patsy_sg

i realize i've been looking at everyone elses blog but not updating mine... we've finally started renovation works.. the painting started yesterday and should finish by tomorrow... then the cabinetry will start on Monday along with the timber planks for the bay window. took us a while to find our living room light but we finally found one we both liked... it blew our budget tho!

hey steve.. what did you end up doing for the bay windows? I think they're installing ours on Monday... will get hb to take pics if you want

i've used that line on him for all the furniture we've ever bought and the lights too.... most of my furniture are antiques and quite timeless, so even 10 yrs down the road, it won't look dated. these are the chairs i want: http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,1230694.html

yah, true, huge diff. Sorry no, coz the only time i had to ship stuff from the US, I was able to piggy back on a friend's FCL when they were moving to Singapore, so it ony cost me a bottle of wine if you find a good one let me know too.. maybe we can share.. i'm eyeballing a louis IV chair but need to convince my hb a $2000 chair is a good investment...

HEHE MaCe, i used to live in the US and still maintain a house there, that's why! Was just telling hb furnishing the house would have cost half if we lived in the States! For sea freight, you can contact most of the local freight companies to ship in for you... but the clearing charges are the killers... think for 1 cubic metre it can to up to $300-400 coz of all the little charges here and there!

hi ranger, just a suggestion, don't get a rug until you finish all the renovation, because by then you will know the exact feel of the place and will know what type/colour/design of rug you need.

carpentry/painting/electrical bout 18k i think.. lights, definitely spent too much! he he

think it's possible coz some of the houses have much higher ceilings than most places here... but i remember my place in the states before, the depth of the top cabinet was also shorter than the bottom.

NP

yup, 1.5K for all 3 rooms.

hehe now you know how much I really know about it ok, checked with hb, he said use plywood joined is ok, it is the veneer that must be a full piece and not joined.

hi hi steve, just spoke to hb. Sorry sorry.. i heard wrongly, you CANNOT put solid wood in this area if there is sunlight at that is what is going to warp. Better to use plywood with veneer (but must use one piece veneer, not joined) good thing I double checked with him!! sorry for the wrong info

hi steve, on the average the bay windows were 3m X .6m...

hi Ilmare, the 2 that could understand (or would bother to try to understand) were Stanley from KNQ associates and Lesley from Avantgarde Livin. We ended up with Lesley mainly due to price but both of them really stood out because they could visualize what I wanted them to do and more importantly, design something that incorporated all of our current furniture. I called some of them and even sent the floor plan and a brief to a lot of ID's but quite a number of them replied that the job was too small and they weren't interested!!

hi steve, hb got a friend to lay solid wood nyatoh i think on the bay windows, but i think they're putting teak veneer or something (he's in charge of the hard solid stuff, i'm in charge of the soft stuff and lights) hehe... $1.5k is for the bay windows for 3 windows... think the measurements are about 3m X 1m on the average... not sure but i can check for you tomorrow if you want. nope..... our place is somewhere else

Hi steve.. hb works in the wood industry and he said if you use those type of woods used for cabinetry there is a tendency to warp over time... but using solidl wood is really expensive, costs about $1.5 k but more lasting. If you plan to stay in the place long, maybe you can consider solid wood. Just a suggestion coz we were faced with this issue for our new place also...

hi samantha, yeah... seems it's common practise to just put it on top, luckily my washing machine is a front loading one. Thanks for your info!

haha, we didn't even ask for 3D... i actually had a super hard time finding someone who was willing to work with me because i didn't want any cookie cutter (great term) designs... specially coz i had a lot of existing stuff i wanted to bring with me.. along with loads of artwork collected from our travels... so when an ID asks me if i wanted a resort theme.. mine would be resort-ish.. but not really... not a lot of them got what we wanted until i found the firm doing my reno now (actually found 2 of them out of the 40+ i spoke to!!) I should update my blog but am so busy packing i ony have time to partially spam in teh office ! But your house does look great!!

hi, did the wall brackets come from with the dryer? I'm moving my existing dryer (now floor standing) but need to mount it in our new place.. the sales person at best said just put a rubber sheet on top of the washer and stack teh dryer on top... is this ok?

i really miss those stores specially now we're doing up a brand new house! macy's etc aren't that ex if you wait for the sales!! or go to their outlets where they sell last season's stuff.... kmart and target are great for every day things, even martha stewart linens etc!! actually kmart is available in most cities, but some may be bigger than others.... thing to remember also is that the sales tax is different in the diff cities, so you have to be aware of this when you shop! was telling hb maybe we should go to the states soon to buy the sheets etc, he looked at me increduously! as if we didn't already have enough, he said

yep..i know! I was actually surprised they didn't do it here....i think everyone is so used to the 3D drawings here tho... but i love being able to actually see and feel the material before it's put into my house! specially the paint on the walls... when i did our place up before in the states the ID painted the actual colour I choose on wood planks so i could see the actual effect, and draped the upholstery/curtain fabrics beside it.. and put the flooring under it... so you could actually see and visualize everything! great job tho!!!! your ID must have loved you for it

love your blog, and great idea of doing the mood board! wish more ID's here did that. lets us have an idea of how the entire place will look like!

if you want to ship products from the US to Singapore, do not use courier services as the fees will most likely end up more expensive than the item. Like what SmartFool said, best if you can ship by sea, but be aware you will have to pay local clearing and duty plus GST here in singapore, so you must factor that into the costs. One thing to consider, a lot of the furniture in US sites are now made in Asia!! depending on your style.. some of the on line stores you can look at are: crate and barrel bed, bath and beyond target and kmart for towels/sheets etc macy's dillards bloomingdales another option is for you to find someone who is moving to singapore from the US, and piggy back on their containers coming here, just pay them a small fee which they are ok with since a lot of expats' moving expenses are paid for by their company. Good luck!

never a truer word said!!!!!

wow! love your flooring and all the wood you have used! i love it's cozy and warm feel!!! our living room wall will have a similar pattern to your dining hall, capturing the backing of one of our mahogany cupboards.. wish we could have used real wood too