RenoDaze

Hi Treehousevilla, Can share your contractor's contact too? Thanks a lot.

I got mine from An Huat, sealant done by my contractor. When you are at An Huat, you probably won't feel the slipperiness of the tiles. I felt it only after sealant was applied. A friend commented the same too when she popped by to visit and helped me mopped the floor. Vacanthost did the ceramic tiles for their kitchen, perhaps you can check if theirs were slippery before you use it for toilet floor. My contractor had originally asked me to choose another design and use it as toilet wall feature instead of as floor, which i didn't listen. A bit too late for me to regret now.. Haaa

Can't help poking my nose into discussions everytime i read about talks on these vietnamese cement tiles. If you decide to use cement tiles, you need to know that after applying the sealant, the floor is quite slippery after you apply sealant especially when you wet mop the floor. Nice to look at but got to be careful especially if you have young kids or old folks at home. The boxes of tiles i got came quite badly discolored and unfortunately, i saw it only when half the floor was already done. So, i'll advise home owners to check every single piece of tiles, if you can, before your tiler lays them down. Sigh... For me, everyone who had popped by my this apmt before, all can see and commented on the discoloration. The only saving grace is luckily these tiles are meant to look old, used and give a nostalgic feel, so the discoloration still can close one eye. Plus, i don't live in that apartment, so can close the other eye. No see, no so heart pain... See my cement tile passageway - http://www.view2offer.com.sg/45819

I used it for an outdoor balcony of about 3m x 2.5m. Wanted it more so for air circulation, but the small fan proved more capable of that. Sorry, i have no picture as I've tenanted out the apartment already. I paid RM550 for it coz back then SG don't have stock yet, but i got to say it is a good buy.

I bought Vento Fino 13. I'd recommend that you use this fan for an area of about 3m x 3m if you want the cooling fan effect. While it is windy and powerful for its sheer size, you need to know that this fan cannot swing left/ right and can only blow at the direction you angle it to be during installation.Angling it requires you to screw and unscrew 2 screws on the sides of the small fan, so not the most convenient thing to keep changing its direction of wind blow.

Actually for own stay, i think Clementi is a better place. The shops at TB all very expensive so makes those daily basic expenditure and meals much higher than staying at Clementi. I wanted to do the wall lattice like yours but not enough time to do so already. Also, i had wanted to buy Kronotex laminates but the lady who serviced me not very good. I asked her for cost of replacing damaged pieces in the middle of house and she said got minimum $1K before the company will replace. Initial quote was $2.8K and to cost $1k+ for replacing any damages not very worth it. I wanted to get that floral designed glass panels on your corridor windows, but can't find.. So end up use the toilet type of wired glass panels instead. I got it for $9xxK, and think i'm **** lucky to get it coz no one else was competing with me for this unit, prob of its original condition.

I don't have a t-blog but you can see the completed place from here -My link The state when i bought it - Before renovation I got it from the zion road tile shop lor, sighhh so sad... Will look so nice if not for the discoloration. I never take photos coz didn't want to be reminded of it. Luckily this type of tiles are meant to look 'vintage' and somewhat worn-looking, so at least i can find an excuse to console myself. The retro switches buy UK ones better, the china ones not as 'smooth' to flick up/down...

Nice home! It's amazing how we have so much similarities in our places when both are done up at almost the same time. Your expensive kitchen floor cement tiles have some color variance and discoloration too? I use the same type of cement tiles for floor but different design and end up some got so bad discoloration, it was quite an eye-sore. Tiler shouldn't have used the bad tiles and I wasn't around to supervise, sooo.. too bad for me.

You can get the minka aire fans from Best Light Electrical Sdn Bhd, JB. Address is no 15-17 jalan Ros Merah 2/10 Taman Johor Jaya 81100 Johor bahru. tel: 07-358 1211 Saw it today at their shop when i went to pick up my lights, about 4 sets sitting at their showroom. Price MYR 1,600/-.

just sharing my humble views and personal financial beliefs, none of which are backed by any stats or proven sources. personally I hope property prices do not fall, simply coz' whatever I own now (and all other fellow local folks) will also depreciate - not good. it has to still appreciate but perhaps at a slower pace - Like twice or thrice slower than what we are going through now so that the younger Singaporeans can afford their very first home more comfortably. My beliefs: 1. Never depend solely on your salary income to get you a 2nd (ideally) private property, beside your HDB. Always generate passive income - cannot teach one, when you are desperately 'hungry' to earn more money, desperation will force you to come up with something. 2. First property - Buy within your means, target to pay off within 10 years, max 15 years, so that you can speed up your capital building for other investments. 3. Avoid shifting (if possible) every 5 yrs or so, to save on renovation, agent fees, stamp duties & COV. These monies can be put into investments that work better for one's retirement. This applies even if the existing property appreciated by 30% to 50% by the time one sells it, and that they nett a generous cash profit after considering interest paid over last 10-15 yrs, inflation, COV for new place & renovation etc. Property itself is usually an appreciating asset. COV, stamp duty and (to a certain extent) renovation hurts your pocket. It's the same philosophy as 'Housing loan is a good loan while renovation/personal loans etc are bad loans'. 4. Invest, invest and invest - Make your money work very very hard for you so that you can catch up with inflation & have enough for your retirement without killing yourself. Children's education costs a lot too. 5. Buying and renting out a 2nd property, a private one, is a common Singaporean dream, used to be mine too. But on the other hand, as long as my other investments net me as good a return, the focus on owning a 2nd property decreases in its significance. The bottomline is - I just want my money to earn for me and I'm very self-sufficient by the time I retire. Like HappyHouse, while I'm optimistic, I'm not an extremist. And thus, though I sort of regretted putting my money into a recent 3rd local purchase, I know it was still not too wrong a move. If I did not sink my funds into my recent buy, I'll opt now to put the money into 1 or 2 specific US states or some European properties for 2 to 5 yrs, depending on country. 5 years, I think the returns should allow me to not just catch up with SG's inflation & property appreciation, but also yield a better profit that adds on to my retirement funds. And I will also not have to fork out money on renovation & fitting out the new place before it can generate rental income for me.