Serangoon North Renovation By Defong Interior Design

[ayazumi 0]

u use solid top?

what color?

Hi Nimzo. I chose frosty white for my solid worktop. Basically it is just pure white top.

[ayazumi 0]

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT

We were supposed to proceed with our schedules today, as mentioned yesterday, we have a lot of places to run and shop for our home, can't afford to waste any weekend when we are moving in two weeks later. In the end, we spent the whole day to supervise the electrician. We were expecting electrical work to complete by today, but who knows he can't finish his work again, and Sundays are not allowed to do drilling work, so he will not be coming in tomorrow. I was quite panic when he said he's not coming in after today as he will be able to complete his work today (liar ), so I quickly called Hubby to accompany me to the neighbourhood light shop to buy two lightings for the corridors. We expected the light shop to sell at premium price, but there was no way out, but to buy from them. We went in the shop, Hubby told me: It's that "bin chao chao" (in Hokkien - black face) auntie again. I don't really care about that auntie, I just want to find two suitable lights for the corridors. Anyways I have my own ways to tackle that auntie. We tried to find the nicest and smallest light in the shop, which can match our living room lightings. We found this light:

Don't you feel that this mini version looks exactly like my living room lighting? And it costs me $85 per light

When we decided to buy this light, I called to the auntie: "小姐, I want to buy this light. Do you have stock in your store now? I want two piece, and please give me discount okay?" Auntie heard 小姐 this two words, of course happy and give me discount lah. Can see from her face she smiled so sweetly when I called her 小姐. So she gave me 10% discount, and we quickly grab the two lights and rushed home.

This is how the small light looks like when installed in our house:

Edited April 25, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

Yesterday the pictures I posted for our living room lightings were in daylight light tubes. We asked the electrician to change the centre light tube to a warm light, so we can experience romantic ambience while watching tv If we need the room to be brighter, we will switch on the daylight.

If you are wondering why we didn't change the light position to "1" shape, it's because of fengshui... Fengshui said if we place our light position to "1" shape, when we come in from main entrance, the lights look like a pair of knives, cutting through the house. Therefore, we are not allowed to change the light position.

I managed to take pictures of the kitchen cabinet in day time, so that you guys have a better view of the laminate color

And the track lights are installed. One disadvantage is that the LED light bulbs are not bright enough to shine the whole kitchen area, though there are 6 of them. One of the light holder is defect, so we are going to the light shop in Jalan Besar later to get a replacement, at the same time buy one more bulb holder, so there will be four light holder placed in the track. Hopefully the kitchen will be brighter with 7 bulbs. I am really not used to this track light. It looks more like a spot light to me. I got this feeling the light shop has given me the wrong light bulb. Remember I mentioned about optical bulb, halogen bulb, and LED in earlier post? Somehow I feel that the light bulbs are optical bulb - not bright, but yet the most expensive. Well, LED light bulb is not cheap too! We saw one in NTUC selling at $44 per piece Shouldn't buy track light to act as the main light in first place. Whatever it is, it is too late to regret now.

BTW, my mistake to ask the electrician to shift the second track light near to the far end. I have forgotten all about my bamboo sticks for hanging clothes Have told him to shift the track light to the original position so that we can cover the dark spots

Edited April 25, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

MBR light is up and running, except wrong light tubes for the room. We have asked the electrician to change to warm light for MBR

This is how the MBR wardrobe looks like:

