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I've been buying stuffs from taobao several years ago. Most items' prices really much lower then sg. And the shipment has been greatly improved at taobao actually. No need taking time to choose carrier from ads and google from Internet around . The shipping agent like 4px is just there when you checkout your cart. The agent will have SMS notification when the goods arrive at sg, really no troublesome at all. Anyone who never hear of taobao build in shipping agents like 4px, can reply on this topic and I can share more. One lesson I learned from taobao is using coupon wisely can save a big money. take this for example: http://www.whattheybuy.com/article/item/74329.html the product cost 19.9 RMB, then use 10 RMB coupon, only cost 9.9, shipping free within China. And this one: http://www.whattheybuy.com/article/item/74466.html the product cost 29.9, using 10 RMB coupon, only cost 19.9, free shipping as well. I have used the coupon collection website http://www.whattheybuy.com for a long time, and it really saved me a lot. just want to share and happy shopping on taobao!

Hi ALL, i collected my keys in Jan 2017, in Boon Keng area, and finally works are starting!! This is my floor plan!

Hi all, if you intend to get stuff from Taobao or Tmall for your new home. There are now more savings as there could be discount coupons for your intended purchases.

Hi Guys! I've been lurking on this forum for quite a while now. I didn't think that key collection would come so fast, but it has!! HDB just messaged me today to collect keys on the 3rd! We got a 3 room unit BTO.. So our design will be pretty different, because we prefer bohemian designs but at the same time I can't take too many rugs because of the dust. We have already met up with a few IDs.. surprisingly contractors are very hard for me to come by lol. I'll do a write up on the IDs later, but I'll probably only give full details at the end of the whole renovation. So this is what we plan to do: 1.) Vinyl Flooring (any good brands to recommend that is not so ex?) :) I'm pretty fussy about the brand of vinyl because I think that a lot of them have a lot of unknown chemicals in them that can be bad in the long run. 2.) Platform bed with storage in the master room. Now the thing with platform beds is that if you get it without storage, you can get it laid with vinyl, but if you get it with storage it will be laid with laminate (those they use on the cabinets not on the floor) .. haha. So I think the storage-less will last longer maybe.. but then no point ah.. the house is so small, plus my fiancee has A LOT OF STUFF. In our case its really reverse.. he has A LOT OF things and I don't have much. hahaha. so you won't see me saying "walk in wardrobe for a lot of my clothes or need a lot of storage for shoes" #stereotypes. 3.) Pole system wardrobe with sliding doors. I don't see that many posts on pole wardrobes here. But what do you guys think? supposedly its more flexible and configurations can be changed more easily. 3.) Ventilation fan in the bathroom. Do you guys think this is useful? lol 4.) Tic Tac mirror door extending along the DB box. 5.) the usual for kitchen, but I will be doing some open shelves instead of top cabinets on both sides. I plan to write some stuff maybe later tonight. Until the next post.. ;) Stay Creative and Hopeful !

Table of Contents M O O D B O A R D 3 D P L A N C O N T R A C T O R S E L E C T I O N T A O B A O B U Y S B A R E U N I T A P P L I A N C E S H A C K I N G M A S O N R Y A I R C O N T R U N K I N G P A I N T I N G P A R Q U E T R E F I N I S H C A R P E N T R Y C A R P E N T R Y ( F I N A L ) L I G H T I N G G L A S S B A C K S P L A S H P L U M B I N G T A O B A O B U Y S 2 C O M P L E T E D L O O K ( L I V I N G, D R E S S I N G, Y A R D ) R E V I E W O F C O N T R A C T O R ( R E N O G U Y Z ) L A T E S T U P D A T E 1 L A T E S T U P D A T E 2 hi guys, so this is the start of my reno journey! pretty excited to have my own thread as i've always been awed by many beautiful homes here. for starters, floor plan! the wait for our 3 room BTO has been very long (5 years). i'm not exactly happy with the size as i've seen a couple of 3 room btos here and they all have way bigger living room and kitchen than i have. i probably have bigger toilets and maybe slightly bigger master bedroom but whats the point? i bake so i need an island this time round. will be very challenging but mostly likely it will be where the dining area is, and there will be no space for a proper dining table.

