csingeu

yah... takes a while to ermmm get a hang of floorplanner... but quite ok for newbies la... esp after you have calibrated your scale... quite easy to do furniture placement, and measure walking space allowance... yes... the renovation process is very siong... i regret not going to view the tiles earlier... esp right after i done my OTP... i should have go and look at the tiles and the prices of those that i'm likely to use... given a chance again... i think i might just get an ID... and print out the pics we like... and get him/her to do exactly the same... including selection of materials, colour scheme, etc... really tough to juggle office work, sch assignments and exams, and wedding prep together with renovation... want to die liao...

Hey Soichiro! You have finally started your own t-blog here! hoping to see more updated pics! esp with the furniture in. and more completed pics of the kitchen area, with the kitchen cabinets & stuffs?

Hey cleong! Finally, we managed to see some of your live-in pics and also the kitchen. Initially, we wanted to have a similar kitchen layout, with the sink and stove placement... but decided to change after getting some FS advice... btw, for your balcony folding doors... are they white-powder coated aluminium frame with glass panels kind? how much ah? thanks!

Your common toilet wall tiles... look a little similar to what i've chosen for my kitchen wall tiles (initially)... going to take PM leave today to go down to White Horse (Sungei Kadut) main showroom to reselect most of my tiles again tmr... we are just so frickle-minded... but have to confirm all the tile selection tmr le... coz wife is away for work at KL this weekend... and the hacking is starting next monday... and tiling expecting to start ard thu/fri... sigh... headache sia...

Quick Updates! Class tonight was cancelled, as guest lecturer called in sick... Hence, we quickly went down to White Horse and Hafary to re-select our tiles again... 1. Felt a little grey tiles for the kitchen will look nicer... (our previous selection, which was in low stock, was the semi-grey-brownish) 2. Felt that the kitchen wall tiles with grey running tone might be dated in the long run... 3. Felt that the bathroom wall tiles with running tone... might look dated... 4. Need to find another shade and texture for the bathroom feature tiles... Hence, the only tiles which remained as before, are the balcony floor tiles, the wash area floor tiles, and living room floor tiles. Anyway, we are going to take half-day leave this wed afternoon, to go down to White Horse to select our tiles again, as my wife will be away in KL for work. We have came up with 2 slightly different colour scheme for the bathroom. 1. Lighter theme Feature wall - Toronto Ivory Wall tiles - very light pink/beigey tiles with running tones (may change to plain glossy tiles with similar tone) Floor tiles - light beige/pink rough tiles (may change to slightly darker shade) 2. Darker theme Feature wall - Toronto Marron Wall tiles - very light pink/beigey tiles with running tones (may change to plain glossy tiles with similar tone) Floor tiles - darker brown rough tiles Which one looks nicer?

hey! let me know when you popping by. I'll just tag along too. my wife's going to KL for work stuff this weekend though. i'll need to settle quite a few stuffs without her... maybe i'll settle my 5.1 HTS + projector first... hmmm....

we've gotten the chimmey type one (see my post above) - the rinnai RH-995CT... gotten it because of the 1000m3/hr per hour... i think it's an overkill... but oh well... since the cooking area so near the living room, and it's not enclosed, i think it's gd to have something with a bigger extraction rate (though it will be very noisy when in operation). i guess it will only be used at the times, my dad's over to cook us a meal or so... or when doing deep frying... think normal cooking, prob won't need to go max rate... LOL... actually, my wife got really inspired to go for "dark" bathrooms after viewing yours and RimBlock's places... and i have to agree that it complements the resort-style look that i want... just that, so far, those resort-like bathrooms i've seen... are usually quite big, almost like a bedroom by itself, and they have sufficient windows, mirrors and lightings to create the relaxing mood when showering inside... i think my MBR toilet only has 1 small windows... as compared to my parents' place... your place... and my level 2 floor area all in parquet (dark - cherry finish)... so already dark... i don't want to go into a dark dark small area... i scared... likely to change the bathroom feature wall (for the shower area), from these niagara series tiles to the toronto (ivory) series... will post the pic of it tonight. btw, the new bathroom tiles selection is very typical hotel bathroom style kind... might be a little bland... but i think it's ok la... i'm not adventrous... for the kitchen tiles, we did ponder over it, for a while... for the light greyish streaks on the white tiles.... might make it look "cluttered" and noisy... or dirty... in fact, seems like most forummers we have visited have white plain tiles (except different degrees of glossiness, whiteness and variation of textured)... which is very safe... and will help enhance the look of other items in the kitchen... but we've seen the kitchen wall tiles, in the mock-up showroom at White Horse (sungei kadut)... i think we can live with it la... i hope...

