pipsqueak 3 Report post Posted June 7, 2016 (edited) i'm also having a headache with my light planning..so thank you both @trcdand @ricepapergirl for all these posts! i will also check out chan huat one of these days..your track lights are very cute-looking and practical! Edited June 7, 2016 by pipsqueak Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 7, 2016 15 hours ago, Catt said: trcd: Yes I intend to put my dining table in between the kitchen and 'new' living room! At the moment it's my least planned area for some reason. Maybe I haven't been using a dining table everyday for 13 years since I moved out, so it's probably my area of least concern. BTW I really envy your kitchen not having a beam across the center of the ceiling like mine. It really opens up the space! The octagonal light you posted... my colleague bought the black one from TB. She loves it (think she chose the '3 colour' one so can adjust from white to warm yellow). I was inspired by Ricepapergirl after reading her blog...maybe I should take a trip to Chan Huat to 'touch' things haha! Ricepapergirl: I really like your pendant lights! Another option for me! Why is there a beam in your ceiling? Will be fixing up a bit of wall and a glass door to keep the kitchen smell in. It won't look so spacious after that... You are hacking the whole wall right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 7, 2016 16 hours ago, ricepapergirl said: Pendant lights with lights off. The rest of the room is being lit by the other set of pendant lights (this was last night so no external lighting). For good measure, this is what my pendant lights look like when switched on (the other side of the room), although I made the photo a little under-exposed otherwise all you see are just flares of light. But it's quite pleasant and soft lighting. We usually only switch on one set of lights. Thinking of actually switching out the bulbs on one set to yellow lights so we can have yellow or white light depending on which set we switch on. Thanks so much, ricepapergirl! I like the soft lighting! Good idea on changing the bulbs... will feel so much cosier! Btw your entrance wall light looks good! The trunking doesn't really show when it's switched on. 15 hours ago, ricepapergirl said: For both Catt and trcd: Just pointing out that we had similar issues for our dining lights as well, and added to that, we wanted something that was easy to clean (so husband vetoed anything with a cage or too much of a flat surface)! We found this LED hanging light at Chan Huat (it was our most expensive light) but I've seen similar (but not exactly the same) stuff on Taobao. I do think if you want you should go over to the Chan huat showroom (the one on the second floor) and go look look see see (touch touch, ask them to switch on the lights to let you see) and in the end you can buy from TB or just bargain your way around Chan Huat, they provide pretty good service really. Some of the uncles give great advice. Ignore how unfinished our dining area is lol. Still missing our sideboard and haven't even unwrapped some of our dining chairs. But the light is overhead, is LED, and amazingly enough, REALLY lights up the whole of the dining area (this is night again, two nights ago, though there's usually some light coming in from the corridor, but if I remember correctly this was the only light on at the first floor when I took this picture). We were originally planning to get some sort of floor lamp for the dining area in case the dining room light was not bright enough but scrapped the idea when we came face to face with how bright this light actually was! I also want something easy to clean lol! The easier the better... Must say that your choice of pendant light is great! Looks stylish, yet effectively brightens up the space even though it's just one hanging pendant! That's exactly how I want my dining area to be... and where did you get that table? Called up Chan Huat - they have a few showrooms and their biggest one is located at 343 Balestier Rd. Thanks for the advice and those photos really helped! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honeylee 0 Report post Posted June 7, 2016 21 hours ago, ricepapergirl said: Pendant lights with lights off. The rest of the room is being lit by the other set of pendant lights (this was last night so no external lighting). For good measure, this is what my pendant lights look like when switched on (the other side of the room), although I made the photo a little under-exposed otherwise all you see are just flares of light. But it's quite pleasant and soft lighting. We usually only switch on one set of lights. Thinking of actually switching out the bulbs on one set to yellow lights so we can have yellow or white light depending on which set we switch on. Ricepapergirl, Thats a really good idea to keep the place looking nice yet bright! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honeylee 0 Report post Posted June 7, 2016 Hi Trcd, congrats on your niew place and reno! We are also new homeowners staring on reno with the same floorplan as yours This is an awesome place for inspiration and advise! Wish you a smooth reno journey & cant wait to see the finally look of your home! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ricepapergirl 21 Report post Posted June 8, 2016 22 hours ago, pipsqueak said: i'm also having a headache with my light planning..so thank you both @trcdand @ricepapergirl for all these posts! i will also check out chan huat one of these days..your track lights are very cute-looking and practical! Thanks! Glad I could be of help! 3 hours ago, Honeylee said: Ricepapergirl, Thats a really good idea to keep the place looking nice yet bright! Heh heh thank you for the kind words as well! Actually my track lightings are out of necessity because we wanted a ceiling fan but not false ceiling! Glad they helped! 8 hours ago, trcd said: Thanks so much, ricepapergirl! I like the soft lighting! Good idea on changing the bulbs... will feel so much cosier! Btw your entrance wall light looks good! The trunking doesn't really show when it's switched on. I also want something easy to clean lol! The easier the better... Must say that your choice of pendant light is great! Looks stylish, yet effectively brightens up the space even though it's just one hanging pendant! That's exactly how I want my dining area to be... and where did you get that table? Called up Chan Huat - they have a few showrooms and their biggest one is located at 343 Balestier Rd. Thanks for the advice and those photos really helped! Thanks trcd! Heh heh I really like my wall lights as well, also purposely chose them so that they would be easy to clean. Will take a better picture of them tonight, got them from Chan Huat as well. Do go to their biggest showroom, it's on the second storey and try and grab a salesperson to come along because you can pick up loads of interesting advice along the way (I usually grab an uncle, they are the best). I got my table from Commune. It's solid wood (requirement for us because the veneer ones may pop over time) and we really love the rounded edges (scared kids will bump into it). Think it's the BRINA table. It's probably more expensive than TB but we really loved the colour and shape and feel of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
