NingNing

pm-ed!

pm-ed kenny..

Hi The tb link for the LED downlights are in the 2nd page. that one has been publicly announced le. hahaha!!

I use internet banking to my agent.. like that I save 3% of credit card fees. If you have china friends or friends who have bank accounts in China, can ask them to pay for u then u pay them in Sing dollars. save cost. =D WAH WAH.. haha ur idea of the house sounds very nice..will it be very expensive? I think i saw another reno blog like that also.. hacked the half wall and replace with glass. i waiting to see urs! let me know if u have a reno blog too! I actually LOVE the concept of it. hehe.. actually.... i dont trust ikeas stuff. i used to have a table from ikea.. will have some powdery stuff falling from the table if we always shift here shift there. =D I will get the table in around April, then i will review it. Hopefully this will solve my space problem.. hehehe... I will definitely review the items that arrive in March.

pm-ed

before i publicly give the link, let me buy the table then i review it first... coz no one i know buy the table before.. if really is ****, at least u dont waste money.. also, the tb link... the seller no reviews.. at least the downlight i gave earlier, 2 ppl buy before me le.. must be repsonsible sharer. therefore, i will pm u the link. But buy at ur own risk ah! *edit* almak maths fail.. table is 966.. means i about 250.. not S$350

Which? the 3rd draft? haha.. actually. the more i look at it, the more i love it.. im like tt one.. so fan jian. WAHAHA.. pm-ed HEHEHE! yup yup.. i am those type with obsessive person. I want something, i will dig it out until i find it.. Okie. first replica, by spaceman. Those considering to buy from Singapore, head down to courts. they have it there.. only thing is that this one can only pull out to 2m. But when i called the owner to see if it can be ordered and where can i find it other than courts, he said if i wanted, i have to order as its made overseas. AH! haha.. tt got me thinking.. *anyone here watch russell peters?* If he makes it overseas, most likely china. then i definately can find it in CHINA! WAHAHAHAH! So i started to go crazy and look for it in taobao. I finally found it! Its only.... LESS THAN S$ 500!! This is also calculating the shipping back to sinapore! item itself is S$350. domestic shipping is estimated to less than S$100 and shipping back is only S$56!!

no lor.. he said 5.7K PLUS. hahaha!! but there is a stone lookalike material one is a WHOPPING 7K. me too.. why the nice stuff all so ex??? it would have saved my space problem... I actually found a replica already.

i am quite pantang.. but i didnt want to let my fsm see my home. later he ask me do this do that not according to my design, i will not know what to do. later i siao for them to see. when we first choose flat, i asked him help me choose, he just said to me," for what? home is yours. pick whichever one u got feeling for." (only applies to bto) But its true. i feel FS most important is health and harmony. i dont believe ppl when they say they change this change that then they strike TOTO. so easy strike, then singapore pools close down liao.

Dont need to rush to get key.. Slowly slowly *sayang* But seriously, i was the first block in the estate to get key.. the amt of defects were horrible..... it was like a pri 1 kid who closed his eyes and did his MCQ homework and then decide to let his tuition teacher mark, to point out places he got wrong.. Those taiko get correct one or tuition teacher didnt spot, he leave alone. You will get back tt excited feeling when u start shopping for furniture de!

I have scouring furniture shops for dining tables to find something we might like that will be under our budget. Because our dining room is so small, (u walk out of kitchen might hit the dining table, put beisde sofa also wrong) Coz if u place the dining table beside the sofa, no place to sit liao... sianz.... wish my living room was abit more "normal", long and narrow, then i can do more things.. But that day while having a meeting at millenia walk, a company caught my eye.... SMOOTREE! This my friends.. is the goliath table from smootree.. smallest is 0.5m x 1m, can extend up to 3m x 1m.. great for a small dining party between me and hubby; can stretch out for our dinner parties! i fell in love with it the minute i walked in and was given a demo. then i asked the price. S$5700++ looks like have to look for alternative.

Hi Apple, I dont have the info with me. its somewhere lost in our long long conversation at FB. I will try to look for it.

