American Classic Contemporary Theme: 5-room BTO

[stitchgal 4]

Hi Everyone, I apologised for the lack of updates ever since I went abroad in Sep for a month. I came back on mid-Oct, but our overseas trip did not deter our renovation from progressing while we were away. 

RENOVATION PROGRESS (Mid-October):

My contractor and his subcons (carpenter) have been updating us with pictures of our reno progress while we were away for a month. I'll like to show you the progress of our flat when we were back in Mid-October. 

 

LIVING AREA SPACE:

I had initially wanted a good size bookshelf in the study room, however later on, I decided to better utilise the space by combining my bookshelf with the TV console in the living room. 

The 'fireplace' mantel was something that I've been toying about forever. It didn't seem realistic to place a real fireplace in Singapore because you don't need it. But I love the idea of having a mantel so I could decorate the mantel during Xmas etc. Hence, my carpenter (thanks god to his brilliant idea!) suggests to turn the entire 'fireplace' into a storage area so we we could place our amplifier, TV box and other electronic devices in it. Love it 

 

REFRESHMENT COUNTER + DINING AREA:

The dining lights was installed only recently. I've gotten this from Taobao, it's really beautiful. The only regret is, it's a tad bigger than I expected given my small dining area. 

I've been toying with the idea of building a kitchen island, however, I decided against it this time round as I'm worried about not having sufficient dining space. Hence, instead of an island, we build a coffee/wine counter against the bomb shelter wall. That piece of marble artwork you see over there, is laminate from Lamitak. 

 

KITCHEN:

I love the kitchen backsplash we got from Hafray! It truly compliments my kitchen cabinets. Here I'm still missing a few cabinet knobs from Taobao. It's missing the countertop, which I'll share it in another post.

 

MASTER BATHROOM:

We are so in love with this bathroom door. But, I was in horror to find out that my carpenter uses transparent glass on the door. I am not as 'open' as he thought we love to be la.... So we are waiting on him to change the glass. Additionally, I told him I want a gold door knob, however, he claimed that he selected this knob colour to match the existing HDB knobs colour. Hmmm.... I'm still not liking the knobs, and I'm contemplating if I should continue burning a bigger hole in my pocket for new door knobs 

 

BEDROOM:

We turned the existing HDB BTO bedroom doors into a modern contemporary design by painting the doors white, and added door trims to it. As mentioned above, the doors will be more perfect if the door knobs are gold.... >.<

 

COMMON BATHROOM:

This is the common bathroom. I decided against building a shower glass door in the shower area because I dislike the look of the metal rod on the top of the glass panels. However, my parents and relatives commented that without a shower door, water would ruined my vanity cabinet and door in no time... Now... we are looking to switch it up and install a shower door.... More $$ burned...

Edited November 12, 2018 by stitchgal

[stitchgal 4]

In this post, I'll like to touch more on our countertop material saga. This has been something that my fiance and I were dealing with ever since we came back from overseas. 

WE SELECTED OUR OWN COUNTERTOP VENDOR:

All along, we wanted marble countertops and that has been part of my design. Hence, we decided to outsource our countertop to a stone supplier that my fiance's colleague recommended, instead of going through my contractor. 

Selecting a stone for the countertops was our NO. 1 PRIORITY when we return to Singapore, as the renovation had been put on hold as my contractor needs the counter tops to be installed before they can proceed with the last lap of reno - installing sinks, taps, toilet accessories etc. 

At the stone supplier's warehouse, my fiance fell in love with this black granite because of the blue specks in it. While I'm not a big fan of this, I wanted my fiance to have a say in the design as well so I won't become an alpha female. We decided that we want this piece of granite to be our bathrooms' countertops. And there goes my original marble countertop design.........down the drain....

Like I said, I really really love to have marble countertops... however, I think at this point of the junction (having to deal with all sorts of feedback and comments from relatives on my new flat...), I was already sick of everybody having to keep telling me how hard it is to maintain my white doors and white carpentry (I became worried too hahahaa). I do not wanna be burdened by brooding over how hard it is to maintain marble countertops.... Hence, we decided to go with granite countertops for the kitchen.

So the whole countertop vendor saga begins when we fixed an installation date with this vendor in late October to install our countertops. It was a weekday, so my contractor has KINDLY agreed to be there for the installation to ensure things go smoothly. However, on the installation day, this vendor did not turn up for installation, nor did he notify us that he couldn't make it until we called him. Well, I understood mistakes happen, so we fix another date for installation. God knows...On the day of the second appointment date that we have fixed, the vendor did not show up AGAIN! Neither did they inform us that they could not make it unless we called to chase them on why no one showed up or no news from them. Not to say that they were least apologetic at all. 

