DAY 4

We went to the house today as we did not manage to visit yesterday. It's a public holiday today so it's a rest day for all. After 4 days of work, all the walls that's supposed to be demolished have been taken down, except the one which we haven't gotten approval for and the wall between the girls' rooms (above, right). The latter has been approved, but the contractors didn't have enough time to hack everything in the permitted three days of heavy hacking so they said they would do it together with the balcony wall after approval has been given. The girls' wall will have a pocket door so that they can communicate and hopefully bond with each other more. That's our intention at least. It was not cheap to include the door but we felt it would be worth it. Hopefully it all goes according to plan. I've been bringing curry puffs and drinks for the workers these past few days but I don't think I can keep it going throughout the duration of the renovation. I spend less than $10 each time but it will still add up after 2 months! So I'll do it for as long as I can.

Emma's room is all nice and clean. Meg's room is still a mess!

Still waiting for the permit.

Wall tiles and floor removed from the kitchen. This is as bare as you'll ever see a HDB flat. Stripped down to its bare bones.

Master bathroom on the left, living through the right door frame, seen from the master bedroom.

The master bedroom, also nice and clean.

They've left the light switches dangling and the light fittings in tact. So we still have light.

Balcony on the left, wall pending permit in the centre and the living on the right.

Study on the left, living in the centre and balcony on the right.

Em's room on the left, living in the centre, study on the right.

At the end of the 4th day of renovations.

DAY 3

Most of the rubble was removed today so we were able to walk around a little. The electrical cables and switches were left in tact for the time being, making it possible to visit the flat at night after sunset. We still haven't gotten the approval to take down the wall between the study and the balcony. It's a small wall with a big window opening. Not sure why it's taking so long to get the approval. The contractor says it may take a few days to a month to get it! We'll just have to be patient and wait. 

The workers clearing out the rubble in the day.

Same view that night.

Removing the rubble with a wheelbarrow.

The other daughter stayed in the car to sleep. This one is more adventurous and follows me around more.

The wall on the left between the study and the balcony awaiting approval to be taken down. 

DAY 2

It looked like a war zone today... I thought they were going to save the floor but it looks like they decided to hack the entire floor. I guess it's easier to hack everything than to try to match up with the old flooring. The house was full of rubble. My sympathies to our neighbours for having to put up with the drilling and hacking for those three days. I dragged my pajama-clothed daughters to the house but didn't stay long for fear of having them breathe in the fine cement dust. The kitchen walls had been taken out. All the wall tiles in the kitchen and balcony were removed. The built-in cabinets in the study and kitchen were all removed. It was quite a sight.

One daughter was awed, the other, disinterested.

We could not walk around the house, so we just stood at the entrance corner and shot pix.

Kitchen walls facing the living and house entrance where demolished, rubbish chute also removed.

The debris in the kitchen.

Another panoramic view of the war zone.

DAY 1

What lies behind the door?
We opened the door with trepidation, not knowing what to expect after the first day of hacking.

We popped by the apt at the end of the first day of renovations to see what was happening. I had come by earlier in the morning to drop the greeting cards under our neighbours' doors - the ones provided by the HDB to help new owners to break the ice with their neighbours - introducing ourselves and informing them of the impending renovations. We've not met any of them. Their doors are closed all the time, all three of them, and I had to slot the cards under their doors. HDB provided three cards so I gave one to our neighbours directly opposite us, to the right of us and below us. I wanted to give inform the neighbour diagonally across from us too but had no more cards to give so I left them out.

The HDB-provided cards which we dropped under the neighbours' doors. I thought the cards are a very good idea. It allows you to pen a message too! Well done HDB!

The flooring is supposed to be saved, so that we lay our tiles over it to save some costs. I guess that's why only certain portions were hacked. HDB only gives us three days to do the hacking, from 9am-5pm so all major noise producing works have to be finished within the three days, which isn't a lot of time if you have quite a few walls to hack!

The balcony wall tiles were stripped, as well as the floor. Balcony glass door was also removed.

The cooker hood and kitchen sink were dumped there.

Another view of the living room with kitchen entrance on the left.

The study.

The master bedroom. 

Another view from the master bedroom. On the left is the bathroom and on the right is the living.

The bathroom in the master.

The kitchen.

 A last look before leaving.