edenstrauss

U might want to take a look at 2 of these threads where I've mentioned about Nippon's products with photographs: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40463&view=findpost&p=637078 (http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40273&st=0&p=632908&hl=nippon&fromsearch=1entry632908) http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40270&st=0&p=632883&hl=nippon&fromsearch=1entry632883 Once we start painting out home, we would also do a new thread on Nippon paint, oil-based sealer & also scraping off hardened "debris" from the ceiling arising from leakage. Nothing impressive but DIY can be very strenuous on us layman so if we need to do it, we have decided to publish our experiences in the forum.

Hi MsChoong, U r most welcome! Knowlegde sharing & exchanging information is one of the important objectives for forums. So when I hand out (hopefully) relevant information, I sincerely hope that it would be of some form of help to the readers. The reason being that we ourselves had rough rides in the absence of information. As such, we had the idea that it would ease out unwanted stress & confusion for readers & help them make an informed decision. If you go through both ICI & Nippon colour brochures, u will noticed that both paint companies have their own preferred IDs. So that explains why ur ID uses Nippon paint.

When we checked with renovators in the course of shortlisting contractors for fabricating the wall between my common bedrm & mbr, they told us both brands of paint are equally good & it's all up to individual preferences. However, some of ICI's paint has a soft sheen finishing whereas Nippon has a high glossy finish (3-in-1 medifresh range) that has great adhesion to cover hairline cracks. And on a candid note as a satisfied customer, I need to share with u guys that as someone who craves for knowledge, Nippon has outdone ICI when it comes to customer service support. Most of my hubby's relatives swear by ICI. However, the ICI customer service reps were unable to address ALL my concerns as a home user for paints. Nippon is definitely a much stronger contender when it comes to painting for home users as they had excellent customer service support. Apart from my observation of Cally Chen's great patience when I called her up at least 20 times already to clarify on colour tones in view of fengshui requirements, she was able to substantiate all her recommendations & suggestions with logical explanations. She has also extended herself in providing very salient advice & recommendations for Nippon's products when I called up whining about the aftermath of ceiling leakages arising from irresponsible renovators for the unit above ours. And as expected, her explanation made her suggestions absolutely credible. I've also dealt very briefly with their sales rep for painting services & would like conclude that Nippon's staff are well-groomed for their work roles, which is definitely good news as we customers would stand to benefit from their knowledge & service. As such, I would definitely recommend Nippon Paint in the capacity of a home owner

hi buddy, my common sentiments with yours where the poor neighbours are concerned. But this seems to be a common scenario in an older estate. Can't wait to see pics of your new flat once renovation is completed! Ur flat offers alot of privacy & I should think that the neighbours there should be nice since your doorways are very far off from one another. So there's no "infringement" of personal space or disputes over the shared usage of common corridoors. And I must say that your flat looks HUGE! I think ur ID's contractors wasted no time in tearing down the flat which is a great start for a renovation. If I didn't interpret wrongly, hacking is to be completed within 3 days. Is it the 1st or 2nd day of reno today?

Hi folks, I've made a reference to Han Fong Aluminium in one of my other threads on Yontat doors & had been informed by a renotalk member that Han Fong needs one month to fulfill orders. http://www.renotalk....ndpost&p=673365 For the benefit of those whose still interested in engaging Han Fong Aluminium to fabricate Aluminium fixtures, I've spoken to the boss' wife, Mrs Kang & she has confirmed that orders were overwhelming in view of condo & bungalow projects. As such, for those who require urgent installation, I'm sorry that you guys would have to look elsewhere even though Han Fong Aluminium still welcomes new orders from any home owners. best regards to all & hv a great weekend!

Hi folks, I've made a reference to Han Fong Aluminium in one of my other threads on Yontat doors & had been informed by a renotalk member that Han Fong needs one month to fulfill orders. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=40652&view=findpost&p=673365 For the benefit of those whose still interested in engaging Han Fong Aluminium to fabricate Aluminium fixtures, I've spoken to the boss' wife, Mrs Kang & she has confirmed that orders were overwhelming in view of condo & bungalow projects. As such, for those who require urgent installation, I'm sorry that you guys would have to look elsewhere even though Han Fong Aluminium still welcomes new orders from any home owners. best regards to all & hv a great weekend!