Hey cleong! Thanks for your advice. my wife picked the Bosch oven, after doing some research online. It's prob one of the cheaper Bosch ovens ard, I guess. Will check our usage before getting another grille. I think quite likely will need la. For the fridge, initially we chose the R-Z481 too; it was recommended by the salesperson at Kong Tai; i wanted something with 4 ticks and ard 400L capacity; but my dad was psycho-ing me to get a 2-door fridge. hence in the end, i decided to get the slightly larger capactiy model, for those festive seasons, whereby i can expect to host some relatives and friends. oh well... yes... we decided to be "hum" and stick with the safer colour scheme (beigey hotel-like colours)... not too sure if will be too "song" or not... *cross fingers* ohh, and i like what you have did with your toilets. safe, but nice. i guess i'm not the adventrous sort. like i said lor, impulsive buys... i thought we just going to check out the pricing and stuffs, then before i knew it, my wife was paying the deposit liao... anyway, given our nature, give us another 2-3 weeks also the same la... so just go ahead lor... needed the dimensions of the major items to plan the kitchen layout... really hard to fit it all the stuffs like the built-in oven, esp when we need to use LPG cylinder for gas... yes... we went down to balestier rd to check out the lightings and sanitary wares... for lightings, so far, i think lightings.com.sg seems very value-for-money for simple items (standard downlights, etc)... i guess i'll be getting most of my stuffs there, since I don't have any hanging lights of chandeliers... chan huat lightings also not bad... i found something i like for the wall lamps for the staircase at $28 (b4 GST)... chelsa lightings near chinese gardens mrt also have quite affordable lightings... think need to compare prices a bit, i might just get all my lightings from one place and push for some discounts... and remote lightings... sounds like gd idea for lazy people like me and my wife... BTW, where did you all go and buy your lightings and sanitary wares? For WCs and basins, which models you all gotten? and how much ah? Thanks!

wah,,, that's **** sian lor... the current OTP process doesn't protect buyers' interest at all... and sellers think they are kings... and if anything goes wrong during the resale transaction (even if it's due to sellers' fault), it's still up to buyers to pursue legal action... sigh...

I'm a 癸 Gui (Yin Water) Day Master... Main Profile : The Diplomat Direct Officer (戊) hmmm... not sure what it means...

That looks gd! Where did you get this from? how much ah?

Living, Dining, Utility Rooms We'll be using really boring glossy white 60x60 homogeneous tiles... but somehow, the colour we picked didn't look that fantastic when we took the sample home to see again... hmmm.... I think we would like it to be a little more whitish and glossier... hmmm...

Level 1 Wash Area Nothing special. Wall tiles likely to be continuation of the kitchen wall tiles, but the floor tiles will be darker grey. Balcony Since we are not getting any wood decking (at least for now), we were considering wood-like tiles... but so far, the "reviews" were not very positive. hence we decided to just go ahead with some rough textured outdoor-ish tiles... slightly on the brown side... to match the wooden multi-fohld balcony doors... might change to similar to wash area floor tiles... see how la... MBR & Common Bathrooms This is where the misunderstanding comes in... I wanted a more seamless look from the floor tiles to the wall tiles, to make the area (which is quite small) look bigger. Wife wanted a darker look (esp after visiting some renotalk members' places, which featured a darker theme for the bathroom). Hence she chose the following tiles, and i wanted it to be seamless... Looking back now, we think it might not be a wise decision, as darker theme tends to make the whole area looks "smaller" and somewhat less inviting. Those bathrooms, with dark themes and looks gd, are usually quite spacious, and have very gd use of layers of lighting to create space and shadows. hence, it might not be too practical for our bathrooms (which is not very big).... We wanted a slightly different look (aka feature wall) for the shower area, and have chosen the following wall tiles to match the darker theme... The general comments abt these kind of wall tiles are that it is difficult to clean and maintain. We are likely to go back to re-select the tiles for our bathrooms for a lighter (and safer) theme... something like this: Glossier wall tiles (slightly beige-y) and matching floor tiles... and similar feature wall (the niagara series), but a lighter shade... hmmm... choosing tiles is really very difficult... these are the times, i feel having a ID definitely has its advantages... ... oh well...

