.. to the Drawing Board 10 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Monday, July 21, 2008

We are now into the third week of renovation and, still, there's not much works being done.  Though most of the walls have been hacked - and in accordance to the layout that we want it to be, there is little renovation change from week one.

Chiauw is still, as this morning, not satisfied with the consolidated elevation works - both the flooring and some wall erections.  The consolidated problem is definitely delaying the waterproofing test again.  Waterproof/water test is important as it prevents future expansion and contraction problems.  And until this is resolved, all other major works have to wait.

In a way, it is good and that we are guaranteed of a comfortable home in future.  However, it might affect our date to move in.  It also means that we have time to fine tune details and shopping for the right materials.

Chiauw dropped by our place yesterday night after visiting her brother at the hospital.  She wanted to discuss about the two toilets.  I must say that we have been on this toilet topics for days - to decide for the right tiles, the right sanitary, concealing and boxing plumbing pipes and the general layout plan.

Hopefully, what was discussed yesterday night will be the final drawings for the toilet.  However, we still need to go down to Toto to check for the right sanitary ware later.

Specs drawings of Master Toilet:

Master Toilet

Specs Drawing of Guest Toilet:

Guest Toilet

[Continue Reading ...]

The Extra Mile Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Monday, July 14, 2008

I really must take my hat off to Chiauw.  She wasted no time and was at HDB Branch Office at 9 am this morning.  Instead of dealing with the Technical Officer, she requested to meet with the Head of Department instead. In a way, it was a good idea to sort things out with the Head and to have a much clearer process for our renovation - to all the Can and Can't. As it is, there seems to have lots of rules and regulations to HDB home renovation. 

I guess, her meeting was about getting an approval immediately, to all the works required for Reiki Sanctuary, so that our renovation will not face with more hiccups. 

Our primary concerns:

01.  Levelling up MBR and MBR Toilet floor, or with minimum drop,

02.  Installing minimum height false ceiling all throughout the house and not affected by HDB floor-ceiling limit,

03.  Boxing up all the huge sanitary plumbing pipes inside the two toilets.

I was surprised that she managed to get the Head to come down to the site for personal inspection.  At 11.45 am, together with the Head, she went through the design engineer problem and got him to approve our ideas.  We learned that the previous contractors and owner didn't hack the floor tiles but instead just did an overlay.  Doing so, it raised the floor height higher.

We managed to get the approval for false ceiling all throughout the house except the toilets.  Also, an approval to level the floor of our MBR and MBR toilet was given.  Well done and thumbs up, Chiauw!

I don't think we can get such a service should we have engaged an Interior Designer.  With Chiauw, we explored every possibilities and not compromising our dreams for Reiki Sanctuary.  We just want a clean and seamless look all throughout the house.

Chiauw met us after her meeting (with the Head) and we were back to the Drawing Board - for the rest of the afternoon and ended at about 6.30 pm.  This time, it was getting too technical - she was educating us about inlay and outlay, flaming floor tiles for the shower areas and few other things that we were not so interested.  When Chiauw left, we had bad headache and refused to think about the renovation for awhile.

Chiauw is workaholic.  At 10 p.m., she dropped by again to ask us few more questions.

For the next few days, these are works that will be carried out:

01.  Levelling and screeding of the floors
02.  Waterproofing test for kitchen and MBR and Guest toilets
03.  Laying of sanitary plumbing pipes

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 9 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Sunday, June 29, 2008

These were the geometrical drawings that we discussed yesterday:

Heaps of Geometrical Drawings

These drawings were the finalized concepts for our electrical socket powers and lightings, plumbing pipe run and layout plans for floor tiles and teakwood given to all the contractors.  Chiauw had invited few contractors for different works and they were at the site for briefing.  At the end of the briefing, each was given the drawing and we hope that they will adhere to them closely.

On Monday, the joiner, Uncle Chong will start to lay planks in the living and dining area to protect the floor tiles that we intend to keep from the previous owner.  Uncle Chong has also been awarded the task to dismantle the kitchen cabinet and the built-in wardrobes.  He will also be the man that will install our architectural woodwork - doors, cabinets and other wooden fittings.

Meanwhile, Chiauw will be going down to HDB Town Council tomorrow to apply for renovation permit.  We will then know the start date for the wet works including the demolition of walls, hacking of floor tiles, waterproofing, screeding and tiling.

