Welcome to our humble abode...:)

Finally, Our Humble Abode

2008-11-10T21:42:00.002+08:00

Finally, after all the hardwork of house hunting, ID hunting, furniture hunting, our home is complete. Credit has to go to our ID, Roy (Inzen) for making our home a beautiful one. Chk out the pics!!!

Our Modified Floorplan

Living room

Wall Feature

Dining area

Dining area with a view of the study

Study area (book cabinet)

Shoe cabinet (View from the study)

Walkway to the kitchen (Chk out the storeroom's wall feature)

Store room

Kitchen

Kitchen toilet

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom Toilet

Walk in Wardrobe within the MBR

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2 (Supposed to be a gaming room...Still under construction)

Carpentry is up!

2008-08-11T07:21:00.003+08:00

Went to see house on Sat. So hapy to see that carpentry is 90% done. The house really looks like a house now, hee. Apart from some minor details in the carpentry that are going to be rectified, me and wife find that the carpentry turned out to suit our taste and also the resort idea we had in mind. It makes the house have that cosy feel, so much so that I was reluctant to leave. Hee.

Ok, enough said. For now, I'll take you through a tour in the house. :)

Main door and gate

Welcome...

View of study from entrance

Side view of shoe cabinet right of entrance

Front view of shoe cabinet

Open concept study with platform and full height bookshelves. Mirror yet to be installed at the back of the open display shelves. Wall where study table and lights are going to be pasted with wallpaper, full height.

Passage on the left of entrance leading to kitchen. Feature wall cum store on the left. Mirrors yet to be installed on the 2 empty panels. The panel with mirror is actually a tic-tac door that opens to the store.

Entrance of store with tic-tac door open

Full height storage unit on the left of store entrance

Full height storage unit on the right of store entrance

Kitchen
Passage from kitchen that leads to the dining area

Dining area window grills

Living room feature wall and platform at balcony. Top and bottom parts of tv feature wall yet to be pasted with wallpaper

Door cum entrace to WIW

View of WIW from entrance

WIW from the corner of window nearer to the entrance

WIW from corner of window further away from the entrance

Mirror on the other side of entrance door

That's all for now, folks! Will update again once the touch-ups are done. Can't wait to move in. :)

House Updates (4 Aug 08)

2008-08-09T08:07:00.005+08:00

Whee! Our house is taking shape but carpentry is taking forever to install, hmmph! So for now, a sneak peak to the more presentable part(s) of our humble abode...

Our living room and balcony (brown part) in white light. A platform is going to be installed at the balcony.

In warm cove lighting

Our dining light. The bulb in the middle is yet to be replaced.

TV, Washer, Dryer, Fridge, Aircon, Curtain Rods

2008-07-28T21:14:00.004+08:00

After doing some research at several electrical shops and reading thru various Renotalk threads, we decided to purchase the following stuff.

TV: After meeting various sales staff, we were confused on which brands were good. Some recommend Sony, Philips, Samsung and Hitachi. We were also undecided on whether we should go with LCD or Plasma TV. After some discussion, we decided to go for Hitachi's Plasma TV. Plasma may have higher electrical consumption but we wont be watching TV often. So why not invest a better TV. Furthermore, Kong Tai (Jurong West) was offering the TV at $1850 only!!! This price is much cheaper than many top LCD TVs. Be it Sony X series, Samsung Series 6 n etc. N its quality is better than those TV. N they were also giving us a free DVD Home Theatre System, Hitachi HTD-K210. Great offer!!!

Hitachi Plasma TV, P42A01A

Hitachi Home Theatre System, HTD-K210

Washer, Dryer: This product was easier to choose. We wanted a washer n dryer which could be stacked on top of one another. In addition, we wanted a reliable company in this market. Fisher n Paykel was our 1st choice but they do not have front load washers. In the end, we went for this German brand, Brandt. Bought our stuff at Kong Tai for $1250.

Brandt Washer, WFE876A

Brandt Dryer, EFM102K

Fridge: Another simple product to decide on. Wife was keen on Fisher and Paykel. So we headed straight to F&P products n within minutes, E411TX was our choice. Bought this at Kong Tai for $1300.

