Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) I suppose I should just cut the story short as my BB girl is grasping at legs and exclaming "Papa, papa, I, I... I want to work!" (To her, hacking away at the keyboard in front of PC is working)As title suggests I'm trying to make my cosy 3rm be different from standard cookie cutter design.With any project, setting the budget is most important. My current cash flow allows for 50k expense.Its broken down 4 categories.1. Electronics 10k2. Furnishing 10k3. iD/Reno 25k4. Unknowns 10kWill continue update later. Edited January 22, 2016 by Changbp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 Sorry Maths fail. Unknown should be 5k Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 The first thing I bought was...A bed...(king size too)... From this you would know I like to sleep.Spent 2 weekends doing butt test on all beds in IMM, Toh Guan furniture mall, big box and Courts Tampines. Eventually short listed down to 2 beds which I felt gave similar plush feel without being overly expensive. The Englander Hotel Harmony and MaxCoil Masterpiece. The big 4 brands in mattresses that gave a similar feel mostly cost above $5k, especially Simmons cost something like $8k to get the feel that i wanted.Maxcoil Masterpiece; The shop in IMM that sells purely maxcoil mattresses...(uni spring? or uni steel? or something) was interesting. The friendly boss sat me down and provided lots of advice on how to choose and lay sheets on heavy beds. He also mentioned that they are the only maxcoil distributor who can sell masterpiece because of their volume... Okay that means I had no choice but to get it from them if I wanted that model. I don't doubt that statement but I found the same thing in courts the next weekend. He is probably ill-informed. Anyway, eventually I didn't get Maxcoil as they didn't have the fabric that I like and headboard choice was limited. Total cost with storage frame is slightly more ex too. Englander Hotel Harmony;The lady in the Englander branch in furniture mall gave a great service and I really wanted to buy it from her but unfortunately she couldn't match my asking price. Quote iirc is around $4k. I asked for $3.5k and was flatly rejected. So I said I would go try other beds first before deciding. She didn't seem too keen to keep me and mentioned that the next time I come price will probably be higher, so I left. Ended up I bought from it from Alex in the Plaza Singapore branch. Initially he too couldn't match my asking price, which was a more realistic $3.6k this time. Though his boss was around and I can physically see that he tried to discuss to bring the price down but the final offer was still some $3.8k, so I walked.Coincidence? About half to 1 hour later, thought I wouldn't be getting any bed that day and was peeping into Mayer's outlet (Staff went to the loo or something), when Alex spotted me and brought me back to his shop again. For some reason the boss relented somewhat and the price went down further. Still not exactly $3.6k but good enough. Can't find photo to show on this bed though. I got the King size with fabric and storage headboard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) Common Bathroom. This one is extracted from theTile Shop Fall/Winter collection. I intend to do something like this for common bathroom. The cornice tiles are way expensive.... Couldnt afford to import it so i've to make do with something else to frame the shower head so hopefully it will not end up looking like some cheapo imitation My design ended up like this... Edited June 7, 2016 by Changbp Fixed link to images Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) Master Bathroom... Well the commanding officer starts to complain that she has no say in the design of the house. So the Main bedroom and Main bathroom is now her territory to design... Found this somewhere from Pinterest. The Wife's choice. It is hard to find a wall tile match for this. Maybe will end up quite different from the picture but blue and white will still be main theme for this bathroom. From the FSM, we should only use colors blue/white/grey/black for bathrooms. Edited June 7, 2016 by Changbp Fixed imaged links Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nextstep 3 Report post Posted November 7, 2015 OMG! The bathroom concept is soon beautiful, my jaw just dropped Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luxexplorer 2 Report post Posted November 8, 2015 Beautiful ideas and i have always love to see a house comes into its full personality! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
43atCR 0 Report post Posted November 8, 2015 Sorry Maths fail. Unknown should be 5k*Like. lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) Burned multiple holes in the wallet with these electronics purchases.I had a good experience as served by Elin from Teka and 2 ahbengs (Roger and the fridge guy, sorry cant remember his name) from Mega discount Store. Very good service.Electronics (Budget 10k, spent $8389, Remainder $1611)1. Teka IR421 Induction Hob2. Teka CNL13000 Pull out hood3. Teka Combi MCL 32 BIS Compact Oven + Microwave4. Teka Sink BE Linea 50.40.... well this is not electronics but since teka also sell sinks I just "shun bian" buy. For some reason the picture here blows up super big so i'll just put the link here. http://www.teka.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/r15_50_40.jpg5. Hitachi 3 door fridgeR-WB480P2MS6. 2x TVs : LG UHD TV 49 UF850T for living room and 43UF640T for the bedroom.7. LG washer dryer. 