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Hi there, Please PM me and I will reply accordingly. Continue reading my t-blog Photos of my renovation experience as well as my newly renovated home will be put up as we continue my journey. Keep reading!

Congratulations on getting a unit at The Pinnacle too! Here's wishing you a smooth reno experience! Please set-up a t-blog to share Excited to see your photos too!

Rubine SInk BMX611 at $148 from Poh Joo

I think you can't hack bathroom floor tiles cos of water proofing. But the tile I hack is to hide the ugly pipes. So maybe can? I am not sure leh. Dennis is going to get replacement tiles for me.

Just one photo of the view from my apartment:

Here are 2 photos of the headboard we are getiing Dennis to fabricate for us. This is how the front looks like: This is how the back looks like:

Remember this photo that I took of my neighbour's flat before hacking and I mentioned that mine is the opposite layout? Here is how my place looks after the hacking

Items from Poh Joo Then I proceed to check the rest of the items, thingking that I will take photos of each after I finish checking. Chopping board = checked, Kitchen sink pull out tap = checked, bidet spray = checked, Pipes = erhm... don't know how to check, Chrome Rose Rain Shower = wait a minute, why is there brown stuff on the rose? Its also looks rusty, it has limescale on it as if its been used and so light to carry I got a little upset and proceed to go to Poh Joo to exchange for two BRAND NEW CHROME ROSE! When down and immediately spoke to the boss (Dennis ask me to go look for the boss). Show him my Chrome Rose Rain Shower and was very upset about it. He immediately ask one of his assistant to bring out a few others for me to choose from. The Chrome Rose Rain Shower heads she brought out are all much heavier than what I was given and also looks new. So after checking a few, (the boss had to ask her to bring the new stock from upstairs down when she prentend that she only have 5 to choose from and out of the 5, 4 of them have rust stains on them), I selected 2 brand new ones that she took from the upstairs storage. Whoa! I almost kena cheated! After choosing and packing my Chrome Rose Rain Shower, I causally ask why the 2 holes in my sink are the same size when one is the soap dispenser and the other is for the tap. The boss got shocked and said it can't be so as he personally checked the items before being sent to me. SO I pointed out about the Chrome Rose Rain Shower and ask if he checked them. He proceed to check his invoice and realised my mistake! So how? He apologise profusely and asked if I can wait to install the sink. If I can wait, he will come arrange for a bigger hole to be punch when he goes to The Pinnavle for delivery. I told him to liaise with Dennis and let me know the outcome. The short story is that in the end I had to go back to the house to take the sink, bring the sink back to Poh Joo to get it sorted out and go back home again! By the time I finished all these transactions, I had to rush back to office for meetings... So irritating! Well at least I got it sorted out Will pop by the home again tomorrow to take more photos of the items I purchase and the of course photos of the infamous Chrome Rose Rain Shower.

I finally got my items from Poh Joo, including Kitchen sink yesterday. Dennis was the one who coordinated with Poh Joo on the delivery and was also kind enough to coordinate my dish washer. Hubby knowing that I am quite particular, ask me to go down to check to make sure everything is in order and up to standard. So that is what I did this morning. When I when through the items, I saw my lovely Kitchen with two holes drilled, one for the soap dispenser and another for the tap. But wait... something don't seem right, what are the holes for the soap dispenser and the tap the same size? Mmm... maybe it normal? Nevermind, here's the picture of my Rubine Sink with half size drainage. (can you see that the holes are both the same size?!?)

Thanks will go check that place out later part of the year as I bought my Chrome Rain Rose Shower from Poh Joo already...

My only concern? This ugly pipe in the bathroom for drainage. Dennis promise to think of a way to hide it. Maybe behind carpentry or go through the left side of the tile instead of the front.

Where are all the pipes and the trucking you may ask? Its above the false ceiling of the main & common bathrooms.

And that's it! The below 3 pictures are photos of where the aircon will be located in the rooms Common Rm 1 & 2 Main Bedroom

How I Run My Aircon Trucking As mentioned, I am pretty satisfied with the way Edwin Poh (the aircon recommendation from Dennis) run my pipes and trucking. Dennis arranged for Poh to do a site survey with our carpenter, gas man & hubby and me. This is to ensure that the aircon trucking will leave room for the gas pipes and both the aircon trucking and gas pipes will be hidden either behind carpentry or box up. This picture is the aircon trucking from the laundry area into the house The pipes will run along the length of my kitchen wall, all of which will be hidden by carpentry. This picture is along the beam leading to the rooms. Dennis will construct a box up for this area so that its flush against the wall and you can't see the trucking anymore.

