15 Shades of Grey - 4 RM BTO @ Woodlands Glen

[Clarence Lye 10]

3 hours ago, kingandbin said:

Omg, the peeling paint on your service yard wall looks pretty bad. The paint around that area looks like they're also lifted off the wall already! Did applying putty and repainting cause it to look like new again, or can you still tell that the patch has been touched up?

There's a small patch of paint on my living room wall that came off because I used 3M tape to attach a key holder there. Beneath it the wall is grey (and looks like concrete? why?!)  I've no idea what to do with it apart from sticking the holder back over the hole so no one else can tell what's going on. Lol. 

I patch it using putty and re-painted that area, have to admit that it doesnt look flawless anymore. my OCD tells me to sand down the area then repaint the whole wall...

i think the paint doesnt stick well with the original HDB wall paint/coating. So my lesson learn is - to paint the whole house with wall sealer no matter what, before you the painting starts. 
all ID/contractors/painter won't do it because they will give you all kind of excuses saying the wall is ok, hdb already treated the wall, etc.. No!! I dont trust anything anymore. *sighs* 

[matchalatte 16]

hi stranger, nice to see you around again lol. joking! 

great you're posting again!! super adore your cutlery drawer. wished i had the luxury for that kinda space *sigh*

re : paint peeling - if that makes you feel better, its definitely the paint. you're using vinilex 5000 isnt it? its a latex paint so its kinda rubbery. once you have a chip or scratch, one whole piece can be peeled off. same goes for mine. good thing abt latex paint is the low odor and fast drying rate. brushes are also easier to clean, no need for turpentine. just rinse under running water lol

[bykaraanne 30]

My 3M products have both worked and failed, though the success rate is higher than failure rate. I have not had such bad peeling though, but small ones in areas without the clean removing tape. 

I just use putty to patch, sandpaper down, then repaint. In most circumstances it looks perfectly ok. 

With 3M products I found that it’s crucial to wait 24 hours regardless of weight bearing and pressing it really hard for 2 minutes during installation before using.

that said, failure rate is about 1 in every 5 items for me. But the second time I paste everything seems ok (touch wood). If you suspect it’s 3M problem, email them, they will repay you strips. 

[Clarence Lye 10]

18 hours ago, matchalatte said:

hi stranger, nice to see you around again lol. joking! 

great you're posting again!! super adore your cutlery drawer. wished i had the luxury for that kinda space *sigh*

re : paint peeling - if that makes you feel better, its definitely the paint. you're using vinilex 5000 isnt it? its a latex paint so its kinda rubbery. once you have a chip or scratch, one whole piece can be peeled off. same goes for mine. good thing abt latex paint is the low odor and fast drying rate. brushes are also easier to clean, no need for turpentine. just rinse under running water lol

hello stranger! *lol*

your house looking great and pinterest-ish. Great work there.

yea.. vinilex 5000.
I read from elsewhere, if the wall is treated/painted with wall sealer, the paint sticks better. super regret never force my ID to paint all the wall with wallsealer before painting. That is also why momento painters say it's a MUST to paint wall sealer before painting the momento.

Gonna paint that patch on Saturday, getting lazy to do all these touch up now aday.
I think some day i might just give up and get all my walls to white. (low maintaince! and no one can notice any patches!) 

2 hours ago, bykaraanne said:

My 3M products have both worked and failed, though the success rate is higher than failure rate. I have not had such bad peeling though, but small ones in areas without the clean removing tape. 

I just use putty to patch, sandpaper down, then repaint. In most circumstances it looks perfectly ok. 

With 3M products I found that it’s crucial to wait 24 hours regardless of weight bearing and pressing it really hard for 2 minutes during installation before using.

that said, failure rate is about 1 in every 5 items for me. But the second time I paste everything seems ok (touch wood). If you suspect it’s 3M problem, email them, they will repay you strips. 

hi @bykaraanne, yes i follow the instructions as per the hooks. I leave it overnight before hooking/hanging stuffs.
i'm using 3m photoframe hook for my clock and it's working fine (hopefully) for now.

which sandpaper grit do you use, i want to sand the area and do a proper paintjob.
I have also emailed/contacted 3M and told them that their products damage my walls. No reply, no response, no calls.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Clarence Lye

[Ando Tadao 8]

8 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

hello stranger! *lol*

your house looking great and pinterest-ish. Great work there.

yea.. vinilex 5000.
I read from elsewhere, if the wall is treated/painted with wall sealer, the paint sticks better. super regret never force my ID to paint all the wall with wallsealer before painting. That is also why momento painters say it's a MUST to paint wall sealer before painting the momento.

