matchalatte
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Everything posted by matchalatte
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@Clarence Lye was wondering where you went, you seemed to have MIA-ed for a few weeks then i saw your progress pics again. yay! anyway i painted my household shelter the same paint as the one for wall. honestly not such a good idea, already see some chips and scratches like during opening of door your fingernails will kena but then glossy is worse. not really intune with my theme. did you feedback to yr ID? will they rectify? paying so much and then having to sand down yourself, you sure? @stray thank you for following! <3 haha my old home was just very basic, mostly ikea stuff and very white. i guess partly its because dark colors are in trend now, also because i really like the cosy look, in fact i wanted my home to look like a hotel cigar room with heavy woods and chesterfield sofa but i guess a more modern approach would be better lol, didnt want to regret my choice next time. @inchvbeam yes its LED, here you go : https://m.intl.taobao.com/detail/detail.html?spm=a1z5f.7632060.0.0&id=552879234590 honestly not such a practical light since its very high up on the ceiling so you definitely need a ladder. not for the fainthearted! secondly the box is fastened with 4 screws on a plate that is screwed to the ceiling. you'll also need two components, the bulb itself and the led driver and i've bought spares from the seller. havent really opened up to take a look yet but i may try and figure out myself first. basically all lights have 2 wires, the blue & brown one. so will see if i can change it myself in future if not either will need to call the electrician or if its too troublesome and expensive to maintain in the long run then i may consider using spotlights but maybe in screwable E27 form. not much lighting in the living room. entranceway i have a double COB, dining room the rose gold 4 light pendant, also a double COB in the living room area above the coffee table. the rest i will be using floor lamps and table lamps. not a fan of overhead lights much. @pandacel ugh really need to find a place to stay? im thinking at most need to use the coffee shop toilet anyway i dont think my room parquet can tahan anymore reno. already had a hole + multiple scratches on my MBR parquet during reno, may have to get the floor replaced together if i hack the toilet one day lol. i think the problem with uneven walls and floor DO exist with hdb flats! might be because the ceiling is uneven or something thats why yr aircon still looks not aligned. recently i bought curtains and bookshelves from ikea. when assembled i feel that my curtain doesnt look even on the floor and my billy bookcase has gaps in between each one. maybe i should have gone with blackboard paint. vinilex isnt very good at all coz its latex. suppose if you have a chip of the paint you can actually peel off the whole layer of it. guess the plus point is latex paint dont smell as awful as the old type our parents used. i suppose vinilex + matex is ok for white walls & ceiling where chips and scratches arent obvious at all. since i have mostly dark grey and black, i should have used another paint instead sigh. haha no idea when i will have completed pics of my home. my sofa, dining chairs & rugs are still in china waiting to be shipped. but i do have some pics around the house where i will upload when my internet is up. currently using 4G :-/ ok girl! awaiting your blog @Raylowwl here you go : https://m.intl.taobao.com/detail/detail.html?spm=a1z5f.7632060.0.0&id=523943417554 its has to be drilled since its L shaped. the plumber did it for me. i have no idea if it can be glued, maybe check with the seller? but honestly i wouldnt really recommend. even with drilling, i feel that the middle part isnt really stable, you need to pull the curtain veryyyy gently. -
hello @peonyblush here you go : https://m.intl.taobao.com/detail/detail.html?spm=a1z5f.7632060.0.0&id=534818125606
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painting touchups! the area between the main gate and door has been painted the same color as the living room, which is puritan black. frames were painted with black swan. i think this area is always the most neglected? because people dont usually paint it. bomb shelter door also painted with black swan. super love this color, has the bachelor pad vibe lol. honestly im not liking this vinilex 5000 much, or maybe its all latex paint in general but i find that they come off wayyyy easily. just one scratch and you can actually see the white paint underneath. dark colors are also not easy to maintain at all so i reckon my home will be super high in maintenance :-/
