csingeu

so... $9 for single socket... $25 for double dockets... hmmm.... I must remember to ask my electrician next time.

I'm interested to visit and see how it's done too!

Hi, have you engaged them in the end? I'm thinking of engaging them too.

Only 2 of us (me and WTB) staying at EM... and currently 1 common room is acting as the guest-room/extra study/work area and the other room will be totally empty. but be used as baby room lor. But I agree it's very useful to have a sizeable storeroom to put some big items. Both me and WTB intend to get bicycles, so next time, we can cycle to chinese gardens which is nearby, or to my parents' place or nearby eating places. The bicycles can be put in the storeroom. Plus i think it's gd to have a small ladder at home; in case need to change light tubes/bulbs. I read from other posts, like what you've mentioned, need to seal up part of the window. likely to decrease natural lighting and ventilation. I think need to go see the bathrooms again. can't remember size of the bathroom windows. but yeah, don't think it's big. Maybe i'll check with reglxt how's her bathroom ventilation fan doing...

RimBlock, can I visit your place, when you're done with your network and speaker cabling? I'm also looking at doing up LAN cables for my bedrooms too (but not so many pts) and also speaker and HDMI cables for projector.

Hey cleong! I'm also thinking abt boxing up the space under the staircase. Got any pics to show how much space it is and where do u place the opening? Facing the living rm? Or kitchen? I'm thinking of facing it towards the kitchen. Thanks!

Yeah! We are thinking of getting some home decor stuffs from Bangkok (incl the table runners and maybe some paintings) later part of Feb. Friend did inform that the extensible table might be a little difficult to "transform" I love the chairs too. best thing is that there's other covers to change when we are sick of it. Intend to have a separate shoe cabinet (maybe from V-hive) with proper doors to keep the shoes and heels away from sight and tuck the shoe cabinet, maybe in the utility rm... haven't quite agreed with the layout for these 2 pieces of items.

Eh... looks can be deceiving... I'm weighing at least 72kg and I'm only ard 169cm. My BMI? 25.2. I'm just overweight. Was just think of using it as a bench when putting on socks and shoes. not likely to put shoes (esp when it's not enclosed) in the cubes. Will post a few proposed layout for the shoe cabinet and bench later. Yeah. Storeroom is impt, but WTB thinks too much storage no gd... it may breed "hoarding' mentality. I saw some of the other forummers' EM renov. Very nice. They convert the utility/study into a proper study room, with glass wall... looks gd as a computer/study/cosy room. but no money. so yeah... :| i think reglxt is staying in HDB flat also, right? She also installed ventilation fans in her bathrooms. http://www.kdk.com.sg/homeventilation/faq.html 17) I am living in HDB. Is there any way that I can still mount up the ventilation fan directly onto the glass window? Yes. You may change the window grills and submit a proposal to HDB for approval that includes the ventilation fan to be mounted on the window itself. Only in such scenario, HDB can allow ventilation to be mounted directly on the glass window pane. Another link for info: http://www.singaporehandyman.com/Fan/ventf...indow_mount.htm LOL... i'm just curious for more knowledge and don't want to go in blind when meeting or discussing with IDs. Esp the lighting bible I've gotten. It's really very useful. Last time, I used to wonder why need to do cove lighting and downlights? why warm or cold lights? etc... now I learn something about layering of lights for lighting scheme... when to use what kind of lights... and also most ideal way for mirror lighting. Anyway, we might end up getting a contractor, so we better work out some of the design ideas ourselves.

