asianms

hi Pinklady, Glad you liked MGL as well. For rollerblinds, it seems like its a standard range of materials available in all shops. But I'm still going toJ&S to do cushion covers, and maybe curtains for my MBR. I like the variety at J&S. Actually, the house is 23 years old this year! The previous owners bought & renovated 10 years ago. I had an interesting chat with my new neighbour, who told me the original price as about $88K, the previous owners bought for $340K 10 years ago. I paid $455K, inclusive of $40K COV, last year. Went to clean the windows today. Massive job; after 1 afternoon, only managed to clean the common corridor windows (with 10 years of dirt on them) & my son's room's windows. Son's room painted. Living & dining second coat done. Reno shifu says need 3rd coat. House looking very bright and airy.

so sorry to read about your negative experience. The first time I went, I found the sales consultant May's attitude a bit brusque, so I ddn't commit to anything; when I went back 1 week later becos they offered the best price & they had a fabric I liked, May was v friendly & helpful, and she even remembered our earlier discussion. And I'm not even getting all the window dressing in my 4 room flat done by them. I think they must be very stressed out rushing orders.

I will do better than that, I offer you the opportunity of hands-on experience hanging up my laundry

I've ordered from Universal Union. They get their supply from TAME laundry system. 4 poles, length depends on the space available. $398 + GST. It uses a pulley system that has a string through it, so must have strength to pull. There are other models... one has individually controlled poles, so poles can be raised/lowered to different heights, but more expensive, and I figured quite tough to manage 4 strings for 4 poles. I don't think such systems are suitable for elderly folks. There's also a pneumatic system. I'm v lazy, I just check the different models online, then I go to one shop, look at it, and if it looks ok, buy. TAME will come and install this Friday. Will let you know more than if you are interested. Do you want one that can go in and out of the window? Mine won't be able to do that. The pneumatic one can. He's the light of my life when he's not driving me up the wall. That's him in my ID pix

sorry for hijacking this forum, but just to share my experience: start of this year, I received a letter from IRAS stating my GIRO plan for paying TV license from a UOB account. I thot wah, so efficient, don't even have to apply. So fast work out Giro plan for me. But I was quite puzzled about how they got my bank account number. Searched high and low for the bank account indicated, before concluding that I don't have such an account! Called MDA to check, MDA side said I haven't applied for TV license, no record with them! But the IRAS letter had my name & my new address. Dunno how they mixed the info. I hope someone is not paying for nothing. btw, application for TV license can be done online.

Kitchen cabinets are in good condition Laundry area - need to install retractable clothes hanger Woodframed doorways As promised, the house is in great condition. Everything is less shiny and a little worn out, but its to be expected, afterall, the previous owners lived here for 10 years. The bathroom mirrors are spotty with age, and some parts of the wood finishes on the built-in cabinets have rubbed off and whitened. Reno shifu said a coat of varnish will improve the look, but will not disguise the wornout wood veneer. It's ok lah. Not fussy. I think the before and after look will be very similar :-) Am more concerned with the large number of roach baits I found around the house. Could there be a problem?

Finally, I got my keys Here are some pictures of what the vacated house looks like: MBR View from MBR It's funny; today was the first time I realised that my unit looked over a school. I thought it looked out on a T-junction. Sort of brought to mind some forummer's concern that there will be a lot of noise from nearby schools. MBR toilet Common toilet

you have made your house really bright and spacious-looking. so nice

the brand is cornell....the fan is about 4ft tall, 3 blades are individually controllable, $168... thanks for the info, will look out for it on my shopping trips

wah, everything looks v nice. Spacious. ya, the altar v cute, it sits jus above the power socket some more. u don't worry about things (not necessarily people) falling out of the window?

great job. I like what you have done with the glass wall to ensure privacy without knocking it out. Your house put together very quickly without compromising expectations. Real cool. cute fan with remote control from Tampines courts, can turn blow any direction... this fan really very cute. Can share what brand and how much? How tall is it? From the pix, it looks quite small.

It's been a very very long wait. I started my house search in Mar 2008, found this house in June, signed the OTP in July but was only submitted to HDB in Aug. 1st appointment in October, 2nd appt 28 Nov. By end of tomorrow, I should finally get the keys. My reno shifu also quite kan-cheong... there are loads of nice people out there who are v keen that I have a new home to celebrate CNY in... my reno shifu, May from MGL, Ice from J&S, Mdm Pang from Fuhua movers... Went to Universal union today to buy Joven JH25 heater, and ceiling-mount laundry hanger Then went to Shanghai Tong Lee to buy main door lock set. My son's choice. Cute, isn't it? Good thing I'm quite chin-chye, so let him make many of the choices. My moving day is 23 Jan, Fri. The next 12 days will be hectic... rushing over after work to see the progress of the reno, taking leave to wait for delivery people, cleaning up the house, as well as doing packing. I thot since I just moved into this rental place last June, I won't have a lot of stuff unpacked (since I knew I would be moving soon again), but that is so untrue

hi. Is there any particular reason why 1 bathroom has a framed shower stall, and the other has a frameless?