Cargo and move from China to Singapore shipping service by air and sea Guangzhou XD express company Now we offer the service from China to Singapore, Malaysia, door to door service by air courier and LCL sea freight. The purpose of our service is SAFE & QUICK BY AIR The following is our price to Singapore and Malaysia just need about 3day Less than 11kg the first 0.5KG is RMB40 after is RMB12/0.5KG More than 11kg less than 20kg is RMB21/KG more than 21kg less than 45kg is RMB21/KG more than 45kg less than 70kg is RMB19/KG more than 70kg less than 100kg is RMB18/KG More than 100kg is RMB17/KG Sensitive goods less than 11KG +RMB40/bill ,more than 11KG+RMB4/KG time:5day the more the cheap above price is all in door to door not include the Singapore import tax.(the goods declared value more than SGD500,need to pay 7% tax) We pick up the cargo in Guangzhou for free(one bill shipment for one address pick up ) Online shopping pls send to my warehouse first By sea: our warehouse to your home or office : RMB550/CBM Time:10-12days ,every :Wednesday and Saturday will depart Western Malaysia RMB650/CBM(2-3week) Eastern Malaysia: KK and KUCHING RMB980/CBM and other city is RMB1200/CBM We all so can help you purchase the goods from different supplier or different shopping website. Such as we can help you to buy the goods from taobao 36obuy alibaba and collect all the goods from different seller and check that before we packing all the goods together. That is for free. Guangzhou XD express CO., LTD www.gzxdexpress.com LEO MOB: 0086-15918450561(whatsapp and wechat) QQ: 2382618482 SKYPE: Leoleung84 Email : leo@gzxdexpress.com Whatsapp : 0086-15918450561

Finally to start off with my Tblog for my humble abode. Been reading up Renotalk forum for 2 years plus and bless you all for the knowledge i have gained in preparation for this renovation journey for my first flat for my family. It will be very basic and very simple 4Rm budget of around $30k- $35k all in with electronics, which most are self sourced to save overall cost. If you find any information useful in my Tblog, you can always drop a PM or quick reply. It will be updated periodically as renovation hasn't started so i can't grade my ID just yet as it would be favouritism and plain lying. It looks like replies are coming in and fortunately i manage to reserved 9 post for my Tblog thus i will cover everything in the first page of 9 post so all renovation newbies need not click click click and click like i did in the past to leech information from the forum. Update as of 1st week april - finally gotten my keys from hdb toa payoh. 1. remember to get your fire license and activation of your gas/electrical/water and you are good to leave the place and start off with your renovation journey. Took some photos of the view from my unit. the following is taken from one of my bedroom room. kinda near to the building on the right..lousy design and placement. people can see my masterbedroom from their service yard.well done hdb..force me to get curtains liao.. this one is taken from my service yard. not to bad i got a semi unblock view with wind coming in..maybe my clothes will dry faster... this is taken from my living room.one of the better views by far of all my rooms but too bad i can see puggol park pond.

Hi guys any specific Taobao stores to recommend? Please share your links here. I've trouble selecting who to buy from. What volt did you buy for your house? I only know I should purchase 10 for my living room but no idea to get what volt. I saw lots of round shape one, but I prefer the square ones. I searched for LED 筒灯, is my translation correct?