F&P E411TX

Aircon: We didnt really know much abt aircon. Our impression was that Mitsubishi is the popular one ard due to its aggressive advertising. Anyway, the Courts salestaff told us if we're looking for System 1, split system aircon, then there's nothing much to worry abt. All the prices are abt the same. N most aircon companies were reliable. We did some research n found that his analysis was true. Our ID gave us his lobang for aircon. Wasnt really happy with the price so we decided to source out on our own. There were a lot of aircon dealers ard and we anyhow chose this aircon shop in Geylang, Tai Wah. After signing a deal with them, we discovered this company offers one of the best price in the market. N renotalk has a lot of good reviews on this company. It was fate I guess. Anyway, we bought a non inverter aircon since we're not a heavy user of aircon. Price - $868

Mitsubishi, MS/MU-D10VC

Curtain Rods: Simple n straight forward decision. Wife trust no one else but Jimmy Textiles in Joo Chiat. Damage - $434

The Sofa We Love

2008-07-28T21:05:00.003+08:00

We were walking around International Furniture Centre last Sat and out of nowhere, this sofa appeared right before our eyes. We like the sofa so much but we stopped ourselves from buying it on the spot. We were afraid that we are acting based on impulse. But the next day, our feelings for the sofa didnt change. Hence, we purchased this beautiful sofa from Winters International. By the way, we requested for a 3 seater sofa with an Ottoman and the cover that u see is not the want we chose.

Sofa, Dining Table n Coffee Table

2008-07-20T10:19:00.004+08:00

We've been looking ard for sofas that we like. Visited several outlets and the Furniture Mall to have a feel of what we need to look out for in a sofa (eg: cushion sponge, high/low back, leather/fabric, design). After some deliberation, we have more or less settled on this fabric sofa from Species unless a cheaper and better sofa appears by end of this month. We had a deal with Species director whereby we can book the sofa at $50, which is refundable, but we have to confirm with him whether we want the sofa by end of this month. We got this all recorded on black n white. Good deal huh!!! Anyway. we werent keen on leather sofa since u cannot change the colour of the leather easily. Fabric is much more flexible. Anyway, the sofa will be custom made to fit our small living room n requirements and we will be changing the fabric too. This is the sofa that was displayed in the showroom.

As for the dining table, no questions asked. Only this Lorenzo set appeals to us. Ohhh, n we bought the lovely coasters too. 5 sets in total. 4 for dining table and 1 for coffee table.

We didnt have much choice on coffee table since our sofa can only be 1.8m long. Since we were at Lorenzo, we bought this coffee table at $170++ after discount. It has a compartment for magazines n newspapers as seen in the photo below and on the other side, there is a pull out drawer for storage.

House Updates (20 July 08)

2008-07-20T09:56:00.003+08:00

Went to visit our home again yest. This time we took more pics of the stuff we weren't happy abt. Not really happy with Lucky Khoon's worksmanship. Anyway, we have brought up the matter to Roy n he says it will be rectified. He also told us carpentry will be up by end of this week.

1. The wrongly placed water heater

2. The WC top which couldnt seat properly on its support

2. The MBR paint which we didnt like

3. The plastering of some parts of the wall which weren't smooth.

On a happier note, here are pics of our newly painted rooms. We really like it.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Balcony

WIW

House Updates (19 July 08)

2008-07-19T07:59:00.002+08:00

Been busy lately to update our blog. Anyway, there's not much major things to update abt. Visited our flat yest. Basket, we were not really happy.

1. Lucky Khoon installed our water heater at the wrong place. Dun know whether the tiles will be damaged if we shift the heater at the place we decided upon.

2. Saw our MBR paint colour. Wasnt really happy with it too. Thinking of changing it. Anyway, that was our choice. Now must come out money to change the paint colour.

3. Lastly, the rain shower we installed in MBR toilet couldnt function properly. Dun know what's wrong. No matter what we did, no water can come out of the overhead shower.

MBR toilet rain shower

Common toilet shower

Common toilet sink

Shopping for Lightings & Carpentry Discussion

2008-07-15T20:31:00.003+08:00

We didnt really do much research on lightings. We've been so busy that we just cant be bothered and trusted the ID's recommendations. We visited Pantech at Jurong East St 31. The lady boss was very nice. She was helpful and not pushy, just like the lady from Lucky Khoon. After choosing all our lights and fans, our bill came up to $2080. Guess it's pretty reasonable for the amt of lights we bought.

