Reno For Tikihouse @ Tampines

[tikiman 0]

Oh okay... Mine is just a simple plastic floor trap haha... Since I only overlay the existing toilet tiles... Might have venture into something fanciful if I know about it. My ID also told me that his team also always asking him "why do he go for concrete kitchen sink, I stopped building it 10 years ago", "why go for cement tiles, I have not laid them for the past 10 years" maybe you should take a picture of the floor trap after your toilet is done

will post more pictures of the toilet when its finished. I are not using an ID, so we get dirty look from the contractor when we give our non-standard requirements, but he tries to accommodate.

[tikiman 0]

Today we found this in the yard area.

apparently we had a visitor who stayed over the weekend when it was raining heavily.

my contractor found her napping on the bags of cement in the hall. This afternoon I saw her peeping in hoping for an afternoon siesta. But she left when there were too many people in the apartment. Looks like we got a non-paying tenant.

[tikiman 0]

We have been checking shops in Balestier, Geylang and Eunos for the past 2 weeks looking for lighting fixtures - LED downlights and feature lights. This is by far the most tedious and painful (neck) search for the house.

Downlights

As downlights will be the main light source for the hall, dinning and kitchen, we wanted the following -

1) Color of the light - we prefer daylight (4000K-4500K) because it produces a natural color skin tone, and it natural & gentle on the eyes.

2) Amount of lumen - we needed the main source of light to be bright with at least 700 lumen / lightsource.

3) Singapore safety mark - the TikiFamily is not kiasi, it is due to housing insurance. In the event of electrical fire, insurance may not cover when there is usage of non-certified electrical fixtures. This is especially so for concealed lightings.

The first 2 criteria are easily met by various lighting shops we visited. There are so much variations to choose from. However, after close inspection, we noticed most are direct imports from china without any electrical safety certification from Spring. (I assume that large manufacturer ie Osram, Philips and Megamen have safety mark certification, but their downlight are expensive).

Today, we were driving along Sembawang Road and I suggested to my husband to drop by Sembawang Lighting House to take a look. The boss lady showed us a product that has just arrived in the shop yesterday. A downlight that is produced by a local SME, Combglow Lighting. It meets our requirements; Daylight color, 17W and judging from brightness, definitely over 800 lumen, and its drivers has a safety mark. It also looks nice with a glass and cast-alu casing. The boss lady was not pushy and gave us a reasonable price for the lights.

[Bigeyes76 1]

We have been checking shops in Balestier, Geylang and Eunos for the past 2 weeks looking for lighting fixtures - LED downlights and feature lights. This is by far the most tedious and painful (neck) search for the house.

Downlights

As downlights will be the main light source for the hall, dinning and kitchen, we wanted the following -

1) Color of the light - we prefer daylight (4000K-4500K) because it produces a natural color skin tone, and it natural & gentle on the eyes.

2) Amount of lumen - we needed the main source of light to be bright with at least 700 lumen / lightsource.

3) Singapore safety mark - the TikiFamily is not kiasi, it is due to housing insurance. In the event of electrical fire, insurance may not cover when there is usage of non-certified electrical fixtures. This is especially so for concealed lightings.

The first 2 criteria are easily met by various lighting shops we visited. There are so much variations to choose from. However, after close inspection, we noticed most are direct imports from china without any electrical safety certification from Spring. (I assume that large manufacturer ie Osram, Philips and Megamen have safety mark certification, but their downlight are expensive).

Today, we were driving along Sembawang Road and I suggested to my husband to drop by Sembawang Lighting House to take a look. The boss lady showed us a product that has just arrived in the shop yesterday. A downlight that is produced by a local SME, Combglow Lighting. It meets our requirements; Daylight color, 17W and judging from brightness, definitely over 800 lumen, and its drivers has a safety mark. It also looks nice with a glass and cast-alu casing. The boss lady was not pushy and gave us a reasonable price for the lights.

Hi Tikiman, welcome to Tampines . Enjoy your reno journey, looking fwd to see more pics from you. Can you PM me your contractor info? Thanks.

