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Hi hi, my living room have 4 x1m track light and 3 bulb each. I find it too bright. I guess got to see what is the wattage of the bulb. my kitchen is 2x1m track with 4bulb.

Our ID helped us to submit the hacking permit on the 18th Dec 2015 and the permit was approved on the 24th Dec 2015. . All thanks to our ID who helped us to keep calling and chasing the officer for approval as he mention that due to festival period, they are short of manpower, so approval might take sometime. 2 permits were submitted (one for the hacking of Kitchen Wall & Window Panels, another one for the replacement of toilet windows with exhaust fan) The Hacking of the Kitchen wall is to allow us to build a "Bar Counter" in the Dry Kitchen Area and it will look something like this. We will hack the whole wall and build a bar height cabinet. We will be starting our first day of Renovation works on the 28th Dec 2015 (which is today) by doing all the "heavy" works which is the hacking of the walls. Waited for 2 weeks (9th Dec to 23th Dec) for the defects rectification works to be cleared by BSC. That's why can only start work on the 28th Dec even though we collected our keys on the 5th Dec. There are so many defects that if we don't close one eye or sometime 2 eyes. I think we might need to spend at least 2 months playing tug of war with BSC for the defect rectification. *Decided to hack half height of the window wall instead of full height because ID highlighted to us that the kitchen cabinets will not be able to be right beside the mirror as there is a need to leave a small gap between the kitchen cabinet and the full height glass window. We gave it some thoughts and decided to hack half height instead of full height so that in the future, we will not be troubled over the housekeeping of the small gap between the full height glass and the kitchen cabinet.