- 26 PLC lights
- 8 x 4ft flurorescent tube
- 2 x 3ft fluorescent tube
- 2 x T5 4ft fluorescent tube
- 2 x toilet lights
- 1 x storeroom light
- 1 x kitchen light
- 2 x bedroom lights
- 1 x WIW light
- 1 x hanging light for dining
- 1 x Crestar 52" wooden ceiling fan for Living rm
- 1 x Crestar 48" aluminium ceiling fan for MBR

Anyway, we met up with our ID last Sat. Had a detailed discussion on our carpentry, from its layout to its design. Our session lasted from 830 to 1130pm. Damn shag. But it was fun. It helps that we could click with our ID.

Shopping for Kitchen and Toilet stuff

2008-07-01T21:15:00.002+08:00

One Sunday, One shop, $3450 gone. That was how much we spent within 2 hrs. We met up with our ID, Roy last Sun to shop for our kitchen and toilet stuff. The plan was to visit this shop called Summer at Toa Payoh. When we arrived, the shop was closed. Fed up man. Waste my time from Bedok. But nevertheless, we kept a positive mindset and believed that this could be a blessing in disguise. By the way, Roy also didnt know the shop was closed. He was fed up also. He called up his old plumber and within 10min, he asked us to visit a shop at 31 Joo Chiat Place, Lucky Khoon.

We were happy when we reached that shop. It was bigger than Summer and had more varieties. According to Roy, the staff at Lucky Khoon was also more helpful than Summer. He's definitely considering bringing his future customers to this place. After selecting our Otto toilet bowls, toilet sinks, rain shower, shower head, taps, Fujioh hood, Fujioh hob, kitchen sink, Ariston storage heater and a Fujioh built in oven, our bill came up to $3450. We thought this was pretty reasonable. We were glad Summer was close.

More tiling pics

2008-06-28T17:54:00.002+08:00

Went to our flat just now. We were so excited to see the flooring 90% done. Chk out the pics.

MBR toilet

Our concrete support vanity. Got this idea from one of the renotalk forumers. Thx

We requested for some ledges at the corner to place our shampoo n soap containers. Nice right!!!

Common toilet

Kitchen tiles

Bedroom tiles

Living room tiles

Superb view from the living room

Latest 3D pics

2008-06-28T07:45:00.002+08:00

Some laminates are still not updated.

Another view of the entrance of our home. Gonna review the design of the feature wall along the walkway.

Study room as seen b4

New living room layout as proposed by ID. We have yet to come to a conclusion on what we want.

Top kitchen cabinet is to be stretched till above fridge

WIW

MBR toilet. Door is actually a frosted glass door n the dark coloured tiles is supposed to be 4 tiles high not 2. N the glass box mirror is supposed to stretch along the whole wall between the 4 dark coloured tiles.

3D pics

2008-06-24T21:36:00.005+08:00

Finally, we've received our 3D pics. The colour of the laminates, tiles and paints are not updated. These are what our ID's designer design. Enjoy!!!

Entrance to our home. Chk out the display area along the walkway!!!

We really love the study area. Chk out the lighting for the study table n the bookshelf!!! Nice!!!

Our living room. The design is obsolete since we cant hack that beam at the balcony. Both ID n us are still cracking our brains how we can make the room nice n cosy.

Our kitchen cabinet. There are few changes which are not updated. Cabinet will stretch till above fridge and the breakfast table plan has been scrapped.

Wife's fav, WIW. There will be no dressing table though. Instead, a sliding or pullout full length mirror will be installed somewhere in the wardrobe.

More Hacking

2008-06-12T21:56:00.002+08:00

Finally, after 2 weeks, HDB gave us the go ahead to hack the walls in the house. We could have hack the walls earlier but someone in HDB didnt write the date we can start the hacking. All they say is that the walls can be hacked. Damn smart. Fyi, we still haven't got the approval to top up the balcony's floor so that it will flush with the living room n the beam above the balcony's door requires a Professional Engineer's approval b4 it can be hacked. More time will be wasted to get these paperworks done. Fed up man.

Anyway, our ID, Roy, didnt want us to waste any more time waiting for HDB's reply. He suggested that we go ahead with the other parts of the reno while waiting for HDB's reply. So we decided to meet up last Mon to finalise the smaller details of our reno such as the layout of the tiles, sinks n vanity in the toilets. We also went thru the layout of the tiles in all our rooms. It was a good discussion n to our surprise, a lot of things have been done when we visited the house just now. We hope for more transformation when we get back from KL on Mon.

