Yenming

Thanks. We also hope it'll turn out well. Our renovation is estimated to complete in another 2-3 weeks. So most probably we will shift in after the hungry ghost festival. For our case, its a corner unit and lift is more than a few metres from our main door. So it is not necessary for us to install fire-rated door. I think if units are situated along the passage way, it is compulsory to have fire-rated door. Yup. also heard tt the fire-rated door is costly. Anyway, for more information, u can read up the below link from HDB. http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10205p.nsf/WP...te?OpenDocument

Thanks, Jessie. We also lup it at first sight. It can also be used for dining light thou we intended to use it for our bedrooms. You can visit Hylite Deco @ Jurong East Blk 353 if you want to buy for your own place!

Purchase of Lights It has been a tiring weekend, searching for our dream hse lights. Did a research of which are the popular & recommended lighting shops from sgbrides forum. Jln Bersar & Balestier shops are highly recommended by most of the forumers. Recommended Shops DIY Lightings @ Jln Bersar Lumiere's Lightings Lights Arcade @ Belastier (Good & Bad comments) Vlux Light House @ Balestier (Price Good but shifted location to ??) A Lighting @ Geylang Lights D Shop @ Jln Bersar Chelsea (Recommended by Johnny which has good quality) Think Twice Before U Shop 3T @ Veersamy Rd S'pore Lighting Mart @ Balestier DK Lightings @ Geylang Strass / Palace of Lights @ Balestier E-lite Illumination @ Jln Bersar We did patronised almost all shops in these areas few months back. But we were rather shocked by the prices quoted & at the same time disappointed. Almost all the lighting shops in these areas are selling lights which can be found in the next shop or next next shop. Only one of the lights catch our attention as per below:- Its actually a clear crack glass. So far, only managed to see it selling in Light Makers @ Jln Bersar. Salesman quoted us at $125. But we din commit since its still early to confirm as we have not started our renovation back then. We took his namecard with model number indicated by him tog with the price. 2 months later, finally, its time to buy our lights and deliver by 7/Aug as confirmed by Johnny. We went Jln Bersar, hoping to find our dream lights. We are required to buy the below lights:- 8 PLC Lights (Silver, 18W, 2 Tubes) 21 Flourescent Tube (4ft & 3ft loose) 2 Kitchen Lights (covered) 4 Bedroom Lights (2 for MBR & 2 for the rest) 2 Toilet Lights (waterproof) Budget: $1K Sat - Jln Bersar The start of our journey began at Jln Bersar. We walked the whole street, entering all shops tt we managed to pass by in the hope of finding our desired light. But too bad, we din manage to see any for our bedrooms. We passed by Light Makers again. This time round, we did not see the clear crack glass light anymore. One of the salesgal (e only person there) approached us. (Just for yr information, she's smoking happily in the shop! OMG!). We asked for the light. Its out of stock & next shipment will only be arriving on 13/Aug which is not able to meet our installation date. We intended to have the same light for all 3 Bedrooms. But this is not the point, we asked for quotation of the light (in case we can negotiate with Johnny to delay installation date). The first quote is $220!!!! She managed to give discounted price @ $180. Isnt it funny?? 2 months back, Light Makers offered $125. Now they are offering $180. I din bring the previous namecard along. So we cant verify on e spot w/o any evidence. But we tried to negotiate tt its not possible since we got a good price previously. She argued tt her colleague may have quoted the wrong price to us. Its ok. We dont wish to make any further comments. We walked out. I shall verify again on tt nite wif e namecard. Anyway, we are sure tt the light can be sold at less than $90 as we saw it at Pan Tech @ Jurong East. But its only display set tt was left. Since we need 3 exactly same light, we only managed to find 1. We have already intended to go back to tt place to purchase it if we are not able 2 buy new set. Even if we do so, we are stil short of 2 more. In conclusion, we did not buy any lights on Sat. Was quite panic as we r running out of time already. Sun - Balestier We continue our search for lights. This time round, we started quite early. Left home by 10am. Went back to our place for some photo takings before gg to Balestier. Again, we walked the whole streets. Luck is not with us for these 2 days, its either tt the lights are too expensive or they are out of stock & shipment will only arr after our installation date. To cut short, we managed to find the same light in the below shops:- Designers Lightings (Quoted $165 ; Stock available) Lighting Bug (Quoted $90 ; Out of Stock ; Shipment In on 20Aug) Edison Lightings (Quoted $60 ;exactly same design, but one size smaller, we bought it for 1 of MBR lights) Overwhelmed by fear of not able to purchase any lights within the tight schedule, we decided to purchase the display set in Lighting Bug & Edison Lightings. Staff were helpful in helping us do all the packing & also kind enuff to change the light holder for us. Even managed to provide further discounted rate from $90 to $80 and from $60 to $40 since both are display sets. Finally, we had one big & one small for our MBR. But the sad part is we need to cash & carry back the lights with our Bike!! We are still short of 2 now. No choice, we have decided to go back to Pan Tech at Jurong East to purchase the display set and all the balance PLC etc too. (it seems tt almost all our bedrooms lightings are display sets; . Upon arrival at Pan Tech, the salesman was entertaining another customer, we walked around in the next shop, Hylite Deco. This shop is also recommended by sgbrides forum (but not many of them knows about this shop). And its always "CLOSED" when we passed by a few weeks back. This time round, its OPEN. We try our luck again. We entered and immediately two ceiling lights capture our attention!! As per below:- We called it the Olympics Light. Actually, it has red & silver types - coloured ring. But I think silver will match our MBR better thou red is nicer. We shall use the earlier crack glass light for sis-in-law room & we'll get tis light for ourselves. We called it the CD Light. The two bulbs are circled by orange cup. Looks special n we din see it any Jln Bersar or Balestier shops. Immediately, both of us decided to buy for our Orange Room. The most annoying part was we saw exactly the same clear crack glass hanging light and the friendly lady, Anthea told us tt they have many stock. We bought display set previously & if we had came here earlier, we do not need to buy display set & carry all the way. Just for ur information, its also selling at $90. We breathed hard and our hearts sink.. Finally,we decided to ask her for assistance in offering us all the PLC, Flourescent Tube, Kitchen, Storeroom, Toilet lights etc. We told her we only had $1K budget. She calculated and her reply is OK! Deal! We were shocked! We expected the price to shot up because the above two ceilings exceeded our budget for bedroom lights. She's also kind to offer us FOC reserves bulb & tube for the ceiling lights as we are afraid tt they may not be available in the market after several years. But she assured us tt widely available... To give us the assurance, she just throw in FOC for us lah... Great! She even throw in the wireless doorbell when we requested... We deeply appreciated her help, patience and effort to squeeze in all items which meets our budget. The best part is she also offer to help us deliver our crack glass light which were bought earlier of the day to save us fr the trouble. Other than that, she also assured us tt she'll deliver promptly and items were not be left out on the day of delivery. I hope she'll keep her words. At the end of the day, "relieved" is the feeling. We managed to keep within our budget and yet not compromising on the quality of the bulbs & ballast.

