edenstrauss

I agree with Soichiro's comments! I might just drop the ID if I'm in your shoes becox it seems like he has difficulty containing his creative genes within the client's framework. Not sure becox I've never dealt with your ID... but he might jux errr, be having an issue with his attitude. Do not let him push you around! Afterall you r the boss in this business of interior designing. And, amalgamation of rooms are easily done since ur flat is undergoing a major renovation. However, in the near future, chances are u will regret doing so becox in our case, we regretted purchasing a flat with such a layout now that we've stayed on for 10 years. The previous owners did what ur ID had suggested to u: combining both bedrooms. Not only is the bedroom not cosy, it gave rise to several fengshui issues. I didn't sleep well in it for some reason or another becox the bedroom is too big. In addition, such flats are extremely difficult to sell becox it resembled more of a 3-room concept as u r left with jux 2 bedrooms. If u were to sell off in the near future, your clientele base would be narrowed down to young, newly married couples or singles. In fact, the previous owners had to renew their valuation report 3 times before they sold their flat to us. Their neighbours' flats had been snapped up like hotcakes as far back as 6-8 months ago - no exaggeration! Nobody wanted such flats obviously. The mentality is that why pay a 5-room price for a flat when there r only 2 bedrooms? Why don't we buy a 3 room instead & pay lesser since it has 2 bedrooms too? That makes a lot of sense to me now becox it's simply not practical to purchase such flats. Those with a huge family might not be interested in your flat or they would haggle with u over the COV for your flat - cannot blame them becox in order to reinstate both rooms to its original condition, $ isn't just spent but tiles & skirtings around the area where hacking of wall is done (to recreate one of the bedroom doors) would crack. Most contractor would simply replace those damaged tiles with designs that r similar or what's readily available. It can be a nightmare looking for replacement tiles especially in our case becox 15 years had lapsed since the tiling was done for our flat. We as owners had to go from one tile shop to another to search for a closest fit. And ceramic floor tiles r tough to look for (replaced by homogenous tiles) so we ended up combing through old tile shops. Finally found one that was about 80% similar to our existing tile. Took us about 1 month; going from store to store 3-4 times a week in searching. We will be reinstating both rooms and that's where the real nightmare stepped in when we are already living in there with all our furnitures. The entire flat would be covered with dust from the knocking of the wall to recreate the doorway which was originally there when the previous owners bought the flat from HDB. So why create problems for yourself??

Hi folks has anybody heard of Coby TV which doubles up as a monitor as well? I saw this brand of TV-cum-monitor being sold at Sim Lim tower and am thinking about getting it for my bedroom. Not sure about the TV reception's quality... Or are there better brands? Would deeply appreciate it if feedback and recommendations could be given. thanks in advance

Is it true that the LG television sets aren't as good as before? I've got neighbours who claimed that despite the fact that their TVs r made in Korea, they aren't exactly made to last becox they said that the colour starts to fade or bleed after sometime. Is that true?

U could either stay at your relative's place or book in hotels until the renovation for your flat is completed. easy as that becox there r many out there who did the same when their homes required a facelift.

Hi Yipee, I PM-ed u contacts for a specialist who deals with cement-related works. If u're interested, please contact him directly. best wishes

I visited Chinatown today and was surprised to see that the chinese wedding dress which is pronounced as a "Kua" could be rented from a shop which is known both as Gemini Body Shop and M's Atelier. The owner who is also the designer is known as Marcus Choo. The shop also sells the Chinese word "double happiness" and tea sets in his shop. And what surprised me the most was the Chinese New Year decorations which could still be found in the store! Including the traditional lantern which had been made of bamboo & covered with cellaphane paper! Maybe I could consider renting a kua for myself when I take my anniversary photos with my hubby. And he could wear a pigtail on his head

Hi waikwok & nonick, Sometimes, I really had no idea who to listen to when I visit the retail showrooms. Every sales person would provide a different set of advice and I find myself feeling boggled at the end of the day. I also had the sneaky suspicion that the sales persons may not be selling based on what's ideal for the customer but for a fatter profit margin. I'll be visiting the lightings.com.sg myself... maybe later on when I have the time to drop by balestier

Thank u so much for your patience with a LED-dummy like myself

Oh, I went down to sim lim tower & noticed that most of the bulbs for LED comes with multiple mini bulbs in them. I reckon that those r the multiple emitters that u r referring to... But when would those emitters "die" on us? E.g. 5 years? 6 years? Or as short as say, 2 years? 1 year?