More and more people like to shopping on Taobao or Alibaba because of New style and Cheap price. Most people often encounter a transport problem, how to find a reliable logistics company? If you want to find a reliable freight forwarder to help you with shipments from China to Singapore, you’re in the right place. We can provide professional shipping service from China to Singapore. No matter who you're an individual, Corporation, foreign trade,we can provide the most convenient sea shipping or air freight service for you. Guangzhou Weining International Freight Forwarder co., LTD is a reliable logistics company which provides cheap and convenient Shipping /Air/Express service from China to Singapore . It is liked and be paid attention by many Singapore friends. Many thanks to dear all, we will show all our excellent service and advantaged price as always! Choose Weining, make your business better: PART 1 : Shipping Procedure (1) Purchase your favorite goods on online shop(eg. taobao,JD, alibaba ), please change the delivery address to our warehouse. ⇓ (2) When all items arrive at our warehouse, we will weigh、measure volume and packing. ⇓ (3) Confirm the total shipping cost and Terms of Payment with you, then ship out all items. ⇓ (4) When goods arrrive in Singapore, we will do import customs clearance and delivery to your door. (Please check the goods before signing receipt, checking its out side packaging, quantities) ⇓ (5) Feedback your suggestion so that we can improve in future. PART 2 : Quotation 【1、Air Freight Service】 About 3~4 working days reach your home. Here is our preponderant price: General cargo： 0.1- 10kg, 40 RMB for the 1st kg, 25 RMB for each additional kg, 10.1- 45kg: RMB 20/kg 45.1- 100kg: RMB 19/kg above 100kg: RMB 18/kg Sensitive cargo： 0.1- 10kg, 45RMB for the 1st kg, 30 RMB for each additional kg, 10.1- 45kg: RMB 25/kg 45.1- 100kg: RMB 23/kg above 100kg: RMB 22/kg (Extra sensitive fee: 30RMB/SET) 【2、Sea Shipping Service】 When you are choosing to ship items, it’s important to determine the volume of the cargo before paying for the shipping. In international freights, there are two ways to ship your cargo: FCL or LCL. I) LCL(LESS THAN CONTAINER LOAD) If your shipment is not enough to fill an entire cargo container, you could choose to share the container with other customers. With FCL, you will be paying for the entire load inside the container, while with LCL, you will only be paying for the space your cargo occupies. And this is measured by cubic meter, making this a cheaper option. LCL Door to Door Sea Shipping Service： About 8-10 days arrive in Singapore (Do not include bad weather, customs inspection, etc..) Here is our preponderant price, exclude 7%GST, minimum 1CBM. General cargo： 1-5CBM, RMB 400/CBM， 5-10CBM, RMB 390/CBM， Above 10CBM, RMB 380/CBM. Sensitive cargo：RMB 450/CBM CAUTION!!! NO OTHER CHARGES JUST SEA FREIGHT AND 7%GST. FREE DELIVERY TO YOUR DOOR IN SINGAPORE. II) FCL(FULL CONTAINER LOAD) This shipment mode is best used when shipping a large amount of cargo. If you choose to get FCL as your mode of shipment, you will be paying for the entire container so it is best to make full use of it. If you want to choose FCL shipping service, pls provide us with the precise information. We will give you the best shipping solution and provide the best price for your shipments from China to Singapore. Before inquiry, Pls provide your cargo details as following. That we can quote you a best price. 1. Name of commodity and Total Gross Weight. 2. Port of loading (POL) 3. Port of discharge (POD) 4. Trade terms (CIF,FOB, EXW, DDU,DDP etc. ) More sea shipping lines: Guangzhou to Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippine, Australia, Canada, New zealand. Have any questions regarding out services? Just drop us an email or call and we would be glad to assist you.Welcome to call us for more details of the shipment. 24-Hour Servie Hotline: Contact person: Lewis (MR SHU) HP / Wechat / Whatsapp: (+86)18927561735 / (+86)13128762519 E-Mail: 2108475861@qq.com or Lewisweining@yahoo.com Above those services will use the following receipt information: ATTN ：Lewis 转 （客户名字） ADD ：广州市白云区江高镇夏花三路482-1号威宁仓（导航红力大厦），进仓号：WNA***-SG （无进仓号拒签，拒收到付件） HP : 18927561735 Postal code：510450 (Pm me for the new unique shipping marking code , Thank you !)

Hi Would like to share and records my renovation journey Our new house is a 5-room BTO in AMK and here's our floor plan: Gotten key on Jan 2017 view from service yard View from aircon ledge

