In continuation of yesterday’s discussion on replacing floor tiles in a bathroom, let’s estimate how much it will cost.

For a modest bathroom of size 6 ft * 7 ft, here’s the estimate for replacing tiles:

Labor charges for removing the existing tiles: Rs.15 per sq.ft (Hometown cost)

Renting a machine for tile tile removal: Rs. 500. If you are hiring a individual contractor, then he may charge you for renting the machine needed to remove the tiles.

Tile cost : Roughly around Rs. 1000 - 3600 for 3 boxes of 1*1 feet tiles. The starting price of a good tile is Rs. 22-23 per piece or sq.ft. while the average price of a good anti-skid tile is Rs. 42. 1 sq. ft tiles are available from Rs.22 to Rs. 80. The price goes up for a large tile from Rs.80 to Rs.150. Brands include Kajaria, Bell, Somany, and Nitco to name a few.

Labor cost for installing the tiles: Rs. 40 per sq.ft. The minimum area for laying should be Rs.150 sq.ft for HomeTown.

Time to complete the work : 3-4 days.

Total cost: Under Rs.10,000.

If you’d like to replace the commode as well along with the tiles, then a white CERA one costs around Rs. 6500. For colored ones, the cost increases like Rs.7000 for a cream one. Parryware is at least 10% more expensive than a CERA one.

Q: Can u suggest best ( and least expensive! ) options to do bathroom flooring? In our modest 2BHK home, we can not do many changes, but want better flooring, which is easier to clean, skid-proof and with minimum joints ( i don’t know term ).

This post is in response to Preeti’s question.

Preeti’s situation mirrors most of our issues with bathrooms. Most of our problems with keeping bathrooms clean wouldn’t occur if they were dry all the time. Let’s go back to the basics of bathroom design now. For a bathroom to remain free of moisture, there should be well demarcated areas for the vanity, wash basin, bath area and the commode. If it is a free flowing surface with no segregation and proper sloping for water to flow, then there are little chances for a clean and low-maintenance bathroom.

I’ve often observed that bathroom renovation happens much earlier in most apartments than the remaining parts of the house.

1. Non-porous/Low water absorption : Most Indian bathrooms are wet unlike those in the West. So it’s important to choose tiles that are non-porous in nature with a very low water absorption capacity. The longer the water stays on the tile surface, higher is the tendency for dirt to get absorbed. Since it’s not always possible to immediately wipe clean the moisture, check the water absorption by weight ratio before buying a tile. The recommended number is less than 3%. Most brands publish this as part of the product’s technical specifications.

2. Size:The standard size for floor tiles a few years earlier was 300 mm * 300mm (roughly 1 *1 sq.foot). Which meant more grout area, or the joint between tiles. The gaps between ceramic tiles filled with white cement is what gets dirty the most because of discoloration from dirt. Frequent cleaning with Harpic or a scouring agent like soda/vinegar paste will ensure it remains spotless. But that’s hard work and you don’t want to be holed up in the bathroom all day on a Saturday , right? Notice the number of joints in the picture below? Such bathrooms look great in pictures, but are hard to maintain.

The market is inundated with a wide range of choices of 600 mm *600 mm (roughly 2*2 sq. ft) floor tiles. If you are planning for a bathroom renovation, then I suggest you take a look at this. Nitco, Kajaria, Somany and most leading brands have sizes closer to this dimension. This would mean less grouting area.

Unless you opt for a floor tile with a design or pattern on it, the size of the tile is not dependent on the size of the bathroom. Large tiles with a contrasting design look out of place in a very small bathroom.

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In this concluding part on the Apartment Hunt series, let’s take a look at some new completed and just-launched  properties from a two-tier builders.

Renaissance Rainbow - Brookefields

Renaissance Rainbow is located opposite to the Gopalan property and adjacent to Knightsbridge apartments on the Brookefields main road. Renaissance builders have to their credit completed a dozen residential projects in Bangalore since 1998.  Rainbow has a good floor plan. The attraction of the 3 BHK apartment I saw was its huge french window, a spacious balcony, and full-length windows in the master and kids bedroom that overlook the Knightsbridge property. The huge windows bring in a lot of light and air into the apartment resulting in a overall good feeling. With a thoughtfully placed utility accessible from the kitchen, it’s reasonably priced at Rs. 55 L.

The only downside was the amenities are far from done and there is little space for kids to play around as the car park is at ground level. The land comprising the entrance to the property is not owned by the builder. He seems to have an agreement with the other owner for the only access to Rainbow. People have already moved in but there are a few apartments (the landowners share) that are up for sale.

Renaissance Jagriti - Varthur/Old Airport/Whitefield

Jagriti was executed in two phases  by Renaissance. Though the website says the apartment was completed in 2009, work is still going on. As I remember, the common amenities were not yet done. Phase 1 has a good occupancy level. I happened to look at a penthouse in phase I with interiors done but never lived in. It was tough to get a sense of how you would live in the duplex house. It appeared as if the architect was playing a jigsaw puzzle trying to fit in the rooms, kitchen, and living area together in the  best possible way.  A huge open terrace and a master bedroom the size of half a football field just added to the drama.

I came back impressed only with the skylight in the bathroom and above the stairs leading up to the first floor level. In Rs.77 Lakhs for a 2000+ sq. ft space, it’s worth a miss.This apartment, in fact, is a good example of how not to get swayed by model apartments.

DSR Elite - off Outer Ring Road

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Good Morning! Hope you had a lovely weekend. I had a wonderful one that took me to the interiors of Shivaji Nagar on Saturday and to the picturesque vineyards off Yelahanka on Sunday. I came back from Shivaji Nagar with stems of my favorite flower - the fragrant Rajnigandha and a huge basket of black grapes from Rajanakunte.