Whew! just met my designer at my place. Reno will start on 28th!! We met Tony the Aircon guy also. Nice man! He gave alot of suggestions and I gave my input on what i want, with my ID's supervision of course. HAHA.. the aircon was fast. within 20 mins, meeting over. Then it was me and ID alone.. so romantic. KIDDING!! We went through all the electrical points and how the lights were being placed. I told him what i wanted, and he gave me good practical suggestions that I didnt think of. Most of his suggestions will be implemented. He told me that his suggestions were based on his own home and how he will use it. so i guess, it makes sense.. coz, its happening at my own home too! He was trying to help me save money by suggesting this and that, instead of loop these lights, why not run from here to here etc.. haha! end up, my electrical quotation was only 1.7K for that MASSIVE amount of work that I needed to do. Then we walked through the house again, from room to room to make sure everything i wanted was taken note of. again at the kitchen, he warned me one more time about the swing door. But, I dun care la!!!! leave abit of gap can already! For my water pressure, my ID commented that it was quite low. my rain shower will become a drizzle. So, cant be helped, my rainshower will just have to use the waterfall function. (lucky i paranoid, i bought a rainshower with waterfall function instead of just rain..) He also helped me plan my gas heater so that the water pressure will be as high as it can ever go. He told me that, the lesser turns the water pipe have, the higher the pressure. So for the next 10 mins, the both of us discussed which route has the least turns and length. There is actually a way to increase water pressure if anyone is wondering.. but cant use gas heater.. have to use instant heater with booster from malaysia. Not really keen on instant heater as my hubby home currently using it. When someone turns on the tap, the other person bathing, will be burned. At least with Gas, not so much ba.. (at least my current home one wont). If the pressure really sucks, maybe we all complain to Town concil and have them install a booster at our place? HAHAHA!!.. *wishful thinking* getting very excited. Things i need to do now: -arrange with my Aircon when he is coming up to do my place and inform my ID - give my ID the diamension of the Hood and Hob - give my ID the diamension of the sink

Hi Jane, Wah! you went to count the number of steps?! but yes, ours is short but wide. i will actually prefer long and narrow.. but my ID said, can work it to my advantage! Thats why he designed the "river" stream for me for the false ceiling. Its meant to make the room appear bigger. I asked my company designer.. he told me why the room will look bigger may be because when there are curved lines, our brains are fooled to try to make sense of it, and try to see the line as straight. The longer the line, the longer the space looks, therefore making it bigger than it really appears to be. So much 学问 in designing.. Good luck in your reno!! we can discuss ways to "trick" ourselves into thinking its bigger than it really is! hahaha.. Sure : http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0d.6639537.0.0.3LsNoH&id=18574297404 I will review all my purchases once it arrives in march. Actually, i rather you buy from SG then buy from taobao since i found a local source that is almost the same price with the shipping.. But the diff is that... this one is one of the best in China. The local one- brandless and not sure good anot.

emailed pm-ed

Lessons I've learn buying lights Now, I'm no expert on LED lights but here's what I've learned on the journey of purchasing these lights, so do correct me where im wrong. There are a few types of downlights. Those tt made me interested were E27 and LED lights. 1) the prices we pay in Singapore for LED lights are CRAZY. The cheapest I saw so far is S$ 16 for a 12w led downlight, normal price is S$20. This is the CHEAPEST. 2) LED lights, should buy those thick ones (prefer 5 cm and above). AVOID the thin ones no matter what others say. A lighting expert told me that thin LED lights burn out faster. because there is no/ minimum heat sinks and the heat is trapped within the light, making it harder to diffuse. Whats a heat sink? A heat sink is something at the back of the LED lights whereby you see many folds. What do I mean? See pic: The grey spiky part you see is the heat sink. This helps to diffuse heat. How does it work? The multiple folds you see, creates a bigger surface area, which can carry the heat away faster. This helps to preserve the LED bulbs longer. 3. Glass or acrylic? My ID says glass is better, others say acrylic is better. so who is right? actually both are right. Glass is brighter which means a lower wattage is needed. cleaning for both is the same. EQUALLY TROUBLESOME. For some reason, acrylic may be less hot, which means a pro-longed LED life. 4. Please try to only buy led with EXTERNAL drivers. Why? Since now most lights are manufactured in china, it doesnt matter how awesome or lousy the light is. It will ultimately burn out. To save you the trouble of replacing the entire light and having a chance that the one light is different colour then the other, by getting an external driver, if the light "blows" change the driver first. It works like a fuse in our electrical plug. Usually is the fuse or the driver that blows first. How it blows is a different story that I dont want to get too technical. 5. Try to get a LED downlight that is detachable. Now.... i truely regret not waiting for my friend to get back to me about this. because, after i bought my LED lights, did i realize it really can be a real problem. What i mean by detachable? (photo courtesy of my fren's ID) This is VERY useful, because, whenever you need to change the driver, you need to pull down the LED light from the ceiling to access the driver BEHIND the Led. If the LED has served you for about 5 years, the false ceiling around the led light will weaken, and the possibility of pulling out the chunk of false ceiling is REAL. For this type of LED, you need to just detach the face from the body and the light will come out, yet the body is still there in the ceiling. no damage will be done. Damned. wished i know this sooner. 6) PLC or LED? To be honest, PLC would be a better choice if i never found taobao. LOL.. because, the price of the PLC would be the same as an LED from taobao. That being said, PLC bulbs are easier to change. If you are still keen on LED but feel its expensive, then go for the downlight that is/has E27. (not sure the right usage of the word, but i know the key word is e27) E27 has the capability of using PLC or LED bulbs. Most plate faces come with screws at the side of the face. This is for easy removal and changing of the bulbs. 7) LED strip lights vs T5 florescent T5 is brighter than LED strip lights. LED strip lights, once one bulb burn out, it is obvious that there is a "hole" there. changing it can also be a pain in the *** especially if its in the ceiling. you need to snip off the segment, use a connector, connect back the hole. Also LED strip light has the tendecy to burn out faster or dim faster. That luster when you first have it will diminish as you use it. There are some types whereby its 60bulb or 120 bulb. if you have the moolah.. and inisist on LED strip, get the 120 one, The more bulbs the better. if one burn out, the black hole wont be that obvious. When i first researched about this a year ago, 5050 was the best and brightest. now there are newer ones. *faint* the numbers keep changing. but on the advisement of my ID, T5 would be alot easier to change. If you are a circle person like me, make sure to stock up on over lay cables. Thats all my knowledge that i can remember for now! hope this helps!