Every individual has different values in life. From my perspective, it isn't worth it when there is a wide range of WCs to be found in Singapore. While the showrooms & plumbers here in Singapore might have imported their sanitary wares from M'sia & China for the purpose of running a business, I supposed that folks like us who are home users could easily have settled down for WCs available in our home country. Afterall, what's the purpose of a WC? To answer nature's call & ensuring that the waste could be flushed down the toilet bowls... And I'm pretty sceptical when it comes to importing my own hardwares becox I'll be left stranded if those items are faulty or died on us after installation. The authorised distributors here in Singapore would disclaim responsibilities over such faulty products as how could they be responsible for things that don't belong to them?? I'm sorry if I'm notorious for being a forum windbag (characterised with wordy posts & comments), but I learnt my lesson the hard way with cosmetics, dermatological products & even branded apparel & bags. When we scouted around for our new WC months ago, we had contemplated getting our own WC from stores in Singapore & getting our friend to install it for us. All the shops told us explicitly that should our WCs give us any problems, the responsibility lies with our installer (plumber) becox the WC wasn't installed by the shops' plumbers. As such, they cannot be responsible for any installation issues. And when we checked with plumbers who were running the show on their own, they told us that the responsiblity lies with the shops since they provided us with a faulty WC. That made us realise that we might be caught in a tricky situation when our installer & the shop where we bought from would be passing the ball between each other. It would be a bad choice to purchase WC on our own unless we were facing a HDB upgrade for toilets or if we had an ID to go after should the item be faulty after installation. Otherwise, we'll be stuck in a rut & go insane when neither party accepts responsibility. p/s: It'll be insane to have to drive out of Singapore, all the way to M'sia should the item turn out to be faulty.

Are you going to renovate your flat? Have you gotten keys to your flat already? Is your flat newly acquired from HDB or resale? What's your budget for renovation? etc etc... U would need to be more specific with your questions when you asked about the advantage & disadvantage of engaging IDs & contractors. otherwise, most of us on renotalk would find your questions very vague (i.e. not clear).

The most expensive is Odourless range. Then I think Medifresh is the next in line after Odourless. It depends on where u go to purchase your paints. Some shops sell their paints at the RRP (recommended retail price) but others give alot of discounts. I would suggest that u call Cally Chen from Nippon Paint. U would have to choose the option that says "Customer Service" & you'll get to speak to her. She's very knowledgeable & has educated customers like myself which is why I had a greater depth of knowledge even as a home user whose painting my own flat. A humble lady with a sweet voice. I'm a great fan of hers & am still giving my votes to Nippon where paints are concerned. U could also request for a catelogue through the mailer. She'll send it to you.

what is the warranty like if the WCs are bought from M'sia? The Johnson Suisse here in Singapore's showroom at Clarke Quay charges a much higher price than what you have quoted. When problems take place after installation, would your showroom have a joint accountability with installers? What is covered under the warranty your showroom would be giving if Singapore customers made the purchase in M'sia? But I do agree that Malaysia is BIG on Johnson Suisse. When I visited some of the large private establishments selling sanitary wares, the M'sian staff would tell me that Johnson Suisse is commonly seen in M'sia as it's really popular back home. However, they have had very limited JS models here in showrooms that could be installed in HDB flats and I think thus far, I've only seen 2 JS designs in showrooms that fitted HDB's requirements & were approved by PUB to be sold in Singapore. And those designs that are featured in your photographs, would they meet Singapore HDB's & PUB's requirements? While I was scouting around for WCs, I found out that the sanitary shops here are not allowed to sell models that hasn't been endorsed by PUB becox of the water saving features. All the models featured in Singapore showrooms had PUB's blue stickers pasted on them to show that they had been approved & ratings were given on their water saving features.

I wouldn't recommend Nippon's Vinillex 5000 unless you have intentions to paint your walls every year or once in 2 years! It's Nippon's cheapest range & many of our Malay neighbours used it becox they prefer to change the colours of their walls every single year for Hari Raya. For ourselves, we would only consider Nippon's Medifresh becox it gives walls a high gloss finishing, which would highlight flaws if your walls does not have smooth plastering. Stains like hand prints could be easily removed by just using a wet tissue.

Hi, You could visit Mr Yong at Yi Mei Yuan (Lucky Chinatown, 2nd floor). He has many canvas paintings, inclusive of nice framing at a reasonable price. His artistic buddha canvas potraits (large size) cost only SGD 90++, which is considered relatively cheap from my perspective given the quality. If you are interested, please visit my thread to obtain contact details for his shop/ gallery: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41129&view=findpost&p=646659 best wishes!

Hi Muffin, thanks for sharing the article on mirrors. I'll be installing a hopefull huge & full length mirror on the wall that's directly behind the bedroom door. That's been approved by my taiwanese fengshui master in view of space constraint. When the bedroom door is closed, the mirror would be reflecting my giant wardrobe - well, does that mean I'll have more & more clothes, bags, shawls? Whoa, that would be great!

what brand of paint would you be using? I didn't grasp your concerns. Colour tones shouldn't be too far off whether there is sunlight or not. It'll be horrendous if your ID tells you that a brown becomes beige in colour when sunlight falls on the walls! I would highly recommend that you contact Cally Chen from the Customer Service department of Nippon Paint & she would be able to assist you as she is extremely knowledgeable with anything related to paints, Nippon in particular. While we were selecting colours for our rooms prior to our recent fengshui audit, the colour SAIL WHITE from Nippon's catelogue piqued our interest. However, I observed that when the colour in the catelogue was seen in the dark, there was a sort of creamy undertone to it & when it was subjected to direct sunlight at the balcony, it looked really WHITE, jux white. As such, I contacted Ms Chen & was very grateful when she explained to me the dynamics of paint colours. best wishes!