Finally, on the day of the actual installation (which was 1 week after they missed 2 appointments), they turned up, but... with the wrong stones and configuration  We are actually fine if they rectify the issues because mistakes do happen and that is okay. BUT the Big boss refuses to change the stone for us. We got into 3 phone calls and multiple whatsapp with him to request him to take back the wrong stone, yet he kept insisting that 1. it's the same stone, 2. our business deal is so small compared to his other projects, 3. WE SHOULD JUST ACCEPT IT. HE KEPT ASKING US TO ACCEPT their mistake and hang up on us. Long story cut short, it took us back and forth to finally get this supplier to agree to rectify the countertop for us in the end..... You can see the mismatched stone below.

 

When the stone vendor finally fixed our mismatched countertops on a different day, I'm happy to say that my renovation journey is coming to an end very very soon. Right now, my contractor and his sub-cons are focusing on tying up loose knots (places that we need them to rectify), cleaning and installing fixtures 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by stitchgal

[snoozee 98]

is your backsplash from Hafary RM Calacatta or RM Statuario porcelain tiles?

mind PM me the granite supplier you used so I can avoid them?

[stitchgal 4]

13 minutes ago, snoozee said:

is your backsplash from Hafary RM Calacatta or RM Statuario porcelain tiles?

mind PM me the granite supplier you used so I can avoid them?

Hihi, I believe mine is the RM Statuario, without the gold 'streaks' in it. When we went to check out the Hafary tiles, there was only this option  Good that there are more choices now. 

Re the granite supplier, I'll be able to let u know once this saga with them is over yeah? Cos right now they still owe us some items  (custom-made some marble furniture) so wanna play safe first until they deliver everything to us . Are you on the lookout for a granite supplier now? If so, why not u can PM me whom u are planning to approach and I'll give u my two cents worth haha...

[stitchgal 4]

RENOVATION PROGRESS (12th NOV):

My mix-matched stone is rectified fortunately as shown below. 

Another issue that I faced with regards to outsourcing my own countertop is that we failed to communicate the measurement of the countertop properly to both carpenter and countertop supplier, resulting in my bottom cabinets door smacking right into the granite lol. My carpenter grumbles a bit hahahaha saying that the countertop measurement wasn't what we originally agreed lol. I guess that's why most people get an ID as ID will make your reno process easier? 

Anyways, another big thanks to my carpenter for his willingness to spend an entire day to re-do the entire bottom cabinet doors (lowering them).

Here's the closeup look of the kitchen granite, I'm in love with the stone despite the whole saga with it's original owner (supplier) 

 

The black granite countertops.... eh blue specks not very obvious compared to when we saw it in the factory <refer to my post above this> .... 

I'll be honest with ya'll, I'm not gonna say I absolutely love the black granites, don't see much blue specks on the granite. I would insist on perhaps marble vanity countertops if I can turn time around.... haha!

Above is the newly installed Taobao white sink (I noticed a lot of Singaporeans got this type of oval sink from Taobao too), Taobao gold tap and stopper to complement the 'marble gold' theme that I was going for. 

As you can see above, the tap from taobao works really well (At least for now). I'm hoping that these Taobao purchases will last me long .

 

Bedroom flooring.... After what seems like an ages, my contractor is removing the the layer of cardboard that was once placed on the floor to protect the floor tiles so that they can start cleaning the place. For a long time, I felt as if I've no proper flooring due to the floor being hidden underneath the cardboards. So it's very refreshing to see the actual flooring 

 

Now that I'm coming to almost an end of my renovation, I look forward to show you all how this flat will turn out with furnishing on. But before that, I'm dreading the post-reno cleaning haha! Thank you for following my reno journey, and feel free to leave any comments or feedbacks you have. Ciao.

Edited November 12, 2018 by stitchgal

[melongurlz 0]

Beautiful home u got there ❤️❤️ Loving it!

[Window Film Specialist 4]

On 8/3/2018 at 7:03 PM, stitchgal said:

Hi Everyone! 

