nickguthe
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Everything posted by nickguthe
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Muscle ache from opening presents Taobao loot! Very tired but so excited! (This post got too many pics, I need to split into 2 posts.) Forgot to take a picture of the all the sealed boxes when they arrive to give a good guage of 1 cubic meter but whole idea is 1m by 1m by 1m. Here are the results... For the links, please refer to this post Fins Kitchen sink and Fins Tap. Stainless steel tap very solid feel. Sink not so sure, the joints are not as perfect. Don't mind those stains you see, we were doing water test to see if the stains can be easily washed off. We left the stains for a week, and they are easily removed with Cif. So happy that my sinks arrive intact! Both taps from Paloni taps looks and feel solid too. Rectangle sink and tap Triangular sink and tap Toilet fittings x 2 set of each clothes rack and toilet paper holder. -
Our 1st shipment of Taobao stuff is here! Will review the loots in a separate post. This post is purely dedicated to the service, Oops.sg, which we used to shipped the big items by sea. When we ordered the items on Taobao, we chose the shipping address to be Oops.sg Guangzhou's address. After the Taobao merchant dispatch the item, we will register the package with its details (tracking number, value etc) in our Oops.sg account through their "DIY Reship Service". (screenshot from Oops.sg) Once Oops.sg at Guangzhou receives the items, the status of the item will be updated in our Oops.sg account. Packages are identified by their tracking number. We won't know how much volume the items occupy until we "prepare shipment", so we use our gut-feel to guess if we have purchased at least 1 cubic meter. Once all the items are received at Guangzhou, we prepare for shipment. It will take roughly 2 to 3 days for them to do so. After which, we are notified to pay for shipping fees (approx 100 sgd per cubic meter) + 7% GST (based on declared value of the items purchased). The whole transportation of the items by sea took about 9 days. For the delivery of the items to our house, we can't choose the date and time of delivery. It depends on when they need to unload the container. So we had to take leave the whole day and the package only arrived at 4 pm. But granted, we didn't pay the extra compared to other services that allowed that flexibility. Overall the service is rather systematic and professional with their system that you can track easily on your own... except I wished they had been a little more "polite" when we were still figuring things out. We ordered a couple of items from the same merchant and we didn't realised that the merchant used the same tracking number for all 4 items. While I was trying to register these items on Oops.sg, I received this error message. "Failure to register package in incoming folder". After trying a few times, thinking that it could be a problem on the service end, we contacted the admin for help and eventually we received this clarification through email. Okay okay, yes, we could have been more careful with the tracking number, but they didn't have to be so fierce. Get scolded LOL. And really, from a user experience perspective, this could be easily prevented by having a error message saying that that tracking number have been used before so that it can't be input again. This is a minor episode that we hope Oops.sg can improve their system with, but overall we are okay with their service. We just document this in case other people who are also figuring things on Oops.sg get accused of playing with their system. Later teacher scold. HAHAH
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Glad it is helpful! This was one of those information we tried so hard to find before buying the lights but couldn't. Haha.
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Thanks Kstoh and Songz for explaining the phone to LAN point connections so clearly. Just to add, this is the change to the points after the conversion. The original phone point. The converted point looks like this. Now we can plug in LAN cables.
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One of the issues with buying on Taobao is that there are so many options and you can't see or tell if it is the option you want. In our case, it was lights, we are not sure if 3w, 7w, 12w, 18w etc is bright enough for us or how many lights and wattage for each do we want to have on a track or whether 正白光 is too cool for us and how warm is 暖白光.. Especially since lighting preference is so subjective. We bought some track lights on Taobao to test before we buy that all we need. We asked around at local hardware store but they didn't seem to sell a device that test lights. So we bought this light testing device on Taobao instead. Turns out, it was really good for our purpose. We attached the end of the track we bought to the crocodile clips of this device. And then attach the track lights to the track. The large one is a 12W 暖白光 （warm white light). The small one is a 3W 正百光 （normal white light) 正白光（normal white light) feels a little too cool for us. 暖白光 （warm white light) feels more suited for us. This light testing device is awesome. When we receive the other Taobao lights, we are going to test them before they get installed just to make sure they are working, of the suitable temperature and bright enough.
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Hi neighbour! Thanks. Good luck to your reno too!
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She is doing freelance ID. Her website is http://interiorkit.net/
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I see. Your guess is correct, the LAN point in the study is nearer to the DB box than living room LAN point. Very valid and great tips there regarding the switch at the living room! We will definitely think it through. Thank you so much
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Yep there is a power point to power the fiber and switch. The LAN point of the study won't be near to the living room LAN point. That's why we are considering to add the switch in the box here to link to a installed LAN point in the study routed from here. Could you share why we shouldn't share out the LAN point in this box? Is there some technical consideration? Thanks.
