Greek Inspired Beach Home In Woodlands

[Yuooli9 5]

Finally decided on the light for my dressing table and wardrobe.

doesnt come with bulbs though

Edited September 27, 2014 by Yuooli9

[Yuooli9 5]

Many things have happened this week and I finally have time to update today!

First of all, WX is back from his work trip (at last... ). It is really tiring to manage the whole reno process alone... as a lot of decision making is taking place and at the same time energy is needed to travel to our new place to check on the reno process after I knock off from work...Really glad that he is back now..

During the 2 and a half week when WX was away, our reno started with the walls being hacked first, followed by the electrical work and wet work. WX flew off soon after our permit was approved and so the reno started before we could meet Alan to sign the contract. According to Alan's contract, we were supposed to make a payment of 10% upon signing of contract and another 40% when reno work starts. Alan only accepts either cheque or cash, as I do not have a cheque book, I can only withdraw by cashier's order, And for cashier's order, an additional $5 will be charged for payee's name that is not my own. Alan is kind to suggest that we can pay him 50% in 1 payment after reno work has started so that we can save the $5.

And so, I had actually make a withdrawal by cashier's order when our reno started and waited for Alan to ask to meet up for payment. However, 2 weeks has passed and he did not request for meet up, and during these 2 weeks, reno work is still ongoing and we have been communicating with him in Whatsapp with regards to the reno. I even thought that he could have forgotten about the payment.

After WX came back a few days ago and I told him that the cashier's order is still with me, he requested to meet Alan today to sign the contract and to make our first payment (after all the hacking, electrical and wet work..). When WX messaged Alan to tell him that he is back and requested to meet, Alan agreed and also reminded us to prepare for payment. So he did not forget afterall :lol:.. WX said that Alan could be waiting for him to be back before asking for payment as he did not want to be pushing a woman for money, which I somewhat agree.

[Yuooli9 5]

And so we met Alan today at our new place to sign the contract and make our 1st payment. Our reno has started 2 weeks ago and WX and I were quite satisfied with how our house has turned out. Alan told us from the start that he and his workers have not done a Greek inspired theme before and we were actually quite worried that our house may not turn out to be what we had envisioned. Nevertheless we still went ahead to sign with Alan as we feel that it will not be easy to find a contractor/ID who had done a Greece theme before, and even if we do, the price will not be within our budget. Secondly, we also like how Alan is being honest with us by telling us straight at the beginning that he did not have experience in Greece theme. Therefore we were pleased when we saw the work done by Alan's workers had met our expectation. Will be posting pictures in the next few posts.

Kitchen cabinet base

Edited September 28, 2014 by Yuooli9

[Yuooli9 5]

I love how the wave design turned out to be. I think Alan's worker really understand what we want.

As for the brick wall, WX found that it can be done better as he found that a portion of the craft bricks (those at the centre) were not arranged neatly enough, as in they are not in straight lines. For me I am fine with them as I think those were done by human and we cant expect it to be perfect. Hmm.. I dont know, maybe u all can tell me what you think about the brick wall.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Yuooli9

[Yuooli9 5]

We were pleased with this concrete wall in the master bathroom too.. we decided to build a concrete wall there as the shower area is too close to the toilet bowl and we do not want to have water on the toilet bowl every time we shower.

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Not forgetting the signature arch in Greece (Santorini) theme

Talking about this concrete wall, I have to mention this nice and meticulous worker of Alan. I was there when he was constructing the concrete wall. When he saw me, he asked me if the height of the wall is what I want, and how I want the curves to be, to the extent of going down to details like how many cm should the wall be before it curves, where should the curve stops at, and how many cm of the wall before the next curve starts. etc... I was taken aback as I had not thought of such thing in details. Same thing for the arch in the wall as well. When I don't seem to understand what he means, he would patiently refer to the pictures that I have pasted on the wall, point to the areas that he was referring to, and repeat himself again. Then when I say I have not thought about the measurement yet, and I asked him to judge for himself, he said "不用紧，我先做，如果你不喜欢，我再来改。", which means he will judge for himself first, and if I don't like the design, just let him know and he will change.

