21K Theme-Less 3 Room Bto

[benetay 14]

Read many blogs and search through many years of older posting to aid in the renovation journey. Really appreciate those who posted and we really benefitted a lot in terms of knowledge gathered. We took our keys in September/October 2014 period (i'm bad with dates) and started looking for ID.

Long story short, 5 ID, 1 ID was selected due to good value for the price paid. The 5 IDs are well known ones as well but when we compare Apple to Apple on some of the items, we can see a significant margin gap from a well known vs a less well known.

5 quotes: Range from 18-30k.

We could have done it much cheaper with lesser additional items like glass partition, toilet glass partition, blum aventos, display cabinet, work station, pull out kitchen drawer. Without all these will make the reno in the range of 17-18k. So it really depends on how much additional you want to spend.

End up we chose a less experience ID to do the job with no fancy 3D drawing like some of the ID. It is really a risk for us because we really do not know how it would turn out to be. Moreover, we did not utilize any of the theme such as minimalist, scandi, industrial, etc.... we just simply do as accordance to our lifestyle.

I'll not divulge our choice of ID until our reno is complete, which is somewhere targeted April, May period.

Reno is almost done, for those who are asking for my ID contact, please PM me your email address or reply to this thread.

Prior to the start of the reno, we started purchasing things online and from local shops. Most of the items are from Amazon to make good use of the free shipping to Singapore.

I'll try to do a link for some of the items we have purchased and give a review or direct a link on information that affected our purchase.

• Amazon free shipping step by step by Kim76
• Sealy Bed
• Toilet Accessories
• Kitchen Sink 1st link (Kraus)
• Kitchen Sink 2nd link (Kraus)
• Getting TB sink? Users here experiencing problem - Daddywinter Tblog
• Hood and Hob (we got Fisher & Paykel touch and slide Induction & a 90cm hood)
• Cookware Lodge and Cuisineart
• Best place for Grohe
• Display Cabinet

_____

Kitchen pictures (Work in progress)

Living room pictures (Work in progress)

Edited May 4, 2015 by benetay

[benetay 14]

Away with the wall

Kitchen wiring and base

Drain holes - Additional. This is done in case the sink floods or leaks or pipe burst or anything that may happen during the course of stay. This 2 drain holes will help in flooding in addition to the drainage in the service yard.

Edited March 13, 2015 by benetay

[benetay 14]

Toilet:

Removed the existing basin and door. Shift the pipe (hot and cold) nearer to the door frame to add a vanity area for our Kraus vessel bowl. created a build up area for the piping to be conceal and act as an area where shampoo can be place etc.

[benetay 14]

The living room, no tv console. We are planning to get a work station done on the left side and a glass partition between the work station area and the 'living room' area.

Some of our purchases for common toilet, MBR toilet, lights and water heater

707 water heater, one compact one princeton

Hood and hob still unopen

[benetay 14]

Always like to have good grill, so purchase a grill cast iron pan from lodge. A saucepan and 2 skillet to try out.

Searing is great on a cast iron for proteins like beef, chicken, fish, etc.

Saw this youtube link and decided to purchase the Lodge griddle for making breakfast but a smaller one at 10.5 inch instead of the 16 inch.

[benetay 14]

For those asking about where did I purchase my things:

Fridge,hob,hood,washer,dryer (all fisher and paykel), 707 water heater from Goh Ah Bee (GAB)

Pans,soap dispenser, door bell, toilet accessories (Amazon- with free shipping is cheaper compared to taobao) huge savings. Crossing my fingers that U.S. dollars don't appreciate so much. Brands such as oxo, Kohler (authentic) products are cheaper even using Amazon.

Hope this helps.

[HansamuQ 5]

Hi, seems good on your Amazon purchase. You can provide some of the amazon links? I have been making some orders thru taobao. For sink, basin, shower head all these am still looking around.

[benetay 14]

Hello HansamuQ,

For Grohe you use this Grohe link

Check out the Kraus kitchen sink links on the first post.

Most importantly actually is to select the brand you want, then click on

AmazonGlobal Eligible:

Need to purchase more than $125 USD to be eligible. Less than 400 SGD will not require import tax and duties.

These are some brands (Some items) that extend free shipping on amazonglobal eligible:

• Simplehuman
• Oxo
• Lodge
• Cuisineart
• Moen
• Kraus
• Kohler (some items)
• Kitchen Element
• KitchenAid
• Camelbak
• Otterbox
• BalanceFrom
• Ozeri
• Grohe
• Etc etc etc etc

There are

Many brands have GlobalEligible.

Hope it helps.

[benetay 14]

Some of the other items that were sent here:

Oxo soap dispenser

Simplehuman dustbin (this one isn't from Amazon, got it from another place)

Portable wireless doorbell from honeywell

[benetay 14]

We decided to knock down another wall and that send us back to the drawing board and in the meantime, decided to get more stuff online before USD start to appreciate.

When we first started it was 1.39 now it is 1.43 and going up. So have to fast hand fast leg get all the things before the steady increase.

Christmas came early

Bought some extra to give to my mom and MIL. Good things must share.

Paper towel holder, bottle and bottle brush

Oil skimmer, spatula and lader

some misc items

218 Deg Celsius glove for handling hot pans.

[faranggirl 2]

Hi - may I ask for buying sinks, faucets, basins, shower heads, etc from amazon or other countries, is there anything we have to note about, like their compatibility to be used in SG?

thanks!

[benetay 14]

Sink yes. Have to get adapters from local hardware store. Teck siong Huat hardware was recommended to me by other forumers.

However, all these I leave to the contractor to do it, if they are unsure on how to do it, than I will step in. Usually I prefer if they figure it out themselves and let them tell me if it is possible.

Basins don't have a problem they are basically the same.

For faucets, we usually only use cold water, however, a lot of the faucets from overseas like in Europe or US they have hot and cold piping provided. Meaning if you want to connect your hot water piping from bathroom to your basin, it is also possible.

One of the few things I will refrain from purchasing is 110v electrical items, however, I still purchase electrical items that are 110-230v.

As long as it is compatible and has a lower price tag compared to singapore,tb, etc I will purchase from Amazon. What I like about Amazon is reliability, accuracy and timely logistic. If I have to pay a few more dollars I would.

Shower head I didn't purchase because the water heater that we have purchase came with one.

Since not all products ship free what I do is test it out by putting into cart, check out and on the shipping page if it shows Amazon global free eligible then the shipping is free. After awhile you will roughly know if the item is free shipping or not.

If things like Kraus sink, you can speak to a CSO on the sink you want by providing the link to them. Not many will bulge but remaining persistent helps sometime.

Many of the products are also made in China, using Amazon china sometimes works too they also fulfill the Amazoneligibility. However you will need to sign up another account because both accounts cannot be shared.

Let me know if there are still questions.

[faranggirl 2]

Thank you v much for your explanation

[kim76 18]

Nice stuff u got there

Paper towel holder, bottle and bottle brush

Oil skimmer, spatula and lader

some misc items

[benetay 14]

Thank you Kim, 3 more shipments enroute. Scary what online shopping can do to us.