countrylover

I wanted a blue and white theme for my MBR, cos blue is a very nice country colour. Thus, almost everything from bedsheets, to curtains to decor are in white or blue. hehe...

I've posted them in my blog previously but guess too many pages here, hard to search. hehe... Attaching them here for you again... The pics are not very updated though, will find some time to take pics and post them here.

Thanks. Are you referring to my living or bedroom furniture? My living furniture are all from Picket & Rail, made of teak wood. But I find that they are more suitable for resort style theme, not so much of country style. We made the mistake of buying them before reno was completed, then realised they somehow don't quite blend in with the rest of the decor. Anyway, hoping to sell them off by the end of the year and go for French or English country-style sofa. These are not easy to find either, as most shops here are quite expensive. Maybe will consider custom made ones from Indonesia again, like what I did for my fireplace and mirror. They are dirt cheap and workmanship is much better than most solid wood furniture avail here. Just that it's quite troublesome and take a longer time. For my bedroom furniture, I bought them from Country Style Furniture at IFC. They've got quite a good variety, but workmanship is not too fantastic. Hehe...my flooring is not laminate. They are ceramic! Deliberately chose timber look-alike tiles for the flooring, cos easier to maintain than laminates.

Actually there are many forumers here who engage contractors, but their homes are in no way sub-standard to those who engage IDs. As long as you know the exact theme you want and do research eg surf Internet, read magazines etc, any good contractor will be able to do it for u, at a fraction of the cost you pay an ID. This is assuming you have some time on hand to coordinate with the different sub-contractors etc. We didn't engage IDs for our reno as we prefer more control and take things into our own hands. Can be quite tough at times but overall, very fun and fulfilling! hehe... What's most impt is to find an experienced and good carpenter. Hope to see photos of your reno progress soon! All the best and have fun!

Thanks for your compliments. We bought it at $307K abt 2 years ago. Was lucky to get it during the 1st round of balloting, as a friend of mine paid close to $400k during last year's balloting. also mid-storey like mine.

For your info, it's a decorative mantel, and not a functional fireplace. And I'm using it as a display area for my collectibles. It's NOT abt being wanting to be like an ang moh, but merely my personal idea to add on the warmth and coziness to my home. So, anything wrong with that? Staying in a hot climate country like Singapore doesn't mean I can't put in my creativity to make my home different.

After a long 2 months, we finally managed to spray paint our new fireplace and mirror! They look starking white now. Wanna go for an off-white colour but the spray paint only comes in pure white. I guess we'll just leave them for now, I'm sure with all the dust around our place, they'll turn yellowish in time to come. hehe... Just yesterday, we spent the entire afternoon fixing the mirror and fireplace and also rearrange our living room. I'm really glad our living looks so much more spacious with the new arrangement. But all's not perfect yet, as my idea is to have the 1-seater sofa side by side with the fireplace. I can't do that now as our 3-seater is too long and takes up too much space. Hopefully when we change to a smaller sofa set by the end of this year, I could have the arrangement that I wished for. Dreaming for cushy and comfy upholstered chairs or armchairs beside the fireplace! Though I know there won't be enough space for that. Very, very happy that my living room is coming to life and looking very warm and cosy!

Hi there! Looking forward to more photos of your progress! All the best!

What your 1st contractor has done sounds really bad! If they refuse to rectify all your defects, you shd go straight to CASE or RADAC! It's great that CC has done a good job and that u guys are happy. Hehe...I've still not had time to view yr blog. Will do so soon. Yeah, actually there's no need to rush into renovating the entire house, esp if you have budget constraints. I've moved in abt 1 yr ago, but still gradually making rectifications and buying new furniture. Really hope that I'll be able to make some touches to my study room by the end of this year. What kind of fabric sofa do u want? The flora kind? I've seen some really nice ones at Picket & Rail. Look for the range under the "Young American Fabric Sofa". http://www.picketandrail.com/index.html I'm also planning to buy a new living set, as my current 1 is too bulky and doesn't really blend into my country theme. Might be going to the IMM branch to take a look this wkend.