I’m kicking off this week with the second edition in the 3-part Apartment Hunt series. Today I’ll take you to Spectra Cypress, Veracious Landsdale and Gopalan Splendour.

Spectra Cypress on Varthur Road

This building under construction is hard to miss on the Varthur main road. Located on the main road next to Food Zone after you cross the Kundahalli signal on the left, it’s close to the school zone and other conveniences such as grocery, bus stop, libraries, malls and hospitals. I have to admit that this is the first property where I was floored by the model apartment. A well laid out floor plan with a cosy living room, a dining room that opens into a kitchen with an attached utility area and living quarters for your staff, spacious bed rooms, a detached guest bed room - there’s little to complain about. Ofcourse, except the price.

The 88 L + registration charges baffled me. Nearly 16 lakhs goes towards the extras, which I think is pretty steep. Launched in 2008, the project has taken its own sweet time to come to this stage. It’ll easily take 6 months to an year before all the   amenities start functioning and the property is fully occupied.

The builder boasts of a vertical garden wall and rooftop garden  among other standard modern amenities. The builder is not a prominent one and has completed just one project prior to this one in Bangalore.  The project gets all brownie points for its location, but is a dampener on all other counts (delivery, execution, price).

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Weekend is here. Yay! What are your plans? We have a few site visits lined up for Sunday.

Since March, we’ve clocked hundreds of miles, numerous nights on the laptop browsing through craigslist, Saturday mornings on the phone with brokers/builders and several hours on the road in our search to find the perfect apartment. A second home. As with any home buyer, three criterion have always stayed on top of the list: location, price, and plan, in no particular order. And, if we have rejected a project, it’s primarily because we couldn’t compromise on one of these. Our hunt has taken us as far as Anekal in South-east to Dodaballapur in North-west.

This series on Apartment Hunting is a slight deviation from the concept of this blog, which is interiors and dressing up one’s apartment or house. But, you know what, the marketing managers of every project we’ve visited till date have been super busy. With an overwhelming number of prospective buyers crowding the market, I believe there is a renewed interest in investing in a property. So, I feel, you as my readers, may benefit if you are planning to buy an apartment. I will list out all the new/resale apartments in this three part series that we’ve seen in no particular order.

A caveat before I dig deeper: I’m not a broker, not associated with any builder, and neither do I get any commission for this free advertising. If you have any queries regarding a project, please contact the builder/broker.

All the apartments are located in Bangalore East between Marathahalli and Whitefield. They are 3-BHKs priced between 55 Lakhs and 80 Lakhs. Come, join me on this virtual apartment hunt!

Let’s begin with Esperenza by UKN.

All the apartments have been sold by the builder. However, there are a few which are not yet registered and are available as is (without any interiors or wood work done). The downside is there is little scope for structural modifications now. The row house project is currently going on.

We did not see the model apartment, so it was easy to judge. Model apartments make the decision tough as the interiors hide the otherwise obvious flaw in a plan. It’s difficult to visualise  your stuff in a done-up apartment. When you’ve purchased one, it’s a different story, as model apartments can give you ideas.

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Good afternoon everybody! With the rains making a guest appearance only on Monday, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It has been a busy weekend at “dress your home”, in literal sense. I can’t remember the last time we were involved as a family in a rigorous DIY activity. Friday saw me returning home with cans of fresh, bright paint. By Saturday afternoon,  we were in our muddy clothes holed up in the kid’s bedroom with newspapers sprawled on the floor and paint brushes in the hand. The job is still far from done, so you will have to wait for pictures But, I promise it will be a long post full of pictures with a step-by-step guide (about what? keep guessing!)

Before I started on the BIG project, I hand painted a terracotta pot on Thursday in one of my favorite colors - Turquoise.  I love Turquoise because its bright, cheerful and is a head-turner. Don’t you agree? ever since I painted one of the pots in this electric color, it’s taken away the attention from my other pots. It’s picture time now.

This was how it was before I started.

Earthen pot

After a night of immersing the pot in a bucket of water, it was ready to be painted the next morning. Earthenware absorb less color when left in water for a few hours.

Painted in Turquoise

The pot has a metallic shine to it as I’ve used pearl acrylic colors.

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Do we have any diligent readers (read: obsessively checking Google Reader for new posts) of Apartment Therapy here? If yes, you would know that a good chunk of posts are about restoring or transforming old furniture through painting and replacing the hardware. Images of antique, worn wooden cabinet/dresser/table painted into white or turquoise blue are swimming in my head now.

For me, when it comes to home renovation,  there is nothing more satisfying than giving a face lift to old furniture. To discard the old and buy new stuff is easy work, don’t you think? There are a few odd pieces of furniture in every house such as a chair, cabinet, side table that look aged.  A polish or a new coat of paint will do them good. I want to get started off with a old cabinet first.  It’s about six years old and in good working condition. It has lost its sheen so I’m toying with the idea of retaining its natural finish with a coat of lacquer or doing something radical like painting it in a bold color combination of white-lime green or white-turquoise blue.

Wooden cabinet

I’ve been looking around for ideas and there are quite a few interesting ones that I would like to share.

For a ethnic, Indian theme, bright colors such as fuchsia, red or violet are a good choice to complete the look. However, if you have a monochromatic or minimalistic theme, a single of furniture in a dashing color will look out of place. In the picture below, for instance, Kishani Perera has used a good mix of ethnic elements like hand-carved open book case, painted trunk as center table, cradle-styled chairs, and printed cushions. All the accessories blend well with the bright orange colored walls.

Trunk in red

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