Yes I agree!! my hubby loves the bed. He likes soft and plush stuff. (maybe thats why he picked me.. I'm soft and plush. ) HAHAHA!

I typed this really long reply.. and it got deleted. -.-" coz i pressed the wrong button. I am quite a pantang person but im not THAT great at FS.. so take my advise with a pinch of salt. Some positions your bed cannot face, 1. main door 2, body cannot be in line with toilet door, 3, bed cannot rest on toilet wall. 4, bed cannot rest on window wall. like that how? haha.. my fren had a similiar problem as you. What they did was that, they erected a "wall" at the entrance of the toilet. so it looked very.. european way of reno. so that means when u go toilet, you need to walk around this wall. So that the wall didnt look silly, they put a mirror on this wall and convertered it into a standing vanity (just hammered a shelf into the wall). So while the husband is in the shower, she is putting on make up at the wall. BTW, the layout is exactly the same as my hubby's home. By right, the distance from back wall where u propose to put ur bed to your leg, your bed shouldnt be long enought to hit the toilet door lei.. They using king sized bed. I hope this helps!

Thanks! i think we made a good choice too.. u know how sometimes, we girls have this ideal brand or item in our mind, but we still will look at a million before settling on the exact thing we wanted in the first place? IM LIKE THAT! i loved our dunlop bed, and we have ABUSED our current one like crazy.. but because its latex, it bounces right back. And unlike the memory foam or hdf tt some brands sell, latex isnt hot. which is a big issue. imagine u have a comfortable bed, but coz its too damned hot, u cant get to sleep? I have that feeling when i use waterproof mattress protector. and those nights are ****. i sometimes will pull out the protector and sleep on the bare mattress. i cannot imagine if the bed is like this. i will end up on the floor! Haha.. i certainly hoped it wasnt the same guy, coz i dunno which sane person will ever buy from a low eq man like him. unless ppl like getting insulted! Yes! we did meet nice sales ppl. but from other brands. i liked the king koil guy and the dunlopillo sales lady. she was very patient and let my hubby run from one bed to another, rolling all over the bed and kept trying and changing his mind. YAY! hhehehehe.. Yea! i think she said the latex is super plush and thick but yet firm in a way. im hoping this bed will last us for quite awhile. i dont really like bed shopping. its not as if i dont like the bed, i can just throw away!

When on a budget, taobao is your best friend. Some of the items that I will be buying from taobao: - Downlights & drivers - T5 overlay cable - Dining lights- Bomb shelter light- kitchen light- Rain shower- Common toilet cabinet and sink- Masterbed room toilet cabinet and sink- Bathroom Accessories- Common room light- TV wall mount- mirror cabinet- Kitchen Sink and tap Thats a huge load of items ill be buying! I have estimated I will be saving nearly 7K on shopping on taobao. will calculate the exact figure on another day. today im just too tired after just having finished having a convo tag with my taobao agent and my id. I will be purchasing ALOT of items from taobao to save cost, which also means, there might be delays here and there. because this is the first time im using this agent, he is making me lose some hair. There was an item (master bed room cabinet) that was ordered wrongly (agent ordered the wrong side - he ordered left basin while i NEEDED right because of the window above the left hand side) which i caught even before it reached singapore. ( i call it intuition..my hubby calls it paranoia. ) whatever it is, i caught it abit too late. just when it was delivered to the warehouse in china, so im paying S$50 to send it back to the seller and then sending it back to me. Anyway, my reno is to start on the 25th hopefully, but without the master toilet cabinet, the entire thing will be delayed. I'm damned near hysterical because tt means i have to pay extra to have the plumber come back and fix it on a later date, or else risk delaying the entire reno. BTW. why m i almost hysterical? because this problem has dragged on for 3 days, since Thursday till today on Sat. I am HOPING today, the problem is finally settled and no more surprises from my agent. Johnny saw how upset i was, he thought awhile and said "nvm. i ask the plumber come back at another time to fix for you coz i can see u are quite upset. China side u cant do anything, then let me do something." thats damned sweet okie. after squeezing his prices like crazy and he pulls something out like tt, its really damned nice of him especially because the master cabinet can be delivered probably about April or MAY, when the entire reno is OVER. I just feel damned fortunate to have an ID who doesnt mind cutting into his commission to help me.

