flowerfans

May 2，2014 Wow...Time flies & we have moved into our home for 2+ months...Opps have I MIA for so long? paiseh ya...been busy with the travelling, moving, Taobaoing & settling down. Recently, our ID came down to take the Final pics of the hse..and since their pics are way much nicer than ours plus in our haste to move in, I totally forgotten to take pictures of the clean & neat house (aka without all the barangs barangs.) so I'm just gonna use theirs and post them here. Will try to post up pic of more TaoBao items that I've bought ...again. I am also hoping to summarize my reno experience (of the regrets & Yes! decisions) that we have had made throughout this Reno journey but this would take some time hehe...so please bear with me.. Overall on the house, things went well. There are some minor defects which we are waiting for Uncle（aka Contractor）to arrange a time to come down. Hehe…Actually as I am updating this blog, Uncle came over to patch up the cracks & install the kitchen rack that I’ve bought earlier on. J Kudos to Uncle. The whole renovation process has been pleasant. I am pleased with my choice of ID & Contractor. Although there are items that went wrong but they have been very responsive & responsible and always willing to rectify the problem. In my opinion, this is THE most important traits for any IDs & contractor. I am so glad that I need not argue with IDs & contractors on what is possible/can do etc etc…. Usually My IDs & Contractors will try to think out of the box & find ways to do what is necessary. Even when they feel that it’s not possible, they would listen to suggestions and work on it. (Once a sub-con said something is not possible but Uncle came up with a better idea and got it done! J ) Of course there are times when I got frustrated but once you think of the overall progress and learn to give & take, things will go well. However, one important item is that if you feel strongly about something, you have to voice out (nicely) to IDs & Contractors. Final outcome will depends whether they managed to convince you or vice versa. <Sigh> The biggest problem for me though is that I need a new Freight Forwarder (besides Amcon) ...unfortunately, my last experience with them was terrible. Till date there is an item that I have yet to receive but is being charged for….(of course they said otherwise…alamak…too long a story to pen it here.) It's a pity as my first experience with them was pretty good and I was hoping for a long term relationship...but probably their business got better and they can't cope with my order which has >30 items. <sob>. Does anyone has any recommendation of a reliable freight forwarder? Still have tons of items that I would like to buy from TaoBao... Enough said, here’s the pics of my home as promised….enjoy. Baking Area / Shoe Cabinet Living Room Kitchen - Special thanks to my IDs for the decal. It’s so sweet of them. They nailed it, I totally love it! Bathroom

Hello, this is a vento fino 1 ( fino 2 is the upgraded version that cost over S$1k I think.). Mine is a gift from relatives and they got it in JB for approx 500 ringgit if I'm not wrong. You can also find it here in Singapore for around S$488. (not sure if prices has changed since my last sourcing.) .... I got the fan for aesthetic purposes rather than the power...hehe using KDK for rest of the rooms & living room (would love to use Haiku & Minka...but pocket too stretched to tahan it....plus hubby commented that they all looked the same when turned on... ) . This fino is tucked at a corner in my dinning room. Verdict: Mode #3 is the strongest and you can feel some wind, not too strong but will do for my small dinning room. However it does gives out a propeller kinda sound (not overly loud though) but it could be because mine is like placed in an enclosed space & I didn't open the window then when I tested it.

Hihi, Actually the current baking area was previously part of the Kitchen entrance / dining area. I had a funny long rectangular layout for living & dinning space. (You can take a look at the layout plan in the first few post above to get the idea.) Now that I've knocked down the walls of the study room to make it a dinning room, so voila the empty space now becomes a baking area ( ...well, I can't have an open island concept kitchen due to layout constraint so this is a pleasant make-up for it. :-) Kuddos to my IDs for this design. Absolutely love it )

opps, sorry missed out this post. Got it from a 高仪官方旗舰店. Price wise would be slightly higher.

