green giraffe

Shucks! Should have thought of that earlier! A jungle theme would have saved me a bundle than the modern resort theme. It will be one of its kind, can even start charging entrance fee to recoup reno cost (will throw in free bananas to feed the monkeys...hee..hee). Yes, have an inkling of the prices of the firewood we have shortlisted. Is Mega at kallang leisure a good place to negotiate price? You know we women folks like to go to the 6th floor.

The Basin story We were looking for two wooden bowl basins for our master bedroom toilet for a few months but all the effort was wasted. We did find two wooden bowls which can be converted to basins at Wodd design but after looking at them for 3 mins, hubby said its too raw and primitive for him. Sigh.... what should we get now? We did get an usual basin from The Life Shop. It was love at first sight and the price was good to boot. As with all good things, they are hard to come by. That was the LAST piece. So we are using it in the powder room instead. Will get a goose neck tap to go with it. Basin for powder room Was elated when we chance upon some marble basins at d-bodhi. Again that happiness lasted only a few minutes. Those that i like was either sold or the only piece left. Almost wanted to get one black and one cream but taking a deep breath and visualization save the day Eventually, we got 2 square basins in black marble. Told ID about our purchase. She said we have to change our vanity top from white solid surface to black granite to match. Hope its not gonna cost us more.

Yap..I'm the short giraffe. Thanks for advice. Am in love with the Bosch KAD62S20 Side by side fridge in white coloured glass. However its made in China. So we are thinking of getting the extended warranty as a form of insurance. Despite everyone saying that Japanese brand is reliable, we are quite "Iron Teeth", die die want to get Bosch fridge to match with the rest of the appliances. I know it sounds silly and irrational. We figured we are setting up a zoo after all dont need to be so politically correct lah. For the rest of the kitchen appliances like oven, steam oven, dish washer etc will check it out at Mega.

very gd deal right! were you there on sat morning. tot i saw a family with 4 monkeys too. haha The Sat monkeys must be from another zoo. I went on Friday alone but brought my monkeys today. The toddler threw one of the designer stools on the floor and almost knock down a vase.... is the one with the ottoman right? is it similar to the one near the shop entrance? if so, I like that it came with the ottoman but the fabric seems too coarse for my liking though. Yes thats the one. Bought it finally. Yeah! Modern resort theme this time round. Am eyeing the rugs too. Will go down next weekend again to choose. We had to scramble before the kids break something. Did you see the Ghost Chair? Quite good price if it is not a reproduction.

The Great Sofa Hunt Still looking for THE sofa. My house is like a zoo so the sofa has to be : 1. Sturdy enough to withstand stomping from the elephants and climbing from the monkeys 2. Big and comfy enough for the Sloth 3. Stain resistant for the pigs 4. and most importantly, pretty enough for me. I have shortlisted some... The search goes on but the problem is time. Some take 2 to 3 months to deliver and we were hoping to move in end Aug. That reminds me, still yet to place order for kitchen appliances. Hmm.. where shall I go? HN or Mega? Losing steam now after the Great Sanitary Ware Hunt.

Have you tried Molecule at great world city? Saw something like that a few days ago but not this colour. They are having GSS now.

Btw bought these at the warehouse sale...as bedside tables for the kids. The lamps are nice too. Did you take a look?

Hi there, I was at the lifestorey warehouse sale too. I agree that the sofas are really nice. I am also going down again with hubby for a second look. We have a microsuede sofa at the moment and we like it. Maintenance is easy after spraying scotch guard. Just wipe with wet cloth or use stain remover for stubborn stain like ink mark. Good for us cos my 4 monkeys are using it to practice climbing (dirty foot prints), doing homework (thus the ink stain) and hubby drooling on it (he loves to nap). However, cant comment on the feel compared to leather cos never own one before. Prefer fabric. This one caught my eyes. For a 3.05m sofa, its going for $980. However, delivery is in Oct and sofa and material are made in China.

