does this look different?

my id has been telling me that the color of my parquet flooring will change the first few weeks after layering as the wood "acclimatize" to a new environment.  nature never fail to amaze us huh?
so does the following looks different to you?

15-Jun (left)  after 2 weeks: 29-Jun (right)

of course another contributing factor is the lighting *wink* photography far from the work of a professional.  another thing i have learnt was that for timber strips less than 12", nailing is not required.  i went on-site a couple of time hoping to catch a glimpse of how nailing is done and only got to know later that these are the only nails i will see haha (-.-")

can you spot them?

aside from parquet, do you recall about my "slaughtered" gas pipe?  in the end, check out where it ends ... haha somehow the pipe was broken and they have to "end" it with the nut outside my house instead. well, the good thing is i saved 60 bucks heehee thanks to my id coordination with city gas.

gas pipe

that's all for this week, folks ... before i left, view from my house looks rather worrying. haiz, seems like the haze is coming back *sianz* sure hope i am wrong abt this.

waiting, waiting, waiting ....

1. wait for hdb permit
called up hdb and somehow the permit is still PENDING after re-submission. run a check on renotalk (the best forum for those renovating their house, you can find loads of information), then realised i am not alone. looks like this new ruling has been affecting others since last year.

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/54039-balcony-issue/

updated my id about the hdb response and earlier heard that they have met up with the responsible to clarify and re-submitted the necessary. hope to hear some good news by end of the week *finger-crossed*

2. wait for carpentry quotation
confirming carpentry dimensions is a long and tedious process especially if you are having quite a few carpentry works and also if you can't decide on what to have ... earlier on, i have tried to prepare myself, going to excel and blum showrooms to check out the items that i wanted.  nonetheless it still takes a while to capture these to paper.  the final proposed layout looks something like this:

looks like almost done yeah?  well barely :( now i have to wait for quotation of the blum drawer runners that i am eyeing on, the markup that the carpenter will be charging (if any) and their labour cost for installing.  the latter kinda pissed me off, cos it differs from initial discussion with id.  let's hope it's just a misunderstanding.

3. wait for revised design (minor adaptions)
aside from the kitchen cabinets, another headache is the cushion settee that i am having at the dining area.  in the last discussion with my id, we have decided to go with fabric settee in a light beige tone for comfort and color alignment with the theme.  but somehow after sitting on this idea for a week, i changed my mind ... the thought of maintenance and having light colors at the dining area really worries me and worst of all, the cushion covers cannot be removed for cleaning. so i opt to go without cushion, of cos this means my "cosy area" may not be as cosy as it is meant to be liaoz ... not sure how it will turn out and if it will somehow ruin the design that my id has in mind.

*erhm hem* that's not all for changes ... i am sure it's the dilemma of all guys renovating their house, somehow we jus keep getting new ideas on how to do up the house.  so advice for all ids out there, better to build asap after confirmation with home owners. only then the human mind will stop wandering *hee* since i have last changed my vanity top to caesarstone, i have been wondering if a semi-recess basin has done the vanity top wrong ... i then consider having a frosted glass basin, but the available options are round and this seems out of place of my home's design.

illustration of semi-recess basin (http://www.inspirione.com)

illustration of round basin

guess what i opt for in the end? ... an undermount basin *grin* hope the turn out will be good *nervous* and not become my regret in years to come.

illustration of undermount basin (http://www.bathroomwarehouse.com.au)

well that's all i can do for this week, waiting ... may the wait ends soon and we can resume progress :)

quiet + hazy week

this week, singapore PSI hit record high with 3-hours average at 401 on 21-Jun-2013 (Fri).  the air smells awful and everyone starts wearing mask outdoor.  even macdonalds and kfc stop their delivery service (0_0) ... it is only on days like these, i can fully realised the meaning of cherishing what we have always taken for granted - fresh air.  i miss the sun, the blue sky, the white clouds and rain !!!

ok before it gets too depressing, so how's the reno going?  somehow in line with the haze, there was also not much done on site.  probably a good thing for the workers too ... it is terrible if they have to work with barely any ventilation in the house.

well we only managed to spot these:

electrical distribution board in place

15-Jun (left)
wire everywhere

17-Jun (right)
all are neatly tugged in db

looks good to me .... except my gas pipe (@_@) somehow got "slaughtered" in the living room instead of the kitchen.  city gas will have to come in to place a nut to terminate the gas and remove the gas meter ... at a price of $60








cans of paint are here

that's all for a 3-room flat?

my mum was complaining that the paint seems too little for my flat, but then again this is only the base coating... well will see how it turns out soon !

master bedroom ready for painting

23-Jun (left) looks like they will be starting with the master bedroom.  we found overlay of paper on the floor of master bedroom.  material looks rather flimsy to me, but i guess the painters will know what they are doing ... *feeling nervous* its on parquet flooring 

mess and dirt .... aiyo 

super messy after the previous week's installation.  guess they still can't completely clear up the mess due to the tiling work pending ... but then again looking at the torn corrugated paper, the dusts, the broken pieces of electrical stuff, my heart aches for my floor tiles (-_-!) 

