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Am getting Supreme to construct a 4-inch platform on the entire balcony. We are adding a low table, some bean bags / cushions to convert it to a "cozy corner". As our balcony faces the west we are putting 3M Solar Film to cut down on the heat and glare. The sunset view from the balcony is quite amazing - we saw it when we went down to exercise our option. Supreme has told us that should the laminate fades because of the sunlight, they will change it for us free of charge.

Think I probably don't need the fridge and washer base - in the ten years that I stay in my current place, we only wash the kitchen floor twice :-) My Roomba is bought locally. But I have tried buying goods from US - not difficult - you could order it and pay by credit card, and the unit will be shipped to you via your choice of shipping method. What I am not comfortable is that in case the unit is not working, you will have to send it back to US (at your own cost). But I have read that iRobot's customer service is quite good so that should not be an issue. You could also join in some other forumers in the vaccum thread. They could be buying together to get a better discount.

The unit we bought also come with a big semi-circle balcony. We are putting up a platform and converting it to a "cozy corner" - just put a low table and a couple of bean bags or cushion and we could just sit around and relax.

Actually idea came from my wife. She observed that after we do our kitchen cabinet and backslash (is it what is known as?), there is very little visible wall left. One contractor told us that although we are charged for the wall tiles for the entire kitchen, they will actually only put tiles onto walls that are visbile. So we must as well save $2,000 by just putting a coat of paint on the visible wall. By not doing the fridge and washer base, we save another $200. What I can't decide is if I really need the cabinet base. Do you know what the cabinet base is for? I agree with you that it might be a waste of money engaging an ID. Seem like most of them have great ideas but we only need a very basic renovation that is economical and practical, since we have two kids at home. We are meeting Ah Soon tomorrow and maybe we should speak to Patrick, like what you suggested.

I bought it from the distributor John Ackerman Smart Learning E. Products, address and telephone number as follow: Blk 34 Upper Cross Street #04-138 Singapore 050034 Tel: 6532-3733 There are other forumers in RenoTalk that got it by ordering from overseas. According to them, the price is only 1/2 or 1/3. Personally I prefer to get it locally since I will have somebody to turn to if the thing doesn't work, afterall, this is my first cleaning robot. As for the different models: According to the girl who sold me the iRobot, Roomba Silver Junior and Roomba Silver are third generation robots, Roomba 530 and 560 are fifth generation. 560 is the same as 530 except it has the scheduling function and one additional virtual wall. The scheduling function is used to schedule cleaning, since it can take about an hour to clean a room. The virtual wall is used to stop the robot from getting out of a certain area, for example, if you want to limit the robot to just cleaning the room. The Scooba can be used to mop floor. The difference in price between 530 and 560 is about $200. Since this is the first time I am using the iRobot, I decide to try the 530 first. Maybe I won't need the scheduling function as I could turn on the Roomba just before I leave home every morning. By the time I am back home. the house should already been clean. I wanted the Scooba but worry that if it gets jammed, the water might damage my laminate flooring. So far I tried the Roomba once this afternoon for about 15 minutes (it is meant for my new house so I just tried to make sure it works), I was impressed with the amount of dust it collected. So if you are okay with the pricing, I would recommend you get one, either locally or from overseas, so as to reduce the workload of our ladies at home.

Hi Jann, Here's the different iRobot sold in Singapore:- Roomba Silver Junior $398 - Robot, 1 charger, 1 virtual wall Roomba Silver $538 - Robot, 1 charger, 2 virtual walls, extra brush/roller Roomba 530 $788 - Robot, 1 home bse, 1 charger, 1 virtual wall Roomba 560 $988 - Robot with scheduling, 1 home base, 1 charger, 2 virtual walls with light house Scooba $1,323 - Robot, 1 charger, 1 battery The Roomba's do only sweeping and vacuming. The Scooba can also wet mop the floor.

This is the existing kitchen. The existing owner has put up a wall separating the kitchen area from the washing area. We are going to remove this wall as we feel that the space allocated for the washing area is too big. We have a couple of big items (big fridge, breakfast counter) so we need to maximize the space we have. In order to cut some cost, we are not planning to have the fridge and washer bases as we felt that there is no much purpose (we seldom wash the floor, maybe once in a year or two). We will probably not going to put up kitchen wall tiles too - after deducting the space for the kitchen cabinet, toilet door, kitchen door and windows, we feel that paying $2,000+ for the remaining wall is too much, so we will live without the kitchen wall tiles. Other than that, we will hack everything and replace the kitchen floor (with homogeneous tiles), kitchen cabinet and common toilet (wall, floor, shower screen WC).

