diy Top @Kew Drive

[Ks Toh 74]

Hi Harriete

My wife likes everything about the tiles. She adds "cool on the feet" too. There is no maintenance problem. Definitely no warping. It's not wood!

You can find such tiles in many shops. Hafary has a wide range (from cheap to expensive). Soon Bee Huat along Changi Road has some too. You should go check them out and step on them to get a feel. In the end, we bought from Rice Fields. My wife says their tiles are the best, looks more real. But the price is higher. But you should check out their website at

http://www.rice-fields.com/ecowood.html or go down to their showroom to take a look. You can look for May.

There is no problem handling or installing the tiles. But bigger or longer tiles like the ones from Rice Fields, the tiler will charge more, as it is more difficult to lay. But tilers lay big tiles all the time, so there should be no problem.

[Ks Toh 74]

One of the things I like about OPSH wardrobes (actually any pole system wardrobe) is that you can squeeze out a little more space.

Traditional carpentry wardrobes require the carpenter to construct a shell i.e. base, sides back, top, before putting in the shelves. All these take up some space. Perhaps an inch or more all round. For pole system, the walls are the sides. So you can utilise the entire space. For those with false ceiling, traditional cupboards typically will reach only the false ceiling. But for my wardrobes, my false ceiling will only reach the doors of the wardrobe. The internal of the wardrobe makes use of the entire space all the way up to the concrete ceiling.

As you can see from my picture, there is a horizontal beam at the top of my wardrobe. Most contractors will probably build up to there. In my case, I always try to maximise the space.

Edited November 9, 2013 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

It's very useful to have IP Video Cams installed in your house. You can view the images on your iPhone or smart phone from anywhere, anytime, as long as you have an internet connection. Most of them have night vision capability. Those PTZ types can also pan, tilt and zoom remotely at your command. Ideally, you should have laid a power and network wire to the desired location of the camera. Then you just fix your camera like this.

For power, note that you do not need to lay AC power all the way to this point. You can simply lay twin wires from your power supply location to this camera location. The camera comes with a AC power adapter which converts the current to DC for the camera. You cut this camera wire into two, so you have one half of the wire with the AC power adapter and the other half of the wire with the plug that plugs to the camera.

You plug the AC power adapter to your power socket, then join the wire to one end of the twin wire. At the other end of the twin wire, join the wire with the plug to the camera. In this way, the twin wire is carrying DC current, which I believe is safer. The distance from power socket to camera can be very far. In my case, it is very far.

Edited November 10, 2013 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

Unfortunately, I believe most people would not have laid wires including network cable to their desired camera locations. Even in my case, I left out two locations, one to the ceiling of my roof terrace. I had to improvise.

The nearest point I could find was a wall light (which I do not use). This has a standard E27 (Edison screw) bulb holder. But my D-Link camera came with a 2 pin plug. I suppose I could just cut the wire and somehow join the wire to the lamp holder but I wanted to do it in a neater way.

Edited November 10, 2013 by kstoh

[Asking4Help 1]

your house is pretty impressive...

[Ks Toh 74]

After visiting many hardware stores, i finally found various adapters. First, a E27 to B22 (Bayonet mount) holder. Then a B22 plug to connect to my wire. Then a 2 pin holder to which the camera's 2 pin plug is plugged.

The B22 plug was the most difficult to find. The piece I got was so old that I think the shop keeper must have been glad that someone finally bought it.

Edited November 15, 2013 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

your house is pretty impressive...

Thanks. We tried to make it simple but nice and practical.

[creative_vitamin 3]

did you rebuilt your house ?

[Ks Toh 74]

did you rebuilt your house ?

Hi, no. I merely did extensive renovations.

[creative_vitamin 3]

i love your posting, neat and simple.

and its very easy to understand!

thank you for sharing.

do you engage an ID or a builder or ..?

[creative_vitamin 3]

This is our wet kitchen in our yard. The colour scheme is basically black.

The usual way, which is what our ID wanted to do, is to build the structure with a big space below, and to put sliding doors there. However, my wife insisted on this design, with doors that open outwards.

Note the number of LPG canisters left behind by the previous occupier.

this is homogenous tile top with concrete wall support?

[Ks Toh 74]

Hi creative_vitamin

Unlike most of the rest who are posting on-the-fly, as they renovate, mine is "terbalik". I am posting only after all major renovations have been completed. So I am able to take my time to choose the photos etc. In fact, I keep editing the old posts and adding new pictures (as I find them) to make them clearer.

I did engage an ID but as I mentioned in my first post

"We engaged an ID but in the end, he was doing mainly the wet works (hacking, cementing, marble, tiles, electrical, plumbing etc) and playing more the role of a project co-ordinator. We engaged specialist contractors directly for many parts of the works (cabinets, kitchen, wardrobe, glass works, painting, landscape, pond etc) with my better half doing a lot of the "interior designing" herself!

The wet kitchen top and sides all using 60 x 60 Black Galaxy Granite. I suppose you can also use homogenous tiles.

Correction: My wife just informed me that it is black homogenous tiles, not granite. Haha. Sotong me.

Edited November 15, 2013 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

We all have our share of complaints about the workers, and we sometimes take them for granted. But we must appreciate their work. It is often not easy. Sometimes, it is dangerous. You will only understand if you try to do the work yourself.

For example, when I tried to fix the IP camera on the roof of my roof terrace, I found it a little terrifying perched on a ladder by the side of the roof. One wrong step and "uh oh". In fact, my neighbour saw me and shouted at me to be careful. But I am KS, so this is what I had ..

(Please ignore my toned tummy)

All this just to get my camera to have a good panaromic view from my roof terrace.

You can see the planes taking off / landing at Changi Airport in the east, golf course at Tanah Merah, Bedok Camp, Costa Del Sol, Bayshore all the way to Bedok in the north.

Edited November 12, 2013 by kstoh

[Ks Toh 74]

I am a sucker when it comes to the number of points (electrical, network, water, anything!). When the ID or contractor thinks I need one, I say 3. In the end, I like to think I was right most of the time! Those time I gave in to the ID or contractor's advice, I now regret.

For the WC, I have 3 water outlets. 1 for WC, 1 for washlet, 1 for spare (or tap). I think most people have one or two. I think two should be the minimum. I thought I was clever but my wife is not too pleased that it looks a little messy.

If you are getting a tap for your washing machine, you can consider this tap. You can connect the washing machine hose to the tap and yet have another tap for other use. But this tap will protrude out more, so it might not be suitable if you do not have sufficient space.

Edited November 12, 2013 by kstoh

[mark 0]

We all have our share of complaints about the workers, and we sometimes take them for granted. But we must appreciate their work. It is often not easy. Sometimes, it is dangerous. You will only understand if you try to do the work yourself.

For example, when I tried to fix the IP camera on the roof of my roof terrace, I found it a little terrifying perched on a ladder by the side of the roof. One wrong step and "uh oh". In fact, my neighbour saw me and shouted at me to be careful. But I am KS, so this is what I had ..

(Please ignore my toned tummy)

safety is most important....