Maximus

Thats weird ... i just used a 710W B&D drill and used the right masonry drill bit. It took me about 20-30 seconds to drill a hole of 45mm in hard concrete walls.

I got mine (galvanized) 4 rack shelf from Ikea. Rear tracks are mounted on wall. Each shelf can take 100kgs.

Continuing with the reviews .. 3. Daikin Aircons (Single non-inverter, System 2 noninverter, and System 2 inverter): I was pretty sure i wanted only Daikin or Toshiba as I regard them as the best aircon manufacturers out there. Since i had been browsing the forums for a bit, i knew that Aron and Sam from Imperial Distributors had positive reviews. Nevertheless given the promotions that Gaincity so often does, i had them come over as well to give their own quote. Gaincity folks were very helpful as well and did a good checking of the house and gave me quotes for Panasonic, Toshiba and Mitsubishi. Eventually, i went through with Aron. Transaction was very smooth and i didnt have to do any supervision at all, during installation (in fact i was not even there). There was a minor hiccup in a model number for one of the aircons on my quotation being different from what was finally installed, but this was resolved very quickly as Aron let me know that the installed model was a newer version than the one on my quotation. So all-in-all, a satisfied customer here. 4. Fujioh Hood (FX900), Electrolux Hob and Oven (3200 3 burner, 53000X): This was a maddening process trying to shop for the ideal combination. Made countless trips to HN at Millenia Walk, MegaDiscount at KLP, Courts at NEX,Tampines, Hoe Kee at IFC etc. Originally considered Bosch and Brandt. Prices were through the roof. While at HN@MW, wife saw a Electrolux hob that she fell in love with but we didnt get to see any nice hoods from them so we had to switch the brand for the hood. In terms of the Built-in oven, price-vs.-features was best for the 53000X from Electrolux. So we chose this combination finally. Asked for prices from GAB, EJ and MegaDiscount. The person at Megadiscount (Thomas) was very helpful and patient and thats always an influencing factor in my decision making. As it so happened, he was able to give me a competitive price and i went through with them. They accept credit cards as well so that was another help.

I promise, pictures will be up before the coming weekend is out !! I thought it would be helpful to provide some inputs on how my appliance shopping / installation experience was:- 1. Panasonic BY601 fridge from Everjoint: I had bought this fridge on 2nd Feb in order to get their promotion of free extended warranty for 2 years (total of 3 years). Transaction with Everjoint was smooth and so was the delivery - very efficient and impressive in their attention to detail to not scratch etc. The fridge is working great and i do think that the inverter model (freezer below) is a very strong concept. FWIW, i am a vegetarian so dont store any meats in the freezer and so do not open it that often. 2. Samsung CE117AB microwave from Goh Ah Bee: What i liked about GAB was that i gave them the order over the phone. They didnt have ready stock so they asked me to come 1 day later by which time they would have got it to their shop. Sure enough, i went over the next day and all the billing had been kept ready for me as well as the product itself too. Happy with this buy as well because of the steam function. So for people looking to buy a microwave, make a conscious choice about whether you want a rotating turntable or just a static tray (like in Panasonic's newer models). Both have their own advantages so we took the rotating turntable by choice. Thats all i have time for now, will follow up with more of these reviews (Built in oven, hobs, hoods, aircon, furniture etc).

You guys are more than welcome to discuss on this thread but it will just be a little difficult to trace this back some time later in the future .. My vanity top is Brown Galaxy Granite. I have Black Galaxy in my Kitchen and brown galaxy in the bathrooms to go with the overall balinese/resort theme. About the cutouts, its between you and your ID. I had discussed this with my ID and he had said that he would give it back to me if i wanted it. So i told him before installation that i would like the cutouts back as i plan to make a footstool/side table out of them at a later point in time, as Jaskel suggested. I will definitely post pictures very soon. I think the house has come together quite nicely, but of course i would be biased - after all, i am living here!!

Hi Sng - You sure posted this on the right thread? I dont have a Blanco sink - mine is Crizto.

i see that there is a lot of discussions around curtains ... Mr.Chew seemed to be highly recommended so i did give him a call but since he was busy he put me on to Vincent Lim from Garvin Marting. For the living room, my wife and i chose an orgenza day-curtain and a completely opaque night curtain. For the bedrooms i chose just a night curtain which was like 90% opaque or so (didnt see the need for a day curtain in the bedrooms). All colors of the curtains were keeping in line with the woody decor of the house. For my study and maid's room, i had roller blinds installed. Pics to follow sometime later. About the workmanship itself, Vincent was fantastic and of course, he is a very cheerful and helpful guy so it was good having him do up my place.

Bathrooms: Which i really love !!!! My master bathroom: The final recess storage in the shower wall is different from the 3D as we chose to split it up into several smaller boxes. To do this recess, we had to build a hollow wall over the existing solid wall. The washbasin was a top mount glass oval basin, in reality. My common bathroom: ALthough the 3D shows a topmount basin for the kitchen, we finally did the common bathroom as an undermount. Both bathrooms were fitted with Grohe/Hansgrohe products including a concealed rainshower in the master.

