Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Curtains & Blinds

After carpentry is done. It's finally the last step of house reno before the furniture and electronics come in - curtains & blinds!

After doing some research, and even going into JB to search for the cheapest curtain, my Goddess finally found one - Starpoint Curtain and Furnishing.

The owner has his shop in JB but comes out to Singapore regularly. He's very prompt in his service, and his workmanship is also good.

The only minus point is that his selection of curtain is very limited - majority of them are plain design with no prints. Which was ok for my Goddess and the Horny Devil as they wanted a simple design for their scandanavian theme.

The whole installation was very fast - just one hour and all the curtains are up

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Carpentry

Initially I thought the longest and worst part of the house reno - false ceiling and electrical was over, and everything should be moving very fast, and my Goddess and the Horny Devil would be able to shift in before Christmas. I was terribly wrong.

Carpentry took an even painfully long time - 3 months. Even till now, her dressing table/cupboard was not completely done, and it sadly won't be done till after Chinese New Year.

But my Goddess and the Horny Devil are still going to shift in before Chinese New Year nevertheless, together with the other defects in the house which I will share more in future posts. Otherwise, they will never ever get to shift in if they were to wait for the whole place to be complete.

For carpentry, they chose to go with her father-in-law's contact from KL. While they are based in KL, their factory was in JB and they have businesses in Singapore. After comparison on the price based on the FIL's detailed drawings (he's an architect) with all his contacts, 2 of whom were Singapore companies, the Malaysia was the cheapest, half the quote of the other two. Thinking they can save a substantial amount of money, they went with the Malaysian carpenter of course.

Little did they realise, the workers will only come 1-2 times a week (that's because my Goddess and the Horny Devil didn't have much time to take leave to monitor them on weekdays) and by the time they drive down from KL to SG each time, it will almost be 12 noon! So technically they only had half a day to work.

When carpentry first began, the two of them were really excited (thinking they should be able to shift in soon).

Shifting the make-shift table as if it's part of the carpentry works

Tired after setting up one make-shift table!

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Fans & Song Cho

I know I haven't been blogging much about my Goddess and the Horny Devil's home and their renovations. That's not because the reno is done and they have happily shifted in. They are actually far from it!

That's the problem with getting your contacts in for the reno at a friendship price - you can't rush or 'gan' (aka scold) them when things are delayed or not done properly.

They are now at the carpentry stage. The carpenter is their FIL's contact and from Malaysia. And so you can imagine the 'bargain price' that they get for the massive amount of carpentry work. But I'll save this for another post when all the carpentry works are done. Anyway, a 2-weeks job took them almost a month now, either because laminates are OOS, the cupboards not done according to their FIL's design and need rectifications, or the workers need to rush other projects elsewhere in Malaysia.

After a 2-weeks halt and not doing any reno works over the weekend, they finally managed to arrange for something this Sat - the installations of fans.

The Horny Devil is a big fan of ceiling fans as he grew up from a family that uses ceiling fans. To him, ceiling fans create maximum air flow around the house with minimum obstruction as compared to standing fans. But to my Goddess who never grew up with such an item in the house, she views ceiling fans as a visual obstruction to the whole house, making it look smaller.

And so, the two of them compromised - the house will have ceiling fans, but provided the designs are something chosen by my Goddess. And to add on to the problem, their fans need to have lights that match with their intended Scandinavian theme since there isn't much lights in the house, especially in the rooms.

And my Goddess' criteria - white, slim and with simple lights. To try to get cheap and good bargains, they went in to JB to search for the fans. In total, they went in about 3 times to look but my Goddess found nothing that caught her eye. They were either too big for the house, if not too fat and bulky looking. Malaysia is especially popular with KDK fans which according to my Goddess, have a 'fat' neck. Also, they can't customise lights with the fans that have remote control functions.

So in the end, my Goddess combed through Bukit Merah (opposite Queensway Shopping Centre) and almost the whole stretch of Balestier Road in search of the ideal fans. And she found such designs in Crestar and Fanco. And only in Singapore are they able to find such small fans of 42".

And the installations begin! 

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Craftstones

My Goddess has been wanting to get some brick looking/ wood planks looking wall for her place. Doesn't have to be real bricks/wood - can be tiles or wallpaper as real bricks take up too much space, are ex and tough to maintain. So she first searched around for wallpaper - a less space consuming alternative. Went to Goodrich and Asro. Goodrich have a lot of nice brick designs! Totally what my Goddess was looking for. But it also comes with a hefty price!