Installation of Doors Great! Finally, we had new doors. Our 20-yr old doors can finally take a rest after safeguarding the family from theft etc. So now its our new doors responsibility to assume this role. We paid additional to upgrade from hollow veneer to solid veneer doors as we are afraid of ants residing in the hollow doors forming their own troops to conquer our dream hse. Not sure how much it is. But Johnny mentioned, not expensive, only a few tens... (cross my fingers, i hope its nt too ex) Bedrooms doors will be painted in black & grey colours which shd be able to blend in well with our colour themes. Hubby proposed to have the doors painted with a cross sign in black with grey as background colour. However, Johnny checked and said tt the lever is very close to the sides of the doors. So effect may not be as nice as we want it to be. Nevertheless, he proposed to paint 1/3 in black and the rest in grey. I think its nt a bad idea. so we agreed. We will be hunting for lights again tomorrow. Have been hunting n searching for nice looking lights at Jln Bersar but in vain. Hope we r able to find our dream lights tomorrow.

False Celings & L-Box False celings fabrication is completing soon... Worker came to touch up earlier. I guessed it will be completed by tomorrow.. Our Bedhead As per designed, our bedhead is unique. The open spaced square area is meant for us to place our alarm clock & misc items. But another creative idea from Johnny to have lights inside the bedhead shining towards the top wall. Take a closer look at the bedhead, theres's actually wires hanging out. Its meant for flourescent tube. We will be having 2, 3ft flourescent tubes. It will be covered up with clear glass. Very excited over this. Hope it will turn out well.

Hi, congrats! i think e journey in getting a flat is getting tougher with imbalance of demand & supply of flats.. me too also a long n tedious journey... hubby asked if ur hse is near BBDC? cos we went there before while searching for resale flats. starting your renovation soon?

ic.. my breakfast counter also have bottom cabinets but its narrower (only 40cm/cabinet). but still wondering if its sufficient. my reno still in progress.. carpentry shd be completed in 2 weeks time. anyway, hope to c more pics coming up too!

Thanks... will take note.. n check out if there is any colours tt suit my place.

Hi Cherry, We are nt very sure how long it takes.. For your case, u complete within a day??? But workers did not fabricate according to ID's instructions. Hence, they tore down the whole balcony false celings & pending for re-do. Also, ID proposed to add some lighting points behind our bedhead. So, we need to wait for electricians to complete before commencing on the false ceilings... And good news, hubby went back to our place during lunch. He said tt there are workers. They are working on our false ceilings... Happy.

Hi Kittygal, Same here. My hubby lup ur sofa. classic & modern. Can I know where did you you buy it ? And wat's the price range?

hehe.. i'm referring to the fried egg/... how much & at where did you buy it?

Yup. I totally agreed wif wat Bun Bun has mentioned.. Hold back to the final payment. My neighbour also did that when his ID refused to solve their problems. His ID even issue legal letter to sue my neighbour for not paying. Even he did that, my neighbour did not give in either... Finally, the case ended with both parties fulfilling wat was written in the contract.. Hence, I believe you are still given a choice now to salvage your problems.