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Hi Harocarlos, Fellow Ancillian here. Looks like your reno is going well! Great looking place. I am curious about what type of heater you use and how you manage to hide it since the outlet/inlets are quite low. Thanks in advance!
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Last weekend we engaged BTO Home Networking to convert the telephone lines in our 3 bed rooms to LAN points. Fast, cheap and good! 3 points for $100 We didn't need that many phone points in the house and fast, reliable internet is very important to us. So it really makes sense to to convert them to LAN points. DB Box before conversion After conversion, properly labelled. Kok Hua, the owner of BTO home networking, was a little late but it was because he was doing conversion for serveral other units as well prior to our scheduled evening appointment. He explained many technical concepts to us which we are grateful about. We just need to apply for fibre internet and put the modem in this db box. The whole process took about an hour. So now the points labelled MBR, BR2 and BR3 are LAN points that Kok Hua converted. The bottom right LAN port is the original point provided by HDB linked to the LAN port in the living room near the TV console area. Since we are building a study in the living room and we will might need additional LAN point for the constructed study. We are thinking of getting our contractor to add the LAN port in the study. Kok Hua advised that within the DB box, we can just use a Gigabit switch to share one of the LAN points into 2 points. Or maybe WIFI is good then all these worry is unnecessary. Overall good, but we haven't applied for internet yet so we couldn't test it. Anyway, there is a one year warranty provided so we will look for him if there are any issues.
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A little progress over this week We can now have warm shower! Installed the Bennington C600 Multipoint instant heater. Was deciding between Joven 25L Storage heater and Bennington C600 Multipoint instant heater. . These were our considerations One thing is for sure, we didn't want to have those instant heater installed at the shower area in both bathrooms We want a single heater that can provide hot water to both showers and taps since all the concealed piping provided by HDB already allow that hopefully we can conceal the heater away from sight with false ceiling or plasterboard.Both Bennington C600 and storage heater satisfies the criteria above. And since We aren't having rainshower or bathtub, we don't need a large amount of stored hot water C600 is smaller to hide It can possibly help us save some electricity because it only heats up the amount of water that you use.At first my consideration if C600 or storage heater can help improve water pressure but after talking to the C600 people and search online about both. Realised that water pressure is dependent more on the original water pressure and won't affect much by the heater. So we decided to go with the C600. Now the problem... the designated location provided by HDB to install our heater is in the common bathroom at an awkward position to box up. This photo is taken before heater installation. The water inlets and outlets are at the U shape pipe near the entrance at a pretty low height. This is the photo taken after installation.... How are we going to hide the pipes and this heater...Thanks HDB! We consulted our potential contractor, he said the box out can be done, but it will be low so we need to consider. The other way is to only box the heater and let the pipe show. Concealing it aside, we bought the heater directly from Bennington and also add-on installation by them. (They also have cash and carry option or you can buy from retailers and have it installed by your contractors.) They have a demo set at their office that we went to check out. Installation took about an hour. Uncle who installed it was nice and knowledgeable. Cost of the heater is about $300 and it comes with a complimentary shower head. Installation is another $100. The heater is nicely linked to the water heater switch provided outside the common bathroom. The water heater switch outside the master is redundant and maybe we can swop it out to become some light switches if we need? Yay to hot shower!
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Haha yes! Paying for rental in Singapore!
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Yea their pricing is on the premium end. We want a nice looking marble top so we paid $2k plus for our 1.6m table too.
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It is from Air Furniture. Located at Park Mall and Sophia Flats. Now got Great Singapore Sale.
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We have been asked a few times with regards to our ID and quote. Just to clarify here, we do not have a breakdown quotation from our freelance ID. We engaged her by paying her a fixed design fee. Based on our proposed budget and design vision, she will work with us to produce drawings, which later we will use to approach contractors for a full detailed quote. We are still looking for contractors at the moment, trying to get quotes and adjust designs to fit the budget. The good thing about this method is that the ID is not part of the quotation and has no conflict of interest in the overall cost of the renovation. The down side is, we will only be able to have a better gauge of construction cost and practicality when we approach the contractor. So like many of you, we estimate our reno cost by "agar-ration" of quotes from those available here at Renotalk. This is also our first renovation and not very sure what is the best method, we just went with what our gut feel says. And in this case the freelance ID is our friend for a long time. This might not be the most usual practice for reno but we like the synergy and camaraderie we have so far. Bearing in mind that reno hasn't been completed (or even started) and we can't vouch for the overall service yet, we will only share her contacts through PM.