Hello! Decided to start a T Blog here after reading so many interesting blogs from you guys! Have been a silent reader since late last year and now my reno is almost ready hence would like to share my buys and progress. My crib is located in the north-east area, we got our keys in mid jan. Renovation did not start until mid march as i want to avoid the CNY period. First up, my tiny 4 room floor plan : Floor Plan Theme As per the title, i am going for the super overuse wood,white & black color board in my new crib because i love the ambiance of those cafes which are sprouting over in Singapore over the past 1 year or so. Hence i decide to create the same ambiance which consist of a little of scandi, loft style so that i will not spend so much money on cafe-hopping. A few must haves : Woodgrain laminates White laminate Brick wall Black electrical conduits Contractor/ID We have decided from start to engage a contractor instead of ID mainly because i have the design more or less in my mind. I have read through so many blogs here and the first one i approach was Nicholas from Renoguyz. He is the first and the only contractor we met up. We decided to engage him as our contractor after 2 meetups. He has a reputation of being sloppy,straight forward but that is what my husband like about him. Both of us are comfortable with him throughout the 2 meetups with him and we get along quite well with him hence we decided to take the plunge and go with him. His ideas are more to the practical side and if he thinks it is not nice or will not fit, he will voice it out instead of accepting whatever i have suggested. Budget We did not take up any renovation loan hence our budget is quite limited and we allocated under 20K for renovation. Nick gave me a very satisfied quotation 1 day after our meetup and its well below our 20K! p.s : we opt in for tiles and doors from HDB. Things we did : Taobao I have been an avid fan of TB since 5 years ago and It is in my natural instinct to get stuffs from TB since i am quite well verse with it. . I have engaged AMCON for all my sea shipments till date. Their prices are slightly cheaper than other forwarders and they are fast! My 3rd shipment only took 5days! It is true that they say cheap will not be good, good will not be cheap because their customer service is like non-existence. Shall not rant on that part however i will still use them because of their speed! Did not receive any damage on any of my items so far and i have to give credit to the AMCON warehouse staff and delivery uncle and of cos to TB sellers who wrapped it so well and sturdy! I will write a separate post on my purchases on TB. Progress I do not have the before and after photos because i am not always around when they are doing the works. I only do checks on weekends and most of the time it is nicely done! So i only have the almost-done photos. Every weekend checks are like opening presents during Christmas because our crib is changing every single week i went up and check! Next post will be the almost-done pictures! ************************************************************************************************************************************* Decided to do up table of contents for easy viewing: 1. Taobao purchase 2. Taobao Unboxing 3. Taobao Unboxing part 2 3. My completed Taobao brickwall 4. Progress #1 5. Progress #2 6. Progress #3 7. Taobao Unboxing part #3 8. Installation of Matt black bombshelter 9. Taobao unboxing part #4 10. Amazon purchase 11. Progress #4 12. Amazon unboxing 13. Taobao purchase #2 14, Progress #5 15. Amazon purchase #2 16. Electronic appliances purchases 17. Misc online purchases 18. Progress #6 19. Progress #7 20. Taobao unboxing #5 21. Post renovation cleaning 22. Blinds and curtains 23. Appliances delivery 24. Decoration #1 25. Decoration #2 26. Decoration #3 27. Decoration #4 28. Decoration #5 29. Decoration #6 30. Taobao purchases #3 31. Taobao unboxing #6 + reviews

