PinkTissue

Btw, manage to rectify the flaws? I am having giant size headache everyday with all the dust & smell every time I step into the house. Yankee candle is my new best friend.

Yeap. So glad May and Co took the trouble to ensure the tiles are packed properly. This particular batch of tiles is a set of 12 picture tiles. A previous freight forwarder broke the tiles TWICE. May is my last ditch attempt to see whether a different freight forwarder could help. Thank goodness the rest of my tiles are 'normal' ones which should arrive this weekend. By QC - I meant whether buyer ensures that electrical items work. I don't think any freight forwarder would do that sort of QCing. I may be wrong though. For big & bulky items - May won hands down. Cheap and fast. I was surprised to letarn that items can arrive within 2 weeks by ship because other freight forwarding companies can take up to a month.

House getting dustier by the day. Hacking completed. New heater fixed. Water-proofing to commence tomorrow. Cement by PinkTissue, on Flickr

I am not very sure whether they have their 'own' cargo ship or that they own a % of the space there. So far the first batch of tiles arrived intact. But I am not sure whether they QC to ensure the items are the ones I ordered. But touch wood, so far so good.

I am the person who bought tiles from China. I used the forwarding agent recommended by Frankman. I must say their service is really superb. As their warehouse is in Canton, anything you bought their can be sent to their warehouse immediately. And once there, your items would be uploaded to their ship the same day or next day as they have ships departing from China everyday. Their turnover time is much faster than other freight forwarders. I could receive my items within 2 weeks compared to 3-4 weeks from other freight forwarders.

I bought one of my taps from this taobao seller too

A pic of my '24k gold' mixer. Very 暴发户 mixer by PinkTissue, on Flickr

The only 'good' thing staying in with the renovation is that you get to monitor the renovation on a daily basis. I get to snoop to see what sort of material they use. I can feel for you when you describe your job. My uncle is a quality surveyor for housing projects and he shared with me terrifying tales of some of the problems he encountered with construction at those 'premium' flats. He always tell me NOT to trust the contractors wholesale and must monitor them closely.

Not all the furniture is from China. The bed and the bedside table are from China. Most of the bathroom fittings are sourced from China too. I could not get the display counter because the particular model I wanted is out of stock everywhere so have to get it made in Singapore. I also make some spare sets of curtains (not the ones shown in the earlier pics) from China.

Actually I only bought the feature tiles direct from China which is not available locally. Quite an eye opener, I have to negotiate with the factory directly and even ask them to customise the colors for me :-) The rest of the tiles I bought it from Singapore. As for the feature tiles, I did test buy by buying small quantities so I can be sure the quality is up to mark.

This renovation turned out to be a journey back to the past. While unpacking, I uncovered many love letters my father wrote to my mum. I am not sure how to make of them since their marriage broke down for many years but both my parents held on to their marriage right to the end. Reading the letters, I sort of understand why they held on for so long, there must be genuine love between them which led to their marriage. I also uncovered several letters my late uncle wrote to my mum. My uncle was a stern man but the letters showed another side of him worrying over my mother.

So sorry to hear about your problems. My cousin's wife who is in the line of procuring renovation for commercial properties always say that there is no honest man out there. My reno only started today so I cannot tell whether my ID could deliver his promises. At least you are not staying while the renovation is going on. I came home today and I was really depressed to see dust everywhere. nnnnnnnnnnnnn

I have just started my renovation today. What is the progress if your renovation? Managed to rectify the faults?

Today is the start of the renovation! Prepared water and ang poh for workers. IMG_1209 by PinkTissue, on Flickr IMG_1210 by PinkTissue, on Flickr I was choking up slightly when clearing my late mum's bathroom. I kept it intact after she passed away as if she could just walk in and do her make-up or brush her teeth. I gritted my teeth and threw most of the stuff away. However, I still keep a few key pieces which would have a place of honour in my new bathroom.

Renovation going to start in 2 days time. Frantically packing. Crossing my fingers that everything would go well.

Glad to see that things are moving in the right direction.

Bought a new light for the new power point at the master bedroom. I have been eyeing this light for some time because I love the champagne color and it had an antique vibe to it. Untitled by PinkTissue, on Flickr

Mock up of the wall tiles at the living room behind the sofa. A gold frame would be added around them. Pic 02 by PinkTissue, on Flickr

I customized the tiles and imported them to Singapore. The problem is that nobody in Singapore actually have sight of them until the first batch arrived at Singapore earlier. And the ID has severely under quoted the price. He quoted me the labour cost a few days ago. But when the master tiler came down to look at the tiles, he spent a long time looking and matching the tiles and pronounced that it would be slow and that he needed 14 working days just to lay these tiles on 3 walls. I think the ID was caught by surprise of the quotation by the master tiler as the master tiler insisted on using some special chemical as the tile is so heavy and that the master tiler needed more time. From the picture, the tiles looked like wall paper but they are actually three dimensional and some even have real crystals on them. Each tile is specially made so unlike homogenous tiles, they are not quite evenly cut and the tiler actually have to lay out the tiles and find the best angle. There is also no room for error because as each batch is only produced upon request, the coloring would be different from each batch. So if the tiler breaks the tile, there is no replacement. The tile is really heavy and I do worry that if it falls off, it can kill a person (not joking....). But I think it may be well worth the effort. When I saw the first batch of tiles, I am speechless. It is different from printed tile (which can also cost a lot if they are from Spain or Italy) and wallpaper. I grudgingly agreed to pay the additional labour cost. But the ID has agreed to waive off the gold framing which would be made around the tiles and one extra lighting point free.

Grrrrr..........today is really a lousy day. ID told me that I need to pay close to $500 extra because the wall tiles I have chosen are very complicated & labour intensive. Not happy. This should be communicated earlier and not 4 days before the start of renovation. I already ordered the wall tiles & cannot cancel the order. So I am held hostage to this? I hoped I can work out something with the ID tomorrow.

Grrr......I have been informed that the display counter I wanted for is out out of stock. I tried a few stores - same story. I finally approached my ID to do a custom made one.

I did approach your ID before. But things did not quite work out and the timing is wrong. So I ended up with the current ID recommended by my colleague.

More stuff which create a deeper and bigger hole to my pocket. I hate ceiling fans - they are difficult to clean and they gets dirty easily. I am sticking to conventional fans with an antique vibe. White by PinkTissue, on Flickr Brown by PinkTissue, on Flickr A display cabinet cum shoe box which would be placed at the entrance and acts as a natural 'barrier' to the rest of the living room. I hate it when you open the door and everyone can see through the house all the way to the window. The color is not what I really want so may get it re-painted? Display Conter by PinkTissue, on Flickr A new bed frame and side table for the master bedroom. bed and side table by PinkTissue, on Flickr

Better get the contractor to rectify the paint work. It can be a real eye sore. But the laminated floor looks great though.

I am debating whether to get this fan or not. But I find the fan quite noisy & did not quite fit my deco. I got this instead. [