The Best Journey Always Leads Us Home

[Ely1 0]

Things to be purchased:

- Rice cooker

- Kettle

- Toaster Oven

- Microwave

- Curtains/Blinds + wallpaper

Then, all done! Yay!

[May_dream1 14]

Things to be purchased:

- Rice cooker

- Kettle

- Toaster Oven

- Microwave

- Curtains/Blinds + wallpaper

Then, all done! Yay!

Soon soon then u will be able to move in too. Hehe... Congrats!! I also need a new rice cooker.... But will buy that later. Totally broke now...

As for budget wise, definitely will go above by 10-15%. For me, I went above by more than 15%. That's just for Reno alone. If all lightings, sanitary, accessories, etc, I think I blown my budget by 30%.

But now looking back at my house, I realized few things not done properly. But it can't be changed anymore. Already gave specific instructions but still wasn't done correctly. Haiz....

Edited May 1, 2011 by May_dream1

[footprint 0]

Ely,

I do feel all your purchases are nice n of a certain feel which u wants to achieve.

Classy, cozy, modern feel!

And b'coz it's solely designed by u, the satisfaction when all is done n arranged nicely will be 101%!

Esp u r so particular on being perfect, so dun see where will go wrong except the pockets?

N yes, exceeding budget I'm sure all can't be helped, just how it was managed.

My reno cost exceed abit, my furnishing exceed abit too.

Most impt, at end of day when all is done up, the joy.... Irrmeasurable!

[Ely1 0]

Soon soon then u will be able to move in too. Hehe... Congrats!! I also need a new rice cooker.... But will buy that later. Totally broke now...

As for budget wise, definitely will go above by 10-15%. For me, I went above by more than 15%. That's just for Reno alone. If all lightings, sanitary, accessories, etc, I think I blown my budget by 30%.

But now looking back at my house, I realized few things not done properly. But it can't be changed anymore. Already gave specific instructions but still wasn't done correctly. Haiz....

I just want some simple old-skool rice cooker - nowadays the ones I see have all kinds of functions and are more than $100! Wru plastic rice cooker for the microwave with red lid for $7~ Gawd, I love that piece of crap when I was living in Australia and can't seem to find it anymore.

Our budget definitely exceeded 15% - 20%. Reno + purchases are about 100K, but I guess it's not that unusual for an overhaul reno project and an entirely new place since we have nothing existing to move in with. No wonder I loved renting furnished homes in Australia - just pack suitcase and completely new decor with minor trips to Ikea to personalise it some. So scary everytime I look at the spreadsheet haha! Don't even dare to list purchases like many RT-ers do, with their signatures. Daily reminder of how broke we've become certainly is not healthy

Same, May Dream. Minor things about the reno bug me but will live with it. Sigh. Will continue to chant Marilyn Monroe's quote "Imperfection is beauty..."

- Ely

[Ely1 0]

Ely,

I do feel all your purchases are nice n of a certain feel which u wants to achieve.

Classy, cozy, modern feel!

And b'coz it's solely designed by u, the satisfaction when all is done n arranged nicely will be 101%!

Esp u r so particular on being perfect, so dun see where will go wrong except the pockets?

N yes, exceeding budget I'm sure all can't be helped, just how it was managed.

My reno cost exceed abit, my furnishing exceed abit too.

Most impt, at end of day when all is done up, the joy.... Irrmeasurable!

Heya Footprint,

Thanks for being so encouraging It's so easy to envision a certain look but am now losing confidence that I'll achieve it. I think I may have over-cluttered the place... Sigh, we'll see.

Yours is "abit", mine is "quite a lot"~ Esp the home theatre system - didn't expect to catch the bug and finding ourselves upgrading everything.

True, I want to be surrounded by things I love. Luxury is not a necessity to me, but beautiful things are. And, beauty is always subjective so I'm certain what I love will not be to everyone's taste. I have rather quirky taste which range from contemporary classics to eceletic and vintage so trying to blend all of them seamlessly may be disastrous as I'm finding out now. Also, am disappointed with the couch and that makes a HUGE difference to the entire feel of the home

Just hoping that I'll love the eventual result Will let you know in 2 weeks' time!

