countrylover

Does anybody have any idea if Hoe Kee or Poh Joo carry porcelain sinks? I went to the Hoe Kee branch at PS but dun seem to find any. Any idea what is the price range? I'm looking for something like the one below :

I've only painted the sealer coat for the ceilings. However I insisted to HDB that they shd repaint my ceilings for me due to the time and money spent and they agreed. However, they can only start painting next week as it takes a few days for the ceiling skim coat to dry. Will arrange for the rest of my paint to deliver by this week though, so can start painting the room that doesn't have problems. I'm gonna confirm my carpentry works by this week & that will take a few weeks too. And like what you've pointed out, I've also started shopping for furniture. Was at IFC over the weekend, will probably check out the Ubi industrial area also. The patches that dropped are the skim coat, a thin layer of plastering. The ceiling itself won't drop, cos it's concrete. If it drops, then it will become a disaster.

Thanks. I can't wait for it to complete too! But seems like will be delayed for a while cos of the ceiling problem. Due to that, all my reno works gotta halt. Can't imagine that we wasted 3 weeks for HDB to rectify problem. Really hope everything can resume after this week.

Received the quotation and designs from our carpenter yesterday. It's slightly over our budget of $8k, so gonna discuss with HB if we are going with it, or making changes to some carpentry items. Need to make changes to the kitchen cabinet too, as the design wasn't what I actually wanted. Need to have a canopy over my cooker hood for sure! Thanks! Yeah, in a way, it's also a blessing in disguise. Good thing the defects happened early. Can't imagine the headache and heartache when all reno works were completed and we have moved in, and the ceilings come falling down!

A team of six people including a HDB officer, project manager, project consultant and contractors came to inspect our flat yesterday, after we jumped big time and made "a lot of noise" about the recurring ceiling problem. The HDB officer looked like he's in shock and disbelief over the damages. After discussion with the project consultant and manager, they said that the only way to resolve the problem is to hack the ceilings in the whole flat. The hacking started this morning and will take about five working days to complete, including patching and painting. Might as well I guess, hopefully no more problems after this! But seems like our reno plans are gonna be delayed again. Three weeks wasted due to the irritating ceiling problem! Guess we won't be able to move in by June already.

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Thanks for the offer! We've actually purchased our paint. Will chk with my HB how much he has purchased, esp with this irritating ceiling problem! Dunno wasted how much paint already. Sigh... Will PM u if we need extra.

There is this layer of skim coat that covers our concrete ceilings, some sort of a kind of plastering. It's the same as checking your floor or wall tiles. Need to basically knock with a hard object to see if it's hollow. There's a diff between the sound made by a hard and hollow surface. My HB said it could be due to the poor quality of the plastering used by HDB, that's why it dropped again and again. However, if you have false ceilings all over your flat, this shouldn't be a problem. Cos if the skim coat comes off, it will fall on the inside of the false ceilings instead. Then again, it doesn't make sense. The first time it happened end last year, we have not even started renovating, let alone use anything to knock the ceilings! And to think that it comes off after painting is absurd! My HB merely knocked on them gently to check, and they started cracking. It's not that we were drilling the ceilings or what. Sigh...

Most impt is, you need to check on the credibility and reputation of the merchants. In ebay, it's easy to track as there's usually a feedback section. Also, I insured all my items. So in case of loss or damage, I can take it up with the courier company. HTH!

Hi pongy Maybe u wanna ask for comments from the main forum? Cos not everybody visits the TH thread. So maybe others out there can share with you their comments.

LOL. Think my bedroom will end up looking very girly. My HB gonna kill me le.

The tiles for my 4-room kitchen and common toilets are a bluish tone.

Opps so sorry! Have cleared my mailbox already. Wow, so nice! So did you get anything? But I think the things there not cheap huh? I saw one of their auctions in ebay for hand-painted poster-frame bed. Makes me wanna . But no budget for it...costs $1400+!

Yup it's on the 2nd floor. When I walked in, I just had the feeling I wanna buy over the whole shop! There's another shop at Bukit Timah Plaza called Le Cozy. Been trying to find time to check them out.

Sigh, I went back yesterday and had another shock. My HB inspected the whole living room ceiling to see if they've done a good job and found hollow spots all over the place. He ended up spending a few hrs to scrap off all the areas with defects. I meant to upload the photos last nite but didn't have time to. Will do so these few days. Really, really angry and upset...3rd time this has happened already! Now my living room has at least 6-8 patches of chipped off ceiling. Not sure if the Tanglin Halt neighbours also experience this, as I've not heard anyone complaining. Have asked my HB to call HDB this morning and whack them! We actually planned to finish all painting by this weekend and move in soon, but seems that has to be postponed already. By hook or by crook will have to move by end of June, if not we'll all be homeless come July. It's a total waste of our money on the paint and worse, our time and effort!

Yup, that's them! I remembered the shop name started with an "E" but can't rem the full name. What kind of painting did you buy and what's the size? I'm eyeing a few with flora designs and country scenes. Mind to PM me the photo of what you've got? Or maybe next weekend can drop by your place to look see.

I recently bought three chandeliers from ebay US. Compared to what I see in Balestier, they are so much cheaper. The only issue is, you need to get your electrician to convert the voltage, as US uses 120v while S'pore uses 240v. If you are looking for cost savings and don't mind the extra trouble to buy from overseas, you might want to consider this option. You can check out my t-blog to see what I've purchased from US.