That's the problem with Gain City. So lazy and can't be bothered with site survey 1st. Thank goodness you insist on it Dennis also mentioned that Gain City is very "careless" with the way they drill holes. So I rather pay the extra $20 to allow Edwin (Dennis recommendation) to do the aircon for me. The results is something I am very HAPPY Will show you pics.

Thanks SGK. Will check with him again. I saw the Holland Close home he did using 1.8mm laminates and there are no obvious joint lines. So either your ID smoking you or my contractor is smoking me! In any case, I agreed to 1.8mm laminate with ABS of 1mm instead of the standard 2mm (maybe this is what you mean by obvios joint lines?) and he promise to make it swee swee. I told his carpenter than if its not swee swee, will reject his goods... So will see how it goes. Will update as we go along Btw, its not true that 1mm are only available in certain colours, most laminates are 1mm. Go to Lamitak or Seng Lee if you are uncertain, they will be able to advise accurately. In fact, you can even go to Lamitak office or Seng Lee to get A4 samples of laminates so you have a better idea of how it will look like instead of looking at the tiny square piece of laminates in the book. I have done it before for my previous home. And Lamitak & Seng Lee will inform you that most of their laminate is 1mm. The most expensive laminate is actually true core, where the entire laminate is only one colour. Super expensive but super duper nice SGK, if possible, don't accept 0.8mm, insist on 1mm. Trus me, its better.

Sinks - What a Big Headache No matter how much you do your research, how many magazines you look through, everyone will have at least one thorn in their side during renovations. In our previous home, it was lights. My hubby is very particular about the look of the lights and how it bounces off the wall, yet he does not want a false ceiling even though we bought a private condo then. Oh what great misery it was for us! We when to so many places to look at lights that I almost cried out in pain everything I go near a light shop. We got so desperate that we went to back alleys, Lorgans the Retro shop, expensive high end shops, but still naught. Sigh, in the end, we back to Australia (mu husband is Aussie) and found the lights we aka he like. We lug it back from Australia to Singapore with great drama and $$. Luckily we are in Business Class, so we have extra baggage allowance and they also treated us real nice with our precious glass lights. With this new home, I made my husband swear that we will either go for a light box or cove lighting (no false ceiling since the ceiling is so low already). Thank goodness for this decision. Lights discussion was settled in 2 hours (cove lighting throughout the house also must talk for 2 hours, so you now know how particular my hubby is toward all things eesthetics) and within 1 shop. Yippee!!! Unfortunately... now its those bloody sinks! We took 5 days to agreed on a kitchen sink! Since we are placing a dish washer under the kitchen sink, it can't be too deep or large as space is limited under the window. My hubby also wants a drainage area to dry dishes, I hate that look! I want an undermount sink with no drainage area at all. Bellari has really nice ones But hubby refuse cos no drainage. My argument is that we have a dish washer, why do you need a rack for draining dishes?!? But then, he is the President, I am only the VP... Eventually, after 5 full days of searching the internet, we found a Rubine kitchen that is large and deep enough for me YET has a drainage space for my hubby wishes. The good thing about this drainage space is that its half the width of a usual sink drainage space So 1 down, 2 to go. All the residents of P@D will certify that the bathrooms are not the most spacious. We need a sink that is not too wide in length to fit the common bathroom and not too deep in width to fit the main bathroom AND they MUST look alike! Again hubby's idea. He want symmetry! We have gone to Poh Joo, San Sei, Sim Siang Choo, Ikea, Royal Franco,Universal Union,Bellari,Lookz, Heritage, Taps, Hansgrohe, Grohe, Hemsley to name a few. If anyone can offer any other places, PLEASE advise me! I am getting really desperate that I am thinking of buying the $300 sink from Ikea and asking Dennis to cut it to our size!

Where to Put the Bidet Spray I am Peranakan, so definitely need a bidet spray in the bathrooms. But got headach already cos my toilet is those wall hung type and the *&^% HDB conceal everything. Here's the pic Ask Dennis, how? What should I do? Plumber said that its too difficult to do the soldering from within the canister. If I insist on a bidet spray, he will have to cut a hold in my bathroom tile and get it down. Huh? Cut a hold in my toilet tiles?!? Dennis says "Don't worry." He will ensure the plumber does a properly job. The worst case situation is that he replace the bathroom tile for me. He will make sure its "Swee, Swee" for us. Mmm... we see how ok... I am a little worried.