Hey that's a good one! It'll be terribly unfortunate if he turns out to a Singapore PR becox people like that wouldn't be welcomed whenever he goes.

Back in Australia, there r many loop holes in their government policies. They hand payouts to unmarried mothers for giving birth to babies. As such, the trend to do so & stay on as such, had been inevitably encouraged by their government's errant policies. Some of these unmarried mothers even made it a point to add on to their long queue of babies every single year! Just to enjoy the carrot stick, which they do not use it for bringing up the children or for their education. Instead, for their own enjoyment. *sigh* Perhaps our government over here had been very strict with single unmarried folks setting up their family here in Singapore. To ensure that their policie wouldn't be abused. And I think, has also given a very strong hint that being single unmarried parent is not encouraged. No offense on anyone in this thread or a reader is intended.

Just to add a photograph of the camera-shy installer - managed to white-out his face before uploading He is very humble, patient and experienced in his role as an installer. What surprised us was how he could simply look at the hollow gap between the aluminium framework & the wall, then pick up the aluminium bar and start sawing off the right length on the spot! Never seen anything like that until we engaged Han Fong Aluminium's services.

what is "light housing" ?

Hi joemit7850, what is recessed downlight? I'm not going for those romantic type of ambience... becox all we require is just the light there on the ceiling to be turned on 24 hours a day without turning it off. We're not concerned about designer style but so long as it serves the function of lighting up that area of the room, that'll be good enough. Has to be mounted on the ceiling But those MR16 LED lights - becox they've a 2-pin, will it be tough to plug them in on the ceiling or pull them out eventually? (that's if they need to be unplugged) And they'll "die" on us if we use 2 much force to pull it out or the pin might jux break & get stuck in the power socket... It happened to us when we were dismantling electrical appliances before...

Many thanks for advising

Hey folks sorry for firing out so many bullets all at one go But has anybody heard of OptiLED product? http://www.optiled.com/Product.aspx?Countr...16-9847039df65d A neighbour's son whose putting up at Jurong bought LED lights from them & he claimed that he was given 3 years warranty for the LED parts.

Hi joemit7850, thank u too for your advice U r all very helpful with blur-queens like myself But please do pardon me for my ignorance. What is MR16 3W LED lamp? It's not those tiny weeny bit of LED lamps for signages right? driver - I think I can understand what it is. housing - what is it? Is it a cover to cover the bulb? And how big is the MR16 LED lamp?

Hi Jaskel & Soichiro thanks for your advice lightings.com.sg had a few branches. R there any preferred branch that I should be going to?

My brother inlaw did managed to obtain a HDB grant for staying near parents when he bought a resale flat 10 years ago. My mother inlaw was already widowed back then. No issues. So, I think the HDB policy has something to do with a recognised family nucleus. To get an answer to your question, you might want to email HDB. They will reply you in due course & provide an explanation. If no explanation is given / explanation given is unacceptable from your perspective, then you could go & consult the MP.

Hi folks, I'm feeling terribly lost... Heard of LED lights before but have never had any at home; only saw them being used in showrooms (LED strips) or signages. I need to install LED lights at 2 distinctive locations on the ceiling of my HDB flat, turned them on 24 by 7. However, I had only gone down to a lighting shop near Lucky Khoon @ Joo Chiat to take a look. A 3-watt LED spot-light (for ceiling) which we felt that were suitable in lighting up those 2 spots, was quoted as $298 each. That was really steep! The staff there claimed that their product was made in Taiwan. But warranty was only 1 year. When we tried to obtain the best price from the staff, she said that she risk losing her job if she asked her boss & we decided not to go ahead with the purchase after the discount was given. So we thanked her & walked out of the shop. Could anybody be as kind to enlighten me on what's really recommended for our requirements? Are all LED ceiling lights that consume relatively lower watts so expensive?

