Sunzhi's Simple Hut

[sunzhi 0]

Most lights have been put up. Not as good as I have expected. The down lights especially in the living area wasn’t nicely done, not aligned with the L-box. The 2 common-bedrooms’ lights look better, just a little too big. Now a bit worry whether the 11 sets of 2x18watts down lights is bright enough for the living and dining area.

Living room down lights:

Common bedrooms light:

Master toilet tiles:

Common toilet tiles:

Edited January 15, 2008 by sunzhi

[sunzhi 0]

Went last minute shopping for toilets accessories last weekend. Too rushing to really have a good look at what we bought. What to do, didn’t have much time to spare (especially with a busy but picky wife ). Anyway we bought all we need in one short, from the same shop where we bought our hob/hood.

We bought 2 WC with this slow mechanism (probably won't be very lasting). Have not heard of the brand, Claytan. The design is not that bad and the price is even better. With the space constraint in our toilet, the 14” tank fits just nice. 'Tried' it and felt, comfy

Also bought an Elite shower mixer set, “the Cloudburst” (like a spider/star shape). They had it installed in the shop for testing, love it... But using the main head would definitely increase the water bill. We had the 2nd mixer head changed to one with more settings.

The installation of the toilets’ accessrs is to be done tomorrow. Would update with more photos...

WC:

Basin (common toilet):

Basin mixers:

Shower set:

Also bought a small, extendable dining set due to space constraint. It’s 4’ in diameter (extended) which is good for 6-8 persons.

[kajua 1]

wow! nice and unique basin you've got!

was kind of unsure whether the green tiles will look nice, especially after seeing our 3d drawings. but now that i see your toilet tiles, feel more at ease liao. still like the refreshing effect

[bebe_she 0]

Hey, your tiles in master toilet is same as our friend's house's.. it's really really nice! Elegant looking !!

A bit regret we opted for those safe common 'white' tiles for our toilet..

And you've got an interesting common sink there.. nice!

[sunzhi 0]

wow! nice and unique basin you've got!

was kind of unsure whether the green tiles will look nice, especially after seeing our 3d drawings. but now that i see your toilet tiles, feel more at ease liao. still like the refreshing effect

hi kajua. we had a hard time looking for that kinda basin for our common toilet. due to space constraint, we need a basin thts narrow (in depth) bt long (width). ths one fits just right.

yup, the green tiles are really striking. have seen your design, the way the tiles are laid is different. nice bt i guess it depends on the size of the walls. i mean if it's nt a big wall thn it may look a lil complicated. we have thought of adding a 'line' or smthing in the middle of the wall bt advised not to by our ID. just my 2cts

[sunzhi 0]

Hey, your tiles in master toilet is same as our friend's house's.. it's really really nice! Elegant looking

A bit regret we opted for those safe common 'white' tiles for our toilet..

And you've got an interesting common sink there.. nice!

hi bebe_she,

tks, same as ur friend's yah well, didn't really like it when it was up as it looked very different from what we had pictured. bt when combined with the duo-tone floor tiles, it looked great.

[h4happy 1]

ss = stainless steel.

Good thing your fsm choose green and white.

If fsm say dark red and dark green then chialet liao.

Hi jacky777, thanks.. the original color proposed by our ID was rather dull, it was all white or white & grey. we didn't like it and prefer more soothing color hence we picked green. it's also a little to do with feng shui as both green and white are preferred colors.

yup, we are using green & white (not pure white, a little creamy) glossy laminates with beige solid top (can't remember whthr it's Cresto or Corian). the lower cabinet is suspended with 3 x 4' lightings.

don't really get your last point, which area do you refer to? S.S. = solid surface?

[sunzhi 0]

ss = stainless steel.

Good thing your fsm choose green and white.

If fsm say dark red and dark green then chialet liao.

oh ok, we use the same wall tiles instead (except for the portion abv the stove).

hehe, the 1st thing i told my fsm was not to be too 'extreme', nt to change the layout, nt to place furniture/bed or anything in crazy places... well he didn't actually advise on green or white, got that from online search. he did mention tht red and black is no-no for kitchen (and it happened to be the colors of our old kitchen )

[sunzhi 0]

Aircon indoor units were installed yesterday. Unfortunately wasn’t able to test as the electrician has installed the wrong power socket. Not really satisfied with the work, but thumbs up for the technician. Very good attitude.

Living room unit:

MBR unit:

BR unit:

[sunzhi 0]

Plumbing work is almost done. Not happy with the workmanship at all. I was shocked when I saw the main mixer in the MBR was touching the ceiling. Asked him how to shower when the sprayer is like 3-4’ away, his response was the rod couldn’t be adjusted. When I tried it could be done with just a few turns

Very satisfied with our choice of the common toilet’s basin. Coupled with the squarish tap, it’s a perfect match.

