laiwh

Went shopping for furniture (again!) yesterday since it was half day for both CO and myself. We headed for IMM, to browse around since they have free parking for first 3hrs We saw this sofa and both of us like it very much because of it's high back support and firm cushion and structure. The original dimension is about 3m. We checked and it's possible to customise to 2.5m. The price is a bit on the high side (2k++). The salesgirl tried some hardsell tactic on us, but we didn't barge cos we don't believe in putting deposit for advanced orders of more than a couple of months after hearing some horror stories. Anyway, here are some pic of the sofa. We'll come back for this sofa when our house is almost ready. This is the original sofa displayed in the showroom. This is the black version of the sofa, just for comparison sake

Hi, I'm having trouble determining whether I'm a heavy user, hence I don't know whether I should choose inverter or non-inverter. Basically I plan to install a System 3 in my house. Normally only the MBR air con will be on during the night just before we go to sleep, on an average of 4 days per week. Am I a heavy user?

yeah...i got it in one of the tabs as well. Need to keep a close eye on the money flowing out

Now then I know how much things have to be done to set up a home. Reno portion is already one big headache. Shopping for furniture and electrical appliances is also not easy because each single item costs at least 3 to 4 digit kind of money. One wrong move and we'll end up with an expensive white elephant. I suddenly realised I have a lot of information thrown all over the place in my PC, and it's quite troublesome to do comparisons or organise my information properly. So I decided to consolidate all the information I got into one Excel spreadsheet. Somehow I think this spreadsheet looks a bit like a very rough mini project report, minus all the mind boggling figures and nice presentation etc, but who cares, it's just for myself to keep track of whatever I have done or need to be done. I foresee more tabs being added as the project goes on..hehe..

Hi Flamedav, thank you for the warm welcome Sometimes I feel so glad to have chosen SK because we have such friendly folks and neighbours here, feels just like the good old kampong days

Finally got a fairly definitive date to key collection one more pay check (maybe 2) to help ease the pain to my pocket.

Thanks for the speedy reply in the email query, Aron. Really impressed with your response time

hehe...me also can't wait to get my keys, but i also dun mind getting it a bit later cos i just realised that I have a lot of "homework" not done. Trying to do last minute work like research on tv, aircon, furniture etc *faint*

hehe.... i was mesmerized by the sound from the Bose system the very first time i heard it at the showroom. Then my mind was even more set on it after i played PS3 on it in my fren's home with that system connected, no soundproofing done for my fren's room -- just plain cement walls. Don't know how to describe, but it's really fantastic. Too bad the price tag is really too high for me. Actually I'm changing the configuration of that Onkyo HT-S5305 a little bit. I'm using the AV receiver and pairing it with another set of 5.1 speaker set cos the Onkyo speakers still look too big -- CO don't like big speakers. But after all the customisation, it still costs abt 3 times lower than the Bose set, but sound produced is on par if compared to that bose system (at least that's what my non-audiophile ears tell me). The speakers are slightly bigger than the bose jewel speakers, but the receiver is a big monster...i think that's the tradeoff for a cheaper system P.S do u drive an evo 10? hehe...that's a wicked speed machine and also my dream car leh

Hi neighbour, happy reno hehe

Congrats, bearlyn2406...finally gotten your keys after the long wait Guess although it's small, it's still our cosy little home and we can spend less time cleaning up the house. That's how i console myself Went to Gain City over the weekend to check out the aircon. I'm aiming at Mitsubishi air con, but they have a few variants even for Mitsubishi. Any tips on how to select the air con? CO and me decided to go for the System3 non-inverter ones cos we seldom use the air con. Although my key collection is just round the corner, I'm now having mixed feelings cos my pocket will start to bleed when i get my keys. Quite heart wrenching to see the money disappearing at such a fast pace, but on the other hand, this is my first home that I can really call it my own...so i guess the money has to be spent. Buying the items on installment plan might be an alternative to slow down the bleeding, but this means slower bleeding over a longer period of time which I personally don't like the idea. 长痛不如短痛 Must think of excuses to siam the CNY period so that I can save on the ang bao money...wahaha...

yup....signed up with him liao. hehe...i begged him to help me with my reno

Hi Qin83, congrats on finally getting your keys

Forgot to mention that we also went shopping for some of our main furniture, eg. sofa, tea table, dining table. We hope to have an L-shaped sofa, but the TV console that K designs for us is only 6 ft. That means the TV area will look abit unbalanced because there is no L-shaped sofa that is of 6ft length, even if we customise one, it'll look funny cos 6ft is really too small for an L-shaped sofa. Need to discuss with K if the TV console and feature wall can be extended to 7ft++. We also decided to let K do a customised TV console because it is really very hard to find a TV console that has the correct dimension, correct colour. 6ft TV consoles are also very rare in furniture stores. Most of them are at least 7ft. So must talk to K on this. Tea table -- KIV until we sort out the TV console dimension Dining table -- The search goes on. Looking for an extendable one so that we can save some space.

