ene

Oh, I think each Clipsal switch - the one with the small blue light - is about S$30 each. Hope this helps! We're thinking of just buying them and getting our ID to fix it for us.

I am also considering braces but am put off by the exorbitant charges these days. On average, how long do you need to wear braces for? Anyone with experience care to share?

Our master bedroom also faces the evening sun so I'm concerned with a very hot room after we come home from work! I would appreciate any good 'brands' of solar films to block out the sun/heat, the approx cost and where to get it from. Thanks! Oh and I'd also be having curtains but that's more for keeping out the sun when I want to be lazy on weekends. Hehe.

Clipsal has some nice switches. Even comes with light so that you don't need to find it in the dark. Check it out here: http://www.clipsal.com.sg/

So would I be correct to say that if I want simple, plain white fans that work (no lights) and comes with remote control, KDK would be the best brand? I'm looking for such ceiling fans for my living room and master bedroom.

I'm also looking for black chandeliers. Anyone with recommendations of shops with good pricing? Appreciate it very much!

We got a nice metallic dustbin at Suntec's Friven and Co. They were having a big sale and we only paid $15. Great buy! Haven't used it yet so can't comment on its usability. Have a look here: http://www.frivenco.com

Some places are already mentioned: - Robinsons - Tangs - Isetan - Takashimaya If you want something more "high class", Laura Ashley (inside Taka) has some nice crockery too. But it's more flowery so it depends on your preferences.

Hi everyone, We recently placed an order for a fabric sofa as well as a dining table from Lifestorey @ Great World City. Anyone has experience with them in terms of delivery, etc? I hope they deliver as promised and not the type to come at 5pm when they tell you they'd come at 1pm !!

You can try International Furniture Mall or The Furniture Mall at Beach Road? Lots of shops selling bed frames and mattresses there. Might be able to see a similar one. Btw, a side note: It is better to buy a bedframe that has a solid base without the "panels" because it will cause the mattress innerspring coils to sag. This is something I learnt from talking to a lot of mattress salesmen !! Good luck!

Hehe. I noticed that this poll does not have King Koil. Any particular reason why? Anyone has experience using KK? I get a lot of differing opinions about it (some say good, some say not good), so I'm very confused !! The thing is, my fiance has a friend who has "kang tao" to get v good price for KK so the price is a good push factor.

