Sneaking in a quick entry while taking a break from work. Theme of our home - Japanese minimalist Both the hubs and I wanted something simple for the house, since we figured we will eventually end up piling more and more stuff in, so it's best to start with as little as possible. Being a huge Japan lover, I had my way and we decided on a Japanese minimalist theme, although we are not exactly following very strictly to it. Main colors in the house would be dark walnut and white/cream/beige with just a dash of colors here and there. Shopping Kitchen accessories and utensils Though we only collected our keys earlier this year, I kind of started my shopping way in advance (think last year). I love shopping online, and I just can't really justify the prices we pay for things in Singapore. Hence, I bought almost all my kitchen utensils and cutlery online all the way from Japan! Was pretty anal about most of the items being Made in Japan too. Somehow, I just have this fixed mentality of Japanese goods = more reliable and sturdy. Well, what can I say? I am crazy about Japan. Haha. Bathroom fittings (taps, shower heads) Purchased our bathroom fittings online from Insani immediately after collecting our keys as well, since we have read horror stories of how some people waited super long for their fittings to arrive. Fortunately for us, the order went very smoothly and we received our parcel one week after placing our order. In total, we spent like 1k (inclusive of shipping) for two Grohe basin taps, one Grohe kitchen sink tap and two sets of shower heads + mixers. Lights, toilet accessories and misc After key collection was done, I started shopping on Taobao as well, though I tried to get most things I wanted from Tmall instead, as the quality assurance is better on Tmall, I feel. Bought all the lights we require for the house from Tmall (LED ceiling lights and LED downlights). Am still awaiting the arrival of these lights (except a set of Panasonic dining lights that was purchased earlier). We also got some stainless steel (SS304) toilet accessories from Jomoo and other brands after comparing that of those locally. The price difference was rather significant, we could buy at least two of the same item for the price in Singapore. Also, we got an otterman bench and rug for the WIW from Tmall after reading through all the reviews. We opted for shipping via Peeka despite the higher charges, because we felt more secure with the inspection Peeka will do before shipping the items to us. Hopefully, the shopping experience we get will be justified by the price we pay. Will do a review of the items when they arrive later on. Electrical appliances For our kitchen items (Hob and Hood), we got it from Hoe Kee. We visited a few places before deciding on getting from them, because the price they offered was pretty competitve, and we could pay by credit card and earn reward points. We got a set of Fujioh tempered glass hob + hood for $700ish. As for the build in oven, we are still mulling over to pay more for a better brand or just a couple of hundreds for a less well-known brand, as we are still unsure of how much we will utilise it. We also got our bathroom basin from Hoe Kee, as it was quite reasonably priced. However, one thing I do not like about Hoe Kee is that they are rather inflexible in delivery options, as we had to have some of the items deliver to the new place earlier upon request of ID, but Hoe Kee was unable to help us with that. In the end, we had to self carry the items we require early back ourselves. For our ceiling fans, we got them from Royal Fanco, together with our kitchen sink (Carysil) and basin for the service yard. Henry from Royal Fanco was really friendly and approachable, sharing with us alot of information on what to look out for when getting our items. However, we did not get the kitchen appliances from him as his price was slighly higher (before GST) and he only accepted cash/NETS. Prior to that, we did not know that we could ask for a waiver of GST from him (which he did for one of the reno-talkers). Then again, the amount we bought might not be enough to warrant such a huge discount. On a side note, Royal Fanco was really nice and agreed to deliver our basin and sink first as our ID wanted these items earlier to take measurements for kitchen carpentry and installation. Thumbs up for their flexibility and efficiency! For aircon, we got them from a relatively unknown dealer because we happened to be in that area and saw the shop, and it was quite a good buy for us. We got a set of Mitsubishi Heavy Industrial System 4 (1 unit of 24V and 3 units of 9V) for less than 4k, inclusive of a site survey and two installation trips. However, it has been a relatively bumpy experience handling them so far, although the customer service side has been really prompt in replying to our calls and queries. Will update again on their workmanship and overall service after the final installation. For the other home appliances (eg. TV, fridge, washing machine and dryer), we got them from Best Denki as we were intending to go for the CC- installment plans. In the end we got a Panasonic 42" FHD TV, a Samsung 400+ L inverter 2-door fridge, a Samsung 7L front load Ecobubble washing machine for below $800 each and a Bosch 6L dryer for just below $900. Furniture For furniture wise, we only had a few items to get, namely the bed frame, sofa, dining table and chairs, as the rest of the items were all part of our carpentry work. We got our bed frame from The Furniture Mall (only to realise Hommage actually offers the same thing at a slightly lower price!), and we booked our sofa, dining table and chairs from Hommage. Eric from Hommage Lifestyle was really patient with us and replied to all our queries. We loved his services and therefore decided to get our furniture there. He wasn't pushy at all and in fact encouraged us to think about it and check with our ID if the items fitted in with our theme before going back. What I particularly liked was one thing he said... "I don't do promotion prices or limited quantity sales, even if you come back again few months later, the price will still be the same." (something along that line). That more or less sums up our shopping for the new house so far. And yes, we have realised, shopping for a new place is really expensive! We feel so broke now!
