#11d: Reno Progess week 2.5 (Toilet accessories installed + shifting of kitchen sink)

Today, the plumber/electrican went to fix the toilet accessories. The whole process took 2hrs. Don’t think that fixing acessories are just drilling but it requires a whole lot of precision. Being budget concious, all my toilet acessories were purchased at Ikea. Ikea items (even small things like toilet roll holder) needs assembling and DOES NOT come with any nails for mounting on the wall. I only assembled the BIG items ( toilet cabinent) – the other items, i didn’t assemble because I didn’t know it needs to be assembled! I’m such a newbie! anyway, sharing this with you so that you know. I was also not used to doing any form of assembly .. sigh.. BH always does all these for us… 🙁 wish he was here

I was lucky that Mr T allocated a very patient and nice man to help me with the installation of such items. Thank God for such a careful worker! I was expecting him to anyhow do the installation BUT he was merticulous! 🙂 He measured and did all the installations properly. Thumbs up! Very happy! He also help me to repair a switch which was not working smoothly!

Result of today’s work:





1: masterbed room mirror with shelf
2: towel holder
3: common bath room mirror and cabinent
4: Champs Jolly water heater ( He installed water heater for 2 toilets too! very well done! Instant water heater is CHEAPER than City gas water heater. Installation cost also MUCH cheaper)
5: masterbedrm towel rail
6: toilet roll holder
7: Shampoo rack
8: Re-running the position of kitchen sink

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[UPDATES] Mr T told me that he will be getting me the stove with WHITE tempered glass + 3 burners! He will also get me the kitchen sink with 2 compartments! NO extra charge! Yay! Morale of the lesson – ALWAYS voice out your intentions to your contractor/ID.

#11c: Reno progress Week 2 (Drawings + carpentry)

I’m glad that I had entered Week 2 of the renovations. I think NOTHING would have been done if i’s not for my supportive parents and sister – No, i’m not talking about financial help but I’m very grateful for their valuable company and suggestions and of course, putting up with my W.W.S problem

Compliments about Mr T
1) He is very puntual and he picks up calls fast!
2) If you tell him something, he will rectify it asap. (Eg: some parts of the ceiling were not well painted, i told him and the painting was done properly the next time I visit)

Some complains about Mr T (so far..)
1) Painting is done BUT the painter forgot to paint one side of each wall GREY which I specify
2) Drawings for our carpentry were WRONG – I seriously think they recycle their drawings 🙁 Colours of our cabinents were not updated. In fact, the whole layout was wrong!!! I explained to the carpenter what I want and I hope that he will do it right. I feel so scared now
3) He said that the colours I chose were weird and not nice 🙁 Now I feel pretty scared that I insisted on the colour scheme. I hope BH doesn’t slaughter me if it doesn’t turn out well
4) He didn’t bring the catalogue for the hob and stove – which he said he will let me choose!!! In the end, he just said that he will get me the TURBO Black tempered glass one. Geez… BUT i want WHITE tempered glass! (Result: I will need to follow up with him tml as he told me he need to check if they have it or not and top-up may be needed)
5) He mentioned that he will let me choose the kitchen sink and tap. In the end, he didn’t bring the catalogue as well!!! sigh… He say he will just get me the sink with 1 compartment. I want the one with 2 compartments!!! (Result: My dad called him and he assured us tt he will get the the sink with 2 compartments – I hope he honour his words)

I feel so insecure now and hope that everything don’t screw up… erm.. he told me the carpentry will be ready NEXT WEEK!!! Fast but… y am I not looking forward??!!

#12b City gas pipes installed!

As mentioned in previous post, Mr T reach our flat earlier than me. He pasted the masking tape and drew arrows on it to indicate where the pipes will run!




In the end, he was also around when the citygas pple came in. They discussed about the piping and installed it the other way instead.





I personally like it that the pipes are run this way because this means that it will be totally covered by the cabinents.

Mr T promised to show me the drawings next week.. hope he keeps to his words!

