Fx-ea

[ne0mesis 0]

Hi NeO,

Just drop by to admire your stripey curtain and that white dreamy coffee table. Love the shape and it really matches your living room. It is giving your SS dining bench a good run for its money, imo.

Will wait patiently for your next update in.... July?

thank you! yea, lush lush seems to catch on us. both are from there.

plus they're the more affordable ones compare to the likes of molecule, lifestorey and iwannagohome.

the next update coming up la! dont be rude k.

hahahah

[ne0mesis 0]

mbr curtain finally came in yesterday and immediately got a call from my contractor that he's able to arrange for someone to install it the very same day!

how's that for service man?! but could be because i haben pay him the remaining amount of money. money talks. ha

cross our fingers, despite it being major major grey, we were still quite worried there might be a green hue to it. alas, the green only shows up with white light and albeit negligible, forgivable.

view of mbr night curtain with view of our baroque wallpaper

view of mbr night curtain at all the mbr windows

view of the only roman blind we allow after gentle reminders from our contractor that it might be a tad difficult to maintain

view on close up - we chose some light texture over plain velvet material. also the latter tends to collect dust easily imho.

that's all for now.

and the next thread has nothing to do with reno at all i promise you.

confirm. double confirm

[ne0mesis 0]

so thurs is quite an official my-night-only cause wife is working shift. and that's the only day i get to mess up the kitchen more, experimental cooking (anything to do with oven is experimental to her cause she always think the oven will explode..................) and blasting lush frm the small vintage radio. the sound quality aint that promising but it does add an extra dose of class while listening to mooli's one design.

anywayz, this definitely wouldnt appear on my fb for fearing of incurring some of my mates' wrath for being pansy. but i figured out not many will know i am in here, so hey, what's not to share right? my simple waldorf salad (or not) and scrambled egg for dinner! like i said in the previous post, this has nothing to do with reno.

reason why i got so excited with this ad hoc meal was because i tried marinating the chicken fillet with ginger beer!

with it, pressed garlic, lemon juice, black pepper and salt to taste and my mum's contstant reminder - a lil flour to make the meat smooth

for some unknown coincidental reason, everything looked so picturesque that i decided to take a picture to show wife. and well, that's where i decided i can post it here too!

i just love munching on japanese cucumber so decided to throw it in as well.

goodness gracious, i forgot that crountons are some caesar salad rightfully! but who cares..

the chicken fillet grilling in the background after marinated for an hour (which i quickly rushed down to wash up the small car)

and ely1, if you're reading this, the OXO mat which is such a darling in the kitchen!

is a trivet, draining mat and also double up as my non-slip mat. nothing touches the island basically. even the spice rack and the knife block has an ikea clear plastic mat below it

the almost complete product

the chicken fillet came out nicely - tender and smooth!

and for the perfect fluffy scrambled egg, gotta beat it like h e l l with a mixer machine

and TA DA! although i must say is not the prettiest sight for salad. amateur at its best!

afternote: scrambled was slightly too runny. maybe a tad too much milk. but a minute or two later, it seems better!

plain lettuce really makes yr salad look ugly

and you seriously need a good salad bowl to toss everything!

and yes, i promised you the above has nothing to do with reno already.

confirm? DOUBLE CONFIRM

Edited April 9, 2011 by ne0mesis

[Ely1 0]

so thurs is quite an official my-night-only cause wife is working shift. and that's the only day i get to mess up the kitchen more, experimental cooking (anything to do with oven is experimental to her cause she always think the oven will explode..................) and blasting lush frm the small vintage radio. the sound quality aint that promising but it does add an extra dose of class while listening to mooli's one design.

anywayz, this definitely wouldnt appear on my fb for fearing of incurring some of my mates' wrath for being pansy. but i figured out not many will know i am in here, so hey, what's not to share right? my simple waldorf salad (or not) and scrambled egg for dinner! like i said in the previous post, this has nothing to do with reno.

reason why i got so excited with this ad hoc meal was because i tried marinating the chicken fillet with ginger beer!

with it, pressed garlic, lemon juice, black pepper and salt to taste and my mum's contstant reminder - a lil flour to make the meat smooth

for some unknown coincidental reason, everything looked so picturesque that i decided to take a picture to show wife. and well, that's where i decided i can post it here too!

i just love munching on japanese cucumber so decided to throw it in as well.

