gumbokins

i bought mine from Zenterra lighting at Ubi

my prev kitchen was also matt but it was a light colour so not noticeable at all. is the colour also...

@fifteenmay maybe not fingerprints but like water stains? gloss would be very easy to clean off but this matt laminate..i'm trying my best to ignore them LOL

My My Digital Lock experience: mid-Sept: Went down to their showroom to check out their stuff. Was actually served by the big boss, Ronn. He was friendly and very knowledgeable. mid-Oct: Arranged for MDL to come measure. Worker like ninja, came and left without informing anyone. I was actually waiting, called the office 30 mins after the scheduled appointment only to be told that the guy already came to measure. Granted, it was a busy day with lots of workers in and out. 24 Oct: Gate and door installation, but damaged my gate during the installation so could not complete. 26 Oct: Workers came to touch up the damage but not satisfactorily. Another installer came to complete the gate lock installation and wanted to collect the balance payment. I refused to pay because of the shoddy touch-up. Took a few days before they got back to me. 2 Nov: Another worker came and spent 1hr+ to redo the paintwork on the gate. This time, done nicely. My peephole was not installed yet, reminded them about it. Over the next few weeks, from 2/ Nov to 22 Nov, I would message them to ask when they can come to install the peephole and collect the remaining payment. They called back once, asking to collect the balance payment but I reminded them again about the peephole, they said oh ok ok will get back to me but never did. 22 Nov: I chided them for taking so long to reply, they asked if can come in the following week, I gave them the times I was available and then radio silence again. Nevermind, it's only $1650....small change, I guess. 14 Dec: MDL called about the balance payment, and I reminded them again about the peephole. But this time they delivered. They FINALLY managed to give me an installation date/time. 16 Dec: The installers came (they were actually early but I was not available). And I guess as compensation, they installed a digital door viewer for me FOC. They collected payment and left me to clear the mess (humph) At least they got some service recovery there. At no point was their staff rude or aggressive, but it should not have been so long or drawn out like that. Maybe there was a bit of communication breakdown because I kept referring to the 'door viewer' when it was actually a 'peephole', I don't know. Irritating...I just didn't feel good holding on to their payment like that, but they were so slipshod. And that's the end (I HOPE) of my MDL saga. Haiyoh...

^sorry for the potato pic I lobbied very hard and long with Andrew for this louvre door and he finally relented woo hoo! Still waiting for the marble skirting. Simplehuman Sink Caddy Love it! If you are having trouble getting your suction cups to stay on whatever surfaces, put some Vaseline on the suction cups! Works like magic! Simplehuman plastic bag holder Handy and looks stylish defo much better than the bucket I used to use. But the plastic back was not flat so it wouldn't stick properly on my wall. It came with 4 pieces of mounting tape but due to the uneveness, only 2 was actually sticking to the wall. Then I used the heavy duty 3M mounting tape and it's holding up well (so far). Great if you have slender long fingers. And the cutlery drainer from ezbuy, I think it's cute. Rubber door mat from ezbuy, quite heavy duty and love the pattern! I like that you can scrape the bottom of your shoes clean on it before coming inside (the brown parts of the mat are raised). Shoe thefts are quite rampant here, esp since my unit is near the stairs, so we keep our shoes indoors. Under sink storage. Detergents and cleaning stuff. Bought the whole range of cleaning sprays from Method on iHerb, in the end only used their one multipurpose one (whoops). Got the SS shelves from ezbuy, but the link is not working now. They come in many sizes, I have them in my vanity upstairs as well.

Some after thoughts: 1) matt kitchen laminate: omg don't. or at least choose a colour that won't show fingerprints? Do a greasy fingerprint test with your choice of laminate. Any tips on what to use to clean? 2) concealed eubiq: so dumb. dumb dumb dumb. probably my biggest regret? I just wanted to minimise the wire clutter on my table (and I did) but it's really quite cumbersome to keep lifting the flap to switch it on and off. yes I could have just gotten a power strip. but I didn't. The eubiq installer was nice enough to give us the compact version because he was worried that we would not be able to fit certain type of adaptor heads. 3) painted wire trunking : #resaleflatproblems the wire trunking under our study table was painted to match the wall but due to the chair legs banging them, the paint is peeling off quite a fair bit. uggglllyyy. 4) placement of door-stop: this one is in our downstairs toilet and obviously has gone rusty. we had a guy come in to fix the door stop of one of the bedroom doors, and I asked if he could replace the rusty one. He said that it would rust again and that we should have installed it at the TOP corner instead (doh!). 5) textured wall tiles: these pokey-pokey wall tiles in the toilet are pretty cool but as a result, it's impossible to use any 3M hooks on it. Everything has to be drilled in. Even the fixtures like the sink and pipes can't be placed flat against the wall. again, another design hoo-ha.