View of our home from the door. Cornice removed with walls hacked

Study room wall n previous store room in study hacked

Part of living room wall hacked. Location of future study room

Future entrance of MBR

I love this pic. Our common toilet wall tiles. Damn nice la

Hack Hack Hack

2008-05-28T20:21:00.003+08:00

Visited our flat just now. All the kitchen floor tiles and toilet wall n floor tiles have been hacked. Sliding doors and MBR door have been dismantled. Now, we're just waiting for HDB to approve our permit to hack the walls.

Balcony's sliding door frame removed

Study room's sliding door n door frame removed

MBR toilet hacked

Common toilet hacked

Kitchen floor & sink support hacked

MBR door removed

Prep for future works

We got our keys!!!!

2008-05-20T21:35:00.002+08:00

After 3 months, my wife and I have officially owned our 1st home. We headed to HDB just now to collect our keys. We spend abt 2hrs settling all the documents, insurance and power supply. Was quite pleased with HDB's service. The lady serving us was very professional. Even though her words sounded scripted, she was very nice n patient with the whole procedure. We also discovered a cheap n good fruit juice stall at Toa Payoh. Watermelon juice costs $1 n its of good quality too. We love fruit juice!!!

After getting our keys (23 keys in total!!! Even both toilets also got keys!!!), we went to our flat. We opened the letterbox 1st. Boom!!! It was overloaded with letters. The whole mail box was full to the max. We literally threw everything in the mail box including letters that belong to the previous owners. Some of these letters were dated Nov 2006. Ohhh, n we were the only occupants in the flat still using flat keys to open our mail box when everyone has upgraded to semicircle keys.

Anyway, we met up with Roy in our flat and went thru our renovation works. So far so good. We managed to cut some costs cuz we dun need to do hacking for the kitchen wall tiles, cancelled our breakfast table plan and we also decided not to do a shower screen for our MBR toilet. A fixed panel will do. N the best thing is that we dun need to do rewiring for the whole house. Think we'll invest these xtra cash for some nice grilles in the flat for safety purpose.

The highlight of the day for me was that Roy n me share many mutual friends. He used to play in the same club as me, Katong FC. In fact, we have played against each other b4. What a small world!!!

Tilings Galore

2008-05-18T12:58:00.004+08:00

Wife and me visited Lian Seng Hin to choose our tiles yesterday. So many choices until we got blur. We wanted a resort theme and our ID, Roy, helped us a lot in choosing our tiles. He pinpointed a couple of nice designs n told us to take more tile designs as samples if we like other tiles. We brought back a lot of tiles indeed. We wanted to visit Hafary but cant be bothered since we've already spend almost 1hr plus at LSH. Anyway, how different can the tiles design be. After some discussion at home, wife n me have decided on the tiles we want. Chk out the pics below.

Living Room tile (600 x 600)

Living Room tile (left) with Kitchen tile (right, 600 x 600 )

Bedroom tile (600 x 600)

MBR Toilet Wall tile (2 long tile strips on left, 300 x 600) n Floor tile (right, 300 x 300)

Common Toiler Wall tile (top, 300 x 600) n Floor tile (bottom, 300 x 300)

Space Layout of our Home

2008-05-10T17:22:00.000+08:00

Pre-Renovation Pics

2008-05-09T18:07:00.003+08:00

Entrance to our home. The gate and grill are old school. No hard feelings ya. Hee hee. Like those back when we were in pri sch.

Living room from entrance

Living room again. Gonna convert that room in front into a WIW and an open concept study

Gonna combine the balcony with the living room to make it more spacious

Master bedroom and its toilet

One of our bedrooms

My wife's fav place, kitchen

Common toilet

Confirmation of ID

2008-05-05T19:30:00.004+08:00

It's been a tough time finalising our ID. It was tough to narrow down the choices from 18 to just 3. It's even worse deciding who is the CHOSEN ONE. A lot of factors come into play. Money, design, service and comfort level with the ID. Anyway, the reviews of the IDs are not meant to whack them but it is just our frank feedback abt their service. Different people have different encounters with the IDs and they are entitled to their own views.

After so much consideration, we have decided to engage Roy (Inzen) as our ID. We pray that our renovation will be carried out smoothly and hopefully, in 2 months time, we will be able to reside in our humble abode.