Gonna paint that patch on Saturday, getting lazy to do all these touch up now aday.
I think some day i might just give up and get all my walls to white. (low maintaince! and no one can notice any patches!) 

hi @bykaraanne, yes i follow the instructions as per the hooks. I leave it overnight before hooking/hanging stuffs.
i'm using 3m photoframe hook for my clock and it's working fine (hopefully) for now.

which sandpaper grit do you use, i want to sand the area and do a proper paintjob.
I have also emailed/contacted 3M and told them that their products damage my walls. No reply, no response, no calls.

I think it’s unlikely that 3M should be liable for this problem, while they have to guarantee that minimum adhesion bu their product (say 3.2kg), an equal counter force must be provided by the surface. 

It’s frustrating for sure hence I have revert to the old school nailing. 

Edited January 30, 2018 by Ando Tadao

[bykaraanne 30]

13 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

hello stranger! *lol*

your house looking great and pinterest-ish. Great work there.

yea.. vinilex 5000.
I read from elsewhere, if the wall is treated/painted with wall sealer, the paint sticks better. super regret never force my ID to paint all the wall with wallsealer before painting. That is also why momento painters say it's a MUST to paint wall sealer before painting the momento.

Gonna paint that patch on Saturday, getting lazy to do all these touch up now aday.
I think some day i might just give up and get all my walls to white. (low maintaince! and no one can notice any patches!) 

hi @bykaraanne, yes i follow the instructions as per the hooks. I leave it overnight before hooking/hanging stuffs.
i'm using 3m photoframe hook for my clock and it's working fine (hopefully) for now.

which sandpaper grit do you use, i want to sand the area and do a proper paintjob.
I have also emailed/contacted 3M and told them that their products damage my walls. No reply, no response, no calls.

I use the yellow block by 3M also I think, from Selffix. My walls are almost always fixed perfectly with that and the putty (yellow lid from selffix). 

But mine has never been this bad peeling.

i buy my 3M products mostly via Qoo10 so they’ve always helped... 

[Clarence Lye 10]

just some updates:

 

3M
Had a called with them regards to the hook, all kind of reasons. Oh well, i dont intend to place the hook there anymore, so it's now hooked on my service yard's window grill. 
*problem solved*.

 

Carpentry
had some issues with Justin's carpenter and carpentry's work, so manage to engage R&R's contractor to come rectify all the problems.

1) change the island wheels to heavy duty caster wheels
2) change the flap to conceal the wheels + re-laminate (Justin's carpenter didnt touch up. Sighs
3) change all hinges and runner track to blum. (Super pissed off with this, was promised all hinges to be excel and runner track to be blum. End up they are NONE! 
4) install the ledge behind my kitchen top and bottom cabinet (originally where the ledge was meant to be installed but was damaged by Justin's guys.)
5) Amend island drawers, the original intended cutlery tray/blum inner drawer wasn't installed and fixed at all despite repeat reminders. R&R carpenter have to cut the drawer and insert the blum i3 drawer.
6) express service, Monday he came and measure everything - today gonna fix all up.

One bad thing.. it's quite expensive. sighs. 1.2k?
We need all to be completed before CNY.

 

Pictures
Our neighbour's friend is looking for a modern house to do some fliming for some Suria show, and therefore approached us.
Here are pictures of the whole house in a snapshot that i've sent over as they request for the master bedroom pictures., hopefully they are ok. 

 

 

Caesarstone Review
Now that i'm using the original quartz from Caesarstone, i have to admit that their white/light colour tabletop are soooooooooooooooo lousy.
Why? I did some baking of pineapple tarts over the weekend, didnt really do much except shifting the baking trays from oven to table, table to oven kind. There's a scratch already. -.-
I'm not even dragging all my stuffs across the table, further i use a cooling rack to put it on top. You can see the "deep" scratch from below. Caesarstone guy has came down twice to fix my table (once for the tea stain, which is now gone) and now the scratch (but still can feel and see..)

Might have been better off just using other tabletop as it doesnt live up to its name. 

 

Overall R&R Review
So far, everything has been good and well. Don't see much peeling/damage or problems with their stuffs. One good thing about them is that you can really put your mind at ease on the kind of work and finishing that they deliver
One bad thing is , if your ID happened to be the super busy/popular one, you have to keep chasing for updates and progress. But after chasing, you can ensure that things are done. Not just done, but done properly. Unlike Justin's work.

Things get done for the sake of doing, and it's sub-par standard. It's those kind that you think you can do a  better job kind. *sighs*.

 

XiaoMi Vacuum
Just started using my XiaoMi Vacuum cleaner today (scheduled cleaning @ 9am)
i must say that it's quite amazing and interesting, it mapped out the whole house and show the cleaning pattern.