Thank you for your kind words. Yes we will be installing CAT6 cables. Since we are upgrading our power supply from phase 1 to phase 3 and relocating the meter box to the main gate, we have made provision for all the wirings like LAN and fibre optics. Every room comes with a telephone point and LAN point, even the kitchen. We are quite heavy user of the internet. Sometimes, all 3 laptops and the desktop are occupied. My eldest uses it to do his project, No 2 and 3 use to check soccer results and play games and the toddler likes to watch YouTube music videos (he is a big fan of Lady Gaga's Bad romance) However we have missed the initial roll out of OpenNet offering free installation. So now have to pay. But the biggest bug bear is the wait. They told us to wait 5 months.... Quite a long time to wait for an "efficient" country...if you ask me. Our new meter box with all the numerous cables

3. Guest Toilet on 1st storey The Guest toilet aka power room ( a misnomer cos it has a shower area) has a Dark moody theme. The tiles are dark brown with stripes and brown glass mosaics. Floor will be chengai wood. I know it will look very resort like with wooden floor but i am worried about all the dirt and hair trap under the chengai floor. Contractor suggested removable square panels. Hope its not too much trouble to clean and upkeep the toilet. Shower area View from entrance of toilet. Vanity top on the right where the hole is and WC straight ahead where the pail is.

We will be having 3 toilets in the house. All three have different look and themes. 1. Kids Toilet on 2nd storey The kids toilet used to be dark without any windows but after opening a small skylight at the roof, it made a hugh difference. It is much brighter now to our delight and the natural light actually brings out the beauty of the white shiny tiles in the toilet. Shower area of kids toilet. They will be having a wall hung rain shower and a hand shower with concealed mixer 2. Master bedroom toilet on the 2nd storey This toilet has a resort theme however, my husband calls it the al fresco toilet. It is an open concept toilet without wall or glass on the outside. We will only be using metal trellis and potted plants to shield us from prying eyes and Rain. Hmmm... shouldnt have spent so much money on a rain shower when we can get it free from nature. There is also a skylight on top of the WC area. Wonder if we can get a tan while sitting on the potty on a hot afternoon. Really love the wall tiles here. Love the texture and heard from tiler that it will look like waterfall when water flows on Master bedroom toilet wall tiles at the shower area. Electrician mistakenly provision for a lighting point there. Luckily spotted early. They removed that tile with a hole and change a new one. A trough for planters. There will be metal trellis on the ledge. Eldest son suggested to convert it into a big outdoor bath tub.

Hi there, I was also looking for long solid wood dining table >2.4m long. Finally found one at d-bodhi at Leng Kee Road. They use recycled teak wood and their dining tables come in various lengths. They are having sale now. Got my 2.5m teak wood table for less than $2k. You can check out the website. http://www.d-bodhi.com/ Happy hunting

The elusive square bath tub We wanted a bath tub for the kids toilet cos no money to build swimming pool so have a bath tub for them to "play" water. However, after weeks of pounding the streets of Jalan Besar, Balestier and visiting shops like Sim Shang Choon, Genova, Hoe Kee etc, we still couldnt find a square bath tub. Plan B was to get the contractor to build a square concrete "bath tub" finished with tiles. However he quoted us over $1000. Now we are left with Plan C, which is to get a normal bath tub and built around it to make it look squarish. Its still work in progress. Hope it looks nice. The big bathroom. On the left is where the bath tub is gonna be and the shower stall is on the right.

Some more toilet photos... This is the concealed cistern in the master bedroom toilet before tiles. After tiling Two 50l Joven water heater storage tank on the ceiling of the kids toilet

Have not been updating for a while... Here are some photos of the progress so far.. Living room tiles has the "cement" floor look. ID proposed cement screed floor but hubby thinks its too raw. So this is the compromise. I think its a good compromise. It looks like cement but without the sandy feeling of cement floor. We are also using the same tiles for the kitchen. We created an access door at the wall facing the garden for the delivery of gas cylinder. The gas tank will be stored in the cabinet next to the fridge and the pipe will run through the back of the cabinets to the cooker hob. View of Geberit concealed cistern in the kids toilet before tiling View of Kids toilet WC after tiling

Yup, great minds think alike...hee, hee. We bought mini goal post already. Poor neighbour will have balls flying into their garden.

Bought Toto toilet bowls from them. Price quite competitive. Can bargain for a good price if you have done your homework and shop around.