Ok. Enough of all the ranting on shopping. When to catch a sneak at CS in the later part of the evening, just before dark. 411A is all sealed up. Guess it's the "no move time" for that block until HDB finishes their inspection. We went on to try 411B. Althought the place was all messy with debris and mud (or spilt cement...i don't know). Climbed to 11th floor from level 5 and went into the equivalent unit in this block that has the same layout as my unit. My first impression was really disappointing. Not because of the mess and stuff, but it's because of fxxxing small size of the apartment. *pls pardon me for the vulgarity* Room 2 and Room 3 are really cannot make it. They are so bloody small, I think if I lie down across the room, there might not be enough room for another person to walk pass me without walking over me. Kitchen is another ridiculous joke. I have seen small kitchens but those i've seen are at least wide enough for you to place your cabinets properly along 3 sides of the wall. For our case, it's just one short wall with almost no extra space on the other 2 sides of the wall to place the cabinets. I did not take any pic of the kitchen as the fellow neighbours have already taken pic of the kitchen, and you can't feel the smallness of the kitchen unless you are physically there. I'm attaching a pic of the bay window of unit type 1A and I've also drawn a little stickman to let you gauge the height of the bay window ledge and the window panels. The stickman is about 1.6m tall. Enjoy..

Went to KEC this afternoon. Made a fool of myself by asking if they have the Onkyo HT-S530. They don't sell HTS in sets because they only do customisation of audio systems. Clarified to the guy that I'm actually noob in audio stuff and told him wat I'm looking for -- something entry level, with nice and small form factor. Luckily that guy is a patient guy and brought me all over their 3 (or 4) demo rooms to show me their stuff. I felt a bit guilty making him connect up the speakers and receivers for me to audit the sounds produced. This trip really opened up my eyes and ears because I have finally found another speaker that produces equal, if not better sounds than those bose jewel speakers at prices a few times cheaper. Anyway here's my shortlisted HTS components: Cambridge Audio Minx325 Onkyo Receiver TX-SR508

Since our kitchen is sooo small, we don't have much choice of the appliances that we can get. Can only settle for the smaller ones Washing Machine 7.5KG capacity - LG WFT7500 (Damage: ~$400++) Fridge - Samsung RT34SSIS (Damage: ~$600++)

Merry X'mas to all~~~~!! Since CO and me are having half-day work today, I proposed going to check out our hifi system because Xuan Xuan is still with nanny and that means we can look at the stuff properly without being "disturbed". Guess CO should be happy because I have started to shift my focus away from Bose system to something much cheaper. Was aiming at this, but I think I'll KIV it until my boss gives me a (BIG)increment..hehe This is my new tentative target -- Onkyo HT-S5305B. Speakers are much bigger as compared to Bose, but I guess that's something I need to compromise to save my pocket. Going to audit the set later, hopefully me and CO will like it...hehe.. and hopefully I don't get poisoned and start to customise the system

no worries. Your posts help to up my post too

hehe..looking forward to see your t-blogs saw the FV2 t-blogs, got a lot of idea in my head, but all restricted by my budget and my CO not approve

what email addie? u mean ID's email address?

hi neighbours check your pms

Hey Cat, hehe...nice to see you here. I can't say whether the price is reasonable or not because I think it's subjective and relative to the deepness of your pocket and also the material used (i'm quite noob in area of materials used). What I did was try to spot the difference of what you plan to do in your reno vs mine These are the differences and I think that's where the costs add up: - homogeneous tiles for fridge, washing machine and kitchen cabinet (mine is ceramic cos since they going to be covered by the fridge etc, no point using such nice tiles mah ) - you have shower screen in both toilets. me only have shower screen in mbr toilet - Glass door at kitchen entrance. me no door at kitchen entrance - you have false ceilings in living room and all your 3 bedrooms? - kitchen cabinet - how come your kitchen cabinet can go up to 29ft? mine is only 20ft leh... maybe i double check with my ID. If can go up to 29ft, I also wan - your tv feature wall is 3600mm = 12ft? - WIW in MBR - i gave up the idea cos no space and save budget - you mentioned " plywood with High Quality laminate finishing for all exposed area" in MBR. you going to put laminate board on all your MBR walls? - platform bed -- another nice-to-have killer for me which i gave the idea up due to budget - vanity cabinet - I only have vanity cabinet in mbr toilet - you have carpentry works in your 2 bedrooms, me not touching the 2 bedrooms except for painting - mbr toilet door to be changed - me don't have this item, but i'm considering after reading the sneak previews cheers

i think my reno is quite minimal leh... wet work (eg. tiling of floor, tearing of wall etc) normally contributes to the bulk of a reno expense, but for my case, i don't have much wet work. Somemore my house so small, i think that's why the cost didn't add up to a lot

Hi endlssorrow, my reno consists mainly of carpentry works - - L Box + Ceiling **** room and MBR - Feature wall at TV area - feature wall at bomb shelter - shoe cabinet - 6ft MBR wardrobe - 10ft (I think so, need to confirm) kitchen cabinet - MBR toilet vanity cabinet - MBR toilet shower screen Basically these are what i can recall off my head. There are other nitty gritty items like haulage etc, i can't recall all those