4 Years In The Making (Punggol Emerald)

[Songz 132]

Hi Songz,

we have started planning and conceptualising very early and thought we got most of the parts covered but upon reaching the stage where we are really going to execute the ideas, there is still a lingering feeling of trepidation.

One area where we have barely done any research on would be lightings. There are just so many options out there as well as being torn between practicality and being true to our themes.

Amazon is one of our favourite online merchants but Taobao is a whole new jungle to us. I consider myself very much an effective bilingual but reading technical specifications in Chinese is just a pain in the *** as opposed to glancing through the same information in English.

Yap was looking and searching about lightings that day and totally agree that its basically too much. (Most likely gg to get the ID/Contractor to suggest)

That is the reason why I will prefer to shop at Amzon than Taobao (Also cause of the quality issue involved)

[mavicaste 58]

Yap was looking and searching about lightings that day and totally agree that its basically too much. (Most likely gg to get the ID/Contractor to suggest)

That is the reason why I will prefer to shop at Amzon than Taobao (Also cause of the quality issue involved)

I am with you on the quality issue but given that there are gems out there to be discovered as the forumers have shown, we will definitely go ahead to give it a go starting with small items and accessories.

[Songz 132]

I am with you on the quality issue but given that there are gems out there to be discovered as the forumers have shown, we will definitely go ahead to give it a go starting with small items and accessories.

Hope to see more updates ... Interested in what small items and accessories you will get (May follow if it is good )

[mavicaste 58]

Hope to see more updates ... Interested in what small items and accessories you will get (May follow if it is good )

This will probably take months as we focus on the renovation and getting the main furniture pieces and appliances first.

[mavicaste 58]

We have just signed up with 9 Creation and we have been tasked to pick out our choices from these material catalogues, preferably before they start on the 3D drawings so that the renderings will be as close to the actual results as possible. This is quite a bit of homework for the 2 of us.

On a sidenote, we have decided against brick walls or cement screeds and are instead looking at the Nippon Momento special effect paint as recommended by AL. To truly maximise every inch of our living space, we have also decided to shift the entrance to the kitchen from the left to the right (view from the living room) and erect a full height shoe cabinet in its place.

After a week of discussions and straw polls with the family, we have managed to pick out the interior doors, lock set and vinyl flooring as the number of choices for them weren't as overwhelming as the laminates. For that, we have picked out a couple for specific carpentry and we shall be leaving the rest for AL to make the proposals. After all, as Takaishi has pointed out, since we hired an ID, we should make him work.

[mavicaste 58]

We went furniture hunting today, something we have not done in a long while, and checked out the Sungei Kadut area for the first time as there were quite a few advertised sales for the weekend. We managed to cover a lot of stores including Castilla, Natural Living and Barang Barang just to name a few and were able to view their collections within minutes as most of them do not carry the style we are looking for, especially the stores located in International Furniture Centre.

Scanteak were having a warehouse sale and we ended up picking up a laundry/storage box to finally make the $2500 mark for free delivery.

The wife has been wanting to see what Like That One has to offer and we headed over since we were already in the north-west. Being one of those niche stores that offer very limited or even just one-off pieces, there weren't many on display and the best items usually get snapped up really fast. Their merchandise are classified under two main categories, industrial and vintage. So if these are what you are looking for, do drop by to see if there is anything you fancy. Anyway, this steel and mango wood shelf caught our eyes and it was decided within a minute. Later on, we found out that these were used for a sneaker convention at Zouk just months ago.

Edited April 30, 2014 by mavicaste

[mavicaste 58]

I totally agree with you. Wireless still have its limitations such as weak signals etc. I would advice all homeowners to consider this if they are heavy comp users. However most I'd or contractors lack the technical know how to achieve this..

I agree, can imagine most ID and contractors will also advise against large scale structured cabling siting aesthetic reasons as well as the lack of knowledge in this area.

http://patnotebook.com/building-the-monoprice-patch-panel-box

I chanced upon this abovementioned blog post a few weeks ago and saw that the writer actually laid his network cables on the ground prior to cement screeding. I was considering whether to do the same but decided not to after AL advised against it due to pratical reasons.

Edited January 12, 2014 by mavicaste

[Khng 2]

We went furniture hunting today, something we have not done in a long while, and checked out the Sungei Kadut area for the first time as there were quite a few advertised sales for the weekend. We managed to cover a lot of stores including Castilla, Natural Living and Barang Barang just to name a few and were able to view their collections within minutes as most of them do not carry the style we are looking for, especially the stores located in International Furniture Centre.

Scanteak were having a warehouse sale and we ended up picking up a laundry/storage box to finally make the $2500 mark for free delivery.

The wife has been wanting to see what Like That One has to offer and we headed over since we were already in the *. Being one of those niche stores that offer very limited or even just one-off pieces, there weren't many on display and the best items usually get snapped up really fast. Their merchandise are classified under two main categories, industrial and vintage. So if these are what you are looking for, do drop by to see if there is anything you fancy. Anyway, this steel and mango wood shelf caught our eyes and it was decided within a minute. Later on, we found out that these were used for a sneaker convention at Zouk just months ago.

