When the shop was handed over to us, its state could only be described as ‘run down’. To transform the old shoe shop into a F&B outlet proved to be a challenge and a big drain of our 'shallow' pockets.
1. The old shutters were so ill maintained that closing the shop seemed impossible at times, especially when the rollers got jammed in the midst of pulling down the shutters. As no one is going to volunteer to do guard duty with croakroaches, we decided to remove the whole shutter and replace it with a glass entrance. Looks so much better right?
Old Shop Entrance New Shop Entrance
2. The ceiling was decorated with nails, nails, nails and only nails. Well since the shop owner did not do us the favor of removing them before he left, we had to think of ways to remove them, if not conceal them. Since a high ceiling means we have to buy higher BTU air-conditioning units, which means more expensive and higher usage of electricity, we decided to fix false ceiling for the dining area. This will not only reduce the shop area to be air-conditioned so that we can buy cheaper and lower BTU air-conditioning units, we can also hide the ugly nails and dangling wires. Furthermore, we can save on monthly electrical bills too! It was really kill many birds with one stone.
Old Ceiling New False Ceiling
3. The old shoe shop has no kitchen as there's no need for one. The previous owner can just go up to his living quarter on the second storey to get his water and meals. In this case...We had to design and build a kitchen from scratch! Well it seemed tough at first. However, after getting a draft idea about the size of kitchen equipments we will need, understanding the relevant regulations we need to abide by, and with a little space planning, we managed to design and build our own kitchen! Awesome, isn't it?
Shop without Kitchen Shop with Kitchen
4. There was no way we could remove this ugly, worn-looking and creaky staircase, as the second storey tenants had to use it to gain access to their apartment. One contractor suggested we use wallpaper to cover it up, while another advised us to paint it over. However we won't satisfied with any suggestions till we met our partition and toilet door contractor. It was really ingenious of him to convert the empty space below the staircase into a well-painted, pleasant looking store-room. Not only did it give our shop's aesthetic look (not that it had much to start with) a boost, it also solved our storage problem.
Worn-looking Staircase Pleasant looking storeroom
5. If you were to asked me to visit the toilet before the shop was renovated, I would have said 'NO THANK YOU' straight away. If I'm not prepared to visit such a toilet, how do I expect my customers to use it? I like my toilet clean and comfortable looking so that I won't think twice about visiting when I need to answer nature's call. The smell in the toilet is already a torture to the nose, I won't want to torture my customers' eyes, as well as my own, if I can help it. Henceforth, feel free to visit my toilet when you need to do the runs during your meal, and enjoy counting the fishes inside! Please just remember to keep it clean for other customers after you use it. Thank you in advance! ^^
Old Toilet New Toilet with Sink and Hand-dryer
6. The old pipes were leaking and rusty due to poor maintenance. As we can't accept leaking pipes as it is very unhygienic, we had the owner inform HDB to change new ones for us. We are so glad we insisted on this issue.
Old Leaking Pipes New Pipes
