ymjp100

Thank you for the compliments. We were thinking our decor may not have enough "cosy look" so we are glad you feel that way. the grass can optionally be placed atop of a layer of drainage cells that is about an inch thick. the cells are like the anti-slip mats you see in certain public pools and shower rooms. the drainage cells allow the water (or rain) to drain downwards and so the top dries faster while the water underneath drains normally towards the sewage outlet as it should on your balcony. i think it would be best to check out the price with the suppliers. do measure the dimensions of your own balcony before asking for a quote. there is a wide-ranging variety of artificial grass with different price points. quality does come at a price. so some leg-work is needed and you ought to go out there and test how the grass feels under your feet. google "artificial turf singapore" and you can find a number of relevant hits. happy hunting!

Hello incubator! We were having some repairs and restoration done today by our ID's workers today when our new neighbours dropped by to say hello and for a look-see. It couldn't be you, could it? Thank you for the compliment. There are prints waiting to be framed and put up, a few choice pieces of furniture to buy/replace.....so it is an on-going process. If you take care to design your own place to suit yourself and your lifestyle, it will develop a unique character too! But for the bulk of the work, it took about 2-3 months at a leisurely pace. We didn't rush our ID.

Lately, we were both rather busy and couldn't find the time to get the kitchen to "show flat" condition. The pictures of the kitchen will have to wait... Having an ice dispenser on our fridge would be great but can only dream. Fisher & Paykel does a neat fridge with ice dispenser that does not sacrifice space behind the door. So you have bought yours?

Hitachi R-S37SVS is a 3-door fridge with the freezer at the bottom. the rationale is to place the most used sections of the fridge at a comfortable height. So if you seldom access the freezer, having it at the bottom makes sense. we bought this fridge because it was slim (relatively) and not too big. If we find it too small, we can probably replace it with something bigger in 10 years time. The oven is from Rinnai. Model RBO-7MSO, which was bought as a package together with the hob (RB-3Si) and hood (RH-Katana, which is angled 45 degrees so that I will not knock my head against the hood). I take this as a hint I should post some pics of the kitchen?

i pm-ed you the information you requested about the basin and tap in the masterbed room toilet.

Thanks Kobelala. We continue to follow all the other EM reno t-blogs in here even after ours is done. Checking for inspirations .....we would love to get the type of plants you bought but unsure if we can keep them alive .

Sliding doors could be the smarter choice. Once we are ready to replace our set of folding doors, we would choose either sliding doors or folding doors with smaller panels. With a balcony like ours (without depth), folding doors take up too much space. But we do like the way the wood is ageing with the exposure to weather. Unlike real grass that needs to be watered and mowed, to maintain the faux grass, we vacuum it. We have yet to wash the grass but the installer (iBuild Sportscape) said we could wash it by spraying water.

No worries. We had benefitted from others who had shared information with us. The basin and the tap were from Asia Excel (Balestier branch). We cannot remember how much it was. Give us some time to look for the receipt. Regarding the lamps, they were mostly from a lighting shop located within the Eunos Warehouse premises. But we must state our reservations with recommending this shop to others. Rambutan look-alike lamp? You meant the one in the stairwell? If that is the one you were referring to, it was bought at Lightings.com.sg at Balestier Point. Their service was much better. Happy Hunting!

the view from your house has the wow factor too!

Thanks! Green carpet cost S$99 each from Ikea. Not sure if they still have this. Anyway, if you want something that feels comfortable and can last long, don't get this. Which bathroom tap?

We will post a pic of the room when we are in the "hibernate" mode. You can assess if it is cosy.

The problem was that the balcony door could not clear the grass i.e. we could not open the balcony doors fully. Will you have a similar problem like ours? If your balcony doors are the sliding type (ours are folding type), you will not face the same problem as us. What are your consideration points? Maintenance? Aesthetics? Cost? Ease of installation?

We saw that issue of Home & Decor too. When we saw the glass wall, haha, we were a little disappointed that we weren't the first. Our design was confirmed in Jan 10 and works began in Mar 10. We had retained the use of three rooms because we were planning to stay for the long haul. So reducing the number of rooms was not considered. We had thought of cross-ventilation but it was something worth considering if we had one of those Peranakan shop houses. For EMs, without any air-wells, the solution seems to be keeping the windows and doors open.

This set shows how it looks with the curtains open and drawn to the side. The curtains are useful in keeping the cool air in when we use the air-conditioner. I think the best way to show how effective the glass wall works is when we compare the amount of light let in to the stairwell between a solid wall and a glass one.

Apparently we did not post pics of the masterbed room. was reminded by adidaem so here they are. But we have not kept our walk-in wardrobe neat and tidy, it's bursting out from all sides, so will not show it for now.

Enjoy the renovation process! Hope the condition of the floor tiles are good enough for you get to keep the marble flooring.

we became lazy and must have forgotten. we were waiting to find a chance to update my t-blog. Planning to do so once our balcony doors are fixed (can't open them fully since the artificial grass was installed). Guess we can always update by posting pics of the masterbed room. Our place is liveable, comfortable and to our liking. With the effort you are putting in, we are sure yours will be nicer than ours.

Good luck with the renovation!

but due to the trunking, the door cannot close properly and it was only resolved by getting my contractor to add a small support for the door stopper... oh well... you can find a magnetic door stop with a longer arm at most hardware shops. I had the same problem with the magnetic door stop provided by my contractor arising from the aircon trunking. So I took a trip to Balestier and found a magnetic door stop with a 6-inch (maybe 5-inch) arm. Problem solved without the support.

I suppose you meant how to prevent smoke and oil from spreading throughout the house? Firstly, we don't do heavy duty cooking involving lots of smoke and deep frying often. And when we do, we will use the hood to suck up the excessive smoke and grease. We don't really get the smoke and grease moving to the 2nd floor but we keep the doors to the rooms on the 2nd floot shut as a precaution. For the living room, we have a top-hung sliding door to shut out the smoke and grease. Finally, when we are cooking, we keep the kitchen windows and the main door open to facilitate airflow. So not much of the smell and grease remains. All in, the benefits of an open concept kitchen far outweighs the cost. We found the table attached to the kitchen counter top to be very useful when we are having small parties. People found it to be a focal point.

We have finally succumbed to the temptation of "greener pastures". But with the artificial grass installed, we are up against a new problem. Once solved, I shall share what the problem is.

on a scale of 1-10 to measure our ability to procrastinate, my wife and I score an 11. we have not chosen! And we are thinking if we need the drainage cells. And if we can really keep the grass clean and hygienic....

Our place was renovated by Ideal House and we've been living in it for the past 8 months. Well, not a long time, definitely not 2 years yet. Certainly hoping not to experience what shinewa did after 2 years.

hi tangerinez and mafacifa, thank you both for your comments. it is quite apparent that the green of A is easy to like and does look less realistic. B's realism seems more apparent in photos. we're trying to list all the pros and cons, likes and dislikes of each option. If the more expensive option wins out, we will then use the price to be the veto factor. it was January's t-blog that inspired us to explore the option of artificial turf.