[tikiman 0]

Hi Tikiman, welcome to Tampines . Enjoy your reno journey, looking fwd to see more pics from you. Can you PM me your contractor info? Thanks.

thanks for visiting our TikiHome t-blog. Have pm u my contractor info.

[jp631 0]

We have been checking shops in Balestier, Geylang and Eunos for the past 2 weeks looking for lighting fixtures - LED downlights and feature lights. This is by far the most tedious and painful (neck) search for the house.

Downlights

As downlights will be the main light source for the hall, dinning and kitchen, we wanted the following -

1) Color of the light - we prefer daylight (4000K-4500K) because it produces a natural color skin tone, and it natural & gentle on the eyes.

2) Amount of lumen - we needed the main source of light to be bright with at least 700 lumen / lightsource.

3) Singapore safety mark - the TikiFamily is not kiasi, it is due to housing insurance. In the event of electrical fire, insurance may not cover when there is usage of non-certified electrical fixtures. This is especially so for concealed lightings.

The first 2 criteria are easily met by various lighting shops we visited. There are so much variations to choose from. However, after close inspection, we noticed most are direct imports from china without any electrical safety certification from Spring. (I assume that large manufacturer ie Osram, Philips and Megamen have safety mark certification, but their downlight are expensive).

Today, we were driving along Sembawang Road and I suggested to my husband to drop by Sembawang Lighting House to take a look. The boss lady showed us a product that has just arrived in the shop yesterday. A downlight that is produced by a local SME, Combglow Lighting. It meets our requirements; Daylight color, 17W and judging from brightness, definitely over 800 lumen, and its drivers has a safety mark. It also looks nice with a glass and cast-alu casing. The boss lady was not pushy and gave us a reasonable price for the lights.

Hi Tiki Family,

Did you buy the downlight at the end? How much and which model did you get?

Is this in the Combglow Lighting website? I am looking for the warm light, I hope they have.

Thank you

[tikiman 0]

Hi Tiki Family,

Did you buy the downlight at the end? How much and which model did you get?

Is this in the Combglow Lighting website? I am looking for the warm light, I hope they have.

Thank you

I bought 15 pcs of down lights from SLH. I cannot remember the model number. It is exactly the same as the picture I posted. They have 3 tones; cool white, warm white and day light. Boss lady quoted $48/pcs for the 17W daylight, and she gave a 10% discount for us.

Edited September 19, 2013 by tikiman

[tikiman 0]

Finally we have finalised all the lightings for the house. Other than 15 down lights from SLH,

1) 2nos LED spotlights from Hock Siong. We saw them lying around at HS, they were leftover from the pickings as there were no led driver. The holders were cast aluminum and bulbs were Philips dimmable 10W LED spot light. Got 2 drivers from SLH and tikiman tested them. Price: HS LED @ $8/ea and SLH LED driver @ 14/ea. (will post pics later)

2) 1nos of schoolhouse milk pendant light. We have a 1930s milk glass pendant light that needed some replacement parts. So off to Ikea to find parts for a hack. A BASISK pendant light did the trick. Price: Ikea BASISK @ $20

tbc...

Edited September 18, 2013 by tikiman

[tikiman 0]

LED spot light from Hock Siong.

[tikiman 0]

With the main light source (aka downlight) confirmed, and the spotlights to highlight key areas, the next item was to look for the accent light for the hall. We wanted 2 globe pendant lamps. It seemed like a simple design requirement but took us more than 3 weeks and more than 20 lightning shops - from Balestier to Geylang/Eunos, IMM to Jalan Besar, looking for the elusive lamps. Often, the sales person would tell us that such designs are very old and no longer fashionable. We were recommended strange donut-shaped lamps, large frosted/cracked glass globes which are all made in China to a nice Spanish pendant lamp made of bronze-coloured copper (Tikimum thought the copper lamp has possibilities as it will look even better over time with an aged patina look but it was priced close to $500 for a medium and nearly $800 for a large shade !).