Am thinking of S$2500, including bed frame. I am staying away from Serta because it's a lot of marketing dollars (i.e. sheep cost money, tv ads cost money, banner ads cost money, etc). Simmons is rather out of budget unless I go for the low range and I haven't tried Sealy yet. Btw, I was doing research and found this hilarious article. Have a read, all of you who are getting frazzled trying to decide on a good mattress to buy (like me!). It made me laugh cos it does make sense Going to the Mattresses How to cut through the marketing gimmicks of Sealy, Serta, and the rest. Here's a fun game I play. First, I walk into a mattress store and ask what's on sale. Then, I throw my hands in the air and shout along with the salesman, "EVERYTHING'S ON SALE!!" Oh how we laugh, the salesman and I. And while he's still chuckling, I turn around and walk out, because I fricking hate mattress salesmen. Is there a more maddening industry? They confuse us with silly product names (the Sealy Posturepedic Crown Jewel Fletcher Ultra Plush Pillowtop or the Sealy Posturepedic Crown Jewel Brookmere Plush?). They flummox us with bogus science ("pocketed coils"? "Microtek foundations"? "Fiberlux"?). And they weigh us down with useless features (silk damask ticking?). It's like buying a used car, and almost as expensive—I've seen mattresses going for $7,000. What's a consumer to do? The secret to mattress shopping is that the product is basically a commodity. The mattress biz is 99-percent marketing. So just buy the cheapest thing you can stand and be done with it, because they're pretty much all the same. And that's all you need to know. But do read on—the world of sleep products is quite fascinating, and I'd like to share it with you. What's the Best Brand? Innerspring mattresses, particularly the Big S's (Simmons, Serta, Sealy), dominate the market. But how to choose among Serta and Sealy, Stearns and Foster, and King Koil? Or for that matter, between the Simmons Beautyrest Exceptionale Lenore and the Simmons Beautyrest Do-Not-Disturb Royalty Ultra? Here's the lowdown: Mattress makers rename identical products for each different retail store. Different labels, exact same guts. Why? Obfuscation. It's hard to shop for the lowest price when you can't compare apples to apples. Lucky for you, they're all subtle variations on the same apple—not only within each brand, but even among different brands. The heart of an innerspring mattress is the coils. Otherwise it's just foam, cotton, quilting, and stitches. But the big-name mattress makers (with some exceptions) all get their coils from a single company, Leggett and Platt, for their highest-end mattresses down to their lowest. This is akin to every single car on the market, Lamborghinis to Kias, using an engine made by Ford. Except that mattresses are far less complicated than cars. In fact, they're so simple that there's no real difference among them at all. Upshot: Ignore brand names. They're meaningless. Just pay attention to comfort. Which leads us to our next question: How Firm Should My Mattress Be? Herein lies the central mattress paradox. You sleep on coils because they're softer than the floor, but you still want good, firm coils, but then you put foam padding on top to soften the coils, but you still want the foam to be dense, and then finally you put a strong box spring underneath for just a tiny bit of give. All this shuttling back and forth on the scale of firmness—why not just start with the firmness you like, and then stop? My favorite mattress name encapsulates the paradox: Simmons Beautyrest World Class Granite Plush. Granite Plush??? Let's break down each mattress feature that creates firmness, or softness, or both. Coil Counts and Wire Guages: When I began, coil counts and wire guages seemed the key to everything. I talked to several bedding journalists who had desperately sought these numbers from the mattress makers, but had long failed to penetrate the shroud of secrecy. I figured these stats were the empirical measure: More and thicker coils mean fuller and better support. But I soon found it's not that simple. Some mattresses use more coils but thinner-gauge wire. Some use thicker wire but fewer coils. And everyone uses radically different configurations that make comparisons meaningless. Larry Thomas of Furniture Today—a man described to me as "the guru of the bedding industry"—told me coil counts are "overrated" and "not a good indicator." Yes, if you pay more, you'll get a theoretically better coil design, but better enough to feel a difference? I sure couldn't. Not even between two mattresses thousands of dollars apart in price. So don't worry about the stats—worry about the comfort. Pillowtops: Pillowtops are soft layers of foam (or cotton, or wool) sewn to the top of the mattress. They're hugely popular. They add hundreds of dollars to your purchase. They are, in my opinion, a massive rip-off. You can re-create their effect with a few cheap egg-crate foam pads. And why spend all that money on springs just to dampen their affect with a giant pillow? If you really want to sleep on foam or cotton, buy a foam or cotton mattress. Thickness: A recent fad. Some Stearns and Foster (a brand owned by Sealy) mattresses I saw measured about 2 feet thick (and cost $5,000). It looked like they sewed a futon on top of an innerspring. Experts I talked to say thickness is just a ploy: It makes beds look comfy in the showroom. If you notice a difference, mazel tov, but thickness isn't vital to a good bed. You can achieve the same feel with less height (and weight—some mattresses weigh more than 200 pounds and are tough to carry up the stairs). Mattresses have gotten so thick recently that people are complaining they can't see their headboards. Actual industry response: They made the box-springs thinner. Which of course leads us to ... Box Springs: I find them wholly unnecessary. Think about it: Presumably, you could put a box spring under your box spring for even more "give" and "support." Another box spring under those two. Where do you draw the line? Also, remember that box springs add significantly to your cost. One reasonable argument I heard for them is that they save wear on your mattress, but I had no way to prove or disprove this. Many Europeans use platform beds without box springs. Do you hear them complaining? I don't use a box spring, and I don't miss it. It's a princess/pea thing. If you need 17 layers, OK. If you only need one, don't buy a box spring, unless you don't like platforms and can't think of anything better to put your mattress on. My recommendation: Put your mattress on the floor—it saves money on nightstands. Give in to gravity! Is a Firm Mattress Best for My Back? I asked an orthopedic surgeon at something called the National Foundation for Spinal Health. He said a mattress should support you in the "position of function"—the normal curve of your spine when you're standing up. When a mattress flattens the curve (too firm), or exaggerates it (too soft), bingo: back pain. According to him, a supportive innerspring works better than foam, air, or water. The NFSH recommends: the Simmons Back Care mattress. Problem solved, let's go home, yes? No! I soon discovered the NFSH takes money from companies, including, especially, Simmons! Sketchy! Next orthopedic surgeon, please. This second guy was independent and no longer practicing. He debunked the myth that firm mattresses are best. They are if you get acute back spasms, but for regular back pain your mattress doesn't make much difference. "The back is a complicated structure," he said. "Back pain has a lot to do with how you're built, but not a lot to do with your mattress." So you don't have to feel guilty about buying a soft, cushy mattress. It doesn't make a difference. (Regional trivia: Firm mattresses sell more in the Northeast [you penitent yankees, you!], while soft wins out in the South.) Do I Need All Those Extra Features? No. Screw 'em. For instance ... Ticking and Quilting: People often buy based on how a mattress looks in the store. This is moronic. You're going to spread a sheet over it the second you get home. Belgian damask? Really, now. No-Flip Designs: Manufacturers say to flip your mattress every three months. It's even in some warranties. Yet this year's Simmons Beautyrest 2000 boasts a "no flip" design. And it's selling like hotcakes (for which flipping, incidentally, remains compulsory). Why? People love work-saving innovations—we're too lazy to flip. But what does it really mean? It means there's block foam on one side instead of something you could sleep on. And it means if there's a stain or a rip on the sleeping side, you're SOL. They should have called it the "can't flip" design. It's like a "No Oil Change" car that's simply had the dipstick and cap soldered in place. Warranties: Almost any problem from normal use (which is all the warranties cover) will happen in the first month or so. Ignore the 10- and 20-year coverage. Just make sure there's a solid, 30- or 60-day return policy. That's important not only if the mattress is defective, but if you plain don't like it upon further review. What About Foam, Air, Water, and Latex? These legendary "four elements" of classical mythology can also be mattresses. Viscoelastic "memory" foam is popular now. I tried the Tempurpedic brand and loved it—it melts to fit your form. But I wouldn't spend $1,500 for a mattress, no matter how Swedish it is. Select Comfort air mattresses have sold big lately (though innerspring sales still dwarf everything else, owning more than 80 percent of the market). I didn't like the feeling of air, even though I could adjust the firmness with a remote-controlled pump. When you compress it with your weight, air doesn't seem to have as much give as foam. And it felt like I was camping. These start at $550 for a queen-size. Waterbeds have hung around (still half of all specialty mattress sales), but I couldn't find one out on display to test. And they give me the yips a little. Finally, an independent mattress manufacturer I talked to swore that latex makes the best mattresses. (Coincidentally, he makes latex mattresses.) I tried a latex bed, and it didn't feel very different from a firm innerspring, but that's me. Futons? Sure, why not? They're cheaper, partly because there's no box spring. But what is a futon these days, anyway? The definition has essentially devolved into "it bends." They even make innerspring futons, now. At the same time, real innerspring beds keep stacking on the foam and cotton, emulating futons of yore. Conclusion If you can't tell the difference between a $200 and a $900 mattress (I couldn't, but maybe you can), get the cheaper one. They're nearly the same, anyway. Anything over $1,500 and you're just paying for prestige, says Larry Thomas. There are tons of great mattress sets for low prices. Yes, to an extent, you get what you pay for (better coil design, denser foam, ritzier ticking), but don't go crazy over this stuff. Lie down on mattesses in the store and trust your own judgment. Remember: Once you're asleep, every mattress feels the same.

