adrian_john

Ahahahaa ... sure, thanks. But if you all don't wish to die from food poisoning, I think its better I don't go anywhere close to making pastry or food!

Yup. I've confirmed him as the contractor for my reno. I'm very grateful to him for helping me out. I guess it'll be easier on the Wife if I'm not around to follow up. I'm also very grateful to you guys too. I'm sure since you guys spoke with him about me, it led him to think of ways on how he could accomodate me.

Hi All. Just to add the latest sketch of the Study/Utility Room. Haven't really got plans for this room, except perhaps it'll be like a spare room where I hope to have a workstation, and also will use it as the general utility room, where we'll do the ironing and also possibly use as a guest room if ever required. A couple of our existing relatively new Ikea furniture will be transplanted here and serve as storage. There's still space at the corner of the room near the door .. not sure if I should just leave it empty for a sofa bed for now, or perhaps fit a full height storage cabinet/wardrobe there if budget permits. Please do feel free to share any layout ideas for this room. I'm quite clueless with this one!

Hey PJ, The facial room's looking good! Also, I'd like to wish you Happy Birthday (albeit slightly belated!) too! Glad to hear you had a nice, warm surprise celebration at home.

@Rondy, PJ and Angel, Yes, after all the up and down roller coaster ride, we're really glad that Mr Yeak decided to give us all a chance and take up our Reno job. Guess that makes me officially a new Yeaker.

Perhaps I could shed some light about the way how Uncle works out his finances based on my most recent meeting with him. As Mrspiglet has shared, I believe Uncle is a highly principled man full of integrity and he really works alot based on trust with both his potential and confirmed customers. When I met him, I actually shared with him on my own cash-flow situation as in I will only receive the sales proceeds upon the completion of the sale of my existing flat, which will be after the reno is completed. Thus, I asked if he would be comfortable with me working on the arrangement where I'd give him like a round figure should I confirm with him, and pay him the remaining after the completion of the reno and receipt of the sales proceeds. I think what's good about Uncle is that he was very nice and kind enough to be willing to work on this arrangement where I could perhaps give him an amount I was OK to give, and even was concerned enough to ask me to make sure that I have enough to buy the other necessities such as Air-con, Toilet Accessories etc. My wife and I were really very moved by his sincerity, and asked him why he's OK to do so, and what if people run and don't pay how? Uncle just very matter of factly said that he just trusts people and will do his job to make his customers happy with their reno, and believes in trust and integrity. To him, if people really 'tua' him, then it's really sad, he also said bo pian. Such people are a rare gem in today's world where there are many people out to cheat, who are mercenary and totally unscruplous. I do hope for Uncle's sake that he has someone to help him manage his financials well too and that people do not ever take advantage of him.

Hey Gaku, No worries. Just sharing what I've learnt from my previous (rather bad) reno experience and what others in the line have taught me. I just hope my description of the sounds don't sound funny! Ahahaha .. even I'm laughing at it myself! My previous tilers were very good sub-cons on the overall and the tiling work for the whole house was really good. But despite that, there were 3 60X60 tiles at a bedroom entrance that was hollow. As we had a lot of problems with the contractor, we just decided to live with it since its only 3 tiles.

Hi Gaku, Hope everything's getting better. Hang in there man, hope everything gets settled soon then you can have a well-deserved break and recuperate.

Pet, In this T-blog on page 11, post #403, I was sharing with Gaku on a particular tool that is used to detect hollow tiles. when you drag the tool, the sound is like a dragging sound that is quite 'solid' like a eeeeeeeeee tone, but when you go over a hollow tile, the sound will clearly change to one that goes a deeper orrrrrrrrr tone which points out the hollow tile. I guess if you do the tapping or knocking its the solid 'tock tock tock' sound vs the hollow 'took took took' sound. Hope the above sound effects help ..ahahahahhaa!

Hi All, Thanks for the feedback. The SGBrides thread is really comprehensive. Seems that so Electrolux is quite a popular choice amongst users and Brandt is also not a bad brand to consider. The model I'm looking at is the EWF1495 for the Washing Machine and EDE36150W for the Dryer. There's an offer at $999 and $529 respectively for the above with $150 free Cold Storage vouchers. Anyone has bought and used these models lately?

I seriously think that even before the renovation has started, there has been a number interesting twist and turns. In the latest episode, Mr Yeak gave me a call again and shared with me that he did a lot of thinking and said he decided to take up my reno job in the end. He was very nice in a sense that he apologised for not giving us a chance to work things out earlier, but I didn't think he needed to anyhow. I guess we're quite relieved that the contractor bit has been settled and now everything has kinda fallen into place and we can look forward to the start of the reno. Despite there being many bad experiences cited by others when scouting for an ID/Contractor, I am thankful to the big man up there that it has really been a blessing for me and my wife to have met alot of nice people in the process of the ID/Contractor search. The only thing I feel a little sad and bad about it that I'll have to reject Uncle and the other IDs, who have been very nice. I'll share my feedback and experiences on the various IDs I've met in my next post. Off to MY for a quick few-hours turnaround trip.

Hi Everyone, Am considering changing my current top-load washer to a front load washer and get a dryer as well for my new place. Been looking around and so far, it seems that Electrolux and Bosch have pretty good bundle deals for the above, but somehow Electrolux seems to be the better/more popular choice amongst most people I know or have asked. As such, I'd like to ask around for any feedback (both positive and negative) from existing users or Electrolux Washers and Dryers. All feedback is kindly appreciated. Or are there other brands worth considering? Thanks in advance.

Spoiltbabe: My sincere condolences to you and your family for the loss of your beloved Father-in-Law. Take good care and may you soon find joy for the good things that are coming your way.

A positive piece of news amidst this roller coaster week. Ah Soon's Airbus is finally found. Uncle initially called and said he'd pop by my place at 7pm yesterday, but he didn't show up until 1040pm, after having a late dinner. I think he was sorting out stuff at F4's place. When he didn't show at 830pm, I called him and he said he'd come but when didn't hear anything by about 940, I kinda accepted that he fly me aeroplane, but surprisingly, he called me at about 1010pm, luckily caught me just in time because I was almost gonna head out to JB. We managed to discuss the quote, which was really reasonable and fits our budget very well - Only thing he left out was the pricing for the Supply and Laying of the Living/Dining and Bedroom Flooring, which he gave me on the spot earlier today when I called him to check. Am relieved and pleased that I finally managed to get his quote and now we can get things moving along once again.

@Pet Yup. We had to stretch the 2nd appointment to the maximum time of 8 weeks so as to accomodate our seller's moving out on 25 July. Much as we'd hope for it to be earlier, but in a way, we're also glad that the seller's new place was readily available for early movie in and that they didn't ask for further extension of completion as they took a very long time to get their new place. Thanks for your suggestions for the MBR bathroom. Yes, will definitely try to do those niche-type shelves for that feel. I'm now just wondering how much more extra gotta pump in for the tiles ... Haiz...

Heya Gaku, Been reading through your blog and the incidents that happened over the past few weeks. Hope everything's worked out well for you so far this week. Regarding the hollow tiles, there's one thing you could probably do to have a more accurate check through. Most hardware/building materials store sell this tool, which is essentially a long metal rod with a metal ball at the end of it, coupled with a wooden handle. What you do is you use this tool and roll the ball along the floor, like how you would in mopping and listen to the sound. If the tiles are hollow, the sound emitted is very obvious. When I was doing the reno of my current place 5 years ago and had a bad contractor, an ex-colleague of mine was nice enough to loan me one of these and taught me how to use it. Its very useful and helps you pin-point the hollow tiles very easily and quickly. On the topic of getting boxes for packing, I usually go down to the NTUC near my place and ask the Uncle and Aunty sorting out the carton boxes to spare me a few. Usually, if you ask nicely, they are more than happy to give it to you. I suppose if your place is near Ikea/Giant, you could try there. Hope these help, and hope the handover happens soon and works out fine.

Thanks everyone - Angel, Rondy, Guy77, Kthc, PJ for the nice words and encouragement. Definitely, there always will be silver lining in dark clouds. Angel and Blue Diamond really give good insights to Chinese history which I never really knew, despite studying it quite intensely during Uni days.

Greetings StormControl. Was really nice reading your T-blog and your heartwarming introduction. Congrats on your ROM and also getting a very nice place in the heart of Toa Payoh. From your view, I reckon you must've been one of the lucky ones to get a place in the Block 79 cluster. The views for those blocks at the high floors are really fantastic. Sometimes, me and my wife or best buddies just like to go up and enjoy the view and chat, even though we don't live there. Glad to see your reno's progressing well. Looking forward to more updates!

Thanks again for your insights. Yup, I'm on SSOG, but I don't drive a Stream though, I drive an Odyssey, like the SSOG boss.

@Rondy Yup, I already did SMS him to perhaps share with me if he has any logistical problem, and if needs extra time, just to let me know what his requirements are, then I can at least try to speak to my buyer to negotiate for perhaps another 2 weeks extra, which will give him some extra breathing space. In fact, on seeing Preciousjam's place and seeing how efficiently he works, I have confidence that the 8 weeks is more than enough for him. If things could work out, its win-win for him and me. My buyers seem like pretty OK people so I guess can still try talking to them. However, both Yeak and myself never had that chance to iron things out as he didn't give us a chance to talk. This is what we're more disappointed about. @Roamca Once again my apologies for occupying your T-blog space. Good to know the LS issue is settled and you can have more peace of mind. Yup, although the disappointment is there, we shall look forward and see how things pan out. Life is always full of surprises and more often than not, I suppose things happen for a reason and may in a sense be a blessing in disguise.

Heya Rondy, Thanks for your thoughts. I definitely understand that Yeak works with one set of workers and he needs to spread out his logistics well to do a good job and was hoping to discuss with him on how we could work things out. Unfortunately, we never got a chance to have this opportunity to discuss.

Can understand that. My current MBR toilet's the same layout and size as yours. I had a hard time finding a bowl/basin to fit in the space between shower screen and toilet bowl. But you've done really great to make it look really stylish and cosy.

Firstly, my apologies to Roamca, for taking up some space in your t-blog. Pet, Preciousjam and Angel: Yes, it has been a roller coaster indeed. And it couldn't have come at a 'better' time when work is getting to me, wifey and the onset of other domestic issues pertaining to moving to the new place. Well, I guess with what's happend, perhaps its perhaps 'fated' then for us to go with Uncle Ah Soon for our reno since the shortlist we had narrowed down to was either Uncle or Yeak. It was a really tough decision for us to make in a sense as both Uncle and Yeak are probably the nicest, most sincere and dedicated contractors one can get for their homes. I was really very torn between both and couldn't reach a conclusion, but eventually, my wife shared and advised me to pick Yeak since Uncle hadn't got back to us after so long and she was afraid that Uncle would be swamped and this may affect her as there may be times where I may be away and hence, she may not be able to apply leave to see to things or know what to look out for when I'm not around. I know Mr Yeak did have a big think through about undertaking my job, and I respect him for it. He mentioned that in his SMSes to me, and I think he really must've thought through it very hard because he SMSed me at 229am in the morning. I was just seriously thinking that perhaps if Mr Yeak did give us a chance to speak and have a talk through the logistical issues, we would still be able to sort things - As in, I could perhaps negotiate for extension of handover with my buyer and all that. I just find it wasted that we never had a chance in this regard. For me, I'm always an optimist so I never believe that there is an impossible situation or anything that can't be worked out. Oh well, I've still yet to be able to meet Uncle, we were supposed to meet Tuesday, then yesterday but unfortunately I think Uncle's Airbus lost its way and now its up to Adrian's SAR (Search and Rescue) to find him and get him back to meet me. Ahahahhaa ...

Wah, this side of uncle sounds really fierce! But I guess it is necessary considering the many different types of people he has to deal with. Very unlike his soft, caring, and always smiling fatherly image we always see him in.

Agreed. Very nice and cosy toilet. An ID once told me, sometimes it pays to spend abit more and make a nice toilet cos' its technically the first place you go to after you get up, so you wanna start your day on a bright and happy note.