Aerogaz Hood + Hod I decided to go for a 600mm size Hood + Hod instead of the usual 800mm to 900mm size. Our kitchen is not the biggest and if I got for such a large size hood + hod, it will just look really weird. Moreover, my hood + hod is next to my dining table, so nice and petite is the look. I also bght a steam oven, so the preference is to cook using the steam oven rather than stir frying or deep frying Let me know what you think... Hood Hob

Yah, I agree. We told Dennis already about it. He says will think about how to do it nicely and get back to us

I bght this in Takashimaya during their so called sale and it cost me $39.90!

OIC, is it because you are starting only after CNY? Better, no rush That means your renovation will be stress free like mine

Aircon - How to Hide the &%$#* Pipes As most of you know, The Pinnacle@Duxton folks are very lucky, we manage to get Bulk Purchases prices from Gain City for several big ticket items. If you have read my blog, you will also know that DESPITE the so-called Bulk Purchase prices offered by Gain City, I still bought almost all of my electronics from Harvey Norman BECAUSE, HV price is comparable than Gain City (i.e. Gain City so-called Bulk Purchase price is really Bulk Purchase price lor!), the sales guy was extremely nice and friendly but the most important thing was that I can pay by INTEREST FREE INSTALMENT PLAN. Very important for us folks who are on a budget Unfortunately, HV does not have the aircon I will like to buy SO Gain City, it is... And in any case, Gain City is the place to go to find out more about aircons as the salespeople there are EXTREMELY knowledgeable about aircons. Hubby is in charge of this area as he is very particular about the trucking, piping, the external appearance, etc... So off to Gain City we went to seek some knowledge After spending more than an hour there, discussing nothing but aircon looks, BTUs, Armflex, copper pipes, too damm many technical things, , we finally decided the best value for money is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Inverter System 3. Now many wonder what is the difference between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric. My answer to them is same difference. Let me explain. I used to live in Japan for a year studying and travel there on a weekly basis in my 2nd job, in Japan where Mitsubishi hails, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Electric is the same company. The parts are the same, the R&D are the same but the factory where the aircon is made is different. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries just entered the market for less than 2 years, their prices are lower than Mitsubishi Electric as they do not spent much on advertsing and R&D. Mitsubishi Electric was the name used by Mitsubish as their foray into the external markets aka markets outside of Japan. Its just recently that Mitsubishi Electric has stock, why? Cos the factory was facing problems with the parts and quality so the plant was "closed" to investigate the problem. Now the factory is back in operation. But I digress... Anyway, hubby & I decided to purchase Mitsubishi Heavy Industries cost the price is competitive. Next to our contractor we went to inform him the good news. When Dennis heard Gain City, he went "Orh..." Gain City is good cos its cheap prices but they also got problem with their trucking. They don't do nice, nice for you. Just anyhow drill hole. As long as easy, can already. But nevermind, if you are there (pointing to my 6 foot big sixed Aussie husband), they won't anyhow do. You must tell them how you want to do it.' Hubby got a little sian already cos he must coordinate this and that. So we ask Dennis how, got other solutions that will require us to be less involved. Maybe Dennis can instructe the guy for us?!? He is not comfortable cos he feels that he is just a contractor, so the Gain City guys may see him no up. Dennis then proceed to give us an aircon company that he deals with and ask us to call him for prices. Dennis does alot of work with them and knows their style so its easier to coordinate and discuss. So off I went to make the call. Dennis's contact prices are slightly more expensive, I tried to bargain. Gain City price to me was $2486 so I told the aircon guy that if he gives me $2500 9no GST), I will give him the job. He called me only about 30 mins later and say ok. Yippee!!!! Will blog tomorrow about my stress free and wonderful experiences with this aircon dude and also some photos to show his handiwork. The photos will show you what a great work they did for us that almost all of my pipes and trucking are hidden behind carpentry. Only a thin pipe is visible in the bathroom for drainage

Really? Where is your jiu jiu shop? Share, please

Hi josvin, after all my research, my conclusion is budget or no budget, you must get your $$ worth and not pay crazy $$ for bad materials or workmanship. Having said this, if you have a budget, you must also be realistic and not ask for high end materials or heaps of work done to your house, like hack here and there, carpentry everywhere, etc. Like what I say, cheap quotation, my mean not so good workmanship or materials and lotsa of headach. Expensive may also mean the same thing as all the $$ goes to the ID. My suggestion to you is to do your research to find out the avg cost of the materials psf. Work out what you wish to do in terms of the size and do a rough estimation of whether what you wish to do is possible within $20K. If the answer is yes, awesome! My personal suggestion is to go to a contractor as they are cheaper. It will good if you can find a contractor who can also give you design ideas, like mine, even better