U r most welcome!

U can do a search for relevant threads here on this section of the RT forum. This question has been raised on several ocassions. I didn't think that it's necessary to do anything until u decided to renovate - u need to select a good date for "breaking grounds" from the chinese almanac. That's if u believe in it.

Hi isobront U have my fullest sympathies that u have such a poor kickstart with your new home when u had crazy neighbours. If u cannot talk any sense in people like that, then don't confront him to make things worse. Simply ensure that all your tracks with renovation are all covered. Because a law-abidding citizen can never be jailed/ penalised or sued by trouble makers. Meaning that you could call up HDB to find out who the technical officer (TO) for your HDB block is. Call up this TO for verification on all your questions pertaining to permits and also read up the HDB link that therat has copied in his earlier comments. All the TOs are responsible for advising residents. I had my own fair share of bad chemistry from a mad old hag (& her old man) putting up directly opposite my unit. She doesn't complain to HDB or town council about the noise generated from our drilling & minor reno (covered with HDB permit & endorsed by the relevant authorities). But I had to put up with her verbal abuses & vulgarities. I also need to put up with the drilling & knocking on & off from the neighbour staying directly above us. When they first shifted in, we hear drilling & knocking every now & then for the past 3 years; and as late as 10pm - and we try to tolerate becox they aren't wealthy enough for major reno so do up their flat in bits & pieces after they returned home from work. And never give the American neighbour staying upstairs the impression that u & ur family are scared of him. I don't mean to be rude or insinuating when saying this (there are nice Americans around too!), but being an American doesn't mean that they are a class higher than locally bred Singaporeans. The HDB culture here is such that one has to be tolerant to be able to live happily with others as the personal space is pretty "tight" as u could see that many of us share our corridoors. What makes him think that the surroundings need to be altered to suit his likes & dislikes? It's so obvious that he has a bad attitude problem! And definitely a trouble maker... So if he thinks that he cannot tolerate the noise & cannot make the HDB lifestyle his way of life, then he better pack up & buy himself a landed property! Or better still, live in a recluse. A hermit

Oh I see Glass sliding doors - what colours would u be looking at? Black? I've seen many different makes of it in the aluminium market. But if u were to go for black, it'll look very "dark" below the windows. And better to get tempered type for safety! Hey how about those mirrored type of doors? That's if u do not have any issues e.g. sleeping in this room. I think it'll look pretty if u get those tinted mirrored type of sliding doors! How's that? I see them in show rooms all the time, it looks really pretty! classy too! And if u change the colour scheme for your room in the near future, those tinted mirrored sliding doors will still look gorgeous, a plus added to your designer style room But I think it's sure to cost you more...

Hi Soichiro, Your room looks beautiful! But if u were to go for aluminium, u might want to match your window frames which seems to have a tinge of buttery yellow?? I think the aluminium contractors could powder coat the door frames with a similar colour (that's if they have the colour). But the verdict is that, powder coating don't seemed to last. Any scratches or abrasions would leave that part permanently bare without the powder coating. I'm sure u wouldn't want that! Or even recommend that you go for the brownish bronze type of aluminium - the type where u still see them being used in some coffee shop's toilets... Or tell u what, have u ever considered simply installing your own shelvings? leaving them exposed? i.e. without any mini doors to hide your personal effects. It can look nice too. Would u consider wallnut coloured or white colour shelves from IKEA & DIY for installation? U need not install them all in one neat row; it's up to your creativity I bought quite a number of IKEA shelves & installed them below my stove (those "obiang" ceramic type contructed by HDB). But not waterproof - should be strong enough to hold onto your books. And u could even put your photos or even some cute little toys or knick-knacks on those shelving. Yes, if u didn't mind an exposed shelving concept, then, maybe u could consider IKEA's DIY shelving? Cheap & great option - of course, not waterproof.