Twinnie! i was searching Taobao for clocks and i saw your clock!! got a reliable seller for you in case you want: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z2k.6997417.1995871729.96.ZjlzN0&scm=12306.1.0.0&id=15163510675 Its about S$8.50 excluding shipping. *** edited: oh! haha.. my eyes kana stamped. didnt see someone found it already. HAHA..

I didnt catch his name. I was too angry to speak already. I can only just glare at him from under my nose. HAHAHA!! This is the first time we ever recieve such condescending treatment from ANY sales person. My hubby was REALLY hurt. He kept asking me is it because he looks poor. WTF. my hubby was not wearing a chillax outfit. It was more of.. hmm.. a lousy ill-fitting t-shirt and black berms. its easier for my hubby to work in this kind of outfit coz he needs to lift stuff. so i dunno issit coz of the way he dress did the sales man say such things. he even insulted dunlopillo, simmons and other brands saying they are lousy brands (to my hubby) when my hubby said we are using dunlopillo. Yes centrepoint. It was during the sales period. The salesperson wears specs. I was not around for a large amount of time but the main gist from my hubby and his friend was that the guy serving them was L.A.M.E. kept telling them stupid things and made stupid jokes that was not funny. so it might be a stand-in sales man meant for the sale. just really hurt that someone can insult my hubby like that. *fumes fumes* but whatever it is, it was before xmas (or one of the major holidays) and I already written a strong letter to both sealy and robinson to keep their sales people in check. I am in sales and I used to do retail sales. Even if u hate the customer, should at least show basic courtesy to any normal human being!

A few items that we have already purchased: - Our hood and hob: bought in Dec. Less than S$400. - Our citygas Marco + dryer got the free installation and pipping deal - Our Bed We went shopping for our bed during sales on X'mas. poor hubby being dragged left right centre every weekend to find the perfect bed. Our first bed bought together was a dunlopillo and it has served us well. For the last 5 yrs, this bed has not sunk very far, given us good support. Nothing to complain about. So for our new bed, we wanted maybe something better. 5 yrs ago, our budget was 1k. now, our budget is 4K since we earn more also, we wanted to treat ourselves to a nice bed. We went to see simmons, king koil, max coil, afrenz, sealy, omaz, and many many brands else. We were snubbed by the Sealy sales man in robinson. I will never ever buy from SEALY EVER esp in Robinson. During the sale, we went to see the beds there. While i was looking at simmons, my hubby and his friend wandered into sealy's mattress and wanted to try. My hubby from work hadnt had time to change, so he was in a T-shirt and his berms, carrying his water bottle and wearing his crocs. His fren was wearing the same thing. I dunno issit coz they were poorly dressed that the sealy guy told them something along the lines of "u want u can try.. might as well try.. not as if u/we can afford". I heard something like tt, that made me turn towards them and walked towards the stupid sales man. When he saw me in my work clothes, carrying my Fendi bag, he smiled and ask if he can help me. I grabbed my hubby hand's and ask the sales man to repeat what he said. He mumbled something and walked away. WTF. I wanted so badly to slap him. I already complained to robinson and sealy. After that, we went to try the king koil mattresses. That sales man was much nicer. (or probably saw my face so black). He spent 30 mins telling me about mattresses and helped me compare the brands. I asked him which mattress he used. He said.. "haha i use the best. i use omazz" I learned alot about mattresses that day. and we finally decided that we dont want, memory foam or HDF. we will choose latex again. So a few days later, we went dunlopillo. My hubby has abit of back problem, so i let him pick the mattress. (see i very teng him) HAHA.. during which, there was a sale at marina square. nearly 30% off. the bed is about 14 inches thick. my god.. i buy bed sheet have to watch out. We even won this very expensive pillow in their lucky draw! haha.. damage was 3500 inclusive of storage bed, LCD material bedhead. 2 bolster and 2 latex pillow. yay! good haul!

TY! i scoured through many blogs and pictures before i decided THIS is what i want. i will be using another ID's idea on how to solve the L shape problem but modifying it because i doubt my ID has any idea on how the mechanism will work.

Yesterday confirmed! our Reno is going to start next week 25th or 28th Feb! looking forward!! but also abit scared scared!! Making arrangements for my aircon guys to come and meet me on the 24th to discuss about how to lay the trunking and also the electrical. now praying hard both shipments from taobao will arrive on time.