Furnished

More of our furniture arrived today. Yay! This is some good news to uplift the spirits a little following the hiccup. Now the apartment looks a little more habitable.

Magino Coffee Table

King-size Epi leather bed with Kartell side table 

Furniture for the office

Tulip Dining Table with Eiffel Chairs

85% Complete

Our renovation is almost complete save for some minor area touch up.

Kitchen

The kitchen is our favorite. It turned out more spacious than we expected after the installation of cabinetry on both sides. The estimated width of the walkway is about 1.5 m and that is plenty of space. I think kitchen space like this is really rare in the public and private property market nowadays as space becomes a scarcity (probably with the exception of landed homes).

The top hung cabinets are laminated in gloss white for a clean look. The lower hung cabinets are topped with white solid surface top with matching white powder coated glass back-splash and metallic grey laminates. The look we are going for is clean, posh but durable and low maintenance.

Living and Dining Room

The living room is almost ready pending the brick wall. We love to have the brick wall but we are experiencing some hiccups in getting it. Instead of boring you with the full details, let's just say, it'll be delayed. Otherwise, the living room is ready to receive furniture.

Mirrors are nice. It makes the small dining room look bigger and brighter than it is.

Office/Study (Cabinet)

I love the effect where the wooden flooring runs directly into the wardrobe. When I first saw this kind of effect in Flamingo Valley show flat and I told myself I want this effect for my wardrobe. The small hole on the left side of the cabinet is for my small fish tank. =)

Bathrooms

On The Floor...

Today, two Kronostep guys came over to our apartment to lay the wooden laminates. The following photos were taken while the laminates were being laid without the skirting yet. Some of the carpentry has gone up the day before. It's very exciting because our apartment renovation is near completion and moving towards "TOP" or move in date.

The Kronostep guys started by overlaying a 5mm insulation rubber layer on the original tiles. Then the laminates were laid over the insulation layer and joined together at the side v-groove. To provide extra protection against water damages, the Kronostep guys also applied a some "click-guard" gel at the grooves.

We are pretty pleased with the result. The Kronostep guys were competent with their workmanship. The laminate floor is up to our expectations. The color has a modern and warm effect. Judging from what we can see, it creates a cozy effect but yet it's doesn't make our small place look constricted. We are thankful of our friends who voted for this color when we were surveying for our floor laminate color.

Notice the TV console in the above photo? It was designed by our ID. The front panels are mirrors to help deflect attention on the TV console and allow it to blend into the background so as to create a perception of space. Two of those panels are drawers while the other two are retractable doors to provide access to the DVD players and other appliances. Pretty neat design piece huh?

Here's how the laminate looks under lights. The master-bedroom is the only part of the apartment with working lights. The effect of lights on the Kronostep laminate creates a nice and warm texture. Actually, a little too warm because the bedroom light was too powerful at 5x18watts and too much light was being reflected by the yellow wall. Seems like the light and the yellow wall need a bit of toning down. Till the next update =) ...

A Simple Plan

Spatial planning for our crib turned out to be more difficult than we expected. It was the first hurdle of beginning renovation.

It is an art that requires careful balancing of functionality, aesthetics, budget and practicality. Working within the limited space of 721 square feet and structural constraints of beams and pipes, we sought to revamp the layout of our apartment into living spaces that are functional and modern.

For instance, our idea of a modern functional master-bathroom should at least house a bidet, wash basin and a shower cubicle to provide convenience and privacy. Our main headache here was the space constraint. It took some imagination, gut feeling and heavy duty spatial planning to achieve what we want.

The extent of spatial planning was also something that we had to grapple with. In the early stages, several interior designers we spoke to proposed major spatial rearrangement which entailed, hacking down entire rooms and recreating them in other parts of the apartment. The proposed ideas were fresh and unique but feels not quite adequately practical nor budget friendly. Sometimes we got the feeling that the IDs were trying to get their designs into the next issue of "Home and Decor" at our expenses.

Finally, we arrived to a conclusion based on what we need. We need to retain the structure of the original layout as much as possible. There is a possibility of renting out the place after the 5 years Minimum Occupation Period as stipulated by the HDB. A two bedroom apartment is easier to rent out that a one bedroom.

So instead of totally revamping the layout, we applied minimum creativity touches, specifically in the kitchen, master-bedroom and master-bathroom, to bring in a balance of aesthetics and practicality. Focus was more on renovating the basic fundamentals of electrical wiring, pipes, tiles and windows for a modern and practical feel. For instance, unsightly pipes were made invisible by covering them up.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our simple plan. =)

Living and Dining: No major revamp. Dining area was enlarged by pushing back the kitchen divider.


Kitchen: Kitchen can be sealed by sliding door. Food preparation counter is beside fridge. Cooking hob is opposite counter, washing area is beside the stove for convenience as it is usually the last step of the process. A tall cabinet is to be erected beside the washing area to cater for storage needs.


Office: Currently blank. A built-in cabinet will be erected beside the entrance for storage needs.


Master-bedroom: Storeroom is collapsed to make way for walk-in wardrobe. Wardrobe will extend into the bedroom. Master-bathroom will also extend into the bedroom to provide more space for what we need. We reckon that bedroom is for rest so only minimum space is required. Any additional space has been utilized for more useful purposes.

Work In Progress!

As renovation progresses, our apartment is fast metamorphosing from a dingy old flat to a brand new apartment with modern finishes. The new windows did a great job with natural lighting and ventilation control. Plastering the walls helped to alleviate wall and ceiling imperfections. New tiles made the floor looks up to date.

At present, the apartment still looks drab and grey but it's nothing that a fresh coat of paint and electrical lighting cannot fix.

Work in progress: the tiler and contractor's work stuff are still strewn all over the place. Walls and ceiling had been made smooth via plastering of ultra hard compound. 

The dividing wall between the living room and the kitchen had been pushed back to make both places more optimally functional. The stiffener (protruding beam across the living room ceiling) marks where the divider wall used to be and it will be covered up by the false ceiling. 

The new windows serves to throw more light into the kitchen and make the space appear bigger and they also better ventilate the apartment.

The apartment really looks "industrial" with grey tiles and grey walls. Me like ;)

No more dingy kitchen toilet!

The future office. Nothing much done except wall/ceiling plastering and installation of new windows.

The master-bedroom work in progress, the master bathroom had been extended out.

The future walk-in-wardrobe

We had lots of showflat inspiration and a contractor who's a "toilet specialist", the toilet better turn out good! =P