Yeah. I was at Ikea (Tampines) and was looking at this series for my bed frame too. it looks simple enough. not too sure if it's sturdy and durable or not. wanted something with a low headboard, as my study table will be behind the bed; don't want head board to be too high and block my view of the tv, when sitting at the table. alternatively, i'm also considering just getting whatever bedframe that is accompanying the mattress I'm getting. likely to get Sealy. btw, I don't think Ikea has king-sized bed frame hor? Might downgrade "King" to "Queen"; coz MBR's going to look a little squeezy. LOL... too many glass windows and bay windows also complain. hahaha... i want also don't have ah. My windows for the dining facing the common corridor, and only got balcony door for the living room. If only can have bay windows for MBR. At least, got too many windows, you still got options to get blinds/curtains. If no windows, want to have more windows, also cannot build into existing facade. on a side-note, I heard from some forum that HDB uses a lot of windows (esp full-length windows and bay windows) in some of the newer flats, not because of better design, lighting and ventilation. It's really because they wanted to cut down the use of concrete and was exploring the use of alternative materials and designs. That's why some of the parapet walls along the corridor have lots of slits too. They say, it's to improve ventilation and natural lighting; but now we know it's to reduce use of concrete. Apparently, the thickness of some non-supporting walls were also reduced from 15cm to 10cm. This is at least true, for the newer flats in Sengkang (from what I heard from the speaker). This might be old news to many, but I just found it intriguing, coz I thought HDB architects have improved their design including bay windows and stuffs, but this is just the secondary reason. And yeah, just went back to read your earlier posts. Your unit really has very nice view!! envy!

This is very useful. Where did you get it from? Is it more expensive than the normal socket?

Furniture Hunting [9 Jan 2011, Sun] (Part 3) ... to invest or not, that was the question... We were previously considering whether to invest in a gd piece of teak dining table; so that not every piece of furniture is from cheapo Ikea and also, a gd and solid dining table will last a long time and be a centre-piece of the house too. But like most people, we were budget-constraint and we'll see what we can get out from Ikea. For the dining room! Bjursta dining table (brown-black) - SGD$325 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70116262 Dimensions: 175/218/260cm x 95cm x 74cm The more "cheapskate" version of his solid-wood brother (can't remember the series), which costs $800. Its tabletop is made of particleboard, instead of solid pine/birch wood. A friend has bought it and one day, when they forgot to close the window near the dining table. The rain got in, and the table was "gone". There's like popping (due to the expansion of the material in the particle board - i guess) all over the table top. As mentioned, I currently, also own a ikea table. Not as solid as we think. The centre portion tends to sag badly, after prolonged use. WTB & I agreed that, since we not going to invest money to get gd teak dining table now; just get one that's gd enough for the time being. We'll invest in quality furniture, 1 at a time. I like the fact that it's extensible, so that we can actually accommodate more friends/relatives during house parties or reunion dinners. WTB hates it. She thinks such tables (due to all the moving parts), tend to get damaged easier and she also thinks the leaves make it looks ugly, cos it's not 1 complete piece of table top. Henriksdal dining chair (brown-black frame with Kungsvik sand cover) - SGD$99 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09861434 Do you think it's matching with the Bjursta dining table? I kind of like it. SMEDSTA swivel armchair cover (leaby black or leaby white) - SGD$199 http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50157079 WTB tried it and likes it. I think it's quite nice too. Initially, she wanted a different armchair (from the sofa set), so that it stands out. But i didn't want an armchair just so it stands out. I want something which i think is comfy and that i would sit and relax in it and read a book or watch tv. Which one do you think looks better and matches the rest of the furniture and my theme?? Total cost: $325 + 6 * $99 (going to get 6 chairs) + $199 = $1118 Woah! we can actually get a complete dining set with 6 (quite nice looking) chairs + an swivel armchair for $1118. If we were to get a teak dining table from Scanteak, even after topping up another $600-700, we'll only get a dining table. the chair (from Scanteak) cost abt $130 - $199 per piece. BUT like i said, IKEA quality can be quite crappy. Alright. That's it for now. Getting very late. Need to work tomorrow. Will update on the Ikea bedframes we've shortlisted later. Stay tuned for the next post!

