Page under construction. All pics and updates will be up 07th Jan 2008.
Introduction
I had browsed though almost all pages of renotalk.com and singaporebrides.com eversince I booked my new flat in Sembawang. I just found out about these sites by chance and if I had found them earlier, it would have prepared me better for renovation. My knowledge in renovation goes from zero to probably a little bit enough to pass because of the wealth of information stored in those sites. To pay back the free information I got, I will share with you my own experiences on reno and hope that other homeowners especially those first time renovators like me to learn from it.
My Home
My concept of a home is a place where me and my family can live comfortably after work or coming from school. So space is important to me as well as the functionality of each furnitures, fixtures as well as the equipments in the house. I prefer functionality over appearance that is why I had given more attention to furniture selection and carpentry design of the house. It is a challenge for homeowners like us in Singapore due to the small space we need to work with.
Disclaimer
I listen to other people’s opinions and comments but it doesn’t affect me negatively. My friends would say that color is too bold, some textiles are too plain, or furniture too big. I guess it will only be my opinion that will really count in the end.
Another Disclaimer
Please forgive if I will not be able to reply to all your queries and PMs as I really do not have a lot of time right now due to work commitment. So I will just try to put much info in this blog as possible. And to those who will read it. I would like to give you my advance sincere gratitude for taking your time to read my blog.
Budget
I believe that the renovation alone would not make up a beautiful house. Renovation is a portion that is important in the house. But furnitures, equipments, curtains, painting, displays, etc are of equal importantance in your home. Renovation is just a part of it. So I set aside an amount which is a comparatibly small for renovation. It actually cost almost half of what I spend on furnitures and the rest of the items I mentioned. I kept my renovation very simple. I try not to do anything fancy and just created standard items. Other people would not want to make their house look like a standard HDB flat. But I did not see any problem with HDB flat design
Getting Started
It was a bad start. My first feel of renovation is a forgettable experience. I initially chosen an ID for the house and paid deposit during an expo exhibition. I guess transactions during exhibitions never works out. Its probably misundertanding or trust issue but to make the story short ( and I do not really want to further elaborate), we dropped out our ID and replace it with a contractor a month before we actually started renovating.
My Contactor
After learning my lessons from an encounter with an ID, I chose to be extra careful next time around. Once bitten, twice shy!!! So I researched more and visited several shops before deciding who to actually engage. I shortlisted two IDs and two contractors from the numerous shops that I visited. But there is this one contractor that stands out from the rest. Three reasons why I chose this contractor. First, his quote is in the middle range. Not too low and not too high which is ideal for my requirement. Secondly, their carpentry work is excellent. I have seen a lot of carpentry works of prospective contractors but his is the one that really stands out in my own opinion. And last and the most important factor is that I am comfortable with this contractor. Trust and confidence is the most important consideration in dealing with this kind of project. Plus being recommended by a friend, I had no doubt he is the contractor for us.
False Ceiling
False ceiling, cornices, ceiling fans, and plastering. I do not like all of them!!! I am not a big fan of false ceiling. In my perception, it makes the view of the house to be very low and I do not like low ceilings. My wife likes false ceilings due to lighting effects it would create but to me it does not pay enough to make a false ceiling. False ceilings add a lot of cost to the renovation. Aside from the usual cost of the ceiling, you also need to spend extra for downlights and flow lights. So in the end I decided to do away with the ceiling and keep the conceled wiring ceiling of HDB.
Wetworks
My flat is a premium executive flat. I will not be doing any changing of tiles or relaying of tiles in toilet and the rest of the house. Some people complain about the look of the hdb tiles. But for me, it is fine. I actually like the pink and blue tiles of the toilet. I guess it matched us because my 2 daughters will be occupying the MBR and they both like pink colors. They even had stuffed toy named Pinky. I do not like my home to look like a hotel so I have no complain on the tiles of HDB and I do not intend to replace it for now.
Details of Renovation
So here is the list of items that will be done in the renovation. I cannot detail it down but will try to put the significant ones:
3 Full Height Wardrobes for 3 bedrooms
26 feet Kitchen Cabinets (Top and Bottom)
15 feet Solid Top for Kitchen
8 feet TV console and Feature Wall
11 feet Feature Wall to Cover Bomb Shelter
Tempered Glass Door for common toilet
Full Height Mirror in MBR Toilet
Painting (7 Colors)
Installation of Storage Heaters incl steel pipings
Aust Shower Screen for MBR toilet
Vanity Cabinet for MBR toilet
Full Height Mirror in the Dining Area
Bases for Kitchen and, Washer and Toilet Kerbs
Other standard items like installation of accessories, cleaning, etc.