Have been visiting our place... not much progress.. electricians did not come to our place today. fabrication of false ceilings & L-Box still half-way thru. have been pending for more than 1 week... cant wait for them to finish their work. If there is no delays, painting work should commence on thurs.. but judging from the progress, I doubt so....

Hi, me also considering to buy from Kong Tai for washing machine - @ $750 . compared with other shops, so far they are offering the best prices. Read from this forum, reviews not bad. I planned to get TV from them too. But went IT fair and they r offering the same prices yet more perks. so ended up buying frm harvey norman.

wow... its really amazing! 100% transformation of your place.. Ur DIY skills is great! Btw, where did u bought the sunny light?? nice.

Hi ranger79, Me too!! also cant wait to c the final dream hse of mine.. I have been waiting patiently for more than a month. I lup ur kitchen the most!! Btw, u r having an open concept kitchen? Can i know how many bottom & top cabinets u have in total? From 3D drawing to actual measurement of carpentry, ID told us that the actual number of cabinets would be reduced.. so me quite upset over it. storage area reduction! i posted my 3D drawings in my blog below. Pls advise me if the number of cabinets will be sufficient...

Wardrobe Compartment Design Managed to use microsoft excel to draw my wardrobe compartments. Anyway, I think the compartments are not sufficient for me who has a lot alot of clothes... since we only managed to squeeze only a 9ft wardrobe in our MBR. Perhaps, the study room will be used to keep those items which are not frequently used. Bought trousers hanger @ $29/piece & pull-out drawer basket @ $12/piece from Ikea. However, Johnny said tt if insisted to use the trouser hanger & pull-out drawer basket, we have to change the 4 sliding doors to 3. And the tinted mirror on e wardrobe (as shown in my previous postings) may nt look nice which 3 sliding doors only. Smaller-squared mirror looks better than rectangular type. so we gave tt idea up. Finally, we gave our trousers hanger to our sis-in-law. of cos foc lah...

Thanks for the contact. But I have actually asked my ID to include in my drawers already.. If I told them i 'll buy it for them to install, then mayb not so nice liaoz... c how lor, perhaps we will ask him again during the final bill. May b can negotiate for discount la. hehehe ... anyway, i'll keep ur contacts so i'll be able to confirm the actual cost of the blum system.

Yup. I was also thinking u can use a combination of black & white vanishing paint for the cabinets doors. Top cabinet black & bottom cabinet white. I also use black & white for my tv console. It will definitely give the console a new look!!

hi gosaldar, wow... can c tt u really put in effort to do ur renovation phase by phase.. I also din took up any renovation loan. The tot of the high interest rate put-me off. We also prefer to pay by cash. But its really stress, afraid of making wrong decision & our effort goes into the drain. We also din like to compromise on the quality. so we make sure tt our place will be defects free before we shift in. My renovation is still on going. but so far, we managed to solve all problems and ID is also prompt in getting tiler to replace any defects. But now I'm facing problems for my kitchen cabinets.. Moreover its a no-choice thing tt we have to compromise due to insufficient space... Headache.. So now instead of sourcing for sofa, I'm actually searching for pics of kitchen from other forumers... Heehee. Btw, I read up from this forum. S&C Furniture is also quite popular... U can also drop by at their showroom to take a look at their sofa. I think its at AMK.

Hi enz, I think you should insist to your contractor to change the tiles for u... For me, we also faced similar problem before. But ours are not related to drilling.. Basically, tiler did not check carefully and we discovered tt two pieces of the tiles colour tone were slightly dimmer than the others. we asked ID to ask tiler to change it. Tiler claimed tt it'll affect the surrounding tiles... but ID & us insisted as it really looks ugly. So finally, they replaced the tiles for us.. no prob so far. tiles not affected. I guess it also depends on tiler skills. IMO, if we do not insist to change, then we live to regret n grumble over any imperfections in future. I'm facing problems over my kitchen & you'r facing problems over your toilets.. Renovations is all abt problems? Stress man...

Wow.. Your dad must hav put in a lot of effort for his hse last time. Though it looks antique nw, but I guess back to those days, wooden TV console made was quite popular.. Pls post more pics!! Hope to c the pics of mosiac top for shoe cabinets.. special!! How abt kitchen? No DIY? I'm reading up on kitchen now.. faced problems with my design for kitchen!

Hi Porkpig, IC. But I was wondering how much will my whole place cost after including the Blum. According to ID, their standard charge is $10/hinges&stopper. Guess it includes their labour, installation fee. But for drawers, they quoted ard $100each... so it was quite expensive... I would like to know if anyone has include the anti-slam for drawer as well. Hi LittleDevil, I think your ID has given a good price.. Mine is not so cheap ler. But we haven really settle on the actual cost. Verbally, he told us is ard $10stopper& hinges.

Hi Baguana, May I know how much you did your curtains for the whole place? I luv your living rooms curtains. Classic & Modern.

Congrats! Guess u mus be quite excited now... Your place before renovation looks antique just like mine. R u doing a major overhaul?? and who's ur ID?