- Ely

[ne0mesis 0]

reading up, catching up...

i was lucky in a sense. during my reno, i almost made the fatal mistake of letting the id do up the kitchen sink in a wrong orientation! kudos to the virgo wife, she spotted it just before the day they cut the hole in the carpentry. so i do feel sorry bout your wrongly fitted wet/dry kitchen sinks. but then not all is lose right, am relief to hear that you could make your island bigger! space is much needed when preparing food

saw yr living rm pic with the ceiling fan.

my eyes picked up the trunking immediately rather than the fan. able to hide it?

initial housework at near reno completion can really be a pain in the donkey i tell you!

more to come, trust me! ha

incidentally, my pots and utensils are from WMF, not from german direct though. way out of my budget. my stainless steel knife set are from CS though.

fits perfectly with the WMF knife block! and is scary how much the stupid knife block cost! hee

yea, can tell you've been shopping and shopping for the house. i mean is reeaallly shopping and shopping and shopping. haha..

but good vibes for the things you bought so far and addressing modern and contemporary feel right? reno has its ups and downs too. you're not alone. at some period, we were doubting our design for the house too. but hey, the transformation will happen soon right! that's the results show ya. with all the superb finishes, it shouldnt be bad, at all! cross your fingers!

btw, reno budget typically sure burst. just a matter of how much.

I planned for 30k initially but they said it was impossible for a EA, esp with the design in mind.

did the figures, revised and planned for max 40k and still, i exceeded a lil. haizzzz

so dont worry, again you're not alone! ha

Edited May 1, 2011 by ne0mesis

[mae29 2]

Sis, Ely

Finally see you posting up the progress photographs of carpentry works.

I am really lusting over the pots & pans. They look close to my AMC series (mine is 7 piece sets cost >$3k including a pressure cooker). Though I'm not cooking at home now, you may notice I didn't even have a cooker hood, I do find it Important to invest in a set of pure good grade stainless steel pots & pans. I hate the Teflon or whatever non-stick wok or pan, which ended up sticking & burnt somehow. Now, my 10 years old pots & pans need re-polish to shine again.

Talking about budget, hmmm, I can claim mine exceeded the most! When I saw my neighbor spent $36k, I thought my reno will be around range. But, I want everything new in the house from floors to ceilings, from doors to windows. Even the Queen Sealy Kingsbury unicast mattress was a must get item, as I thought it is as important to invest in a piece of mattress with good back support. In the end, my budget exceeded "not alot more", but double!!

Now, waiting to admire your house***

[Ely1 0]

reading up, catching up...

i was lucky in a sense. during my reno, i almost made the fatal mistake of letting the id do up the kitchen sink in a wrong orientation! kudos to the virgo wife, she spotted it just before the day they cut the hole in the carpentry. so i do feel sorry bout your wrongly fitted wet/dry kitchen sinks. but then not all is lose right, am relief to hear that you could make your island bigger! space is much needed when preparing food

saw yr living rm pic with the ceiling fan.

my eyes picked up the trunking immediately rather than the fan. able to hide it?

initial housework at near reno completion can really be a pain in the donkey i tell you!

more to come, trust me! ha

incidentally, my pots and utensils are from WMF, not from german direct though. way out of my budget. my stainless steel knife set are from CS though.

fits perfectly with the WMF knife block! and is scary how much the stupid knife block cost! hee

yea, can tell you've been shopping and shopping for the house. i mean is reeaallly shopping and shopping and shopping. haha..

but good vibes for the things you bought so far and addressing modern and contemporary feel right? reno has its ups and downs too. you're not alone. at some period, we were doubting our design for the house too. but hey, the transformation will happen soon right! that's the results show ya. with all the superb finishes, it shouldnt be bad, at all! cross your fingers!

btw, reno budget typically sure burst. just a matter of how much.

I planned for 30k initially but they said it was impossible for a EA, esp with the design in mind.

did the figures, revised and planned for max 40k and still, i exceeded a lil. haizzzz

so dont worry, again you're not alone! ha

Hi again ne0,

How could a Virgo ever stand trunking of any sort? *gasp* Even your innocuous suggestion sounds incredulous to me I kid That's where the feature wall/TV console will be so expect lots of trunking and crazy wires to hook up a multitude of equipment: receiver amp/blu ray player/SCV box/media player/NAS/X Box/TV.

When the aircon was first done, I was so aghast at the trunking that I paid an additional $250 to rectify it. Just so to accomodate the new better concealed aircon trunking, we SHIFTED the entire living area, ie. feature wall, but this works out nicely as I now can fit in a "foyer" like I always wanted. I love the idea of coming home to a warmly-lit foyer and dumping my keys/mail and checking how badly my makeup needed a touch up.

An EA is a complete different budget though, with the stairs, balcony, AND many bedrooms. I received $100k quotations for my simple reno, which was initially very disturbing because we had no idea it would cost that much. Current reno is half that, with another 50k into filling the space.

