tikiman

Just finished another "random" floor tile design for the rooms. Each tile is 14.5 x 60cm. We divided the length into 5cm intervals and arranged a design for 12 tiles. As usual, used photoshop to create a birdeye view of how it would look.

Ah meng has finished tiling the hall. ah wheng (the tao-chew) advised us to use white grout, and it turned out beautiful, looking like real wood flooring. But before tikimum can snap a picture, they covered the floor with cardboard to protect it.

Will pm u the contact.

no problem, today went to HoHo Engrg and they have a similar door in their catalogue. thanks

I notice your doors are very different. where did you get them as we have been looking for such doors. thanks

This morning, the tiler, Ah Meng started to lay the floor tiles. We like him. he is very meticulous in his work. In our quest to have wood-like porcelain tiles, we did lot of research on the different length, quality and installation processes. We have been adviced by sales person at SBH that we have to keep a 2mm gap between tiles. This is due of possible warping. We also heard of such occurrence with long tiles that comes from china. The large spacing will be an issue in the later years when the grouting starts to look dirty and trap dirt. The betulla tiles we choose did not warp, and I told Ah meng to lay them as close as possible (within 1mm). We also told him that in an event where the tile beside looks about the same, either twist it 180degree or place it somewhere else. Update: After completing tiling the hall, ah meng told me there were few piece of the betulla tiles that were slightly warped.

On Saturday, we designed our 'random' floor tile arrangement to show the tiler how it should be laid. Each tile is 16 x 100cm. We divided the length into 5cm intervals to arrange the design as random as possible for 20 tiles. Why 20? 20 tiles will produce 3.2m width, when visitors come into the house, they will not notice the repetition. A photoshopped birdeye view:

thanks makanlogy.

thanks.

This morning we started our DIY with the MBR door. Sanding away the lacquer on one side of the door was fast as I borrowed my dad's electric sander using 180 grit paper. After cleaning away the dust, we can see the color of nyatoh wood. We started painting, and then we noticed that the door was cracked, just like the main door. On closer inspection, we found that the second bedroom door and lock were also damaged. TikiGrand said his present room doors are still in excellent condition after 20 years!! TikiFamily came to a conclusion that the previous owner has an explosive temper. We had earlier hoped to salvage the solid wooden doors but now, we decided to change all the doors and give our new home a brand new, happy and comfortable aura. . To cheer Tikimum up, we went back to EquipDesign to look for a door bell button and we bought this

hi gerglhc, thanks for the info. it is real tedious work, and we know. that is why very few contractor will do it. most will just ask us to change new doors. our doors are nyatoh. do you have to contact of the subcon? and how much he charge for doing the door?

Both of us are upset with our contractor today. Not that he is not doing his job, in fact he is on top of things and operation are moving smoothly. It is that he is set in his methods and not as resourceful as we hope he could be. We want our existing room doors sand-down, white-washed and matt vanish. His painter said dunno how to do it, his door vanisher said cannot do it. If tom sawyer and hucklerberry finn can do it, don't see why those guys with years of experience cannot. I feel that my contractor should take the effort to find others who is willing to do it instead of giving me excuses. Tikimum said we will DO IT OURSELVES. So this weekend, armed with an electric sander, sand paper, white paint & brushes. we will rub some elbow grease test out on one of the doors.

We went to Equip-Design @ Bendemeer to look for door knobs for the 3 bedrooms. They carry Gainsborough porcelain door knobs. We were in luck as the store is having a 40% -50% sale for most items. We bought 3 of these: RRP was $120 with privacy adapter (lock). They are having a sale this weekend, so those looking to buy old school lock & knobs do go down to take a look.

With the main light source (aka downlight) confirmed, and the spotlights to highlight key areas, the next item was to look for the accent light for the hall. We wanted 2 globe pendant lamps. It seemed like a simple design requirement but took us more than 3 weeks and more than 20 lightning shops - from Balestier to Geylang/Eunos, IMM to Jalan Besar, looking for the elusive lamps. Often, the sales person would tell us that such designs are very old and no longer fashionable. We were recommended strange donut-shaped lamps, large frosted/cracked glass globes which are all made in China to a nice Spanish pendant lamp made of bronze-coloured copper (Tikimum thought the copper lamp has possibilities as it will look even better over time with an aged patina look but it was priced close to $500 for a medium and nearly $800 for a large shade !). Finally, during a visit to one of the Chan Huat stores at Leong Hin bldg. 441 Balestier Road. Tikimum found a globe pendant lamp with a milk glass globe tucked away in a dark corner. It has a dark wrought iron chain and cap. We were very excited as it was just what we have been looking for . However, the salesperson told us that it was meant for outdoor lighting and made of acrylic. We requested the lamp to be switched on to see the light effect. On closer inspection, we were surprised that there was even illumination as we had seen acrylic lamps in another store but the light spread was rather uneven. The salesperson (Jilvan - who was very patient) informed us that it was a quality lighting made in Italy. We liked it, but it was very unconventional to use acrylic garden lamps for the main hall. That night, we checked up the company's website and specifications and discussed how to 'transform' the look. The next day, we returned to the store and made our order. An advice to those who are thinking of visiting CH to look for lighting. Avoid the main store at 391 Balestier and go to 441 instead. 441 is a better place to contemplate the choice of lighting. Less crowded and in Tikiman's opinion, better service, because at 391, a guy salesperson tried to bs him on led downlights.

LED spot light from Hock Siong.