Just started the Roomba, it is cleaning my living area now. My kids are running around together with the iRobot. They are having more fun than my wife, for sure :-)

Hi, Thanks for visiting. I am getting my keys on 2 Jun 2009, so right now the only pictures I have is the existing house. Besides the one that I posted this morning, I have three more, one each for kitchen, master bedroom toilet and the master bedroom. Will post it later on.

That's what everybody told me. Is marble flooring very expensive?

This is the existing living area - photo taken off the valuation report. The owner has taken out the door separating the living area with the balcony and installed windows and grilles on the balcony, thus making the balcony an extended part of the living area. Flooring is marble, and ceiling is quite low (maybe already have false ceiling). Our plan: - build a platform on the balcony to create our cozy corner and remove the grilles (so that we can have a better view of sunset) - put up feature wall and a TV console (like everyone else) - get an L-shape sofa set so my girl can lie down on the long sofa to watch TV - depending on the condition of the marble, we need replace it with homogeneous tiles / lay laminate over the marble or just polish the marble - can't decide where to put the dining set - either behind the sofa or closer to the kitchen

Ok, found out the problem. I didn't remove the battery tag completely so there is still a small piece of plastic at the battery contact. That was what prevented the battery from being charge. I took out the small piece of paper last night and the Roomba is now fully charge. Later when my son is back from tuition we can have the 开幕典礼 My wife normally cleans house on Sunday. Since today is Mother's Day (right?) the robot can do the cleaning on her behalf.

Good tactic. I shall do the same too

Hi Guy77, Thanks for the tip. Will call him on Monday to remind him.

Will be meeting Ah Soon on Monday to discuss our renovation, time is not fixed yet.

Not sure what went wrong, but the Roomba is still charging. Will try it for another night - if it is not working then I will have to bring it back to the distributor.

Hi, You can see a demo as well as ask all the questions you want at the distributor John Ackerman Smart Learning E. Products, address is Blk 34, Upp Cross St #04-138 Singapore 050034 Tel: 6532-3733 You could also buy it at the following (but not sure if you could see the demo) places: Courts Bukit Timah, Courts Toa Payoh, Courts Mega Store @ Tampines and Best Denki Vivo City

Will give him a call later on.

To us, the most important step in choosing an ID is site visit. Ask the ID to show you one or two of his/her completed projects - that will give you an idea of what your completed renovation will look like. Do not be satisfied with just the showroom - for the showroom, they got in their best ID and best contractor to do the showcase. In my search, the quotations from most of the IDs are about the same. So chemistry plays a part. It is important that you can communicate effectively with the guy who will be overseeing your renovation.

Took advantage of the Mother's Day promotion and bought Roomba 530 from John Ackerman yesterday at $728. I read about all the problems on the Roomba and decided that local warranty is a good thing. I have been charging it since last night. Can wait to try it later part today.

Took advantage of the 3-day Mother's Day promotion and bought this for $728 yesterday. Usual price is $788. This one will lessen wifey's load on house cleaning, plus double up as Mother Day's gift and her birthday present. The sales person was helpful and knowledgeable. The unit is still being charged since last night.

Starting our shortlisting process this week.: basically we will be asking each ID to bring us for site seeing. Since the prices of most of the ID are pretty much the same (with the exception of Weiken.com), we shall made our selection based on workmanship. So far we have seen the work of one ID. The workmanship of the flat (exactly the same floor plan and orientation) is only so-so: tiles are not lied properly and the carpentry is bad. We have also dropped Strategic - the Project Director is non-pushy, experienced and knowledgeable - in fact we quite like him. We just cannot agree with the designer's fanciful idea. Now that we have more choice that needed, I don't want to ask for an alternative design but instead just focus on the quotes I have on had. Do you guys think I should also consider Ah Soon? I read after all the good reviews about him here and I think we might not be doing ourselves a flavour but we don't at least talk to him.

I bought the laminate directly from supreme. The sales manager told us that is a good price but I have an agreement with him not to reveal the price. Yes, the washing machine is supposed to be good. We wanted something that save energy, my wife did her research which pointed us to the LG. The salesperson at Harvey Norman was good and she managed to upsell us this expensive model - suppose to have steam function that can do some simple ironing. After spending so much money on the washer, we didn't get the matching fridge, so settle for something lower end. Also, too much red for the kitchen might be bad fengshui.

Thank you. As my kids are both going to primary school next year, we want to have a place in the breakfast where they can have a quick breakfast before going to school. We also want the breakfast counter to be near the water basin so they can deposit the dirty bowls and plates into the basin immediately after their meals. This idea came from many iterations of discussion with IDs. We saw two similar setups in two showrooms at Chew Interior and Strategic.

Yes, it is one of the point blocks. If you are there, you can easily recognise the blocks for their round balcony. Planning to build cabinet at the round corner to hide the irregular shape.