Love Nest @ Casa

[BoBochacha 0]

Place is looking very very nice ! The end is near ....

[sunsetsky 0]

your place can go on magazine already

[justinyeo 0]

Hmm, it will be quite challenging to buy on taobao without knowing chinese..

I have added the link I bought the white dixon lights below..quality was pretty good..you can try to buy using daigou65, it's quite simple and the correspondences are mainly in english..just register for an account, copy and paste the link below and leave a comment e.g. a set of 3 individual dixon lights and ask them to confirm price and shipping cost with the seller..there are many variations, like individual lights, 3 lights on a rod, 3 lights on a circle plate.

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=10496519267#

good luck!

Hello Itsybitsy!

Love ur blog and look forward to seeing your house getting done up! I'm getting my house keys soon and am going the scandinavian/ airy way too.

Am reading ur post on buying on taobao.com - When you say buying from daigou65, is it a specific online shop on that website?

Hope to clarify on the purchase on items there:

Do i 搜索 - Eames chair 伊姆斯椅子

Click on any items, amend qty, and press 立即购买?

Choose delivery to 海外 and pay by credit card?? =P

I use ebay often but not a china auction side, not too sure how that functions! And u deliver to ur new place or ur old home?

Haa, alot of questions, but hope to hear from u! Happy home building!

[innerlight 0]

hi theitsybits, Congrats on your home! Hope your carpentry problems have been sorted out. But your home looks great!

Could you share with me your link for the track light buy from taobao? I also need to buy 2 sets. How long is the track and whats the watt per tracklight ? Are they led ?

Thanks!

[originalbread 0]

Nice! even the walkway to your kitchen and rooms look showed that you have put a lot of effort in designing. and that's a cool bomb shelter door!

[theitsybits 0]

The common toilet really looks so big. Finally all coming to an end. Congrats!!

yea, it's super big! waste my space lei..smtimes it feels like so near yet so far, still must get rectifications done!

Place is looking very very nice ! The end is near ....

thank you! yea, so near...yet so far..

your place can go on magazine already

haha don't think so la! and magazines usually prefer ID projects? they can't feature my place and say it's done by a contractor who has no hdb license right?

Hello Itsybitsy!

Love ur blog and look forward to seeing your house getting done up! I'm getting my house keys soon and am going the scandinavian/ airy way too.

Am reading ur post on buying on taobao.com - When you say buying from daigou65, is it a specific online shop on that website?

Hope to clarify on the purchase on items there:

Do i 搜索 - Eames chair 伊姆斯椅子

Click on any items, amend qty, and press 立即购买?

Choose delivery to 海外 and pay by credit card?? =P

I use ebay often but not a china auction side, not too sure how that functions! And u deliver to ur new place or ur old home?

Haa, alot of questions, but hope to hear from u! Happy home building!

hmm nope..taobao is abit different, because it seems like they only accept china credit cards and i'm not sure if they ship overseas..so most buy using a middleman..i heard it's possible using some chinese paypal-like system, but i'm not trying because it's a hassle liaising with the seller and settling shipment issues..not sure if anyone has done it or can advise?

basically i search taobao for items i want to buy..then I look out for things like comments and ratings..after deciding on the item, I copy that link to daigou65 page, and add details like quantities and color and comments i.e. check volume weight with seller before buying..

after that, the daigou65 people will liase with the seller and get back to you (in english!)..so you can ask them to check details or ask questions..once you give the green light to buy, you pay using a pre-paid account with daigou65..you transfer $ to their account..then they will arrange the shipping to Singapore..you can check the status of your buys on their website..

not sure if it's clear but you can check out instructions and shipping rates/commission rates on their site..

hi theitsybits, Congrats on your home! Hope your carpentry problems have been sorted out. But your home looks great!

Could you share with me your link for the track light buy from taobao? I also need to buy 2 sets. How long is the track and whats the watt per tracklight ? Are they led ?

Thanks!

Do you want white tracks? I have 2 extra, cuz i kiasu bought 4 when i wasn't sure if i wanted track lights for kitchen and corridor..they are 1.5m long..u can have it if u like, it should be able to fit all kinds of track lights..

taobao has LED track lights too, but the effects of LED spot lights are somewhat different to me..i got the E27 spotlights and bought the bulbs here..so it depends on how bright you want them to be..

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16850760408

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13938812502

The spotlights were really cheap because they packed all 6 in a small box with plastic wrapped around each..they were really light too so shipping was cheap while each one was less than $2. whether or not things are worth it generally depends on the size and weight, since shipping is almost always more expensive than the actual product.. e.g. my tom dixon lights cost $30 but shipping was almost $70 due to the volumetric weight..my spinning lights cost a lot to ship because it's really big too, but it's still more than half-price from Fran Franc/Lightings.com for the same thing..

