Stirling HDB Terrace - Organise it!

Went to Howard's Storage and bought something really useful for my staircase store because my dustpan has been in the way of the tiny corridor for years!!
here's how it looks now with the nifty holder holding my broom, dustpan and magic sweep.

Stirling HDB Terrace - Broken Planter

yes, after 4 years of growing bamboos, my planter has given way because of the enormous amount of roots and new bamboo shoots the original 3 clumps are producing. Above is the photo of the crack of my planter which is caused by the ever growing roots of the bamboo.

 here's a look at the clump of bamboo that is sprouting really fast and furious.

 Above: Another look at the furthest end of my planter.

 Above: closer look at the crack of my planter

This is the green shade that my bamboo is giving me for the past 4 years and come tuesday, it will be gone!!! Because I'm asking my contractor to hack the planter away before it falls on anybody's feet.

Goodbye lush bamboo!

Reno@BT Panjang Maisonette - Floorplan

Here's a young couple who just bought a unit at Bukit Panjang and has a 18month old baby. Baby Kate is already walking and the dad is currently a stayhome dad. The couple is planning for more children in the future so we are keeping all the rooms upstairs.

For the lower floor, the couple has certain requirements for the kitchen as they have 2 washers and 1 dryer, a standalone dish washer and they wish to have 2 numbers of double bowl sinks. They also wish to have an island in the kitchen but do not wish to hack the current kitchen walls.

For the Master room, the couple is intending to go for a hotel look with built in wardrobe and a study table.

The couple is also keen to use IKEA PAX wardrobe system and kitchen throughout the entire flat which we are fine and very supportive too. We seldom get couples who are ok with IKEA products so this is quite the first for us. Usually we recommend only the lightings, rugs, chest of drawers and bookshelves from IKEA.

For both toilets, the couple wants to have a sitting bench in the shower area and a concrete support for the master toilet vanity area because the dad bathes baby kate there.

stay tune for further updates!
xoxo
velle

Reno@Kovan Maisonette - updated renders

We are in the midst of preparing to call quotations from the contractors.
Lots of things to be done before we can call for a quote. As the contractors are not able to view the place to give a quote, we are compiling all the existing photos of the flat.
And the whole list goes on:

1. original layout
2. original layout with markings of hacking works and new erection
3. proposed layout
4. list of builders' work
5. reflected ceiling plan
6. electrical plan
7. floor finishes plan
8. final renderings (the ones below are still not final yet, cos these are the ones which we showed the couple last weekend)

updated view of kitchen with glass mosaic as requested by couple

As you can see here, we are trying our best to keep to the Fengshui Master's colour scheme of an overall beige in the lower floor, hence the light woody laminate and light wood floor tiles. We chose wood tiles because the couple likes wood. Initially, we proposed for beige mosaic tiles for the backsplash to tie in the overall theme colour, but the couple prefered a black one. So this is the updated rendering shown above.

view of cozy balcony with water feature following Fengshui

Couple wanted a "cozy" feel in the balcony area, hence we used more horizontal wood panelling here with a warm deck colour instead of the beige floor tiles which we proposed in the kitchen. To tie back to the beige theme, we proposed for a beige wall tile next to the water feature.

Master room - to be updated again as couple wants only a low tv console

Master room with MUJI bed and japanese paper style pendant lights

We are still trying to stick to the purple, pink or peach colour scheme for the upper floors and also the couple love Zen and Japanese theme. So we added a Japanese wave pattern which is very common on Japanese biscuit wrappers and in the colour of purple which we thought was the more unisex colour of the 3 warm colours which we were given.

ritey,
stay tune for the final renders!

xoxo
velle

Velle Can Cook - Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 red onion(chopped)
• 2 carrots(chopped)
• 2 sticks of celery(chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic(finely chopped)
• a small bunch of fresh rosemary/ mixed herbs
• olive oil
• 500g good-quality minced lamb/beef
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 250ml lamb/beef/chicken or vegetable stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5kg potatoes
• 100ml milk
• butter

Preparing the Mince
1) Heat a large pan on a medium heat
2) Add olive oil and onion, carrot, celery, garlic and most of the rosemary leaves
3) Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened
4) Turn the heat up, add the lamb/beef mince, and brown for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
5) Use a sieve or spoon to drain away any excess liquid from the pan, then add in the tinned tomatoes 
6) Pour in the stock, season with a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir well, then bring to the boil
7) Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 1 hour

Mash the Potatoes
A) Peel the potatoes, cut them into halves and quarters depending on their size, and put them into a pan of salted, boiling water
B) Boil for about 10 minutes until tender
C) Stick a knife into them to check they’re soft all the way through 
D) Drain in a colander
E) Add the milk, butter and a pinch of salt and pepper
F) Mash until smooth and creamy

Final Part
Preheat the oven to 190ºC
• Transfer the lamb/beef mixture to a large ovenproof baking dish
• Spoon the mash evenly over the top and poke the remaining rosemary leaves into the top
• Drizzle with olive oil, then bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes, or until golden
• Serve with broccoli or some lovely peas

Stirling HDB Terrace - Pouf!

