dietgalvon

AIRCON RE-TRUNKING - 29 MAY 2017 Gain City came down to survey the site and the previous installer came down too. He admitted that he did not inform us that the trunking can be run to the ceiling, so we didn't have to pay. It was just one hour of extra work (for him to remove and redo) as we're only changing the MBR toilet. Should have just done it properly the first time round lor. -_- Hi, our new trunking! It's now not visible when one first step into the toilet (at eye level) and drainage at the other side now. But our tiles are damaged, getting our contractor to fix it for us. But some tiles where the trunking sits on may not be able to be mended. This is also severely damaged. Oh the destruction! Random Taobao wall light! Mum requested for an additional lighting point outside the home so I got an additional wall light. This is so cute! Will try to do a review for the first taobao shipment!

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Works have been delayed because my kitchen sink has not arrived (argh the seller for vanity set did not dispatch the item!). Last Thursday, aircon guys came to do aircon trunking and install the aircon, but that left me depressed for a bit. I regretted not giving much thought to aircon trunking as I thought I could leave it to the Gain City guys (ain't they experts?). We listened to them analysing the pros and cons of each trunking method, and decided based on that. It turned out to be a disaster. For first time owners, please do consider how the trunking should run before you arrange the guys to come down. Do your own research, and don't simply believe what the aircon guys tell you. *** INSTALLATION OF AIRCON - 25 MAY 2017 Due to the unique layout of our flat, the aircon trunking has to run round the living round. So first bad news was, trunking will cover part of our top windows. My OCD self cannot even accept top cabinets covering part of the service yard windows. And for this, we have absolutely no choice. This cannot be boxed up at all. Curtains cannot be installed under the beam at the windows also, but at least can still be covered by curtains lah. Will box up the trunking at the living room wall. Another option was to create a fake beam across the living room, J was not willing to do because he said it's going to be very ugly (tiny living room already). Next, was the passageway. Due to the sheer amount of trunking, after box up, will need to do false ceiling and install downlight instead. Same for MBR entrance, need to do false ceiling and install downlight instead. I already bought my cute woody light for this. :'( My MBR is supposed to be all woody!! And really, these ain't that bad, I can only blame it on the structure of my flat. The bomb comes when we saw the state of the MBR toilet. I WAS SO SAD. We only have 2 pieces of grey shower feature wall and it is gone just like that. I wanted to shift the water pipe to the opposite side of the wall but the guys said it cannot be done. The huge trunking across the wall also bothers the fiance. Our wall tiles are so pretty before this! [Sidetrack, we even agreed to pay for the extra hours for the guys (he quoted $180) to redo the trunking but they refused to giving lots of excuses like no extra trunking case if redo the case will have a hole at the side, etc.] We had no choice but to let it be. However, upon some research and advice from others, it seems that the aircon trunking could be run at the ceiling (for MBR toilet) so that it would not be so obvious. I think, the guys simply took the easy way out. We really could not bear the aircon trunking, and decided to call Gain City to arrange to redo the trunking at the toilet. They agreed! We called E to check on the price to mend the tiles after redo the trunking but he said he will not charge us. Awww. Certainly hope that the re-trunking will be done properly; my heart is not ready for another scare.

@Yune Ki I got evorich to do it!

@Yune Ki 1. We picked WY5244D. Think you should match it against your flooring for best results! 2. Think there's only one office at Sungei Kadut, can google for the full address. They allow you to view all A4 samples and the real sized laminates. You can bring home A4 samples of those you selected. if you're not particular, can get your contractor to request A4 samples too. 3. There is a separate quote for constructing the platform. HTHs!