I guess, to let an architect design our place gives us a different approach and it would be different should we have engaged an interior designer.  With an architect, we are at a freewill to pick and choose our contractors for different works around the house.  Also, every structural aspect of the house is re-constructed, from the marco level of how to integrate into our lifestyle to the micro level of construction details.

Chiauw engages the design process to give Reiki Sanctuary the sense of form, texture, structure, materials and the pragmatic elements such as cost, construction limitations and technology.  At the end of it, she wants to provide us a home that is functional, economical, practical with artistic and aesthetic aspects.

It is hard to single out a house theme and style for Reiki Sanctuary.  From the start, we do not want to narrow down to a specific theme but we want consistency throughout.  We want clean and modern finishes, yet warmth and cosy and a sense of spaciousness.  We believe Chiauw has able to give us that.

We left Reiki Sanctuary to head down to another light shop along Balestier Road.  Chiauw wanted us to look into the ceiling lights and the specific type of warm light that we want to deploy all around the house.  And hopefully, we can find the hanging light for our dining area too.  We didn't get to find our dining light but managed to select the frame for the ceiling light and chose the code for the warm light.

We are not in favour of halogen lights but we have no choice.  Firstly, we want the false ceiling not to exceed certain height so that ceiling-floor height is maintained.  And only halogen frame fits our design.  Secondly, halogen lights emit more heat, though it is possible to use a dimmer.

The Spain Ceiling Light Frame - using halogen bulb:

Halogen Bulb Frame

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 8 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Sunday, June 15, 2008

It was a serious meeting with Chiauw yesterday.  We were very focussed to finalize [some] little details and I was glad that we managed to 'close' those areas and move forward:

A.  Completed Tasks:

01.  Built-in Hob and Hood

Chiauw is to go ahead with the purchase of

- 1 unit EF [Italian made] Island Hood F55120RLN Stainless Steel with Glass
- 1 unit Rinnai 2-inner fire burner built in hob RB-2CG

EF Island CookerHood F55 120RLN

Rinnai Inner Fire Built-in Hob

02.  Toto Sanitary ware

Chiauw is to go ahead with the purchase of:
- Toto Avante wall hung w.c. CW822J
- Toto Eco Washer TCW02SN
- Toto counter top basin LW542J
- Toto semi recessed basin LW533J

Toto Avante Wall Hung CW822J

Toto Eco Washer

Toto LW542J - MBR Toilet - w/o Tap

Toto SemiRecess LW533J - Guests' Toilet

03.  Electrical Power Plugs

We identified all the possible electrical gadgets for the entire house.  In all, we will be installing 45 units of Legrand electrical power plugs.

Legrand

04.  Celing Lights

We will have false ceiling all throughout the house.  We shall leave it to Chiauw to locate all the points and switches for the downlights.  We prefer, at certain area of the house, to have a two-way switch.  The only place that will have a hanging light would be for the dining area.  We also requested for energy saving warm yellow lights.

05.  Wardrobe structure

We decided not to use alumix or ximula modular structure.

- www.alumix.com/TheStructuralSystem.html
- www.ximula.com/products.htm

07.  Bed Frame

It will be custom made with a boxed headboard [with lights shooting upwards] and two side tables.  The size of Arlington Plush Simmons king mattress is 72 x 75 x 11.5 inches.  We want the bed to be low.

Bed Set with Side Tables

08.  Wood Flooring

Chiauw strongly suggested that we go for Oak wood.  She highlighted the colour of wood will change, and drastically to some wood like maple, few years down the road.  The matured colour of oak is supposedly not so drastic from the day of laying them.  Plus, some woods will give stained marks between joins after a while - especially with frequent wet mops.

Wood07

B.  Pending Matters:

01.  Tank Heater

We need to go down to the house to check for the water pressure before deciding on Hansgrohe Raindance showerpipe.  Also, will be considering to install two units of tank heater - 25 litre tank for MBR toilet and 15 litre tank for kitchen and Guests' toilet.

Hansgrohe Rain Shower Pipes

Hansgrohe Wall Bar

Joven Tank Heater

02.  Floor Tiles

Earlier before meeting up with Chiauw, we thought of changing the colour scheme for the MBR toilet from black and white to earth brown.  We thought it would make the tiles selection easier as we could not find a nice black and white previously.