Wow... Duravit is NICE!!! We didnt have budget for that so mixing and matching our basins. Where is Wan Tai? Will go look see. Am still looking for 2 wooden bowl basins for our Master toilet to tie with our resort theme. No idea where to get them. Actually we have added bigger windows for our powder room. View from powder room looking out to the side garden The kids toilet is the one without windows but we have added a skylight and installing 2 ventilation fans. Kids Bathtub and joven water storage tanks have just arrived today Here's a sneak preview of our open concept kitchen and dining room. This will be our main entertaining area and sports bar. A place for the boys and hubby to watch soccer. There is a TV mounted on the top kitchen cabinet and two in ceiling speakers above the dining table. Now thinking of finding a space to put a Foosball table. Behind the dining bench will be glass windows opening out to the reflective pool with water flowing down a feature wall.

Hi ngunadi, I am also looking for stylish looking dish drainer to be placed on my kitchen counter top. It's an open concept L shaped counter so need a good looking dish drainer. Count me in if you are importing them.

I have a hard time updating the Tblog too. Although i have an efficient ID to supervise the reno, there is still a lot of running around to shop for sanitary wares, fittings, lights, furniture, sound system etc cos most of the things are new. I am now a Jalan Besar/balestier Kid. Have never been to so many warehouses and tech park in my life. All our three toilets will have wall hung WC (Toto). The contractor will create an access panel for maintenance. That's why getting Geberit system. Hope it doesnt give us problem. The powder room toilet is in the original location but we are changing all the tiles and have more windows. Powder Room. The wall hung WC will be at where the wheelbarrow is Both the kids toilet and masterbed room toilet are newly created. The kids toilet is the biggest cos 4 of them will be sharing a toilet (luckily all boys). There is no main door to the toilet. There is a common vanity with two basins, a WC area with bifold door and a bathtub and shower area also with bifold door. The idea is all four can use the toilet at the same time doing different things during the morning rush hour. However the toilet is very dark cos there is no window. We have asked the contractor to open a skylight at the roof area above the WC. Kids Toilet. There will be a skylight at the roof. How's your Hansgrohe raindance? I heard it's good and will last you a long time. Have bought all our overhead showers, hand showers and mixers from Hansgrohe. Also hope that they will last us a long time. Hand shower for powder room and kids toilet

The contractors are doing plumbing now. They have been chasing me for the toilet fittings. Had to confirm the dimensions of my basins, mixers, showers, bathtub etc. Had to rush down to Jln Bersar and Balestier in the pouring rain yesterday to confirm the outstanding items. Luckily no flood there. Was eyeing this sink for the kids toilet. The idea was to have two long ones next to each other so that they can all brush teeth together. I like the towel rail but I think dimension too long. Got to check with ID first. Water pipes from 2nd floor running down the ceiling of first floor

We hope to finish by end August. Estimated time taken was 4 months. My contractor the kan cheong type. So hope no delay. We encountered a hiccup thought. They had to spend time digging a trench 4 meters deep, make a u shaped concrete wall to protect the main sewage pipe running across the back of our house. Now we are waiting for NEA/PUB to come and inspect before they can fill it up with sand and seal it up. It takes one month for the inspector to come??? (I think NEA/PUB very short handed, maybe should get some manpower from SingPost ). So in the meantime, they are doing other parts of the house. The land area is 3318sqft, new build up will be 2750sqft. No money to build 3 storey so make do with extension of 2nd floor.

Went shopping for Sanitary wares and fitttings over the weekend. Bought most of our stuff for the 3 toilets. We have decided to splurge on Hansgrohe rainshowers, mixers and sink tap and save on bathtubs, basins and sink. Went to check on the new house today. Here's some photo update :- The wall at the front of the house. There will be storage cabinet behind this wall. On the right of the wall is our full glass doors The same wall viewed from inside of the house where our shoe cabinet cum bag cabinet will be. A feature wall in the living room. Behind this wall is the stairs to second floor. Electrical works at the living room ceiling

We are in the mist of renovation. Have not installed yet. We are also eyeing Onkyo for the dining area. How much is OPPO 80? Looking at Sony actually. Cheers

For our HT system in the living room, we bought Def tech mythos 6 and 7, in-ceiling rear speakers, velodyn sub and denon 1910. Is this good enough? Hubby is still deciding whether to upgrade to 2310. For our dining area, we have 2 def tech in-ceiling speakers, TV with mio tv, starhub and blu ray player. Which AV receiver is good? Thanks in advance.