Living Room I think i mentioned this earlier in the thread - we wanted to give a balinese / resort feel to the home. So the colors that you see are those that would evoke the earthy feel with a play of light brown .. dark brown .. etc. For the walls though, we finally chose a lighter brown as we werent too sure about the dark brown making the place look small. So for that, you would have to wait until i upload the actual pictures of my place (if i do manage to do that).

Kitchen View 2

Finally got the time to upload some pics .. so let me get started with some 3D pics that my ID made for me which is pretty much the end product. What you see is the outcome of iterations of discussions that my wife and I had with our ID based on our wants, style preferences and practicality. Starting with the kitchen : ...

Wow .. what a last few months it has been !! My handover was done yesterday. And i shifted in yesterday as well (yet to unpack), still staying for a couple of days at my current rented place. Pics are due very soon which chart the entire reno journey. Its been a transformational experience !!!

Do ditch the hot air balloon rides at cappadocia - 150 Euros per person for a 1 hour flight. I was there sometime last year.

Also give GR Link Marketing on Jalan Besar, and Goh Ah Bee in Hougang (google them) a try. They have very competitive prices as well. If i am not wrong, the 35L Joven HE model last month at GR Link cost me around 215$-225$, not sure exactly.

I am facing the same situation in my master bathroom - the raindance handshower seems to be designed in a way to mimic the overhead rainshower so the force is not that strong. If you were to hold the raindance handshower above your head like an overhead shower, its supposed to be the same i.e. have the same force as the overhead shower itself. Not sure if i am explaining myself clearly but hope this works. Cheers Maximus

I saw a couple i liked at Leyon furnishings on East Coast Road (might be upper east coast road, google it). Its teak wood there if i am not wrong. Do go to the Furniture Mall on Beach Road .. a few shops have some things that might interest you. I liked one in Charis Living which fits my size requirements well and am actively considering buying it once my renovation is complete and i have some budget. Cheers Maximus

Hey Asterisk, can you let me know where you are getting your tatami from? I need to buy as well and would appreciate it if you can share some contacts. Cheers Maximus

Thing about hob / hood is that you will find a model at every price point so you have to be sure about what your budget is. I suggest you do two things. 1. Define your budget and stick to it. 2. Define what you want in a hob/hood and stick to it. Then go about hunting. Hob - Do you want glass or stainless steel? 2 burners or more? How many wok burners? How many burners with 2 or more rings of fire? Each of them has a different implication. Hood - What is the extraction power? Chimney or slimline? What is the noise level at speeds 2 and 3? How easy is it to clean the filter? Do you have to replace filters or can you reuse them? Once you have decided on the above, go to HN at Millenia walk, Courts, etc etc to get an idea of what is out there. Make a few calls and find out who can offer best price. Cheers Maximus

Thanks for the suggestion Chang. I like the base for AV receiver idea .. instead can use it for my subwoofer!

If Aerogaz's hob and hood are of the same quality as their pedestal fans, i would recommend you think twice before making a decision.

Another very productive day today .. bought all the electrical fittings required for my house, and contrary to most forummers here, bought it from the shop that he took me to. I did have cheaper quotes for practically similar stuff from a couple of other places but I figured might as well buy from there and support him as well for whatever referral rewards he gets. Sometimes its just better to go with instinct than with a calculator. Also chose the PVC type for the internals of all carpentry in my house. Its going to be a wood grain PVC, a pic of which i need to post later (which reminds me, this has got to be the only blog which is like 5 weeks into renovation and not a single pic has been posted).

Thats an interesting suggestion Jaskel, and it might just work for me. I can possibly hold on to the pieces and then get a side table done or so after reno complete and i have moved in, so as to be able to gauge space.

(Repeating my question here from a standalone thread) Hi folks, i have a query. When i install my kitchen sink and my bathroom washbasin on my granite countertops, there is going to be the 2 cutout pieces and i was wondering if i can put them to any good use. My ID did tell me that its not advisable to reuse the same in shelves etc so i was wondering if there is some other creative way of using them? Any suggestions are most welcome excl.gif What do you typically do with the cutout pieces anyway? Throw it or keep it? Cheers Maximus

Hi folks, i have a query. When i install my kitchen sink and my bathroom washbasin on my granite countertops, there is going to be the 2 cutout pieces and i was wondering if i can put them to any good use. My ID did tell me that its not advisable to reuse the same in shelves etc so i was wondering if there is some other creative way of using them? Any suggestions are most welcome !! What do you typically do with the cutout pieces anyway? Throw it or keep it? Cheers Maximus

I dont recollect how Neon white looked from the catalog, but think its one of the brighter whites right? The good thing for sure about brighter colors is that it makes your place look a bit bigger if i am not mistaken .. of course, you need to make sure you keep it clean and dont stain it. Barley white is actually quite a soothing color ... and the decor theme for my house is balinese/resort style so I see it as a good background to have my darker furniture, paintings etc upon.