goodness gracious, i forgot that crountons are some caesar salad rightfully! but who cares..

the chicken fillet grilling in the background after marinated for an hour (which i quickly rushed down to wash up the small car)

and ely1, if you're reading this, the OXO mat which is such a darling in the kitchen!

is a trivet, draining mat and also double up as my non-slip mat. nothing touches the island basically. even the spice rack and the knife block has an ikea clear plastic mat below it

the almost complete product

the chicken fillet came out nicely - tender and smooth!

and for the perfect fluffy scrambled egg, gotta beat it like h e l l with a mixer machine

and TA DA!

afternote: scrambled was slightly too runny. maybe a tad too much milk. but a minute or two later, it seems better!

and you seriously need a good salad bowl to toss everything!

and yes, i promised you the above has nothing to do with reno already.

confirm? DOUBLE CONFIRM

Croutons from a packet doesn't count!!

Now I feel I need to go Lush Lush too. Hmm.

P.S. Love that OXO mat!! Gah!

-Ely

[ne0mesis 0]

Croutons from a packet doesn't count!!

Now I feel I need to go Lush Lush too. Hmm.

P.S. Love that OXO mat!! Gah!

-Ely

eh............. give me some credits can. haha

is as home-made as possible in my context.

and for good and cheap replicas, try ghee hong and comfortfurniture.

oh yes, apart from hommage, try univonna too. although i think their designs are limited.

OXO! XOXO!

get it? get it? hahaha..

[ne0mesis 0]

WHEN ROUND IS NOT A SHAPE in the house

i think this goes out to anybody who are discerning folks in terms forms, shapes, lines in the house. so just wanna share;

when in doubt over a purchase, visualise and then decide if you still gonna materialise it.

we've been hunting for our wall clock for a long long while (a wholesome of procrastination inclusive) and recently at greatworld when molecule is conducting its pre-reno sale, we spotted a unique clock that seemingly at first sight is DA ONE - that YESH, got to be this, can't be wrong feeling. and when sales person throws you a discount, you know is almost a sure-buy.

Karlsson Wall Clock Double Sided Aluminum - just seemingly perfect for our column

alas, they mentioned the display was the last last piece in all of molecule shops, so my typical virgo wife put a stop to this purchase after thorough inspection, citing "i think there are some scratchs". "but, but.. " no buts.

so over dinner talking over it, it suddenly occurred to me that round may not match our living / dining. is the same case when we bought round seat cushions from MUJI for our stainless steel bench. a total misfit. in the end, we had to make an exchange for square ones instead.

so when in doubt, cast the doubt in photoshop. and we were almost convinced.

living rm - round seems a bit out of place when our place is mostly straight, lines and corners

dining - similarly, is strikingly odd

but in case you wanna an irrefutable answer, leave it to the professional.

we dropped an email to our id and he called us back in all urgency, "$300 for the clock? the shape very risky, very risky buy. nor worth the risk and money. dont' ah".

ha

[ne0mesis 0]

ID Selection - a better late than never entry

well... this entry is technically 1 year plus late - retrieved, revisited and further edited this day from an old thumb drive juxtaposed with scribbles and sketches from a writing pad that had seen better days. but better late than never right, and people here are always researching an id to revamp and reno their place. my disclaimer though, this aint a technical discussion in dept discussion and i stick to my usual protocol of catch lines, one enlightening liners and the general rule of thumb.

so this is the story of my id selection.

the year - last year, the month - last month when we already exercise our OTP in feb and the hunt for our id / contractor began.

all in all, 7 fated ones were met by either word of mouth, forum recommendation and home decor magazines contests

IDs

FuseConcept

InnerRoom

Blink23

Homeguide,

Contractors

Henry of I.D Note (made popular in RT)

Ben son of Ben z design studio (previously from Summitdesign, made popular in RT too),

Kelvin from Inform Design and Contracts

on the ids;

when decided to choose an id, the mission is to choose and challenge ids that will make sure he does the job of taking what you want and upped the ante. If he only translate what you want only, that's a contractor, not an id! it has to be the case right since by default and understanding, you already have to pay more for his or her "designer designs" on top of what you already want, so why settle for less? otherwise, yo may as well go for a reliable and experienced contractor that is able to translate directly what you want. at least, that was what my wife and i had in our mind when it comes to choosing our fated id.