#11b Reno progress Week 1 (Wet works + painting)

Went to the flat today and saw that the wet works were done! Mr T is always on time OR earlier when we fix an appointment. I am very impressed with his dedication to my reno and hope that he keeps up the good work! 🙂





As for painting, it was still work in progress… I seriously love the colours I choose..hehe.. i have no idea if it’s the natural lights in my home or are the colours just so nice… haha.. I like it very much!!! Don’t ask me since when I’m into green… BUT i am just into green now..

The painter did a good job of covering the aircon trunking and concealed the cracks!! 😀 The trunking seems to have blend into the wall.. very satisfied. Just that they have not painted the ceiling properly yet. Spoke to the painter and he assured me that another coating will be done and he will do the touch up after lights are installed





FYI, Mr T also noticed the dents created by the careless aircon technicians. He told me that he will get his contractor to ‘knock’ it back for us! He took initiative!!! very good!!

Handed Mr T the 2nd payment and looking forward to the next phrase of the reno. !! This means I got to break out of the W.W.S and start buying the toilet acessories, fridge and washer asap!!!

W.W.S

stands for World’s Worst Shopper and that happens to be me. Well, BH came up with this term after my many failed shopping trips. I can nv understand how women can shop/spend money just like how they use water from a tap! Ok, maybe that’s y shoppers are always happy and me? I’m not.

Even with the awesome return/exchange policy, I hardly buy anything when I’m in the states. Weird isn’t? As compared to SG, I have to admit that clothes are cheaper there.. erm.. but they don’t usually fit me well. I end up shopping at kids section which is cheaper…. BUT there’s a couple of times I end up wearing the same t-shirt as a little girl!! *gasps!* how embarassing! BH hates it when I wear the white hairband with tiny stars on it… he will be like ” OMG.. u are not wearing that right? it’s so kiddish!” what can i say? only kids size fit my head ( though i think my head is big)???

Because of many instances like the above, BH came up with W.W.S. When I’m back in SG, I need to mk a number of purchases. It was just so difficult to start shopping. It’s like I’m the one who was supposed to buy things for the house BUT in the end.. my sister bought stuff and i didn’t. OMG… i suck at shopping!!!!

While shopping for some household stuff like aircon for our flat… I chose the cheapest and ignored the design.. BH was like ” why don’t you top-up the $ for a nicer design one?” ok… too late… I nearly made the same mistake for the fridge BUT was stopped by my mum and sis. Right…. I’m not sure if W.W.S is a result of being stingy or thrifty. I have no idea. I only know that I am a lousy shopper… 🙁

I think I need someone to teach me to shop w/o thinking of the money spent really.

Btw.. I was looking online.. thinking of buying clothes from blogshops… and my mum spotted this.. ” She was like.. it’s so nice!! you buy la… ” W.W.S finally resisted and bought it! Thanks to my mum.. I bought the last piece in my size! keke.. looking forward to receive it in the mail… the dress is so ‘Kate Spade’ !!!

Dress bought:



Kate Spade’s Candy shop Jeanette Dress



Between BH and me.. the spender is definitely him.. :X

#12a Citygas pipe installation

Mr T called me to arrange for the gas pipe installation.

I called citygas and the installation will take place on Jun 17!
Mr T told me he will be there… I hope I’m in safe hands!

#14 Bedroom doors

My dad brought me to Yontat today so that I could pick out our bedroom doors. Just to set the record straight, we didn’t opt for doors when we signed with HDB yrs ago because we thought that we will be hacking the walls of 1 room to mk it open so we don’t need the doors. However, things change.

I reached their office and was greeted by a HUGE array of doors! I was expecting to be greeted by some unfriendly saleperson (according to the forum) However, Mrs Ng helped me. Lucky me! She was v patient and she showed me the diff. between hollow and solid doors. I was looking for white doors, but learnt that the only kind of white doors are the painted type ( which is cheap BUT will not last) I went for the PE veneer doors ( laminate) Hollow @ $230 each. I would have chosen the solid ones which is $280 each but it’s only the bedroom doors so i figured out that hollow is alright and i seriously feel that they are similar

Design 6 chosen as follows:



Colour looks better in reality! ok.. so doors settled. As i am using the hinges HDB provide, I have $10 discount for each door

Total: (230-10)*3+7% GST = $706

The cost cld have been lesser because they recently had a price increase!