We met up with the carpenter this afternoon. She did the measurements for the various carpentry items such as : - Kitchen cabinet - shoe rack (full-height) - slidng doors for household shelter - partition for living/dining area - MBR wardrobe The budget we've allocated for all the items is about $8k. Hopefully she can work something out for us within our budget, if not might have to consider forgoing certain items. My preference is to have everything done in solid wood but that's challenging, as I think it's impossible with our tight budget. I hope to have at least a solid wood kitchen cabinet as that's something really important to me. As for the other items, I'm willing to close one eye and go with whatever we can afford. The other alternative will be to do everything in postfoam finishing. Looks like solid wood but at a fraction of its price. I went to Forest Woodworking at Thomson Plaza yesterday to take a look. I knew what they have is way beyond my budget, but went anyway to satisfy my curiousity. Their stuff are really gorgeous, exactly what I want for my kitchen cabinet. Spoke to the designer and she said it'll probably cost around $8K. That's the price we have to pay for quality stuff I guess. Anyway, found out what I need from them, to clear some doubts I had, which also helps in my decision making and communication with my carpenter. At the same time, chanced upon this shop, De Art at Thomson Plaza. They carry beautiful shabby chic items which I wanted so much to buy for my new home! The moment I walked in, I was hooked! I think they've been around for a few years, just that I didn't have a chance to visit them. Find their prices quite reasonable too, compared to some cottage chic shops I've gone to. Saw some really gorgeous lamps, clocks and cushion covers that I wanna get. Anyway, I've decided to "cheong" for the shop after my next payday. Saw some oil paintings for sale at one shop too (can't remember the name) but it's located at the 1st floor. Think they are pretty expensive though. Haha...so many things to buy but money no enough.

Sometime last mth, I was at Challenger and saw the Samsung 32" TV going for $799! Was very tempted to get it but didn't cos need the money for my reno. Not sure if the promo is still on though. Sony Bravia 32" selling at abt $999 at Best Denki now I think. Btw, Standard Chartered bank has a GSS promo. Charge $3000 to your card and you could get a Sony 40" Full HD LCD TV for free! More details at http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/credit.../free_sony.html. Toshiba tends to be cheaper amongst all other brands but I heard that their quality and parts are not as good. So maybe u wanna find out more 1st before buying. Alexandra Village has a few electrical shops, heard that their prices are very competitive to shops like Best Denki, Courts etc. Anyone who has bought from them and would like to comment?

Most of these banks are like that. They are always so quick and eager to make u apply for their credit cards but when u request to terminate, they take forever! Few years back, I had bad experience with DBS and thus requested to cancel their credit card. They took in my request but somehow the termination never happened...it's almost 5 years now. Since they are giving me waiver of the annual fees, I just let it go....really so sick of calling them again and again to ask why the card wasn't terminated.

Would like to check with u guys about window curtains. Do you custom make or bought the ready made ones? My concern is the L-shaped windows for the living room and MBR. Think it's kind of difficult to find suitable curtains for the smaller portion of the windows. Appreciate your sharing pls.

Thanks. I've been to the shop before but they do not have exactly what I need. What I would really love to get is a quilt hanger with shelf. Dun think it's widely avail here as people dun have a tradition of hanging quilts, will prob need to get it custom-made or buy from overseas.

If u refer to the SCB website, it says that first 50 SMS receive the 40" TV, while the next 200 receive the iPod. So if u happen to be the 251st who SMS, then won't receive anything lor. It sounds too good to be true...so dunno if it's a marketing gimmick or what. When I called, they said that all purchases count, except for interest-free installment items and bill payments.

We were painting the ceiling last weekend and to our dismay, scraps of skim coat from the ceiling started falling off in our MBR. Argghhhh!!! This is not the 1st time that such a thing has happened. The 1st incident occurred in Dec last year. What lousy HDB workmanship! And it's not minor, the damage in the MBR was about 50cm wide! We called HDB to complain and they sent some workers to patch up the hole on Tue. I insisted that they inspect the entire flat, as I'm sure the defects could be found elsewhere. True enough, they found more hollow spots in the common bedrooms and living rooms. By the end of Tue, there were big holes everywhere. The workers took 2 days to patch up the ceiling. Today they came back again, as I insisted that they repaint the ceilings for me. We were almost done painting the ceilings and this doesn't make sense. It's HDB's fault and obviously, they have to take the responsibility. Here's what happened to my living room in Dec 07 : Now this! Keeping my fingers crossed that this will not happen again. Thank God I've not finished the final coats of painting and installed the lights. If not, I'll end up having to dismantle the lights for HDB to fix the ceilings!

Haha...I also "bio-ing" at the free 40" LCD TV. Called them up to find out more. You'll have to charge at least $3000 to your SCB card during a qualifying period, then SMS your purchase details on a few specific dates. There are a total of 200 TVs to be given away (50 for each qualifying period). The 1st 50 to SMS will get the free TV. They told me it's on a first come first served basis, there's no catch. Then again, u just never know. We can easily spend $3000 on home stuff, but if they say you are the 51st to SMS, what can u say? They also giving away iPods and Sony digicams for those who are not successful for the free TVs. Some details as follows : http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/credit.../free_sony.html Don't be mistaken, I don't work for SCB. Thus, not doing any advertising for them...just sharing here.