Kitchen Design Finally, i have some 3D perspectives! (but I've left the others in my contractor's office... argh....) Missing from this kitchen design is the placement of the hood. And I'm wondering whether to have some top cabinet on the left and right of the hood, coz I have the glass backing and i think it looks strange if there's just a glass backing with a hood on the other side of the wall; may somehow seems incomplete... hmmm... The top cabinet laminate will be white (or more specifically, glossy piano white) The bottom cabinet laminate will be some maple wood laminate, and we have decided to change from granite (black galaxy) to LG Hi-mac solid surface (iceberg) The grey color is what we have selected for the kitchen floor tiles. It looks lighter in real, but somehow looks darker in the pic. Anyway, likely to change, as we prefer slightly matt feel... this one is more "textured"... This is what we have selected for the kitchen wall tiles. glossy white with some running tone (looks like marble-ish); not sure if it's ok... and hence we chose a slightly greyish floor tiles...

Quick Updates! Electrical Appliances Impulsive Purchases (from Kong Tai) - Part 2/2: Click on the title of the items to read the specs Rinnai Range Hood RH-995CT Rinnai 2 Burner Built-in Hob Rinnai Hood + Hob package = $1080 Bosch Oven HBN 331E2J - $640 Panasonic Microwave NN-SM330 - $99 Total damages (incl discounts): $3860

Quick Updates! Electrical Appliances Impulsive Purchases (from Kong Tai) - Part 1/2: Click on the title of the items to read the specs Hitachi Fridge R-Z582EMSX - $900 Hitachi Washer SF-95KJS - $580 Ariston Water Heater Ti Plus 30L - $240 KDK Stand Fan with remote M40KS - 2 x $180 ($360)

LOL... could it be me? anyway, i went down to adelphi today again... checked out KEF... price too steep for me... checked out PSB... don't really like the sound after listening to KEF... ... but it's quite cheap.. i think ard $900 for the 5.1 HT1 set checked out BW MT25 at E77... don't really like satellite... checked out their 685... sounds gd... but price laggi "better"... went back to KEC, and listened to the QA 1000 series (with floorstanders)... was told that Onkyo 608 is out of stock... they suggested that i pair it with Denon 1911 instead, since it's quite on par with 608... they suggested pairing it with a velodyne cht8 too... tempted... hmmm...

Hey! Thanks! I've received your PM and have replied you.

Hey! Your EM is the same layout as LADY_R and mine? Did you hack away your utility room? or the seller has already hacked it? Looks gd... btw, the waste pipes from 2nd level toilets to the lower level kitchen, is it very bad? as in, does it take up a lot of upper cabinet space? i think my waste pipes are really an eye sore... and take up a lot of precious cabinet space... somemore have to use gas cylinder... zzz

I'm also thinking of taking the floorstanders for the 1000 series... but the general reviews are that the 2000 series are better? no? hmmm...

Hi madwarrior72! Can I visit your place too? I'm currently staying very near the kindergarten, though my new place (resale EM) will be nearer to shuqun primary school instead. Thanks!

oh... i think i'm really confused with how the grant is being used. coz i've been hearing different versions... maybe when some of them said "the money cannot be used, or goes back to CPF", they might have meant, it won't be cash-on-hand profits for you to spend... when they say "goes back to CPF", it means go back to your own CPF account, not returning to CPF Board.. LOL..

yes... 40K grant split between me and my wife lor... anyway, i heard the grant is to help first-time buyer to get their place "easier"... if you choose to sell your current place (bought with CPF housing grant), when you sell it, you'll have to cough back the "grant" to HDB/CPF... 40K in the pre-2007s era, is worth quite a bit for new 4-rm BTO flats, which are less than $200K, that would have amounted to 20% "subsidy" for it... but 40K now, for 5-rm or bigger, which usually cost in the range of $450K and above)... like mine $555K, it's only 7% "subsidy"... but of coz, cannot complain so much la, coz i choose to buy such $$$ unit at an overheated property market cycle... oh well...

As long as the price feels ok to you can liao... - I paid $528K (val) + $27K (COV) for mine, and interior conditions are a lot worse. only saving bonus is that it's near my parents' place, near MRT, and mid-high level lor. Your floor area is bigger than most EMs (due to the extra recess area for corner unit); and I think corner EMs are rare lor... all the privacy... (the only reason i'll sell my EM is to get a corner EM! LOL... coz I don't think I can afford a pte pty lah... anyway, Hougang's also part of the HDB's "Remaking Our Heartland" phase 2; can expect more neighbourhood renewal programmes and upgrading programmes. and there's NEX mall nearby too... as you said it, marble flooring leh... so nice... and can save some money (just polish)... 2nd floor is ok; near to trees and nature mah... don't think can play badminton la... the ceiling too low...

can you help me read my bazi?