OurCosyVale
From dreams to comfort - our journey to create a cosy home | 113sqm 5 rm BTO
Keeping our Reno budget in check
15907
Our renovation wrapped up back in February, but it took us a few months to really feel settled in our home. And now, we finally got around to tallying up all the costs—way overdue, we know! 
Here’s a breakdown of our total costs incurred for our renovation, essential fixtures and furniture prior to moving in. By working directly with a contractor and skipping the ID, we estimate about 20% savings on our reno costs. 
Tip #1 to save costs: Stick to only essential carpentry. Go with loose furniture for more flexibility and future changes. We skipped a built-in carpentry TV feature wall and went with a loose TV console instead—much cheaper and easy to change down the road. 
Tip #2 to save costs: Take a leap of faith with Taobao Over 90% of our fixtures and furniture were sourced from Taobao! We shipped everything to a trusted forwarder in China, who helped consolidate and send the items to Singapore. Guess what came from Taobao in this picture? Pretty much everything! 
This includes our beautiful S fold curtains. We paid a total of about $800 for the curtains in our entire home. The quality is SUPERB and probably half the price which we would need to pay if we had done it in Singapore. 
Even our toilet vanity was purchased from Taobao too! It was nicely packed and arrived intact with no chips (thankfully!) Pro tip: remember to add wooden crate before shipping for enhanced security. 
Tip #3 to save costs: Retain original HDB built ins if possible. We didn’t realise replacing doors could be so expensive! For example, we were quoted around $2,000 just to replace our service yard door with a sliding one. In the end, we decided to stick with the original HDB bi-fold door — it still works perfectly, doesn’t look bad at all, and we’ve had no issues with it so far. 
For our toilets, we kept the original HDB wall and floor tiles, as well as the shower fittings — everything was in good working condition. We did consider installing a rain shower, but figured we probably wouldn’t use it enough to justify the cost. 
That said, we don’t scrimp on essentials. One example is our kitchen concrete base — it’s a practical investment that helps protect our carpentry from potential water damage. 
At the end of the day, we tried to keep our costs low, but we didn’t compromise on things that truly matter to us. It’s all about finding that balance between saving and spending wise. And now, we’re comfortably settled in — enjoying the fruits of our efforts every single day.
11 days ago
