Due to budget limit, without sacrificing quality & design, I started DIY reno project on my 2 rooms condo. It's a tiring project. Im sharing my experience with u guys who r interested.

These r what i did myself:
1. Wiring, add new wall socket, bring out new electrical point from DB box for kitchen hob & oven, etc. Chase wall to conseal wires. (DIY is not advisable). I did have one previous experience DIY wiring after observing how it is done. Need a lot of googling & consult friend
2. Plumbing (PEX pipe and brass fitting source from Taobao because > 2 times cheaper than local price) DIY is not advisable also without proper research on google. My first setup, water was still leaking at the Teflon tape sealed thread joint. Problem solved after replacing thread sealant with Teflon dope from Ace hardware. I removed the existing wall tile with chisel. I chased the wall with angle grinder & hammer drill. It is dusty n dangerous job to handle angle grinder.
3. Install fixture, all lights, fan, storage water heater, rain shower, shower mixture, curtain rail, TV bracket,
4. Tint windows. I bought tint film from taobao but item partially damaged by other heavy items.
5. Smart home: Amazon Echo dot, Broadlink RM Pro, RF switch, Xiaomi smart home, Raspberry pi HA Hassio, motorized curtain rail
6. Install tempered glass shower screen (sliding door type). Sourced from taobao. My sliding door dont have soft close, otherwise it looks good.
7. Touch up & painting job
8. Relocate kitchen wall water outlet & drain
9. Add on wall switches & socket at kitchen, kitchen cabinet & the wall beside toilet basin. Add lighting point behind toilet mirror
10. Install kitchen Fotile hood, Electrolux induction hob (bought from TBM @ OKR), Rubine build in oven (lazada), LED strip under wall cabinet (motion on/off switch from taobao).
12. Install under sink water filter, two way water tap. Sourced from taobao. One water tap can deliver both drinking water & pipe water.

My items mainly sourced from Taobao & brought in via 3rd party sea freight, (not official lazada taobao sea freight).
Some of the huge & heavy items that i brought in is not practical & unworthy to do so. It is just my own problem, like to challenge myself & my luck bringing in fragile/bigger items, after 2-3 years taobao experience & addiction.

Tools: Bosch battery powered drill, Cheap brand electric hammer drill, Bosch Angle grinder (Dangerous tool, can google about it), cheap taobao oscillating multitool (safer tool, but not useful. I use it to cut wood & tile grout. Angle grinder cannot use to saw wood or u will kill yourself)

Hire contractor to do:
1. Plaster ceiling & painting
2. Put back wall tiles (Too tired to put back the tiles that i removed)
3. Kitchen glass backsplash
4. Windows & door grille
5. Kitchen cabinet (the One kitchen studio) RM 13k exclude wiring, plumbing, backsplash





Living room
1. Sony bravia 55 x7000e rm2800, Senheng promotion time
2. Ikea wall shelves , LACK, 190cm, RM 99
3. Ikea photo shelves, MOSSLANDA, 55cm, RM 19.90
4. Ikea 2 seaters couch (Klippan) RM 649
5. Cheap tv cabinet from local furniture shop, RM299
6. Ceiling fan, Rubine, Ampio pine color RM800. Should be cheaper than this price if u can get it from Puchong electrical shop. Not a good fan because there is no last remote on/off memory. Every time the wall switch is turn off & on again, fan will be switched on.
7. Ikea canvas
8. Ikea photo frame
9. Cheap posters from taobao
10. Philips spotlight 6W link
11. Curtain link
12. Network cabinet link














Kitchen
1. Dinning table solid wood, 200cm x 80cm table top size, bench & 3 eames chairs, Taobao item, RM2840 (3 eames chairs are from different taobao seller)
link
link
2. Dinning LED pendant light, 115cm length, Taobao item, RM 302 (deformed, mayb factory rejected item) link
3. Nano water filter, under counter set, QinYuan, taobao item, RM 380, taobao search for 沁园净水器
4. Fotile EH-13 recirculating hood, bought from Zheilwane, RM 1550
5. Rubine oven AVATA2-70SS/S from Lazada RM 1.5k
6. Electrolux induction hob EHC726BA from TBM old klang road RM 2120
7. Toshiba 480L white tempered glass fridge, GR-TG48MDZ(ZW), local electrical shop, RM 2050
8. Below cabinet LED lamp link





1st bed room:
1. Bedframe, queen size, pvc material, bought from the Court, RM 1000 include delivery (Bad decision, it is too expensive & quality is so-so.) Goodnite I-PLUSH 11" double posture spring, Lazada, Kitchen Z, RM 770 (Loving it)
2. Ikea Bedside table, TRYSIL, RM 139 x 2 = RM 278
3. Ikea open clothes storage, customized myself (Cant remember the price, around rm 1500)
4. Bedside glass pendent lights, galaxy grey color, 小龙眼, size 20cm x 20cm, free 2 Edison light bulb, RM 87, wired with CHUGUAN 433Hz RF remote switch X 2 units, RM 115, (I use battery powered remote switch pad to avoid chasing the shear wall)
link
link