Nice! even the walkway to your kitchen and rooms look showed that you have put a lot of effort in designing. and that's a cool bomb shelter door!

hee thanks!! yes, i did spend many nights envisioning the feel of the whole place, drawing 3D drawings in my head since we had no 3D drawings.. i'm glad it turned out fine, though my husband thinks the tom dixon lights does not really fit our theme or the corridor.. my idea was that the living room and kitchen is really white but as you move inside the house, it eventually transits to a darker tone as my toilet has black mosaic and black granite..and my MBR is in grey, and probably perpetually dark..

Edited August 19, 2012 by theitsybits

[KopiKia 0]

Hi theitsybits,

Really love your flooring and brick wall very nice open concept kitchen.

Do you mind PM me K contact. Many Thanks!

[ahlipz 0]

Wow... Your renovation is looking nice and looks so white.

The Tom Dixon lights do look kinda out of place, perhaps it is black colour vs the rest of your white decors. Your shoe cabinet fits nicely into the whole theme. Another Haiku fan lover

[theitsybits 0]

Hi theitsybits,

Really love your flooring and brick wall very nice open concept kitchen.

Do you mind PM me K contact. Many Thanks!

no problem, pm-ed

Wow... Your renovation is looking nice and looks so white.

The Tom Dixon lights do look kinda out of place, perhaps it is black colour vs the rest of your white decors. Your shoe cabinet fits nicely into the whole theme. Another Haiku fan lover

hee, yea, i love how it turned out..

my bomb shelter door is blackboard, so is my mosaic and vanity in toilet, i thought the black lights can transit into the darker toilet and room!

your place is looking really great too! i think black haiku looks nicer but a black one will look really weird for us.. prices has gone up yet again!!!

[originalbread 0]

no problem, pm-ed

hee, yea, i love how it turned out..

my bomb shelter door is blackboard, so is my mosaic and vanity in toilet, i thought the black lights can transit into the darker toilet and room!

your place is looking really great too! i think black haiku looks nicer but a black one will look really weird for us.. prices has gone up yet again!!!

Hi theitsybits

May I know what is the color of your floor tile grout? I picked wood like colored tiles for my bedroom (a bit similar color tone as yours) and greyish beige tiles (travertine-like) for my living room. My contractor recommended white grout for these two areas so that it doesn't look weird with two colors at the joining. But after he recommended me unsuitable bathroom wall tiles (I almost tell him to dismantle and return the tiles ), I seriously doubt his taste and recommendations. He didn't even showed me the grout samples and assumed I can make the decision just asking if I want white grout or grey cement.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the same contractor as you as Mr K seems really busy. Based on the few houses I've seen over renotalk, I think he should be able to make better recommendations, though of course, the owners having good taste also played a huge part!

thanks.

Originalbread

[theitsybits 0]

Day 78

An army of people came to my place to inspect my carpentry yesterday..at least they had slightly better attitude and were generally willing to rectify most of the issues..heng never tell me don't be so calculative, won't die..

1. The drawers dropping out or very stiff - they said they will grease the rollers and fix them. Funny thing is that the carpenter actually claimed that perhaps the solid top people took out the drawers, that's why it was dropping out. BUT, my wardrobe drawers were also dropping out and I did not fix solid top in wardrobe..

2. The chips on edges of my bookshelf and many other pieces of carpentry, they say they will touch up with 'crayons'. I'm not sure how they can do that and make it look good. Reason behind chips edges is that the laminate is textured, that's why it's difficult to cut it straight. Really? I use my paper cutter to cut textured paper thicker than laminates for scrapbooking and my paper still turns out straight..there are so many textured laminates in the market like rough or crocodile skin ones, cannot be all can't be cut straight right? Many of my edges including smooth laminate was done badly and had 'teeth marks'.

3. The holes on the feature wall can't be explained, carpenter simply did not notice or think it's a problem. There's even visible scribblings in between the gaps. We've decided not to change the whole feature wall due to wrong sized planks used, since it may affect the partition and it's a lot of work. They will fix the holes and get rid of the scribblings. There's a whole row of holes!!

4. They will sand all edges of my plywood. I can't understand how they can fix such rough plywood up despite having me tell him to sand it before installation. Isn't it a lot harder to sand it after installation and having to reach to the ceiling? The plywood has holes and are really rough. Mr K's carpentry was absolutely smooth to the touch and the plywood layers were so beautiful while mine has uneven colors and holes in between the layers. I suppose it's different grade of plywood? Really disappointing.