Finally! It is our turn to contribute and start a T-Blog in Renotalk. Been reading quite a few T-Blogs since mid of last year to understand the renovation journey, tips etc. Not a wordy person, so I will not type a long essay and just go straight to the point but sometimes I may edit the contents of this T-Blog periodically so do check back if you are interested! This is our floor plan, a humble 4room BTO in Jurong West : Although our living room (TV/Sofa area a little small) seems to split into two because of the bomb shelter, we are blessed to have a long kitchen and we are going to do open kitchen concept which will effectively turn the whole area to look spacious! The bedrooms size is decent enough, except for the second room which seems to be quite small. Initially we wanted the third room to be our piano room but in the end we decided to use the second room instead. So the third room shall be our guest room for now. Our milestones: May 2013 - Apply for our BTO flat, we are lucky to get a very lucky queue no 71 to select our flat! Oct 2013 - Selected our unit and paid for the 5% down payment to HDB and the long wait for key collection begins... -_-" Mar 2016 - We done our customary wedding. May 2016 - We had our first honeymoon in Melbourne and truly enjoyed it as it was my wife's first time to visit Australia! Jun/Jul 2016 - Can't remember the exact month but we decided to kickstart our ID selection earlier. Visited quite a number of IDs before shortlisted our preferred ID last year Nov 2016. Oct 2016 - I know we are kiasu as we started purchases stuffs for our new home as early as last year October since there is quite a number of sales! LOL Feb 2017 - Our HLE auto approved! Mar 21st 2017 - Our key collection day! ID, window grille contractor, bedroom door and toilet door contractor came down to do on site measurement. Tim Wong also came down to do planning for aircon trunking installation. Mar 24th 2017 - Took 1 day leave to do through defects check with my wife. Submitted defect list to BSC for rectification. Mar 25th 2017 - BSC came down to our place to perform rectification. Window blind contractor came down to do onsite measurement. Also selected our window blind materials and given quotation. Installed shelving for bomb shelter. Apr 1st 2017 - Installed Varm on main door to allow 90 degrees opening without door stopper. Choose our wood material for our carpentry works with our ID and also finalise our laminates design for our carpentry works and wall colors. Apr 4th 2017 - Hack permit approved for hacking of kitchen wall. Apr 6th 2017 - Aircon trunking installation (1st installation). Apr 10th 2017 - ID sent us finalised carpentry works measurement and design. Apr 12th 2017 - Kitchen wall hacked. Apr 15th 2017 - Electrical works for power sockets. We didn't engage our ID's electrician as we found that his quote is quite expensive so found Mr Sim to do the electrical works for us. Apr 18th 2017 - Cement screeding for our flooring. Apr 20th - 22nd 2017 - Kitchen cabinet base / Shower kerb. Apr 22nd - 23rd 2017 - DIY painting (door frame + bomb shelter) Apr 22nd 2017 - Carpentry work fabrication Apr 24th - 26th 2017 - Painting for whole house. Apr 29th 2017 - Lightings & ceiling fan installation / Gas pipe installation / Aircon second installation. May 2nd - 4th 2017 - Vinyl flooring installation May 9th 2017 - Carpentry installation May 15th 2017 - Window grilles installation (Living room + Bedrooms + Service yard). Bedroom doors installation. May 20th 2017 - Blinds installation. Toilet doors installation May 27th 2017 - Taobao 2nd batch orders delivery. Jun 1st 2017 - Piano delivery. M1 Fiber broadband activation. Guestroom mattress delivery. Jun 3rd 2017 - Storage heater installation. Master bedroom mattress and bed frame delivery. Dining bench & chair (table left out!)+sofa+coffee table delivery. Washing Machine+dryer+refrigerator delivery. Jun 8th 2017 - Main gate installation Jun 10th 2017 - Gas activation. Dining table delivery. Tempered glass installation. Jun 12th 2017 - General cleaning. Kitchen mixer installation. Remaining switches & sockets installation on kitchen cabinet. ID handover! Jun 15th 2017 - Moving our stuffs to our new place. Jun 16th 2017 - Moving in to our new place! ---- Moodboard: We like Scandinavian themed homes very much as it is simple and not too old fashion (sorry to those Classic theme lovers!)... at the same time we want to throw in a bit of Industrial look to make it look more interesting... but instead of the usual black,white and woody feel, we want to throw in quite a large portion of grey (industrial feel) for our flooring and pastel colors to liven up our new home. Initially for the living room, I wanted some yellow as this color seems to be often overlook by other home owners ... but then I realised the exterior colors of our BTO is made up of grey and yellow... so... no go in case our home looks like representing our BTO lol For master bedroom, we wanted blue as it looks more calming. For piano room, my wife like sea green color. Some colors we like for our new home. We will let our ID to help our select the appropriate colors as we are not too good at matching colors. Table of Contents: 1. ID selection process 2. Our offline purchases 3. Our online purchases via Taobao/Qoo10/Amazon 4. How to buy from Taobao? 5. 3D drawings from our ID 6. Defects check We use this link as a guide - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7KsvqdzcsrpaW5kVEUwVEZqX2M/edit | Mainly defects found includes: - choked pipes (TIP: once you found one, just declare all and don't be surprise BSC can clear one bagful of debris!) - loose window handles/hinges - rusty hinges - masking stains on walls - uneven paint marks (those teardrop paint marks) - Spotted a "potential" leak issue... but seems to be ok after BSC checked. Our neighbours (3-4 of them) found this pest issue with the floor skirting. 7. Renovation progress Carpentry material selection / Wall color selection Aircon 1st installation Carpentry measurements Wall hacked! Electrical works (sockets and switches) Cement screeding by HDB contractor and a bit of hiccups... Tiling works DIY painting (door frames + bomb shelter) Painting by ID and some hiccups... | Painting completion! Carpentry fabrication Gas pipe installation Aircon 2nd installation Electrical works (partial lights installation) Vinyl flooring installation Carpentry installation part I Carpentry installation part 2 Carpentry installation part 3 Carpentry installation part 4 Bedroom barn door installation part I Window grilles installation Bedroom barn door installation part II Toilet lourve door installation Blinds installation Kompacplus top installation Plumber works AO Smith digital storage heater installation Main gate installation Tempered glass kitchen backsplash installation Gas activation It's a wrap! 8. Renovation completion Sneak peek of our love nest

Hi, may I know if anyone has bought this type of bed from taobao? How is the quality and is it easy to install? Is there any place I can buy in Singapore too as I'm concerned it won't be easy to install. Attached is a sample pic and url.

