Before and After

The renovation started on 26th Feb 09. After 38days and with partial touch up remaining, we surprised ourselves by placing the before and after pictures together. It is only then we realised we did a lot of work and for the $21k spent, was well worthy.

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Living room w new half wall for TV console.



Inner hall with all downlights on.

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Open concept kitchen sealed up, with new door.

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MBR with TV console

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Other side of Lollipo rm, with wardrobe (done up by another closet specialist)

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Study/Guest room

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Kitchen door & feature wall


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White kitchen cabinets

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MBR toilet


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Common toilet

Some other misc stuff..


Shoe cabinet


FOC store room shelving


Laundry system

Things to look out for in the search

We did make a couple of mistakes when it came to buying this house. Our parents couldn’t help much either, their idea of an ideal house differs a little too much from ours.

This small little checklist could also help in deciding if you would prefer to wait for the lucky lot from HDB ballots or to go ahead w a purchase in the resale market.

The most serious mistake we made was that we placed the deposit for the house without much negotiation. After inspecting the house for the 2nd time, we realised there’s quite a bit of renovation to do. Too late, price had been fixed. Given a choice, i would have negotiated with the seller because of the overhaul i have to do. That may make him lower his asking price a little, making it a even better than 'good buy'.

Having gone thru’ many many renovation quotations, here are some of the things i’ll look out for in my next purchase (that’s if i ever will shift).

1. Tiles - Living rm/Dining rm/Bedrooms/Kitchen (floor n wall)/Toilets (floor n wall). The variety of floor tiles/laminates makes tiling still pretty affordable. It is the hacking n demolition cost that kills. A major overhaul of a typical 4rm flat here can set us back by $2000 just to hack the existing tiles. Overlaying is another option, but there’s always a heated debate of over the popping of tiles underneath the overlaid tiles.

2. Walls/Ceiling. Rockstone painted walls (my nightmare!) and relatively old flats will require extensive plastering and the cost is high! Ranging from $1400 - $2200, this is another killer that burst my renovation quotation. Hacking of walls to enlarge spaces may also require assessment and approval by profession engineers. Additional cost again.

3. Kitchen cabinets/Bases. Another hacking job involved if the bases and cabinets aren’t to your liking. If cabinets are still in gd condition, there is an option to change the laminates and refurbish to make it look new n gd. Bases, i had an ugly looking one and it stretches all the way into the service balcony. I’ve meet contractor that warn me if i just hacked the bases away, the waterproofing layer may be damaged, i would be restricted in wet-scrubbing the kitchen floor. Solution: to chge the entire kitchen’s flooring = hacking + tiling = expensive!

4. Sink Taps/WC/Water heaters. If you intend to overhaul the toilet, this isn’t of relevance. Otherwise, do ensure all the above mentioned are working. My WC wasn’t flushing btw.

5. Windows and grills/gates n doors. Windows n grills, need i say more? Esp for those units along the common corridor, the window grill are recommended to be fixed w quality materials for security reasons. Wrought iron grills/gates r more expensive than aluminium, but are more secured as well. If the unit is near the stairs or lift lobby, it is a requirement to install fire-rated main doors as well, and the replacement of this door is quite expensive shd one decide to chge because of aesthetic reasons.

HDB and most banks only issue loans based on the valuation of the flat. Anything above that will have to be paid out by cash, which effectively lessen the budget you’ll have for renovation. A very rundown flat probably cost lesser in cash terms, but a major overhaul will cost quite a fair bit too. So weight the pros and cons, as well as the balance sheet!

Moral of the story: scrutinize the flat as much as you can, and bargain as hard as you can!!

The Search for the One.

The set up of this blog is mainly to archive my renovation process and the research i’ve did for the renovation of our matrimonial house.

The search for our house started off and ended within 2 days. That was an extremely quick search which never failed to amazed a lot of people. I know of friends who searching for weeks and months, only to find themselves confused over the tons of units they have seen.

I wouldn’t dare say this is a dream house for us, we are trying hard to turn it into one. We started the search with a little thought of ‘doing the norm’ - take weeks to get the house we want, that is. But our housing agent from Dennis Wee was gd. He understood our requirements and waste no time in bringing us to the units that we were not interested or simply beyond our budget. Coming back to it, I don’t have an idea of a dream house, i just need a house that’s spacious enough for the both of us. Having said that, it also has to be on high level, lift-landing level, single step to unit, big bathrooms, near my mum’s place… etc.

Main thing to note: there may be 101 important criterion to meet for the house, but one has got to prioritise which goes to the top list and which are the gd-to-have. A gd housing agent that knows your exact needs helps to make the hunt a less time consuming one too. Remember, no budget is too little (i’ve met agent who criticized me for my fussiness given my meagre budget), it is only how competent the agent is.

Oh yes, not forgetting some who r extremely into fengshui, do let your agents know the ‘directions’ that benefit you/family in the hunt, not to waste time in seeing units that are gorgeous in interior and location but failed in FS.

All in all, we saw a total of 7 units in the nearby vicinity and found this 4A 107sqm that’s 20mins walk away from my mum’s place.

Next up.. What to look out for when bargaining with the seller.