Had my eyes on these poufs from some website on interiors and fell in love with them!

Just collected my pouf from Make Room.
It's sitting lovely in my living area now.

~wee~

Hougang Maisonette - little update

Many of you readers must be wondering what has happened to the Hougang Maisonette reno.
Well because we had a little hiccup with the HDB and the french window, the reno has been moving rather slowly. But nonetheless, we still carried on and pushed forward.

We called the officer for the hougang hdb branch to enquire about the french window and how we can do it. The first few days, we couldn't get him on the phone, finally we called the HDB headquarters to leave him a message for him to call us back.

Thank god he did call back. He insisted on a PE endorsement for the safety barrier.  We wanted to seek a second opinion. So we called the HDB architectural branch to enquire more. They too told us that we needed a PE endorsement for the safety barrier.

So we went to search for a PE who was willing to do it for an affordable price which iron lady chef can accept.

Finally, we have gotten an PE to endorse and do the calculation for the french window opening. However the drawing was in A1 size so PE tried to reduce to A3. But we still cannot scan it in at the HDB counter as they only accept A4.
PE tried to submit pdf in for us, but we checked with HDB, they do not accept pdf but tiff format instead.  Why, i seriously do not know since pdf format is almost universally acceptable.

now the PE has to reduce his drawing from A3 to A4 and pass us his drawings so that we can forward to our contractor to make the submission to HDB.

I hope the wall will be settled by next week.
Even though we couldnt do the floors but we finished the electrical works somewhat, will start painting soon. But we really have to quickly hack that wall down so that the rest of the floors can be tiled and we can move on to carpentry.

fingers cross
velle

Reno@Kovan Maisonette - Renderings

Hi there
it's been awhile since I last updated on our works because I can hardly keep my eyes open past 10pm. Really waiting for my 1st trimester to be over so that my energy level can be back to normal.

nonetheless, here are some of the renderings which we have been doing for the Kovan Maisonette.
Reno will start end of August. The design is more or less fixed as the couple has been quite decisive with their options and they have really been very acceptable to what we have proposed for them so far.

The colour scheme will follow the Fengshui master's advice with beige as the centre colour for the lower floor and pink, purple or peach for the upper floor.
Strictly no green is allowed but I think a few potted plants is ok since the Fengshui master allowed plants such as bougainvillaea and money plant to be in the home.

view from dining with an 'open' kitchen

view from dining with a 'closed' kitchen

view from kitchen towards the balcony

view of living and balcony area

view of kitchen from study

Reno@Hougang Maisonette - Looking for Wood

It's saturday morning and we have arranged with Iron Lady Chef to do some wood shopping for her bench and DIY table. So here we are at a wood restoration cum carpenter store in an industrial area where we met the Owner and his mum and dad. Nice folks really.

They have loads of wood and can source the type of wood to the size that you want.
They also do restoration of old pieces and even customise built in carpentry for you.

after walking around the store for awhile, both upstairs and downstairs, hubs and Iron Lady chef both found a piece of wood which they think might be suitable for her DIY bench.
In the meantime, me and Iron Lady Chef's partner were chatting over my pregnancy...hahha

Here's a picture of the mum sanding down the wood for us to see the natural grains as the wood is painted with a red finish. According to her expertise, it should be a timber block from a temple because it is stained in red. Also after sanding down so long, the paint is really thick, she also told us that this is usually coated in pig's blood before they add another layer of red paint so that it can preserve the wood.

 see the natural grains of the wood "coming out" ?

here's a zoom in on the wood!

Kovan Maisonette - Master room

The couple has a 7 month old baby and wishes to have the cot as close to them as possible when they sleep at night.
Husband likes to watch soccer too at night while the wife sleeps.

The conventional planning in a HDB maisonette was the single room facing the balcony below was the master with an attached toilet.

