My Mancave - 2Rm Type 1 (35sqm) HDB BTO post renovation musings

[Norman Ng 15]

On 7/29/2019 at 6:25 AM, ryanyth said:

Sorry to hear about the flooring issue. Really a nightmare scenario! 
I can't imagine having to ownself manually mix the cement and personally do patching
and having the situation drag on for 6 months!  
I cannot even begin to imagine the stress you went thru during this time.

The end result really looked good and you should be proud of what you achieved. 
If i were you, i'd be posting the name and contact number of this contractor to help warn others to stay away from him. To not even have a simple basic tool like the water leveller ruler is unacceptable.

Ya well I thought of doing that at the moment of anger and frustration but I don’t like the naming and shaming culture in the age of social media. To their credit they did do some things well. Their tiling is good but the flooring guys cannot make it. So my advice is just for everyone to stick by your guns and not accept substandard work. I must say I am also quite particular about the quality of work so they probably are saying I’m a nightmare client haha.

[Norman Ng 15]

On 7/31/2019 at 11:54 AM, jothm said:

Wow awesome renovation man! Seems like you are a flight sim enthusiast.  

Thank you for sharing, looking forward to more updates!

Hey thanks man! Yes I’m into flight sims. Cannot be fighter pilot so I have to make believe haha. With virtual reality it is as close as you can get to real flying. 

[RyanYTH 87]

15 hours ago, Norman Ng said:

Ya well I thought of doing that at the moment of anger and frustration but I don’t like the naming and shaming culture in the age of social media. To their credit they did do some things well. Their tiling is good but the flooring guys cannot make it. So my advice is just for everyone to stick by your guns and not accept substandard work. I must say I am also quite particular about the quality of work so they probably are saying I’m a nightmare client haha.

Luckily you are good at DIY and was able to self-resolve the issue.
I shudder to think what would happen if this happened to someone wasn't good at DIY. 
Well, its your choice whether or not to report this errant contractor, I just hope he doesn't cause such grief to his next customer.

Anyway, moving on, your flight sim set up really looks epic cool!
It would be perfect for Star Citizen, if it ever releases lol. Hopefully its not a scam. 

I am somewhat of a gamer myself (as you can probably see from my forum avatar) 
Do you mind if we can have a close up on the setup you have there, and a list of gear you bought?
You seat in particular looks like its mounted on a cabinet?
 

Edited August 1, 2019 by ryanyth

[Norman Ng 15]

33 minutes ago, ryanyth said:

Luckily you are good at DIY and was able to self-resolve the issue.
I shudder to think what would happen if this happened to someone wasn't good at DIY. 
Well, its your choice whether or not to report this errant contractor, I just hope he doesn't cause such grief to his next customer.

Anyway, moving on, your flight sim set up really looks epic cool!
It would be perfect for Star Citizen, if it ever releases lol. Hopefully its not a scam. 

I am somewhat of a gamer myself (as you can probably see from my forum avatar) 
Do you mind if we can have a close up on the setup you have there, and a list of gear you bought?
You seat in particular looks like its mounted on a cabinet?
 

My flight sim console is the centerpiece of my gaming space ?

The components are made up of bits and bobs I have collected over the years.  The table space is pretty much taken up as you can see, so I have installed the mouse and game pad platform from Obutto to play regular first person shooters or strategy games. And yes the seat is installed on a custom made platform that I cobbled together from IKEA stuff, and it included a side console on the left for my throttle quadrant and such. Draped over the seat is a vibrating cushion for haptic feedback from some flight sims so you can actually feel vibrations from touch downs and such. And of course the VR headset for immersion - very important! The seat can be uncomfortable for long gaming sessions so I’m looking into how to improve it lol.

yes I bought a ship on Star Citizen also but not sure if it will see the light of day. The optimization is pretty bad at this point too. I have other games to keep me occupied

I’m not really familiar with your avatar so i suspect we play different genres of games haha. 

 

[Norman Ng 15]

Sorry duplicate post

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by Norman Ng
Duplicate post

[RyanYTH 87]

Ughhh I tried to add the link to your Renovation Blog to my Blog's Epilogue Page
and Renotalk decides to hide my entire Epilogue Page to pend for Moderator Approval. 

Anyway i've linked your blog to my alternate Wordpress Blog. I hope you dont mind. ^_^;
I would also recommend that you host your blog on another backup service incase Renotalk goes haywire like this lol.
Sometimes Renotalk will for no reason hide posts even though there are no links ^_^;

Edit: Ok the Epilogue page is un-hidden now and the link to this blog is up. Thanks Renotalk mods

Edited August 7, 2019 by ryanyth

[Norman Ng 15]

Wow thanks Ryan! I’m new to this blogging thing so am still trying to figure everything out. My thoughts still not very organized haha. 

[petetherock 13]

On 8/2/2019 at 7:16 AM, ryanyth said:

Ughhh I tried to add the link to your Renovation Blog to my Blog's Epilogue Page
and Renotalk decides to hide my entire Epilogue Page to pend for Moderator Approval. 

Anyway i've linked your blog to my alternate Wordpress Blog. I hope you dont mind. ^_^;
I would also recommend that you host your blog on another backup service incase Renotalk goes haywire like this lol.
Sometimes Renotalk will for no reason hide posts even though there are no links ^_^;

That's happened to me before.

Anyway TS - superb place ?

[aldoteng 1]

Wow, congrats on your man cave Norman!! It's extremely well done especially given how affordable the renovation was.

