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summersann

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Everything posted by summersann

  1. IKEA! Haha Eh... I just asked my IDs to mount the sink above the countertop instead of the usual sitting in the countertop. I think it's just the mounting method, nothing to do with the width of the sink or countertop. Courts Clementi. But all Courts have the price-guarantee, so you can do the same with any outlet. They multiply the price difference by 2! Our products were only $10-20 different from the other major electrical mega-stores, but we had $240 in the end Sounds good!
  2. Nespresso U machine sold! Now on to getting our rugs and more accessories for the home. FrancFranc is having a sale on some items in their store. Big discounts! On another note, regarding our purchases from Courts... The boy was smart enough to email and ask the Big 5 competitors for their prices for the items we ordered at Courts, and some of the items turned out to be slightly cheaper (we went back on 2 different occasions with lower prices for different items. Think the Courts guy must be quite scared of seeing us by now!). Courts matched the prices and we eventually got a further $260 discount! Good buy!
  3. A walkway needs to be around 90cm for one person to walk through comfortably, and for the space to look generous and not cluttered. Have you tried using a measuring tape to gauge the space that you'd have to walk through if it were 50cm? I find that helped me a lot when I had to visualize the slightly narrower walkways we have when we were designing our home. You could try it and see if you're okay with 50cm!
  4. If you're planning to use that countertop as a dining/bar area, it's definitely better for the bottom to be hollow so that your legs won't constantly hit into a wall when you sit down. We're doing our island that way too, and we chose dining table height because I don't really like sitting at bar top height because it gets uncomfortable after a while. I also think it may look nicer if everything flows in one line, so having the table drop down slightly from your cooker hob would look better aesthetically than having a table suddenly stick out beyond the hob
  5. Heh, yah! Just ask your window maker to powder coat the frames and it should turn out the same Take note that our frames are not the usual powder-coated white though! It's custom ordered, so if you want the exact look, you have to look for something off-white. HAHA, you mean you want to keep the thick black sticker that's on our bathroom door?! You are one funky chick! I don't have a good impression of PD doors either. Read really bad reviews about their work and the door's quality. Glass doors look quite modern, so if that's what you're going for, it'd be classy
  6. Yup! The black strips are rubber pieces that protect the glass, which apparently comes with every window (in case I'm not explaining it well enough, it's the thin lines inside the window frames that are black rubber and can't be removed. The thicker black lines on and outside the window frames are stickers that we'll peel off). So might as well keep the black handles too!
  7. First round of rectifications today. Little things here and there to fix. Didn't have much else to take pictures of because nothing much changed except for some cleaning up, the delivery and installation of our quartz countertops and the short laminated plank for our foyer, and our study table. Still waiting for the balcony doors, window grilles, some pieces of furniture we ordered earlier, and curtains to be delivered and installed. The ID will also try to get the workers in to rectify certain areas before they go off for CNY holiday. Otherwise, we'll have to wait till late this month to get everything done. I guess that's fine, since we're not planning to move in before CNY anyway. So, on to the previous issues... Skirting Our IDs remarked that leaving the skirting (both upstairs and downstairs) wood-toned would give the house a warm feeling, and that white would be trendier and more "young". But that if we change either one, the other one should match as well (our IDs are all about uniformity and non-clashing of tones ). Decision: Our skirting, both 1st and 2nd floor, shall be painted white (A big thank you to everyone who shared their opinions!). Windows The site manager removed the stickers around the windows today for us to make a better decision. Turns out, the thin black lines in the window panes are not stickers, but the actual rubber that lines windows! Decision: Since there's thin black rubber, we shall go with the black handles. Guess our windows shall look more funky than clean! The bathroom doors are here! (again, the thick black strips are stickers) Our quartz tops, installed. HappyAng, this is for you! The tracks are behind the drawers The fixed glass panel for our foyer (shall take more pictures of this area when our hooks are drilled in) finally arrived! I am seriously too in love with mint. I need to start making sure I don't fill the whole house with mint-colored things Our study table (I love the color)! The boy and I finally have a table long enough for both of us to work on at the same time Looking forward to seeing the balcony doors. Our site manager says it should come over the weekend.
  8. Looking to sell it at $200. It's brand new, still in the box. PM me if you're interested and we can negotiate!
  9. 7 votes for white skirting so far! Looks like that's what we shall be doing Shall meet the ID tomorrow and finalize this. IDs also informed us that we can go through the areas that we want rectified tomorrow when we meet. Wow, sounds like more has been done since we last went to our place on Sunday (otherwise, why would they do rectification so soon). On another note, went to Robinsons Centrepoint today to make full payment for the mattress. Cannot believe what happened to us (again!). 2 weeks ago, Robinsons Raffles City called us up to inform that if we went down to make full payment for my mom's simmons mattress, we get a complimentary nespresso U machine. So okay we did, and we got a nespresso machine. But our friend had already bought the same U machine for us as a wedding gift! (which also explains why I still have a brand new Nespresso U that's sitting in its box, waiting for someone to want it ) And now for the best part. Today, as we were sitting at the mattress counter at Robinsons Centrepoint, making full payment for our own mattress (because delivery is next week), the salesperson happily said to us, "Hold on while I process the payment and get your complimentary coffee machine." ANOTHER ONE? Seriously, are Nespresso machines that cheap or something?! This time, we got a Nespresso Pixie. It would have been if it was another Nespresso U.