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Taobao rocks~! At least in terms of pricing. We don't know about the quality and safety in the long run yet, we bought them based on the reviews on the site. Things we will buy from Taobao are generally those that are made in china if we buy them here anyway. For kitchen and bathroom fittings, we have visited GR Link, Royal Fanco, Hoe Kee, Poh Seng, Hupfarri, Heritage Gallery and Sim Siang Choon at IMM. We really liked Poh Seng. The service is awesome. The lady who served us is really knowledgeable, patient and friendly. The prices are competitive too. We feel bad not buying anything from them because... in the end we are so enticed by the convenience, prices and selection available on Taobao, we decided to take the risk and we ended up just buying most of these fittings there. Especially the fact that we are able to source the stainless steel matte looking taps and fittings easily using terms like "304不锈钢拉丝" and find thicker 1.2mm undermount double bowl sink with terms like "加厚台下双槽“. It really helps us find what we want. I hope we won't regret it. Kitchen sink, tap and dish rack toilet basin, taps and other accessories... Hope the porcelain basins can survive the journey from China. short tap , tall tap, rectangular counter top sink, triangular counter top sink Other stainless steel fittings and stuff Trigger , toilet paper holder, towel rack, hook , eko soft closing dustbin Lights... Downlights, tracklights, ceiling mounted lights, pendant lights and lamp We ordered them through Taobao directly but shipped in by sea to Singapore through Oops.sg. That will take some time, but if nothing goes wrong, we actually save quite a big sum of money. Cross our fingers!
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We would love to share but we have been told not publicly disclose the prices as it may affect their dealership. Probably to be fair to other retailers as well. We definitely don't mind sharing a good deal. Anyway, we have yet to receive the items. Will comment more after we receive them
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I wanted to PM you but you couldn't accept new messages. Can you PM me?
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It has been a while. Busy with work and keep getting errors when I log in to Renotalk. Not too sure if anyone else had this problem. Anyway, we did a lot of shopping, both on Taobao and at shops. So here is our loot! We always wanted a marble top for our dining and we got the Air Curve Table at 40% off during their sale. YAY! And we got the following items from Hommage Lifestyle. Great people. Though they do not have a lot of products on display because they do catalog sales but they are always so sincere in serving us. There was no pressure in buying at all and their prices are rather competitive. All in all, we visited 4 times over the course of a year just to get to know what we want to buy better. They also taught us how to tell if the leather sofa is made of genuine cowhide during our first visit last which we found it quite useful when we visit all the different sofa shops. At first they were selling more contemporary modern style items. We are so happy when they updated their catalog to bring in more Scandinavian theme furniture this year. And last week we finally bought the following few items from them... Sofa in this vintage-y tan color full cowhide leather This study desk "Morse" and a king size bed frame that looks like this but with bottom storage (hydraulic type) and dark grey fabric. And this "Maddie" chair as dining chairs to match the walnut legs of Curve Table. Feeling broke but happy, will update more about our Taobao purchases in another post. Update: Today (18th May) is the last day Hommage can take orders for the series that consist of the "Morse" study table and the "Maddie" chairs.
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PM you
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Yes, we are going to overlay subway tiles over the exposed area that is not covered by carpentry. Cos it's HDB rule to retain the original tiles for new flat unless submit application to HDB to hack certain walls.
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PM you
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Has been a tiring but fruitful day. We went to check out fans and lights at Jalan Besar and electrical appliances at Goh Ah Bee In the end we placed orders for 2 Relite Petite black fans at Tai Yong Electric, a 36" for the study area and a 48" for the living area. So surprised to see the smaller 36" ones, didn't know they exist. So excited that forgot to take picture of the small black fan that they installed in the shop. They also have a huge selection of lights. We also ordered Fujioh hood NL900 and Tecno Hob SR128SV at Goh Ah Bee. Best price out of the few places we went to recce! YAY! Photo of Tecno Hob SR128SV and Fujioh hood NL900
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Totally agree! hence visiting furniture stores became our favourite past time last year. Almost every weekend, we try to visit some furniture showroom. Haven't buy also. Hahaha. The ventilation blocks was proposed by ID. We like it but at the moment we KIV it and decided we are not doing any divider for now, Was thinking it might obstruct the moving of big items. Although we read somewhere in Feng Shui that should have a divider since door faces windows.