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@spooky thank you dear! hope you're settling well into your beautiful home. miss you so much! @binchotan sorry to hear that, it was the same for me! plus they couldnt advise what type size compressor was suitable, and didnt brief us about how the trunking was to run, ended up with trunkings all over the place and the cooling was ineffective. @pandacel haha i still hate them toilet tiles. wished HDB would have better sense than that tbh. white tiles like this is so passe. ikr, for the most part i wanted to overlay the bathrooms so bad but that would set me back by about $6K for 2 bathrooms. crazy. guess i'll just hold it out for 3 years and then hack instead. hmm i wonder how come the aircon unit was tilted. did they measure before putting it up? i didnt know its more troublesome for overlaid bathrooms. for mine, tim wong also made 3 trips - 1 for site survey, the other to run the trunking and finally the fan coils. did you do boxup for the trunking? fingers crossed for you, girl! let me know how the rectification goes! yeah i taken a few baths with the rainshower. unfortunately the water pressure at my block has been v weak. called BSC but they couldnt (i think they simply refuse to) fix, saying its the max already. i think it IS better than the default sanitaryware that HDB gives, but nothing to shout about seriously. staying with my grandma for the time being and her old 3 room flat on the 3rd floor has super duper strong water pressure, sooo envious! anyway black & gold rainshower is nice as well, i wanted it actually but hubby said he was afraid the gold would fade or something. is yours the kind with the buttons to adjust the different modes or just the one with normal turn valve? actually white & gold is nice as well! how i wish we can just change the rainshower as and when haha. currently not much updates for the bedrooms and living. buying all my stuff like sofa, coffee table, dining chairs etc from taobao, the rest like bookcase and dining table will be from IKEA, they're still sitting prettily flatpacked in the middle of my living room lol. girl you should blog please! or send me pm, i wanna see your home leh!
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so plumbing happened more than a week ago and i only have time to blog. gosh. the completed bathroom look. everything you see here is from taobao, except for that grey soap dispenser, which is from IKEA lol. i love everything i bought, and so far everything is working, including the mirror with lights. i also love the black shower rod and even bought black shower curtain rings to go with it. whats missing here is a wooden mat that looks like a deck flooring for the shower area. it will arrive in my next shipment. also got the plumber to fix a ledge above the toilet bowl. tentatively going to put some things up like a painting, aromatherapy diffuser or a plant. obviously its not going to be a food-related one like you see above, but this is the only picture frame i have right now lol another view closeup of the black stone sink and faucet. the stopper in the middle was also bought separately. the sink was ok but i feel that it wasnt sloped well resulting in pooling at some areas. on hindsight i should have bought a smaller one. this 60cm looks kinda oversized in my small bathroom as its even bigger than my kitchen sink. so far so good for the faucet except water marks are really obvious because its black. apart from having the bidet spray for the 2 bathrooms, i also have one in the service yard! bought a two outlet faucet from taobao as well, one connects to the spray the other connects to the washing machine. kitchen details appliances will arrive on the 20th, internet activation on the 21st so tentative move in date will be on 21st!
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i dont think quartz is porous. its a manmade stone, unlike real marble which is natural hence porous. https://countertopguides.com/guides/pros-and-cons-of-quartz-countertops.html
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sweetie, i didnt sand! im not as particular, in fact i didnt even spray the other side since it wont be visible lol. im just very slipshod when it comes to things like these. shortcut is my middle name lol so how many times would gain city have to come back? they didnt run the trunking the first time? hopefully your aircon will be great both in installation and operation. post a review as well on how you think gaincity did, im curious to know haha. yeah hopefully you will do a review on your contractor and post some pics of the final result. would love to see your beautiful home, one that i "helped" inspire lol. i hope to move in on the 20th, coz thats when gaincity delivers all my appliances. then again i have no idea when my internet will be up, hopefully soon. sorry i havent had the time to reply earlier. it was just crazy the past few days. hubby works so im left to fend for myself lol. virtually just handling everything alone :-/
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hello girl! thanks! you wont believe but its just laminate. i used lamitak's marmo classico, and its plywood underneath. is marble looking solid surface expensive? i didnt want solid surface because i hear you still cannot put hot stuff directly on it since its resin afterall, and white would discolor after sometime. if you're apprehensive about your choice, lets just say its "fingers crossed" for me since im not sure how long the laminate would last in areas with heavy flow of water. we'll see lol
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i've been so crazy busy these few days! no time to even update the blog at all. heres a sneak peek : basically plumbing is done, floor protection and other debris cleared, gas connection also up so i've been scrubbing, cleaning and making frequent trips to IKEA and arranging for my appliances. carpenter is coming over to put the drawers back today so hopefully i will have better pics soon!
