El Nino_Al Nito

I've decided on the no tile walls for kitchen too... will be hacking the old tiles then cement screed them and paint over... thot of plastering over then paint instead of hacking, but realise the old unit have a number of hollow tiles...might as well hack rather than face cracked walls in future... from what i gather for me the difference in doing tiles and no tiles is negligible coz im putting up glass backsplash between my cabinets... cost of which is almost just as much... oh yah, perhaps its best to paint using those washable surface. If so, pls avoid Matte paints totally. Once you sponge that area, the matte surfaces gets polished off, leaving a low shiny sheen on the area that was scrubbed. When viewed at diff angles, there will be shiny patches among the matte wall.. Wont be nice yah... this is particular becoz i take it no one will lay skirting in the kitchen...and for those thinking of washing kitchen mini flood style, may have to take extra care just to avoid splashing water on the walls... Just my POV...

Hi Reiki, Nice cosy palace you have there.. Cant PM you coz your inbox is full. Im keen to find out more on your kitchen sink though... Looks spacious yet uncomplicated... Hope you could let me know where you bought it at and for how much? Thanks in advance!

Hi Bluefrog, I intend to do some cement screeding too (cheaper than hacking and laying tiles) but very minimal places (store and toilet wall) some of the contractors i met also recommended not to, due to maintenance issue and cracks appearing over time etc.. i believe if you do go ahead with it, make sure they apply epoxy resin (if im not wrong) on the screeded surface as a protective coat...

hi danny, its been a couple of months since you've used ur philips pfl9664 right? have you faced any display issues i.e. water mark effects on panning shots? i read that this is inherent in the pfl9664 when users watch sports programs... just wondering if you had noticed it as well? im keen on this model too (*2009 TV of the year on WhatHiFi?...) but recent readings on Philips brand making me consider my purchase too... Hope you could clarify...TIA!

garion, your ID help you save cost using logical sense...Nice! but using tempered glass to overlay sufficient meh? what if the old tiles pop out or crack etc? will it have any affect on the glass overlaid?

dear all, im looking to get a single split unit to put in my living room only. the space there is abt 35 sqm. cant seem to find any info/pricing on single splits aside from that known aircon blog. need latest recommendation / pricing for single split unit (18btu to 24btu ok?). your inputs are much appreciated.

Hi Tiler Seng, Do you do masonry, demolition and plumbing works only? No carpentry, electrical or woodworks/wetworks? In any case im keen to know your pricing too. Have itemised those tasks to be done in excel. Can pm me your email address? Thanks in advance!

think twice or maybe more than that if you considering them... consider glasswerkz instead.. its located at park mall, b1 i think... look for janet... they do customization of cabinet aquarium, wall mounted etc... most important thing is the equipments used to maintain the livestock in the aquarium... as a gauge, i was quoted 9k for a 4ft by 2.5ft by 2ft full height aquarium cum cabinet divider...fully furnished with equipments and livestock of course

my opinion of IDs sweetening the deals with freebies is that business not good hence need to attract 'guinea pigs'...? good IDs would be those finding it hard to accomodate your project in their busy schedule, obviously not due because of low budget etc...

hi wywy219, me share ur disappointment of not being able to hack that wall.. found out from hdb tech officer that my block also pre-fab one.. I told him if i just hack how? he say confirm plus chop next time sell must rebuild wall and pay a penalty...(wonder how much eh?) was soooo keen on a bar/breakfast counter as well.. but like you, gotten over my disappointment too and now thinking of getting a standalone bar counter to fit in that lil corner..hehe hope to see ur latest bar counter design!

yeah..the EA im renting at got 3 toilets.. rare ones, coz i thot only EMs got 3 toilets... 1 in kitchen and kinda like got 2 MBRs.. lucky the toilet in my MBR more spacious than the other two...

univonna has it too... abt 2k for 1.5m table extend to 1.9m i think... include seats but only 4 i think..

hi...as requested, sofa pic i kapo from forumer Coffee-O's blog (hope you dun mind, Coffee!) getting a half leather one...

alrighty then...maybe i look ard at S&C, Hommage etc first see if they carry this sofa or if they able to custom make it. thats the thing im concerned with coz she could deny any wrong doings coz the invoice only states the total cost (after so called discounts) and my verbal phone enquiry was just that...unless like zhiz suggest i could get a friend to go down and get them to write down in black and white the prices respectively and use this to claim back...hmmmm.... should i in the first place tell them i wna cancel order or just straight away file claims? 2 months and $16 spent to claim seems do-able... looks like i have to source for the sofa elsewhere by this week coz if i cant find, will not waste the 1k and proceed with the sofa purchase instead...

Hi kiven, thanks for your inputs. you are spot on to notice that all trust is shattered. plus i really did not get a gd deal overall despite her so called discount here and there... i think what she had done was markup the price to an extent whereby she can afford to less and there... the only thing i might go ahead with is the sofa coz really love it...cant seem to find it elsewhr except Mr Decor (which we read up abt as well) and Absolut Italy on 2nd floor IFC which had already closed. Since price she quoted me was better than those two...i'll probably stick with it.. Alternatively i could follow your route thru SCT but my wife not keen in case must cough up more $ to pay for these legal advises and hours and the hassle...anyways, congrats on your Order of Tribunal against them! How long did overall procedure took from start to finish if you may?

zhiz, actually do you think its still early for me to start furniture hunting? coz my 2nd appt shd be in feb then i had granted the auntie and uncle extra 1mth extension, plus some reno works of my own...i forsee around May latest to move in? Coz way i see it, after CNY period like there's a lull in promotional activities from March to early May (except for the quarterly PC/electronics expos in March)...GSS late May then start cannot be i wait till then to buy big ticket items to tie in with the expected reno... with my anticipated loss of XXk before anythg really starts, gna need to be hunting for some bargains and true discounts now...