Finally, during a visit to one of the Chan Huat stores at Leong Hin bldg. 441 Balestier Road. Tikimum found a globe pendant lamp with a milk glass globe tucked away in a dark corner. It has a dark wrought iron chain and cap. We were very excited as it was just what we have been looking for . However, the salesperson told us that it was meant for outdoor lighting and made of acrylic. We requested the lamp to be switched on to see the light effect. On closer inspection, we were surprised that there was even illumination as we had seen acrylic lamps in another store but the light spread was rather uneven. The salesperson (Jilvan - who was very patient) informed us that it was a quality lighting made in Italy. We liked it, but it was very unconventional to use acrylic garden lamps for the main hall. That night, we checked up the company's website and specifications and discussed how to 'transform' the look. The next day, we returned to the store and made our order.

An advice to those who are thinking of visiting CH to look for lighting. Avoid the main store at 391 Balestier and go to 441 instead. 441 is a better place to contemplate the choice of lighting. Less crowded and in Tikiman's opinion, better service, because at 391, a guy salesperson tried to bs him on led downlights.

[tikiman 0]

We went to Equip-Design @ Bendemeer to look for door knobs for the 3 bedrooms. They carry Gainsborough porcelain door knobs. We were in luck as the store is having a 40% -50% sale for most items. We bought 3 of these:

RRP was $120 with privacy adapter (lock). They are having a sale this weekend, so those looking to buy old school lock & knobs do go down to take a look.

[tikiman 0]

Both of us are upset with our contractor today. Not that he is not doing his job, in fact he is on top of things and operation are moving smoothly. It is that he is set in his methods and not as resourceful as we hope he could be. We want our existing room doors sand-down, white-washed and matt vanish. His painter said dunno how to do it, his door vanisher said cannot do it. If tom sawyer and hucklerberry finn can do it, don't see why those guys with years of experience cannot. I feel that my contractor should take the effort to find others who is willing to do it instead of giving me excuses.

Tikimum said we will DO IT OURSELVES. So this weekend, armed with an electric sander, sand paper, white paint & brushes. we will rub some elbow grease test out on one of the doors.

[sherting 5]

Hi Tiki Family,

Did you buy the downlight at the end? How much and which model did you get?

Is this in the Combglow Lighting website? I am looking for the warm light, I hope they have.

Thank you

Hi Tikiman, welcome to Tampines . Enjoy your reno journey, looking fwd to see more pics from you. Can you PM me your contractor info? Thanks.

Thanks for sharing info on safety mark. Although Taobao LED downlights are much cheaper, I do agree with you that one should get electrical items with safety mark for quality standard and peace of mind.

[June 13]

Both of us are upset with our contractor today. Not that he is not doing his job, in fact he is on top of things and operation are moving smoothly. It is that he is set in his methods and not as resourceful as we hope he could be. We want our existing room doors sand-down, white-washed and matt vanish. His painter said dunno how to do it, his door vanisher said cannot do it. If tom sawyer and hucklerberry finn can do it, don't see why those guys with years of experience cannot. I feel that my contractor should take the effort to find others who is willing to do it instead of giving me excuses.

Tikimum said we will DO IT OURSELVES. So this weekend, armed with an electric sander, sand paper, white paint & brushes. we will rub some elbow grease test out on one of the doors.

How come painter and door vanisher said no? What is so difficult about the job?

[greglhc 30]

How come painter and door vanisher said no? What is so difficult about the job?

Hi tikiman,

I'm not sure if your doors are nyatoh or veneer.

But my contractor told me that painters who do walls only are not skilled to do painting/varnishing for doors.

He got me a separate sub-con to do my doors. Used Nippon's timberlac to make it black.

I watched the sub-con do it - takes a very small fine brush and have to do like many many layers. He waited for each layer to dry and wait for the wood to absorb the timberlac then applied another coat. He took a full day to do one side of my main door and two sides of my storeroom store.

Gd luck!