Gonna do spot check later when i get home.

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Clarence Lye

[sce 0]

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 12:13 AM, Clarence Lye said:

It was during the period of Expo Furniture Fair where different IDs exhibit there, we went down to listen to the R&R talk on renovation and chance upon another senior designer - Danielle

 

My wife quite like her style and choice of colours, therefore we spoke quite abit to her and understand more about the whole renovation process and about our frustration of us not getting what we want.

 

Post-meetup with JJ few weeks later, we discussed on #3 Amendments:
- hacking the wall between the kitchen and service yard to make the kitchen look bigger
- adding a tall larder for laundry and to conceal the pipings at service yard
- also discussed on how to improve the display area for the Lego.

As the remaining bits and pieces are still okay, our main frustration is still the living area..

Here are the results:

at least this is better than all the previous design, but then again - we have to emphasize again that the Lego sets will not fit into the planned space that JJ shown us in the 3D given their dimension of each set.

Therefore, wife and me decided that we had enough of all these discussion since JJ shows no initiative to follow up and provide better design of displaying the sets. We think that is going no where and decided to change our ID to Danielle (whom we previously met at one of the show) instead.

Our personal feedback on JJ is that he always re-use ideas/design from his previous project (if you look at his past works).
I believe not just him, many other IDs as well. They always recycle their design and just amend the colours to satisfy their clients, but it just don't work for me.

I feel you mate. I having the same situation as u now. Multiple of discussions plus sending the wanted designs to my ID. Ended still back to square ONE. 1st - 4th 3D drawings almost the same.

Patient hit to MAX and I decided to forgo the 2K deposit and hunt for another ID with chemistry.

  

[Picco 0]

Like your display cabinet! May I know how u open up the glass to put your legos? Curious as I see no hinges.

[KFC1189 11]

On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 2:24 PM, Clarence Lye said:

just some updates:

 

3M
Had a called with them regards to the hook, all kind of reasons. Oh well, i dont intend to place the hook there anymore, so it's now hooked on my service yard's window grill. 
*problem solved*.

 

Carpentry
had some issues with Justin's carpenter and carpentry's work, so manage to engage R&R's contractor to come rectify all the problems.

1) change the island wheels to heavy duty caster wheels
2) change the flap to conceal the wheels + re-laminate (Justin's carpenter didnt touch up. Sighs
3) change all hinges and runner track to blum. (Super pissed off with this, was promised all hinges to be excel and runner track to be blum. End up they are NONE! 
4) install the ledge behind my kitchen top and bottom cabinet (originally where the ledge was meant to be installed but was damaged by Justin's guys.)
5) Amend island drawers, the original intended cutlery tray/blum inner drawer wasn't installed and fixed at all despite repeat reminders. R&R carpenter have to cut the drawer and insert the blum i3 drawer.
6) express service, Monday he came and measure everything - today gonna fix all up.

One bad thing.. it's quite expensive. sighs. 1.2k?
We need all to be completed before CNY.

 

Pictures
Our neighbour's friend is looking for a modern house to do some fliming for some Suria show, and therefore approached us.
Here are pictures of the whole house in a snapshot that i've sent over as they request for the master bedroom pictures., hopefully they are ok. 

 

 

Caesarstone Review
Now that i'm using the original quartz from Caesarstone, i have to admit that their white/light colour tabletop are soooooooooooooooo lousy.
Why? I did some baking of pineapple tarts over the weekend, didnt really do much except shifting the baking trays from oven to table, table to oven kind. There's a scratch already. -.-
I'm not even dragging all my stuffs across the table, further i use a cooling rack to put it on top. You can see the "deep" scratch from below. Caesarstone guy has came down twice to fix my table (once for the tea stain, which is now gone) and now the scratch (but still can feel and see..)

Might have been better off just using other tabletop as it doesnt live up to its name. 

 

Overall R&R Review
So far, everything has been good and well. Don't see much peeling/damage or problems with their stuffs. One good thing about them is that you can really put your mind at ease on the kind of work and finishing that they deliver
One bad thing is , if your ID happened to be the super busy/popular one, you have to keep chasing for updates and progress. But after chasing, you can ensure that things are done. Not just done, but done properly. Unlike Justin's work.

Things get done for the sake of doing, and it's sub-par standard. It's those kind that you think you can do a  better job kind. *sighs*.

 

XiaoMi Vacuum
Just started using my XiaoMi Vacuum cleaner today (scheduled cleaning @ 9am)
i must say that it's quite amazing and interesting, it mapped out the whole house and show the cleaning pattern.