Path towards a HDB Tai-tai: Electricals & False Ceiling

False ceilings and electrical re-routing got to be done together as the electrician will lay the wires while the false ceiling structures are in place, and once they are laid properly, the plaster boards of the false ceilings go up followed by the necessary touch-ups and cementing/plastering.

False ceilings have the following purposes:

1. Demarcate a special area for the house.

This will be my Goddess and the Horny Devil's dining area

 2. Hide cove lights - mood lighting that shines on to the ceiling.

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Balcony Decking

My Goddess new place has a super big planter hole, and the Horny Devil and her has no intentions of setting up a farm or a garden using the hole.

Hole big enough for a fish spa pond

And so the two of them decided to get decking for their balcony. They spoke to several decking companies - Woodpro, Supreme Floors, Floor Expert, Timberlist, Goldhill and Evorich, trying to find the best material and deal for the balcony.

Path to a HDB tai-tai: Storage Rack

I've never expected home reno would take away more of my time with my Goddess than the wedding preparations!

She's like out every weekend with the Horny Devil, first checking defects, then home furnishing/lighting/electronics shopping, curtain sourcing...and now that her renovation has started, being there from morning till evening to supervise the renovation works!

The first house purchase that they purchased and was delivered was their storage rack for their home shelter.

This rack is from the popular Yee Sin from Renotalk. Initially my Goddess wanted to get the really chio boltless rack from Gawa. It looked so chic with its seamless design, and best of all, it's available in cream - their house theme colour!

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: First day of Renovation!

Today was another milestone to note for my Goddess and the Horny Devil - it was the start of the renovation of their love nest!

My Goddess is very blessed to have a very good father-in-law (FIL). As an architect, he wanted to help out in their renovations so that they wouldn't spend unnecessary money on the ID and/or main contractors. So in the end, he helped them to do space and light planning, perspective drawing, detailed drawing of the carpentry. Basically everything you would find in an ID, minus the additional project management fees/ markups of subcon works.

Being so hands on, the FIL took leave to monitor their renovation for the whole day, though he didn't really have to. Furthermore, he is also tied down with a major renovation of his own house. **Super grateful**

Briefing the false ceiling worker 小勇 on what to do

Path to a HDB Tai-tai: Defect Rectifications Over!

It's been 5 weeks since my Goddess got her keys to her new place. And one month plus later, the defects were finally all rectified (until the next time she finds anything new ;\)

Officially, it took them 3 weeks to rectify them. (The Horny Devil and Goddess took 2 weeks out of the 5 to check the defects). Majority of them were rectified in the next 2 weeks, but my Goddess being very anal meticulous, checked every single nooks and cranny to make sure the house is brand new. After all, they have spent so much on the house - better make sure they get their money's worth right?

She didn't take pics of the defects, but here's a list of what's wrong and those that she can recall (30+ altogether):

1. Low water pressure for toilets

2. Windows hard to close

3. Keys for doors can't be used/hard to lock/unlock

4. Chipped off wall/cupboards/doors

5. Uneven tiles in living room

6. Holes/dents on room floors

7. Scratches on kitchen tops

8. Door doesn't close/latch on properly

9. 'Concealer' used to cover cracks on doors

My Goddess calls it a concealer cos it's beige in colour, so looked totally like one, and it's used to cover flaws (works like one too!) And the workers think this boo-boo can go unnoticed, they are wrong! My Goddess is so into make-up that she can spot concealer from afar!

And the engineered wood given by Hoi Hup was totally lousy! It gets chipped/dented/soiled so easily!

See the water marks on the timber?

Now they have to wear bathroom slippers whenever they are in their room. And no drinks allowed in the room! I cannot imagine when the aircon leaks.

Home Small Home

Finally, two years after they selected and purchased their place, my Goddess and the Horny Devil's place is ready for collection!

Going up to their home for the first time - my Goddess faced mixed apprehension - the house is going to be damn tiny and will take some time to get used to, and most importantly, they have to now pay their own bills, do their own housework and laundry!! She suddenly feels more married within a day, one year after their wedding.

The narrow corridor. Luckily her apartment is not adjacent to any other houses, unlike the other 2 units

Welcome home?

Knock knock!