Date for measurement: June 17
Installation date: July 5 ( It’s long because they have a long list of customers BUT i don’t mind the wait because my reno shld be done then!)

If you are like me and you need to get doors for your flat, go to Yontat. No regrets! The price is confirmed cheaper than what your ID/contractors cld offer you

Blk 1014, Eunos Ave 5, #01-36,
Singapore 409740

Tel: +65 6742 8446

#13 Curtains

I contacted 11november for quotes

Choose the following for 1 living room and 3 bedrooms – quoted $980 *gasps*




Initially wanted to use curtains from Ikea BUT the rod is not suitable for our windows 🙁 My mum is willing to mk the curtains for me.. what i need are the bloody rods! Mr T kindly want to rec a curtains person to me – hope I can get rods from him. If so, the estimation for rods will be $120. Curtains fabrics are cheap. DIY cost is cheaper than going with curtains mker!

Need lots of luck on this!

#11a Signed contract for reno

I decided to change contractor to Mr T ( will be using a different one from what I blogged previously)

Reasons:
1) My parents feels that Mr T is better as his package is comprehensive and comes with the hob/stove, sink/tap – We don’t have to source for it
2) Carpentry quality is good and nice. We saw about 5 of his showflats in sengkang/punggol area. Comes with soft hinges
3) Pricewise is reasonable

To me, I just feel that Mr T is about my parents age and they feel that he is more experienced

After meeting up with Mr T for about 4 times ( 1X last yr with BH, 2X last yr with my parents, 1X this year with my mum) my parents were VERY bought over by him. I mean.. there’s NOTHING wrong with him – he’s just a contractor who is loittering at every new estate. I heartlessly turned the original contractor down and sign with Mr T on 12 June

Problems with original contractor:
1) Takes long to get back to me with updated quote
2) Promise to give me quote and drawings on FRIDAY BUT i didn’t rec anything from him! He didn’t even bother to email/sms/call me that he can’t meet his deadline.

However, I was willing to give him a try because he’s my friend’s friend. Sigh… My parents just think original contractor is insincere and I was just wasting my time

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True enough, I’m surprised HOW quickly Mr T work! On the very day I signed the contract, he also supplied his LOCK to secure my place. Next we went to his showroom to choose paint colours and carpentry laminates! wah… Today, he came down and told me how to run the aircon trunking ( which the technicans didn’t listen) and his worker also placed tiles in our home already. According to him, he will lay floors with protection and painting + wet works will start tml! I think IF i engaged him once I reach SG, my home will be done or almost done by NOW!


My sis bought this from Daiso to match with my carpentry 😀 Thank you!



The above shld give u a clue what colours we are going for – Hope it turns out nice! pray hard that the reno will go on smoothly. I don’t think I can take another heartache…

#7a Installation of aircon

1 word.. HEARTACHE 🙁 Bloody technicians came 1 hour late!!!! I paid for the disgusting high parking fee for 1hour of waiting!!!!

Finally…



The trunking kills me.. the home is already not perfect… but the trunking mks it worst!! The technican refuse to follow the way my contractor told me and did it HIS way instead!! I even told him ” You don’t see me girl then bully me ok!” TMD! My only comfort is though trunking is visible, at least it’s neat




While nursing my heartache for the bad trunking … the silly technician decided to carry the compressor via the service yard window and damaged the window frame! ok fine, it’s just 2 small dents.. but it hurts 🙁



Top: They tried to mend the crack to mk me feel better 🙁 No help, there was more than 1 crack. Hope paint can cover. Below: Realised the dents after they left


I know they can’t do anything abt the dents – so I just gave them a bad feedback on their survey form 🙁 OK i am glad that the glass panels didn’t break. haiz… it’s a small thing but i feel sad. To think that my sis bought Macs for their lunch, they still do a rubbish job. Gain City is such a disappointment!

/EDIT: 10pm Gain City salesman called me and I told him about his technicans. Seriously, I was super upset and I told him what happened to my barely 1 week old window frame! Hope those fellows will learn from this lesson 🙁