Operation ID - Final Part

2008-05-05T18:27:00.006+08:00

ID #15
Name (Company): Sky Tan (Plush Living)
Experience: This is one ID we respect the most!!! He's very dedicated to his job and customers. His price is also good. Everytime we change a quotation, he would make amendments and arrange to meet us at our own convenience even under our void deck. Once we viewed a flat at 10.30pm n that was after his trip to JB with his pregnant wife. Sky is also easily reached. If u wanna get good service and worksmanship, Sky is the man for the job. If i ever have another chance to renovate my place again, i'll definitely look Sky up. He lost out in our ID race cuz his price was just slightly above the ID we shortlisted and his design didnt suit our preference. One more thing, he was the only ID who asked us for feedback on how he can improve himself even after we informed him that we weren't engaging him as our ID. Nevetheless, 2 thumbs up for Sky, the director of Plush Living!!!
Performance rating: 4.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #16
Name (Company): Andrew (Fuse Concept)
Experience: We were considering dropping Andrew early cuz he told us to expect our quotation to be ard $50K. However, on our next appt, Andrew gave a reasonable quote ($45K) and was the only ID who wowed us with his design. If money wasn't an issue, we would have definitely signed him on the spot. We initially thought he was more of a designer but in fact, he's a very practical person who has a good reasoning for everything that he plans. He was very thorough in his space layout planning and was very accomodating to our needs. In short, if u want style cum practicality, u should look him up. Definitely worth a try.
Performace rating: 4.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #17
Name (Company): Kelvin (Gplan)
Experience: Kelvin was the last ID we met. He's very straightforward and direct when he's talking to u. But dun worry, he's not rude. He's actually quite funny. He seemed very experienced and will tell u what designs are practical and what are not. We are still waiting for his quotation and space layout. But so far, we've got a pleasant experience with him. Definitely worth a try.

Performace rating: 4/5
Verdict: DROPPED (We decided to drop Kelvin cuz we had given a deadline to other IDs when we would make our decision. It is unfair to keep them waiting. If we had more time, we would have waited for Kelvin's space layout and quotation. Sorry for wasting ur time Kelvin.)

ID #18
Name (Company): Roy (Inzen)
Experience: Roy seemed more like a contractor than an ID. But i dun blame him cuz he spent 9 years learning the trade the hard way with his 2 hands. However, this is an advantage he possess. He would know the nonsense his workers will be up to and no one would dare to mess with him when executing his projects. I didnt think highly of his designing skills but after viewing several flats, his designing skills is quite solid and his worksmanship is commendable. His quotation is also one of the best.
Performace rating: 4.5/5
Verdict: HIRED

Operation ID - Part 3

2008-05-05T17:48:00.005+08:00

ID #9
Name (Company): Gina (Classic Design)
Experience: In short, we had a bad 1st impression of her. She was 45min late for our appt and it didnt help that she didnt call to inform us abt it. We had to take the initiative to call her instead. During our appt, she was constantly distracted by her child and we couldnt focus on our discussion smoothly. But we wont blame the child for dropping her as our ID. The punctuality problem was our major concern. Anyway, we were pissed off to meet her the 2nd time n told her to mail us the space layout and quotation instead, which we never received.
Performance rating: 1.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #10
Name (Company): Alex and Ben (Summit)
Experience: We made an appt with Alex. But after waiting for sometime, his colleague, Ben, entertained us since Alex would be back late to the office. We dun mind being entertained by Ben but at least, Alex should have informed us abt it. I'm quite particular abt such stuff esp service. I've met many people who do not have high qualifications or speak broken english but their customer service are superb. Anyway, Ben was prompt in giving us his space layout and quotation. In fact, his quotation was one of the cheapest. But after hearing news in the forum that they are handling more projects than they can handle coupled with us not feeling comfortable with Ben, we decided to give them amiss.
Performance rating: 3/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #11
Name (Company): Mike Koh and Sunny Giam (Baroque)
Experience: We experienced a similar 'Summit' incident with Baroque. After we met up with Mike, we were given an email by Sunny for a followup appt. We were confused n wondered who Sunny was. After some clarifications, we were informed that he'll be working with Mike for our reno. Once again, we weren't happy. Why was this not mentioned to us in the 1st place. Anyway, Baroque was prompt in giving us their space layout and quotation. But their price was on the high side.
Performance rating: 3/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #12
Name (Company): Amos (Orange Cube)
Experience: We had a pleasant 1st appt with Amos. He seemed as though he was someone who can handle his workers well and will definitely build a beautiful home for us. However, we never heard from him until we asked when can we meet up for a view of our space layout and quotation. During our next appt, we were stunned when we saw the quotation figure. $60K!!!! N we thought Intradesign was the highest at $53K. After that, we probably looked uninterested and he started badmouthing abt other companies and used bad experiences of other customers who engage cheap IDs and non-GST companies. We were turned off by this. An ID should never talk bad abt other IDs.
Performance rating: 2.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #13
Name (Company): Benedict (Earnest)
Experience: From 1st to the last time we met Benedict, we were impressed by his professionalism. He wasnt pushy and was very organised in his work. In fact, the company's name Earnest suit his character well. It's no wonder he's having so many customers. He's definitely worth a try if u wanna engage an ID. But we dropped him cuz his quotation was over our budget.
Performance rating: 4.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #14
Name (Company): Johnny (Ideal House)
Experience: It was tough getting an appt with Johnny. We expected a lot from him since their company was one that was very very popular in the forum. His quotation was not bad. But we felt that there wasnt enough effort in the space layout planning. But, he's definitely worth a try.
Performance rating: 4/5
Verdict: DROPPED