Gonna do spot check later when i get home.

 

 

 

Hi Clarence,

Your newly renovated house looks really cozy now! Good effort!

I noticed that your bath gel bottles and shampoo bottles lie flat on the shelf under the sink. Is your shelf too short?

Where do you keep your Xiaomi Cleaning Robot base? I place mine under the sofa in living room.

 Also I notice you got a queen mattress. Did you change your mind for not having a king mattress? 

[Clarence Lye 10]

On 2/8/2018 at 5:24 PM, sce said:

I feel you mate. I having the same situation as u now. Multiple of discussions plus sending the wanted designs to my ID. Ended still back to square ONE. 1st - 4th 3D drawings almost the same.

Patient hit to MAX and I decided to forgo the 2K deposit and hunt for another ID with chemistry.

  

2k still heartpain.. we paid 6K i think, but it's not the company that we dislike, it's our first ID.
I feel that finding the right ID really plays a strong part in the whole reno. Super irritating when you have to feed them ideas and design and they just recycle other people's idea/layout and give it to you.
 

On 2/9/2018 at 3:38 AM, Picco said:

Like your display cabinet! May I know how u open up the glass to put your legos? Curious as I see no hinges.

they are actually all acrylic panels. it's slotted into the groove of the cabinet edge.
I can take some pictures tonight.. 

 

On 2/10/2018 at 12:31 AM, KFC1189 said:

Hi Clarence,

Your newly renovated house looks really cozy now! Good effort!

I noticed that your bath gel bottles and shampoo bottles lie flat on the shelf under the sink. Is your shelf too short?

Where do you keep your Xiaomi Cleaning Robot base? I place mine under the sofa in living room.

 Also I notice you got a queen mattress. Did you change your mind for not having a king mattress? 

Hahahha.. oops, that's not meant to be seen.
They are spare/extras that i store them under the sink.

my xiaomi base is at the area inbetween my kitchen and living (my momento wall there)
Queen mattress is just for the time being only, our king will only come when it's nearer to my wedding day because of the "an chuan", which is this coming May.

Right now, we are sleeping in the guest room, and i have shifted the taobao sofa bed to my masterbed room and acts like a sofa for watching tv/chilling. lol.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Clarence Lye

[Picco 0]

1 hour ago, Clarence Lye said:

2k still heartpain.. we paid 6K i think, but it's not the company that we dislike, it's our first ID.
I feel that finding the right ID really plays a strong part in the whole reno. Super irritating when you have to feed them ideas and design and they just recycle other people's idea/layout and give it to you.
 

they are actually all acrylic panels. it's slotted into the groove of the cabinet edge.
I can take some pictures tonight.. 

 

Hahahha.. oops, that's not meant to be seen.
They are spare/extras that i store them under the sink.

my xiaomi base is at the area inbetween my kitchen and living (my momento wall there)
Queen mattress is just for the time being only, our king will only come when it's nearer to my wedding day because of the "an chuan", which is this coming May.

Right now, we are sleeping in the guest room, and i have shifted the taobao sofa bed to my masterbed room and acts like a sofa for watching tv/chilling. lol.

Yes pls! Interested to know how it work 

[bykaraanne 30]

Glad your Caesarstone wasn’t fake. My contractor told me he used CS in a previous Reno and told me not to choose it... I still don’t believe him. Now seeing yours I do. 

Glad everything is over. Your bathroom is so nice!

[Clarence Lye 10]

14 hours ago, Picco said:

Yes pls! Interested to know how it work 

here are the pics.

As you can see above, it's being slotted into the "groove". so to remove/open you just have to slide out the acrylic panel.

14 minutes ago, bykaraanne said:

Glad your Caesarstone wasn’t fake. My contractor told me he used CS in a previous Reno and told me not to choose it... I still don’t believe him. Now seeing yours I do. 

Glad everything is over. Your bathroom is so nice!

Actually.. after using my CS Top for awhile, i dont find it that great.
There's still a scratch there even thou they came down and "rectify" it. 

my kompacplus top might seems way better and durable, less scratch resistant/chip resistant than the CS top.
Oh well. use until it spoils then see how.

 

And to @KFC1189 my xiaomi vacuum:

 

And this is the current master bedroom. shifted the sofa bed there to become "entertainment room" lol.
will be this layout until the king bed comes.

Now is a good time to make use of the space and keep/slot whatever i want to keep inside the platform before the bed comes.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Clarence Lye

[KFC1189 11]

Hi Clarence,

Did you buy your Xiaomi Robot recently? Because my Xiaomi robot is the second generation one that comes with a water tank and mopping function. This 2-in-1 vacuum and mopping robot has very good performance.