CT basin:

WC:

CT shower mixer:

MT shower mixer:

Edited January 19, 2008 by sunzhi

[sunzhi 0]

Carpentry works started yesterday. Surprised to see that all the items were completed, that’s fast considering the measurement was taken a week ago. It will take at least 4 days to have them fitted/installed. Some snaps:

The big mess:

MT vanity console:

Wardrobe/display BR2:

Kitchen cabinet:

[sunzhi 0]

Went down today and took some snaps. Hopefully carpentry works could be completed as scheduled by this Wednesday

MBR wardrobe/feature:

MBR bed head feature:

MBR window recess cab:

MBR vanity:

MBR toilet:

Kitchen cabinet:

[wilberforce 0]

ELECTRICAL WORK AND LIGHTINGS:

Thanks to a fellow member of this forum, I contacted Eric Chew of Econ. I was reminded that he is very forgetful. It wasn’t that bad when he arrived on time to view our place. He promised to give us the quotation within 2 days but was late by many, many days. Sigh, we had wanted to engage another electrician introduced by our ID but he too was very busy. I guess this time of year nobody is really free.

When I met Eric to discuss further and upon seeing his quotation, I was like, ehm, what’s that?? It’s really messy, he summed everything up, scribbled here and there. I think he himself was a little confused of what he has written. Anyway, his price ws pretty good. Comparing to my ID’s electrician, his is probably 20% lower. I like him so the work was his. He is a nice guy, just that he was always rushing to end a conversation whenever we were on the phone.

He has completed the electrical wiring and honestly, aint really that great. Many wirings wasn’t in the right place but he had them rewired the next day. So far so good. Down lights installation is supposed to be done today, haven’t got the time to check. Keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully everything is ok.

We got many referrals on lightings from this forum and went to many of the shops along Balestier Road, Geylang Road and Jalan Besar. The price difference among the shops is really huge. Down lights for example, some are selling the 2x18watts at $55 (which they claim of super quality from Germany) while others at mere $20. It could be due to the quality but most provide either Philips or Osram bulb and Australia made ballast. And when we compared, they looked almost the same. The question was how do we know which one is better? There was this with pull down mechanism that makes changing bulb easier but some shops said it isn’t advisable as the mechanism could be easily damaged due to heat.

Ceiling fans like Crestar 54” acrylic airvac, one shop (that offered really good price for down lights) claimed the cheapest we were ever gonna get was their discounted price of $320. But when we bought some lightings (for bedrooms, kitchens and display cabinet) from Chan Huat in Balestier, they offered us $250 for the same item. Then again, we found out later what we had paid for the lightings wasn’t really a good deal. I guess you have to spend some time to compare around.

We bought our down lights from a friendly shop keeper along Jalan Besar at $23/pc for the 2x18watt. We insisted that we only want Osram bulbs despite his claimed that Osrams are now China made and not as good/lasting as Philips, anyone has any idea on this?

We also bought 2 pieces of Elmark 54” acrylic ceiling fan at $170/pc and a Elmark 30” fan (with light) at $130. That's the cheapest so far. Btw a small note, try arranging delivery of items a few days before they are to be installed. A lesson from yesterday, I had the delivery of the down lights made 1 day before installation and when they made a mistake with some of the items, I had to reschedule the installation as they could not change in time.

Have a nice weekend everyone...

hi sunzhi, i oso bought mitsubishi electric aircon from gain city n upgraded to 1/2'' insulations. is the trucking ugly n thick? thinking of changing back tp 3/8''.

can i oso have eric chew's contact? urgently looking for electrician as my reno is starting next Thu. how was his works overall? working on tight timeline so cant afford screwups.

do u still have the jalan besar shop's address? have to buy 26 downlights but ID wanted to charge me $34 per set! me looking for 2x18watt, 5.5" matt white downlight, osram bulb n atco ballast

thanks in advance!

[skywolf 0]

Most lights have been put up. Not as good as I have expected. The down lights especially in the living area wasn’t nicely done, not aligned with the L-box. The 2 common-bedrooms’ lights look better, just a little too big. Now a bit worry whether the 11 sets of 2x18watts down lights is bright enough for the living and dining area.

Living room down lights:

Hi Sunzhi,

Can I know what is the square pattern on yr ceilings? As in, the name for it?

[sunzhi 0]

hi sunzhi, i oso bought mitsubishi electric aircon from gain city n upgraded to 1/2'' insulations. is the trucking ugly n thick? thinking of changing back tp 3/8''.

can i oso have eric chew's contact? urgently looking for electrician as my reno is starting next Thu. how was his works overall? working on tight timeline so cant afford screwups.

do u still have the jalan besar shop's address? have to buy 26 downlights but ID wanted to charge me $34 per set! me looking for 2x18watt, 5.5" matt white downlight, osram bulb n atco ballast

thanks in advance!

Hi wilberforce,

Yup, the trunkings are kinda huge. You can refer to pics in my earlier post. Are you getting a system 4 as well? If yes, there are 8 pipings/insulations connected to outdoor unit. The main trunking is about 8” x 4”. The main reason for upgrading to the ½” insulation is to avoid sweating (condensation of the piping) which if happens, could lead to water damage/mold. Iirc, store like Gain City and All Best do not cover sweating in their workmanship warranty. Maybe you would like to check with the sales guy whether your system needs the ½” insulation. Kaypoh abit, how much did you get your system for?

Eric has very tight schedule. I had made arrangement for some installation to be done last Saturday but he could not confirm the availability of his workers, no choice had it postponed to tomorrow. His work is ok, not great. My ID had wanted him to conceal the wirings in the new erected wall in the kitchen area but he said cannot be done, I guess too much of trouble. So far so good though. If you are gonna start the work before CNY, I think will be tough. His workers (at least the 4 that did my house) are Malaysians. You could check it out with him.

PM you the contact for Eric and the lighting shop.

All the best…