open concept kitchen with kitchen island (this was one designer's great idea so we could keep an eye on our toddler while preparing food in the kitchen). Of course there is that stupid structural beam along the wall, and more pipes between kitchen and service yard to box up... -_- :

Our toilets are horribly small and crammed full of pipes. Lots of money going to boxing them up haiz..

Kitchen (wanted a fully open wall at sink side but once again there's a horrible pipe running across the top  ):

Edited August 3, 2018 by pitterpat

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3D RENDERS

Here are some 3D drawings my ID sent me and I happily Photoshopped away to look as close to what I want.

Living room (light cove false ceiling I have requested for it to be less wide, though ID made it to match entryway beam.. hope not gross). Fan will not need light either, we may get wooden DC fan..:

Kitchen island and cabinet + toilet door + above washing machine cabinet (looks a little too consistently white there.. need to see what else can be done.. Maybe rims etc.). I replaced her bar stools with more modern looking ones and faked marblised the sides of the island coz she originally did them all brown wood):

Kitchen area (silly pipe killing my nice open wall):

Master bathroom (the photoshop here was done at 3am in the morning because I couldn't sleep); Decided to have open shelves facing sink for easy access to daily products and we need space for a laundry basket):

Edited August 3, 2018 by pitterpat

[pitterpat 0]

PURCHASES

SOON BEE HUAT: (We tried to keep our tile selection conservative within the $3 psf range, so mostly China/Malaysian tiles meet this range, but I splurged on a Spanish tile for shower wall :x)
Kitchen floor tiles SBH-HT-XWS 3641 30X60
Bathroom floor tiles SBH HT-R60 30x30
Master Bathroom wall tiles SBH-HT-QD639613 30x60
Common Bathroom wall tiles (shower area wall WT: ARTWORK F, other walls SBH-HT-SR111A 30x60)

Lamitak:
Grey Stone Dario Ramblas DXP 1329C for TV feature wall
Light wood Karla Tivoli Elm WY 1270D for TV console shelves
Marble Mario Classico Gloss DXP 1358G for kitchen wall

EDL:
Dark wood DMV 4548AE Dark Elm for inside of kitchen island

Picket & Rail:
Kuka Full Grain Brown Leather 3 seater Sofa and ottoman (GSS deal)

JB Curtains (FB):
Drapes and sheers for balcony/living room and master bedroom, Korean blinds for play area and curved corner drapes for bedroom 3 + installation

IKEA:
PAX wardrobe (for master bedroom walk-in) no lights, no doors
BESTA wall cabinets (for work room in bedroom 3)
ELVARLI frame with drawers and shelves (b3)
NORDLI Floor drawers (b3)
ALEX drawers (b3)
BEKANT 160cm desk (b3)
Desk lamp for sewing machine (b3)
HOVSTA, SILVERGEN Photo frames and SAMMANHANG wall ledges (b3)
FLISAT table and KALLAX 4 shelf unit (for play area)
PAX single wardrobe frame and door (for entryway to store ladder and others)
DYNAN Shelf Unit for common bathroom
Single Sheepskin pelt
BILLY single bookcase

Robinsons:
Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre vacuum
Nespresso Mini Essenza bundle with Aeroccino

Metro:
Snowsdown summer duvets (super single and queen size)

Akemiuchi:
Cheapest and best Tencel bedding sets (can get quilt cover sets under S$120 for Queen size!)

Gain City:
Dunlopillo Super Single mattress and storage bed frame

Hoe Kee:
Fujioh Recycling FR-FS1890R Hood in Rich Silver; Fujioh FG-3773 Glass Hob in Black; FV-EL51GL multifunction Oven (package deal)
Blanco Metra 9 Anthracite sink and matching Mida tap + free plastic corner caddy (package deal)

Muji:
Polyester Cotton Linen Mixed Soft Box for storing baby diapers
Soft Polyethylene Cases (various sizes) for bathroom storage
White Porcelain tableware (rice bowls, shallow bowls and saucers)

Landex:
Luzerne salad bowls and plates
Solaswiss Baguette Seven Chromenickel steel 18/10 cutlery sets (during their moving sale at 70% off)