Electrical Works not included.
Total Cost: 16,485
Payment Terms
The payment term in the contract are 4 installments. 10% for confirmation 40% upon loading of materials, 40% upon loading of carpentry materials and 10% when work is finished. My contractor’s shop is just near my place but I do not have a lot of time after work to run errands. I paid him the 10% one week before my key collection. I guess we have mutual trust and what happened next is that he actually started work without the 40% because my cheque is not yet ready. He had been doing the work for almost 1 week before I paid him the 80% of the payment. Yes 80% because most of the work are carpentries and they are already starting it after a week.
Schedule
The actual date of renovation started in 13th Nov and my contractor commited to finish it in the 1st week of Dec. I am worried that it was a very tight schedule so I told him to try to finish it by middle of Dec giving him 4 to 5 weeks of renovation. After the renovation was finished, I realized it really can be done in 3 weeks time.
Start of Renovation
My contactor started the renovation the moment we got our key from HDB. We collected the key in the afternoon and we met him in the flat later on to collect their own padlock. The next day, the workers began laying protection sheet and doing the kitchen, and washer bases and kerbs.
Introduction
I had browsed though almost all pages of renotalk.com and singaporebrides.com eversince I booked my new flat in Sembawang. I just found out about these sites by chance and if I had found them earlier, it would have prepared me better for renovation. My knowledge in renovation goes from zero to probably a little bit enough to pass because of the wealth of information stored in those sites. To pay back the free information I got, I will share with you my own experiences on reno and hope that other homeowners especially those first time renovators like me to learn from it.
My Home
My concept of a home is a place where me and my family can live comfortably after work or coming from school. So space is important to me as well as the functionality of each furnitures, fixtures as well as the equipments in the house. I prefer functionality over appearance that is why I had given more attention to furniture selection and carpentry design of the house. It is a challenge for homeowners like us in Singapore due to the small space we need to work with.
Disclaimer
I listen to other people’s opinions and comments but it doesn’t affect me negatively. My friends would say that color is too bold, some textiles are too plain, or furniture too big. I guess it will only be my opinion that will really count in the end.
Another Disclaimer
Please forgive if I will not be able to reply to all your queries and PMs as I really do not have a lot of time right now due to work commitment. So I will just try to put much info in this blog as possible. And to those who will read it. I would like to give you my advance sincere gratitude for taking your time to read my blog.
Budget
I believe that the renovation alone would not make up a beautiful house. Renovation is a portion that is important in the house. But furnitures, equipments, curtains, painting, displays, etc are of equal importantance in your home. Renovation is just a part of it. So I set aside an amount which is a comparatibly small for renovation. It actually cost almost half of what I spend on furnitures and the rest of the items I mentioned. I kept my renovation very simple. I try not to do anything fancy and just created standard items. Other people would not want to make their house look like a standard HDB flat. But I did not see any problem with HDB flat design
Getting Started
It was a bad start. My first feel of renovation is a forgettable experience. I initially chosen an ID for the house and paid deposit during an expo exhibition. I guess transactions during exhibitions never works out. Its probably misundertanding or trust issue but to make the story short ( and I do not really want to further elaborate), we dropped out our ID and replace it with a contractor a month before we actually started renovating.
My Contactor
After learning my lessons from an encounter with an ID, I chose to be extra careful next time around. Once bitten, twice shy!!! So I researched more and visited several shops before deciding who to actually engage. I shortlisted two IDs and two contractors from the numerous shops that I visited. But there is this one contractor that stands out from the rest. Three reasons why I chose this contractor. First, his quote is in the middle range. Not too low and not too high which is ideal for my requirement. Secondly, their carpentry work is excellent. I have seen a lot of carpentry works of prospective contractors but his is the one that really stands out in my own opinion. And last and the most important factor is that I am comfortable with this contractor. Trust and confidence is the most important consideration in dealing with this kind of project. Plus being recommended by a friend, I had no doubt he is the contractor for us.
