summersann

Gosh, drama much. Good that everything worked out! Back to more shopping!

Hahaha, cute pose! Photogenic eh! Good to hear that it worked out how much more was the seller expecting to get anyway?

And now, at the end of our renovation journey, I should do a recap of the experience. It's going to be a long one! Chemistry I can't stress how important it is to get someone who understands what you want to achieve. They need not have the same taste, but they must appreciate what you like. They must also have good taste, even if their taste may be different from yours. Our designers had that balance. They have distinct tastes, but remain open to other styles and put their hearts into each of their designs. Despite the difference in preferences, they gave us many ideas that contributed to the whole feel of our house, and remained objective in giving us their opinions. The dilemma we faced when approaching renovation was whether to get a contractor or designer. Most said we should hire a contractor because I have a distinct preference and style. But our reasons for hiring a designer was clear: 1. We didn't want to have to worry about whether the contractor understood what we wanted (because most of the contractor-IDs we met didn't), 2. We wanted an overall look that flows well and needed someone with good design knowledge to help us ensure that (a lot of the houses I saw online that were done by contractors looked great in one area, but the choice in another would appear jarring from the first), 3. We're intending to stay in this place for good (hopefully no en-bloc!), so we wanted something we would be really happy with. Our designers fulfilled all of that, and gave us many suggestions and ideas along the way. We learnt quite a bit from them! Project Management We met the site manager on a couple of occasions, and he seemed diligent enough in being on-site to ensure work is done according to instructions. There were no miscommunications in the work done. We had exactly what we wanted where we wanted them. Workmanship This portion will be rather subjective, since this is our first renovation and we don't have other accounts to compare with. Workmanship wasn't the best, because there were slight dents and chips in many areas. Rough edges, uneven plastering, chipped plaster, and minor gaps were common. (Read Rectification for more details about how they handled this.) Carpentry looks good and feels solid, so we have no complaints there. Service Our designers were very contactable, and would respond to our queries within the day or by the next day. They would call if they needed to inform us of anything major, or whatsapp to give us updates. They remained patient and answered all our questions, always speaking with smiles. Efficiency Our renovation started on 21 December 2012, and works were mostly done by 9 February 2013, with some minor works here and there. Rectification Because of the slightly shoddy workmanship, there was quite a list of things to be rectified before the official handover. With CNY in the way (and we suspect multiple big projects on their hands), rectifications were only completed on 8 March 2013 (today). As evident, rectification took a while, but to be fair, we didn't rush them or ask for completion asap. We saw no point in rushing for works to be done as it was quite clear that workmanship was shoddy in the first place because they were rushing to complete before CNY. Payment Our designers were never pushy about this, and we appreciated that. Of course, this arrangement worked because we didn't abuse their trust. We were comfortable with each payment we made, which was important for us because we never felt pressured to pay. Some of the rectification that would require more work were supposed to incur additional charges. We stated that we didn't see why we had to pay additional for rectification of things we're unhappy with. In this area, our designers were commendable because they would absorb the additional costs without putting up a fuss. We asked about the final payment today after the handover. Our designers told us to move in whenever we want, and that they would get the remaining (small) things fixed before they collect the final payment. Good service! And that's more or less the written review! Shall do a photo review of the place once we move in, unpack and make the place more like home!

Thank you Makanology for your recommendation Hope everything works out for you! On another note, we finally have our keys! Met our IDs today to do a final viewing after the rectifications. Still some little things here and there, but nothing too huge that's do or die. They handed the keys to us, but told us that they won't collect the final payment until everything is to our satisfaction. At this point, I think a review is due! We may not have moved in yet, but we've been to our place often enough to know more or less about the quality of work. I'll try to write as objective a review of our IDs as possible!

Sorry to hear about the trouble you're going through hope everything works out for you in the end!

Interesting fan! Clean concept Or just steal her ideas and give it to your contractor!

Pick a nice color and paint them! We left a pipe exposed on purpose just so we cld paint it a shade of grey we liked. Would have left all pipes exposed if I could, but ID suggested to box it up so it'll look neater

I might be the only blur-do who doesn't know this, but IT show is this weekend! Would have missed it if I didn't catch the advertisement by chance in the papers today We've been waiting for the IT show to come around to go get some stuff for the house. Need some suggestions again! Should we get Wii or Kinect? (I know this isn't a very good question because all my friends tell me it depends on what games we like to play, but we really have no clue!)