Hello Everyone! Our renovations are coming to an end soon and I guess we are ready to share our experiences! I had been a silent reader of Renotalk T-blog for the longest time since we started balloting for BTO. We had been pretty unlucky that all the queue numbers we have are mostly out of the available units which means that by the time we can choose the units it's always left with low floors! Finally in year 2010, we got a queue number which is within the available units and finally get to choose a mid-floor unit! No fish prawn also good right? If we keep on balloting we will be donating endless $10 to HDB! I hope my humble blog can help someone during their renovation journey. Here's our floor plan to kick start my T-blog! Mood Board As the title of my blog suggests, I am looking at neutral colors for my crib so that I can add on colors on the decoration later on. These are the ideas I have in mind before the hunting of IDs/contractors

For people who are looking to ship lights or furniture over, I think its better to use Peeka or other agents that actually check your items before purchasing. The items on the taobao website can be very different from the acutal item itself. Just to share so that less people fall trap to the nice looking pictures on the taobao merchants. Review on Peeka http://sghappyshopper.com/peeka-singapore-review-saved-110-sgd/ Website looks Actual looks

Hi all, I am thinking of buying a faucet for my kitchen and bathroom from Taobao. As it will be my first time buying from Taobao, can I ask if anyone has bought faucets from Tb and are they good? They seem decently priced and rather nice, but I am sceptical about its quality. Appreciate your feedback! Thank you!

I've always been envious of all the home owners who have a T-blog, sharing tips and inspirations of their nest. After 4000 years of waiting... we're finally receiving our keys! <3 Short info about us: Punggol BTO - Matilda Edge 4 Room Flat Mid 20s young couple (Hub is working full time, Mama is a SAHWM) 1 toddler + 1 baking baby 2 Furkids With so much responsibilities (on the hubs), we have to build our nest based on a tight budget. Budget for Renovation: $25-28k (Excluding furnishing & Electronics) Since this is gonna be a big part of our happy memories together, I'm thrilled to start documenting every little details about it. To any readers, please bear with me! General Outline of what I'm planning to cover: 1. Timeline, Floorplan & Renovation Plans 2. Home Purchases (Taobao, Lazada, Carousell) 3. ID Selection 4. Key Collection 5. 3D Drawings & Sketches 6. Reno Progress 7. Moving In 8. Overall summary

Hi all! I have been a silent reader for the longest time and have gathered many ideas from the various T-blogs for my renovation. We have received the keys to our place in October and hope to share our humble renovation journey with all of you. Like the title suggests, the theme for our place slants towards minimal scandi. We wanted a cosy place to call our own and felt that the scandinavian theme best resonates with us. First up! Our floor plan...

bought a 5I resale, very tempted to do a t-blog....

I have been a silent reader of this forum for some time in preparation of my own house (1BR condo, limited space) for next year. I notice that Taobao shopping seems to be a common cost saving way to get many items from furniture to lights. I am wondering what kind of items can be purchased off Taobao and what to avoid. I have heard different comments about using Taobao lights, some ID told me that Taobao lights will void Home Insurance if there is fire etc... Also if you can share with me your experience with Taobao shopping it will be great! Like things to take note of, question to ask the seller, what forwarder you guys using etc. Personally, I will probably be getting my lights (Aiming for some track lights and hanging lights), bathroom items, decoration pieces and chairs off taobao.

WTS brand new Rainshower set bought from Taobao. set is solid and heavy but i cannot install as it s more suitable with storage heater. i bought instant heater. Bought it for SGD175 inclusive of delivery and shipping. SELLING for SGD$160. self collect as its heavy. Set is in singapore so no need to wait! please pm me if interested.

Any bought rain shower set from taobao for old HDB unit? Seems like most not compatible.

