Industrial Loft Concept - Bachelor Pad

[MHB 3]

Hi MHB, this is a pic of my dining lamp. Is it the same as yours?

Hi Greg,

Yessssss... Same same... The frosted glass do provide a warm yellow light. Although it seems to be a bit dim, it is enough for my small kitchen... Hopefully, it is just the holder problem and if not, the entire light has to be changed.... 😭

[darjoe 0]

Hi Greg!

I love what you have done to your place!! I may just picked a few ideas for my own apt, heehee

I need your help on something, regarding Taobao.

I am looking to get LED lights, on/off light swtiches and the 3 pin switches plugs, 2 way control light switches from Taobao.

What or which seller would you recommend? And if you have bought it from them before?

Really really appreciate if you could point me to the right TB seller for these items - it is doing my head in trying to find out which is the best seller. I know a few carries 220V 13A.

One silly quesiton, can we use 250V 13A in SG?

Thanks so much for your help!

[greglhc 30]

Hi darjoe,

Thanks! I hope my blog will be an inspiration for other industrial interiors so I can adopt some of them too heh

I was tempted to purchase switches and wall sockets from taobao too. However some renotalkers have posted some difficulties. The electrician dunno how to install! Also for wall plugs, I couldn't find those that are compatible to our usual pins in Singapore. So I abandoned that idea. Anyway switches and wall plugs the savings not that much.

For voltage, I specifically looked for only the 220v ones which are compatible with Singapore. I think 250v is not compatible but I may be wrong.

Most of my taobao purchases I have posted the links. My recommendation is to get from sellers that are from tmall or those with at least one crown rating. However as u can see from my rain shower purchase, even one crown is not totally risk free.

[greglhc 30]

My doors are up! Contractor just sent pics and I'm pretty pleased with the look

Doors from kitchen to yard

Doors between MBR and living area

Close sesame!

[Eddo 0]

Hi Eddo, here's a pic of the tracklights in action. I'm pretty sure you can replace them with Singapore ones. The other option is just to buy them from taobao and ship them via express. They aren't very big and quite light so freight cost is low.

Hi sleepybeauty,

This is a good question. I am using peeka as there has been a lot of positive feedback from renotalkers.

I don't think they are that bulky as compared to e.g. TV console. In fact I bought two chairs which can be stacked but cannot be flat packed.

In fact, peeka managed to pack more smaller boxes into the box with two chairs in it.

Overall, I didn't even hit 1 cubic metre volume of purchases which I was very surprised.

I think one of the big plus about peeka is that they will confirm with the seller the price and the China freight charges. Then they ask you whether you want to proceed with the purchase. For instance, some sellers will say the freight/shipping to Peeka China warehouse is RMB 450, which is almost a hundred bucks so peeka will ask whether you are ok with it.

I have heard that some agents do not do this e.g. sgshop

Hi Greg,

Thank you Sorry still got a few more question abt the tracklight, hope you can help

Do you think is the light is enough? will it be too dim?

The Track light i suppose it come with the bulb rite? (i went to some local shop, they selling separate, the holder 1 price, the bulb 1 price)

Since u install le, I believe the electrician should know how to install for us without any special requirement right?

TIA

[greglhc 30]

Hi Eddo,

My track is 1.5m with 3 LED tracklights, 7W each. My ceiling height is 2.9m.

They come in 3W, 5W, 7W, 12W and even 18W. Yes, LED bulbs are included.

The main concern is the driver. If driver dies, then need to replace the whole thing.

From taobao it's quite cheap, paid about 45 bucks total for 3 track lights.

Electrician installed with no problems - nothing special mentioned by him.

Some renotalkers have posted that they bought too high watt or too many track lights so becomes too bright/glaring

Since I do not rely on it primarily for lighting, i opted for 7W.

Hi Greg,

Thank you Sorry still got a few more question abt the tracklight, hope you can help

Do you think is the light is enough? will it be too dim?

The Track light i suppose it come with the bulb rite? (i went to some local shop, they selling separate, the holder 1 price, the bulb 1 price)

Since u install le, I believe the electrician should know how to install for us without any special requirement right?

TIA

[Eddo 0]

Hi Eddo,

My track is 1.5m with 3 LED tracklights, 7W each. My ceiling height is 2.9m.