@ Songz : Urgh....gosh....that will be me then cos will be cooking quite abit. Sighzz....Uncle (contractor) warned me that I need to wipe it with real clean cloth which has no sand particles otherwise it will scratch the laminates...< Knock self on the head ! > Should have just stick to matt (hardy but ugly) laminates like my previous house... btw, was there a Man Utd Stickers? keke definitely not from me then.... @ahhboi, thankyou.

wow...this is great...my kiddos gonna super love it.. alas I've forgotten about the display cabinet ...tsk tsk..now must think think how to add on...

Will sure do the review...I hesitated for a long long time before buying this.. Hopefully I can give a verdict in 10 days time. <keeping finger crossed>

Kitchen - still messy though... ...well guess I had a wrong choice in the Kitchen laminate...we had to pay extras for it but the sparkles didn't really reflect out well. (Actually uncle discourage me from using this due to maintenance issue..keke so serve me right for not listening..不听老人言，吃亏在眼前..)

Day XX“lost track already ” – February 6, 2014 Erghm….I wasn’t sure if anyone was following this blog of mine but keke since I have started it, thought I should try to finish it at least…ahem…although it will be very slow so do bear with me. What a pity we didn’t get to move in b4 CNY, we were so so close to it…Well, bo bian lah… The contractor Uncle did try hard to speed up the work….Unfortunately, the carpenters got some of the items wrong so they had to rectify it and some items had to be done after CNY (…some carpenters fell sick and situation was bad…poor guy..). So far, Uncle & carpenters were rather open & agreeable with rectifying and making changes hence that’s a good sign. (I have heard horror stories from friends who had contractors that argued throughout that this cannot be done, that cannot be change even though their drawings stated clearly. so in a way, I am rather happy with Uncle.) Well, there’s nothing much I can do now but to wait patiently till next week before carpentry work starts. My target is to move in by Feb 14 otherwise I will have to move house by myself alone since hubby’s gonna outstation later. <sigh> Enuf’ said, here’s some pictures of the status quo todate. (Erhm, to be honest I “ka-po” the following pics from my IDs cos they took much nicer ones than my phone…so credits to them.) Entrance & Baking Area TaoBao Light Living Rm - TV Console Master Bath More TaoBao loots

@ Alfredt, the shower is up already but haven't actually used it yet....but looks good so far.

Hi Jarci, I think it's $11/sheet...sorry for the late response...

oh dear, I am reading this at 1am and it's making me real hungry! The food looks great ! Yums!

TaoBaoing Been using TaoBao lots when living in China. To my utmost delight, I discovered (through Renotalk) that we can still TaoBao back home... Yippeee !! Thus, promptly I ordered stuff that works out to 2m3 even though I was just testing water... (…my shocked Hubby asked if I wanted to fill the whole house with Taobao items…I wish I could. ) Well, I’ve only unpacked a portion of my loots…(mainly to check if there’s any damage cos I am buying again ) & they are in good condition! Yes! TaoBao…here I come again. => Review time – Amcon Freight forwarder. (Ps: I am holding back reviews of IDs, contractors etc as work hasn’t complete, so do pardon the delay.) I’ve used Amcon to ship my loots and I am happy with their service. Although there was some delay but as I bought my items during the double 11 (peak time) so it’s really acceptable. In addition, I loved the fact that they are able to store some of the goods for me while waiting for the rest to arrive and some of my goods delayed for quite awhile and Amcon was pretty cool with it. Here's sharing my own guideline for choosing Taobao vendors. (Ps: This is just my personal experience gathered over the years of using it & from advice of local Chinese friends.) 1) Look at the ratings for the vendors. Not just the crowns or stars…but the overall %. 2) Scrutinized through comments of previous buyers…(esp those comments made by buyers with higher rating and those who uploaded pictures..) …personal experience…seller will incentivized buyer to change to better comments if the latter has rated unfavorably. 3) Ignore the quantity sold as it may not be the real…rumors (heard from local friends) that the sellers have ways of manipulating the statistic. 4) When texting seller, start off message with 亲 – which means dear…urgh I know this is so mushy but it’s commonly used. 5) If in doubt, you can use Chinese search engine “Baidu.com” to check out the items you are buying. I’ve used “百度知道” to search the reputation of certain brands of electrical items before buying. 6) Finally, I don’t buy really expensive items or international branded items as (1) It’s more costly to buy real branded items in China than elsewhere even though most are made in China. (2) High chance is that it could be fake. (3) I won’t be too heart pain if the item turned out not what I’ve expected. 7) Oh ya, the last item u need when Taobaoing is...Luck!