False Ceiling
False ceiling, cornices, ceiling fans, and plastering. I do not like all of them!!! I am not a big fan of false ceiling. In my perception, it makes the view of the house to be very low and I do not like low ceilings. My wife likes false ceilings due to lighting effects it would create but to me it does not pay enough to make a false ceiling. False ceilings add a lot of cost to the renovation. Aside from the usual cost of the ceiling, you also need to spend extra for downlights and flow lights. So in the end I decided to do away with the ceiling and keep the conceled wiring ceiling of HDB.
Wetworks
My flat is a premium executive flat. I will not be doing any changing of tiles or relaying of tiles in toilet and the rest of the house. Some people complain about the look of the hdb tiles. But for me, it is fine. I actually like the pink and blue tiles of the toilet. I guess it matched us because my 2 daughters will be occupying the MBR and they both like pink colors. They even had stuffed toy named Pinky. I do not like my home to look like a hotel so I have no complain on the tiles of HDB and I do not intend to replace it for now.
Details of Renovation
So here is the list of items that will be done in the renovation. I cannot detail it down but will try to put the significant ones:
3 Full Height Wardrobes for 3 bedrooms
26 feet Kitchen Cabinets (Top and Bottom)
15 feet Solid Top for Kitchen
8 feet TV console and Feature Wall
11 feet Feature Wall to Cover Bomb Shelter
Tempered Glass Door for common toilet
Full Height Mirror in MBR Toilet
Painting (7 Colors)
Installation of Storage Heaters incl steel pipings
Aust Shower Screen for MBR toilet
Vanity Cabinet for MBR toilet
Full Height Mirror in the Dining Area
Bases for Kitchen and, Washer and Toilet Kerbs
Other standard items like installation of accessories, cleaning, etc.
Electrical Works not included.
Total Cost: 16,485
Payment Terms
The payment term in the contract are 4 installments. 10% for confirmation 40% upon loading of materials, 40% upon loading of carpentry materials and 10% when work is finished. My contractor’s shop is just near my place but I do not have a lot of time after work to run errands. I paid him the 10% one week before my key collection. I guess we have mutual trust and what happened next is that he actually started work without the 40% because my cheque is not yet ready. He had been doing the work for almost 1 week before I paid him the 80% of the payment. Yes 80% because most of the work are carpentries and they are already starting it after a week.
Schedule
The actual date of renovation started in 13th Nov and my contractor commited to finish it in the 1st week of Dec. I am worried that it was a very tight schedule so I told him to try to finish it by middle of Dec giving him 4 to 5 weeks of renovation. After the renovation was finished, I realized it really can be done in 3 weeks time.
Start of Renovation
My contactor started the renovation the moment we got our key from HDB. We collected the key in the afternoon and we met him in the flat later on to collect their own padlock. The next day, the workers began laying protection sheet and doing the kitchen, and washer bases and kerbs.
Aircon
On 4th day of renovation, I personally arrangedfor the aircondioning system to be installed. I have chosen a Mitsubishi Starmex Non Inverter System 4. I bought it in a mall. Only two rooms will actually be using an aircon so I decided it
might be reasonable buy non inverter aircon. I installed a 13KBTU on the living room and will reinforce it with a portable aircon in the dining area. I had no place to install a split aircon in the dining area because of the full height mirror that I wanted.
On 4th day of renovation, I personally arrangedfor the aircondioning system to be installed. I have chosen a Mitsubishi Starmex Non Inverter System 4. I bought it in a mall. Only two rooms will actually be using an aircon so I decided it
might be reasonable buy non inverter aircon. I installed a 13KBTU on the living room and will reinforce it with a portable aircon in the dining area. I had no place to install a split aircon in the dining area because of the full height mirror that I wanted. 
Common Room Toilet Door
My wife hates the original bi fold door of the common toilet. She told me that she wants to remove it herself everytime she sees it. But for me, the door is fine. To prevent further confrontation, I decided to replace it with a tempered glass door.
Paint Colors
I have chosen 7 colors for the whole house. Sandstone, Smoke Pearl, Red, Murberry, Purple, White, and Grey. All from ICI. This is the first mistake I did in the renovation. But it is fine. Just like in life, you will always commit mistake. The important thing is how to deal with it, how to rectify it and how to learn from it. What I learned: Do not use too many colors in your interiors!!! If you choose too many colors, it would be very difficult to coordinate them. And almost for sure they will not coordinate with each other. I thought that having several colors would create certain excitement in the house. As it turned out, its very hard to match it with adjacent colored walls and furnitures. Another lesson is do not rely on what you see in the color catalogue. It is of course the same color in actual but the overall effect and appearance may not be the same as you perceive it to be by just looking at the catalogue. When I chose the Smoke Pearl color, it doesn’t look to be that dark. But when it was painted in the passageway to the rooms, it made that portion of the house darker. I can do two things, replace it with lighter color or keep it. Believe me, after visiting the house for several times, I began to love the color and decided to keep it.
