we have a move-in date

... and it is: Friday 15th of August. After far too many months of renovation, we'll finally be able to enjoy our new home.

Lots to do from now until then though.

sheesh, nearly there.

We have the exterior painted now, and an auto-gate installed (all important for getting in/out during Singapore's frequent rainstorms).
Most of the rooms are approaching completion, with only the lighting remaining - happening yesterday and today. We have tried to retain the character of the house, which is what attracted us to it in the first place. We fought hard to retain the original windows and grilles. The fixed glass at the top of the windows was originally louvers, but we have updated with reeded glass.

colours

We have recently had to decide all the colours inside and out for paints, counter tops and cupboards. Here's a sneak peek at the colours we're using for outside - Charcoal grey for downstairs, warm grey for upstairs, and architectural highlights in matt black. What do you think?

up on the roof

Tomorrow our roof tiles arrive and are due to be installed. As we speak, our home has nothing protecting it from the frequent showers. There's not really anything to protect at the moment... no flooring, paintwork, tiles or anything nearing a completed finish. Today we had a site visit to try to nail down current issues like final window positions and finishes. Still lots to do on the house, but after the roof tiles go up, that will be at least one thing that is completed to the final specifications. Here's hoping that the remaining issues are resolved quickly and we'll see things progressing at a much quicker rate.

approval to commence

The government approvals have been given to start work on the extension, so our builders can begin on the major construction work. We're still not sure how badly the gaps underneath the slab are - and at this point, saving the terrazzo is only about 50-50. We may (depending on cost) bring in some high-tech gear - ground penetrating radar - to check on the gaps below the terrazzo without having to break it up. In the meanwhile, it's nice to see things happening every time we visit the site.

The lounge area has been opened up, and the wall through to the downstairs room removed so we'll have front-to-back light and air circulation though the house. We're planning some big folding glass doors through the wall you see in the picture above so there will be lots of light into the living/dining area.

oops

When hacking the kitchen floor, our builders were a little surprised to break through the thin slab. So now we have the potential problem that the slab might be thin in the lounge as well - and may need to be replaced in order to do proper termite treatment. We're hoping that we don't need to do this as it would destroy the beautiful terrazo (not to mention blowing our budget (again!)).

On a brighter note, we went tile shopping this weekend and found a great selection to shortlist. We're in the middle of colour choices... trying to put together a master palette for the house. It's not easy. ;)

demolition started

After many months of planning, our builder has moved onsite and has started with the prep work.

We wanted to keep the existing Terrazo floor, so they have layered it with plywood to protect a bit.

The old pinex ceiling boards are gone. We'll have a new roof in a while, but in the interim we have high ceilings!
Farewell kitchen wall! we'll be extending the kitchen to about twice the current size.

hurray for CPF

(mae's entry)

For the benefit of those who aren't familiar with our nation's numerous acronymns, CPF stands for "Central Provident Fund" which houses our compulsory savings contributions (20% of our monthly pay + a 13% contribution from the employer). It works like a fixed deposit essentially.

I received approval to use my CPF for the mortgage and Andy received permission from the SLA (Singapore Land Authority) to purchase - the latter is a pre-cursor to his using his CPF too.

This would be great for us, as our CPF is basically locked away until we turn 55, save for certain home purchases and government-approved unit trusts.

We've been delving into heaps of interior & design magazines to decide what we want, and it's been heaps of fun planning the look together. We're really conscious of retaining the character of the house, and the fact that we have a very limited budget - complimentary ends, fortunately.

Stay tuned on our next update - it make be a while as this baby may take a back seat to the real baby on the way.

structural engineer

Today we had a structural engineer at our new place to do a visual inspection. There was a lot of stuff that he told us that we already knew.

• The roof leaks and needs replacing
• The wiring needs to be checked
• The concrete outside has settles and cracked

We did learn a few new things though

• The structure is in good condition, pretty sound.
• The bathroom downpipe is corroded and needs replacing
• All gutters and rainpipes need to be removed

The roof timbers seem pretty solid, and the air in the roof-space smelt dry, not musty. We won't know about any termite infestation until the roof is being replaced however.

Now we really need to find the right architect/designer to get everything happening.

we have a plan

Actually, we have two. And here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Here's the ground floor plan (click the image for a larger view).

And the second floor. Interestingly, what we're considering as the master bedroom doesn't have a door through to the bathroom in the plan. I guess it was added later. We also have an accurate date on the building - the plans were completed in 1964.

phase one done

We've sucessfully passed phase one of the purchase, and now there's only ten weeks and a gargantuan mortgage in the way of us receiving the keys to our new (old) home. We're already bursting with ideas to renovate the space, and are currently on the search for a good interior designer who has worked with old house conversions.