RENOVATION UPDATE - 20 MAY 2017 We dropped by our home yesterday to check on what's been done. Actually we popped over on one of the weekdays but it was super dark so can't take any pictures. Then, there were a lot of machines all over the home! It has been cleared off yesterday. We saw that the tiling was done! Overlaying of toilet tiles is really so worth it. Thanks to the fiance who decided that the walls should be overlaid too. And now I am asking myself why did I want to save the money and not overlay the common toilet floor tiles. Overlaying floor tiles would give us a proper bathroom entrance kerb and a drop down at the shower area instead of a shower kerb which will look bulky especially because we are only installing a panel shower screen. Electrical works are also all up! Very, very well done. Kitchen also slowly forming~ But I think works will be delayed because my sink has not arrived. :x

3D Drawings (II) What we did here was to try to make all things woody to prevent having the Scandinavian feel. We deliberately changed the laminates of the dining and MBR to the 2 we were contemplating and the 3D turned out really shocking! We even got Evorich to send us samples because we might need to reconsider our choice of flooring. But we realised that our choice of flooring actually looks really pretty! It's the 3D drawing that is misleading. -__- 3D drawings are excellent in helping us to visualise the design but honestly I think 2D drawings suffice. The colours are way off! And so, with the flooring sample, we made another trip to Lamintak. Before going over, we looked through countless pictures that gives off the feel of what we are looking for, and we finally found out what we actually needed. Thanks to the researcher fiance who can tell what determines the feel of what we want. I look at the picture, I only know I like it. The fiance will analyse why we like it and report his findings lol. Another problem with laminates is the what you see in the catalog and what you see on the samples (A4 or smaller) and what you see in real-sized can vary. And I am quite the perfectionist I am pretty anal with it comes to this. If there is just a bit that I don't like, it needs to be changed. I think, we have settled on our choice of laminate; and we will be using it throughout the home. Just 1 laminate for all carpentry (except kitchen and toilet). And we ain't getting getting E to change the 3D drawings for us; we trust our own eyes. TIP: Please always get samples of whatever - countertop, flooring, etc. And, get a few that you like. You never know when you may change your mind along the way and it's a huge hassle to go get the samples later.

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RENOVATION UPDATE - 13 MAY 2017 Today Evorich came to check the cement screeding and take measurements. Apparently it was quite okay except for the drop at the main gate area. It was more than 5mm. Sent the picture to E, and asked if he can settle for us since we are getting them to lay the entrance area with tiles. He said ok! *** Today E sent us a picture of how our toilet tiles will be laid. Like suddenly things are moving so fast? Fiance and I are really excited about the progress. Can't wait to make a trip down on Thursday! ^^

Yes! I think if the laminate is of light wood, it won't look too dark. We will request to view the 3D drawings in lighter wood laminate then decide what to go with!

3D DRAWINGS Dining + a glimpse of kitchen MBR Turned out we only have 2 views so we don't get to see how our toilet and shoerack will look like. The drawings turned out to be rather Scandinavian. We will be requesting to view in our new choice of laminates before we decide on the actual laminate. We can't decide whether to go with a wood/white wardrobe or a full wood (with lighter wood laminate) wardrobe. Hope the amended 3D drawing can help us decide. RENOVATION UPDATE - 12 MAY 2017 Supposed to do electrical works today but E sent us a picture telling us that he can't go in the flat because cement screed is being done and it's almost finished! It was a huge scare because I previously told the contractor that it is to be done on 17 May 2017, and HDB haven't gotten back to me if the liaison person has changed. If HDB had contacted the contractor directly and got them to do the cement screed, it means that they did not top up to the level I needed to lay vinyl!! I rushed over to the flat and seems that they did it to the correct level. Getting Evorich to take measurements and confirm that the screed is properly done on Monday!