Kitchen
My original plan is to do an L-shaped kitchen in order to have more storage. But as it turned out, the kitchen area is very small to create this plan. So I just decided to follow the showflat kitchen layout. Two short cabinets opposite each other. One cabinet for the hob and another cabinet for sink area. I am happy with it. Although the kitchen is small, I still have enough space to move around.
Kitchen Base
Me and my contractor’s plan is to follow exactly the HDB showflat kitchen. Wherein the base is higher and would make a floating effect to the low cabinets. But we realised that my oven would not fit in if we do this. So without any other choice, we just go back to common height of cabinets.
Kitchen Laminate and Solid Top
I love red colors (my feng shui color). So I chose a little bit dark red color for the low cabinets and just plain white color for the top cabinet. Both are glossy laminates. The solid top color is white. There are several white but I could not remember what type of white it is!!! To me, they all look white. There was a time when my contractor asked me to pick a white paint color from the catalogue and I told him they all look the same to me. I am not color blind but I guess men are like that. I also told him that if it was my wife choosing the colors, they would have taken the whole week just choosing colors. To me it just took 30 mins for choosing colors and laminates. I got a lot of scolding from my wife afterwards when the whole house was done because of the color and laminates. Back to the topic, my only request to my contractor for the solid top is to use a solid top with thicker profile. I did not know that term its called for before in solid top. I referred to it as “front” of the top and my contractor told me that it is called “profile”. I hate those thin profiles and I prefer those thick ones that would make a thicker solid top effect on the kitchen. I believe the thickness used for the profile was 80mm.
Oven, Hood and Hobs
I bought my oven, hood and hob from Mayer. I spent probably around 1500+ for the three of them. The only reason why we chose those brands is that me and my wife do not have time to source around for these items. And this shop is conveniently located in a nearby mall. Any regrets? Not yet since I have not used any one of them yet.
Bathroom Accessories
As I had mentioned before, me and my wife are both busy working citizens so we do not have the luxury of time to go to Geylang or Jalan Besar for shopping. During weekends we stroll our kids to the malls and that is the only time we can sneak out to visit some shops. So all of my accessories were bought in the IMM mall. We bought two sets of Rain Shower with exactly the same design. I think we bought 1 set for 350+ in one of the popular shop in IMM. We also do not have time to select accessories individually so we just bought one standard set of accessories like towel ring, soap holder, etc for each of the bathrooms on the same shop.
After my contractor installed the rain shower and I tested it. The pressure looks OK and luckily I did not have the water pressure problem that some forumers encounter in their shower. I feel happy about this shower.
Lightings
We need to buy total of 15 lights for the whole house. I had no idea where to buy lightings and most of the shops recommended in the forum are very far from our place. One time, I was discussing with my contractor and I mentioned about it. He told me that he had been working with this lighting shop near Chinese Garden and so far he had not received any negative feedback from his customers. That’s perfect!!! We can both stroll in the garden with the children and buy lights at one trip.
When we got to the shop, I had no idea what type of lights to buy. Another problem is that I brought along my 3 kids and they are all dangerously playing inside the shop. One quick solution is to ask the store manager to show me the lights that are frequently taken by their customers. We chose simple lights with day light saving bulbs. I do not like those incandescent colored lights that are warm. Even at night, I like bright lights inside the house. So my selection of lights are all simple ones and with daylight saving bulbs. Total Damage: 1000.
The total cost is actually 1000+ but when we told him the name of our contractor, he removed the surplus and gave us a free doorbell. Overall, I am very happy with their lights.
