adidaem

Oh ya, Lifestorey does have good deals when there is sales. Which model did you get?

Fewer sales/promo in Singapore? I know a few people, myself included who use Toto at home. Not cheap tho. One wc can buy 2 cheaper brands. I have heard good reviews from long time users, and read before that Toto is used commercially cos of durability. Not sure how true tho.

I see. Best if you can give them a bit more time for doing up defects. Less hassle n worry if your stuff are not in the house. Are you going for the minimalist look too? GSS coming so enjoy the shopping. Grohe currently on sale btw.

Thanks. Did you read about it from my WP blog or you got the mag?

Erm, how extensive is your reno? Haven't heard of any less than 6 weeks for maisonettes. Possible if no wet works or extensive hacking but your place shd be over 20 years old right? Plus getting approval from HDB can take forever. Ya, do think of practical living. After all you are the one who will have to live with any inconvenience. Is the layout like this?

Wow, very daring! Pls do share your other rooms. Eagerly anticipating.

A famous hotelier n his family uses the contractor, so yea, I would. Anyway HK is architect trained and an ID in his own projects. They also did my place in 8 weeks which most other IDs said was impossible. I accept tat solid top will get scratches so just learn to ignore lor. White not so obvious unlike darker colours. Granite has lines? Anyway stick to what you want, it's ur home and u shd decide what u r most comfy with. Discuss with ur SO of course. R engaging M+A? They lean towards the artistic so u hv to assess if you can live with the design. Lemme know if they tell u horror stories abt me. Where is ur place? Is it also an EM or EA?

Do newer units hv higher ceiling? My seller had to remove the fan from the ceiling during inspection for sales, so this rule was something we knew from early on. Yeah, nothing wow about KDK but it works n I like the remote. Haiku fan has a long stem so can't be used in my place. Its ok lar, when its spinning cannot admire the shape anyway. But if got budget, pretty things are nice to hv for eye candy of course.

Take note of the hdb rule on fan height. Think blades hv to be 2.4m from floor? The rule meant tat we can't fix the ceiling fan on the false ceiling since my ceiling is the typical low hdb ceiling. Yeah, I don't like fans with lights too. If wiring is a concern, sounds like you have to make some sort of L box.

Ah, it's an addiction. I still go back to Air n Space for shopping fairly regularly. Perhaps you can just eye/note the items and wait for an opportunate time to buy? For me I bought quite a few things post reno when my wallet felt less empty and when I came across good sales. For Air, I like their end of life model stock clearance. For Space, u can wait for special promos and if u know any Space members who have birthday month voucher. Think is 35% off.

Oh dear. Hope you can resolve your reno woes soon. For fan, some models come with lights but design is the retro type. Not sure if it helps but do take note of the potential strobing effect if the lights are too close to the fan: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/preventing-strobing-effect-from-ceiling-fans/ Are you open to using wall lamps instead of fixing on the ceiling?

Such interesting online buys. Feel so tempted to do a bout of online shopping too! Shall visit back to see your other online buys.

You can find the link to my ID in my signature. The contractor my ID engaged for my project prefers not to be named.

I like your inspiration pics, and ur blog is an interesting read so far. Do go for the dishwasher. I wish I did when I was renovating. Hope u hv a smooth Reno n a beautiful home at the end of the journey.

But this is hdb, not hudc so I don't think will get privatized.

Are you the ID or the owner? Why do you have this website in your signature? http://irasophia.com

OMG, this is really crazy... one of those Bishan 'sky terrace' maisonettes is in the market for (drumroll...) $1,080,000!! It's 1,754 sqft / 162.95 sqm (built-in), no mention of valuation price, flooring or condition. http://www.propertyguru.com.sg/listing/hdb-for-sale-194-bishan-street-13-9184556 I saw one last year asking for $900k... over $1 mil is just jaw-dropping.

Grafunkt I think. It's been a while but I remember that Grafunkt carries quite a few colors. Costs quite a bit more than Ikea tho.

Oh, I think Queenstown EM valuation is $750k for low floor a few months back. Should be much higher now since a few units at lower floors have sold for $835k and above in 2012. No one in my block has the bamboo pole thing. I read about that before and remember reading that it is illegal (??), but some EM owners go ahead and install anyway. EDIT: Yep, you can read more here: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4853&st=760 My neighbors tend to use the balcony as the drying yard. The balcony should come with some bamboo pole holders? Some neighbors even use the grills installed in the balcony to hang clothes and wedge school shoes to dry. I use the dryer exclusively.

Above avg price... That's all I'll say. My place is in Queenstown n considered a high floor, so that would account for the COV, tho I practically had to overhaul the whole place. It is also the only above 8th floor unit to come into the market for a while... If you are familiar with the area, most units in my block have rooms that face the mscp which is a major no-no for me.

Wow COV still so high huh? Makes me feel better about the COV I paid... By the way does anyone know the rough price for roller shutters for a gen 2 maisonette? The one with a square balcony?

Wow 50 units! I only viewed around 10. And the place I got was the third maisonette we viewed. But I was picky with the units from the start, so my agent had the instructions to ask if the view is unblocked and no noon sun, else don't need to waste time for viewing. I recall reading that the last batch of leftover punggol loft units went for $500k plus, up from $380k from launch. From memory so may not be accurate. The Dawson ones were quite a bit more? Tho I am sure the resale price will be staggering too. Am waiting to see how much the Pinnacle at Duxton units will go for.

What's the typical COV for EMs now? I don't know cos the ones I went to view all asked for high COV cos we only looked at mature estates. Off topic but the new loft units are really nice huh? Those in punggol n Dawson. I like the stairs in punggol sapphire cos the double height windows makes it so bright. Wonder wat their selling price will be like when the MOP is up?

I can never remember where the impt posts are which is why having a blog is great. Here you go: http://emrenoblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/how-many-types-of-em-layouts-are-there/ I don't like stepping on laminate. Weird spongy feel. So my personal fav is parquet. Tiles in the bedroom a bit too cold. Again personal pref. parquet costs more and takes longer to do up. Good contractors will try to leave it enough time to dry properly. Some people don't like that you can scratch the wood etc. same could apply for laminates so I don't understand the biasness (go n see scratched laminates used in actual stores). Plus I don't like the warping when laminates get wet. Parquet can get termites, but then so can your carpentry... Good parquet can last a long time. Mine at home are from the original owners 16 years ago. Not sure if getting parquet helps in valuation. My recent flooring interest is vinyl that looks like wood. Seems less 'cold' than tiles but more durable than laminates. Boils down to budget, time constraints and personal pref really. Stacatto typing on iPad!

This blogger has a pretty comprehensive list of floor plans thru the years. The nice squarish 4-5 room layouts lasted till mid-1990s. The oddly shaped ones came about mostly in the 2000s. Good luck with your search. http://teoalida.webs.com/singaporehdbfloorplans.htm