American Classic Contemporary Theme: 5-room BTO

[blueygirls 0]

On 8/20/2018 at 9:57 PM, stitchgal said:

Hi Blueygirls, no hacking is required to build this shampoo area. I think they build it with concrete bricks or something like that. I was quoted $450 for this wall, excluding the tiles. Hope that helps!

 

Thanks for clarifying. Doesn't it make the space of the bathroom smaller though since they have to build concrete bricks around and leave a small recessed area? 

[aldoteng 1]

On 8/25/2018 at 1:34 PM, blueygirls said:

Thanks for clarifying. Doesn't it make the space of the bathroom smaller though since they have to build concrete bricks around and leave a small recessed area? 

I would think so. I too thought of this option but I changed my mind when I realized it would make my space smaller.

[stitchgal 4]

@aldoteng & @blueygirls: I went to take pictures of my master bathroom yesterday. I wanna assured you guys (if you're thinking of having a shelving wall in the shower) that it will not compromise a lot of your showering space. As you can see from the pictures below, it can still easily fit 2 people in the shower . 

 

RENOVATION PROGRESS (26 August 2018)

Fiance and I visited our home on a Sunday, 26 Aug as we hadn't been able to be onsite for the past 2 - 3 days. We (or rather I) are/am SO EXCITED to see that our LED downlights/spotlights have been installed in the living room .

As reviewed on my earlier blog posts, we have gotten these downlight from Malaysia (malaysian brand LED lights instead of the famous Philips brand). What we really like about these downlights is that we can switch from WARM lighting (orange) to WARM WHITE (between white and orange) to WHITE LIGHT (white). Unfortunately right now Philips do not carry these models that allow you to switch up the colours! 

Pardon the huge mess on the ground... The rubbish have been there forever, I wish they can clear it soon since they are going to paint the walls soon! 

 

CURTAINS

Our curtain brackets are also up (installed)! 

We are installing white venetian blinds in all 3 bedrooms. 

Speaking of curtain supplier, I count myself very lucky to came across a HIGHLY recommended curtain supplier (Mr. Ang). He's a sole proprietor I think. I met a rather rude curtain supplier named 'J' before coming across Mr. Ang, and 'J' actually told me off when I asked to meet him on a Sat or after office hours. He claimed he only work office hours due to work life balance .

It was during that day when Mr Ang suddenly replied my FB message (think I might have msged him on FB weeks ago so I totally forgot HOW i even got his contact). Mr Ang is SO NICE, he is willing to meet me on a sat at my flat despite short notice to come take measurements. 

I requested for Mr. Ang to do the curtain brackets first (this is what my contractor recommended me to to do before the cleaning) and Mr. Ang willingly came to do it EVEN BEFORE HE COLLECTED MONEY (he didn't even request for a single cent nor deposit) from me. He's very personable and I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM FOR HIS SERVICE ,.

Do note to call him/whatspp him better than FB msg him -> Find Ang Interior Decoration on FB or PM me for his mobile.

 

KICTHEN CABINETS:

Another pleasant surprise on a Sunday was, we are SO SURPRISED to see our carpenter and his teenage son moving our kitchen cabinets in ON A SUNDAY! I always feel I could trust him when working with him, but to see him and his son bring our heavy kitchen cabinets on a SUNDAY brings my respect for this man on another whole new level man  

cabinets still missing my shacker-style cabinet doors 

That's my carpenter's son. It's so touching to see father and son carrying my heavy cabinets into my house on a Sunday morning.... FULL RESPECT! 

Edited August 27, 2018 by stitchgal

[stitchgal 4]

I've visited the site over lunch today. The other workers were out for lunch, except for my carpenter who was busy installing the kitchen cabinets. My kitchen suddenly looks extremely small with all the cabinets in  I wanted to take a picture of the kitchen but I didn't dare to do so as I felt I'm in the way of my carpenter as he was heavily focused on the the installation. 

 

Hence, I went to check out my bedrooms' flooring. I can smell a very nice oakwood scent as I walked to the bedrooms. A layer of recycled wood has been installed in the first bedroom.

The hardwood flooring installers are in the way of laying the oak wood in the MRB and 2nd bedroom (which will be converted into a home office).

 

Edited August 28, 2018 by stitchgal

[blueygirls 0]

looks great so far!! esp the oak wood!

[Nomiday Dajie 0]

On 8/6/2018 at 12:55 PM, aldoteng said:

Cool!! I am in a similar situation as you.

- I know my own design, I just need a contractor comfortable with Classical interior renovation.

- My bathroom is similar to yours, but in dark shades.

- My bed/living room is similar to yours, but in dark shades.

 

I'll be following your blog and also keep in mind i) your contractor, ii) Te*g Ho*g.

Glad to hear that you are doing your own renovation too. Probably you are also considering some wooden feel to your abode.

Customised carpentry is the best option. I invite you to check out this company: https://www.goldpines.com.sg/

They provides one-stop custom carpentry services for home & business. They are quite affordabe too!

[stitchgal 4]

On 8/29/2018 at 7:20 PM, blueygirls said:

looks great so far!! esp the oak wood!

Thank you  I really do love the look and aroma of the oak wood. Now I'm crossing my fingers that the vinyl tiles matches the rooms's oak

[stitchgal 4]

*RENOVATION PROGRESS 1ST SEP*

My flat's renovation has progressed immensely in the past week! Kitchen cabinets and closets were in, most of our lights and fans have been installed, and the first coat of painting were done. 

We have selected the Nippon Paint Odour-less All-in-1 series. I was debating to get the Odour-less Easy Wash initially but it cost a tad bit more than the All-in-1. 