Operation ID - Part 2

2008-05-04T11:03:00.004+08:00

ID #5:
Name (Company): Raymond Lee (A&D Interior)
Experience: He was much better than the 4 IDs we met. Seemed experience and was prompt in delivering his space layout and quotation. However, his price was above our budget n we didnt feel comfortable communicating with him. Nevertheless, he's worth a visit.

Performance rating: 3/5

Verdict: DROPPED

ID #6:
Name (Company): Wlyn Lo (LS2)
Experience: Was very very disappointed. She rushed us thru our discussion which took abt 15min!!! We felt as though we werent impt. We understand that she had another customer with her at that time but why the heck she scheduled an appt with us during that slot. After 2 weeks, she informed me that she had a minor mishap in JB n will get back to me ASAP. I wasnt keen to meet up n asked her to mail me the space layout n quotation instead. But i never got the mail.

Performance rating: 1.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #7:
Name (Company): Angeline (Intradesign)
Experience: I called her up for an appt. However, she said she was busy and the norm was to mail her my floorplan n requirements for my renovation. She was prompt with her reply but her quotation was on the high side. In addition, i was informed that it is their company's policy not to reveal the breakdown of every individual item in the quotation.

Performance rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #8:
Name (Company): Patrick (Ho Bee)
Experience: This guy is a famous contractor in the forum. Everyone had great reviews abt him but he's not a designer and u've got to propose to him exactly what u want. He told me he was busy and asked to mail him my floorplan n requirements for my renovation. He replied fast and provided the cheapest quotation. However, due to his prosperous business, we were concerned he couldnt focus on our house fully. Nevertheless, he's worth a try.

Performance rating: 4/5
Verdict: DROPPED

Operation ID - Part 1

2008-05-04T00:08:00.004+08:00

After settling the documentation for the 1st appt, we thought HDB would probably take another 2-3 months b4 scheduling the 2nd appt n handing over of keys. Boy, were we wrong. They are quite efficient. They scheduled to meet us on 9 April. That's like almost 1 month after our 1st appt on 28 Feb. We panicked a bit. Havent choose ID and our CPF money wasnt enough. The actual calculations including stamp fee n etc was slightly higher than the one we used to calculate on the web. We probably had to top up cash by a few Ks. Anyway, we decided to postpone the appt to 20 May cuz at least 2 months of pay would have been credited into our CPF. It was a great move. We also got more breathing space in searching for our IDs.

The whole search for IDs took almost 1.5 months. Appts on weekdays, weekends n weird hours were arranged. In total, we met 18 IDs. I guess im a bit kiasu. I read all the posts on renotalk.com forum and shortlisted all the solid n good IDs. Here are the assessment for the IDs.

ID #1
Name (Company): Joey Lee (Unique Design)
Experience: He was our 1st ID. Met him at the Expo. We were clueless abt renovation n HDB legislations. This guy took great lengths to explain to us all these procedures n was enthusiastic abt our home reno. He told us not to worry and will settle the design of our flats with a budget of 25-30K. Never even complain our budget was too low. Guess wat. No reply from him via email or sms whatsoever. I even read bad reviews on him from the forum.