Initially I was against to having aluminium frame around the sliding doors. Even when our contractor explained to me about the mechanism thingy, I wasn't quite get what he's trying to explain, until I experienced it myself today. As usual, I am a very curious person. I want to try if the sliding door comes with soft closing as I thought it was the in-thing now. So I slam the door, and end up with a loud bang (heart broken) Then I decided not to touch the doors anymore, so I gently slided the door close, and to my surprise, I heard "tic tac" sound when the door was closed. Now I get it! The difference between a full wood sliding and an aluminium frame door is that wood doors do not come with the "special mechanism" (which I would like to term this as) that allows the sliding door to fully close the gap at the side of the doors. For start, it is still okay, you see that the wood door can be closed tightly to the wardrobe frame, but as time goes by, there will be a gap at the sides of the wardrobe, and dust will start to go into the internal wardrobe. This happens to my current wardrobe now - the internal is collecting dust everyday even though I close the doors everytime. I don't know where the dust comes from. The advantage of installing this "special mechansim" allows the wardrobe doors to fully shut and "stick" to the side of the wardrobe frame, so as to prevent dust from going into the internal wardrobe. The disadvantage is not many people like the aluminium frame at the four sides of the sliding door. I am a practical person. If this "special mechanism" can help to prevent dust from going into the clothes, I am more than happy to have this system for my wardrobe. It may look orbit, but well, just accept that the fact that this is a good mechanism for long-term usage. 一分钱，一分货

PS: I do not know if full wood sliding door can also come with "tic tac" locking system or not. If there is, please share with me so that for my next renovation, I know what I want for my wardrobe.

Edited April 25, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

Here comes our DIY project - the bird cage light pendant!

I simply the bird cage pendant. Thanks to Hubby for his hard work. He did two pendant lights one for study room; the other for arts room. Now the two rooms look more romantic than before, not the usual boring common rooms.

My S2 did not manage to capture good pictures of the pendant lights. The design - shadow casted by the bird cage onto the ceiling - is really very nice. Im loving it.

Edited April 25, 2012 by ayazumi

[Nimzo 0]

Hi Nimzo. I chose frosty white for my solid worktop. Basically it is just pure white top.

I choosing between black or grey/or look blue top

Sorry don't hav name

My contractor show me then see number at back

No fancy fancy name

[ayazumi 0]

I choosing between black or grey/or look blue top

Sorry don't hav name

My contractor show me then see number at back

No fancy fancy name

Is your cabinet color same as the cement sink countertop? I think black shiny solid top looks nice, but might be too dark for your kitchen. Blue is unique but I never see the sample I also can't be sure how it will turn out to be. Grey is okay too, but must see your kitchen cabinet what color you choose

[Nimzo 0]

My wife chose glossy red for cabinet..hahah

I thinking change too to black with white white dot..

But contractor said if scratches obvious

Will drop his shop and rechoose the colour again

Edited April 22, 2012 by Nimzo

[Valerie Low 0]

I like the wood laminate of your kitchen cabinet. But I'd prefer if the top cabinet is white to match with a bottom wood laminate cabinet. The track lights indeed provide some 'mood' to the kitchen. But i think if you do not want the track lights to act as spot light, you should just use the 24 W energy saving bulb, so that it will give you flood light, and not directional light. Got this advise from the lighting shop people.

Btw, how long is your track light in the kitchen? 1m?

Edited April 22, 2012 by ValerieLow

[ayazumi 0]

My wife chose glossy red for cabinet..hahah

I thinking change too to black with white white dot..

But contractor said if scratches obvious

Will drop his shop and rechoose the colour again

Wah... so bright ah the kitchen cabinet? I thought you will choose similar color such as maroon to match the sink countertop. Black solid top goes well with glossy red. There is blink blink series for black solid top, but it's a little more expensive than normal solid top. You should choose the blink blink series, and it definitely can match well with glossy red cabinet.

[Valerie Low 0]

Here comes our DIY project - the bird cage light pendant!

Absolutely love your birdcage pendant light!

Good job!