Last weekend, we met with E and the electrician to discuss on the electrical and lighting points. Very exciting to see drawings on our walls (like the above). Slowly but surely, the home is forming! Had to give up having a fan in the kitchen because there was simply no space for us to put the fan. Oh well! RENOVATION START! - 9 MAY 2017 Situation on 10 May 2017 According to the project schedule, electric works will be done on Fri and Sat this week. And tiling next week. We have yet to see our 3D drawings though! But so far, we have been very chill and let E lead us instead of chasing him for updates, etc. Heh. We have yet to settle what laminates we want (the first set we submitted for 3D drawings was apparently done on impulse lol) and decided to just head down to Lamintak's warehouse to look at the samples instead of going through E, which might be cumbersome. We expected to view A4 size samples only but actually they brought us to see the actual laminates! WOW! Totally did not regret going down to Lamintak even though we had to take leave. Viewing the samples in A4 size and real size samples versus just looking at the catalogue is so different. We are set on the laminates mostly except for the kitchen cabinet trimming which we intend to make a trip to Kompacplus before we confirm. *** Our only issue now is the HDB sub-contractor who is doing the cement screed. He is REALLY rude and kept yelling at me over the phone! I called in to HDB to request for a change (but they told me cannot change, will still be done by the same company). I am now afraid that the cement screed cannot proceed on the agreed date. Till the next update~

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@homesweethome96 Link to TV console: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.20.sW0OW6&id=545212908453&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail @p31j1n Have replied your PM! Links below: TV console: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.20.sW0OW6&id=545212908453&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail Wooden light: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=524794419362&_ezgpid=20000004392811 Track light: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=537751153901&_ezgpid=20000003712685 However, I have not received the items so can't vouch for the quality okay! I'll do a review when I receive them.

Lamitak

@Yune Ki My current choice is WY1244D. But I will only finalise it after seeing the 3D drawings. Sorry, seems not much of a help yet. :x

Hahaha high^5! Thanks for the heads up - I'll be using a storage heater! Ohh wah the vanity was found in Prime page and I carted it out under Prime! They didn't proceed with your order in the end? What's the price range for vanity in Singapore? I saw that it's around $500 in Hoe Kee - and that's quite ex!

I carted out about $1.5k worth of purchases yesterday, the last day of ezbuy's Free Agent Fee promotion for the month of April. I feel sooooo liberated because I had been shopping diligently the past 2 weeks! I would shortlist a few items and then get the fiance to decide because I can never decide. Doesn't help that I am super anal - shape of track lights also must be pleasing to my eyes - that I think I gave the fiance lots of headache by having to decide, and re-decide on the items for our home. *Crossing fingers that all orders would go through smoothly without hiccups.* TAOBAO ORDER – PART I A. LIGHTS 1. Tracks, track lights (7W) and connectors These will be placed in the living room, main entrance, passageway and MBR wardrobe area. We got 3 tone lights for the living and neutral light for the rest. 2. Dining pendant lights and strip disc Got these from separate sellers as the seller of the lights does not sell the strip disc. 3. LED strips (warm white) This will be placed in the concealed pipe area in both the MBR and common toilets. Will be using T5 instead. 4. Service Yard (E27 bulb, 7W) 5. MBR entrance (E27 bulb, 5W, warm light) 6. MBR bed area (24W, neutral light) 7. Kitchen (36W, white light) 8. Household Shelter (15W, white light) 9. Common bedrooms (30W) White light for the study room, and neutral light for the spare bedroom. B. LIVING ROOM 1. Coffee table 2. Door stopper (brushed nickel) 3. Iron Mesh, heart wooden clips and fairy lights These will be hung at the empty wall behind the dining ledge; using these for my upcoming wedding also (lol). 4. Side table 5. TV Console (1.8m) Wanted to get the full set but it's too long for our wall. C. KITCHEN 1. Toilet roll holder A kitchen needs a toilet roll, but I didn’t like how the toilet roll looks so out of place in my current home kitchen, so I carted this out in case I forgot to buy, haha. 2. Kitchen Sink (single bowl, 55cm) After reading up on ceramic sinks (it’s so pretty!), it seems that utility wise, one can’t go wrong with stainless steel sinks. Hence, we decided on stainless steel. We initially wanted to buy from Singapore as my mum say that a quality kitchen sink is important. But the sinks that we saw ain't that impressive, already cost about $250! I was prepared to get one off amazon (quality seems better, ~ $170) but the shape bothers (the OCD) me. Hence, I returned to Taobao. This costs $80, with pretty decent reviews. If this fails me, I will just buy one from Singapore. 3. Kitchen tap with pull out sprayer I chose this tap because having helped my mum wash the dishes and sink a couple of times, I lament to myself how useful if I could have a pull down sprayer! 4. Pull out condiment tray (200mm) Got a 200mm one because our bottom kitchen cabinet is L-shaped, and it’s best we leave more space for the corner cabinet. D. BATHROOMS 1. Memory Foam Bathmat D1. COMMON TOILET 1. PVC bathroom vanity set We prefer to get stainless steel instead of PVC, but since we could not find any in Prime, we got a PVC one. It does not fit to our theme of white/chrome, so we decided to just play with monochrome for the common toilet. Seller did not dispatched the item! 2. Bathroom robe hook I just had to buy this though I am not sure if it fits at where I envisioned it to be. 3. Bathroom basket (30cm) 4. Toilet roll holder Got one with cover as there would be no shower screen installed in the common toilet. 5. Towel bar There is a towel bar which I liked, but I decided against it after considering the utility of the common toilet. That's $18 saved, hehe. D2. MBR TOILET 1. Waterfall tap The same tap in silver costs about 10 bucks less (why like that!) but we love the matte look. We think that this is a nice twist from the usual water taps. We almost got the one with a slanted stand because the water fall looks more substantial but when we saw this we couldn’t resist! 2. Ceramic basin and pipe 3. Rainshower Have not purchased anything else for the MBR toilet because I ain't sure of what accessories to get and if I want to buy them off taobao. Anything to do with MBR and MBR toilet cannot be compromised, hence I shall take more time to consider hahaha. My house is going to look like a warehouse until I move these stuff to the new home.