althevin 4 Report post Posted June 8, 2016 Congrats on starting your reno! Might have missed out some parts of the prior discussion, but you might want to think about what you'll use each area for, and how much light are you used to having. E.g, if you plan to double up your dining area as a work/laptop area, you might want to consider an additional lighting source via a floor lamp, to be used when working. Personally I do not need my living area to be lit up, so in my existing place we only turn on 2 down lights. Floor/desk lamps give you the flexibility lacking from other light fixtures Before my aircon trunking forced me into having a false ceiling, I was considering track lights as it would minimize the exposed conduits. It gives you the flexibility of adjusting the light throw, and at the ceiling distance the current LEDs should cover a decent amount of area. I would recommend testing out the bulbs too, to see how it lights up the space in the shop before you decide. Hope this helps! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 9, 2016 On 8 June 2016 at 3:06 PM, althevin said: Congrats on starting your reno! Might have missed out some parts of the prior discussion, but you might want to think about what you'll use each area for, and how much light are you used to having. E.g, if you plan to double up your dining area as a work/laptop area, you might want to consider an additional lighting source via a floor lamp, to be used when working. Personally I do not need my living area to be lit up, so in my existing place we only turn on 2 down lights. Floor/desk lamps give you the flexibility lacking from other light fixtures Before my aircon trunking forced me into having a false ceiling, I was considering track lights as it would minimize the exposed conduits. It gives you the flexibility of adjusting the light throw, and at the ceiling distance the current LEDs should cover a decent amount of area. I would recommend testing out the bulbs too, to see how it lights up the space in the shop before you decide. Hope this helps! Thanks @althevin! Hope your reno is going smoothly too! Yes, also thanks to a tip from @OceanEleven - previously I hadn't considered that I would probably use my dining area as a workspace so the floor lamp is a good alternative to track lights. I doubt a pendant lamp (warm light) would be a good choice for reading (might end up sleeping instead of working lol). Will definitely be lights shopping and bulbs testing this weekend! Can't wait... Saturday, please come soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 14, 2016 Everything is progressing s..l...o....w.....l......y new wall! some purchases so far Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 19, 2016 Went to several lighting shops - touched, measured, pondered. Eventually picked up surface-mounted LED lamps for the kitchen instead of track lights... Haha. Decided I want a really bright kitchen after all. Checked out Chan Huat. The aunty lets you browse comfortably, but the younger sales people really follow you everywhere. A bit too close for comfort. So, look for the aunty (343 Balestier) if you also cannot stand people following your every move Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honeylee 0 Report post Posted June 19, 2016 6 hours ago, trcd said: Went to several lighting shops - touched, measured, pondered. Eventually picked up surface-mounted LED lamps for the kitchen instead of track lights... Haha. Decided I want a really bright kitchen after all. Checked out Chan Huat. The aunty lets you browse comfortably, but the younger sales people really follow you everywhere. A bit too close for comfort. So, look for the aunty (343 Balestier) if you also cannot stand people following your every move How much are your led ceiling lights? Saw the minimalist type at hoe kee for like between $60-90 and went to get them from taobao instea for like less than half the price(haven include shipping). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Catt 8 Report post Posted June 20, 2016 On 6/15/2016 at 0:17 AM, trcd said: Everything is progressing s..l...o....w.....l......y new wall! some purchases so far Hi trcd! Glad to see everything is progressing well on your end. I see you've bought the Rubine heater (with pump). Did you have a chance to do a dry run with it yet? I'm thinking of either getting this one or another black one (I think it is Rinnai as it is the only other that I found was sleek, black and had a pump), but so far all the reviews I could find on heaters with pump was that it would make a humming noise. Going to make Universal Union my one stop shop for toilet stuff, hood and oven, as I'm not diligent enough to run everywhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 21, 2016 On 20 June 2016 at 6:25 AM, Honeylee said: How much are your led ceiling lights? Saw the minimalist type at hoe kee for like between $60-90 and went to get them from taobao instea for like less than half the price(haven include shipping). The paranoid me got the dust and insect proof ones 25W, approx 2400 lumens, 2 years warranty, inclusive of delivery and installation. Hole in pocket about $150... On 20 June 2016 at 3:48 PM, Catt said: Hi trcd! Glad to see everything is progressing well on your end. I see you've bought the Rubine heater (with pump). Did you have a chance to do a dry run with it yet? I'm thinking of either getting this one or another black one (I think it is Rinnai as it is the only other that I found was sleek, black and had a pump), but so far all the reviews I could find on heaters with pump was that it would make a humming noise. Going to make Universal Union my one stop shop for toilet stuff, hood and oven, as I'm not diligent enough to run everywhere. It's not installed yet (or even delivered)... I did some research and found that Ariston also has a black model (ST33 or SMC33), but went for Rubine instead. Might not need a pump if your water pressure is good? Got it from AMK Industrial Park. If I recall correctly, it is significantly cheaper compared to H**K**... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honeylee 0 Report post Posted June 26, 2016 Hi TRCD... Hows your reno so far? Looking forward to your progress pics Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trcd 13 Report post Posted June 30, 2016 Still progressing a little bit each day! All plastering done... Cabinets waiting for measurement. Can't see the floor as it is mostly covered by cardboard to protect it. The system 3 air con has just gone up! Pics to come this weekend. @Honeylee your progress is amazing though. looks like you can move in very soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
