3Dyms

Sorry for the late reply. Have dropped you a PM.

You can try people's park complex. Opposite the road, near Lucky Chinatown and Smith Street also have a few Jade stores. Alternatively, you can go The Bencoolen. Good luck. Hope you find what you need.

Can go Chinatown and try. I only buy grade A jadeite bangles, but I've come across quite a few shops selling grade B/C jadeite items (not just bangles). Most shops even if they are selling grade B/C, they will tell you it's grade A. Cos grade A commands higher prices and most people will only want to buy fully untreated grade A jadeite.

You can get wooden blinds from most curtain shops. I got mine from a curtain shop at IMM.

Ecolinks do have the stuffs you r looking for. Especially flowery fabric sofas. I also recall seeing a flowery sofa set from Picket & Rail before. Good luck. I love furniture hunting.

Eeerrr.. Sorry. But a newbie starting a thread just to recommend & praise their ID is questionable. I don't see any other postings or being involved in other discussions.

I'm using Fisher & Paykel for my fridge. My first F&P fridge passed down from my parents lasted more then 10-yrs. For washer & dryer, I've been using Ariston. My first Ariston lasted for about 8-yrs b4 it died. Even then it spoilt due to maid negligence. She kept on overloading the machine even though I told her umpteen times not to do so. I'm now using a 9kg Ariston front load washer under the Aqualtis range. I've even shifted the fridge, washer & dryer from my old house, left them in storage for 4 months then brought over to my current unit. All still in great working condition.

Ecolinks also has nice country Victorian style furnishings. Can got there and take a look. I've purchased my sofa, bed frame and side tables from them. Sofa is more then 2-yrs and my bedroom set coming to 1-yr. So far no problems. I had good buying experience from them.

I'm staying on the 3rd floor, so it's considered pretty low. I was also concerned with home security. Besides installing grills, I actually signed up for a home security monitoring service with ADT. This ADT home security is a 3-yr contract, renewable every yr. They will install motion detector and door alarm. In the event the alarm is triggered, it will send an alarm to ADT HQ. ADT will then call me on my mobile to verify. If I do not respond to their calls, a patrol car will be send to my house to check out the situation. I even have a ADT sign pasted outside my door. So far so good. You may like to consider such service if you really worried about security. To me, I rather prevent a burglar from even trying to break into my home in the first place. Especially with young kids at home, I don't want to take the chance. When we think of home security, we have to think like a burglar. Would the burglar want to break into a home that has grills and even has a ADT sign outside their door? High chance that burglar will go choose a much easier target. Prevention is better then cure. Be safe not sorry.

To be honest, if I'm given a choice again, I'd stay far away from Manhattan Collection. I've gotten other country Victorian furnitures from Ecolinks (at Park Mall) and I would say Ecolinks far surpasses Manhattan Collection in terms of service and product quality & finishing. The dining set I got from Manhattan is a disappointment. The wood is not smoothed down properly. Can still see humps & bumps. The paintwork is not nicely done. Overall, it just looks cheap. Not worth the price and grief I went thru. If you can, go down to Ecolinks and have a look see. Their prices are competitive esp during the the GSS period. Good luck & have fun furniture shopping.

Hi there... Sorry I din see your posting earlier. Thanks for loving my home deco. Have dropped you a PM.

Hi Aspialle, Have dropped you a PM. Feel free to contact me if you need more clarifications yah.

When you buy furniture, the most important thing is never to pay in full. Just pay partial deposit. If the shop does not allow you to pay deposit, I'd walk away. Too many scary cases of furniture shops winding up suddenly and the customers are left with no recourse. Good luck and have fun furniture shopping.

Finally.... Updated pic of my dining area with the right dining table & chairs. Got these from Manhattan Collection but it was a drawn out affair. To cut a long story short, initial delivery date was 1st week August. Then I was advised that the shipment is delayed due to Hari Raya and because these were ordered from Indonesia, thus the delay. Later on, I was advised my initial choice for dining table was no longer available. Had to go down the shop to choose again. Then the fabric of the chairs had to be re-selected. In the end, after all the mess I finally got my dining set delivered on 1st week of Nov. Delay of 4 whole months. Thankfully I had my old dining table and was in no major hurry except I had to keep pushing back my housewarming party. My verdict, overall workmanship is ok. Some issues of the wood not sand smooth enough and the fabric for all the chairs are not totally aligned properly, but after 4 months of waiting, emails & SMSes flying to/fro, I simply did not want further delays. I was also terrified of being left without any furniture esp when I keep hearing of furniture shops closing down. Too scary a thought. So here are the pics of my European theme dining table and a close up of the carvings highlighted in gold.