  10. Current vote: 5! Thank you for contributing! Thank you! We just wanted to make sure that we had enough storage in the house so that we can keep it from looking cluttered! PM-ed you! Yeah, we considered many options, but decided that it was more important that we pick what is nicer. We can touch up on our own when it gets too dirty to tahan Thank you SeirenGrey! Our curtain problem was solved quite soon after I posted about the problem, hahaha. But no roller blinds installed, oops But roller blinds are quite sleek! Saw them all around and initially wanted them. But they don't quite go with our house's general look, so we went for venetian blinds & curtains instead. Looking forward to more pictures of your place once renovations start!
  11. I know what you mean! And you have a cat and dogs Love it.
  12. Hope it went well for you! Update on how it goes!
  13. Your choice of lights and tiles are fantastic! Love the light that you say looks lonely without more friends. It's gorgeous! And a random observation: your current mint main gate is so lovely! Looking forward to seeing more photos! All the best with your renovation
  14. 4 votes for white skirting! Mixed reviews about the windows More opinions welcomed! Thank you so much to those who took the time out to read and comment
  15. Eh... in our quotation, the pull-out deep drawers for the staircase is under Carpentry, and it's $1450. The IDs charged according to the length (per foot run?). The Blum hinges and tracks for these drawers was $60 (including GST) in total. I can't quite remember what drawer we used! But the Blum quotation has 170 degree hinges, Blumotion and Mounting Plates. Haha, I am so noob And yah, the internals are PVC white. Didn't laminate it because the drawers are laminated white to go with the staircase risers, so we left the internals PVC white as well. It'll probably yellow (and get small stains) with time like the PVC internals in my mom's house. But it's storage, so out of sight, out of mind! Hahaha Eh... the customized powder coat for the windows are off-white, to match the paint on the wall. We chose Wedding White from ICI Dulux for the walls. Another vote for white skirting! Hahaha, Makanology, yes I know you would. I'm going to look out for pictures of your funky window in your t-blog!
  16. Thank you for your opinion! We're going to see how "sticky" the thin strips are and decide if it's feasible to leave the stickers there (because if the sticker will peel eventually, our handles would still be in black, which would then look odd ). Thank you for your suggestion too! You think the black handles are alright, even with the whole window white? Thank you for the compliment! I can only hope it does turn out the way I want it to. So stressful! Hi potatoes! Thank you so much for your compliment! I always read your comments in the EM t-blogs We quite liked the pull-out drawers when our IDs suggested it to us. Like you, they stressed on how it was a smarter way of utilizing every corner
  17. Wow, I have to give credit to my IDs for this. We only started thinking about the curtains late last night, and that was when concerns started popping up in our heads. Messaged our ID and he got back to us this morning, asking us in detail what our concerns were. The boy spoke to the ID over the phone and the ID agreed with us about it being weird if the curtains are shorter than the wardrobes. He said he'd call us back after he calls his wife and the curtain maker to discuss. Just as I posted the previous long post asking for help, the boy called to tell me that our ID called him and they have noted our concerns and the curtain maker has revised his suggestions. Our curtain problem is solved! So now I only have to have a headache over the window and skirting
  18. Oh dear, so many decisions to make, and racing against time because CNY is drawing close. Quite confused because I hate having to make decisions without seeing the actual outcome first. But obviously, you can't really wait to see the outcome before deciding if you want it Comments and opinions are WARMLY welcomed! 1. Our windows currently look like this because the black strips are stickers, stuck on to prevent paint from getting onto the frame. However, the window handles are black because apparently window handles can't be powder coated. The window maker only has 4 standard colors to choose from for the handles (black, white, bronze and I-forgot-the-last-choice). Our window frames are powder coated to a color that we customized to watch our off-white walls, so the standard white window handle doesn't match our off-white window frames. The window maker chose the black handles for us, thinking it would be the best option out of the 4 standard colors. However, it's odd. ID suggested we could spray paint the handles to better match our frames, but spray painting means the paint will come off eventually. Should we... a. spray paint the handles b. leave the handles in black c. leave the handles in black and not remove the thin black strips lining each window pane so that there's some black to match the handles (although I can't decide if this would look weird) 2. We originally had to paint our wood skirting on the first floor white because the parquet on the 2nd floor was dark wood with a slightly red tinge. The IDs thought they couldn't reverse the staining done by previous owner, so they could only varnish and make the parquet brighter. But that would mean the staircase parquet strips would have to be stained to match the parquet on the 2nd floor. Naturally, this would also affect the wood tone on the first floor, so in order to not have a mess of wood tones, the IDs suggested we paint the wood skirting on the first floor white (instead of stain the skirting on the 1st floor just to match the parquet strips on the stairs & 2nd floor parquet, because then the 1st floor skirting would clash with our wood laminates in the