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mavicaste

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Everything posted by mavicaste

  1. mavicaste
    Bedroom 1
  2. mavicaste
    Study
  3. mavicaste
    Bathroom
  4. mavicaste
    Kitchen/Service Yard
  5. mavicaste
    Living Room
  6. mavicaste
    Hi Greenbowl, I think this isn't quite the right sub-forum for this.
  7. mavicaste
    The day has come and we have finally collected the keys to our very own place! Our appointment was at 8:10am and we were promptly served the minute they started work. The entire process took a little longer for us as the HDB officer found my signatures to be a tad too inconsistent and so requested that I switched to using thumbprints to endorse the documents. As a result, I had to go through all our documents from the earlier appointments and put my prints next to my signatures. So if you are like me who tend to sign with a degree of variance, you may want to have some practice. We are by and large atheists and our family have different beliefs amongst them but for our very own place, we thought there is no harm in performing some pretty basic rituals for good luck. We just took reference to the procedures found at the following site and added a few additional instructions from our parents. It didn't feel like a chore and was actually quite a fun activity to be honest. http://www.geomancy.net/wiki/Procedure_for_1st_time_Opening_of_entrance_door Photos of our home in its original state to follow soon...
  8. mavicaste
    vicx1234 has already provided the QC and assurance on July's merchandise so our first foray on Taobao will be from this vendor.
  9. mavicaste
    Hope everyone had a great time catching up with your family and friends over the Lunar New Year long weekend. I feasted so much all my dieting and futsal sessions all went down the drain. Key collection is just 3 days away and I hope all the regular running around then will help me lose the weight gained during this festive period. Our current lighting plan involves extensive light-boxes and cove lighting in the living and minimal partial light-boxes in the bedrooms and study. We understand the use of light-boxes and cove lighting deviates from the industrial theme but we feel practicality, in the sense of even lighting and ease of maintenance, trumps over going all out for aesthetics. Hopefully, we will be able seek a balance through the introduction of some industrial lighting pieces. We have only recently started looking around Taobao and these are our current favourites but you can expect more changes ahead. Dining Light - The height of this may pose a problem but we will keep looking around or see if its is possible to shorten the drop Kitchen Light - The glass shade should allow for maximum coverage in an area where good lighting is essential Bathroom Light - Something simple and without grills so that the light does not cast shadows
  10. mavicaste
    Sorry for the late reply, saw that you already managed to hotlink your images using Google Drive. My process is more old school. I resize the longer side's width of all my images to 800 pixels before uploading them to Photobucket and then hotlinking them in my posts. As for the 3D drawings, there will be some revisions to the wall colours, laminates and carpentry design, not forgetting to mention the modern themed accessories.
  11. mavicaste
    For now, the only other carpentry will be the wardrobe in the main bedroom. The living room drawing is the farthest from what we have in mind and fails to represent the mood we are trying to achieve. For the revisions, we are planning to have AL refer the drafter to this thread and get an idea of the type of furnishing we are looking at as well as the lightings. My wife also pointed out that the vinyl flooring for the study is different. It could be that AL had the drafter used both designs that we shortlisted in the drawings to help us make the most informed choice.
  12. mavicaste
    My wife managed to moved the key collection date 3 days earlier to 7 February so we can have the weekend to do whatever we need before starting any work. The first draft of the 3D drawings just came in. We actually decided on whatever materials we could and have AL proposed the rest on our behalf so the choice of materials is definitely not final. From the drawings, we can see that AL managed to get most of the ideas across to the outsourced drafter but the person seemed to be quite fixated on using modern themed accessories which does not go with the rest of the style. In any case, as AL has said, revisions to drawings are inevitable and we will resume the discussions and start work after the Lunar New Year break. Living Room TV Console - We have included side shelving to the left of the TV console but this is not reflected in the drawings. Another option we are possibly taking up is the use of cement screed like Nippon Momento paint on the long side of the living room wall. We are also exploring for an alternative to black tinted glass as the front cover of the TV console. Shoe Cabinet - The wife prefers to do without the cavity for loose items as a very industrial piece of wall cabinet from Galanga Living caught our eyes. We may decide to use a cement screed like laminate for the shoe cabinet instead. Kitchen - The wife doesn't quite take to the laminate used here so its back to the drawing board for this. Study - Accurately represented the carpentry we have in mind with the only major difference is that the fixed glass panels will not be full height as we prefer to keep 30cm of the bottom wall. Bathroom - Both bathrooms are to be a mirror image of each other. Nothing much else other than that we will be using ceramic sinks instead of the glass bowls depicted here. Perhaps the only question applicable is whether to have the shower screen framed with black aluminium like the rest of the home.