Furniture Hunting [9 Jan 2011, Sun] (Part 2) ... and we should have known better... Good furniture are not cheap, esp gd teak furniture. We'll have to look for other more affordable alternatives and invest in quality furniture a piece at a time. Maybe start with the MBR bed and bedframe/divan. Thinking of getting Sealy. For the rest of the furniture, we'll likely to source from Ikea (yes... the quality is not the best... in fact, can be quite crappy for some items... heard horror stories from friends and renotalk forum). For the living room! As the living room is likely to be in light/white-based wall colour, except maybe the piece of wall behind the tv console (which may be mocha, or grey-based color), i'm thinking of having the black-brown color scheme for the furniture. It may not exactly be modern resort style (actually i don't really know what it really is too... ) but at least I think the colour scheme will give us more flexibility and look more "modern" (??). Kivik 3-seater + chaise lounge (gray-brown) - SGD$1399 http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/S09884954 WTB & me tried the sofa. Felt quite comfy, esp with lumbar cushions. The fabric looks ok too. And it's 2.8m! and The seats feel spacious, esp the chaise lounge. Looks like it can squeeze 2 person (WTB & me and quite small size... *ahem*... i'm getting fatter though) Expedit 5x5 bookcase (black-brown) - SGD$299 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20047676 It's 185cm x 185cm. Big enough to act as a room divider. And I can place my nice "coffeetable" books (the ID & cookery books bought from PageOne Warehouse Sale earlier on) there. LACK TV bench (black-brown) - SGD$99 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20105341 Dimensions: 149cm x 55cm x 35cm WTB likes simple and clean-cut look. will be wall-mounting the TV, so the tv bench will be used mainly to hold the DVD player, wii console and xbox console (in the future! yeah!). Was initially thinking of using a LACK or EXPEDIT shelving unit and placing it horizontally to be used as a TV bench. still considering between this and the other 2 options. LACK coffee table (black-brown) - SGD$39 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00104291 Dimensions: 90cm x 55cm x 45cm Simple and cheap is gd. BUT quality might suffer. Total cost of furniture for living room = $1399 + $299 + $99 + $39 = $1836. This will be the base amount we'll be looking at, but we'll explore other options (though I think it's hard to find things that are cheaper and of better quality; not to say IKEA products are of high quality la, but hopefully can make it for a few yrs)

Your bedframe looks gd. Where did you get it from? IKEA?