3... 2... 1... and lights are out

my house looks like in war zone this week (*o*). can't imagine how the guys work during the day ... let's check out the series of works completed:

1. water pipes are up ... and boxed-up nicely

original (left)   10 Jun: new stainless pipes (center)   12 Jun: boxed up (right) 

glad that id instructed to hide the beam within the box too :) *happy*

2. aircon pipes are up ... trunking everywhere
some can be hidden

now you see it (left)  and now you don't (right) 

and some not ...

storeroom

3. wiring are done ... *poof* lights are out 

wires, wires and wires ... for the db (left)  lighting pt for dining (center)  power pt for kitchen (right)

and yey my SCV cables run well afterall *yippee* saved 50 bucks haha ...

study room - SCV cabling 

4. false ceilings are up
sooooooooo excited to see how the cove lights will turn out after installation

5. even parquet are laid in 1 day *wo* superman speed

16-Jun: master bedroom (left)  study room (right)

the coloring of the timber flooring on study room looks kinda worrying to me ... the distinct change of wood color.  have highlighted to my id :-( *sob sob*  let's hope that my worries are unfounded and it will be fine after sanding.  stay tuned !

for the next few weeks, things will probably slow down now as they fabricate the carpentry off-site and until they obtain the approval to fix the "drain".  but still will keep a lookout for surprise ;-)

touching up the tiles

today, i decided to visit my house on a sunday :) and is delighted to find the site neat and tidy for coming week's renovation.

kitchen
tiles are filling up all the way to the top

bathrooms
doorways to bathroom tiled - ready for bi-fold door measurement

bedrooms
bedroom and study rooms are leveled with cement - ready for parquet layering *grin*

living room
walls are plastered with cement and made good after demolition of the wall - what's needed is just a fresh coat of paint

common bathroom

master bedroom bathroom

master bedroom

study room

living room - right

living room - left

bye bye for now my home, so excited to see your transformation for next week.
coming soon:
- running water pipe
- running electrical wiring
- lightings delivery
- false ceiling installation

09-Jun - 1st milestone of tiling work done

another week of tiling

another week has passed... the tiling works are progressing well

04-Jun

06-Jun - kitchen tiles done up with platforms

despite the progress, this week has been rather hectic for my mind with quite a few worrying updates from the id :'-(:

1) hdb still has yet to approve the permit to fill the floor extension for living room - so i have a "drain" now between my living room and kitchen *sob sob* let's hope hdb approve soon after my id submit the required document ... otherwise my pocket is gonna hurt with another PE endorsement *ouch*

2) initial electrical quotation comes up to $4,000 m(0_0)m ... after a few rounds of corrections, glad to have the quotation down to $3,000.  this is definitely not an easy task - scrutinizing each and every item, calling up different vendor like starhub and opennet.  let's hope $$$ matters like this will not happen again.

3) i have decided to engage starhub directly to install my SCV points as my id is charging $150 per point and this is far above the market rate (approx 80 - 100).  so feeling rebellious, i decided to engage starhub directly instead.  though i do felt a tinge of regret now, wondering if the cabling will turn out fine (-_-!).  well well, let's hope my id will work out well with the starhub contractor and please let my SVC points and cables be laid out adequately without tarnishing my home's design *pray*

may my worries be unfounded and i am soooooo anxious to hear good news for the above in the coming week !

floor tiles - kan-cheong spider in action

27-May (mon)

super anxious on how my floor tiles will turn out, we visited the house consecutively from monday to wednesday over the week.  on monday, i managed to stay off the ground most of the time and simply take a few pictures before heading off.

29-May (wed)
- my mum in action 

but on wednesday, we got carried away and start walking around, knocking on the tiles :-p ...  

and guess what on thursday, my ID texted requesting us to avoid going down the house for the next few days to allow the cement to dry (0_0) oops we must have created too much traffic ... oh oh.  but anyway whats done can't be undone.  lesson learnt = don't be a "kan-cheong spider" when it comes to tiling.

after clearance with my ID, we have been "granted" permission to visit the house again *yippee*
however most of the living floor works are already covered-up so we can't see much.  

01-Jun - living room

well at least the toilet looked almost done to me, just left with cleaning and putting in the door and toilet fittings.

01-Jun -
common bathroom

but we do spot something difference *wink* in the kitchen, can you see it?

25-May (a week ago) - now you see it ...

01-Jun - and now you don't ...