The Experience: Our First Home

[summersann 6]

Nice! And the fridge is, omg! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Thank you! Same to you too! Following your blog earnestly!

[summersann 6]

Thanks for the smeg pictures! Your house seriously looks gargantuan! Must be all the white and wide angle... Love your nautical hooks and balcony accordion doors! And I see you left your mum's room power box untouched (white PVC).

Yeah, we decided to leave the power box as it is. It's quite cute (at least to me) because of the contrast. Haha

[summersann 6]

LOVE your kitchen! Your balcony door looks nice too. Did you use wood-grain laminate or wood veneer on your kitchen cabinet?

Thank you! We were adamant about having accordion doors for the balcony because sliding just doesn't quite cut it we chose laminates for our kitchen cabinet, so I guess it's wood-grain laminate? Only the Venetian blinds on the first floor are wood veneer.

[wowach 0]

Love your bright and airy kitchen! I'm intending to do something like that without top cabinets too.

May I know where did you get your kitchen track lights? How much did it cost you?

Also any reasons why you tiled up only to half height for your kitchen wall? Lastly, where do you put your dish drainer? Normally people will have it at the top of the sink area,

Pardon my long list of questions, happy new year to you and your family!

[tomasulu 2]

Beautiful.

[summersann 6]

Love your bright and airy kitchen! I'm intending to do something like that without top cabinets too.

May I know where did you get your kitchen track lights? How much did it cost you?

Also any reasons why you tiled up only to half height for your kitchen wall? Lastly, where do you put your dish drainer? Normally people will have it at the top of the sink area,

Pardon my long list of questions, happy new year to you and your family!

Happy new year to you too!

Our track lights are from i-lite at jalan besar area. Not sure if I'd recommend you that shop since I followed my ID's recommendation and didn't research on where else to get lights from. Each LED light is about $80.

No particular reason for the half height tiling. I chose to have the subway tiles at half height because I've always wanted that look. Somehow feels less "heavy". Same reason why we didn't want top hung cabinets. Having said that, full height looks nice from some pictures I've seen, so you could do that too if you want

We don't have a built-in dish drainer. I'm just going to get a tabletop one. We're a small family and don't cook as much, so we don't see a need for a built-in dish drainer. Saw a few nice tabletop ones from Howards Storage World

No worries about questions! I benefitted much from trawling renotalk, so I should give back too!

[summersann 6]

Aaaaand no renovation is ever 100% perfect, isn't it?

In the final phase of renovation, and our ID said he was ready to hand the keys over to us (and also collect the last installment). But when we go down to take a look at the place, there are still so many things to be rectified.

Gaps and holes like this one here and there.

Paint marks where there shouldn't be any.

Stains on the walls and laminates.

Chips here and there.

Two big stains on the floor.

[summersann 6]

Holes drilled in the wrong places, but only patched up with plaster (or whatever it is they use to patch holes).

Messy finishing between the skirting and the floor.

I cannot even begin to describe what's wrong with this.

Yup. No ID/contractor is ever perfect.

[bleucheeze 1]

That's quite a number of stuff waiting to be rectified.

May I know where did you get that accordian lamp? Did you buy the last piece since it's vintage?

[wowach 0]

Happy new year to you too!

Our track lights are from i-lite at jalan besar area. Not sure if I'd recommend you that shop since I followed my ID's recommendation and didn't research on where else to get lights from. Each LED light is about $80.

No particular reason for the half height tiling. I chose to have the subway tiles at half height because I've always wanted that look. Somehow feels less "heavy". Same reason why we didn't want top hung cabinets. Having said that, full height looks nice from some pictures I've seen, so you could do that too if you want

We don't have a built-in dish drainer. I'm just going to get a tabletop one. We're a small family and don't cook as much, so we don't see a need for a built-in dish drainer. Saw a few nice tabletop ones from Howards Storage World

No worries about questions! I benefitted much from trawling renotalk, so I should give back too!

Thanks for your quick reply! I suppose the price does not include the track itself? 80/pc is pretty pricey.

I see. Fabulous looking kitchen. I think you did achieve the look you want. Will also look at Howard too.

[potatoes 0]

Nice and beautiful place

Remember to get your ID to rectify the faults before you hand him the final cheque.

[HappyAng 0]

Hi summersann, Happy Lunar New Year! Huat ah!

Wow! Your house is beautiful! Now u can slowly decorate your place le..

Agreed! No renovation is 100% perfect.. As long your ID must rectify the outstanding before handover them the final payment.

[summersann 6]

That's quite a number of stuff waiting to be rectified.

May I know where did you get that accordian lamp? Did you buy the last piece since it's vintage?

Tell me about it

We got the accordion lamp from World Savage (aka Stevie General Store), but their lights are usually one-piece only, so we bought the only one. They do have other lights, so you can check out their website

Thanks for your quick reply! I suppose the price does not include the track itself? 80/pc is pretty pricey.

I see. Fabulous looking kitchen. I think you did achieve the look you want. Will also look at Howard too.

Yup, the track is charged separately. But the track is cheap. It's the lights that are pricey. Look around for better options! Howards has a good selection of stuff for laundry and kitchen, so you definitely should pay a visit!

Nice and beautiful place

Remember to get your ID to rectify the faults before you hand him the final cheque.

Thank you! Feeling about the slightly shoddy (at least in our opinion) workmanship. Shall see what our ID has to say after the CNY break.

Hi summersann, Happy Lunar New Year! Huat ah!

Wow! Your house is beautiful! Now u can slowly decorate your place le..

Agreed! No renovation is 100% perfect.. As long your ID must rectify the outstanding before handover them the final payment.

Haha same to you HappyAng!

Can't decorate yet, don't even know when the rectifications can be done once and for all. If only we could all be our own contractors/IDs, because we'd do the best job The IDs better rectify everything

Edited February 12, 2013 by summersann

[summersann 6]

Some pictures to distract myself from angst-ing over the slightly shoddy workmanship.

Our first boardgame for the house!

[Makanology 29]

How do you play that board game?