Here's a pic of the 25L Built in microwave.

Hi OceanEleven, Gosh, I have override the individual pricing from my file...did managed to find some handwritten info...hope it helps... (btw, this is a customized package and I didn't go for their special package as I was too attracted with the EQ98X hob. ) 1) Hob - EQ98X 2) Hood - 9533 X 3) Built in Microwave 2540X-25L Plus 4) Oven-EOB 3400 4) Oven-EOB 5410 Package price - $3060 Package price - $3300

Shopping Spree For me, guess the best part was the shopping for appliances & gadgets!! Hubby dun bother about these so I get to buy whatever I like hahaha...(provided within budget lah). Took advice from fellow blogger, got quotation from various company (GAB, Parisilk, Mega) and finally went down to HN to get a better deal. (Actually, we happened to be around during the 12 yr anniversary sale, so popped by.) Price wise I would say it's definitely not the best but I like the fact that we can use credit card & the 36 months interest free installments is an added bonus!! Kitchen appliances wise, best to take the same brand throughout...Electrolux had a good package for a nice built in microwave (new model) + Oven. I would have loved to have the nicer bigger Electrolux built in microwave but alas they don't have an oven that has a rotisserie yet price competitive so have to forgo it and stick with the smaller microwave. Come to think of it now, I think I've bought the items way too early cos prices especially for the TV will keep dropping....but guess I was getting so excited over the items... ....Now I can't wait to unwrap my Taobao items which are still sitting in the Bomb shelter untouched given that there will still be different groups of workers in & out of the house...

Day 38- December 25, 2013 (Wednesday) Merry Christmas Everyone ! Been very busy lately hence didn’t have time to update the progress…pai seh… Just to recap, IDs have checked with contractor and assured that things are going well and there might still be a chance that we can complete b4 CNY. J Contractor has to squeeze a lot of work in the upcoming few weeks in order to catch up. <Keeping my fingers crossed.> Tiling works has completed, my favorite will be the “bling bling” mosaic tiles in the bathroom. I totally love it! Floor tiling & skirting are done too but the tillers have laid a protective cupboard layer over it so didn’t get to take any pics of it. Electrical work has started…so next waiting for it to complete, aircon piping & ceiling works. Carpenters took measurements and hopefully they can fabricate the cabinets soon. So next up for us will be to decide on the laminates for Kitchen, Wardrobe and Living Room TV console. Wanted something like this for the Living Room TV console…but haven't decided on the wardrobe & kitchen. As for the counter top, I am still torn between using quartz or solid surface top. Very tempted to go with quartz but a friend of mine advised that quartz is porous and there will be joints while solid surface will be one full piece and easier for maintenance…. I think IDs also recommended SS. < Think think think…> Okie dokie, that's all for now. Till next update then.

oh dear, best of luck to us both.

Fantastic view !