[paladin126 0]

MBR light is up and running, except wrong light tubes for the room. We have asked the electrician to change to warm light for MBR

This is how the MBR wardrobe looks like:

Initially I was against to having aluminium frame around the sliding doors. Even when our contractor explained to me about the mechanism thingy, I wasn't quite get what he's trying to explain, until I experienced it myself today. As usual, I am a very curious person. I want to try if the sliding door comes with soft closing as I thought it was the in-thing now. So I slam the door, and end up with a loud bang (heart broken) Then I decided not to touch the doors anymore, so I gently slided the door close, and to my surprise, I heard "tic tac" sound when the door was closed. Now I get it! The difference between a full wood sliding and an aluminium frame door is that wood doors do not come with the "special mechanism" (which I would like to term this as) that allows the sliding door to fully close the gap at the side of the doors. For start, it is still okay, you see that the wood door can be closed tightly to the wardrobe frame, but as time goes by, there will be a gap at the sides of the wardrobe, and dust will start to go into the internal wardrobe. This happens to my current wardrobe now - the internal is collecting dust everyday even though I close the doors everytime. I don't know where the dust comes from. The advantage of installing this "special mechansim" allows the wardrobe doors to fully shut and "stick" to the side of the wardrobe frame, so as to prevent dust from going into the internal wardrobe. The disadvantage is not many people like the aluminium frame at the four sides of the sliding door. I am a practical person. If this "special mechanism" can help to prevent dust from going into the clothes, I am more than happy to have this system for my wardrobe. It may look orbit, but well, just accept that the fact that this is a good mechanism for long-term usage. 一分钱，一分货

PS: I do not know if full wood sliding door can also come with "tic tac" locking system or not. If there is, please share with me so that for my next renovation, I know what I want for my wardrobe.

One of my friends has top tracked wardrobe. My sister-in-law as well. Basically there is no bottom track and the piece below. The doors open to the drawers inside which rest on the floor. I think looks better, but wife says it collects dust over time? but aluminium frame seems to be sturdier, so better than no frame

Edited April 22, 2012 by paladin126

[ayazumi 0]

I like the wood laminate of your kitchen cabinet. But I'd prefer if the top cabinet is white to match with a bottom wood laminate cabinet. The track lights indeed provide some 'mood' to the kitchen. But i think if you do not want the track lights to act as spot light, you should just use the energy saving E27 bulb, so that it will give you flood light, and not directional light. Got this advise from the lighting shop people.

Btw, how long is your track light in the kitchen? 1m?

Hi Valerie, we got the same taste, hehe. Didn't expect the wood laminate to turn out this nice. From the sample piece, we thought the laminate is a little greenish, but the overall effect was okay, no greenish look. We wanted the top cabinet to be white, bottom to be wood laminate, but our contractor feels it's nicer to have wood laminate and the body of the cabinet to be white, so that the color can flows smoothly to match the white solid top. We can't see the effect now until the solid top is up. Maybe by then the color contrast is more obvious and will look nicer than now (bo bi bo bi pray)

Later we are going to the light shop and ask if can use energy saving bulbs for the track light or not. I don't really like the LED effect, looks like spot light.

Absolutely love your birdcage pendant light!

Good job!

Thank you

Edited April 22, 2012 by ayazumi

[ayazumi 0]

One of my friends has top tracked wardrobe. My sister-in-law as well. Basically there is no bottom track and the piece below. The doors open to the drawers inside which rest on the floor. I think looks better, but wife says it collects dust over time? but aluminium frame seems to be sturdier, so better than no frame

I can't visualize. Do you mean that the doors depend on the top track support because there is no bottom track? Won't there be scratches to the floor, since everything rest on the floor?

Aluminium frame is not about sturdiness only, it is about the "special mechanism" that allows the sliding doors to shut completely so that it reduce the amount of dust to go inside the wardrobe. You will not see gaps at the sides of the doors. This is the advantage of doing aluminium door frame.

Are you doing your wardrobe from Kevin?

Edited April 22, 2012 by ayazumi

[Nimzo 0]

Wah... so bright ah the kitchen cabinet? I thought you will choose similar color such as maroon to match the sink countertop. Black solid top goes well with glossy red. There is blink blink series for black solid top, but it's a little more expensive than normal solid top. You should choose the blink blink series, and it definitely can match well with glossy red cabinet.

Wife said red that's it hahah