Chiauw felt that we should still stick to black n white theme for the MBR toilet.  She suggested that she should go down to the tiles showroom, picked on few samples, and let us choose thereon.  Probably, this will work out.


C.  Job Tender

We will be going down to the house this Thursday with some contractors.  The purpose of this visit is to let them inspect the house and bid for quotations.

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to The Drawing Board 7 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Friday, June 13, 2008

I had a long telephone conversation with Chiauw yesterday.  We both felt that there's a lot of detail that needs to be finalized:

01.  The purchase of the island cooker hood
02.  The choice of inner fire cooker hob or an induction cookertop or just an ordinary two burner
03.  The placement, and number of units, of electrical power plugs for the whole house
04.  The confirmed orders for plumbing and sanitary wares
05.  The placement for the cylinder gas
06.  The placement for tank heater
07.  The choiced tiles for kitchen, kitchen toilet and MBR toilet
08.  The choiced timber wood
09.  The inner wardrobe structure for WiW, study area and Guests' room
10.  The wall - colour
11.  The ceiling lightings
12.  The lights switches
13.  The bed frame
14.  The design of suspended TV console - Living and MBR
15.  The tender
16.  The work permit application
etc
etc
etc

We are resuming our weekly meeting this Saturday.  We are looking forward to it.

The Wood Area:

So, we decided to look into the wood samples and narrowed down on our choice.  Hopefully, Chiauw will guide us when we see her tomorrow.

Designated Wood Area

And the choices of wood:

Wood01

Wood03

Wood08

Our preferred choice:

01.  Wood 1
02.  Wood 8
03.  Wood 3

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 6 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Thursday, May 29, 2008

Chiauw is still not back from her Shanghai business trip.  Guess, she got tied up.

Meanwhile, it would be good idea to start planning the layout for the electrical switches and plugs for our discussion when we meet her.  Chiauw has actually deployed some idea for the electrical switches and plugs for kitchen and guest/mbr toilets.

Generally, we are not going to have ceiling lights in the house except for the Dining Area.  We intend to play with lots of down-warm-yellow lights.

Electrical Switches And Plugs:

3D Light Switch - Entrance

3D Electrical Plugs - TVConsole

3D Electrical Plug - Sofa Right

3D Electrical Plug - Sofa Left

3D Light Switch - Dining

3D Electrical Plug n Light Switch - Kitchen

3D Electrical Plugs - MBR TV Console

3D Electrical Plugs - Study

3D Electrical Plug - WiW

Hmm, I wonder if these switches and plugs are just too many?  Basically, I am trying to avoid using extension plugs in future.

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 5 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Thursday, May 15, 2008

Chiauw left for Shanghai this morning - to liaise with her business counterparts for the hotel project.  She will be away for a week.  There'll be no discussion nor shopping for us this week.

She has handed us the quotations for the Toto sanitary ware and Rinnai Kitchen hob.

Items that will go into the MBR Toilet:

2D MBR Toilet

Items for MBR Toilet

Items for MBR Toilet 2

We are yet to source for the rain shower.  Also, we still cannot decide what tiles to use here.

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 4 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Wednesday, May 07, 2008

We discussed the layout for our open concept MBR Toilet again.  This time, we want to shift the shower area to the left.  We feel it will make the shower area bigger as compared to erecting it on the right. 

The colour concept here is, somewhat, finalized - it will be chiselled black tile at shower area, black floor and white wall.  Chaiuw will get one of her contractor to glaze the chiselled tile to give it a bit of shine.

Other things to consider:

01.  Erecting the rain shower on the wall or from the ceiling?
02.  Create ram instead of a 50mm drop at the entrance?  We would probably choose the ram.
03.  Replace the left wall, where the vanity top is, with wood dividers.
04.  Replace the right wall with wood dividers.
05.  Full mirror above vanity top.
06.  Full length mirror on the door of the cabinet.

It will look something like this:

2D Drawing

2D Modified MBR Layout

3D Drawing

3D MBR Toilet from WiW

Haha, some people mistook that all the 3D drawings posted here are from Chiauw -- NO! they are not!  I am sure Chiauw will give better, more professional, 3D drawings.