5. These holes at the underside of all wardrobe drawers - carpenter said that he thought that it was for our convenience so our hand can reach in to pull out drawers easily. Otherwise the door of drawers has to be 10mm longer and eats into hanging space. He cut holes of all different sizes because it's underside and can't be seen, so he didn't think that it was a problem too. husband made him mend that hole back since changing anything now would result in many holes in the carpentry and changing the whole carpentry seem impossible. They will cut the semi-circle and mend it back, paste both top and bottom with laminate. I really suspect how they can cut exactly the odd-shaped semi-circles.

6. There's a thin strip of raw plywood under our kitchen sink since the tray was slightly smaller than carpentry. Thin strip of RAW PLYWOOD under my sink where there's most moisture! They will laminate that thin strip to prevent any rotting.

There still many issues everywhere - we pasted 55 different post-it pads with defects.

Lastly, they insisted that there is no wide soft-closing in the entire market when the husband has found some online.

Anyone familiar with Blum products who could advise if they have soft-closing hinges for 150-170 wide?

My drawers are also so stiff when they claim 'it's the same as blum'. I've tried blum drawers and they definitely do not feel like mine.

Can only wait and see what they can do, but I'm really sick of these and want to get this over ASAP. it's unbelievable how they can claim that they've good workmanship..internal laminates at cheap prices yes, but with many holes and uneven edges and much more with weeks of delays and more for rectifications (8 weeks so far and counting)..moreover, we're using the best carpenter they have, and he's obviously pressurized to perform since we're relatives too.. still such work

To everyone still choosing ID/Contractor/Carpenter - please choose wisely and do your homework, use someone recommended by friends or see for yourselves their actual completed works. Do not be swayed by huge showrooms, nice pictures, good sales talk and promises, freebies. Apart from delays, bad workmanship, even if they are willing to rectify everything for you, there are still some things which cannot be changed due to cost or time constraints. It really gives you a lot of grief and waste a lot of precious time.

Edited August 22, 2012 by theitsybits

[Nexer 1]

Day 78

An army of people came to my place to inspect my carpentry yesterday..at least they had slightly better attitude and were generally willing to rectify most of the issues..

1. The drawers dropping out or very stiff - they said they will grease the rollers and fix them. Funny thing is that the carpenter actually claimed that perhaps the solid top people took out the drawers, that's why it was dropping out. BUT, my wardrobe drawers were also dropping out and I did not fix solid top in wardrobe..

2. The chips on edges of my bookshelf and many other pieces of carpentry, they say they will touch up with 'crayons'. I'm not sure how they can do that and make it look good. Reason behind chips edges is that the laminate is textured, that's why it's difficult to cut it straight. Really? I use my paper cutter to cut textured paper thicker than laminates for scrapbooking and my paper still turns out straight..there are so many textured laminates in the market like rough or crocodile skin ones, cannot be all can't be cut straight right? Many of my edges including smooth laminate was done badly and had 'teeth marks'.

3. The holes on the feature wall can't be explained, carpenter simply did not notice or think it's a problem. There's even visible scribblings in between the gaps. We've decided not to change the whole feature wall due to wrong sized planks used, since it may affect the partition and it's a lot of work. They will fix the holes and get rid of the scribblings. There's a whole row of holes!!

4. They will sand all edges of my plywood. I can't understand how they can fix such rough plywood up despite having me tell him to sand it before installation. Isn't it a lot harder to sand it after installation and having to reach to the ceiling? The plywood has holes and are really rough. Mr K's carpentry was absolutely smooth to the touch and the plywood layers were so beautiful while mine has uneven colors and holes in between the layers. I suppose it's different grade of plywood? Really disappointing.

5. These holes at the underside of all wardrobe drawers - carpenter said that he thought that it was for our convenience so our hand can reach in to pull out drawers easily. Otherwise the door of drawers has to be 10mm longer and eats into hanging space. He cut holes of all different sizes because it's underside and can't be seen, so he didn't think that it was a problem too. husband made him mend that hole back since changing anything now would result in many holes in the carpentry and changing the whole carpentry seem impossible. They will cut the semi-circle and mend it back, paste both top and bottom with laminate. I really suspect how they can cut exactly the odd-shaped semi-circles.

6. There's a thin strip of raw plywood under our kitchen sink since the tray was slightly smaller than carpentry. Thin strip of RAW PLYWOOD under my sink where there's most moisture! They will laminate that thin strip to prevent any rotting.

There still many issues everywhere - we pasted 55 different post-it pads with defects.

Lastly, they insisted that there is no wide soft-closing in the entire market when the husband has found some online.

Anyone familiar with Blum products who could advise if they have soft-closing hinges for 150-170 wide?

My drawers are also so stiff when they claim 'it's the same as blum'. I've tried blum drawers and they definitely do not feel like mine.