Taobao:
Dining lamp
Foldable ironing board
Paper towel holder
Electrical Clothes Drying Rack
Walk-in wardrobe mirror, 3x round mirrors in Common Bathroom
2x Silver toilet roll holders for bathrooms
Inspired Wobbelboard and Toddler art easel
Drinks trolley/cart for art supplies
PAX fillers for clothing organisation
Toaster double-tiered rack for kitchen
2x Acrylic drawer storage for facial products
6x water absorbent stone trays
Gold twist glass top bedside table
Black modern glass top side table
Printer double-tier rack for work room
Toddler teepee

Audiohouse:
LG Twin Wash 8kg washing machine TWC1408S3E
LG reversible door fridge GBB4451GV
Farfalla duo temperature wine chiller
Samsung 49" UHD Smart LED television UA-49NU7100

Yes Electrical (JB):
3x Panasonic LED F-M12GXVBHQH Ceiling fans in Dark Grey
2x Panasonic Econavi F-14HWVBSQH Ceiling fans without light in Platinum Silver
7x THORLED dimmable downlights with 2 remote controls
1 two-bulb downlight mount with Phillips LED bulbs

Design Lighting (JB):
'Moon' white resin ball pendant light for Common bathroom
'Mini Chandelier' aluminium cascading flush-mount light for Master bathroom

Best Lighting (JB):
2x Elmark P80 wall/ceiling fans in Chrome

Starworld (JB):
1x rose gold and black wire trio pendant light for walk-in wardrobe

Heritage Bathroom Gallery
25L Joven storage heater
Tuscani 21-2S Shower Set for Common Bathroom
FT 8908 3 in 1 rain shower Set for Master Bathroom
2x spray guns, 2x toilet bowls, wall hung basin, table top basin, 2x mixer taps

ID's vendors:
Aircon (Mitsubishi Starmex System 4)
Quartz Nougat white kitchen table top
Quartz Fusli marble look kitchen island table top
Quartz Nougat ? Master bathroom sink counter
Nippon Paint Easy Wash/Vinilex (Swansdown...)
3 Yale BM918 silver-colour lever handles for bedroom doors
1 Besglas Lazio bifold door in black trim and white opal glass
LED strip lights

QOO10 vendor:
GATEMAN digital door and gate locks

DACO:
Faux hanging orchids at dining light
Faux succulent long planter for kitchen island
Faux Christmas wreath for gate

EastPerry:
Double Sheepskin pelt for master bedroom

For now we are keeping all our doors, cracked or no (can't believe it's $400 for a solid core bedroom door ;_:).
 

Edited December 9, 2018 by pitterpat

[pitterpat 0]

PROCESS PICTURES

9th Aug (3-day hacking completed)

Hallway showing store room and master bedroom doors and store room wall on left removed  (now 4m long and I can't wait to find a nice runner rug for it, but not sure whether ready-made 2'8" x 12' rugs can work).

Kitchen (all cabinets removed showing yet another recess in wall, but now there is chance to partition it so my open wall can be one piece!)

Common Bathroom (wondering if self-designed ideas will work in this tight space)

16th Aug (tiling and boxing up in progress)

There were issues with building a large false ceiling in the service yard and kitchen areas so we abolished it and will just have boxing up of pipes around the beam.
I was also afraid we won't have enough space to have our electric clothes hanging rack so the top hung cabinet above washing machine has been axed.

Bathroom wall and floor tiles are in, now pending box up of pipes.

Hallway previous door areas have been sealed up with bricks and cement.
ID told me she wanted to get us black sewage drainers but they were too thick for our floor... So they had to be white.

Edited August 16, 2018 by pitterpat

[pitterpat 0]

PURCHASES

@ Yes Electrical Supply
No 22, Jalan Serampang, Taman Pelangi, 80050 Johor Bahru

Our first stop in JB was this shop my husband found online. Apparently this place has good reviews and prices are competitive.
I was a little surprised when I first entered as it was just an office space with tables and lots of boxes of goods stacked around, and a high ceiling with 3 fans running.
An uncle who's perhaps in his 60s served us and helped us choose fans suitable for our low ceiling as well as room sizes.
He also suggested we get this off-brand LED downlight that was perhaps half the price of a Philips equivalent, which we got 7 of.

