Brick Wall By The Floor 5Rm Bto @sengkang

[James N Joean 8]

Lights

2 x pendants

1 x wall light

10 x downlights

10 x ceiling mounted lights

and more lights!

Those boxes you see at the left side of the standing light are track lights. Each box containing 1. About 15 of them there. And the long black bars at the back are the tracks, 6 of them there. The longest track we have is 1.5m, they are packed diagonally with the rest of our items so it fits within the 1 cubic meter. On the right of the standing lamps are the downlights. Very flat packed and small.

We also bought trigger spray and valve tap, forgot to take the actual pic but you get a good guage my previous post about the taobao links.

All of them came in good condition. All except my EKO soft-closing dustbin Dented from shipping! They didn't pack it well. Note to self and everyone: must tell your Taobao merchant to “请加厚包装，是送海外的。” means ... please add extra packaging, it will be forwarded overseas. Most tell you okay when you pester them on chat, but no promise that they will definitely do that.

We are going to try claiming insurance that we topped up. Emailed Oops.sg, they say they will help follow up.

Our poor dustbin. It was worse than this, we manage to pinch it back to shape slightly. Luckily, it is at the back of the dustbin, not so obvious. T_T

you opt for the insurance component? Is there a formula they use to calculate how much insurance u need to pay for ur loot, or is there a fix charge for insurance (if yes, how much)?

[nickguthe 30]

you opt for the insurance component? Is there a formula they use to calculate how much insurance u need to pay for ur loot, or is there a fix charge for insurance (if yes, how much)?

Yep, we opt in for the insurance. It is 3% of the declared value.

[James N Joean 8]

Depending on how bright you like your space. The following pic might give u a better guage. This is taken in the store room, door closed. Nothing else was giving illumination.

4 x 7 watt each. warm.

I totally with you about the 12W. Very big - more suited for large retail spaces with taller ceiling.

Regarding the 3W, our take is that the distance it cast is nearer, so the brightness might not be extended to the floor.

This is a pic of the 3 different track light sizes. 12w, 7w and 3 w respectively. Door is open, so brightness is not representative. Hope this helps.

Hey thanx!! i think 7w has the right size and with adequet brightness....

appreciate ur info!

[Takaishi 44]

LOL bro i have a good time reading your entries. lol

[wirriam 3]

will be watching this blog for networking

[nickguthe 30]

It's been a while since we mentioned anything about the design, previous posts were all about the things we bought. Time to give some updates.

Design has been confirmed! Contractor has been engaged. And today is the start of renovation!

We took quite long to settle on the designs because the husband is more concern about budget and the wife is more concern about the design. So many rounds of trying to strike a balance between value and aesthetics. But here are the designs.

Most of the stuff shown in the designs, like the study with black frames and the brick wall, we are definitely doing. However, for the media console and the full height cabinet... no matter how much we love it and how much time we spent on the design, after seeing the quote, we won't sure if we can afford to realise it. At the moment, it is beyond our budget, so we have to leave it aside. Till we become rich or when money drop from the sky one day, we need to look for an alternative media console off the shelf.

We are doing the brick wall! To minimise the cost, we have it at the smaller wall. Haha.

The kitchen! The side with the fridge and oven has customised measurements instead of the usual 60 cm depth for the bottom cabinet. This is to compensate for the bomb shelter's loading wall eating into the kitchen on the left resulting in the bottom cabinet to be roughly less than 60 cm in depth. The fridge and the oven gets the deeper end of approx 75 cm in depth.

For the side with the hood, hob, sink and dish rack. The only not-so-standard thing we did was to make sure the base of top cabinet is aligned with the base where the dish rack goes.

For the 2 bathrooms, we are going for almost similar design with a box out niche feature at the shower area. Each bathroom has a slightly varied design for the mirror and storage. We are also choosing different tile and laminate for each bathroom. (Will update the choices of tiles and laminate in another post )

On the renovation end, our contractor is Jake of Z L Construction. He is recommended by our ID. We have met up with Jake a few times to bombard him with a lot of questions before we signed them on. They are not lowest quote around, plus we have to pay for GST. But we are assured of the commitment and the quality, judging from their previous work and the rapport we have with him. Just to add, they are HDB registered. Let's hope our choice is right.

But judging from the first day of reno, his team is made up of uncles... those kind that are super experienced and know exactly what they are doing. (Don't need to see HDB electrical drawing, they know where is what kind.) They just auto-pilot once they got to our place. Especially when they are asking us to confirm things, they can recommend what looks nice and what works very quickly. All while we were still trying to understand what is going on. Also to add, not that we are xenophobic, but there aren't any PRC or bangla workers, all of them speak Singapore type of mandarin and some English. So now we just cross our fingers and hope that our reno turns out nice and good.

That's all for now.

Edited June 12, 2014 by nickguthe

[misfits 0]

Hi,

do you mind sharing me your quote and ID please?

[bianzi 52]

Are u going to do a partial shower screen or with a door?

[nickguthe 30]

Are u going to do a partial shower screen or with a door?

Partial shower screen. No door.

[James N Joean 8]

Actually iam curious abt shower screen without door.... I tried not closing door when showering in hotels..and the water will splash out to the dry area of the toilet... How do u actually mitigate that?

[nickguthe 30]

Actually iam curious abt shower screen without door.... I tried not closing door when showering in hotels..and the water will splash out to the dry area of the toilet... How do u actually mitigate that?

Actually not going to mitigate that other than just having a kerb and try to be less dramatic when showering. Both of us don't like glass door with hinges, feel that they tend to sag in the long run.

[James N Joean 8]

Haha...less dramatic...funny way to put....

I also do not like doors...cos its somehow troublesome....

But i will imagine bathing for my kid in the future will have alot of splish and splash....So its a delimma...

So I guess putting a super absorbent floor mat outside the shower screen entrance is one of the solution..

[nickguthe 30]

About the request for our ID and reno quote, we won't be sharing the breakdown. We feel that it's like comparing apples to oranges and it won't be fair to Interior Kit and ZLC if someone brings our quote to them to bargain for a better price. Hope you understand.

Just for a gauge, excluding ID fees and the carpentry in the living room shown in the designs, it is roughly about 40k plus. We feel that the quote is already pretty reasonable with the workmanship we are requesting of them. Do note that we chose to customize certain items like overlaying kitchen wall tiles and bathroom floor tiles, kitchen and bathroom carpentry, study glass partitions and brick wall. If you have a floor plan and would like to have a feel of how much your designs will cost. Do contact Jake and I'm pretty sure he will be able to help.

Edited June 10, 2014 by nickguthe

[nickguthe 30]

Haha...less dramatic...funny way to put....

I also do not like doors...cos its somehow troublesome....

But i will imagine bathing for my kid in the future will have alot of splish and splash....So its a delimma...

So I guess putting a super absorbent floor mat outside the shower screen entrance is one of the solution..

Good point! Didn't think so much about the kid part. HAHA. not yet at least, but I think it is possible to add the door after when we decide to. Yea will probably buy a good floor mat as well.

Edited June 10, 2014 by nickguthe

[bianzi 52]

Actually not going to mitigate that other than just having a kerb and try to be less dramatic when showering. Both of us don't like glass door with hinges, feel that they tend to sag in the long run.

Are u having rain shower? I do not intend to put in a door as well as I hate cleaning but contractor was telling me the splash will come out if I use the rain shower ... I am still deciding .. But most probably I won't ... Makes the bathroom feels bigger will look more spacious