Performance rating: 1/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #2
Name (Company): Joseline (Darwin Interior)
Experience: We decided to just go for a walk-in appointment at their showroom in Jurong. While taking a walk in their showroom, we saw and heard a couple arguing with their ID but we were not so bothered by it. Anyway, the ID that attended to us looked quite tired. But she had 1 plus point. She was the one who pioneered the idea of a walk-in wardrobe in our master bedroom. But after more than a week, with a reminder through email and sms, all we got was a space layout. No quotation whatsoever up till today.

Performance rating: 2/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #3
Name (Company): Andrew Beh (Moss Emmanuel)
Experience: Met him at Expo. ID seems like a newbie. Don't like the company's aggressive sales tactics. Before anything, the sales people will hover around you and persuade you to fill your particulars in their company form. Then, they are also quite persistent in persuading you to pay $1k up front to get your 3D drawings. They claim that even if you decide not to engage them after that, the $1k deposit can be exchanged for electrical appliances or a paint job. We just got turned off by this. Further more, after we left Expo, the salesgirl called us up and tried to persuade us further.

Performance rating: 2.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

ID #4
Name (Company): Samson Teo (City Design)
Experience: The most dead ID we met. Not enthusiastic at all. Enough said.

Performance rating: 2.5/5
Verdict: DROPPED

Layout of our humble abode

2008-05-03T09:27:00.002+08:00

The hunt in the East n the nervewrecking Wait

2008-05-03T08:54:00.006+08:00

Wife n me had to act fast. We were given 2 weeks b4 we had to come down to HDB to book our flat. Hence, we needed to recce all the shortlisted flats that we wanted. The selection was based on location, space n price. We travelled all over Bedok, Tampines and Pasir Ris just to hunt for the house that we wanted. In total, there were almost 40 flats that we visited n we took almost 4 days to finalise the top 6 houses. I know i can be crazy when doing such research. But that's me. I like to have a good plan before executing something. Even if the execution sux, at least i know i put in effort. Anyway, I'm amazed at my wife's ability to keep up with my crazy determination. Sometimes, i can see that she's tired but somehow, she pushed on n stick with my nonsense.

In the meantime, we kept on surfing HDB's website to kickout those flats that were already booked by other owners. As the days passed, one by one, our shortlisted flats were taken by others. On the day of the appt, we were left with our 1st, 4th and 6th choice if i'm not wrong. As we sat there at the HDB waiting area, my heart was pounding hard, damn hard everytime the TV showing the updated flats displayed the flats available for Tampines. I badly wanted our 1st choice flat. I dun want to settle for anything less. It was nerve wrecking i tell u. I never felt like this b4. Even during exams or any soccer finals, im not so anxious. All my hopes n dreams were resting on this flat. (I know im talking shit here. Hee hee)

We entered the appt room n the 1st thing we asked was "Is 494B in Tampines available?" Once the lady said yes, we told her to book the flat b4 others do so. We must have looked like clowns on that day. During the administration of our paperworks, she asked for our payslip. I gave her my Nov one. Guess what, kena reject. She wanted the last 3 months payslip. I brought 1 whole stack of documents cuz i was lazy to filter out the unnecessary stuff n none of them were relevant. Wife laughed at me like mad. "U bring so many things but none were useful."

The day it all started

2008-05-01T14:31:00.001+08:00

In December, wife n me were in bed having our normal talk cock session b4 we sleep. Out of nowhere, the issue of possessing a home pop up. We heard all the buzz abt DBSS flats in Bedok n Simei. We were attracted to it since it's near my workplace n in law's house. So we thought if it's cheap, we'll prob apply. But my goodness, each unit costs abt $400K. Daylight robbery!!! Gila or wat!!! I can get a more spacious home at a cheaper price.

A couple of days later, wife discovered that HDB were having a bimonthly sale of flats in the East area in Feb. So we waited n applied for the bimonthly sale when it was time. Everyday, we were chking the website to find out how many people have applied for the sale. The final tally was 10000 applicants and they were only offering ard 280 flats. We were kinda disappointed. I mean what r our chances. It's like playing 4D. We didnt put in too much hope n just prayed for the best.

At the end of Feb, we received a letter from HDB. We were damn excited. What will our no be??? We almost fell off our chairs. 150!!!! Wowwee (Father in law's fav phrase....Hee hee). Thank God. We stand a good chance of getting our flat. By that time, almost half the flats offered would still be available. Hence, the search for our humble abode began.........