Nope I didn't engage an ID, everything at my home is our own concept & design. We found a carpenter to do up the kitchen cabinet, shoe cabinet & MBR wardrobe etc. The rest of the other stuff are mostly DIY. Though it took us longer, I guess it also gave us more control, minus the headache of dealing with an ID. We also spent less than $20k in total. Hehe u guys shd consider laying bricks for the wall. My hb did it for our MBR, all DIY. Took us quite a while, but it's worthwhile, cos it really enhances the overall country look! I've posted pics of my MBR in this blog. The windows in our MBR are usually closed, so I didn't really have problems of cleaning it. Mayb u wanna consider wainscoting wall panelling? We wanna get it done initially but it's too costly. Do u intend to reno the other parts of yr home besides living & kitchen? Saw fr yr blog that u are having some problems with workmanship. Have they managed to rectify for u? When is yr handover date? Have they fixed the fireplace for u yet? I've not browsed thru yr entire blog. Will do so tmr when I'm free.

Sigh. Papers reported that she's not a resident here, stays at Jurong. Seriously, there is no need to come all the way here to jump from 40th storey lah. Falling from 8th or 10th storey is enough to take your life.

I had it custom made in Indo for abt $500 including shipping, customs, GST etc. Really value for money as it's made of solid mahogany wood. A few IDs quoted us between $1.5k to $2k here. Though it took us a longer time for coordination & fabrication, the efforts are really worthwhile! Not forgetting that Indo is famous for their craftsmen. Even though colour is wrong, I still can close 1 eye cos I can never get a fireplace in S'pore at this price! Workmanship is excellent. No regrets! Are u also a country theme lover? How much did u pay for yr fireplace?

Was anybody aware that someone jumped from Blk 89 yesterday evening? Very sad...3rd case liao. Saw blood splattered all over the floor and walls as I walked past. Really gross...even lost my appetite during dinner. Heard it's a lady in her 40s.

Thanks! We wanted to add on the coziness to our country theme, hence the fireplace is a "must-have" item. These few days as I sit on my sofa beside the fireplace, I feel so warm even though there's no real fire! hehe... Can't wait to fix the mirror...agree that it'll complement the fireplace. But first we need to decide where to put the fireplace permanently and whether we are going to repaint them.

I initially wanted pure white, but worried that it would be too contrasting against the dark wooden furniture in my living, hence wanna go for off-white instead. Yeah, hb wanted to try to spray paint. However, cos I had the carpenter create a distressed look for the mirror and fireplace, so I'm worried if we are able to recreate the same look. And not forgetting the fireplace is quite huge (1.5m) and very heavy! It took 3 delivery guys to carry it into my home...haha. If we need to spray paint, we'll need to move it outside our home. Cos we don't want to have paint everywhere in the living. Sigh...

Actually my wall is light yellow, very similar to the colour of the fireplace and mirror. So they all seem to blend together. Would prefer them to be a few tones lighter tough, which was why I requested for off-white colour. But gosh, they came in a cream colour, which I find too dark. Yeah, I've been accumulating "treasures" for the fireplace over the past year...so that when it finally arrives, I can adorn them on the mantel. Now gotta dig out all those stuff to decorate my mantel.

We also custom made a 1.2m x 0.9m wooden mirror to be placed on the wall above the fireplace. However, we won't be putting it up until we rearrange the living room and decide on the permanent position of the fireplace. Can't wait actually, as it'll surely be the centrepiece of our living area and augment the look and feel of the fireplace. Really love the carvings! Very intricately done by our carpenter. Our only disappointment is the colour of the fireplace and mirror. We had asked for it to be done in an off-white tone but they look too yellowish when they arrived. Should have stuck by our original intention to have them in a French white tone.

Closeups of the fireplace elements :

Finally managed to upload my pics into Photobucket. More pics of my fireplace:

Time really flies! It's been a year since we moved in on 28 Jun last year. Have not updated this blog for a long, long time as I've been too busy and lazy. We might have moved in for quite some time, but over the past year, we are continuously making changes to our home, adding in new decor etc. In fact, our reno is not 100% complete. There are some items in my wishlist which I hope to do by the end of this year. Due to budget constraints, we are progressively getting things done, so we don't burn a hole in our pockets. They include installation of shelves and book cabinets in the study room, wall display cabinets and buffet hutch for living. Actually one of my greatest dream is to have a fireplace in my living room. We didn't have it from the beginning as hb felt that it's not practical for a HDB flat. After my constant nagging and pleas, he finally gave in to my request...yeah! Our custom-made fireplace just arrived 2 days ago. We also custom-made a mirror to be put on the wall above the fireplace. In fact, we need to rearrange the living room to integrate the fireplace. We had it placed temporarily beside the living windows for the time being. The most ideal place is to have it at where our TV console is currently. We have intention to replace the living furniture as it's too bulky and doesn't really fit into our country theme. With this fireplace, the whole living looks really cramped. We intend to sell off our existing teak furniture over the next few mths and buy a new French country living set. That would make our country home more complete! I'm having problems uploading photos to Photobucket. Will try again later and post more up here.