They come in 3W, 5W, 7W, 12W and even 18W. Yes, LED bulbs are included.

The main concern is the driver. If driver dies, then need to replace the whole thing.

From taobao it's quite cheap, paid about 45 bucks total for 3 track lights.

Electrician installed with no problems - nothing special mentioned by him.

Some renotalkers have posted that they bought too high watt or too many track lights so becomes too bright/glaring

Since I do not rely on it primarily for lighting, i opted for 7W.

Ohhh.. so u mean the driver is so call build into the holder? so if the driver spoil i will need to change the holder?

Ya i totally agree is cheap to buy from TB, very gain to buy after see you buy it. Actually i am looking to use it as primary light for my 5room living room, my concern is not sure just using tracklight able to bright up the whole living room. haha.

Btw how long does the shipping take to reach SG?

Cheers ~

[greglhc 30]

I think can definitely light up whole living room. Some t-blogs show this.

Maybe consider having more, lower watt track lights as opposed to fewer higher watt ones - to disperse the light more evenly

If not, can look a bit too commercial showroom/shop-like. But maybe you are going for this look too!

Shipping via sea to Singapore takes 2 weeks. It look about 1 week to ship from the taobao seller to the peeka warehouse and repack. So total 3 weeks.

If go via air, much quicker - like 1 weeks

Ohhh.. so u mean the driver is so call build into the holder? so if the driver spoil i will need to change the holder?

Ya i totally agree is cheap to buy from TB, very gain to buy after see you buy it. Actually i am looking to use it as primary light for my 5room living room, my concern is not sure just using tracklight able to bright up the whole living room. haha.

Btw how long does the shipping take to reach SG?

Cheers ~

[greglhc 30]

More review of my taobao purchases

I don't recommend buying this lamp from the taobao seller I listed

Had a lot of difficulty installing it because the lengths of the various rods are not the same! Anyway I managed to find a workaround last night and salvaged it.

Just a heads up for those who are considering this lamp

[greglhc 30]

Been quite frustrated of late because of the carpentry. By and large it's ok but there were some workmanship issues which I hope they can resolve

1. At one specific plywood, it looks like the laminate wasn't long enough so it doesn't come in contact with the edge i.e. can see a tiny slither of plywood.

2. During installation, the drawer tracks have sliced and cut into the internal PVC lining i.e. can see some underlying plywood

3. Some other very minor scratches. One of them was one a door panel which I really cannot accept

4. Minor alignment issues with 2 drawers

So during rectifications yesterday, they were armed with a black permanent markers and colouring in all small scratches.

For the big scratches, they also did the same and wanted to get away with it!

Anyway got them to bring back the badly scratched ones to re-do.

I'm most concerned with item 1 - anyone else faced this problem? How did they resolve?

Shall post pics later

[lynnzlq 11]

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1.w4004-298537028.9.9dYhT8&id=19209836842

Faux wine crate panels with all the famous 1st growths from bordeaux - wooden, 30cm x 17cm.

Might be interesting to DIY with.

hi, I have never tried buying at taobao as we must type in Chinese. what about aliexpress?

thanks, Lynnzlq

[jnashville 0]

This is the corroded portion of the rainshower. As you can see, the screw and the hole were not chrome plated and thus corroded by moisture. I am concerned that the rest of the rainshower will face the same issue. Hopefully it is just limited to this area. Anyway have contacted peeka and see what the taobao seller response is.

For taobao purchases involving faucets and showers, maybe should go for higher rating sellers. 1 crown doesnt seem enough

hi, a question, do you guys know that some rainshowers are the concealed type.. meaning there isnt a phsyical rod connecting the rainshower tap to the rainshower head. Can that be installed in our HDB toilets?

[vanessa 12]

Greg...need your expert help...i am shopping ard taobao for a industrial looking desk for the study...can you share what key words i should be using?

[jnashville 0]

Oh and Greglhc, mind pming me your contractor contact details? Really enjoyed your renovation process. =)

[greglhc 30]

hi, I have never tried buying at taobao as we must type in Chinese. what about aliexpress?

thanks, Lynnzlq

Hi Lynn, I have not bought anything from aliexpress so cannot comment. I do notice that the variety is much less than taobao