This is how the Walk-in-Wardrobe and Study area going to be:

2D WiW

3D WiW

There will be a hidden sliding door in between the two tall wardrobes to separate the study area and MBR.  This door will not be visible.

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 3 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Saturday, May 03, 2008

There are still so many details that need to be addressed.  I realise that designing a home is tedious - there are so many areas to look into.  With Chiauw and the two of us ever so fussy to achieve high modern interior look, yet it has to be simple and cleanlined, we often go very lengthy just to discuss one small area. It can take hours just to talk about an area.

As Chiauw puts it, at the end of the day, this house must be functional, practical and there are no corners not taken care off.  What I like is her constant focus that this house must also be an old-age friendly.  That sounds realistic as both of us are not far from that group and that we will be staying in this house for a long time.

Chiauw is not pushy.  She usually presents her ideas - which we clearly lack, and will go through the pros and cons.  She listens to us and accepts our ideas and, often, will enhance them to blend and integrate with the architectural macro and micro details where possible.
>br /> We have been given a list of tasks which will be discussed next week:

01.  What we want each bedroom wardrobe compartment to be used for.  At the same time, to visualise its interior layout.

02.  How I want the wire trap layout for all the wires for my computer to run.

03.  The 'wood' layout proposal - vertical/diagonal for each room.

04.  All the 'used less frequent' household items.

05.  Switches for the whole house.

The common things that we have achieved so far:

01.  Square grid of the house in line with Tibetan Geomancy.

02.  No wasted corners.  As such, the doors for MBR and Guest Room will face the Dining area - therefore, the old layout with the walkway/corrider will go.

03.  Remove the wall from Main door to Kitchen.  To lay wood flooring.  To slide-n-hide with sliding glass door.

04.  Wood for MBR, Study and Guest rooms.

05.  Black MBR toilet with white and silver accessories.

06.  Black Kitchen floor.

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 2 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Friday, April 18, 2008

Saturday is where we look forward to see Chiauw.  It is always a joy to sit down with her and discussing about the house plan.
This time, we go through the MBR plan again and paying attention to the toilet.  Chiauw is for an 'open' toilet concept - meaning, there will be no door.  She says that it is a contemporary trend for modern interior.  She senses that we are uncomfortable with the idea but willing to take that option.
The idea to expand the MBR toilet is a good idea.  We feel that the current area is a little too small.  Guess, the size area for all old HDB flats, of more than 20 years, is not as big as the newer ones.  Chiauw needs to think how to cover all those pipes in there.  We will also be glass-boxing the window and put an exhaust fan here.
Also discussed is the Kitchen area.  We want an L-shaped cabinet where an island will be built to hold the electrical hob, facing the window.  It means that we need to source for an Island Hood.
We suggested areas for our refrigerator and Washer n Dryer [2-in-1] machine.
Chiauw suggests that I start to plan to organize the kitchen cabinet - what and where to put what.  We plan to get into the detailed design next saturday.

---

[Continue Reading ...]

.. to the Drawing Board 1 Written by : Reiki Sanctuary Date : Friday, April 11, 2008

Chiauw was here to discuss about the layout this afternoon.  We spent about 4 hours going through our needs and how we would want the house turns out.  She suggested, and educated us, on the various home themes.

Frankly, I could not come out with a specific theme cos I just want the house to be practical and functional yet modern, warm and cosy.  What is important will be the workmanship, the eye for details and the quality that we will be putting inside the house - from tiles to wardrobe and colours.

Chiauw started with asking about our lifestyle.  She wants it to be reflected with the design.

Working with Chiauw is fun and easy.  She allows us to express our priorities before she puts in her professionalism to explain the feasibility of any idea - from an architectural view and her years of designing experience.  A common cord strikes between us when I told her that I am a very particular and meticulous person - that every thing, living or non living things, in the house must have a place.

To me, it is about giving ownership to everything in the house.  That everything inside the house must get a recognition and comfort.  Just like the fork and spoon that feed me, the sofas and dining chairs that comfortable seat me, the clean hand towel that wipes my wet hands - they deserve to have a proper place, a proper compartment.

The last thing that we agreed today is to hack few walls.  Basically, we want a bedroom free of wardrobes, a walk-in wardrobe and study area, lots of wardrobe and island hob in the kitchen.
 

[Continue Reading ...]