https://sg.yahoo.com/finance/news/much-cost-renovate-hdb-flat-000000886.html
They didn't really say if their costing is based on a new flat or old flat, but doesn't matter, the price ranges around $20k-$40k. Value Penguin even estimated $55k...
Whatever...
Ok so regular readers of my blog know that I renovated and furnished my place for $18,000. This includes all my sofa, TV, cupboards, etc... I only in-built my kitchen. Everything else is off the shelf.
And when I read that yahoo post, I wondered... would I ever renovate my home? Or what would I change? Or when would I decide to do it?
Some people might get bored of their place and sell it after 5-7 years, either that or they might decide to renovate so that they get a new feel. I think some people like the thrill of the change.
So I was thinking, would I change anything? Or what would I change?
Now, there's a difference between, would I change anything now, versus, what would I have done differently...
Cos I've already moved in...
For example, I didn't do skirting on the edges of my tiles. If I had known, I would have done the skirting right from the get-go, but now that I've moved in, I'm not going to get anyone to add new skirting to the sides of my walls.
And it IS a big turn off that my whole place would be in a mess if I were to do any type of tiling... not to mention unnecessary cost.
So that's what I would have done differently, but I would not want to change it now that I have already moved in.
Whereas what I would like to change are things which I am somewhat dissatisfied with and willing to go through the hassle of changing it.
But ok, for the sake of this article... let's say I have nothing better to do in 3 years time... cos I'm not going to reno or change any furniture now. It's been only 2 years. What would I change 3 years from now...
I'm assuming nothing really breaks, cos... I take care of my stuff, like for my kitchen cabinets and cupboards, I put the really really light stuff in the center of the shelf and the heavy stuff on the edges, this is to prevent bending of the shelf boards. Plates and bowls are stacked but always on the bottom shelf, cos the bottom shelf can't bend.
Ok... one thing I'd like to change is my TV console. I bought 3 smaller low cabinets/drawers and lined them up to make 1 long one. The cabinets are also our shoe cabinet. Anyway, the TV sits on top of part of the line-up, and the other empty areas are for us to put some stuff, like snacks and such. They were cheap around $70 each, so 3 costed me slightly over $200.
They serve their purpose well. But they don't look really all that nice. I mean... it's not bad, just that I think it could have been done better, I could have chosen a better/nicer design, and if I wanted to change anything, it is one of the items which I would consider. It's also easy to change, each of the cabinets is light and I can just move them out of the house and just buy something to replace it.
Next is a study desk... we never thought that my wife would be working regularly from home after working hours... but now that that has become quite common, a desk would be nice. Currently, we are using the mahjong table as her desk. It's pretty inadequate, cos there are no drawers to store her documents and stationary, etc. So everything is just left on the mahjong table. So it's pretty messy. I'm hoping if I can find a free study desk of the right dimensions then I'll dump the mahjong table and replace it with a proper desk. The mahjong table is also unstable cos one of the legs is bent, so it's kinda structurally unsound and a bit shaky.
I'm in no rush, I could easily just buy a pretty cheap one at IKEA, but it would be best if I could get a second hand one from someone, or find one.
I have some inclination to re-tile my toilet, but it's going to cause the whole place to be dusty, not to mention it's likely going to be expensive. But it's one of the things which I'm interested to do sometime in the future. Or at least I'm thinking about it. The tiles are getting stained, mold is growing, yes, they can be scrubbed. But when we got the place, we weren't diligent in testing the water flow, so the drainage isn't really good and we didn't ask for it to be re-done. So now, water doesn't really flow to the drainage pipes easily, and I have to manually sweep the water towards the pipes, else the water doesn't dry well and the toilet will have a smell due to it being wet, and this causes mold to form easily as well, cos it's damp. So I'm quite diligent to sweep the water towards the drainage pipes after we bathe.
The unfortunate thing is that this is likely going to cost us over $1,000 per bathroom and there will likely be some hacking so the whole house is likely to be dusty if we go through this.
I'd like to do the skirting of my tiles, currently, the default HDB installation is just a wood skirting pasted on the walls joining to the floor. So there are places for insects to hide, cos the wood is only glued at certain places and there are empty pockets. A better solution would have been to use tile to line the edges of the wall and flooring, then it would be cemented against the wall and it would have no holes for insects. Not to mention, when washing the floor, I would not be concerned with water affecting the skirting, cos now, it's wood and if it gets too wet, it starts to rot or fall apart... but it is highly unlikely that I would go through with this cos it would mean that I need to move almost everything in the house to make space for the workers to come in and tile the edges of all my rooms.
That's about it really... we're still really happy about how we've done up our place. Simple, no hassle, anything which is spoilt can easily be replaced without much cost.
I think it's due to a simplistic, spartan look and feel. We can't get bored about our design, cos there's no design...
It's like wearing a dress/shirt with patterns... if you wear it everyday, it is boring and your colleagues might think you never changed. "Oh it's that same dress/shirt again..."
But if you always wear the same white shirt, no one really bothers, cos it's a simple shirt and people might have multiple white shirts. That's assuming you wear the same white design but actually changed the shirt, I mean if you start to smell, I'm sure colleagues would mind.
I do wonder why some people like to do renovations... like they want to change their homes or at least reno after 5-10 years. Isn't it really a hassle? It's not as simple as buying a new bag... I mean, that I understand, it's so easy to do... but renovation requires planning and it's time consuming and it disrupts the daily life... so I wonder why people go through with it if they don't need to...
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