going by the book, the initial meet ups with all the ids above, fairly speaking all rendered us the usual protocols and wares and honestly, aint any complaints on service or follow up after that. for those out there who are meeting ids after ids, i suppose you agree with us that many initial presentations are templates and you prolly seen that, heard that. however, when the initial quote is up, price really matters and you do see differences comparing the few ids esp after zeroing on cost on per ft or m run. chemistry between owner and ids is vital too in terms of ideas synergy and getting the point across to each party. so that helps to eliminate some ids that deemed VERY expensive for your budget or "uncommunicatable" at the early stages. the millon dollar question? who then is a cut above the rest? is the design dialogues, the revised quotations that ensued and he or she that listens the most with the most earnest and endearing attitude to follow through that will soon differentiate The One and the rest - like i said, the one that really crafts out the design and feel you want YET not compromising on latest trend and style. having passed that stage, is almost a 100% sure that that would be the one to do your reno. Even if is slightly more expensive than you budgeted for, is still relatively secondary imho. go with the one that strikes a chord with you first. from there, expensive is definitely down playable i feel - materials, design, finishes etc can all be tailor made accordingly to budget and taste. if he or she the incumbent has wonderful chemistry with you, they go all out to make it uniquely yours within your budget. I mentioned i have nothing to complaint on the above, so more on my id, Homeguide.

my id choice, Homeguide

for a start, we seen it ourselves HG completing a few units of my wife's friends and what is notable is that those few units are completed in different time, one is even a year or two apart. that gives the impression that HG has track records, reputable and there to stay. not in the likes of the few bigwigs that are on heavy branding on tv or magazines, HG is VERY little on branding and marketing but mostly by word-of-mouth. Again, this resonates better with us because we know we wouldn't be paying marked-up prices to pay for their branding and marketing purposes. and that especially strikes with me and my wife cause we strictly live by not-the-norms, overrated and the commercialised ones.

the id

unpretentious, approachable, knowledgeable and with huge loads of patience (not many can tahan my wife seriously - there was once we recalled him back on a sunday even though he's in malaysia, can u imagine!!) are what i have to say about him. what is also appealing is the fact that he listens and is really evident when he manifested to us our kitchen cum dining island. is whatever my wife and i had been speaking off - she wants white and i want that tinge of industrial raw look! he did unpretentiously confessed that HG will not be the cheapest quote around because they pride themselves on the in-house workmanship. there were also few occasions he actually said no to some of our ideas which on the contrary, very welcome by us. alas, someone who is opinionated and can draw a unwavering vision of the design! by then we hit it off so well, we were already sold. my wife and i knew that we will sign with him. and by the time we were shown with our 3d pics, we knew we found The One. haha

3d impression of our kitchen

the actual

on the contractors

my view on contractors

i think the argument never cease when deciding on id or just a contractor to do up the unit. but say if you are really function over form, and budget is critical then perhaps contractor is the way for you. having said that, it doesnt mean that contractor has zero design sense at all. experience of the contractor counts and that makes finding the right contractor even more crucial. and if the contractor has that streak of designer in him or her, that would be a bonus!

both Henry and Ben son are through RT recommendations while Kelvin from Inform Design and Contracts did up my my friend's flat.

among the 3, we only managed to meet Ben son and Kelvin. Henry, during that time was almost sought after by every couple here in rt and had his book filled like the entire year (and the last i remember reading from RT, it did not go very well from him). While we wanted Ben son from Summit, we realised he came out and started on his own. frankly speaking, we were not too comfortable with his everything-also-can, everything-also-nice attitude. is almost too good to be true, too easy to do to believe. btw, i really wonder why the ben son cannot joined up as one word? he's black listed or what? nothing on kelvin though, just that the chemistry wasn't there and they werent that cheap either.

imVERYho and please do not judge me here, sometimes i do i feel players like Henry and Ben, the created reno heroes in RT are tragic heroes in literature terms. they can be highly recommendable in the initial stage and delivers outstanding job and efficiency. but once orders filled or overwhelming, their standards compromised and suffers, workmanship become questionable, and slowly but surely, leads to their own demise. however, there are exceptions. considering my healthy stay in rt, there are contractors i know that are still around and doing fine for now. right jaskel? ha

oh well, this is my giving back piece after reading and learning so much from rt during my reno phase. like i said, not technical and in dept but do hope it helps some couple for any general reading. if time permits, notes or what-to-do and what-not-to-do during reno is next on my list. i surmised that would be more technical and on-the-ground. stay tuned

