Honeygal

MBR toilet. Very plain: b Pull-out tray which doubles up as extra workspace and table top for light meals:

the wooden furniture which i got from hock siong are great finds - $160 each for the rosewood sofa chair, and about $260 for the made in canada console table. they re-conditioned and varnished them before delivering to me. price inclusive of varnishing and delivery. i even bought some made in england porcelain crockery from them, like $5 for an 8-inch diameter bowl. i certainly have no qualms about buying second-hand stuff. will check out ebay. quilt and bedcover definitely completes the look of the bed. but i just didn't want to spend the extra $. extra laundry to do too!

ok have moved in, here are the updated pics of the Living Room. tried to ensure the entire decor, accessories and furniture pieces are timeless and will not look dated a decade from now. most of the items here are old anyway and have been in use for many years. overall theme is Chinese contemporary which i conceptualised using mostly existing furniture pieces and accessories from my old place. Rosewood sofa set second hand from Hock Siong. Console table second hand from Hock Siong. Vases and lamp from old home. Lamp is meant for bedroom but temporarily placed here as i am still looking for a bedside table: Barcelona chair, repro of course. Very bare decor - no coffee table or wall painting as i am keeping my expenses down. Don't even have a clock haha. Very tempted to get a duo face clock which i was thinking of placing in between the living room and kitchen, but cost over $200! Old telephone table cum seater. Have hidden the telephone set inside that peranakan wedding basket as it looks really ugly and does not blend well with the furniture. MBR. don't even own a quilt cover or mattress protector. times are bad, so keep everything to bare essentials:

yes moved in. will post pics shortly. i didn't bother to get HB to rectify the defects as i find them really trivial compared to the NIGHTMARE i had with my electrician. here goes: 1)first occasion: my electrician carelessly threw away a piece of glass (worth $30) while installing my living room lights 2)second occasion:, one of my powerpoint kept tripping whenever i used it. i discovered this fault when i was performing my house moving ritual where i had to boil water and say 'huat huat'. in the midst of this ritual, the power tripped and i could not boil the water. i later found out he installed the wrong wires 3)third occasion: both of my phone connection points failed to work, although Singtel activited the lines. i discovered this on the day of my move again. the Singtel guy came down to rectify the fault (my electrician refused to answer my calls) and told me my dear electrician installed the wrong wires. i had to pay $50 to Singtel to rectify this. throughout this 3 incidents, my electrician refused to answer my call or when he did answer, he hung up. in all, he owes me $80 and a whole lot of inconvenience on my move-in day. please do not use him, although his rates are super cheap. i can forgive incompetency, but not incompetency PLUS sheer irresponsibility. when i asked for the initial $30, he said he has no money as his other clients have not paid him. i have written off this irresponsible electrician and will not pursue to get my $80 back. i hope i do not unravel anymore electrical faults in time to come.

$120 to move 9 boxes, 1 queen size bed & mattress, 1 washer, 1 side table, 1 small cabinet, 2 cloissone vases. had to top up another $30 for the clothes hanger.

$120 for entire move, regardless of distance. hopefully no hidden costs. i have very few large items anyway, so maybe that accounts for the low quote. also if your unit is not on lift level, cost may be higher. other movers were quoting me much higher at between $280 to $400.

9am Saturday. Hot timing i guess! $120 for entire move, regardless of distance. hopefully no hidden costs. i have very few large items anyway, so maybe that accounts for the low quote. also if your unit is not on lift level, cost may be higher. other movers were quoting me much higher at between $280 to $400.

blame myself for being so super blur. i only did a casual QC during the handover. if i had a 2nd person with me, could have helped pinpoint the many defects which i failed to spot. pls advise if there is anything that can be done about the grout lines now? have contacted HB about the wall which was not plastered and painted , they said they will arrange to have the missing portion painted. open date though as for the slipshod plastering and painting in the storeroom, i won't bother because any more rectification work will just dirty the whole place again. as for the electrician, have tried umpteenth times to get him to compensate me the $30 but failed. he refused to admit he was in the wrong and simply hung up the phone. guess i will just have to write that off. for the open drill holes, i will simply stick scotch tape over haha. Sun Hup is my carpenter, not Ho Bee. HB specifically told me beforehand that they will do black grout lines....maybe that grey is black to them? frankly, i am completely clueless about a lot of reno matters, hence even if something is defective i may not even know! how did you work out the refund from HB? i want to seek a refund too for the slipshod work in the storeroom, and possibly the grout lines? have read the horror stories in your blog and really respect you for your sheer meticulousness. i certainly would not have noticed a lot of the stuff you highlighted. frankly, i would rather ask for refund than rectify the faults. the thought of cleaning up the cement and mess again simply terrifies me. Anyone here used 138 Professional Movers? Have engaged them for my move next week, after reading rave reviews about them on this forum. so far, found their service absolutely appalling. No one returned my call despite leaving 5 messages in 24 hours. No one wanted to confirm (via SMS or Email) my move time and date as well. Is it the normal practice that a verbal confirmation will suffice? Very worrying, coz initially they kept insisting they could not accede to my timing, then subequently they said they could. But their quotation is the lowest so far. All other movers i contacted were charging me more than double or even triple what they quoted.

