january

wow mae29, sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience with X'clusive... They really should have informed you beforehand instead of delivering the temporary mattress to you. But I'm assuming all is good now? You place is fantastic! I love the spacious kitchen. All the rooms look huge too, and the niche walls just give it the extra special touch. Congrats on moving in!

I didn't bring my camera last night, so these are iPhone pics... All the way from Indonesia, our sofa unboxed! The sofa seller packed an extra cushion for us... Washing machine, dishwasher stack. Ohh the dishwasher is beautiful. And it is still speaking German.

looks good! I like your kitchen cuz the sink and burners are on the same side. Anyway, I don't think you should put marble on the bay windows... Granite looks nice and is a much harder material, so it wouldn't scratch so easily. All the best!

If you have uneven walls, you can wallpaper it instead of plastering. The thickness of the wallpaper will help to hide the unevenness.

Your place is just becoming nicer! Anyway, I'm planning to get a pot of pandan myself, and other herbs like Rosemary, basil, mint... I don't have green thumbs so I wonder how many I will kill before I can grow them successfully... Haha.

@eggroe, damage is rather substantial. $8Kish. But each item has the lowest price that I checked! Marble top has chipped edges due to poor handling and installation. This is what happens when you don't install it properly the first time, and have to remove it to install a second time. @reglxt, ynwa88: thank youuu. @kenlim_76: Can't rmb off the top of my head, maybe $1K w/o wallpaper? Maybe a bit more. If you think my contractor is overcharging me, PLEASE LET ME KNOW so that I can nego during the final payment.

reglxt, I love your bedsheets!

Today is electronics shopping day. Bought pretty much everything from Mega Discount Store at Kallang Leisure Park. They have excellent staff and excellent prices, highly recommended! Items bought: 1. 46 inch Sharp LED TV LE820 2. 32 inch Samsung LED TV Series 5000 3. Bosch Dishwasher, with cutlery tray (VarioDrawer). 4. Hitachi Refrigerator R-A6200. It's got a vacuum compartment, how cool is that!

Pine Close! I used to live at Blk 10. Nice area. Congrats on your new flat PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't destroy the terazzo flooring okay?

I see your balcony clearly now... if your place needs anymore wow factor you should definitely install the artificial turf... However, the colour of the grass *may* clash with your rug. And your dog might (and probably will), relieve itself on the turf. It's up to you!

...And the living room is complete. Before - no wallpaper, purple wall, no curtains. After - wallpapered, grey wall (looks brown due to white balance setting), curtains. Close up of the wallpaper. It's a really nice textured piece which is really hard to photograph nicely. I'd waited almost 3 months for this wallpaper and I'm sooo glad it turned out to be beautiful. *whew* I'm satisfied with the results!

@ymjp: so you actually called Mr Wong? He's a nice guy yeah? You can easily install the grass yourself if you want to, but I don't know how much cash that would save you. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

ynwa88, I think you can get a pot of Pandan... it smells good and you can use it for cooking.

@gkbt: would you mind showing us a picture of your sofa? Thank you! I've spoken to Jerome at the showroom and we had a nice chat. I have to say that I'm quite impressed with his design sensibilities and attention to detail. I will probably get them to do some items once I figure out what I really need.

Get a quiet vacuum cleaner. I think that's impt.

Hi there... interesting layout you have. Large space but 7 adults living there... this requires some really smart space planning! The first layout would only work on paper only, try to tape the areas out on the floor and you'd know what I mean. The second layout is better I think. I see that there are only 2 bathrooms. This could be a problem. If privacy is not top priority, perhaps you may want to share the MBR bathroom with the adjoining room. Put an extra door there or something. I think it would improve the bathroom situation. Depending on how much hacking you want to do, I think the 2 bedrooms opp the kitchen could be equal sized. You just need to treat the structural supports as part of the wardrobe. You could also make the side of the kitchen that faces the dining room open, so that the dining area feels more spacious. Anyway, you should start to persuade your family members to throw things away now... really. We all have more things than we really need and it feels good to let them go. Plus, it makes moving a LOT simpler. All the best on your reno!

Hi lazybum, thanks for your encouragement. Condo defects team still doesn't know where the leak is coming from. They claim there is no water pipe there. But there has to be, because there is a watermark on the wall. 1. Paintwork touch ups are done, but I think the painters used a slightly different paint colour for the touch ups, because I can clearly see yellowish spots at the areas I had marked for touch ups. This painter is horrible. 2, 3. Skirting is done, and done well. 4. ID has tried to ask the marble supplier to fix the chip, but seems like marble supplier is not budging. This marble bay window thing has become more complicated than it should be. 5. Drainage hose not yet done. 6. Wallpaper will be fixed up tomorrow morning.

tight spaces = more room for creativity. Congrats on your new home and all the best for reno!

Next door just moved in, and I discovered a leak in the wall adjoining their unit. Already informed condo defects team. Will probably have to re-paint that wall. Can I pass the bill to the defects team? :( My contractor skipped town. ID is supervising all the rectification works, i.e. clearing up the mess the contractor made. Poor ID. But at the same time I cannot give him too much sympathy. I'm somebody who is willing to pay premium for good quality; but my contractor is charging me premium price for lousy quality, which is unfair. Plus his sub-cons never do a complete job, and we would have to call them 2 or 3 times to come back to complete it. I think we will have a fun time trying to settle the bill. Perhaps I should start looking into lawyers and arbitrators... in case I need them. Any recommendations? Rectification works are ongoing. 1. Touch up the paintwork on the walls. Repaint 1 living rm wall, 1 bedroom wall under bay window. 2. Re-spray skirting which was damaged by the people who sanded and varnished the floor. 3. Construct skirting for false walls. 4. Fix chipped marble on bay window (yes, the problems are never-ending). 5. Connect drainage hose at service area. 6. Still waiting for that wallpaper from Goodrich... (sigh). ...more problems to come.

You wish.

Guys... look at this. It didn't even take 3 seconds for the guy to bypass the digital lock with that bypass tool.

Picket & Rail at furniture mall beach rd.

This is the funniest tblog title on renotalk. All the best with reno!

marshmallow are you a golfer?

Omg you really have a LOT of pipes... at inconvenient places somemore... But hey your place is shaping up really well! I envy your large kitchen... all the new flats have really tiny kitchens.