Wardrobe
I guess you cannot do a lot of things for a custom made wardrobes. I just chose standard configuration for storage. I emphasized to my contractor that we prefer to hang clothes than to fold them so he drew a design that majority of the wardrobe had hanging space. On the laminate of the wardrobe, I do not like wood laminates in wardrobe so I chose a simple glossy white laminate that looks neat and clean. It also matches any color of my multicolored rooms. To avoid being too plain, we divided the wardrobe in 3 horizontal layers in which the middle layer is a wood laminate. At first, I wanted a solid color laminate in the middle layer but after I seeing a similar wardrobe in an HDB shop, I changed my mind and chose a wood laminate. The final product turned out to be simple but I liked it as well.
Feature Walls
Simplicity is a beauty to me that is why I chose simple design and simple laminates for the feature walls. There are so many designs of TV console and feature walls but most of these designs are a bit extravagant for my taste. My contractor’s design is to extend the tv console by 2 or 3 more feet from the edge of the wall. Then place a column to make division between the dining and living area. The showflat is designed this way. However, I do not want any division in my living area and I prefer a spacious view. Also, what I wanted is a simple, functional design for the TV console. The design is my own idea and so far it turned out to be ok for my taste.
Dining
I placed a full height mirror in my dining area. It was the last item that was done in the renovation. I did not know why it was the last one installed and I did not bother to ask my contractor. The mirror served two purpose. It virtually multiplies our food!!! And virtually creates a bigger space in the living area. I bought my dining table from Lorenzo in Furniture Mall. I seldom go to the city. How did I end up in Furniture Mall in the city? Well, I need to collect this rewards item from The Plaza which I did not know is adjacent to that mall. So I strolled there with the kids and was attracted to this walnut colored table. I guess the damage was 1200+ including the tempered glass top and additional 2 chairs. I was surprised that the delivery change is quite expensive for 80 dollars. But in the end I liked their table a lot. It’s a simple yet elegantly designed. What I most liked are their dining chairs. I wanted to come back to that shop to buy few other furnitures but I did not have time right now and until after my renovation was finished I was not able to go out much. But definitely I will go back to their shop because I did find a lot of attractive furnitures over there.
Curtains and Roller Blinds
I would say that this is my best buy I guess for the whole reno spendings. I spent around 1100+ for total of 7 items: 3 full length curtains, 2 half length curtains, and 2 roller blinds. Previously, I went to a curtain shop inside a mall and I got a quote of around 2-3K for my requirement. Luckily, my contractor suggested to ask his cousin who had a curtain shop in Bukit Timah to quote me. I was hesistant when I learned that the shop was quite far from my place but he told me that the guy will actually go to my place to take measurement and I do not have to visit the shop. Like he said, the owner of the curtain shop went to my place, take measurements, and quote me on the spot. I did bargain a bit and got some discounts. I had no idea about curtain designs so I ask him what type of fabric and color he recommends and I just go with it. My wife was very busy at work and have no time to go with me to choose color and fabrics. That was a blessing in disguise. I had 3 full height curtains for the living, dining and MBR area. The 2 roller blinds are for the study and kitchen area. My sink area is facing the window which had the view of my neighbor’s balcony. For privacy and feng shui, I placed a roller blind on that sink area.
Shoe Cabinet
My original plan is to build a shoe cabinet and seatee area covering the whole stretch of the entrance foyer. But when I saw that the quotation for that item alone is around 2800+, I changed my mind. When I visited the showflat and saw that they did build a low cabinet in full length, I realized that it narrowed the entrance area by much. I prefer wider entrance so I just bought a smaller shoe cabinet in nearby mall. I just told my wife to use the whole bomb shelter area for her collection. She really hates me now.
Overall Assessment to My Contractor
If I would grade my contractor in terms of commitment, workmanship, and pricing. In the range of 1 to 10. Ten being the highest. I would probably say 9. He did finished the work in time. The carpentry he did for me is excellent. And I guess the price is not that bad.
My Renovation Experience
I would sum up my first renovation experience as exciting, fun, tiring, and expensive. The important part of it is that I enjoyed it, learned a lot from it and most of all met a lot of people that are willing to give helping hands and sound advices. It increased my number friends for this year which for me is far more important than having to have a beautifully renovated home. Renovation is a continuing process and I guess this is just the beginning of it.
My wife hates the original bi fold door of the common toilet. She told me that she wants to remove it herself everytime she sees it. But for me, the door is fine. To prevent further confrontation, I decided to replace it with a tempered glass door.