2nd room
1. Ikea single bed
2. Ikea mattress Halfso
3. Ikea. Basket, two glass container hanger
4. 7 x 8 feet ready made wardrobe RM 1999, furniture shop during Homedec.
5. Wooden venetian blind, size 160 x 168cm, 5cm broad, taobao, RM 245, link
6. Track lightslink









Toilet:
1. Toilet mirror, with LED strip & anti-fog heater behind the mirror, BOLEN brand, taobao item, size 700x900mm, RM 168, link
2. Rain shower set come together with shower mixture, HSK brand, taobao item, ~ RM 1.4k link
3. Toilet tempered glass sliding door whole set, height 200cm, area 1m x 1.2m, taobao item, RM 1480. It doesn't have soft close. I felt that it is quite dangerous if ppl accidentally slam it. link

Other items

1. Windows tint, 10m x 1.5m for sliding door & 2 big windows, Taobao item, comes with installation tools, RM 163, link
2. Curtain, 2.9m x 2.8m x 2, 2.97m x 4m. Total 3 pieces, linen material, 麻布, RM 348 link
3. Motorized curtain rail 2 meters & 3.3 meters with 433Hz RF Remote controls, DOOYA sunflower KT82TN motors 3 units include rail, source taobao, RM710 link
4. Amazon Echo dot, shipped from US online store, RM 240 include shipping fees. bought long time ago, not sure the total cost is still the same https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

My occupation is not related to reno, ID or construction work. It is purely passion to renovate n design my own house by myself. For people who does not do well in following manual, like assambling ikea furniture or handling tools, better dont DIY reno & take this as reading for fun. Cheers






This post has been edited by luvox: Jun 13 2018, 10:34 AM

Yup, i installed the bracket. i put it up with another person help, too heavy to carry alone. If u do proper marking as reference, not so worry to let go hand. 😂

Lost count. Mayb around 60k include smart home device, furniture, deco, curtains, tv, fridge, kitchen appliances, 3 aircons, mattress & bedframe....... Exclude coffee stuff, PC & bike.

Yup, from remove tiles, chase the wall, piping, put up storage heater. Toilet is the most challenging part & took the longest time. I gave up put back the tile myself & let the contractor to put back wall tiles. Nowadays pex pipe is easy to assemble & easily DIY

Very heavy items. Mine if not mistake 8cm thick solid wood. Two ppl will also struggle to move the table. Need to assemble yourself. It is so heavy that i feel worry if kids go under it, playing there. It is better dont buy the white framed table, it is power coated paint but i still think it may rust or get dirty easily

There were no damage on packages. The package is very heavy n require 5 ppl to move the tempered glass shower screen, 4 ppl to move the table. If u hv limited budget & not risk taker, better dont buy tempered glass shower screen from taobao. U may need to count in the cost possibility need to hire ppl to help u to move ur package. Mayb can consider cheaper one just one panel without door. U need to text the seller custom made size.

This network cabinet have a big opening beneath it, mayb for wires to pass out. I think it is not those type to hang high near the ceiling. If u need good wifi signal, should not put router inside this cabinet.
I drill the wall n use wall plug & screw to fix the cabinet onto wall. I dint chase the wall to conceal the wire coz i hide the wire behind sofa. Actually i thought wana use the cabinet as sofa side coffee table but dint realize above it has a cooling fan. It is noisy fan & i dint turn it on & inside is cool enuf coz quite empty & not much heat

Wow. U r pro. U did plaster ceiling by yourself?
Do u have previous experience do plaster ceiling?

Also need to becareful, dont drill the ceiling water pipe if u r renovate condo. My previous DIY wiring, i dont know there is water pipe up there n lucky dint hit it. Haha.

My hammer drill is china brand one, cant remember. Any hammer drill can hack the wall d. If u want nice cutting, chase the wall, need angle grinder, dangerous tool. Look for youtube what kina accident will happen when using angle grinder, b4 using it. Haha. Dangerous n dusty job

Not contractor. Totally unrelated to renovation. Not even an engineer. 😂
I only did DIY wiring 1 previous house & have seen how ppl renovate my first house.

Never use angle grinder to saw wood. Will get killed. Lucky i google to look for angle grinder blade for wood. There is no angle grinder blade for wood. Haha. Or i will not be posting here.

This is not my first house. Wiring i observed how wireman did before on my first house. Im good at physic also back at school day, i like electrical stuff. I also learn from google & youtube, especially plumbing & smart home. You can learn many things from google search with right keywords. Just need to be hardworking a bit do reading. Can google lowyat forum as well for old post, just add lowyat keyword together at google search. Youtube is also helpful for plumbing & smart home setup. I think there r many others good at follow manual also install all those electrical appliance themselves

I dint DIY plaster ceiling. Plaster ceiling is not one man work. Haha. It is another DIY guy from other thread did it. But he has previous experience & part of his occupation related to the work

I saw worker use laser for leveling. If u have extra budget or OCD person, mayb u can buy this laser machine cheap from taobao to hang your deco. 😂

If you bought your house from some good developer, they may provide the water pipe n wiring diagram according to layout. If u remove the cement around your ceiling light point, u may see a round shape junctional box that will give u some clue how the wire runs. If u really hit conduit, u can feel give way n prevent u from damage further the wire. But pray hard, dont hit the water pipe, it is disaster

U need wall plug n screw. Ya, fill up the holes with screws according to manual. I couldn’t remember was it 8 screws

I bought new tiles to replace the wall tiles that i removed. But u still can use back undamaged wall tiles that u removed which is unlikely unless the developer did a bad job, tile not properly put on, that old tile easily chisel out which is my case for kitchen wall tiles. 😂 ya, i saw worker help me to put back, not heavy work, but dirty job, mixing the cement n adhesive chemical.