  13. mavicaste
    No wonder the dining table looks so familiar. Just checked out their sale over the weekend, there is only a 15% discount on the table, was hoping for a 30% or more.
  14. mavicaste
    Wow, the Little Giant is a really versatile ladder! Thanks for your sharing on every topic that you can. At work, we use these Louisville fibreglass frame step ladders and I found them more sturdy than the aluminium frame ones. Only problem is that they cost twice the price here as compared to Amazon.
  15. mavicaste
    You may want to use external image host services such as Photobucket and ImageShack and link the images in your posts. Google Drive has the ability to host the images you store on it as well.
  16. mavicaste
    The community spirit is pretty good in these BTO Facebook groups. You need not even religiously check the BCA or My HDBPage status daily as our neighbours will share status updates very promptly.
  17. mavicaste
    Only collecting my keys on 10 February. We are just kiasu and so started our planning and blog way in advanced.
  18. mavicaste
    Very nice theme you have here. The kitchen and balcony gives me a very strong colonial feel to it. I think after the brick walls, the black framed glass panels and doors will be another up and coming trend since we are already seeing them in your place, vicx1234 and very soon, mine.
  19. mavicaste
    Its finally here! We have to give credit this time to HDB for expediting the key collection process for the block after all the delays encountered during construction.
  20. mavicaste
    Hmm, when is your baby due? Do consider joining the Facebook groups as we share plenty of updates, contacts, deals and information between us.
  21. mavicaste
    Hi AwesomeMan, I assume you are from 264A since it has been looking like the last block to be completed for quite a while. I have not visited the site since 5 January when I went up into my own unit. I believe the PCD is based on information provided by the contractor to HDB but the fault lies with HDB waiting till the third week of December to inform us of the delay when it was already obvious in Q1 that they won't be able to deliver. Having the arrival of your baby together with your renovation is really going to push you close to the limits. Be sure to engage whatever logistical help you can get. I will be more than glad to share information and tips in areas that I can. Btw, are you in either or both of the Facebook groups?
  22. mavicaste
    We haven't been to Francfranc for a while and specially made a trip there as they were having a sale. I have been eyeing this walnut finish dining table from months ago but didn't felt that it commanded a $1000 price tag. Now, even with the sale, the asking price is still at $850. Anyway, most of the crockery were going at 30% to 70% off and the wife picked out $200 worth of them. And so the hoarding continues...
  23. mavicaste
    Actually we have been quite cool with the delays as we have been monitoring the construction closely from Day 1. As a result, with a very late the start in the actual building phase due to delays in foundation works, we were already mentally prepared for a long wait. It wasn't like we were hoping to collect the keys within a 3 to 3.5 years time frame as we were holding our wedding during that time and it would have put a major strain on our finances had that happened. In fact, we have been the relatively positive ones in our BTO's Facebook group, often encouraging our future neighbours and asking them to hang in there as you are doing now. We are lucky in the sense that both our parents' homes are just across the TPE in Sengkang and we have the luxury of staying with my in-laws and using my own room for storage until our own home is ready. Some of the other neighbours aren't so lucky as they are renting or bunking in with someone and the repeated delays isn't helping at all. We really feel for the last 2 blocks after us as it looks like it will stretch into April or even May. If such a long completion time had resulted in quality workmanship, most of us would have been fine with it but we all know that HDB, or in this case the main contractor, and quality does not go hand in hand. The major flooding of the carpark and failed inspections were what eroded my patience, especially when the affected block is ours. Of course not happy lah! Haha! Thanks, can't wait to get the renovation works started!
  24. mavicaste
    Thanks for sharing this consideration, will have to discuss this with my ID.
  25. mavicaste
    Hi neighbour! Have you compared the quotes between built-in kitchen carpentry and what Ikea has to offer?
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