The Experience: Our First Home

[summersann 6]

Hi summersann, remember to take more photo tomorrow.

By the way, how much u intend to let go for the Nespresso U?

Looking to sell it at $200. It's brand new, still in the box. PM me if you're interested and we can negotiate!

[HappyAng 0]

Ok. Let me try convince my wifey on the Nespresso U..

[summersann 6]

First round of rectifications today. Little things here and there to fix. Didn't have much else to take pictures of because nothing much changed except for some cleaning up, the delivery and installation of our quartz countertops and the short laminated plank for our foyer, and our study table. Still waiting for the balcony doors, window grilles, some pieces of furniture we ordered earlier, and curtains to be delivered and installed. The ID will also try to get the workers in to rectify certain areas before they go off for CNY holiday. Otherwise, we'll have to wait till late this month to get everything done. I guess that's fine, since we're not planning to move in before CNY anyway.

So, on to the previous issues...

Skirting

Our IDs remarked that leaving the skirting (both upstairs and downstairs) wood-toned would give the house a warm feeling, and that white would be trendier and more "young". But that if we change either one, the other one should match as well (our IDs are all about uniformity and non-clashing of tones ).

Decision: Our skirting, both 1st and 2nd floor, shall be painted white (A big thank you to everyone who shared their opinions!).

Windows

The site manager removed the stickers around the windows today for us to make a better decision. Turns out, the thin black lines in the window panes are not stickers, but the actual rubber that lines windows!

Decision: Since there's thin black rubber, we shall go with the black handles. Guess our windows shall look more funky than clean!

The bathroom doors are here! (again, the thick black strips are stickers)

Our quartz tops, installed.

HappyAng, this is for you! The tracks are behind the drawers

The fixed glass panel for our foyer (shall take more pictures of this area when our hooks are drilled in) finally arrived! I am seriously too in love with mint. I need to start making sure I don't fill the whole house with mint-colored things

Our study table (I love the color)! The boy and I finally have a table long enough for both of us to work on at the same time

Looking forward to seeing the balcony doors. Our site manager says it should come over the weekend.

Edited February 1, 2013 by summersann

[Makanology 29]

So you are keeping the black and white windows?

[summersann 6]

So you are keeping the black and white windows?

Yup! The black strips are rubber pieces that protect the glass, which apparently comes with every window (in case I'm not explaining it well enough, it's the thin lines inside the window frames that are black rubber and can't be removed. The thicker black lines on and outside the window frames are stickers that we'll peel off). So might as well keep the black handles too!

Edited February 1, 2013 by summersann

[Makanology 29]

Yippee! Now I want the same windows! I am also tempted about your bathroom doors with the black stickers heehee. But my HTB prefers glass doors. Strangely he hates bifold and PD doors.

[summersann 6]

Yippee! Now I want the same windows! I am also tempted about your bathroom doors with the black stickers heehee. But my HTB prefers glass doors. Strangely he hates bifold and PD doors.

Heh, yah! Just ask your window maker to powder coat the frames and it should turn out the same Take note that our frames are not the usual powder-coated white though! It's custom ordered, so if you want the exact look, you have to look for something off-white. HAHA, you mean you want to keep the thick black sticker that's on our bathroom door?! You are one funky chick! I don't have a good impression of PD doors either. Read really bad reviews about their work and the door's quality. Glass doors look quite modern, so if that's what you're going for, it'd be classy

[Makanology 29]

Honestly I prefer swing doors for the bathroom (western saloon-style) BUT that will sure freak the living lights out of our guests!

[summersann 6]

Nespresso U machine sold!

Now on to getting our rugs and more accessories for the home. FrancFranc is having a sale on some items in their store. Big discounts!

On another note, regarding our purchases from Courts... The boy was smart enough to email and ask the Big 5 competitors for their prices for the items we ordered at Courts, and some of the items turned out to be slightly cheaper (we went back on 2 different occasions with lower prices for different items. Think the Courts guy must be quite scared of seeing us by now!). Courts matched the prices and we eventually got a further $260 discount! Good buy!

[razzberrie 3]

I like your kitchen sink! Where did you get it from? Also, does the picture of the jutting out sink mean your counter is narrower than usual? Or your sink is wider than usual?

[Makanology 29]

That's really smart! Which Courts did you go to? How long are they keeping your appliances for?

Edited February 2, 2013 by Makanology

[cleong 1]

I think any Courts/Harvey Norman/Best Denki, when faced with a bulk purchase, will be willing to make a deal. Ours came from Harvey Norman. For around $7k plus we managed to get 2 LCD/LED TVs, each with a home entertainment system, cooker hob and hood, fridge, washer, oven, and a few other small items which were enough to furnish our home.

[summersann 6]

I like your kitchen sink! Where did you get it from? Also, does the picture of the jutting out sink mean your counter is narrower than usual? Or your sink is wider than usual?

IKEA! Haha Eh... I just asked my IDs to mount the sink above the countertop instead of the usual sitting in the countertop. I think it's just the mounting method, nothing to do with the width of the sink or countertop.

That's really smart! Which Courts did you go to? How long are they keeping your appliances for?

Courts Clementi. But all Courts have the price-guarantee, so you can do the same with any outlet. They multiply the price difference by 2! Our products were only $10-20 different from the other major electrical mega-stores, but we had $240 in the end

I think any Courts/Harvey Norman/Best Denki, when faced with a bulk purchase, will be willing to make a deal. Ours came from Harvey Norman. For around $7k plus we managed to get 2 LCD/LED TVs, each with a home entertainment system, cooker hob and hood, fridge, washer, oven, and a few other small items which were enough to furnish our home.

Sounds good!

[razzberrie 3]

I'm really excited to see pics of your furniture in your house! Especially your SMEG fridge in your kitchen... think it'll totally brighten the place up! Hurry and post leh...

[summersann 6]

I'm really excited to see pics of your furniture in your house! Especially your SMEG fridge in your kitchen... think it'll totally brighten the place up! Hurry and post leh...

The SMEG fridge isn't in yet. The IDs knew how precious it was to us, so they were worried that the workers may scratch it by accident. I'm looking forward to it arriving too!

No pictures of furniture in the house or the SMEG fridge, but here's some of the stuff we recently got! Am hoping they'll help add character to the place!

Our dinosaur plushie/cushion.

A round rug for the living room/study area upstairs. Good deal from Francfranc!

We finally found a banker's lamp that we like

Got ourselves a bright and cheerful pouf from Make Room (really like the pieces they have there)

Lastly,

We're considering getting this sofa for our study area upstairs. It's a very interesting piece, but we're worried that it might make our study area more serious-looking than we'd like. Suggestions?