It's likely that Ah Cheong cannot take on further assignments until after the Chinese New Year next year. He is extremely busy throughout the year & has already hit peak period for now so I seek your kind understanding that I'm taking the liberty as a happy & higly-satisfied client in filtering enquiries for his services before making any relevant referrals to him. (comment added: But he did mention to me this evening that he might still be able to manage a few projects depending on his tight work schedule for his team of workers.) And depending on the scale of reno you want Ah Cheong to get involved in, he does not accept ala-carte works such grouting, plumbing works, electrical stuff, changing of doors, etc. If you are intending to do renovation using an ID, I would highly recommend that you pass it ALL to your ID to deal with instead of going for a mix & match, aka ala-carte reno services. It'll end up extremely messy when it's likely that your new place could lose its focus (of having a "personality") with both ID intervention & involvement by other contractors (unless those contractors are reporting to & working with your ID). (comment added: And like any reputable contractors, Ah Cheong made it very clear to me that he doesn't want to have any joint accountability for renovations with IDs whom he had never cooperated with. All in all, things jux get messy when 2 different parties are involved.) That was what happened to my brother inlaw and for the amount he paid, his flat didn't look anything close to designer style much to his disappointment. It was "rojak" & he told us that he ended up not making any savings thru using both an ID & other contractors. Ah Cheong's services doesn't come cheap even though there are no ID services involved. The same goes for White Space Living when it comes to their renovation bills becox they are premium renovators. I wouldn't recommend them both if owners have a tight budget.

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your generous compliments & encouragement! I'll continue to work harder in uploading new threads of our arduous journey in DIY-ing stuff for our existing flat. The photos I've taken are snowballing into a scary mountain of nightmare for editing... Would be uploading photos of my hubby DIY-ing cabinet base using formica soon. And coming up with another thread on packaging materials & reno peripherals ("accessories" such as corrugated paper) from Favor International. I even bought some "tissue papers" (strong resemblance to coloured tracing paper) for lining the interior of my shoe boxes, gift boxes, wine box & THANK-YOU stickers... but it'll take a while becox I need to obtain permission from the marketing personnel at Favor Int'l before launching photographs - wouldn't want to end up in court for copyright issues. So stay tuned to my new threads if u guys are keen in learning more about the contents. Gambatte!

Hi folks, I created a thread for my newly installed POTEX WC from Lucky Khoon (Joo Chiat) with photographs & video clips illustrating its flushing system. For those who are interested in my review of the WC, please visit the following link: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43923&st=0&p=669010&hl=potex&fromsearch=1entry669010 cheerios!

Hi imei, When will you require the renovation for your place?

Hi imei, If you require ID services for your new place, please contact White Space Living (for HDB flats) at 6323 3139 & visit their website at http://www.substance.sg/index3.php to take a look at their portfolio. They will assign IDs to u. Please note that all their IDs are qualified & had proven track records within this ID firm before they are accredited as IDs in White Space Living. Both my hubby & myself r saving up right now so that we could hopefully engage them for renovation of our new flat when we decide to sell off our existing flat prior to our retirement. They are not cheap... very expensive but I love what I saw at my uncle's bungalow (done by the other sister arm, Substance Living) & White Space Living's HDB portfolio.

Hi HCB, Ur command in English is decent & I don't converse in Queen's English so U need not apologise for it Oh, that was surprising that the world is so small! The thing about Ah Cheong is that he is very careful with his works & the good thing is that he is very well-versed in structural issues for HDB, including condos which he had also been renovating. But if he could do a very good clean job, it's worth paying out more $$ than getting somebody cheap & having to live up with a nightmare later on. please keep me posted on the progress & status of your assignment. best wishes!

I think if that's the case, u can jux throw away the pixius. It's ok we are not quarreling, it's jux our style of exchanging information & sharing views. To spice things up on the forum

by the way old man, dun get charmed off your feet when u talk to the nepalese girls hor...

eh old man, there must be some form of freedom for speech over the forum right? It was in the chinese newspapers that some people do get their pixius enshrined. So what's wrong in bringing this up in the forum? But over in nepal, they do believe that there are spirits in everything from stones, flowers all the way to the ground. So u might want to interview the nepalese on their beliefs & see how busy their daily lifestyle is.

U could do enshrining through reputable temples such as the one at waterloo street. There isn't a specific "price" for such services at that temple. Devotees would normally wrap a red packet & place it into their donation boxes. But if you would prefer a geomencer, I could recommend you my taiwanese master. He owns a temple too & does assist in enshrining ("kai-guang"). Not sure about his pricing but one of my neighbour got him to enshrine his Guan-Di deity at home. If you are interested, I could PM you his telephone number (manned by his wife who acts as his secretary). The other option is the Seng Hong temple at Arumugam Road. U could look for Master Qiu-Shen but I'm not sure about the pricing. best wishes!

oh congrats! But make sure that he doesn't cut corners on workmanship & raw materials.