Fan hook plaster ceiling guy install for me. For pendant light i cant find the support wood that he installed. I just use spring toggle bolt to fix the thing onto plaster board. Lucky im able to fix a screw to the plasterceiling metal frame support. Last time i saw the curtain blind installer secure the blind to plaster board using spring toggle bolts & no extra support & it does not fall down until now 😬
I saw spring toggle bolt available at Ace hardware but i bought mine from taobao, way more cheaper but in huge volume. Haha. If not mistake one package 100 of them. There is smaller amount available by other seller. Mine is M4, 50 length.

This post has been edited by luvox: Feb 20 2018, 11:31 PM

The distance is depend on what u wana achieve on the light effect. Google, Wall washing vs wall grazing. Light beam angle.

https://premiseled.com/wall-washing-or-wall...ing-difference/

Im using eyeball, which produce smaller angle beam. I just put it close enuf to produce light scalloping & at the same time highlight deco, wall pictures. If not mistake is 15 inches away from wall. U cant use mine as guideline because your light beam & wall object from ceiling or ceiling height will affect the decision on distance light placement from wall. If u bought eyeball with diffuser (non transparent cover), or wide angle eyeball, u wont get nice light scalloping. Mine is narrow angle china model philips COB led

You r right. Good observer or r u in this field? Quite details n accurate. Haha.
Some good developers do provide wiring diagram according to layout.

This post has been edited by luvox: Feb 21 2018, 12:02 AM

Sorry, i missed out the word hook. Plaster ceiling guy install the fan hook for me. I install the fan, it is not difficult, all in manual. In fact this is the 3rd ceiling fan i have installed myself. Im not around that day they put on plaster ceiling. I saw wood & U hook fix onto it. I dint check properly how they fix it, touch wood. I trusted their experty. Haha.

Only juton white paint. Like those water paint, nippon matex. Plaster ceiling guys told me before at previous renovation, dont use acrylic type paint. I dont know exact reason. But he said acrylic paint is too heavy. U may ask your plaster ceiling guys.

My toilet comes with plaster ceiling by developer, gypsum board which my contractor told me is better quality than normal plaster board, two layers sandwich the plaster. Mayb u can consider gypsum board.

I only later realize humidity is quite high in the house from the smart home monitor 65- 75%. Cant do anything, other than frequent switch on aircon. 😂

Pendant lights the glass material one is heavy, but it is fixed very nearby the plaster ceiling supporting frame, i think it should not bend the board easily in long run.

Only the kitchen pendant light, which is not heavy, manage to put a normal screw to fix onto the plaster ceiling metal supporting frame

This post has been edited by luvox: Feb 21 2018, 12:42 AM

I think the speed to complete reno is different for individual, depend on skill & experience. I dint record down the exact time frame i complete each work. The longest time is doing the work for the toilet. I took a week leave to reno toilet, chisel off old tiles, chase the wall, assemble the pex pipe, reassemble due to leaking at joint, cut the old plaster ceiling, install storage heater, install new wall socket point & backlit mirror light point, shower screen. Sometimes i reno beyond the restricted reno time for condo, doing non noisy work.

If not mistake 4 half days doing wiring work for the ceiling, kitchen hob, hood, oven & new socket

2 days can complete ceiling fitting, cut the plaster ceiling to install eyeball, fit pendant lights & fan, curtain railing

Actually everything can be completed within a month but my contractor keep delay the works on the other things. If not mistake contractor took two months

Yup, it is echo dot. What u mean by reliability? It does recognize voice command well, but become less sensitive to call when there is noise like tv & music. I use it to control lights, fan, aircon, tv, tv channels, some socket point, curtain, set routine change color of my RGB led strip at network cabinet, play spotify, remote control from outside with alexa app...
Most ppl prefer google mini. I bought this echo dot earlier before google mini launched. I may get one google mini to try in future.

Yup, not cheap & u need a lot of google for guide to setup. No straight forward solution. Need to learn to read some script to setup a bridge, home assistant, to link up different brands smart device.

Living room right side is around 1 feet away from edge of eyeball, left side is around 15 inches away from edge of eyeball. Left side further away for wider beam bcoz the wall deco is bigger, and aim to put at top of sofa seat slightly infront of head so that wont produce shadow when reading at there.

It is original tile by developer. Niro granite park avenue. I think is belong to old series. Niro tiles r expensive.