Yippee...finally got around to unpack one of my Taobao loot...the Grohe Rainshower system (Model:34337+27389). Verdict: Material quality of the sets looks good, heavy too for the taps....Will update after it is installed and tested. (....am so glad that it survived the shipment and arrived in good condition. ) Humph.... oh dear.....according to the instruction, the tap seems to be installed at the side of the shower....alamak Anyone has experience using this set of Rain shower? [

Day 31- December 18, 2013 (Wednesday) While pending the fate of the hacking of the flying beam, we are now faced with a bigger issue --> Slow progress 3 weeks (ok, 2 days short of it) have passed yet Tiling works is still not coming to an end. (Skirting, Toilet Mosaic area & Entrance area have yet to start) ….unless there is a miracle but I really don’t see how they can finish all these items by tomorrow (even after extending it for 1 more week.) What frustrated me further is that when I visited yesterday morning, there was only 1 tiler and he was gone before 4pm when I went back. … Duh I wouldn’t mind if the work is on schedule ….. but they haven’t even started on items that were scheduled to be done up 2-3 weeks ago ! 31 days into Reno & we are still not done with Tiling Is this normal? Am I being too impatient? As usual, contractor is saying it’s year end, shortage of workers etc etc…. but based on the original schedule that was given to me, reno works will end only in early March…hence further delay meant that my reno work will take over 4 months! ... Seriously? 4 months for a 5 room flat??? This isn’t exactly what I am expecting from them. Sigh…am asking ID to work with Contractor to give me a revised work schedule..one that is practical and something they can achieve realistically. I have no use with a Work Schedule that works on paper only. Now I can't even schedule the delivery of household items and some items needs 8 weeks of advance notice. < tsk...tsk > Any advice from experienced blogger what's the usual work schedule i.e: what comes next after tiling? Or what can be done concurrently? Need help to keep check on the work progess... thx thx. Well, I really hoped that contractor already has a plan in mind on how to catch up and that it's my lack of info on the "plan" that makes me so concerned with the slow progress.... let's see what ID/Contractor comes back to me on the schedule before more updates... ==> Sorry folks, not much pictures to show given the slow progress. <无奈ing> Here's the one & only pic I took yesterday of the Bedroom floor tiles. ( Oh, I have to give credit to the Tilers, they did quite a neat job. Although there are a few places that are not too ideal…but I think that will be too much a standard to request for. )

Day 30- December 17, 2013 (Tuesday) Hiaz…the Technical Officer of HDB is not helping at all. Wanted me to submit the plan and he will submit it upwards before letting me know…aiyo this will waste alot of time ley.... Can’t he tell me straight away if anyone has done it before? Anyway, this is a stand-in TO as my original TO is on leave.. :（ Bo bian...

Thanks getzski ! Great advice. Will call the "TO" to check it out...<keeping my fingers crossed> Hi Harriette, I love the view of ur hse so rare now in Sg. We were initially looking for EM too but alas practicality took over and we settled for a hse nearer to Kids sch. Haha...so now always drool over others' EM.

Day 28- December 15, 2013 (Sunday) I dropped a bomb to my IDs today after viewing the house. There is a flying beam (that drops down more than 440mm from ceiling) that smack across my living room ceiling. Initially thought it would be alright but today when we viewed the place after all the mess has been cleared up, we made up our mind to "hack it away". Well I guess this decision = more delay, more $, more agony for IDs & contractor & us! But, I don't want any regrets in future.... Contractor said it will take a month for PE submission & HDB approval.... my gosh....does it really take so long to get the permit to hack a flying beam ( it is not a structural beam, i.e: not highlighted in black in the drawings.) .... Would like to seek advice if anyone has similar experience with hacking of a non-structural beam? ( The flying beam originally demarcates the living room & the balcony. However, the previous owner has already extended the Living room into the balcony area so literary there isn't any Balcony left. )

Day 26- December 13, 2013 (Friday) Met up with IDs to confirm the Carpentry drawings…quite a bit of changes to be made especially to the Living Room. Details like the location of switches, no. of drawers etc... Hubby & I spent quite a few hours going into details. Hopefully things are able to sail now…. Pop by the house to take a peep…the tiling work has delayed a week…the progress is kinda slow....it's almost a month into reno works but tiling has yet to complete...gosh....I think there goes my hope of moving in before CNY.....