FOLLOW MY BLOG: https://dayre.me/stitchgal

INSTAGRAM: @calichanby

I've collected my keys on 19 July 2018 and I'm really looking forward towards witnessing the complete makeover of our 5-room BTO flat. My fiance and I were really lucky to ballot a 5-room sales-of-balance flat in a matured estate in Singapore on Oct 2015. I still cannot believe that our 3 years wait has finally came to an end. During the past 3 years, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading through people's renovation journey, and no doubt I've learned a great deal about construction and renovation (well... I'm still a noob to say the least), however, no words can expressed how thankful I am to all the previous homeowners cum bloggers who shared many good tip (THANK YOU all!!). 

Now, as I blogged my renovation process, I hope that this blog in some ways or so helps other new homeowners during this VERY STRESSFUL process (no joke when we said it's stressful... you probably read that in every homeowner's reno blogs! ). Putting the sleepless nights aside, I'll filmed a glimpse of our bare unit (for my memory before this transforms so we can compare the before VS after).

ID & Contractor Search:

We have started our ID & Contractor search ONE year before our key collection date. After so many horror stories about scams, I did my due diligence to meet up with IDs/contractors that only have RAVES. So here is it. I'm trying to be as obvious as possible in naming them because I thought you guys should know who they are, because 98% of the ones we visited are pretty good! 

1. Aid*n T: I came across Mr A's profile online and I kinda knew immediately that this designer will be able to deliver 101% of my expectation. His extensive portfolio impressed me and his design outlook is exactly what I had in mind. If you're into the ang moh home interior design style (classic contemporary like I do, he's the one for you!). We met up with Mr A twice at his then newly renovated office (indeed, his office's interior design represents who he is as a designer!). He is warm, friendly and no doubt he understands what we want, and has offered more ideas to us than we would have bargained for. He is one true designer unlike many other renovation companies out there who called themselves ID but they are just.. contractors. Mr A is also on TV (mediacorp's interior design reality show, season 2). All in all, I'll go to him in future if I'm richer haha... I strongly recommend him to anyone who is into REAL DESIGN and is willing to splurge on a true interior designer. *RECOMMENDED*

2. ER Stu***: I came across this ID firm because of it high reviews online (literally 5 stars). Met up with Mr E and Ms N a couple of time. They are very sincere and I would say experienced in this field. Top notch service from them, especially Ms N, who is willing to go all out to offer you new, unique ideas for your home. I really appreciate their advice during that period to make things work (what i wanted was beyond my budget so they kept offering me alternatives to lower cost without compromising the design!). However, ultimately we didn't go with them not because they aren't good but because I am quite adamant about the interior style (American classic contemporary) I want and that do cost a bomb. The quotation I received eventually isn't far off from what Mr A from Aid*n T quoted. *RECOMMENDED*

3. Te*g Ho*g R*novate: This is a contractor firm, not ID firm. However, I somehow knew about them online and I've checked their extensive portfolio on FB and I must say that I'm thoroughly impressed with their works, especially carpentry work. Most importantly, they can do the shaker stye cabinets at a third of what most ID firms quoted. We met up with the younger daughter of the owner, now, I would say that I may not feel as much 'chemistry' with her compared to ER Stu*** & Aid*n T, however the quote was reasonable and we believed that we can save at least 20% if we go with contractor rather than an ID, because at this stage, we already knew what we wanted for our home. We WOULD HAVE signed on with them if it wasn't for my father who strongly recommended his best friend to take on our renovation project. *RECOMMENDED*

4. The Associ*ti*n: I was recommended to this ID firm by a friend who did her renovation with them in 2016. Unfortunately her ID has left the company, so we met up with someone else instead. I don't remember his name, but during the first meeting, we kinda felt that we were just another random customer he was meeting. He didn't give us the feeling that he really want our business. Hence, the first meeting was also the last 

5. Earthwe**: This is a contractor firm which I got to know from renotalk. We met up with Mr E and Mr W near my parents' place and we had a good conversation. Mr. E also seems trustable. However, I feel that at times, he may not understand my design POV which worries me a little. Given that he came from a contractor background instead of interior design background, design may not be his forte however he does recommended a lot of practical suggestions.

In conclusion, we have more or less decided to go with Te*g Ho*g R*novate n hope to save some $ yet not compromised on the design aesthetic that I was going for. HOWEVER, in the end, we have decided to engage my father's best friend (who is a contractor) to do our renovation due to my dad's insistence haha. So there we go, we have handed this project to a family friend and renovation has just began!

 

how much is this 5-rm? 450k/?

[squazee 0]

Hey, i PMed you but you might not have seen it... mind passing me your contractor  contact?

 

Thanks!