Harriette

When I was a newly wed renovating my 5rm several years ago, I didn't do any babycare facilities such as the milk station and hooks for sarong cradle (see photo below). So when my daughter came along, we have to make do with changing the baby on the bed or study table. We bought a standalone frame for sarong cradle. It is common for most newlyweds not to allocate budget for babycare. Afterall, newlyweds have tight budget coz there's wedding, honeymoon, new house and reno expenses to take care of. Well, try to ensure you have no sharp edges in the house. All edges should be rounded. Our sarong cradle hook One hook is provided in each bedroom square hole with round peg by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Sarong cradle frame (bought from kiddy palace) frame for sarong cradle (1) by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr frame for sarong cradle (2) by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Most contractors will give you the sarong cradle hook free. Installation charge is probably part of the "install accessories" quote. Some contractors quote $10 or $20 for the sarong cradle hook. The frame from Kiddy Palace is alot more expensive. I don't remember the cost though I think it is more than $100.

Milk station at the upstairs foyer The solid surface is installed. This will serve as a very good baby changing table. Possible scene 1: You have changed the baby. Meanwhile, you make milk while assuring the wailing hungry baby that you are making milk. [Note: this scenario is only possible before the baby is able to flip.] Possible scene 2: You reached for a bottle of breast milk in the bar fridge (at the bottom of the milk station). You warm the milk. You changed the baby. You soothe the wailing hungry baby while waiting for the milk to be warmed. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Hi Songz, I don't recall seeing any clock which shows the internal mechanism. You could google for their number and give them a call. Here are 2 more photos which I took. See if you spot any suitable clocks. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

My wire management box in my study table This is my study desk. The wire sticking out will connect my laptop to the datapoint in the adjacent TV console. The gap where the wire stick out has the black hairy thing. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Actually, I only requested for a hole so that I can connect my laptop to the datapoint. Mr Yeak took the initiative to do the wire thing coz it is nicer.

Wall clocks are up I bought 4 wall clocks of the same design. It is a simple black rimmed, white-face clock with black numbers. Its brand is Hoseiki, which I have not heard of and costs $19 each. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Where I bought I bought the clocks at a tiny shop at Toa Payoh Central. This shop also sells a wide range of Seiko, Rhythm and Casio wall clocks for about $25 to $35. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Hi mags, Mr Yeak is a contractor. His brother is the carpenter. I've PM-ed you Mr Yeak's contact.

Wow, your kitchen is so spacious! Looks like you can even fit a dining table there.

Hi, Could you give me your painter's contact? I might want to get a painter to help paint small items. Thanks.

Hi Harocarlos, Congrats for getting your keys and starting your Reno. We have the same IDs. Who is your contractor?

Sigh. I agreed with you. But safety first.

Hi, Dulux wash & wear is a glossy paint. When you touch up post reno, you need to repaint the entire wall so that there is no 2-tone. Hence, more paint, time and manpower is needed. For matt paint, you only touch up the affected portion where touch up is necessary. I topped up $200 for Dulux Kidproof wash & wear coz I have a mischievous 2-year old toddler. I'm certain that I will need the kidproof part. Hopefully it works as per the advertisement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4tjs-MxdR4

I think market rate is around $120 per data point.

Window grilles at the balcony and yard are up. We did consider invisible grilles, but didn't go for it because: invisible grilles basically comprise 1 very long steel wire which is looped around the grille structure. If one part snapped, the entire grille will unravel. One of the vendor (http://www.invisystech.com/) showed us a video of how their grille will not unravel immediately if the wire broke. This will give you time to grab the child off the grille, before the thing eventually unravel totally. We understand that other brands of invisible grille may unravel totally in a shorter time. As my balcony is not enclosed, we can only do vertical grilles as there is no support at the side to hold the horizontal grilles. It is HDB requirement that the vertical invisible grille has to be done from ceiling to floor. This means my nice glass balcony will be covered by the grilles. It is slightly more expensive by about $200, compared to metal grilles.Balcony image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Yard image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

PM-ed.

Hi, I've PM-ed you. The shutter is bought from Mr Yeak.

Hi, I'm using Dulux kid proof wash and wear paint. It cannot be touched up, so the contractor has to paint more at the final stages of Reno. More effort is required. I'm paying $200 more for wash & wear, compared to using Matt paint.

Hi, The taobao clocks are nice. Can you share the links? Are the clocks silent? Any ticking sound at all?

Hi, The water resistant light are Philips LED ceiling lights, 12w, $120 each. I bought it from Philips lighting showroom at Toa Payoh. Model number is 30807. It is 1 entire piece, very slim and very light.

Hi, These are actually normal tiles which look like wood. So they are water resistant and easy to maintain. Grilles for the balcony are not up yet. Should be up this week.

We are getting Ikea wardrobes and bookcases for 3 bedrooms instead of carpentry, to save $.

Hi alfredt, the carpenter has provided a slope/slide below the round hole. If any cable drop into the round hole, it will slide down. Mr Yeak was very proud of this innovation and happily showed me. Unfortunately, I was too busy to take a photo that day.

Hi kissgurami, for balcony, we are using wood tiles for one wall and floor. Here are some pics: balcony (2) by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr balcony (1) by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr We are using water resistant ceiling lights in the balcony. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Mr Yeak (my contractor) told me that he still needs maybe 2 more weeks to do the following: 1. finish the carpentry 2. do electrical works that are concealed in the carpentry 3. install grilles in the balcony and yard 4. lacquer the wood top for the staircase railing 5. install sinks, taps and showers in all 3 toilets 6. wait for ikea to install solid surface and sinks in the kitchen and then install taps 7. touch up painting 8. paint main door 9. do final round of cleaning Meanwhile, I have already ordered curtains. They should be installed in 2 weeks' time. I'm so eager to move in!

We got a black-framed ikea mirror for the entrance foyer. Its black outline matches the black door frame and black skirting. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr The doors for the staircase storage is up: image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Living room TV console is done! In the 4 compartments covered by the louvre doors, space is provided at the back. This enables me to connect any electronic devices in the 4 compartments to the TV (as long as the wire is long enough). Each compartment has 1 or 2 twin gangs. In total, I have 6 twin gangs (12 power points) in the 4 compartments. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr TV console by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr The TV console laminate matches the kitchen wall tiles nicely. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr The TV console size is ok. We were originally worried that the TV console might be too bulky and takes up too much limited living room space. While we wanted lots of storage, we also desired a spacious living room. I think we have achieved it. Praising the carpenter Jay (my ID) came up with the original design for the TV console and all other carpentry. While implementing the design, the carpenter (Mr Yeak's brother) was able to improve on Jay's original design by making all the space in the TV console easily accessible. All the space behind the TV can be accessed easily from the side. In Jay's original design, half the space behind the TV was not easily accessible. revised TV console section by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr I feel that the carpenter gave alot of thought when executing the design. He value-added much.