Yeah!! Finally it is time for me to write my very first reno T-Blog, had been reading T-blog for like near 1 year, and had been patiently waiting for the time for my key collection so I can start on my T-blog soon. As per tradition, here is my 5 room Floor plan, got my keys on 3rd Jan, my reno (hacking first) will be starting on 2nd Feb. Now is the rectification period with the BSC folks. Already 2nd round, hopefully coming week can clear all the defects. I guess it's pretty standard layout for most of the BTOs, below is the HDB suggested layout. And this is my 2D layout, this is not the latest, there are some changes, yet to get the updated layout plan from my ID. Because this layout plan was done before i got the keys, so after getting the keys, realize that there may be some space constraint, so waiting for the latest copy.

Has anyone ever purchased blinds from Taobao? Any recommendations and how do I go about to buy them? Thanks! =)

Hi all! I just moved in to my new home at CCK in June and I wish to share my experience on how my renovation process went about. Before getting our keys, me and my hubby started to source for a reliable IDs and contractors in Dec 2015 Everything comes with a price tag. So we set our priority. For us we are not very particular but must be reasonable and practical. It is our 1st HDB but most importantly it should be comfortable and yet not burn a big big hole in our pocket. 1st - We draft what we looking for and what are our NEEDS and WANTS. and the hunting began. We got friends who are ID, Recommended ID/Contractor in the forum, Pic we love from the Facebook and hunt the ID company down and neighborhood ID . Our budget is around 28K for all the reno. We finally meet with 4 shortlisted ID/Contractor and some only thru email correspondence to get quotation. Most of them are package selling and to top up with the whatever you want. As you meet with more of them you can tell what to ask and go straight to the point. There are some who say this cannot that cannot yet some say everything can. For us we try to keep what HDB have already provide and just enhance to suit our need with as minimum $$ as possible. Very budget ah . We were hunting for the perfect match from Jan till Feb and during the CNY and come across this Contractor in the forum with good workmanship and layman pricing haha. We actually Message him thru Facebook and try our luck to see if he is online. We ask for a quote if any package,and an immediate reply was he only do ala cart and after 1 hr of FB messaging an appointment was fix for the NEXT DAY Not even our floor plan was given, he say he will do on the spot just bring the plan when we see him. By the way it was the 4th day of CNY which most renov company are still holidaying. We are surprise and although the review of him was not the 100% star type branded, with his response time we decided to make our way down to see him. We are his 1st customer after the CNY and YES, he is the way the forum have written, sloppy looking. Ah beng looking, direct to the point "No use do this" "don't waste $$", no smooth talking but very efficient. All his reply is reasonable and practical. We are impress when he draw free hand of what we wanted and show us some ideas and a price list was out in the same meeting *he only see our floor plan on that day. which so far no other Reno company did it. His price and another ID is almost the same but as he is a contractor and the other is an ID. Drum roll ----- we choose the contractor as he is will be more on hands and play real time we call it if any hiccup. He ask us for the time line and if can wait longer he will get an experience elderly man who will "bao ga liao" for the carpentry with great workmanship. Since we are not in a hurry we say we are fine with it as long as it is not 6 mths lar. We got the date of key collection in the morning and have our door opening event in the morning. As we invited a Feng Shui master to come on the same morning for the door opening and also to see what is the feng shui expect for the house we invited the contractor to come as well so that we no need to repeat. Don't be surprise when he sit on the floor in the house and just look around. "HE is feeling the surrounding and feel the house" hahah that's what he say when we say so dirty why sit there and stone. After the door opening which we have finish by earlier noon and ask if we can chop chop go select the colours and material and he can start the work. He say no problem and drove us back to his office that day we finish all the selection by evening. Colour/material selection is really a chore and we are really not very good at it. so we just point and choose and look at his face hahah, he jus nod or shake his head. I should say that this contractor is very passionate about his job as I ask how he earn his profit and he say he just want to be proud of his work and work as near to our budget as possible. The thing we were impressed was the workmanship especially when all the visitor come and say it is really good and with the price. All my Taobao buys was install by his sub-contractors as well some FOC and some with a token fee. We are very much satisfied that the amount was well spent and here we got our dream homeJ. We wanted to share our experiences here because we are really very satisfied with this contractor’s workmanship and reliability. We are sure that some of you will be confuse as to which IDs/contractors to choose from. It’s not a matter of whether the contractors are popular in the market, eventually, it’s the satisfaction and the workmanship that will put you to peaceful sleep. We hope that others will benefit as much as we do and if anyone is interested to engage this contractor, do let me know and I would gladly share his contact details with youJ Photos will be upload shortly of our humble residence!!!!