Do you mind to share the cost of this display stand? And it's dimension?

[Ks Toh 74]

On structured cabling, my experience has been quite different.

Since the launch of OpenNet, iDA has been encouraging all homes to lay structured cabling. New homes now come pre-installed with structured cabling to every room. All the IDs/contractors I have used know how to lay structured cabling. It is almost like laying telephone wires. In fact, for some time now, contractors have been laying structured cabling for use as telephone wires. So, I would be very surprised if your ID or contractor lacks knowledge in this area. If you are laying electrical or telephone wires, it is just like laying another wire. No rocket science.

The problem arises because you the home owner must tell the ID or contractor where you want all your wires to terminate i.e. utility, hall, study or one of your rooms. This should also be where your OpenNet fibre cable terminates. The other problem is the cost. More expensive than normal electrical points. So your ID or contractor may be reluctant to include in their quote or the total cost may appear high.

For me, I laid structured cabling to every part of my house including the porch, yard and roof! Will post a network diagram at my blog when ready.

Edited January 12, 2014 by kstoh

[geekapoo 3]

Do you mind to share the cost of this display stand? And it's dimension?

Hi Khng, I'm mavicaste's wife have pm-ed you for the cost & dimension.

[Khng 2]

Hi Khng, I'm mavicaste's wife have pm-ed you for the cost & dimension.

Received with thanks!

[mavicaste 58]

On structured cabling, my experience has been quite different.

Since the launch of OpenNet, iDA has been encouraging all homes to lay structured cabling. New homes now come pre-installed with structured cabling to every room. All the IDs/contractors I have used know how to lay structured cabling. It is almost like laying telephone wires. In fact, for some time now, contractors have been laying structured cabling for use as telephone wires. So, I would be very surprised if your ID or contractor lacks knowledge in this area. If you are laying electrical or telephone wires, it is just like laying another wire. No rocket science.

The problem arises because you the home owner must tell the ID or contractor where you want all your wires to terminate i.e. utility, hall, study or one of your rooms. This should also be where your OpenNet fibre cable terminates. The other problem is the cost. More expensive than normal electrical points. So your ID or contractor may be reluctant to include in their quote or the total cost may appear high.

For me, I laid structured cabling to every part of my house including the porch, yard and roof! Will post a network diagram at my blog when ready.

Hi kstoh,

I didn't actually pitch the idea of structured cabling to any of the IDs and contractors we met until we were signing with our chosen one. So I was just assuming how many of them would be discouraging their clients due to various reasons such as high costs as you mentioned and aesthetic reasons. My assumption is based on the observation that we don't see many homes with even a couple of additional data points around, let alone a fully networked one. If it is indeed the case, then it has to be that homeowners' lack the technical knowledge to plan for one or did not feel that it is necessary etc.

In our case, AL was just curious why did I insist on using wired connections and planned to use this many points in our home. Anyway, to save costs, I am just paying a token labour fee for the electrician to lay the 16 to 18 cables. I will be providing the reel of cable as well as performing the end termination and faceplate installation on my own.

Edited January 12, 2014 by mavicaste

[Songz 132]

Just to check what is the speed difference by using cable and those electrical plug that act as LAN ports ?

Was thinking of minimizing cable running in the house and my friend suggest I go with the Electrical LAN ports

[ahhboi 15]

I'm curious about this network thinggy too. (Paisei, Me more of an IT idiot lol)

So if I wanna have an open net point in every room, Should I get the opennet ppl to do it or should I get the electician during reno?

I plan to get Singtel as Im using the hp line too. There's a bundle for annual upgrade.

I read quite sometime ago that singtel network point and starhub is different use or something like that.

Any advise for me?

Thanks!

[claypot 46]

I'm curious about this network thinggy too. (Paisei, Me more of an IT idiot lol)

So if I wanna have an open net point in every room, Should I get the opennet ppl to do it or should I get the electician during reno?

I plan to get Singtel as Im using the hp line too. There's a bundle for annual upgrade.

I read quite sometime ago that singtel network point and starhub is different use or something like that.

Any advise for me?

Thanks!

You don't need to have OpenNet point in every room. Only 1 OpenNet point is sufficient.

Reason: the OpenNet point will connect to a modem (provided by whom you subscribe e.g. Singtel, MyRepublic or Starhub), then from the modem you connect to your wifi router, and from your wifi router if it has built-in switch, you can lay network cables to other rooms.

OpenNet point -> Singtel modem -> Wifi router -> Network cables to other rooms or wifi signal

OpenNet is vendor-neutral. It depends on whom you subscribe for Internet. If you subscribe Singtel, Singtel will use the same OpenNet point but provide you with its Singtel modem. Likewise if you subscribe Starhub fibre for Internet, the same OpenNet point is used (unless you subscribe to Starhub Maxonline which uses SCV point and NOT OpenNet)