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hey girl! by lights behind you mean those T5 kinda tube light? i wont be having it, since i already have lights behind my mirror. so not an issue i guess. i didnt do any prep work, its so high above and in black nobody's gonna scrutinize lol. so what will you be doing to your taobao light if you hubby's against spraying? buy another one in white? i think if the light is mounted on the ceiling you wont be able to see even if there are indeed bubbles. of course if its table/floor lamp then its another story altogether. oh oh ok, i think uncles doing the aircon should be ok since they should be more experienced. so far the trunking looks ok on the outside? do you have a blog btw? would love to read about your reno journey!
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hey girl! by lights behind you mean those T5 kinda tube light? i wont be having it, since i already have lights behind my mirror. so not an issue i guess. i didnt do any prep work, its so high above and in black nobody's gonna scrutinize lol. so what will you be doing to your taobao light if you hubby's against spraying? buy another one in white? i think if the light is mounted on the ceiling you wont be able to see even if there are indeed bubbles. of course if its table/floor lamp then its another story altogether. oh oh ok, i think uncles doing the aircon should be ok since they should be more experienced. so far the trunking looks ok on the outside? do you have a blog btw? would love to read about your reno journey!
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jjang! presenting to you the first ever DIY of my new home! 5 hours, 10 cans of black matte spray paint and a pair of very sore arms later, here it is : yep i spray painted the plastic grating used to cover up the pipes. they've been an eyesore to me for a long time. i've seen folks changing them to acrylic panels but i didnt want to spend a few hundred bucks on it so i decided to do this. i think it looks very "industrial" and actually match the black ceiling so much better. another close up. honestly im pretty desperate to find all ways to doll up the ugly bathroom. if i had the moolah to overlay the bathrooms, they would definitely be dark, cozy and i would want dark grey or black hexagonal concrete tiles. oh well. havent decided if i want to paint the frames black but i think this is a pretty cool contrast. and since it was already dark by the time i was done, here are some random shots of the night lights. view from the living room super love those COB box lights! i wished i bought more and could have more lighting points around the house haha. the electrician also helped me to install the curtain brackets from IKEA. thank you <3 plumbing tmrw, til then!
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@Clarence Lye good good, i see that your aircon installation looks pretty well done. did they test the unit whether its working after installing? @binchotan mind sharing what went wrong with your mom's installation? i've always heard of them subbing out the work to some unskilled indian workers and sometimes during installation they will bend the pipes wrongly resulting in leaks. i didnt want to take the risk. @pandacel good luck dear! please come back and feedback on the installation tmrw! let us know how it is? @plady thanks for the kind words! i will do a final review of my contractor after my reno is over, so i wont be revealing for the time being. i dont have the carpenter's direct contact nor any of his subcons btw.
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love your carpentry! the color is really pretty, and i adore the colored PVC! it looks like wood with the grains, unlike mine which i find it a tad too dark. your black oven is to die for omg. how much did you pay? both my ovens are from bosch's cheapest range haha. you didnt overlay yr common bath's toilet? im also trying to dress mine up with black bathroom accessories. fingers crossed they'll look decent. i totally second what you say about needing to chase and errors that dont get mentioned, dont get rectified. its the same for me actually. but at least several of your things get done together, like what you said about 10 people working on your house at the same time. no such luck for me. my contractor prefers to just do 1 thing at one time, and after 1 job is done he will then arrange for the next. sigh.
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kitchen backsplash is up! i didnt know it was going to be today, the glass guys sprang a surprise on me as i was about to leave. it was completed in 5 mins! i wanted grey, but hubby wanted green, so green it was. hubby said we already have lots of grey around the house and green would match our service yard windows and door much better. sigh, i suppose this is ok but looks like a pretty common color to have. this is the normal white so it has some green tinge to it. hubby said its not green enough so i teased him and said maybe we should have gone for a hulk/pea green instead? haha carpenter removed the drawers since he said the plumber might not know how to do it lol. i was contemplating about having the ikea fintorp hanging rod to hang stuff like scissors, cutlery etc but decided against it in the end since it will just make my small kitchen look even more messy. with the LED lighting strip turned on. i've always hated recessed lights, hence cove lights were a big NO NO for me. but i thought maybe under cabinet lighting wouldnt be so bad but i still dont like it much. this looks like a fish tank to me so i think i wont be switching this on often. next will be plumbing. cant wait to get my taps and rainshowers installed!