Hi Kari Sorry for the late reply as I've not logged in here for a long time. Just saw your posting. I have two pri-sch going girls (P1 & P3) who are currently studying at CHIJ Kellock. Well, my elder girl was attending that school before I moved, so I decided to stay put and register my younger one in the same sch too. Previously, I was staying at Telok Blangah which is within 1km to CHIJ. I'm fortunate that I've my mum who helps me with my kids, hence they take school bus to and fro. I've done a quick search in the MCYS website on student care centres around our area. You can call them for more details: 1. Commonwealth Student Care Centre Blk 37B, Commonwealth Dr, #01 - 01, 02, SINGAPORE 142037 (Tel: 64749209) 2. Topmarks Student Care Centre Blk 143, Mei Ling St, #01 - 153, SINGAPORE 140143 (Tel : 64792500) 3. YMCA Gan Eng Seng Student Care Centre 100, Redhill Close, Gan Eng Seng Primary School, SINGAPORE 158901 (Tel: 64790601) 4. Joy Place Blk 38C, Belvedere Close, #01 - 03, SINGAPORE 159883 (Tel : 64752680) 5. Little Professors Student Care Centre (Redhill) Blk 75D, Redhill Road, #01 - 108, SINGAPORE 154075 (Tel : 93277010) You can access the list of childcare and student care centres at http://www.childcarelink.gov.sg/. Alternatively, you might want to consider finding a part-time nanny (who stays in Tanglin Halt) to take care of your kids for a few hrs while you are at work? Hope that helps!

Hey payretep! I've been MIA from Renotalk for quite some time and what a pleasant surprise to chance upon your blog! Like yourself and piggiedearz, I'm also a country theme fanatic!!! You must find some time to visit her home, cos the 1st time I was there, I didn't want to leave...hehe. Very gorgeous, just like yours! But unfortunately, I can't see most of the images you posted, seems like broken links. Only managed to see those u posted for your kitchen. But guess what? I almost wanted to get the same kitchen doors from Ikea like you. But cos we cook daily, I reckon maintenance would be a hassle, so I had mine custom made in brown instead. haha...and your dining table too! I wanna buy from IFC too! But found it too huge for my dining area, so I bought a smaller one from Picket & Rail. Seems like we have quite similar tastes huh? Pls take your time to add in the essential touches and decor. I've moved in to my flat since last June, but till now I still find it bare. Like forever not enough decor to beautify it, even though I've been adding in new items every mth. Feel free to check out my blog....I've not updated it for a long, long time, cos busy and lazy. Currently, I'm making a fireplace for my living. Hopefully will make my house look more country and cosy. Yah, white French country theme is also my preferred choice but having kids around hor...not very practical. So I only maintained the white theme for my MBR. I believe the "country seller who moves around" is Liew Tee right? hehe...I've been buying a lot of stuff from her too! She's currently in Tiong Bahru Plaza, so you can visit her store if you have time. She'll be there till 30 Apr. I find her things so much cheaper than many country shops I've been to. Hope to see more updates from you soon!

Wow zirhk, you are the man! Having our own forum is an excellent idea. But firstly we might want to identify the aims and feasibility of having our own. What features, contents etc do we intend to have? Will there be active participation or discussion from our neighbours here? etc... Btw, was RT down for the past 1 mth? I didn't realise it was down until I tried to log in last week. Realised that the last posting in this forum was in end Feb!

Sorry for late reply. Yes, silicone usually takes abt 2-3 hrs to dry. Hmm...I'm not too sure abt using soap to wash the floor...cos I wash leh. A day after they changed my WC and yesterday. I did that too when I fixed my shower screens, no leaking or watsoever problems. I guess it shd be fine, just be careful not to scrub the silicon part when washing the floors for the time being. My WC is the Saniton brand. Yours also the same?

Yup, I chanced upon it too on my way home. Saw police barricades and the tentage where the body is supposed to be. Very sad... My mum heard from someone at Blk 90 that it's an auntie staying on 4th level. Not too sure which level she jumped from though. Btw would like to update that HDB finally changed my WC last weekend. So far so good...no more backflow problems!