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Current updates! RECTIFICATION OF DEFECTS (II) It's almost 2 weeks and HDB has not fixed most of the 7 defects (including an uneven wall tile). I just told them that we are planning to start renovation and hope that they get back to me soon. Cement were in the kitchen already, getting ready to be screed. We also found out that someone tore open the plastic concealing the WC! HDB mentioned that their workers would not do that. My only guess is the sub-contractor/workers who's supposed to do the cement screed, arghhh! MEETUP WITH CONTRACTOR, E We brought a list of questions to ask E (hahaha) and yet again his answers make us feel that our money is in safe hands, lol. Picked our Kompacplus tops; Boston Cherry for Kitchen, Kanas Maple for MBR toilet. This is not the final one, we will look at the 3D drawings first. We actually went down to Hafary before we met E today, and shortlisted a few that fits into the $3.50psf range (stated in the quotation). I do not like glossy or overly textured tiles so it wasn't that tough to shortlist 2 for the wall tiles. We did not shortlist the floor tiles as we would be picking the woody ones; the cheapest we saw was from China, but still >$3.50psf. The fiance was a little sad that he couldn't have the Italy tiles (the kind of woody vibes we like) for the floor because I said it's not worth it to top up. At the worst, we would top up a little and get the China floor tiles. After we met with E, he brought us to exactly to the sport where we wanted to get the woody floor tiles! We were overjoyed when he said we could pick the Italy floor tiles which were $4.80 psf! He gave inputs on considerations to take note and what could be done to ensure that the lines match when overlaying, etc. He also recommended to get sister/brother tiles if we want to do different tiles for the wall. Option 1 (E recommended this series) Our favourite! Love the colour, love the texture and love the uniform variations! Option 2 Option 3 The wall tiles samples here was what we shortlisted the day before we met E. Seems like they are too similar. Yay. We would be meeting with the electrician on 6 May. Simply can't wait!