wrt clever baby... I believe that providing a nurturing environment helps. Encourage & give the child the opportunity to explore and grow. Lead by example... if everyone in the family sits down and watches TV all the time, the child learns that watching TV is normal; if everyone in the family reads, the child learns that reading is normal. Provide a good language environment, hone the child's sense of humour. I tried it on my child... it's worked so far

My reno handyman said he'd do my 3 bedrooms plus teak living room floor for $100 per area, total $400. Sand & matt varnish. But he's doing other jobs, so said he'd charge me less for this job.

the commontoilet smells like...er... - does the toilet bowl flush clean? is there good ventilation? have you given it a totally good scrub? is the smell coming from the drainage hole? the boys at home used to stink up the common bathroom cos of poor aim; I had to spray bleach and rinse out the whole bathroom with a water hose every week. but the smell still remained cos that bathroom had poor ventilation. The smell also came from the drainage hole, so I also sprayed bleach on it. Didn't help much tho

hi Hippoheyhey. Sorry to hear about your problems. I'm just saying what's on my mind, please don't take any offence. I have never bought a unit direct from HDB, because I don't want to pay $ for a unit that I am not totally comfortable with. 1) The flat is on a very low floor, very close to a school, all the living room and bedroom windows all open up facing the school, and costs half a million! - HDB wld have factored this into the pricing. The half million u pay is for better finishing etc. To some, having a school nearby is an asset if you consider sending your child there someday. It is not necc the case that there will be a lot of noise from the school all through the day. Schools are also sensitive to the needs of residents. If there is noise, it'll be in the day, when you are likely to be at work. The school term is for 40 weeks a year, 5 days a week. You get 12 weeks of peace :-) 2) Unless it is a prime location, or very well-connected by transport, I believe it would be difficult to recover your half-a-million $ in 5 years 3) It is not true that you need a lot of cash to buy resale, if you look carefully, you are patient, and you have a good agent working with you, you can find decent units selling below valuation, close to, or at valuation. These units will certainly be cheaper than the one you are looking at. 4) Buying resale does not tie you down for 5 years, unless you get a government subsidy (I'm not sure which applies, cos I've never used any of them) My experience - I bought a 12-year old 3-room flat at Bedok Reservoir in 1995; I sold it in 1997 for a profit of almost $90K. Middle of last year, I paid almost half a million dollars for a 22-year old 4-room flat - a) it is in a good location, b) I expect its value to appreciate, c) its size is almost comparable to a new 5-room, d) the structural quality is better (walls etc are solid concrete) This amount of $ could have paid for an EA in an outer lying area. In your shoes, I'd buy a resale unit that I can afford now. If you say you cannot wait 4-5 years, then what are your alternatives? Rent for 4-5 years first? But you also said you don't want to rent. All the best

congratulations! very big space to play with. I find the feature wall in the middle of the living area disruptive though some people will say it breaks the monotony of the open space. Open space good, esp with small children. But sliding door to separate dining/kitchen from living area is good idea, cos you will soon have a toddler, so ability to close up certain areas of the house is good.

Congratulations on your new home. You have really freshened up the look. I like your frameless shower screen. Can share with me how much it costs to do that? The place I buoght has sliding shower screen doors with tracks. I'd really like to change it to the frameless type. Also, how did you change the kitchen sink without hacking the kitchen counter top? Good that your ID accepted small jobs.

wow, wat a fantastic transformation. love your balcony cosy corner.

wah, very nice. Congratulations

wow! fruition of a labour of love. very excited for you, moving in in a couple more days do show us the pix of the moved-in state

Your paint job seems rather X. My place 4-room but 103 sqm. My reno shifu quoted $1200 for painting whole house excluding doors and frames. Free choice of ICI or Nippon colours. He's very cute, he said "every wall want different colour also can". But I think v hard to say if the reno quote is expensive or not; it depends on quality of materials, the speed they can get the reno done, & workmanship. It also depends on their professionalsm. I'll rather pay a little bit more and fang xin let them do, then to have to jaga all the way. ELECTRICAL WORK 2.1 To dismantle all electrical fittings for whole unit LS 250.00 2.2 Installation of 15nos. light fittings (light fittings not included) 150.00 I'm a bit puzzled by this. If you are installing lights in points that have an existing light fixture, you still need to pay to dismantle the existing light fixture? My reno shifu also charging me $10 for installing each light fixture, but he also charges $10 for installing ceiling fan-cum-light, so quite a good deal for me.

Thanks pinkpetter I'm also envious of all of you with a much bigger renovation budget and able to create such fantastic looks for your homes. My home-to-be is cmfortable, but very basic