Since we were lucky even to bring forward our key collection date from 10th Dec (Thursday) to 5th Dec (Saturday) (Coz some say its very hard to get an appointment on a Saturday). We did some research whether 5th Dec is a good day for us to perform the "Open Door Ceremony" as well. One of the website we bump into is http://www.geomancy.net/reports/free-report/freerpt-dateboth.htm which offer free 30 days Auspicious Date for One/Two Person(s) Luckily it's considered a auspicious date for both of us based on the website above and the lunar calendar. Thus we decided to perform the "Open Door Ceremony" on 5th Dec as well. Googled for the procedures for "Open Door Ceremony" and the following are the results which we combined from different sources. (P.S. It is a rojak from different sources. Maybe that's why our neighbour's (2 level above us) unit number come out as 5th Dec 4D consolation prize instead of our unit number ) Things to prepare: 1) 1 packet of Uncooked Rice 2) 1 packet of Sea Salt 3) 2 packet of Dry tea leaves (tie kuan yin) 4) 6 Red packet with $8 x Singapore S1 coin inside (Total $48 worth of $1 coins) 5) 1 bottle of black vinegar (to be poured into 4 cups) 6) 1 packet of Green beans 7) Cotton wool + dish for germinating the green beans 8) 2 units of Fao Gao (don’t get the white one) (Can be Brown, yellow or pink) 9) 1 x Pineapple 10) 5 types of seeded fruits must include a. 8 red apples b. 18 oranges (kum) (avoid pears) c. the remaining 3 types can be i. 1 packet of strawberries ii. 1 bunch of bananas iii. 1 bunch of grapes (should preferably be purple or reddish. But not green or black coloured grapes) iv. 1 pineapples v. 5 dragon fruits 11) 1 or 2 containers for mixing of rice, green beans, sea salt & tea leaves 12) 5 x paper cups 13) Stool (so can sit and rest) 14) String for the hanging of rice packet 15) Water (Weather is hot) Procedure Door Open 1) Knock the door 3 times, Say your rank, name and nric no. and announce that you are the new owner of the house 2) Close door and wait a few mins. Then knock and say you are coming in now..... before entering the house, say a prayer at the door and proclaim that you are the rightful owner of the house and claim ownership and possession, and politely ask any 'uninvited guest' to leave 3) Open the door but make sure u don't face the entrance "face-on". Either turn your body to the side or to the back. Keep the door open for a while to "give chance" for former "residents" to vacate. 4) say auspicious things (up to individual what you want to say) 开门大吉 甜甜蜜蜜 幸福美满 身体健康 永永快乐 平安发财 Huat ar 5) Open door, both call out 平安发财then roll 1 pineapple in (bowling style) while continue saying auspicious things (to symbolise ushering of wealth and prosperity) (Roll pineapple mean $ roll from outside to inside) (notice where the pineapple stops.... This will be your "Fortune Position". So in future, you can put all your "lucky emblems" at this spot.) 6) Mix uncooked rice, sea salt, tea leaves (Tie Guan Yin) and green beans 7) Before entering your home, toss a handful of mixed rice, tea, sea salt and green beans into your home from outside the open door entrance (Leave a "cup-full" of green beans - for later placement at the living room area) 8) Enter the house with your sale and purchase agreement (and marriage certificate for newlyweds) 4 corners (For Cleansing of house) 1) Enter and begin from the left side of the entrance in, spread mixture along all corners of your home when entering 2) sprinkle sparingly along the perimeter of the entire house when you enter. Small amount will do. (It is not a matter of sprinkle lots of rice/beans but rather, try to sprinkle all over the apartment inclusive of the toilets/yard (The purpose is to “sow” wealth into the apartment. 3) Scatter ALL around the house (including toilet and yard). The process of scattering the "Rice and Green beans" means sowing of wealth around the house and the "Sea salt and Tea leaves" means chasing away the evils (Rice is to represent abundance of food in the future and salt is believed to get rid of spirits and ghosts. It is also believed that these spirits hide in corners of the house, hence people normally throw at the corners. The last burst you will throw out of your house to symbolise getting rid of them out of your house.) 4) Use the pineapple to roll around the house (excluding the toilet) then place the pineapple in the middle of the living room. 5) When finished place 1 cup of black vinegar at each of the 4 corners of your house (2 in living room, 2 in master bedroom) 6) Similarly place 2 oranges and 1 red packet (with 8 $1 coin) at the 4 corners of your house 7) Open all the door, windows, lights, water pipe, heater, electricity/gas appliance (to make sure and declare everything is functioning). We clean the energies or 'Qi' in the house by opening all the windows to let fresh air flow through the house. (Let the water run for approximately 3 minutes. This is to signify the flow of energy/qi in the house) 8) Bring all the things in The Centre of the house 1. If the toilet is in the centre of the house, use the nearest point to the centre of the house. 2. Place 1 fa gao in the centre (brown, yellow or orange) DO NOT PUT WHITE! 3. Place 5 types of seeded fruits in the centre e.g. 5 red apples, 5 oranges, 1 bunch of bananas, 1 bunch of grapes, 1 packet of strawberries 4. Place the 1 red packet (with 8 $1 coin) in the centre. Living Room 1. Prepare remaining Tea leaves (tie kuan yin) and place it in the middle of the living room 2. Place in the middle of the living room the dish containing cotton wool, water and dish for germinating the green beans. this process symbolic "growth" and have some "yang qi" at home. Stove in the kitchen 1. Place 1 fa gao on the stove (if no stove put at future stove location) 2. Place 3 red apples and 3 oranges 3. 1 red packet on the stove 4. Hang the remaining packet of rice on the kitchen window Lastly, leave your home and close the door. Do not return to home unless necessary – wait for 3 days before returning home. Extra things to take note: 1)Leave these stuff for about 3 days and you can remove everything after 3 days of placement. Use the money in the red packet to buy sweets or sweet drinks for family consumption, can buy ice cream too, as long as it is to buy something sweet甜甜蜜蜜. 2)Fruits need to be eaten or thrown away. DO not give it to other people. 3)If the green beans does not sprout, place it at somewhere with light, even after 3 days you can still add water, make sure it grows. Can throw it away after one week Do not sweep the floor on the three days of placement. For example, if placed on Saturday, only sweep the floor after Monday i.e. from next Tuesday onwards ONLY. Return only after 3 days. After 3 days, bring a big plastic. We open the door again and discard the fruits beside a tree, left 1 pineapple at main door

Hi future neighbour!!