It had been some time; we like that things are slow... and moving at the same time. Last week, we went to Audio House and IKEA to buy some items as vouchers are expiring. PURCHASES - PART III (1) ARISTON 20L SLIM STORAGE HEATER Place of purchase: Audio House Cost: $289 ($249 after $40 in vouchers) The only reason why we chose this is because the fiance says it looks like an aircon; much nicer than the conventional storage heater (lol). (2) VARIERA CUTLERY TRAY Place of purchase: IKEA Cost: $34.90 (3) RIMFORSA RAIL (80CM) & HOOKS Place of purchase: IKEA Cost: $12.90 & $2.90 I had a $50 voucher, so we bought the Rimforsa rail & hooks first. Would need to find a condiment stand that fits this flat rail - we love the sleek look of it compared to the usual poles - but might make do with the bamboo condiment stand from the Rimforsa series if we can't find any. The one from Rimforsa series is not upright and that bothers the OCD me. :X

Hi 77suns, your suggestion got me thinking! I did think of doing carpentry works over the window but was advised against it.

We are taking it slow as there's still 3 weeks before our scheduled renovation works. It was a pleasant surprise to see some drawings in our inbox last night. I hope we get to see our 3D drawings soon. Living Room It has always been my dream to have my own shoe cabinet! Dining Room We wanted to have a bar top and keep some space for a dining table but the place is really too small; we used the whole dining area for our bar-top instead. We hope the hanging shelf when filled completely, will "hide" the pipe in the kitchen. The original material of DB box doors seem hard to maintain and the fiance wants to change the doors. I feel that it's a waste of money. But we may change it to two-door instead, so I feel a little easier on my pocket since it is not going to look exactly the same as how it came (hahaha). Kitchen We initially have top cabinets as well, but there is one (OCD) issue that bothers me - the top cabinet would block part of window. Somehow by default kitchen consists of both top and bottom cabinets, but I just can't. The fiance made a brilliant suggestion to remove the top cabinets (so simple why can't I think of it) as he mentioned that his friend didn't use them even after they had a kid. We did some googling, and really like the openness. We decided to remove the top cabinets after doubting our utility of it in the future, but that solved the issue bothering me as well (yay)! The sewage and gas pipe would be visible though. We would be boxing up the gas pipe. I wouldn't mind having a tall unit to conceal the gas pipe but it's impossible to have one at that spot. I am loving this barren look of the kitchen - more so because we won't have anything on the opposite side of the kitchen as well. We would be adding some shelvings instead. MBR That's our platform bed behind our wardrobe; no storage below it because that would double the cost of having a platform bed. Decided to give up some storage space (above the dresser) so that the space would not feel too cramped. Our wardrobe is rather long, it is the most expensive item in the home LOL. MBR Toilet A very conventional toilet design. I was so upset I can't have an extended mirror (above the WC) and having a mirror cabinet would make the toilet appear cramped. Hence, we decided to do a mirror ledge instead. Contractor said the vanity area is too small, if we do drawers we won't have much space left for storage, so have to suck thumb and give that up also. :'( We would likely go for kompacplus for our vanity top because the fiance doesn't like the choices we have for $120 pfr iQuartz series (for kitchen). Our vanity top is only ~2.5ft, so we have to use the same top to save cost. Hope all goes well for the toilet because we have to pick our own floor and wall tiles as well.

Weekend updates again~ We had a total of about 80 to 90 defects, and HDB has cleared majority of them! I'm glad I refused to let even small scratches go because I am satisfied after seeing the rectified state. We found a few more defects but judging at their speed, I think they can get it done pretty soon! We previously signed with Evorich for our flooring (HERF) and the liasion person was Kenneth. However, he informed that he is now working for The Floor Emporium and I was asked to choose my flooring there instead. It wasn't a tough choice as there are only 12 types to choose from. We chose Ice Maple for the LR + 3 BRs and our MBR platform. Thereafter, we went to meet with our contractor, J to finalise on carpentry works. We have also given him our choice of laminates for our 3D drawings. We requested for 11 samples, and we used about 4 of them only. Will finalise after we see how the 3D turns out. Scheduled work to start on 9 May 2017. Can't wait~