2.5k for a queen size Simmons sounds reasonable...i went for King size, she quoted $3XXX and so called less 10% equals $3XXX...when i called over the phone, this time she took her time to check against the price list, mumbled the retail price, then quoted less 10% is $2XXX...so yours shd be ok bah since King size is normally $200 or so more..although it does make me think that there really is no "less 10%"... my only freebies was Simmons mattress protector and 2 Napure classics pillows (are these any better or equivalent to the Deep Sleep pillows?)...press for more said cant already coz she gave us good discounts liao...now that i have researched...my foot ah good discounts! i must've woke up on the wrong side of bed that day to make a stupid and impulsive purchase like this.....

just to add...diff SA may provide diff standard of service... what i find is that sales is all talk and bull...its up to the individual to buy their sales pitch... like goondu me... tangible services like carpentry, f&b etc you will know for sure their standard and in the long haul when little bad reviews snowballs to a mountainous ones, then you should treat these places / ppl like viruses...i.e. stay away.. for this place i bought at, i too read the gd reviews on them...before 2008...and somehow 2008 onwards, poor reviews started coming in from fellow forumers...what im trying to put across is one man's meat is another man's poison...maybe u would be the luckier one? try to call them up and enquire the price of the items you bought...if it varies alot then do the right thing...if is a what you paid then you can sleep easy bah...end up the product you buying is a renowed brand so shd not be a bother to you rgdg quality... what im fed up with was with the misrepresentation of selling price... what i thot was a good deal after saving more than XXk from discounts, turns out im paying some hundred $$ extra for the mattress to make the deal look sweet..so all in all i paid more in the purchase price then what i could get if i bought at the price she told me over the phone...oh well... Rant over.

hi silhouette, as per what zhiz mentioned, "different shop sell same model at different names so you can never find a similar cheaper model outside..." - a cunningly deceptive business tactic.. one thing i learnt is should compare prices before we place deposit...basic shopping skill but me not shopaholic la...and another is that impulse buying is plain duh...worse is i had only planned to enquire and maybe purchase the sofa there but end up getting swayed to buy the platinum as well when i was actually more keen on Backcare 3...fyi, i tried both and to me not much diff...Backcare 4 felt best under Simmons but kinda over our budget... she didnt let us know of this price warranty system they had...my mistake too for not asking but i was in a rush that day...even then, i've made up my mind not to take it even if its well priced...i already feel duped...plus, its already plain con tactics i.e. at least try to match with other outlets not bad la...but to sell me at higher price then quote me over the phone at much lower just coz i bothered to call and pretend to check price...i feel shortchanged man. btw, how much you got your platinum mattress for? any freebies? I will be cancelling all of my purchase except maybe for the sofa unless i can find it elsewhere (except Mr Decor, for obvious reasons)...if not i suck thumb, bang head and i move on.....

sweeettt! me like methods for me to save money... PM me if you feel this trade secret cannot declare openly...haha... TIA! hommage trading...read abt that somewhere here that they dun have much on display, mostly off catalogs...tio? how to sample like that? i think im gna overloook simmons...turning attention to sealy and serta also. so far have shortlisted King Koil's Grand Tavernier Blue and one of MaxCoil's mattress but Nova...but then that place also......

cool... good idea! would be troublesome to do but could gain something concrete as evidence... even then, if quoted price is lesser, i wouldnt be buying also... i detest dishonesty and since im bitten, i will shun this shop for good and take my money elsewhere... i take it as an expensive lesson learnt... lose abit now rather then more later and my sanity with it...

haha...me no guts to do this kind of thing dude... dowan to damage other ppl's rice bowl...can only share my experience... from there, up to the individual to gauge and decide where to spend their hard earned $$... i think should have asked for price list when she quoted me on the spot... plus she only wrote down total cost not individual prices of things im getting... like this her verbal quote over the phone may not be concrete enuff for me coz she may increase the price again to say where got price diff..? does not look good for me...bye bye hard earned money...!

hi zhiz, i would accept it if price differs from one retailer to another... but for the same place to have different prices of a few hundred $$ for same product within a day is plain con job... same lady mentioned is after 10% off and on promotion but then dunno promotion till when... Lol!

thanks for the advise... product not delivered yet... i think this would not be a claim against goods or its condition but rather service rendered...i.e. misrepresentation of selling price?

Guys, i made a mistake in purchasing from this place yesterday. Had deposited XXk for total damage of XXk. Was initially keen on the slide out sofa which i had hunted all over Sg after seeing it at IMM. Had planned to get a Simmons mattress as well, maybe around Jan but was roped in by the lady sales talk and seemingly good price offered. Went home to find out abt this place degrading reputation here in renotalk..Argh! Had a bad feeling as usual thereafter. So this morning i gave a call to that place to enquire on their mattress prices. Yesterday after discount, the Beautyrest Platinum King was sold to me at $3XXX. Today, i enquired price, she quoted $2XXX!!! Backcare 3, what i was aiming for initially, was quoted yesterday at $3XXX, just now she said $3XXX!!! Price can fluctuate drastically?!?!? Buy mattress like buy stocks is it?!? Anyway, thinking of cancelling the order. But the invoice says $ not refundable unless otherwise stated. So, is there a way whereby i can state a case for my hard earned $ to be refunded? Im thinking of going to small claims tribunal to lodge a claim. Can i do this using misrepresentation of price as a reason? Or is there a term for it? Sorry, noobie couple here, so maybe we kinda kan cheong. Worse case scenario i close my eyes, swallow my heart pain and forgo the 1k deposit if small claims cant do anything... Appreciate your advices! Rant over.