The reason why i started to create this thread at this timing is because some of the brookers have started to collect keys for their new flats (Hope we can collect the keys for our new house asap, in time to get our new house ready before our Big Day on 11th Oct 2015). So thought this might be a good time to list down and contribute back to the forum after learning so much stuffs from other who had put in effort and created their own thread. Wrote in to HDB recently and got a reply stating that HDB is unable to accede to our request for key collection in Mid June 2015 as our flat is not ready for key collection yet (Probable Completion Date (PCD) is 3rd Quarter 2015). Nevertheless, HDB have taken note of our request for early key collection and will include us in the first few batches to collect keys after the flat is ready for key collection. Had started searching for ID during Mid 2013 as my wishful thinking that maybe our project (Waterway Brooks) can be ready in Mid 2014. (Also partly due to the fact that friends around me are collecting keys to their flats one year before their PCD, so the Kaisu element in me kicked in and there goes the search for ID). The following are the few ID which we approach: 1) Ch** Interior Design - walked into their showroom at The Furniture Mall during Mid 2013 and was told by a senior staff (forgotten his name) that it's too early and told us to come back next year (2014) 2) Dar*** Interior Design - walked into their main showroom at Bendemeer Road during Mid 2013, got a bad impression on their workmanship as there were "creaking" sound when wardrobes are open (Thought that even their showroom which is build to show to potential customers are of poor quality, wouldn't the projects done by them be worst off?). So we walked out without talking to any of the staffs in the showroom. 3) No***W*** Interior Design - walked into their showroom at Macpherson during 3rd Quarter 2013, sat down with Vincent for an hour as he showed interest to talk to us even though he knew the PDC for our flat is 3rd Quarter 2015. He did some quick intro of materials used for table tops and the chemistry was not bad. Took his name card and told him that we will call/msg him to arrange for a 2nd meetup for further discussion. 4) Im*** Cre***** De**** Pte Ltd - stopped by their booth in expo exhibition hall and was offered to sit down with one of their interior designers (forgotten his name). As we were not prepared and did not bring our floorplan, discussion was done by using my iPad (displaying our floorplan). Chemistry was good, he showcased some of the projects handled by him and was impressed by sketches drawn by him on the spot for illustrations. But was turned off after we discovered that we will need to pay a fee (forgotten about the amount, not sure if it was $1K or $2K) if we are interested to have another session with him. He mention that the fee paid can be part of the renovation cost but i was thinking if i really pay the fee, i must choose him as our ID if not our hard earned money will be wasted, go down the drain. 4) Re** & Re*** - stopped by their booth in expo exhibition hall and was being guided by a staff (T***) showing casing a mock up kitchen cabinets. Sat down with him and he offered to help us print out our flat layout (was impressed by the fact that they had a printer standby to help customers like me to print out flat layout). Didn't not have a good impression of the staff (T***) as he feels and sounded like a newbie (after we gain some experience talking to other different designers from different ID firms). Nevertheless, we fixed a appointment with him on the spot as he wanted to propose the layout of furniture, concept of design to us based on our preferences provided to him. Time flies and the date of the appointment came (about one week later), we were a bit taken back when we saw that there was going to be an staff (Xav***) talking to us, Xav*** introduced himself as a senior designer and he will be presenting the proposal together with T*** as this is what they usually do (tag team consisting of a senior designer and a newbie which just joined). Anyway, the rest are all history and i shall not bored you all with all the details, We had chose Re** & Re*** as the ID for our new flat after paying a 20% deposit during the appointment. P.S. If we are able to go back to the past, maybe I should not be "sales talked" into paying the 20% deposit during the appointment (tempted by the discount given and only valid for the day) and done more comparison of quotes by different IDs as we did not get the chance to compare quotes by other IDs (Quotation by Re** & Re*** was the only quote which we got). But all that is history and i can only cross my finger and pray i made the right choice. Luckily all my prayers sort of come true as all the experiences which we had from all the appointments we got since Sep 2013 were not too bad (not perfect as there are still rooms for improvement). All the show flats, open house which we visited are done with good workmanship. However, the final verdict will only come when they start to perform the "magical transformation" for our new flat.

Zenterra is Andrew's electrician. if you search here, heard the review quite good abt them as well. they don't only do Andrew's projects lah. But i didn't use them cos their quote to me was higher than Ah soon. maybe cos andrew get a commission mah... and he was ok for me to use others. maybe he already earn enough % from my reno. hahahaah... both of you makes me really want to see the 3D leh. battle, pls email to me? i pm you my email?