Furniture Hunting [9 Jan 2011, Sun] (Part 1) It all started with the Scanteak bed frame... Today, we sort of started our furniture hunting again. Previously, we went to Furniture Mall and IMM, to look-see before, but wasn't seriously looking; more like just seeing what kind of style is available, to see what we like and also the price range. 2 days back, I went to Scanteak showroom @ Henderson Industrial Park area to view the furniture with WTB. WTB is in love with Scanteak products, esp the bed frame, after seeing it at one of my friends' place. She likes the simple clean-cut line and believes in the quality of Scanteak products. 6ft Vinkel Bed (not inclusive of mattress) Elements Collection ... and so the hunt for gd and affordable teak furniture began... I didn't think the bedframe was cheap (coz in the first place, I didn't know teak products can be so $$$!!). So in order to convince her them there are other viable alternatives at more affordable price, I did some research on renotalk forums, and found some old topics on where to get teak furniture. I compiled the list of places, together with the address, tel no, and opening hours, and headed out on our furniture hunting. As we were having lunch at my WTB's sis's place in the East, we restricted our search to places in the east (eg. Upper Serangoon Rd, Kaki Bukit, Balestier Rd, etc). 1st stop - Teak Villa (5 Upper Aljunied Link) We drove there with the help of GPS on iPhone. Found the address at Quartz Building. Free parking on Sunday - yeah! Checked the building directory. No such shop. Called the contact number. No one picked. We guessed it either relocated or closed down. Low morale... 2nd stop - Teakland Gallery (Sennett Estate - 20 Upper Serangoon Road) Ended up outside a landed house. Called the shop; someone picked up and informed us that they are at the shophouse just across Sennett Estate. ... Drove over. managed to see some teak furniture while driving to park. Shop is more like a warehouse, with furniture tightly packed together. WTB likes some of the dark-stained dining table. Asked abt price. Not cheap too. Ard $1.6K just for the table. Bed frame is quite $$$ too. (more $$$ than the one in Scanteak). Noticed a lot of cockroach wings on the floor, near the dining tables. Eeeekkksss. There's a "convertible" picnic table cum bench. More affordable, looks promising to be placed at the balcony. BUT... siao ah... buy $$$ teak furniture to put under hot sun and rain without shelter... see also heart-pain. dropped the idea. 3rd stop - Ethnic Homes (802 Upper Serangoon Road) Apparently this place is quite near to one of the IDs I've visited (I-d-e-a-l H-o-u-s-e). Parked at the private residence estate behind. Walked to the shophouses in front, in the mild drizzle. Shop is no longer there. ... at this moment, WTB was getting irritable... and decided to skip "Helping Hand" (819 Upper Serangoon Road). We decided to go over to the next cluster @ Jalan Ampas. 4th stop - The Rainforest Resort Living (6 Jalan Ampas) Drove over there; reached a one-way lane. 6 Jalan Ampas seems to be a missing address; or either a new condo development is actually built on its site. 5th stop - Charis Living - aka Colonial Antique (28 Lorong Ampas) Managed to find the warehouse shop. Free parking - Yeah! looks more like a small showroom with some workshop/warehouse behind. WTB interested in one of the dining table there. for a 1.8m dining table, it's abt $1600 - $1800. No catalogue available; informed us to view catalogue online; willing to give package discount if we are getting dining set and bedframe. 6th stop - LifeShop (12A Jalan Ampas - Balestier Warehouse) Realised it was only across the road from Charis Living. Walked across and went to lift lobby. Saw that it's closed on Sundays and public holidays. I noted from the website it's opened daily from 10.30am - 7.30pm By now, we were already demoralized and disillusioned and feeling hungry. Lessons learnt: 1. Don't be a dumb dumb and refer to info in old posts (eg. posts in 2008) - many of the info are outdated. Pls do homework to verify (eg. call up the place and do a google search online) 2. Before visiting any shop, do call them to make sure they still exist or are open for the day. ... maybe it's an omen... And when we were abt to leave the area to drive down to Ikea @ Tampines for quick dinner (meatballs! yummy!) and checked out the sofa set, dining set & bedframe, we chanced upon the new Scanteak concept store @ pegu road. since parking is free and we're ard the area and WTB informed me that's some warehouse sale and new year sale (which we already knew when we visited the other scanteak showroom earlier on), we decided to check out the new showroom. There was a dining table (think ard 1.6m or 1.8m) going for ard $1400 and you can get 1 bench and 2 chairs with a top-up of $100. Seemed like a gd deal, but we didn't like the design of it. Saw another table (i think it's the Trae dining table - 2.1m) for $1700-$1800). Liked the finishing better. Decided to KIV first. Sian... just realised we missed the warehouse sale promotion. Could have gotten a Teak cheese board set if we had printed and cut the coupon below. Ehh... wait... maybe it's only for the Mega Trade Showroom @ Sungei Kadut. hmmm... i don't feel so bad now... LOL WTB was like saying "everyone is going for the Scanteak warehouse sale lor; only we come to the showroom here..." bleahz... ... and we journeyed East to Ikea @ Tampines... We decided to go to Ikea, partly because we wanted to have meatballs and secondly, because of this post on dexufto's t-blog (We Live Love Laugh, one blessed resale 3i@ TPY) MÅNSTAD corner sofa-bed with storage - SGD$1199 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70125723 Quite like the look of this. Went to google abt it. Realised that it is actually a sofa-bed (queen size) and have hidden storage area (under the chaise part). I want dual- & multi-purpose stuff. But WTB doesn't like. She thinks dual-purpose items get damaged easier (eg. washer cum dryer). And she thinks having too much storage space only encourages hoarding mentality. In the end, decided not to get this, cos it's only 2.4m. Thinking of giving something bigger ard 2.8m. Will cut the story short for our journey at the Ikea @ Tampines. Stay tuned for the next post!

Yes... definitely... going to be bleeding dry... Is it actually much cheaper to do it this way? I'm still not too sure how different this is from hiring a main contractor to manage it. LOL... I'm not on the highest floor (10 out of 14 or 16 floors... can't remember), and I think the residents at Lakeshore condo, living across the schools in front of me, will be able to look into my MBR.

WOAH... your common bathroom looks lovely and cosy. Tastefully done up.

