My boyfriend and I are in the midst of renovating his 1960's, 1800 sq ft apartment, and it's been an eye opener for me. For instance, the cost of tiling can be more than the cost of the tile itself - and the quality of the work depends on the installer.

Our scope of work is pretty extensive, but since it's an apartment, we don't need to consider outdoor stuff, such as garden landscaping, gates, external painting, roofs. The major part of the cost lies in the windows (all need to be replaced), the flooring and the repartitioning of walls.

We debated on whether to have brick walls or drywall. We decided in favour of drywall due to the ease of installation. My boyfriend was particular enamoured of drywall because it meant the wires and lines could be incorporated into the walls, giving a much neater look.

The windows would be, I think, the most attractive part of the apartment. In the master bedroom, we extended the room right into the balcony and glassed it up entirely. In other words, the entire wall of the bedroom would be glass. I'm SO looking forward to seeing it when it's done. It would really bring the light in.

The flooring were a pain at first. We weren't sure of whether to have laminated wood flooring or tiles. Tiles would be water-resistant, laminated less so. But if we were to move one day, we could take the laminates with us. Tiles were more expensive. And plus, we'd heard that white tiles were susceptible to staining. So now, we're just tiling the kitchen & the bathroom.

We're still within our budget. Fingers crossed.