Spent the last 2 weekends intensively cleaning the flat up. went home with aches and pains from head to toe! Anyway, most unfortunately, it was during the clean-up that i spotted a whole string of 'defects', - and handover was nearly 3 weeks ago! These flaws include: - main door frame, ie the wall between gate and door, was not plastered and painted (now trying desperately to get Ho Bee to recall their painter to get it painted. won't bother to plaster it as the whole place will get dirty) - plenty of open drill holes inside cabinets - storeroom door very badly painted, with lots of paint drip - storeroom plastering very sloppily done - plenty of paint drips on window panes and grills - electrician forgot to install the glass piece in my living room lights and conveniently threw it away with the box. now 5 exposed bulbs, very unsightly (electrician refuses to compensate me for this) - PVC water pipe in MBR toilet not changed to new one - less than black grout lines for black tiles - clothing rod in wardrobe placed too high - shower placed too high - cooker hob too near to wall I may spot more as i continue my clean-up this weekend. Since full payment has been made to all contractors, it seems extremely difficult to get them to rectify or even partially refund!

the grout lines are grey, not white, but still look very obvious. sigh. my sink is matt. any reliable and cheap movers to recommend? am very very desperately looking for one now. all can't do the date and time i want.

My dining table set was delivered yesterday. Black tempered glass with PVC leather chairs. Would have loved to get white instead of black chairs but dreaded the maintenance. $600. Quite ex i feel. the delivery guys left 2 huge scratches on the black glossy floor tiles while installing the table stands. so that patch of tile became silver, so sad: See that contraption at the left of the window? A real eye-sore to the clean look of the entire kitchen. that's the laundry system i bought. anyone used this same system before? Need advice: I have been cleaning the kitchen and realised each time i return the next day, there are lots of water stains on the kitchen sink, tap, kitchen cabinet laminates and solid surface top. must i ALWAYS wipe them dry to prevent such stains? is this common? is it due to low quality? very very exasperating. i don't encounter such stains in my current place.

You have chosen the same wall tiles as i did for my MBR toilet! I had mine all white coz i could not decide where to place the black ones! agree, my 3-room MBR toilet is sooooooooooo small, i decided to use it purely as toilet. even the common toilet is so small, there was no way to do install a shower screen.

Yes i will take more MBR pics as soon as i move in. it will be old bed, old bedside lamps etc, so nothing very exciting there. i have posted toilet and MBR pics earlier.

yep, the anti-slip tiles which i use for both toilets look and feel awful. wish i had stuck on to my choice of glossy tiles for MBR toilet, since that is purely a toilet with no shower.

40K for a 3-room flat is ALOT! try bargaining further. good luck! you are right, i didn't realise about the reflection until i first started mopping the tiles and then oooops!!! paid $570 nett for the chair from Comfort Beach Road (heart very pain!!). this is after bargaining and they were having a short sale at that time. the PVC leather is the grainy textured type, not the smooth sort. so not that shiok.

what problems do you have with the hyflux water filter and novita aromadiffusers?

frankly, the kitchen floor tiles are not as slippery and glossy as i wanted them to be! maybe they are of poor quality.... believe it or not, i even wanted glossy tiles for bathroom, but contractor strongly advised against this. i told him my current place bathroom is glossy marble and no problem all these years!

welcome welcome my fellow neighbour! you may also view my blog 'Bachelorette Pad', similar layout as yours.

somehow being single doesn't feel complete or 'normal' in the course of life. sure, me excited to post the pics too! so busy at work that i am only able to go clean the place only on weekends. am also patiently whitening the tile grout lines, quite a tough job. i have not moved in yet, so don't know. think it should be easy to maintain. pls show me pics of your kitchen cabinet, am very curious how it turns out. my existing off-white glossy kitchen laminate seems rather prone to water stains.

haha, i would trade in my bachelorette pad for a married life anytime.

i bought the grundtal stainless steel hooks. keeping my fingers crossed that they won't tarnish. just to add my 'regret': using solid surface top which has suffered huge patches of discolouration (don't look like scratches) - and i have not even moved in yet!

Certainly! My criteria in acquiring those furniture is that they must be timeless and not look dated 10 years down the road. The only piece of furniture which i bought and foresee will look dated is my dining set (to be delivered this Saturday). btw, does anyone know the best way to get rid of the cement dust on the floor? have washed 3 times and it still feels dusty each time i go back to check! can't imagine moving in this condition!

i was quoted 3 different prices for my barcelona chair from the Eunos, Rochor and Beach Road branches!

excellent thread! why didn't anyone start this earlier?? ..... now i am getting worried about my chrome taps and Ikea stainless steel items going rusty.

Since reno is over, thought i would just give a verdict on my contractors. Main Contractor Ho Bee : Very pricey, little/no room for price negotiation, but professional, knowledgeable, organised and reliable. Tiling work quality is superb. Plastering and painting is quite bad though - had to get the window sills re-plastered 3 times before they turn out satisfactory. Storeroom wall plastering was very slip-shod, and since i noticed it too late, i didn't bother to get it touched-up. Painting of the copper pipes and doors was likewise slip-shod. Noticed it in time and got them to touch-up. Would recommend them only if you have deep pockets. Very sure you can get similar standards and service at a much lower price. Carpenter Sun Hup : Price is average, but certainly not low. Excellent helpful service, able to give advice. Workmanship is average to above-average. Window/Door Contractor Unipac: Very reasonable pricing, excellent service and speedy. Electrician Eric from Econ: Low price. He forgot to install the glass piece while installing my living room light and conveniently threw away the box, together with the glass. To buy a new piece of glass would cost me $30, which he does not want to compensate me. So my living room lights now come with exposed bulbs! Feel pretty indignant about this. I should have checked all installation before paying the last installment. Curtain contractor Vincent from Garvin: Excellent friendly service. Cost is low. Can't comment of workmanship as curtains have not been delivered.