Managed to fix the sink problem with my petulant insistence, and some "deh" powah (thanks, May Dream!). Doing without a solid backsplash (so the tap can fit) and changed the orientation of the doors. Additionally changed the top cabinets to all casement so that the bottom drawers would look symetrical and saved $$ on the Blum Those funds are now directed to a customised study/work top for the common bedroom's nook. Am intending to do a customised wallpaper for that bedroom but that will have to wait as it's more than 1k. Otherwise, it's more DIY LACK shelves for the nook to hold the Mac Pro and books.

Hoping to get blinds and curtains done this week, and packing should commence next week. Need ALL the luck I can get - thank you!

- Ely

[Ely1 0]

Sis, Ely

Finally see you posting up the progress photographs of carpentry works.

I am really lusting over the pots & pans. They look close to my AMC series (mine is 7 piece sets cost >$3k including a pressure cooker). Though I'm not cooking at home now, you may notice I didn't even have a cooker hood, I do find it Important to invest in a set of pure good grade stainless steel pots & pans. I hate the Teflon or whatever non-stick wok or pan, which ended up sticking & burnt somehow. Now, my 10 years old pots & pans need re-polish to shine again.

Talking about budget, hmmm, I can claim mine exceeded the most! When I saw my neighbor spent $36k, I thought my reno will be around range. But, I want everything new in the house from floors to ceilings, from doors to windows. Even the Queen Sealy Kingsbury unicast mattress was a must get item, as I thought it is as important to invest in a piece of mattress with good back support. In the end, my budget exceeded "not alot more", but double!!

Now, waiting to admire your house***

Sis Mae,

I totally agree about those Teflon pans - all lies! Most annoying when you coat the entire pan with oil and the fish still sticks, causing the skin to be torn off. Presentation fail!

Love my pots/pans, especially because they all come with temperature gauges on the knobs. Don't have to keep lifting the lid to see if water is boiling or not! Totally ingenious! Good to know that your pots are still doing well after 10 long years - definitely make me feel better about mine.

Funny thing, Mae, is that the Kingsbury was the exact bed I was going for - the pillow-top is just sooooo plush. For some strange reason, I tried the Dunlopillo and felt that the "feel" was better or at least, comparable (17cm pillow top). Was actually reluctant to deviate from the one of the Big S Mattress brands but decided to go with "feel" instead. It was also a good deal at only 3k, as compared to the Kingsbury or Serta's Willow Spring. Of course it also passed the "Boiing!" test, during which The Husband and I both take turns getting out of bed and jumping back on it to see if the other gets affected. Fortunately for The Husband, who is a heavy sleeper, a 42kg "Boiing!" did nothing for him at all, though I could definitely feel him "crawling" back into bed.

-Ely

[May_dream1 14]

What did I help you with??? I didn't even realized I did anything that deserve your thanks. Hehe....

[Ely1 0]

What did I help you with??? I didn't even realized I did anything that deserve your thanks. Hehe....

Well, I was so inspired by your Powers of Deh that I decided to try it during a heated discussion between the carpenter and the ID about my sinks. I stepped in, pouted a bit, said I bought that sink specifically for the dry kitchen "oh noes, now cannot use? oh noes I'm sad" drama and they came up with an idea to fix it. Deh Power ftw!

- Ely

[May_dream1 14]

Well, I was so inspired by your Powers of Deh that I decided to try it during a heated discussion between the carpenter and the ID about my sinks. I stepped in, pouted a bit, said I bought that sink specifically for the dry kitchen "oh noes, now cannot use? oh noes I'm sad" drama and they came up with an idea to fix it. Deh Power ftw!

- Ely

Way to go, girl!!!

[Kobelala 8]

Well, I was so inspired by your Powers of Deh that I decided to try it during a heated discussion between the carpenter and the ID about my sinks. I stepped in, pouted a bit, said I bought that sink specifically for the dry kitchen "oh noes, now cannot use? oh noes I'm sad" drama and they came up with an idea to fix it. Deh Power ftw!

- Ely

LOL, Sis Ely, u are a fast learner

[Ely1 0]

And more for the kitchen:

Dry kitchen knifeset - CS Kochsysteme too

Kycoera ceramic knife:

Bodum Chambord 12-cup:

-Ely

[May_dream1 14]

And more for the kitchen:

Dry kitchen knifeset - CS Kochsysteme too

i got the same knives set too. you bought it online? how much?

its very good to use and i like it as its one whole piece between the handle and the cutting part. then no germs and dirt will be trapped in between like other type of knives.