kitchen). Are you confused yet? But, the good news is, after they varnished the 2nd floor parquet yesterday, they managed to remove much of the redness from the wood because apparently the staining by the previous owner didn't eat too well into the parquet So now our 2nd floor parquet is closer to a walnut tone, which means our staircase strips don't have to be stained too much just to match the 2nd floor parquet. Which means the skirting on the first floor can actually be varnished to be a little darker, but still retain its wood tone instead of having to be painted white! But the IDs did such a good job persuading me that the first floor skirting had to be painted white (because I was such a sucker for natural wood tone) so as not to clash with everything else, that I now can't imagine it in natural wood finish! Should we... a. leave the first floor skirting the way it is in natural wood tone b. paint the first floor skirting white (I'm actually leaning towards this because I don't want the skirting to draw attention away from our furniture) 2.5. Mom's bedroom.Our bedroom. The issue above about the first floor skirting also made me think about the skirting on the 2nd floor. Should we paint it white too to make the place more interesting? Because dark wood skirting seems a little "obiang". 3. Using the same pictures of the bedrooms above, the last issue that needs deciding on: Curtains. The curtain maker suggested curtains that reach the floor. We quite agree with him because we looked at a few pictures and also studied a few places where we spotted curtains that only just cover the window frame, and felt that short curtains often come off as a little cheap, especially when mismatched with the rest of the room's look. So long curtains it is! But, the problem now is, where should the curtain start? Ceiling or under the beam? If you take a look at the picture of our bedroom and our mom's bedroom, our wardrobes are quite tall and almost reach the ceiling. If our curtains start from below the beam, it would look SUPER odd right? The wardrobes would be taller than the curtains Also, looking specifically at our bedroom, there's hardly any space between our wardrobe and the windows (as it is, when we open the door of the last panel, it hits the beam. but that's a small hiccup that our IDs say they can solve when we meet on site on Friday). Should we... a. start our curtains (for both bedrooms) from the beam anyway because it'll look alright (though I highly doubt it would ) b. start our curtains (for our bedroom) from the ceiling, just have usual curtains that are drawn from both sides and squeeze a panel of curtains between the wardrobe and window c. start our curtains from the ceiling, but for that part of the room, let the curtains draw from only one side of the wall
  19. Looks similar to the flooring we're using for our first floor! Or maybe it's just me generalizing again Enjoy your renovation!
  20. I can imagine how it looks like though! I've been to a few houses that have the toilet bowl super close to the wall (I always feel so uncomfortable squeezing in!). I'll take a better picture of my level 1 washroom once it's done and post it here just so you have more references if you want
  21. It's completely up to you, but I say get more! We got around 10 quotes before deciding which one to go with. It was quite a headache because we ended up having so many things to consider. But the good thing was, we at least knew that we weren't getting "chopped" because most of the quotes came back to be about the same. Why not just get 1 or 2 quotes from good IDs, and during the meetings, you could get more ideas that you can use when you eventually hire a contractor?
  22. Looks like your renovation is moving fast too! Moving in before CNY? Amazed by your contractor's/your attention to details! I should learn from you and pay attention to these things too
  23. It's so great to know there are people out there who care! I volunteer at an animal shelter and it's so frustrating trying to educate people about why it's not about the exotic breed or price tag. Thank you both for adopting!
  24. Sorry to hijack! Just wondering, does your quote include plumbing and piping works as well? Our rewiring was also close to 7k, and our aircon is 2.8k (system 2, Mitsubishi Starmex Inverter). I don't know about piping above 15m and additional charges, but I know that when the telcos come to install fibre/opennet (don't know what else, very bad with these technical things ), they charge extra for longer wires (or something like that). If your washroom downstairs was originally with a toilet bowl, then you shouldn't have to customize anything, unless you're changing location of the toilet bowl? Ours was just figuring out if it was S or P type. Forgot which one is more expensive
  25. Eh... that's a good question! I have no clue I think it may be below the shelves? I only know it's Blum, does that help? It's soft closing and the shelves are heavy (if you compare to normal drawers) but not too heavy (I can easily open the shelves on my own and I'm rather small in size). I'm going down again on Friday to rectify some stuff so I'll remind myself to find out! Thank you! We hope it helps us with storing away things that would otherwise mess up the house and ruin the look. There's another compartment behind these 3 main shelves, but that compartment is just the usual store-room type (one big empty space), with 2 swing doors that open out (supposedly at a wider-than-normal angle). I realize now that I didn't check that compartment at all. Another thing to note for Friday! (so many things to take note of, how do people remember! ) You're welcome I hope they still have it in stock! I found the receipt and it's $69. Got it during their sales period, so there was a 10% discount. Not sure if they still have that going on, you can check!
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