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@Clarence Lye haha because the fridge is not here yet. i cannot imagine how cramped my tiny kitchen will be when the fridge is here :-/ @pandacel hows the gain city installation? i heard lots of horror stories about their aircon. my old house's aircon was done by courts and it was very bad, so i told myself no more aircon from megastores! as for the internal colored pvc, it was something i felt i didnt want to scrimp on as i hate the look of white PVC so i went ahead with it. i know you could probably save a few hundred bucks, but since i didnt have lots of carpentry compared to many people, i guess i could afford to have it lol. @purplegirafffe YASSS hopefully soon!! the journey is soooo long, i feel so sian now haha. is your reno journey coming to an end as well? i would be over the moon the day i can start cleaning. @fingerscross thanks! im relieved my lights all work. this wasnt something i expected. you're welcome about the paint. i think i've started to like puritan black. it looks bluer than i would like but the color did grow on me eventually and at least it looks grey for the most part lol
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its picture time again! isnt it amazing when (good) things happen together all at once? two days ago my carpentry was more or less complete with the installation of my cabinet doors, drawer fronts and table top. then yesterday the electrician came over to install the lights and switches followed by tim wong's guys for the 2nd installation of the fancoil units. first of all some pics of the final carpentry : top/bottom cabinets. best picture i could manage. for the top i have 4 flip up doors and all drawers at the bottom. the carpenter uncle also did a pretty box up for the gas pipe in the color of my top cabinets! laminates used are stateroom eames teak for the top and truffle for the bottom. counter top is marmo classico, a marble print laminate. he also managed to squeeze in both a pull out table AND a small cutlery tray below the hob. im amazed. and also despite the fact that the pull out table is technically a drawer, im happy it was a piece of laminate and not colored PVC for the surface. wardrobe doors with recessed handles. exactly what i wanted and envisioned! i was apprehensive at first because i wasnt sure if the carpenter could do something like this and my contractor didnt have any ref pics of his past projects so i randomly pulled off some pics from google for him. there were a few variations but i liked this one the most. i think it adds interestingness to an otherwise boring casement wardrobe. for the laminate i chose lamitak's nappa misty grey, a leather textured laminate. think of it as a grey birkin bag but in wardrobe form lol. vanity with 2 drawers. my matte black stone basin is from taobao and i think the quality is really good. my tall faucet is also matte black and i may just do an unboxing later. the carpenter uncle only took the basin out to measure the cut out for the hole. like i mentioned earlier, contrary to what many people are using for countertop i've chosen to use wood. laminates used are nappa blanco, a white leather grained one for the countertop and hermes marcello walnut for the vanity. and onto the lights! i've chosen to buy all my lights from taobao. to be honest i wasnt expecting some of them to work so i bought quite a few as backups. so imagine my suprise when all of them ACTUALLY worked! it was even better than winning the lottery. bought this copper/rose gold pendant light for my island work area and im so in love with it! another view apart from the dining and bathrooms, i've decided to go with these black COB box LED spotlights for all the rest of the house. i think they look very cosy and lend a nice ambience! no need to crack my head to think of what light to use for each room. i think my teak laminate actually looks better under those lights too lol switches inside tall unit. i honestly have no idea what im going to with a socket there but i most likely would wanna put a coffee machine in there. the tall unit actually looks very pretty in real because i have chosen to use the wood grain laminate for the body and grey for the doors. my two ovens with a flip up door at the top to house the microwave. since i will be using back my 10 year old microwave convection oven which looks abit worn, its better not to put it out on display lol service yard area. im actually thinking of planting herbs here so this will be my mini garden. view of the inside of the wardrobe. $2 geometric bathroom light with edison filament bulb. yes you got that right my bathroom ceiling is painted a dark charcoal black. i soon found out that these edison bulbs look better when...switched off. because the light is soooo orangey and dingy! i hate it and im getting it changed asap. the same COB box lights for my MBR. low hanging brass bedside lights. i so love these! so i guess thats about it! really happy with the progress thus far. the next step would be for the glass kitchen backsplash to be installed followed by plumbing. i really cant wait to see my gold kitchen faucet and matte black sanityware in action. also cant wait to move in and personalize my space with a gallery wall and my favorite monstera plants. right now im getting like a weird bachelor pad condo showflat vibe, something not really what i've envisioned lol
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hello yes its true. probably 10-20 years ago there were only paint in various shades of white ie. lily white, apple white, and things were alot less complicated then lol. most of the time they would look more or less accurate. they say grey is the trickiest color. if i could do it all over again, i would probably look at the CYMK component of the color, then buy a small tub of paint and paint samples on the wall. thats the only way out. looking at paint chips or catalog just isnt accurate at all esp where grey is concerned.