Can only wait and see what they can do, but I'm really sick of these and want to get this over ASAP. it's unbelievable how they can claim that they've good workmanship..internal laminates yes, but with many holes and uneven edges and much more..moreover, we're using the best carpenter they have, and he's obviously pressurized to perform since we're relatives too.. still such work

Hi theitsybits

Firstly, i must kowtow to you for being able to tahan all the terrible workmanship by your carpenter.

I can totally understand how u r feeling now cos i faced the same problem (but not as bad) before. Since its recommended by your MIL, guess thats nothing much you can do except focus on the wonderful home (by Mr K.'s hands) you gonna have soon.

[originalbread 0]

Day 78

An army of people came to my place to inspect my carpentry yesterday..at least they had slightly better attitude and were generally willing to rectify most of the issues..heng never tell me don't be so calculative, won't die..

1. The drawers dropping out or very stiff - they said they will grease the rollers and fix them. Funny thing is that the carpenter actually claimed that perhaps the solid top people took out the drawers, that's why it was dropping out. BUT, my wardrobe drawers were also dropping out and I did not fix solid top in wardrobe..

2. The chips on edges of my bookshelf and many other pieces of carpentry, they say they will touch up with 'crayons'. I'm not sure how they can do that and make it look good. Reason behind chips edges is that the laminate is textured, that's why it's difficult to cut it straight. Really? I use my paper cutter to cut textured paper thicker than laminates for scrapbooking and my paper still turns out straight..there are so many textured laminates in the market like rough or crocodile skin ones, cannot be all can't be cut straight right? Many of my edges including smooth laminate was done badly and had 'teeth marks'.

3. The holes on the feature wall can't be explained, carpenter simply did not notice or think it's a problem. There's even visible scribblings in between the gaps. We've decided not to change the whole feature wall due to wrong sized planks used, since it may affect the partition and it's a lot of work. They will fix the holes and get rid of the scribblings. There's a whole row of holes!!

4. They will sand all edges of my plywood. I can't understand how they can fix such rough plywood up despite having me tell him to sand it before installation. Isn't it a lot harder to sand it after installation and having to reach to the ceiling? The plywood has holes and are really rough. Mr K's carpentry was absolutely smooth to the touch and the plywood layers were so beautiful while mine has uneven colors and holes in between the layers. I suppose it's different grade of plywood? Really disappointing.

5. These holes at the underside of all wardrobe drawers - carpenter said that he thought that it was for our convenience so our hand can reach in to pull out drawers easily. Otherwise the door of drawers has to be 10mm longer and eats into hanging space. He cut holes of all different sizes because it's underside and can't be seen, so he didn't think that it was a problem too. husband made him mend that hole back since changing anything now would result in many holes in the carpentry and changing the whole carpentry seem impossible. They will cut the semi-circle and mend it back, paste both top and bottom with laminate. I really suspect how they can cut exactly the odd-shaped semi-circles.

6. There's a thin strip of raw plywood under our kitchen sink since the tray was slightly smaller than carpentry. Thin strip of RAW PLYWOOD under my sink where there's most moisture! They will laminate that thin strip to prevent any rotting.

There still many issues everywhere - we pasted 55 different post-it pads with defects.

Lastly, they insisted that there is no wide soft-closing in the entire market when the husband has found some online.

Anyone familiar with Blum products who could advise if they have soft-closing hinges for 150-170 wide?

My drawers are also so stiff when they claim 'it's the same as blum'. I've tried blum drawers and they definitely do not feel like mine.

Can only wait and see what they can do, but I'm really sick of these and want to get this over ASAP. it's unbelievable how they can claim that they've good workmanship..internal laminates at cheap prices yes, but with many holes and uneven edges and much more with weeks of delays and more for rectifications (8 weeks so far and counting)..moreover, we're using the best carpenter they have, and he's obviously pressurized to perform since we're relatives too.. still such work

To everyone still choosing ID/Contractor/Carpenter - please choose wisely and do your homework, use someone recommended by friends or see for yourselves their actual completed works. Do not be swayed by huge showrooms, nice pictures, good sales talk and promises, freebies. Apart from delays, bad workmanship, even if they are willing to rectify everything for you, there are still some things which cannot be changed due to cost or time constraints. It really gives you a lot of grief and waste a lot of precious time.

55 post it tags! I think the carpentry part must be the most trying on your patience. hope they quickly rectify soon.

[pinkwhale 0]

Hi dear!!!

Wow ur house is transformed! And i would really say the whole design and concept is fabulous just alittle pity on the poor carpentry workmanship. But hang in there, it's ending soon!! All the best!!

[BlackCookie 0]

Such a beautiful house. I'm surprised you're not already mad with the carpentry. I would have gone into fits and rejected the entire batch. This is horrible. I wouldn't compromise on my home and your patience is commendable. But MILs will be MILs... I feel sorry for you!