I liked reading your blog a lot - it is so accessible because it goes directly to the end (or near-end) result. Somehow I just don't care that much about the decision process or the physical journey - I just want to see the awesome final look dammit!

Also it's nice to see a smaller mancave, I will also check out ryanyth's. A lot of the blogs here belong to larger 3-5 room apartments belonging to newly-weds. Sad to say I don't really share many common interests/taste with those homes!

[RyanYTH 87]

12 hours ago, aldoteng said:

Wow, congrats on your man cave Norman!! It's extremely well done especially given how affordable the renovation was.

I liked reading your blog a lot - it is so accessible because it goes directly to the end (or near-end) result. Somehow I just don't care that much about the decision process or the physical journey - I just want to see the awesome final look dammit!

Also it's nice to see a smaller mancave, I will also check out ryanyth's. A lot of the blogs here belong to larger 3-5 room apartments belonging to newly-weds. Sad to say I don't really share many common interests/taste with those homes!

Hahaha you won't like reading my blog than because it has many decision process or physical journey. 

[Norman Ng 15]

13 hours ago, aldoteng said:

Wow, congrats on your man cave Norman!! It's extremely well done especially given how affordable the renovation was.

I liked reading your blog a lot - it is so accessible because it goes directly to the end (or near-end) result. Somehow I just don't care that much about the decision process or the physical journey - I just want to see the awesome final look dammit!

Also it's nice to see a smaller mancave, I will also check out ryanyth's. A lot of the blogs here belong to larger 3-5 room apartments belonging to newly-weds. Sad to say I don't really share many common interests/taste with those homes!

Thanks aldo! Actually it was his blog that has helped me quite a bit because it really detailed the entire process. Yes I had a hard time finding references and inspiration for 2 room flats and it has been quite a learning experience along the way. I was already halfway through the reno when I thought of doing a blog myself to help other 2 roomers in my situation, so I just waited till everything is done to better organize my posts. 

One big advantage of a singles flat is that you don't have to argue with anyone about renovation, and so you have a free hand to fulfill your vision

[aldoteng 1]

2 hours ago, ryanyth said:

Hahaha you won't like reading my blog than because it has many decision process or physical journey. 

Yes I noticed! But thankfully you annotated with a contents listing so I can skip right to the end and the one-year-later thoughts.

[RyanYTH 87]

2 hours ago, Norman Ng said:

Thanks aldo! Actually it was his blog that has helped me quite a bit because it really detailed the entire process. Yes I had a hard time finding references and inspiration for 2 room flats and it has been quite a learning experience along the way. I was already halfway through the reno when I thought of doing a blog myself to help other 2 roomers in my situation, so I just waited till everything is done to better organize my posts. 

One big advantage of a singles flat is that you don't have to argue with anyone about renovation, and so you have a free hand to fulfill your vision

Thanks man, actually for me i myself had alot of help from mmoh, andotang and many others who guided me while I was doing my reno. Actually thats what this forum is about, folks helping one another lah, Likewise, i'm sure your reno will in turn help another person!

This circle of support I feel is especially important for 2 roomers because most of us will be going at this alone
unlike married couples who can rely on each other for support or help lol.

Personally i'm really interested to see the DIY projects you have done.
And as you have mentioned yes, Singapore doesn't have a strong DIY culture unlike in USA.
Really interested to understand your thought process when you DIY a project.
Are you technically trained? Or is it a personal interest you already have?

Edited August 7, 2019 by ryanyth

[Norman Ng 15]

My woodworking experience is close to zero besides what I learnt in secondary school. I learnt most of what I know from YouTube  

All I got were some basic tools like a jigsaw, orbital sander and a power drill. Honestly most of my DIY stuff are simple mods and customizations to fit certain spaces in the flat.

Like my kitchen pantry is basically an IKEA hack of the IVAR system.

I combined the shallower 30cm IVAR shelves with the deeper 50cm shelves to make the pantry. I then painted the frame black and recolored the shelves with a waterproof almond varnish. 50cm is a little too deep for the upper shelves as you cannot reach deep inside, and I find 30cm is a too shallow and unstable. My customized pantry will also allow it to follow the shape of the kitchen windows as you can see.

The arcade table is also customized, so that I can store the foldable dining table underneath.

I have since also made a little planter ledge by the window frame for some greens  Easy project, just have to cut a plank of pine and lay across the top of the kitchen counter and the pantry. It's also treated with the waterproof almond matte varnish since it's likely to get wet around there. A small fence along the length to finish the project.

 

Another mod of the IKEA Elvarli system in the bomb shelter. Actually ryanyth, I wanted to get the vendor for your wardrobe setup - Smart Home I belive it was. But they response and communication is quite atrocious, to the point that I gave up and just found my own solution. I like the Elvarli system  as you can adjust the shelves as needed. I found a way to install the corner shelves too, as the original Elvarli does not have the option for corner shelves (you can see from the photo). The left part of the system (the tools section) is customized with a length that fit that side of the room. The shelves are Ivar shelves cut to size. The right side where my clothes are are original Elvarli. The Elvarli bamboo shelves are expensive ($40 a shelf!), so I save quite a bit of money by using the pine shelves on the left side also.

 

Some simple DIY allows you to accomplish little projects around the house without calling in the handyman. You also understand your home a little bit more, and most importantly it can be fun!

 

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Norman Ng

[mmoh 66]

Congrats!

Didn't check the T-blog section of RT for quite some time and hence missed out on your reno journey. But you have done really well in your renovation!