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thanks! your carpentry's looking great! and with a decent sized kitchen (unlike mine) theres no need for pull out table top actually.
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i had the same problem with my puritan black. basically you want a grey that has no blue or red undertones ie. one that is just black mixed with white. according to this : http://encycolorpedia.com/e1e2e4 yours has some cyan and magenta in it, thats why it looks both blue & purple. i made the same mistake as well! mine has alot of cyan actually no wonder it looks so blue. wished i did more research about undertones before i chose the color
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i totally understand what you mean about these little hiccups. its extremely stressful, most of the part its due to miscommunication so its largely unforseen. at the end of the day its more important they're willing to rectify. also i think tilers are old school in general, done by uncles and what not. they will do the plastic capping border by default, actually i have them on my kitchen door entrance also, which means you can still spot them in new HDB. do you have them at your kitchen doorway? those plastic cappings are a big NO NO to me also. but the least they could do is to find a matching border. your shower kerb one looks like they just mindlessly put a white capping on your grey (?) tiles. black one would at least look better.
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hello chris! i have no idea, will check with my contractor.
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carpentry in progress part 2! as a continuation of my previous post, i went over today and see more work done, so pleased. when i went there yesterday and left around 12pm, the carpenter uncle continued working and within a mere few hours, he got so many things done. hes like the carpenter on steroids lol. i wonder if he even had a break. dish rack and cooker hood up. i will have 4 flip up doors at the top so virtually everything will be covered. pull out table top at service yard make that two! island counter mounted up with two holes cut out for the double sockets. i tried putting the socket plates in and they stuck out like a sore thumb, literally. the white plates just dont look good, i may get them spray painted black before the electrician comes over! the other side of the island, those are shallow shelves and will be covered with doors. vanity counters for both bathrooms also up. i will have 2 drawers, a big and a small. top portion of the full height wardrobe is also up. the room light switch will also be relocated to the side of the wardrobe. honestly this is so pretty i cant stop admiring. there will be doors but im already regretting because i think they look better without doors, almost has the feels of a walk in wardrobe. but of course when the clothes start coming in, it will look messy so i guess doors arent such bad idea afterall. by the next update i hope my marble laminate top will be up already. till then!
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@spikeling@Raylowwl unfortunately i do not have direct contact with the carpenter, i will need to check with my contractor. as for my contractor's contact, i would prefer not to share it now! will do a final review (and reveal) after my reno is over. hope you understand @angell thanks! i think the workmanship is pretty decent too. yes the boxup will be done after the backsplash is up. i saw a wooden tube in the color of the kitchen cabinet which i believe is the boxup.
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hello!! the wait is finally over. carpentry has finally commenced after waiting for a month! the ABS trimming for the doors are not ready hence the carpenter uncle started on the carcasses today. here some pics to share. top/bottom kitchen cabinet full height for my 2 ovens & fridge close up on the drawers beside fridge drawer below sink. yes im having tons of drawers! cooker hob area bottom cabinet with 2 pull outs and 4 drawers at service yard half done full height wardrobe with 5 drawers at the hacked area. another view my island counter with 6 drawers on one side and shallow storage on the other side. its upturned at 90 degree btw. at the two ends will be two double sockets so i can use my kitchenaid, ice cream maker and steamboat! im pretty impressed at the workmanship! i also love the choice of colors for my laminate and internal colored PVC. i purposely chose something dark. contrary to what most people are doing for their countertop that is quartz, granite, solid surface or kompacplus, i've chosen to use a marble print laminate. i dont see why not, people used postforming laminates in the past and it served them well for many years. the uncle carpenter works alone and im really amazed at his speed and strength. contractor says he prefers to use carpenters who work alone rather than in groups to ensure the quality. cant wait to see everything coming together.