What we propose was to change the master to the 2 adjoining rooms, with one being the master room and the other was a baby cum recreational area. The 2 rooms are separated by a sliding door which allows the baby to be near the sleeping parents.

The next 5 years will be a transitional time for the baby to move to the other room whilst the room attached to the master can be converted to a recreational tv area for the hubs to watch soccer in the wee morning hours and the wife can sleep just next door.

Meantime, hubs will have to watch soccer downstairs while the baby is asleep.

Kovan Maisonette - Study Room

We came up with the S, M, L option for the study area for the couple who needed an area to work from home and as an extra room for the parent to stay over.

L - Dedicated wardrobe area with study table and pull out sofa
M - Study table, tv console and pull out sofa
S - Pull out sofa and a study table

Hougang Maisonette - Designing as we go along (Bathroom Vanity Cabinet)

The toilet layout for both toilets are very small. In area wise, it's quite comfortable, but we just couldn't fathom why did HDB put the WC so far away from the pipes that the leftover space for the sink becomes so tight when we add a glass partition for the shower area.

I mean, who doesn't want a shower glass partition? Keeps all the water in the actual wet area and keeps the sink and WC dry when you shower. Although a shower curtain might do the job but it's not the same.

But what i really want to say is, at the end of the day, Iron Lady Chef could only get a small sink for both master and common bath. And there's hardly any counter space left to put toothbrush and mug on the counter.  So we had to improvise the design a little - actually I like doing these sort of things! Designing and finding a solution is what we are here for!

She can always hide the toothbrush and mug within the mirror cabinet above but we think it's quite a chore to do this every morning and night. Plus, dampness in the cabinet from the toothbrush...hmm, not very hygienic. So we decided to do a vertical open shelving at the side where she can put all this bathroom utilities.

Now is just waiting for her approval.
If not there's also those mount-to-the-wall toothbrush holders too. But we are really not so keen on those.

Hougang Maisonette - Bathroom updates!

The ventilation blocks are up already! Here's how it looks from the yard area. This is where the powder room's fresh air will be coming in from. Previous layout had a door opening here, assuming that's how it was being ventilated, but hmm, when you are using the toilet, you would have to close the door right? And what if you are doing a big one, wouldn't you be basking in your own perfume?
Door close and no windows to outside...oh dear.

 a look from the inside of the powder room. The walls are done here, we are not doing any tiling works, it's just cement screed finish. Pure raw look.

 Master toilet - Alcove up with accent wall tiles.

leaving shelves now to be inserted into the alcove area.

a look at the different tiles we are using here!

Grey --> White --> Coloured

Hougang Maisonette - Some Panoramic shots of the house

most of the rounded edges have been hacked off and plastered straight.

The tiler is laying the cement base on before the kitchen tiles goes on top.

Reno@Kovan - Rethinking spaces

to plan for a future of possibilities.

constraints
1) bedhead must always be against a solid wall
2) no double decker concept
3) no green in the rooms
4) think pink, peach and purple

Reno@Hougang Maisonette - Updates

 

The ventilation blocks are here!  

Which means we can start to measure it on the wall to get the hacked area done.

Here's a look at the "going to be hacked" area from the yard.

The walls are starting to look much spiffier now with all the plastering work done.

here's how it looks on the inside of the powder room

the ventilation blocks

i think these are much better than the glass blocks because it provides both ventilation and light!

And very old school.

windows replaced in both toilets

floor tiles all complete in both toilets too!

Stirling HDB Terrace - Study Corner

here are some day photos of my study corner.
I've just changed a new poster which i bought IKEA.
Love the mustache guy holding the black umbrella in the rain.
Whimsical!

Reno@Hougang Maisonette - Reno Updates

 waterproofing laid for the kitchen area

 the men. hatching a plan.

common bath - wall tiles completed

Now is the waiting game

1) we wait for the HDB officer to approve our hacking works for the bedroom upstairs. (coming to 3 weeks now, first time was not approved, so we submit in more drawings)

2) we wait for Iron Lady Chef's decision on whether to change or keep the windows. This will affect the overall progress because the windows need to be changed first before the tiler can continue with his works at the balcony and bedroom areas.

Here are some yummy photos of black sliding doors /windows since we are on this topic of windows to share!

I've always admire the black and white colonial house look, where the frames are black against the stark white walls complete with french windows. The combination always looks classic and elegant as time goes by. Plus it's very eco friendly as louvre windows provide natural ventilation and allows a certain penetration of daylight into the living areas.