Congrats! Another home owner to prove the theory that calling to make noise and being extremely patient helps

Oh dear, sounds serious. Good that you're safe! These things vary quite a bit though. I've come to believe that it's about the unit that you got. I once had a television set blow up out of nowhere in my room. Like literally blow up with a spark and smoke. It was an established tv brand too. I'm the sort who seems to have no luck with electronics. Hahaha

Haha you are not alone! I can never get it right either. It'll still be messy and out of shape. But I have to say this one is quite good so far. Been working well! I wouldn't use it to blow dry my dog though. It's powerful, so I don't want to scare him haha

Yah quite! Especially if you switch it on to high speed. But I don't ever have to cuz I don't need it to be that powerful I got it for about $100 (can't remember exactly ). Original price was about $130.

Maybe it's just me, but I like to do a general search on a product before I get it, just so I know what I'm getting myself into So this is for the ladies. I've always wanted a hair dryer that functions like those they use in hair salons, because no matter how I blow my hair at home, it never turns out as well as when they do it in the salon. I just want my hair to be done without having to stand there for ages (in my case, ages means anything more than 10 minutes ). Just got this from the pre-renovation sale at courts toa payoh. Been using it for a few days. It has 6 different speed settings, a super slim nozzle for styling, a volume diffuser and apparently also has IonBreeze. Don't know about that, but I'm loving it! Helps that it looks sleek too

If you're looking for such a sound system, just make sure you test the sound and decide if you like it! We found this Yamaha one too airy and didn't think it justified the hefty price tag I liked the Bosch fridge when I first saw it too! But it was too stout for us, still prefer the smeg. You can use retchlow's contact and get one if you really want one

I went down to their showroom because we wanted to feel the systems and decide which was to our liking. You may want to do so first if you haven't seen such a system in person before. And then do what retchlow suggests and arrange for an on-site consultation after u've seen it in person.

Multiple post, fat fingers

Makanology, is this the one you're referring to? We've seen quite a few Yamaha ones around, but the sound isn't the best, especially considering the price tag! We're still shopping around for another mini system for my mom though, so still looking for good buys! nice touch though, thinking about the smeg, heh. The speaker will be for the bedroom though!

Think the dimensions are pretty standard. You can add poles, but the width is still the same. They just punch in more holes in the same width for you to slot in more poles. The dimensions are fixed. We got it at $420.

Finally bought a speaker dock for the new home! We've been looking at the Bose sound dock, but somehow keep missing the sale period. Went to Courts Megastore at Tampines and saw it on sale, but they were out of stock (service at Courts Tampines is seriously bad, by the way -_-). Thank goodness we didn't get the Bose system, because we came across the Philips dock at Courts Toa Payoh over the weekend (they were having a massive clearance sale). Of course, you can't really compare Philips to Bose, but for the price and functionality, the Philips dock was pretty good (Bose's sound dock only supports the iPhone, while the Philips dock plays FM, CD, MP3, iPhone, iPad)! The Philips dock wasn't on sale, but we tested it and it was pretty good! Powerful bass, which is what we're looking for. Managed to get someone to get it for us direct from Philips, so we got a further discount! Yay for savings!

Thanks HappyAng! Hope your renovation is coming along well too! When is your move in?

Finally ordered our laundry system yesterday! After much consideration, we decided to go with the EZ Lift 4. It's more cumbersome to pull up and down, but lighter and safer. EZ Hi-Dry was something we were also interested in, but found it too bulky and not as user-friendly. Tames' version of the Hi-Dry was much lighter, but didn't feel as durable. Handover on 8 march! *fingers crossed*

Not boring and conservative at all! The black and white are complementing each other very well, and the print is lovely

If you have an ID, bring him/her to the main distributor at APS building and get him to transfer the 15% discount for designers to you! SMEG prices stay quite fixed, so I doubt there'll be huge discounts otherwise. We only managed to find smeg at courts, tangs and the main distributor.

Hahaha aiyoh, why are you scared of your own home! Congrats on finally getting the keys! Happy renovating

Bosch is good! Can never go wrong with Bosch right? Heh. Is Miele more expensive than Bosch? That's a good brand too.