Oh! I like your kitchen. This is how I've imagined what my kitchen will be like, but maybe with a slightly darker wood laminate for the bottom cabinets. Your sofa looks comfy. May I know where you've gotten it from and how much? Thanks!

oh! Will be looking forward to seeing it. I'm also delaying my customary wedding til 2012, cos don't want to tire myself out after the renovation and stuffs. A coordinator? How does it work? Is he like a main contractor to help manage the sub-con? And also deal with electrician, aircon guy and curtains, etc? Mind sharing more? We are aware of it. The IDs have also advised us abt it. Some suggested building a platform bed instead, if we intend to keep the king-sized bed and flush it to the wall. Else will have to get queen size and maybe have a bedside table too. But WTB wants king size bed and not keen for platform. Will see how lor. It's indeed a squeeze to have king-sized bed, built-in wardrobe, study table and wall mounted tv all in 1 rm. Maybe it's not a gd idea to put work stuffs and tv in bedroom. Think will definitely affect our quality of our sleep. :/

Thanks for the info! I'm lucky my new place has already completed phase 1 and my seller (despite being an old uncle - think ard 50-60 yrs old), has the foresight to install it for potential buyer. But i'll be doing electrical rewiring for the new house. not too sure if it will affect the fibre optic cable.

I think i will save up to get this. it looks comfy and will make the balcony a nice place to hang out at. though i already have a lot of other "stupid" ideas for the balcony, like having a small water feature, a portable electric grill set, and some potted plants. 1 small outdoor set (1 small table + 2 chairs). I think my balcony will be overcrowded, since it's like not super big also. have to be a little more selective. For the chengal wood decking, I heard it might result in staining of the underlying tiles and also might need to perform maintenance for it (like applying sealant or some oil annually?)

HAHAHA... yeah... we started off borrowing home decor magazines from the library. I was a little crazy when I bought all the books (coz it's warehouse sales!!! at 30-50% discount. LOL) Anyway, my sis also going to be doing her renov later part of the yr, can pass to her as reference. And just looking at the pictures makes me happy too. both the home decor books and esp the cook books. *drools*. think they make nice coffee table books too. so far, i think the most useful one is the lighting bible. lots of practical advice, and i actually felt a little more "enlightened" after reading it. hehehe... think the color scheme bible will be useful too, esp since we not going to have ID to advise us on colours... bleahz...

Your balcony doesn't seem sheltered. Will the swing chair be ok to the abuse of the weather? coz my balcony also going to be totally unsheltered. was thinking to get chengal wood decking also, but considering that it will be subjected to all the sun and rain, don't know will be durable or not

Yes. I've met up with him. think I roughly remembered the quotation is ard $63K... with an additional $3K for electrical rewiring. He seems like an experienced and responsible person. But because I've been quoted 50K for all my works (incl electrical rewiring) from JGH, I'm just wondering if it's possible to actually get a quotation between 50-55K instead. If not, actually his quote and Willie's from RoomForIdeas are the next 2 lowest. and also 2 other IDs from Baroque and iBridge. Baroque - Didn't meet up with the ID yet (just gotten a quote over email) - read mixed reviews abt them on this forum. iBridge - met the ID at one of the home decor fairs at Expo. Enthu guy and quite persistent. his quote is ok, but don't like his design. I think taking the lowest quote is quite risky (as can be seen from some of the govt projects which are always awarded to lowest quote, LOL). esp so, when the majority of the quotations are in the 60-65K range. (or does it actually mean most of the IDs are 15-20% marked up from contractor?) Anyway, my uncle is in the renovation industry too. But i'm not very keen to get him to do, because sometimes, might be hard to get them to do amendments. at the same time, he also not very keen to do renov for me, coz scared don't do a gd job, can sour relationship. but still want to meet him to get his opinions and honest quotation. maybe then I'll know how much the stuff i really want to do will cost (without the mark-up). I'm ok paying a little bit more for less worry (though really pretty stretched le) might need to T-loan from dad first.

WOAH! this looks gd. how much does this cost? think I saw something similar at "i wanna go home" today. think abt $800+.

hmmm... i never think of it that way. But I guess what you said abt the 'wasted' space is true. My sis's getting her SERS flat later half of this yr and in her floorplan (similar to this), but the household shelter is in the centre, and it's non-hackable. She wanted to partition somewhere in the living room (maybe with half-height wall and glass panel) as a small study area/room, but can't do it. The space seems like a gd area (275cm x 190cm). I guess ultimately, it depends on footprint's lifestyle and how he would like to use the space. Personally I prefer the unhackable household shelter at the corner, rather than at the end of the unit; kind of limits space planning. yeah. peace out.