Overall he sounded knowledgeable and trusted the quality of the old brands like KDK and Panasonic way more than Fanco/Elmark etc. We were also surprised why local shops didn't sell Panasonic fans to us but marketed Fanco and Elmark way more. He also shared a Singapore contact who can help us install and balance these fans expertly for $40 per fan. As we already have an electrician part of my ID's crew who can install fans for us, we won't be contacting this other guy.

The prices of our fans were like the same numerals as local fans but in Ringgit. Thankfully our Toyota Prius could fit all these big boys with back seats lowered. We also brought a Queen sized duvet cover to conceal these fans just in case anyone decides to rob our car...

Will share reviews once these are installed.

@ Best Light Electrical SDN BHD

One of many similar big showroom shops with lots of lights and fans in a single floor. My husband found the sales lady pushy. Best was our second last stop for the day and we were looking for these smaller AC fans for dining and kitchen areas so settled for 2 Chrome coloured Elmark P80s. They have some nice feature pendant lights great for dining rooms. Apparently they have an even bigger showroom 10mins away that also carries toilet-related goods and they deliver to Singapore.

@ Starworld Lighting

Kinda commercial, very much like Tampoi Lightings (this shop was at the other end of the same building as Tampoi). We went to both and were not impressed. More than 90% of lights can be bought cheaply from Taobao, no special lights.  We saw this common wire trio light and decided to just get it for our walk-in wardrobe. I was planning to have a fringe chandelier in there but just settled on the rose gold light we got here. The staff will give you parking coupons when a summon man is around to protect you from getting fined. It was 216R for this wire trio.

@ Design Lighting
No 33, Jalan Ros Merah 2/10, Taman Johor Jaya
81100 Johor Bahru

Our last shop of the day ending around 5pm (we were so tired lol). I was about to give up looking for ceiling lights but thankfully we decided to enter this little shop of lights and was delighted with the variety we found. The staff were very friendly and showed us many functionalities of their lights. Super lights that you can dim and change from warm to cool under 300ringgit. We loved the first resin ball light we saw and felt it would look great in our off-white common bathroom. And I was after a crystal-ish light for our master bathroom and was also super happy to find this little cascading aluminium mini chandelier. Hope they will look okay in our bathrooms! Reasonably priced at 235R and 140R.

Edited August 16, 2018 by pitterpat

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FINAL HOME - updated 26 Feb 2019

This took a while as styling and getting things in took some time, and even now I have yet to complete paintings to hang on our walls.
Anyway, without further ado, here are some photos from my designer's photographer for the most renovated parts.

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by pitterpat

[KFC1189 11]

Hi Pitterpat,

Congratulations to you and husband on the occasion of being proud owners of your new home.

Your layout is really unique and a little strange! May I know where your new home is located?

I notice that you will have tall cabinets in the old service yard area. In that case, will you relocate the common bathroom window to the door facing the kitchen?

Do you plan to buy a clothes dryer as I don't see a drying rack?

[pitterpat 0]

12 hours ago, KFC1189 said:

Hi Pitterpat,

Congratulations to you and husband on the occasion of being proud owners of your new home.

Your layout is really unique and a little strange! May I know where your new home is located?

I notice that you will have tall cabinets in the old service yard area. In that case, will you relocate the common bathroom window to the door facing the kitchen?

Do you plan to buy a clothes dryer as I don't see a drying rack?

Thank you, KFC1189!

Yes our home layout has a long hallway that's a combo of living room, dining and study. It's located at Senja Road Bukit Panjang. There is another unit we saw in another block that has a stranger shape full of diagonals instead of squares. I guess the designer for this estate was being experimental... 

The previous owner sealed the old  common bathroom doorway and opened it at service yard under windows. So we are building a new door to be flush with our cabinets. Bathroom windows will remain at service yard.

Another gripe of mine is this home has zero bathroom windows facing outside the building like the new BTOs. Quite ridiculous, really.

We will be getting an electric clothes drying rack fixed to the ceiling at service yard area. The beam should be able to hide it when it isn't in use. We are getting a rack with UV light and fans coz I don't see myself hauling bamboo poles outside and letting my neighbours drip water onto our laundry. Less headache.

Edited August 5, 2018 by pitterpat

[KFC1189 11]

On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 10:46 AM, pitterpat said:

Thank you, KFC1189!

Yes our home layout has a long hallway that's a combo of living room, dining and study. It's located at Senja Road Bukit Panjang. There is another unit we saw in another block that has a stranger shape full of diagonals instead of squares. I guess the designer for this estate was being experimental... 