Edited May 9, 2011 by ne0mesis

[mae29 2]

ID Selection - a better late than never entry

well... this entry is technically 1 year plus late - retrieved, revisited and further edited this day from an old thumb drive juxtaposed with scribbles and sketches from a writing pad that had seen better days. but better late than never right, and people here are always researching an id to revamp and reno their place. my disclaimer though, this aint a technical discussion in dept discussion and i stick to my usual protocol of catch lines, one enlightening liners and the general rule of thumb.

so this is the story of my id selection.

the year - last year, the month - last month when we already exercise our OTP in feb and the hunt for our id / contractor began.

all in all, 7 fated ones were met by either word of mouth, forum recommendation and home decor magazines contests

I do agree that Fate helped bring the shortlisted IDs or contractors to us when we knocked on their doors.

A well written review is always a key to the decision making process for home owners.

[Kobelala 8]

Hi Ne0mesis, I went thru all your pics, you have a very nice place

[hafiizh 0]

WHEN ROUND IS NOT A SHAPE in the house

Karlsson Wall Clock Double Sided Aluminum - just seemingly perfect for our column

wow neo, i think you and I really got similar taste. my house is like the poor cousin version of your place. you know why I say that? because I bought a similar clock from that little clock shop in park mall. it's got the same double sided face and hung from the wall like so.

only difference is it's not kartell and the look is more metallic-antique than silvery-modern. Still.

Spooky.

It's still in its little box until I can get my drill and start drilling and fixing things up. I'll update then and share.

Edited April 21, 2011 by hafiizh

[ne0mesis 0]

I do agree that Fate helped bring the shortlisted IDs or contractors to us when we knocked on their doors.

A well written review is always a key to the decision making process for home owners.

yes, fate and lots of luck too

well, gd things are meant to share.

just spreading the "goodness" around.

Hi Ne0mesis, I went thru all your pics, you have a very nice place

thank you for your kind words!

btw, i can't tell you enough how unique yr balcony is.

lots n lots of potential and definitely work charms if done correctly, trust me!

wow neo, i think you and I really got similar taste. my house is like the poor cousin version of your place. you know why I say that? because I bought a similar clock from that little clock shop in park mall. it's got the same double sided face and hung from the wall like so.

only difference is it's not kartell and the look is more metallic-antique than silvery-modern. Still.

Spooky.

It's still in its little box until I can get my drill and start drilling and fixing things up. I'll update then and share.

hahaah. great mind thinks alike eh! but.. but u realised i didnt buy that right? is really d a r n nice and unique but just realise it jus did not fit in.

hope yrs is otherwise and a good addition to the house!

and pse, do not say tat. each place is unique in their own sense esp it is yr time and effort to reno up the place ya.

shall look forward to the clock then.

[Kobelala 8]

thank you for your kind words!

btw, i can't tell you enough how unique yr balcony is.

lots n lots of potential and definitely work charms if done correctly, trust me!

Hi ne0mesis, looking at the way you do up you place, it's difficult not to trust u .. ... but I am still thinking of how to do it as I'm also on a tight budget and I wouldn't mind if you have ideas to share

[Ely1 0]

Love the clock!

Ne0, it does seem like we have similiar taste. I was going for a double-sided clock, though in the vintage train station style.

Not like the timeless classic Karlsson, but I wanted a more "cottage" feel in the wet kitchen. Opted against it though - simply because of the placement, would be annoying, having to keep going around to look at the time~

-Ely

[january 0]

@Neo: I like that Karlsson clock! Where did u get it?

[ne0mesis 0]

Hi ne0mesis, looking at the way you do up you place, it's difficult not to trust u but I am still thinking of how to do it as I'm also on a tight budget and I wouldn't mind if you have ideas to share

tks for the trust!

if in time, hope able to give you some 2 cents worth eh

Love the clock!

Ne0, it does seem like we have similiar taste. I was going for a double-sided clock, though in the vintage train station style.

Opted against it though

@Neo: I like that Karlsson clock! Where did u get it?

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh........................ i opted against it lei cause seemingly round just didnt quite fit our space

hence the post to say round is not an shape in our house. ha