A Couple's Decision to DIY their Home Renovation (part 7)

Following up from Previous Posts: A Couple's Decision to DIY their Home Renovation (part 1), (part 2), (part 3.1), (part 3.2), (part 4), (part 5), (part 6)  

Chapter 7 – Giving Your Wall a Special Touch

  Apart from floor tiles, do you realise that the walls actually cover a large area of your house? With that in consideration, it will be wise to invest some money on wall designs of your home that will make you feel refresh and happy every moment of reaching home. Disagree? Think again. Are you seeing retailers (e.g. kiehl's), restaurant/cafe (e.g. KFC) and home-owners are spending $$$ in designing their wall? So how do you feel when you’re shopping amongst these wonderful designed walls? Versus if they were just plainly coated walls? Undeniably, wall designs come with a good purpose. It has the capability to add a special touch, refreshing styles and helps to relax the drained minds of people like you and us. Thus, this means that your walls are no longer just pieces of blocks dividing spaces for you. It is bursting with emotions the moment you step into your home! SO LET’s GIVE THEM A SPECIAL TOUCH NOW!  

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Our World Wall Too

With so much mentioned, it’s obvious that we also want some wall designs in our own HOME!! It’s gonna be in our Dining room and Balcony!!!! Without having an ID, we have to hunt and design the walls ourselves… So the journey begins…….  

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The Hunting Game

While googling for design of walls and suppliers, we came across this contest hosted by Craftstones International Pte Ltd (renowned artificial stone veneers manufacturer) and Renonation.sg. We SENT in 2 entries!! BUT…Somehow, they miss us out!! So, we decided to make a trip to CRAFTSTONE to find out WHY!!! Although Craftstone’s office is at 37 Sungei Kadut street 1 Singapore 729342, it doesn’t stop us from going down! (Drive there better, we get FREE parking!)

*Car not belonged to us

To clarify; we are not there to question WHY we are not the Winners, but rather on WHY it is so famous! {IDs or Contractors we spoke to, have been mentioning Craftstone x times}

Tips: Before you visit their showroom, it is important to list down some questions to seek for FREE consultation from the Subject Matter Expert in the showroom.

Our reason for the tips: The moment when we step into Craftstone showroom, we are totally distracted by their products range and almost forgot what to ask.

SHOWROOM CRAFTSTONES EVERYWHERE!!!!! & food!?!??!! [Note: Foods not for us, is for the contest winners… (So coincidence or they purposely create more pain for us?? You decide.]

Lineaire stone and Craft Brick

Craft Brick

Lineaire stone - Checker Stone - Ledgestone

Ledgestone and Lineaire Stone

Flora Stone

So shouldn’t you be going down to the showroom too? It’s definitely worth your trip to see and touch the REAL thing!

 

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MAN IN BLACK

Who help us? The one and only, Mr Howard, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) from Craftstone.

By giving us a detailed introduction, he ACTUALLY answered most of our queries!!!! (No wonder he wasn’t surprised of our long questions)

Introducing their latest products – Lineaire Stone! The NEXT TREND!

You name the shop, Howard names the craftstone model! LIKE!

Is it obvious that we love brickwall??

TIPS: IT’S IMPORTANT TO BRING YOUR FLOORPLAN FOR DISCUSSION

Tips: Why bring floorplan?

1st - As our dining room wall is a build-up wall, we are seeking Craftstone advice on which type of wall material is suitable for the crafts brick.

2nd- It allows the SME to know upfront whether there are any other fixture (e.g. aircon/tv mount) that homeowners need to mark out or install first.

3rd- It allows the SME to give us an estimated total cost of the craftstones.

With floorplan and the help of SME, it definitely help us to save cost, time and works!!!

 

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So what did we ask?

Here’s the top five important questions:

1. Does it fall off easily? -> No, we use premium tile adhesive material!
2. Is it waterproof and easy to clean? -> Yes of course! BUT NO acid wash (Take note during your final renovation cleanup)
3. Can we nail art piece or install aircon or door track on Craftstone? -> No, you need to install fixture first or do marking before installing the craftstone. For smaller item, you can nail on the grout.
4. Is it thinner? -> Yes of course as compared to conventional brick.
5. What is the warranty period? -> 25 year limited warranty. Please see our list of questions for more details.

For our full list of questions (18 questions), please download the file below: Craftstone Q&A

Well apart from the above, we would like to share with you on our top 5 reasons why the choice is obvious:

1. Save more $$$ in installation cost as compared convention stacking wall stone.
2. Thin-ness saves more space as compared to conventional wall stone.
3. The flexibility to mix and match different colour bricks for designs
4. Waterproof, easy to clean (feather duster does the job) & the strong adhesiveness.
5. Long lasting effect than spray, brush or paint method or wallpaper!

  Rating of our experience @ Craftstone: Location – ★★★ [If Sungei kadut is not convenient for you? You can see it at Soon Bee Huat!] Customer Service - ★★★★★ [Good knowledge, Patient and Prompt suggestion] Range of products - ★★★★★ [Surprising a lot of products in a small showroom] Product sample - ★★★★ [Better if we can see a bigger piece effect]  

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Our choice of Craftstone!

Lineaire Stones & CraftBricks

In the next blog, we will show you the installation process and finish output our house!

Next: A Couple’s Decision to DIY their Home Renovation (part 8)

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Written by MYPS. Do email to us at support@renonation.sg if you wish to know more details on our renovation.