The previous owner sealed the old  common bathroom doorway and opened it at service yard under windows. So we are building a new door to be flush with our cabinets. Bathroom windows will remain at service yard.

Another gripe of mine is this home has zero bathroom windows facing outside the building like the new BTOs. Quite ridiculous, really.

We will be getting an electric clothes drying rack fixed to the ceiling at service yard area. The beam should be able to hide it when it isn't in use. We are getting a rack with UV light and fans coz I don't see myself hauling bamboo poles outside and letting my neighbours drip water onto our laundry. Less headache.

Hi pitterpat,

Since your bathrooms are separated, that is why there are pipes in each bathroom. If the two bathrooms are adjacent to each other, usually there is only one set of pipe.

Agreed that HDB should have created bathroom windows facing outside.

Do note that if you install electric clothes drying rack in the service yard, you will be able to see hanging clothes from living room, dining room, and even study room. You cannot hide clothes hanging on drying rack by the beam. Now that there is no wall in your service yard, your clothes will be exposed. It can be quite unsightly in my opinion. You may want to buy a dryer instead.

 

Edited August 6, 2018 by KFC1189

[pitterpat 0]

@KFC1189 Thanks for the info! We will definitely not be hanging any clothes when visitors come. Not very keen on getting a dryer as not every clothing piece we own works in a dryer. 

[pitterpat 0]

PROCESS UPDATE - 23 AUG -

Here's a look at the open kitchen and service yard from the balcony. Short wall support for sofa is up. Will place a short cabinet behind it facing the dining area.

And a look into the dining and play areas from living room. Most of the dusty works seem to have settled and today there was a team mate doing plastering of walls and ceiling.
We confirmed all electrical outlets with the electrician today.

[pitterpat 0]

PROCESS UPDATE - 11 SEP -

Since August, alot of the heavy dusty work has been done and what's left would be carpentry and marble polishing starting this Thursday.
All wiring and trunking are in, plastering and painting of walls, light and fan installation, WC and basin installed, box ups of pipes done.
Our flooring is now revealed for polishing.

View from balcony into living room and foyer and open kitchen:
TV feature wall in Nippon Grey Ashes paint, other areas of main home in Swansdown.

Window films have all been removed and all window handles replaced as some were broken. Most lights and all ceiling fans installed.

View from our service yard. Living room to the left, dining area and hallway to bedrooms. The black Taobao pendant light looked so magnificent online that I didn't consider the measurements better and ended up it's too small for our space. Super funny little light....
We ordered another light instead and crossing fingers this new one will look good. 
Also, with the dining light centered this way I'm not sure it will fit directly above a normal dining table. :/ So have to see how feasible it is to have a corner nook dining area instead. The UK shops and Japanese have a lot of corner nook designs but not sure if I've seen any in SG yet.

And a look at the open kitchen, service yard and common bathroom.
Honestly never thought of any mosaic tile separation between kitchen and main flooring before until my ID threw it in for us FOC.
Not very sure about how classic it is... ^^;
I'm still waiting on some round black rimmed mirrors to hang on the bathroom wall and will need to lower the ball light some more. Our ID also installed a recessed light in the pipe box up for more light.

A glimpse of my home office/art studio. Nippon paint Orchid Garden.
After much brainstorming, I finally decided to allocate one wall to a 220cm long desk for my computer, sewing machine and tabletop easel. The area under windows will have open shelves for all my art and design books. In the middle of the windows I will squeeze in an Ikea Elvarli section to store canvases. The other side of the room will be my mother's sewing area. Still wondering if I should do up curtain rails on that wall and hang fabric on them...:

A look at the walk-in wardrobe area with entry to master bathroom. Wall colour is Nippon paint Grey Dew. The door is a glass bifold with Lazio style in black frame and white glass:

 

And bedroom 2, my husband's temporary office space (baby's future bedroom) with a small baby hangout should my husband need to do work when on baby duty.
Paint is possibly Nippon Seabreeze. Looks darker in person. Under certain lighting it looks dangerously dated like a HDB void deck, but gonna hope I can pull it together with the right colours and decor. *gulps*

 

Edited September 14, 2018 by pitterpat

[satiny 0]

hi, 

 

could you share your ID contact and company name with me, thanks