As you can see from the above, we've selected Nippon's Snow Flakes for our white wall. I've took a picture of the first coat of paint as follows. There is a slight difference from the actual white paint colour (ceiling colour), but I feel that it is not very obvious in the picture.

I have chosen a different shade for this wall in the study room (shown below). My plan is to make this wall a little special and to divert a bit from the usual white colour so as to create a cosy corner for a home office. I'm not sure how this will turn out honestly, since this is just the first coat. The colour I've selected is called 'Rose Fragrance' from Nippon paint. Hopefully it will turn out great after the final coat. I'll be hanging some wall paintings on this wall when the room is ready.

Also, as you can see on the pic above, I've have a HIDEOUS AC trunking on the wall above the door. Anyone has any ideas or recommendation on how to make this HIDEOUS AC trunking UN-hideous? 

We finally have the fans we bought from JB (fortunately we bought them before the sales tax were implemented!) installed in the bedrooms & living area! The one seen below (in our study room) can swivels from the left to the right and vice versa. 

This fan below (in our guest room) cannot swivel left and right. It's a different model from the same brand and it's smaller than the one in the study room.

Our white Aeraton fan is installed in the living area as shown below. It's produces absolutely no noise, but it doesn't seem to produce as much wind as the KDK fans though. To be fair, I need to properly review it after moving in.  

 

Toilet lights are up!

I bought these lights from Taobao and they are absolutely stunning! The glass is HEAVY though so I worry that I may break it eventually when I have to change to a new lightbulb lol. Oh... also, if you realise, we switch to a new toilet window as well! No more glass-panels window. 

My electrician said that the taobao light I bought below is quite dim. The lightbulb given by the Taobao seller is only 5W. Hence, he recommended we go buy a 8-10W lightbulb to replace it to make the toilet brighter. I regret not buying the MRB light (the one with the heavy glass) instead haha!

 

Glimpse of my MRB:

All lights and ceiling speakers have been installed perfectly. My wardrobes (currently in dismantled pieces) were also in.

 

 

Glimpse of my Kitchen cabinets:

Totally recommending my contractor's carpenter!

I've placed a lot of emphasis on my carpentry request to ensure that the end products are what I have envisioned. For example, shaker cabinets cost A BOMB here in Singapore as they typically require spray painting. However, I'm not willing to compromise with going with non-shaker style. Hence, after some proper research on my side, I requested for my carpenter to proceed with shaker cabinets using laminates instead of spray paint. That will help save some money.

Now, I know that not a lot of contractors/non-experienced carpenters will NOT agree to it, because it IS A LOT MORE time consuming for them to accept such requests at a lower fraction of profit. However, my carpenter didn't complain much (he just went into deep thought when I made such request haha). All in all, I'm still thankful to him, and I'm pretty surprise that the cabinets came in so fast. Thumbs up to his efficiency! 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by stitchgal

[stitchgal 4]

*Renovation updates as of 5th Sep*

My cabinets are 70-80% installed already and I'm currently 1 month 1 week into my renovation  I've always read that carpentry comes in last when the house is in an almost ready state, hence I'm blown away by how efficient my contractor/sub contractors are. At first I didn't believe my contractor when he assured me before the start of the renovation that my flat will be 80% done by 11 September (the day that my fiance and I fly off to Canada/US for A MONTH). Most reno (especially big scale ones like mine) took 3 months to complete.

In terms of carpentry works, I'm still pending all cabinet doors to be installed, shoe cabinets, fire place and bookshelves for my living room, floor skirting and doors and door frames. 

 

MRB Closet

I've hacked the wall between my MRB and the 2nd bedroom so that my MRB's closet could 'eat' into the space of the 2nd bedroom. This huge closet is then built in between two bedrooms.

My contractor suggested to do sound proofing works behind this closet as shown below. 

This layer of soundproof is then covered by a plank of wood as shown below. It will then be plastered and painted the same colour as our white wall. My carpenter suggested to build top cabinets for us on the back of our closet. I'm not sure how accessible the top cabinets are since it's a bit too high to reach out for, but no harm to have extra storage space as he didn't charge extra for it. This is in our study room aka home office by the way. 

 

Kitchen cabinets

The counter space on the right in the picture above will be our refreshment area. I'm thinking of placing our hydroflux water filter machine, coffee machine, tea and wine display. 

 

Bathrooms cabinets

You guys are probably sick of seeing another picture of my bathroom (or probably I'm the one who is sick of showing my bathrooms again considering that there isn't much changes since the last, except for an additional cabinet that has been installed today).

 

My contractor just updated us that we will be installing our vinyl flooring (F.I.N.A.L.L.Y) on Monday. I can't wait for it, considering that the complete flooring look will change the whole look of the apartment. 

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by stitchgal

[squazee 0]

looking good!

 

I hope you guys managed to get  it all done before your vacation/honeymoon!

[rainbow1979 0]

saw you are using farmhouse sink, how is it coming along? is it ex?

[ubk 0]

Hi, would u recommend your carpenter based on his works so far?  If yes, care to share his contact?

[madelineismad 1]

ur hse is looking great!

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2018 by madelineismad

[stitchgal 4]

On 9/12/2018 at 10:50 AM, rainbow1979 said:

saw you are using farmhouse sink, how is it coming along? is it ex?

I didn't use a farmhouse sink, instead, I'm re-using what HDB has provided for our master bedroom

[stitchgal 4]

On 9/13/2018 at 11:28 PM, ubk said:

Hi, would u recommend your carpenter based on his works so far?  If yes, care to share his contact?

Hi there, I feel pretty lucky that everything went pretty well. But not to say that there isn't minor imperfections, there is and we are getting them to fix it. However, all in all, I would still recommend him. You may PM me, and I'll be able to provide my contractor's info instead, and he will recommend his carpenter to you.