Paint Colors
I have chosen 7 colors for the whole house. Sandstone, Smoke Pearl, Red, Murberry, Purple, White, and Grey. All from ICI. This is the first mistake I did in the renovation. But it is fine. Just like in life, you will always commit mistake. The important thing is how to deal with it, how to rectify it and how to learn from it. What I learned: Do not use too many colors in your interiors!!! If you choose too many colors, it would be very difficult to coordinate them. And almost for sure they will not coordinate with each other. I thought that having several colors would create certain excitement in the house. As it turned out, its very hard to match it with adjacent colored walls and furnitures. Another lesson is do not rely on what you see in the color catalogue. It is of course the same color in actual but the overall effect and appearance may not be the same as you perceive it to be by just looking at the catalogue. When I chose the Smoke Pearl color, it doesn’t look to be that dark. But when it was painted in the passageway to the rooms, it made that portion of the house darker. I can do two things, replace it with lighter color or keep it. Believe me, after visiting the house for several times, I began to love the color and decided to keep it.
Kitchen
My original plan is to do an L-shaped kitchen in order to have more storage. But as it turned out, the kitchen area is very small to create this plan. So I just decided to follow the showflat kitchen layout. Two short cabinets opposite each other. One cabinet for the hob and another cabinet for sink area. I am happy with it. Although the kitchen is small, I still have enough space to move around.
Kitchen Base
Me and my contractor’s plan is to follow exactly the HDB showflat kitchen. Wherein the base is higher and would make a floating effect to the low cabinets. But we realised that my oven would not fit in if we do this. So without any other choice, we just go back to common height of cabinets.
Kitchen Laminate and Solid Top
I love red colors (my feng shui color). So I chose a little bit dark red color for the low cabinets and just plain white color for the top cabinet. Both are glossy laminates. The solid top color is white. There are several white but I could not remember what type of white it is!!! To me, they all look white. There was a time when my contractor asked me to pick a white paint color from the catalogue and I told him they all look the same to me. I am not color blind but I guess men are like that. I also told him that if it was my wife choosing the colors, they would have taken the whole week just choosing colors. To me it just took 30 mins for choosing colors and laminates. I got a lot of scolding from my wife afterwards when the whole house was done because of the color and laminates. Back to the topic, my only request to my contractor for the solid top is to use a solid top with thicker profile. I did not know that term its called for before in solid top. I referred to it as “front” of the top and my contractor told me that it is called “profile”. I hate those thin profiles and I prefer those thick ones that would make a thicker solid top effect on the kitchen. I believe the thickness used for the profile was 80mm.
Oven, Hood and Hobs
I bought my oven, hood and hob from Mayer. I spent probably around 1500+ for the three of them. The only reason why we chose those brands is that me and my wife do not have time to source around for these items. And this shop is conveniently located in a nearby mall. Any regrets? Not yet since I have not used any one of them yet.
Bathroom Accessories
As I had mentioned before, me and my wife are both busy working citizens so we do not have the luxury of time to go to Geylang or Jalan Besar for shopping. During weekends we stroll our kids to the malls and that is the only time we can sneak out to visit some shops. So all of my accessories were bought in the IMM mall. We bought two sets of Rain Shower with exactly the same design. I think we bought 1 set for 350+ in one of the popular shop in IMM. We also do not have time to select accessories individually so we just bought one standard set of accessories like towel ring, soap holder, etc for each of the bathrooms on the same shop.
After my contractor installed the rain shower and I tested it. The pressure looks OK and luckily I did not have the water pressure problem that some forumers encounter in their shower. I feel happy about this shower.
Lightings
We need to buy total of 15 lights for the whole house. I had no idea where to buy lightings and most of the shops recommended in the forum are very far from our place. One time, I was discussing with my contractor and I mentioned about it. He told me that he had been working with this lighting shop near Chinese Garden and so far he had not received any negative feedback from his customers. That’s perfect!!! We can both stroll in the garden with the children and buy lights at one trip.
When we got to the shop, I had no idea what type of lights to buy. Another problem is that I brought along my 3 kids and they are all dangerously playing inside the shop. One quick solution is to ask the store manager to show me the lights that are frequently taken by their customers. We chose simple lights with day light saving bulbs. I do not like those incandescent colored lights that are warm. Even at night, I like bright lights inside the house. So my selection of lights are all simple ones and with daylight saving bulbs. Total Damage: 1000.
The total cost is actually 1000+ but when we told him the name of our contractor, he removed the surplus and gave us a free doorbell. Overall, I am very happy with their lights.