10 KG wash, 7kg dryer. model F1410DPRENow, only left $1.6k for electronics, probably leftover enough only for 2 fans and a sound bar... Are there any other important electronics to purchase?...Sh!t... forgot to budget for aircon. So this will eat into the unknowns. Edited November 11, 2015 by Changbp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) Looks like ikea but some something different. The ikea finishing is immaculate. My idea is try to imitate ikea look except with better build quality of solid plywood. So I will customize built in carpentry carcass made to dimensions of ikea door panels. With this design, I can change the look easily just by swapping out the doors. As you can see because fixed door widths, cover panels have to be used to hide gaps. The large gap on the right is for inserting the fridge. There is a window behind actually and from the corridor can see thru this window into the kitchen and into the living room too so i'm gonna block it. These are for the sink side of the kitchen. Haven't thought of how to place the cooker side yet. That is more difficult due to feng shui. Intend to place a line of LED strip for cove light effect at the top of the cabinet. Indian Black Galaxy Granite Top. (Sorry picture doesn't look like it haha). Gold Knobs and handles idea came from Bykaranne's Little London T-blog. Edited June 7, 2016 by Changbp Fixed image links Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 15, 2015 (edited) Took some time to decide on this layout... couple of hours in fact. Pardon the dull looking pictures. Just draw for fun. This is not my ricebowl. Edited June 7, 2016 by Changbp Fixed image links Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hc28 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2015 (edited) The first thing I bought was...A bed...(king size too)... From this you would know I like to sleep.Spent 2 weekends doing butt test on all beds in IMM, Toh Guan furniture mall, big box and Courts Tampines. Eventually short listed down to 2 beds which I felt gave similar plush feel without being overly expensive. The Englander Hotel Harmony and MaxCoil Masterpiece. The big 4 brands in mattresses that gave a similar feel mostly cost above $5k, especially Simmons cost something like $8k to get the feel that i wanted.Maxcoil Masterpiece; The shop in IMM that sells purely maxcoil mattresses...(uni spring? or uni steel? or something) was interesting. The friendly boss sat me down and provided lots of advice on how to choose and lay sheets on heavy beds. He also mentioned that they are the only maxcoil distributor who can sell masterpiece because of their volume... Okay that means I had no choice but to get it from them if I wanted that model. I don't doubt that statement but I found the same thing in courts the next weekend. He is probably ill-informed. Anyway, eventually I didn't get Maxcoil as they didn't have the fabric that I like and headboard choice was limited. Total cost with storage frame is slightly more ex too. Englander Hotel Harmony;The lady in the Englander branch in furniture mall gave a great service and I really wanted to buy it from her but unfortunately she couldn't match my asking price. Quote iirc is around $4k. I asked for $3.5k and was flatly rejected. So I said I would go try other beds first before deciding. She didn't seem too keen to keep me and mentioned that the next time I come price will probably be higher, so I left. Ended up I bought from it from Alex in the Plaza Singapore branch. Initially he too couldn't match my asking price, which was a more realistic $3.6k this time. Though his boss was around and I can physically see that he tried to discuss to bring the price down but the final offer was still some $3.8k, so I walked.Coincidence? About half to 1 hour later, thought I wouldn't be getting any bed that day and was peeping into Mayer's outlet (Staff went to the loo or something), when Alex spotted me and brought me back to his shop again. For some reason the boss relented somewhat and the price went down further. Still not exactly $3.6k but good enough. Can't find photo to show on this bed though. I got the King size with fabric and storage headboard.Just FYI since u already bought your bed. The mark up for mattress on cost is roughly 60-70%. The discounts that they can offer is huge. Edited November 15, 2015 by hc28 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 16, 2015 What I noticed is the price for mattress always have a retail price which is something like close to 40% ot 50% from the sale price. And the sales is like forever ongoing for all brands.I just try to bargain for another 20% down from the sale price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 17, 2015 For ceiling cove light, is T5 LED tube or LED 5050 strip better? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Changbp 5 Report post Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) For ceiling cove light, is T5 LED tube or LED 5050 strip better?Tons of discussion of T5 fluorescence vs LED strip but looks like not much information T5 LED tube.Bought most of my lights today. The general idea for my purchases is as long as the light is easy to remove or will not damage any installation during removal I will go for cheap TB source. For those that are may damage panels such as downlights in Lbox I will go for local reputable brands ie. philips from lighting.com.sg since they provide on site warranty.Looking towards to getting 4 pieces of this. I think its great that this can set 3 different colour temperature and can dim but I don't like the idea of always needing to toggle it back to the same colour after turning it off and on. At 130 bucks each, its not cheap too.... As I couldn't decide between LED T5 and LED strip i bought both types. If anyone is interested here is the links.Bought 30meters of LED strip (10m Yellow, 10m warm white, 10m white) from one of the reputable but cheaper LED source TEP.http://world.tmall.com/item/44015228195.htm?id=44015228195&sku_properties=1627207:3232479;122276201:10122Bought an 21 pieces of assorted sizes T5 LED tube from NVC. These can be connected back to back to eliminate dark spots(hopefully)... http://world.tmall.com/item/40803678775.htm?spm=a312a.7700718.1998025129.2.F6RlKg&id=40803678775&abbucket=_AB-M32_B18&acm=03054.1003.1.505359&aldid=T9dSyccR&abtest=_AB-LR32-PR32&scm=1003.1.03054.13_40803678775_505359&pos=2&skuId=3115850055437Got these loft lights, but 1 silver, 1 gold. Thinking whether to hang in bathroom or Storeroom or Service yard? Also purchased this for my little cozy cafe corner with a "half a table" against the wall kind... well at 63sq m my house is soooo tiny it'll have to double up as my dinner place. If the wife doesnt like this it will probably become a service yard, storeroom or bathroom light.So the pendant light will hang above a small bistro/breakfast nook. something like this. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTkdemAkp0s0k-keh2NsyzptBEu2C-z48ica1SHxrSyjdYB2eSAStill need to buy some tracklights and spotlights. Edited November 18, 2015 by Changbp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites