ne0mesis

ha, noted. no worries.. is tough to get me offended. but to a certain extend, i agree with you that reno contractors may not use the best materials. but i suppose not all eh. there are exceptions. i try to hope mine is one. ha tat bad? i was thinking the smell could be contained better than pot or wok.

start of a new week. hoped everyone had a blasted weekend ya! weekend spent investing in novita ss19 garment steamer and almost wanna blast the appliance into oblivion when i first tried it yesterday night! aggghh.. d a m n uncleish (which is really taking in shape, form and all) but maybe gotta go down to see the salesperson to demo the steaming. tot steaming it should be a piece of cake lei! get it? get it? steaming.. cake... ?? ahh.. nevermind that. haha replying all.. neat freak! haha yea, this forum does serve some serious inspiration. seemingly, there are some spots that jus doesnt go away if u look closely enough. at least, that's what happening to mine. gd that your stains are easily removed! hi there fellow EAnians as i call it. ha am really humbled that my reno has served as a inspiration for you really exciting times ahead for you and your better half and i cant say this enough each time someone is starting their reno my bad. is long overdue that i should share this info with everyone but jus wanna pen it down here in a proper entry. no worries, notes on id selection and cost wise are definitely work in progress. for now, i will drop you a pm regarding the reno cost ya. hope it helps! deep frying strictly available at parents' place only. ha but maybe i should invest in a fryer eh? erm... am i reading correctly? as in my white solid top is of crappy material? sounds rude. yea, definitely enjoying the place amidst upholding the strict housekeeping regime. ha it can really be a pain in the donkey. get what i mean? but for what it's worth aesthetically ya

THE DAY THE CURTAINS ARE DRAWN not to an end of something, actually is a start cause the curtains are new! not end, but a start to something. get it? get it? ahh.. nevermind that. a few gatherings at the new place already and the curtain topic is always on everyone's lips. "you mean no curtains at your place ah?" to that, my well rehearsed short answer is as split fast as it meant otherwise, "ah, is cumming." truth is.. there is certain truth that we procrastinated a little, but the big truth is that we rather an item by an item, project by project, rather than rushing out to buy all to satisfy everyone. to quote Paul Arden, "there is much much bigger demand for mediocrity". ha, i retracked what i said. fine, we're procrastinators. but once we sat the motion going, the deed was concluded fast. we contacted 3 curtains player of which the very famous Mr Chew was one of them. but like many created heros here, they kind of became complacent i feel. Mr Chew on few occasions over the phone (as early as even before cny) told me he was busy, a very long cny break, retiring soon and the more ridiculous one? bukit panjang too far! huh? and so, i axed him out. to cut the story short and to share what matters most here; we settled with the same contractor who did our mbr wallpaper, and went for curtains in living and mbr and blinds for the rooms. for living room, our soft-spoken contractor opined to help us with some cost savings and suggested that we give the night curtain a miss. just go for a day curtain he said, claiming that at times the night curtain is just white elephant. we thought since is the living room and public display of human anatomy is not our forte, heck why not. so the typical capricorns and virgo at play, so we flipped pages and pages of materials, books after books to find something that is; complimentary to the sofa, rug and tv backdrop (since they're the stronger colors in the living rm), not too obstentious and glaring (the curtain must not be the limelight we insist), but neither all white per se (otherwise the look would be too bland and flat which i always felt), and in need some texture since the lack of night curtain (the house badly need more lines and texture)... in the end, we got this; on closer look (stripes of black, grey and transparent giving a simple yet endearing texture); as for the rooms, the thing about roman blinds (which my wife wanted it badly initially) as shared by my curtain contactor, the system is very hard to maintain esp installing back if its removed for a clean. is like pricier but not worth the trouble. am not sure how much truth is there but perhaps forum mates can point out. so blinds we went and we liked the texture and colors we chosen, considering the rooms are of very light grey; on closer look (is actually shimmering but i just can't seem to capture that) on seconds thoughts, hey i could have opted for another color blinds and double up this as my projection screen for my miserable entertainment room! form and function combined! my fav! hmm..... ideas, ideas... mbr was tricky as there was a certain mood we were going after and seemingly, i'm loss for a word to it for now. d a m n it. for a start there are simple wooden furnitures at the side of the bed; boroque wallpaper and a meek chandelier, so the night curtain had to be right. we found one at a risk of seeing a little greenish at time but after driving down to make our id had a look (which he without hesitation obliged to our request), we were more assured. alas, stock is not arriving till end of this month. so for now, the mbr looks like this afternote: mbr night curtain arrived and can be found here with that, the curtains are drawn. i meant theatractically now. really, an end - end of my curtain topic. get it? get it? ahh.. nevermind that.

you, you with that xzqt! that arty Fontana Arte Floor Lamp. ooo, thank you for your compliments. can't wait to see yours too sure, just steaming the food only i hope? otherwise, she would flatly say no. haha. just kidding. i tried stir-frying, pasta cooking, dessert soup, grilling with the oven etc and is pretty alright for now. jus clean immediately after cooking cause staining on the white solid top is at neck-breaking speed! slight tedious but oh well.. good house keeping habits. right?

thank you, thank you! kind words coming from you, we're deeply honored. given another chance, i would go for a darker prints for the wallpaper as i find it a tad reflective and short on the details. for now, is still serving us well though. we hear that a few times regarding having an open wiw. as one's wiw can never be as sleek and uniform as seen in boutique cause of the dazzling colors we have. but grouping the same colors together seems to help, albeit a little only. and yes, we do not allow a mismatching hanger in the wiw (we bought horrendously a lot at one shot) and painfully drilled ourselves to all hung the same way. well, a big bulk of clothes are still at parents' place. and they're already breathing down our necks to move the clothes out! ha. 8 wardrobes?? very apt for 1 carslberg commercial, or more!

ermm.. not sure i'm wrong where, correct where but oh well, nevermind... hahaha

man.. i really have been missing out lots while i was away from RT for my wedding and what nots. finally done reading up your blog and what a journey! hope justice can be done man and yes, pay no money for that donkey (i'm jus being polite here)! hang in there and meanwhile, trust the law of attraction; focus on the end result - that you're house is gonna be d a r n nice! and it is. it really is. look at your selections! they're awesome! i really like xzqt! in fact, was at xzqt at pandan (think is cheaper there) a few times and was close to selecting a sofa. alas, we spotted a sale at lifestorey and was love at first sight with our current sofa. balcony! yes, it really gives a gardeny relax mood! careful with the white pebbles though. i have some in a vase. for some reason, they turn black and brown d a r n easily. i'm assuming the white pebbles are all the same though. wall paper's texture is gd. but may i ask the RHS of the tv console with the vertical box is shelves eh? gd choice on MEGA. i bought all my appliances from there too! looking forward to see more of your house! esp the Fontana Arte Floor Lamp!

glad that the tips came in handy now that you really bought it. gee.. are the pictures taken from your greeneries outside?? wat a treat to view them at the comfort of your own house! am always hoping to handle a tree snake if there's a chance. they look so quiet and harmless.i had an close encounter with cobra before when i was serving national service in air force though. i had to run it down with my land rover since an aircraft was recovering and it was on the runway. we were pretty sure we ran it down but we just couldnt find the carcass anywhere. we were so freaking worried it's alive and creeped up the rover instead. had to make me check the rover upside down when i was back in base! na, it wasnt on the vehicle either. weird! i used comgateway before when it launch the promo with dbs card and it happened to be black friday. wife bought her bags and i bought house stuff too. the live chat service was good. suppose is always the case of which has cheaper shipping huh in any standard, that's huge! you're a lady right? with a monstrous 39' at the backseat? that's freakin scary gee.. the specs totally escape me but ask me john mayer? i sing like nobody's biz to "heartbreak warfare" everytime i hear it in the car!

i started the rt blog on a good note, penning down notes as my reno went along. so yea, is jus taking the time to put it online. must not procrastinate anymore. haha there's always a trade off huh. when i first got my ride, my-gf-then-now-wife always comment, "dont be a slave to the car and tire yourself out by keep washing it" likewise, think i must not be a slave to the house man.. so is true, just make it livable. but then standard differs, some like a pig sty also livable lei. haha oh well, no marble floor to give me the chill, so the cold cold bench suffice! haha any ikea chicken wings then? haha.. i dont mind going your place. i luv pussies! ok, tat jus sounded very very very very wrong. hahah

in this case, the patience is derived through the above equations. HA! yea, and very cold to sit too esp if the weather is cool! got 3 MUJI seat cushions for those sensitive butts. haha

welcome to RT! i read, "kitchen wall approved"? means to hack to do up an open kitchen? haha yr layout is very square which is good! if i may comment and budget allows, i will trim down the study room size and change the door entrance of the study to the balcony side. thus the kitchen entrance is much more open and allow a better play for an open kitchen. there's many recess areas under the windows which mean storage space is easily available. and is not a bomb shelter also.. i will go for the ultimate and hack down the store. haha.. cause i believe that really cuts down on clutter. but then, talk is easy. it has to be practical for you too. just my humble suggestions. all in all, like the space and layout you have! happy renoing!

another renovated gem spotted in renotalk! spotted the name and was wondering if it was related to the fan and indeed, it was! took some time to read up and i'm really really impressed with the careful designer selections, right down to the smallest items! you must had either one d a r n good id to tansform into this or otherwise, you really went deep thinkin for the house design i must say. or perhaps, the infusion of both had magnifested a truly magazine worthy house! well done, once again! yr comments about downlights like stars in a cloudy sky! i second to that totally. how's the sycamore fan doing up? it really piqued my interest when i first saw it but not sure of its performance due to lack of reviews. hope is serving you well, both function and form eh. did i miss out your kitchen? you set the motion going with all the designer selections, so i'm already imagining all the big names inside your kitchen. can't wait to see more of your posts!

well, i do wish it was slightly bigger when i am doing gatherings or parties at my place cause as mentioned, not too many big pots at one time. but perhaps, i'm jus being greedy for a bigger size. now that you are getting one, if you are planning to use the drainer and chop board that comes along with it as freebie, you must remind your carpentry again and again to give allowance at the sink edge i.e the edge of the drainer and chop board can rest on the sink edge. my id and i totally forgotten about it and in the end the solid top covered most of the sink edge and thus the drainer and chop board couldnt fit in. the drainer was ok to do without (ugly imho), but such a waste that the chop board couldnt fit in. also if yr id is gonna to do acid wash for u, ask them to clean the sink thoroughly after the acid wash. there are some spots that i found on the sink surface after the acid wash. so i'm guessing the culprit is the acidic wash. but that's jus assuming. lastly, is brand new and d a m n shiny and smooth. but it scratches quite easily. get soft sponge to wash yr stuff. i did the mistake of using those rougher ones and tried cleaning the sink as well. BIG MISTAKE! thankfully, it was bearable. one more point to add, water stain and marks can be quite an enemy if left untreated. i used my Polder dish drainer over the sink and thought it was ok to leave the marks unattended. in the end, there are some very tough marks to get rid off. OWLS? cool! i'm on the 4th flr and occasionally spotted some oriole and spotted doves perching on the branches. totally a joy to look at even though they are pretty common species! still, is better than sparrows and mynahs eh. btw, care to share where is this location. yea, forum mates been asking me to check out that section on HTS. tks for the heads up!

oh no, you're missing lots! there's deadly indian curry fish head too along the stretch too. just opposite mindef hey there... indeed, yes, there was quite a pause - wedding, buying items for the house, work, hoildays and before i know it, is MARCH! indeed, the island cum dining table has been quite a topic. really thankful it turned out exactly the way we want or if not, better. and wow, am honored to have a fan! haha indeed, there are no posting on my ID and reno cost, YET. and this is so awfully overdue! haha.. but am working on it, so watch out for this space, or this blog rather. i doubt there is any reno that does not run into any hiccups and mine is no exception. but thankfully, mine are minor minor like noise complaint by neighbours and not major major. so all in all, think my reno journey is smooth la. well, picky is good. i have my wife to thank for. if not for her laser sharp eyes, there are many intricate details left out not rectified. even my id was impressed or perhaps stresssed by her. haha hey, froggy, i remember you! nice to see you too! the last i remember, think your unit with marble flooring finished around the same time with me right? hope all is well with you ya! thank you for your kind words! but huge is making the housework double the effort lei! haha

all done up and moved in! curtains jus in too do drp by the tblog for a look. yr comment sure worth a thousand ones here. ha

thank you, thank you! true.. but on a brighter note, we adopted quite good house keeping habits to minimise the cleaning! ha hey hey.. is been awhile. hahah... tks for your sweeee words la. noticed yr house is completed too huh. likewise, may yr house be a happy one too!

my congrats. yea, busy but productive i must say looking forward to more pics then oh yes, sparkles, i spotted them. did i mention that i really like it a lot? ha tks for the heads up. surely a library for me. ha

took some time to read and catch up and boy am i so enlightened and elated at the same time after reading up your tblog! cause HTS, online shopping, art pieces are all areas that i'm looking into now for my house! totally rewarding spending the past 1 hour reading up! that's 3 exclamation nw, I'm really hyper. haha but i must say, yr unit is one of its kind! the original pics depict red bricks on the building facade and greeneries which exudes such vintage and rustic mood to it (really hope you are keeping the brick walls and not tiling over it). and boasting a staggering 1,527sqft - the balcony itself is enough to host a small gathering and the kitchen befitting to run a reality tv cooking series inside! though i must say the agreement with your id is quite unconventional but i suppose all is good and underway. jus gotta watch out for any hidden or exploding charges to the reno cost in the end. for landscape wise, giraffe is running a big fine zoo so that should be of good reference (last heard, she is not killing any more plants, so that's a relief). living room tiles seems a good match to the balcony tiles and compliments the brick walls i feel. think my wife (with all due respect, is a better color palette person than me) would comment it as more earth tone? btw, i got the elkay equal double bowl undermount sink. if you do parties and gatherings, i feel it was not big enough as not many pots can go in at one time for a wash. let me know if are still getting the elkay sink.. there are some donts that you should take note of. my HTS research goes as far as to consider Onkyo which many commented is a good entry for HTS (considering my small entertainment rm, i was toying with the idea of jus a sound bar and sub only). but reading up here, guess i can take the research further and decide again. very keen on a short throw projection in the room too. my online purchases have only so far to serve my wife's penchant for her bags and it was really awfully cheap. and it was only because of the card promo on shipping with comgateway that i decided to try online purchase. from there, i did make some cheap deals from OXO and Polder (dish drainer, but already spotted some rust). THE PAINTINGS! am so so gonna poison my wife to get it. my house prides on grey, white and stainless steel stuff and one of the paintings can sure go on to the white wall. perfecto! can't wait to see your unit's transformation. trust me, am gonna be a stalker to your tblog. ha!

tks. i love my kitchen when is on display. i loathe my kitchen when it comes to cleaning it! is a love hate relationship. ha saw yr layout. is it a proposed layout or you were just testing out the floorplanner? jus some pointers you may want to consider (in case you this layout is what you have in mind); 1. the current living rm tv is right next to balcony. may have some glare or reflection when watching tv since is so near to the window. so i suppose day and night curtain for living room is a must? 2. pool table is near to kitchen. does grease and smell stay on yr hubby's precious table? 3. make sure you're comfortable with the space on the bar island seating and the bomb shelter opening. otherwise, you have to move the bar stool away each time before getting to open the bomb shelter door fully. 4. having a good kitchen work triangle will make your work easier. for a L shape kitchen layout, consider to switch yr fridge and sink. i.e. try to have the sink in the middle of the fridge and hob. 5. imho, i will go with 1 bathtub only. given our lifestyle, bathtub showering seems so elusive! haha.. you wouldnt want to invest in a bathtub but realised is heavily under utilised ya. 6. wouldnt you want to switch the study and the mbr so that the mbr gets to enjoy the toilet? hope it helps!

am sure yr decision was after much deliberation, so go with it but boy am so glad you decide to widen the passage. nevertheless, no harm asking id the difference between doing up more carpentry works and what you have decided. who knows, is negligible? yeap, agree. provisions must b made to anticipate more staff down the road.

hey fellow EA, read up your tblog and is such a relief to hear they you had collected your key after all the money issues on the seller side. and yea, indeed thank your lucky stars that you have such professional property agents. your layout is really lovely! and how unique to have the round corner in yr mbr. can do miracles there if done correctly! was comparing yr few layouts and bearing in mind that there's 7 adults, space planning indeed, can b tricky. btw, is the last layout on 25 feb with a bedroom in mind near the kitchen? is for the maid i suppose? imho; i prefer the latest layout but perhaps with considerations with the following pointers; 1. yr very first layout initially had 4 rooms only right? without the maid's rm. i suppose u made provisions for the maid to bunk in in one of the rooms? with that, i will definitely prefer the latest layout without the maid's room (if i am assuming correctly that it is the one near the kitchen). thus, u have a much bigger kitchen work space. and bigger kitchen is better since you have so many of you all i.e more food, more cooking i suppose. 2. the room nearest to the main door. would be better if it can be smaller so you free up the walkway immediately after the main door. visually, it will really really do justice for a EA. otherwise, may feel tight and the impression is not as welcoming as a big open walkway. 3. is the store still there in the latest layout? if it's up to me to decide, no store means less clutter to store. tat way, u made sure u only store what you need and not anything and everything. no store also means that the living room is EVEN bigger. to compensate the loss of the store room, perhaps you can heart pain pain whack carpentry there (from floor to ceiling)and have lots and I mean LOTS of cabinets. 4. agree with january totally to share the toilet. and yea, i can imagine how visually enormous the place is going to be if u can consider having an open kitchen i.e hack down the immediate wall LHS of the main door. imagine if you have the service balcony together with the kitchen! i got so excited at the planning of space that i actually created one. hope you dont mind i kpo hor.. is serious carpentry money here i think but your EA really looks like 2 EAs if this can be materialise. hahahaha hope you had a smooth journey selecting yr id/contractor! will be following your blog!

took awhile to catch up since my last read at your tblog. must had been an exciting time eh. those tiles.................. they're really beautiful!!! stunning i must say i'm looking for a simple HTS setup in my games room too. but seems like cost is a big consideration for me. g ood to have some reference here!

yea, white white is always good! wondering if i can get my living rm grouting regrouted hmm... ok, all signs seem to point to a vornado. if everything is fine, i will prolly buy one today. 24/7 air con in the mbr can be quite costly. ha

haha.. super-chio bench comes with heavy polishing and maintaining which can pain in the a s s. u should have look man, the gaps in between really had me cursing at times when i'm doing the cleaning. but so far, so good. well a change of job is always for the better eh.. so hang in there, 3 mths will flash by like nothing! u organise la! ha

hey, morning and welcome to tblog! yr tblog reminds me of the movie by Will Smith and son. i got a resale too after a long long search for the house, so i can definitely feel your excitement. promise you and am sure of it that this is gonna be d a r n exciting time to see the transformation of your house ya. not to mention, renotalk has hordes of information! btw, yr house has very nice layout with the rooms out of view from the main door. but imho, the kitchen (really really lengthy i must say) seems tight to have an island incorporated in it though. but am sure you two and your id/contractor can brainstorm over it. agree, tough to find back old tiles esp if it's a resale. but if really a 9ft pool table, yea, you have to level the balcony to fit the table. fyi, i didnt tile my kitchen walls too. and right from start, i told my id i only wanted bottom cabinets only. your floorplan doesnt show where the pipes and trunkings are in the kitchen but i do see there's a slight recess on the 7m run. perhaps you box it up the entire length and hopefully can cover trunkings and pipes. that's what i did anyway. once again, enjoy yr stay in renotalk!