One fine day, we looked up at the ceiling and saw this: IS THAT A LEAK OMG A LEAK yup it was a leak, alright. Oh nooooo... seriously, it's a brand new toilet, screeding and waterproofing and all, right? We were extra concerned because we changed the layout for our master toilet, and was worried that it was because of that. The leak seemed to be right underneath the new extended drainage (see the Roomba in the toilet pic, above). Jun got her worker in to do some patching up in the toilet and we just continued to observe. But the leak was not improving...the paint was starting to bubble already. So this week, Jun got her worker in again. He climbed up and took his screwdriver and proceeded to poke a hole through my ceiling! The cement was so soft and crumbled away like cheese (kena nagging from Jun for making the mess), scary leh. According to the worker, he remembered that there used to be a pipe there and this was residual water from the pipe. So he proceeded to drain whatever water was left, sealed it with cement and put some plaster on it. We will continue to wait and watch...

MIA FOR SO LONG..haha! I have some gross lived-in pics for y'all so stay tuned our dining room - dining set we took over from my parents, it's old but really solid and sturdy. nvm save money. finally got a carpet from IKEA. Up till the moment we set this up, the house seemed so incomplete but once it was in....it felt so much homey-er The Sun is verrrryyyyy strong here in the mornings....great for laundry, not so great for furniture! first time cooking on the induction. quite fun. heats up very quickly, and because my kitchen is open and windy, no dancing flames. FAV BUY (so far): our Stressless recliner. **** shiok, I tell you! $2250 from Expo fair. Can sit for hours...and it doesn't get warm (maybe coz I have it under the fan..heh) This is Pat, the upstairs Roomba who decided to explore the toilet! The toilet kerbs were not built very high so it can mount it easily. Usually by the time it goes off in the afternoon, the bathrooms would be dry. It caused some chokage in the Roomba and husband had to give it gooooooooood cleaning. We tried using the lighthouse attachment but Pat seems to have a mind of his own. So now we just make sure to close the toilet doors before we leave. so i almost died when this plug exploded as I was trying to remove it. The pin has fused and melted and I itchy hand laa (I switched off the mains...or thought I did). I was left with a sore finger and a very hot steaming pile of laundry in my machine. Fortunately, there is a laundromat right in front of my house so I could finish it there. My electrician came the next day (yaay Uncle Francis) and replaced the plugs FOC.

kato gate + fire rate door + digital gate and door lock = $3250 we got it from My Digital Lock. when got time and "wind", will post review of them. almost 1 month and still haven't finish installation + collect the outstanding payment of $1000++++. i really don't know what to say....

thanks! we love it too

@twinklecloud thanks thanks! still work in progress...now no mood to do hahaha @Doremon thanks thanks! very colourful hor...all the best for ur reno journey!

ooooooooooooooohh what a beautiful home kmart actually had an outlet here, in Tampines where Tampines 1 used to be. it wasn't very cheap tho (like everything else in Singapore zz) do u hv the link for ur carpet? how shaggy is it? I need to buy carpets for my place too..

go have a site meeting with ur ID with the quotation and list down the outstanding works lor. not sure about the "compensation" part, there is no clause for liquidated damages. reno must check regularly one, cannot just leave it to ur ID. else they will just take their own sweet time. if unable to go to the site, ask for regular updates on WA or call. if u never do anything wrong, no need worry about r/s. still hvnt pay finish right?

haha glad someone also understands the holey-but not too-holey part! i hope that they can also come up with a sensible solution!

wow how come so slow. have you been checking on the work? any reason for the delays eg paperwork, defects? imo if you have been proactively checking with ur id on the status of the work, chasing them etc and they still slow maybe got some basis for complaints

carrying on our love for all things candy coloured spotted at my neighbourhood sundry shop: candy coloured broom and dustpan set and also these gorgeous dustbins with their cable knit pattern

so my gate and digital locks have been installed. they sent a total of 6 different people over 2 days to complete the installation. love the gate, we actually chose it because we wanted a cat friendly design and also did not want to kill the air flow through the unit. so something hole-y but not very hole-y. colour combo inspired by my ex neighbour who has a black gate-light brown door combo as well. but the gate wasn't measured right, and so I ended up with two deep gashes (all the way to the metal), where it banged against my main door handle. and the gate people came to adjust the gate, and touch up like this weeeiiii...this is a brand new and pricey gate leh. plus the damage was caused by their installation. I informed MDL and they said they would get back to me. also i am owed a door viewer? i think..

haha! ok we only got it because our ID was aggressively looking for new clients and we got a pretty nice discount. great for lights, definitely.

fun to play with. and also very convenient. the set up includes a master switch in our bedroom as well as next to the main door. we can set up the different scenes on the app to choose which combo of lightings we want to use.

Live Update! Gate and door being installed There was a problem with the installation....you know how resale flats have their gate and door near to each other? They forgot to account for this so both bang into each other when they are closed. So now have to wait for them to rectify...

@Celestial PM sent

sorry i couldn't be of more help!

Our Smart Home is by SMARTBOX. Not fully implemented yet...:) https://www.facebook.com/SmartboxAsia

i do love it when the ID can offer workable solutions around what you want vs. just doing what they want!

what a beautiful house for your family! many good years and blessings ahead! great decision to make the house expandable to changing needs but yet still reflect your personality and things that you hold dear. also, love the pics