I was at Furniture Mall's Dunlopillo Suite (the supplier itself) and tried their Ambrosia which is only carried at their shop. The salesperson talked about their talalay latex and individual pocketed spring, etc. S$2099 nett for frame and bed. Sounds like a good deal but we didn't dare to commit cos we haven't tried enough beds yet. But to be honest, the more I try, the more confused I get.

If you read my previous post, I did not say that magazines are the answer. I merely suggested that if home owners have no idea what they like, it's BEST if they can flip through some ID magazines to see what they like and not like. At least narrow down the ideas because if the home owners have ZERO ideas in terms of colour schemes, it'd be very difficult for the ID to design something that it satisfactory. Above are my own experience. I am not affiliated to any ID companies. Of course, you can go to an ID and say, "here's my floor plan. Design something for me". And what you get may be the usual cookie-cutter standard designs. But if you're fine with that, that's ok too. Really, to each his/her own. It's YOUR house.

Just met them today. They seem pretty decent and willing to actually listen to what I wanted which is a thumbs-up in my opinion! One ID firm I went to gave me a type of face when I said that I neede ceiling fans in the living and master bedroom. They said will "spoil the look" which I totally understand but we will be the ones living in there?! Have you spoken to people at Plus yet?

I believe that you need to have some sort of BASIC idea of how you want your home to look like. E.g. do you like strong bold colours? Or pastel colours? Do you have a certain style you like/dislike? I would recommend that you have a look at some ID magazines and flag out the ones you like. From there, you can then narrow down the IDs to speak to. Of course, speak to your friends who have used them because I strongly believe in the power of word of mouth. If they're that bad, people won't recommend them. Also, it's good to stick to what you want and not like the ID decorate the whole house for you. I mean, it's YOUR home, not theirs! Worst case is for them to design something that you don't actually like or feel comfortable with. Above are just my personal opinion and I went through the same pain and stress. Actually, till now, we haven't even decided to go with an ID or a contractor because we basically know what we want. Still keeping options open