As for the arch, I know the measurement that I want as there are a few arches in our house. When I told him that I want the length to be 30cm, he said that it is too small and he may not be able to do it, as the tools that he is using are all quite big. He suggested the length to be 40cm. However when I told him that 40cm is too big and it will not look nice, he said the most he can do is 35cm. I was quite reluctant to have the arch at 35 cm but had no choice other than to agree. Then he said, "我先做30cm看看，如果不可以再做35cm" (I will try 30cm first, if I really cant do it, then I will do it at 35cm).

In the end, I did not measure the final arch that has been done. Reason: We were so impressed that it doesnt matter whether it is 30cm or 35cm anymore. Thumbs up for this uncle!!

Edited September 29, 2014 by Yuooli9

[Yuooli9 5]

Updates on my Taobao purchase

LED strips (warm white)

LED strips (Blue)

Downlights (12W)

Edited September 29, 2014 by Yuooli9

[Yuooli9 5]

Santorini photo frame

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Toilet bowl seat cover (WX insisted that he wants this)

Know that it is risky to buy so many lights from Taobao but no choice cos we were trying very hard to fill up the 1 cubic metre, was left with 0.5 cbm more to fill up after purchasing the items in post #37(except the basin cabinet), #43--#46.

I am also thinking of buying digital lock, Samsung P718, from Taobao too.

Does anyone have experience buying digital lock from Taobao? How did you install the digital lock?

Edited September 28, 2014 by Yuooli9

[resso99 0]

Hi. I am thinking of buying lights from taobao too. For LED lights, are they all the same ? is there anything specific that the supplier need to change for us?

Thanks a lot for your help....

[Yuooli9 5]

Hi. I am thinking of buying lights from taobao too. For LED lights, are they all the same ? is there anything specific that the supplier need to change for us?

Thanks a lot for your help....

Hi resso99, I am not an expert in lights so may not be able to advise you correctly.

As far as I know, with regards to specs, the lights from Taobao can be used in Singapore too (220V-240V), because my contractor, Alan also suggested that we can buy the lights from Taobao. I did not request for the supplier to change anything for me. For the LED strip, the seller that I buy from is selling it at 1 for 1, and comes with a plug, I bought an additional plug cos I am intending to use the LED strip in my bedroom 3 too. I have not received any of my Taobao purchase yet as I have not finished consolidating my items, so I can't comment on the quality of the lights.

Hope I have answered your questions correctly. All the best in your taobao purchase!

Edited September 29, 2014 by Yuooli9

[resso99 0]

Thanks for your reply. Did you buy any furniture from taobao?

[Yuooli9 5]

Thanks for your reply. Did you buy any furniture from taobao?

No, not yet. I will only start buying furniture once I have bought the more urgent items, eg. those that need to be installed by my contractor.

[Yuooli9 5]

HDB free cement screed is not that well done afterall...

Met Alan last Sunday at our new place and he casually mentioned that there is an area which is hollow on the floor. It has been about 3 weeks since the cement screed is done and we did not realised it at all!!?? And so WX called HDB the next day and they promised to send their contractor down to our place to have a look. As both of us have to work, WX asked Alan to talk to the HDB contractor on our behalf. We are happy that Alan has asked his worker to point out to the HDB contractor on the areas that are hollow, and the worker really did it diligently. In the end, too many hollow areas have been discovered and the HDB contractor promised that he will work on the cement screeding for us this weekend. Nevertheless, we are glad that Alan has pointed out the problem to us even though we did not engaged him to do our flooring (our flooring will be done by Evorich), and we are also grateful to Alan's worker for meeting the HDB contractor on our behalf.

[Rac2202 0]

Hi Yuooli9,

Could you pm me for your id - Alan's contact?

Thank you☺️

[Yuooli9 5]

Hi Yuooli9,

Could you pm me for your id - Alan's contact?

Thank you☺️

Hi Rac2202, I have PMed u!

[Yuooli9 5]

Our arch-shaped ceiling, L box and feature wall are done!

Thumbs up to Alan's worker who had to change the arch-shaped ceiling 4 times before WX is satisfied with the arch-shaped. We appreciate that he called us directly so that we can communicate our idea to him and after he is done, he took pictures of the ceiling to show us and see if we are satisfied. So far, we have been quite impressed with his work on the ceiling and feature wall.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Yuooli9