Wardrobe
I guess you cannot do a lot of things for a custom made wardrobes. I just chose standard configuration for storage. I emphasized to my contractor that we prefer to hang clothes than to fold them so he drew a design that majority of the wardrobe had hanging space. On the laminate of the wardrobe, I do not like wood laminates in wardrobe so I chose a simple glossy white laminate that looks neat and clean. It also matches any color of my multicolored rooms. To avoid being too plain, we divided the wardrobe in 3 horizontal layers in which the middle layer is a wood laminate. At first, I wanted a solid color laminate in the middle layer but after I seeing a similar wardrobe in an HDB shop, I changed my mind and chose a wood laminate. The final product turned out to be simple but I liked it as well.
Feature Walls
Simplicity is a beauty to me that is why I chose simple design and simple laminates for the feature walls. There are so many designs of TV console and feature walls but most of these designs are a bit extravagant for my taste. My contractor’s design is to extend the tv console by 2 or 3 more feet from the edge of the wall. Then place a column to make division between the dining and living area. The showflat is designed this way. However, I do not want any division in my living area and I prefer a spacious view. Also, what I wanted is a simple, functional design for the TV console. The design is my own idea and so far it turned out to be ok for my taste.
Dining
I placed a full height mirror in my dining area. It was the last item that was done in the renovation. I did not know why it was the last one installed and I did not bother to ask my contractor. The mirror served two purpose. It virtually multiplies our food!!! And virtually creates a bigger space in the living area. I bought my dining table from Lorenzo in Furniture Mall. I seldom go to the city. How did I end up in Furniture Mall in the city? Well, I need to collect this rewards item from The Plaza which I did not know is adjacent to that mall. So I strolled there with the kids and was attracted to this walnut colored table. I guess the damage was 1200+ including the tempered glass top and additional 2 chairs. I was surprised that the delivery change is quite expensive for 80 dollars. But in the end I liked their table a lot. It’s a simple yet elegantly designed. What I most liked are their dining chairs. I wanted to come back to that shop to buy few other furnitures but I did not have time right now and until after my renovation was finished I was not able to go out much. But definitely I will go back to their shop because I did find a lot of attractive furnitures over there.
Curtains and Roller Blinds
I would say that this is my best buy I guess for the whole reno spendings. I spent around 1100+ for total of 7 items: 3 full length curtains, 2 half length curtains, and 2 roller blinds. Previously, I went to a curtain shop inside a mall and I got a quote of around 2-3K for my requirement. Luckily, my contractor suggested to ask his cousin who had a curtain shop in Bukit Timah to quote me. I was hesistant when I learned that the shop was quite far from my place but he told me that the guy will actually go to my place to take measurement and I do not have to visit the shop. Like he said, the owner of the curtain shop went to my place, take measurements, and quote me on the spot. I did bargain a bit and got some discounts. I had no idea about curtain designs so I ask him what type of fabric and color he recommends and I just go with it. My wife was very busy at work and have no time to go with me to choose color and fabrics. That was a blessing in disguise. I had 3 full height curtains for the living, dining and MBR area. The 2 roller blinds are for the study and kitchen area. My sink area is facing the window which had the view of my neighbor’s balcony. For privacy and feng shui, I placed a roller blind on that sink area.
Shoe Cabinet
My original plan is to build a shoe cabinet and seatee area covering the whole stretch of the entrance foyer. But when I saw that the quotation for that item alone is around 2800+, I changed my mind. When I visited the showflat and saw that they did build a low cabinet in full length, I realized that it narrowed the entrance area by much. I prefer wider entrance so I just bought a smaller shoe cabinet in nearby mall. I just told my wife to use the whole bomb shelter area for her collection. She really hates me now.
Overall Assessment to My Contractor
If I would grade my contractor in terms of commitment, workmanship, and pricing. In the range of 1 to 10. Ten being the highest. I would probably say 9. He did finished the work in time. The carpentry he did for me is excellent. And I guess the price is not that bad.
My Renovation Experience
I would sum up my first renovation experience as exciting, fun, tiring, and expensive. The important part of it is that I enjoyed it, learned a lot from it and most of all met a lot of people that are willing to give helping hands and sound advices. It increased my number friends for this year which for me is far more important than having to have a beautifully renovated home. Renovation is a continuing process and I guess this is just the beginning of it.
