ZzzMonster

Haha. Congrats! Is your reno completed? Errrr.... she is late a few times but she will inform me but I would be at the meeting point by then. Well, I can accept it as she did a good job for my reno.

Thanks. I've PM-ed u the contacts.

PM-ed

Pm-ed

It's supposed to be leather but I can't tell the difference.

Looks good bro.. Congrats! You have a lot of glass to clean 😂

PMed

Congrats! I also bought a similar rug from taobao... Noticed that almost or all your carpentry laminates are the same. Why don't use different laminates for different carpentry?

Good question... If my spin break down, I'll replace it with haiku. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my fan will last at least 5 years. I think it's a reasonable time frame to ask for a fan. If it can't even last for 5 years, then it's not worth paying so much for it.

I did my curtain with Vincent. But if u want to look at a big range of fabrics, you should go to MGL to take a look at get a quote too.

Ya... I tested the wind of spin at the showroom and thought it was ok... Only after installing then I realize that it is not strong. But so far it's ok... I don't like too strong wind when I'm sleeping, will get a headache.

I like the performance of Haiku. It is quiet, the wind speed is good enough for me. At its fastest, it is still no where as strong as kdk, Franco, samaire, etc... But I buy it for its looks and didn't regret. Spin is very gentle. I use it for my bedroom. It is just like circulating the air, not as strong as haiku. Now that I've used these 2, if I didn't buy haiku, I wouldn't get spin for my living. Spin is too gentle to be used for my living. If the area u need to cover is big and if u are used to strong wind, between the 2" go for haiku. Both haiku and spin are quiet.

Review on movers The mover I engaged is Gethsemane Care Ministry. I got a few mover contacts from fellow forumers. But decided to just call and engage them. This group is set up to help ex-addicts. I thought since I'm going to spend the money to engage a mover, might as well spent it on a worthy cause. This is their website http://gethsemanebpc.com/tgcm/ The day before, I reconfirm the move with the in-charge. On the day of the move, they were half an hour earlier. We don't have much big items, except for 2 outdoor rattan chairs and a coffee table, and a queen size mattress. But we have lots of boxes, between 40-50. They were very fast, it took them just less than 30mins to clear the stuff and load into their lorry. They are all very fit. My stuff just fill half their lorry. They were also very fast in unloading the stuff to our new home. I'm not sure about other movers... For them, they bring their trolleys into the house when loading and unloading. This makes the process fast. But for those who do not like trolleys to be used in the house, then u may want to discuss this with them before engaging them.

PMed u...

Review on curtain supplier From my previous post, I engaged Vincent to do my curtains. Reason mainly is because he is highly recommended in renotalk and his price beats everyone else. He has a slightly longer lead time, so if u want to engage him, do it earlier so that curtains can be installed before you shift in. If u want to meet him on the weekends, his schedule is quite tight (need about 1 week notice unless u are lucky). He doesn't have a lot of fabrics as compared to MGL but his range is more or as good as others. We managed to find the black out curtains we want. One set back is that his range of day curtains is limited. The one which we like at MGL, he doesn't carry. We settle for what he has and fortunately, he has the colour we wanted. I must say he is experienced because during the measurement, he told me one part of my living room is 0.5 inch longer (floor to ceiling height). So with our agreement, we go for the shorter length. But once the curtain is hung up, we noticed that the curtain is like a little short at part of the living room with the longer height. On hind sight, we should have asked him to make 2 different length curtains. He also provided us with good advice when it comes to the curtain in the master bedroom.. Because the window in the room has a slight L shape, I initially wanted to do a one piece rail with the curve rail at the corner of the L shape area. In fact, this is what all the curtain supplier recommended me to do. He is the first and only one to discourage me to do that because it is more ex, and the curtain may get "choke" at the curve area, thus defeating the purpose... When it comes to installation, it's like almost a one man show. He has an elderly lady (could she be his mum, not sure) helping him, like pass him some stuff, lay the curtains and rails properly, lay the cloth to protect the floor, cabinets, etc. but he did all the drilling, putting up the rails and hanging the curtains and blinds... He has a small holder attached to his drill so that most of the dust falls into the holder. But it's inevitable that some still falls onto the floor... I thought the laying of the cloth is to help contain the dust as well but apparently not... because when the elderly lady pack up the cloth, everything falls onto the floor.... He took about 3.5 to 4 hrs to install them. Overall, we are happy with the curtains and his service. He initially prepared us that it may not be ready before our shifting date because we met him quite late... He needs about 2-3 weeks to do the curtains after signing the order. But we are very happy that he managed to deliver and install 3 days before we shifted in.

Thanks for sharing. Didn't know so much about cleaning until now...

Thanks bro! Just like what u shared about your free Blum mechanism for your drawer... ID will do what's right and when it was not communicated earlier, she will do it at her own expenses. But of course if I want to add more things, I will have to pay for it.

Thanks!

My place also use solid top. Most condo use solid top because it's cheaper than other materials. Go with what u think u want to use, it's your house anyway. Don't get sway by others. Just becareful. Even printed plastic bags like those NTUC Ones can stain the top. It happened to me.... Need to scrub quite hard to remove 90% of the stain. I went to buy the scotch brite blue/white one to remove them. Thanks for the magic counter top cleaner.... I'll probably go and get it.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try the panorama mode when I'm back. All my furniture store are in. It is the small details/stuff to put on the open shelves, which I think we will only buy when we see something we like. We will not specially go out to look for these things.

Review of ID and sharing of reno experience I must say that I'm blessed to have the correct ID handle our reno... From the shortlisting process, she is one of the IDs who stood out amongst others. The reason why I chose her is because she can visually show me the end result. Although it's not 100%, it is close to 80-90% similar (just from her sketches, no 3D at that point). ID is patient person, we change our choice of laminates a few times (of course before carpentry fabrication). We spent quite a lot of time choosing laminates. At the end of each session, wifey and me were shack and drained. I guess ID would be worst, but she still got a lot of energy in her... During the reno process, there are some things not right. I'm quite good at spoting things that are not right..... ID got these fixed, I guessed some of these are at additional cost to her, but she willingly do that without pushing back. For this I am grateful to her. In my earlier post, I shared that I did a minor reno to my previous house bathroom, the ID I engaged always push back and told me to top up when things need to be remedied. So now u know why I like my ID.... Even after handover, she still respond promptly when I need to fix some things, which is of no fault of hers. In this reno, I managed everything very closely (closely may not be the right word, but can't think of a better word). I went to the site almost everyday. This is so I know the progress and also most importantly, if there is any problem, I can flag it up to ID immediately. I believe that it is easier to remedy any issue immediately rather than when everything is built up... And my ID is very prompt in replying my whatsapp when I flag up these issues to her. She responds almost immediately or within 2 hrs if she was in a meeting. I think some other IDs, especially those with high ego, may be put off by how I managed the reno process. That's why I find my reno process very pleasant. I didn't do much wet works, so I won't comment on that. Her carpentry, false ceiling and painting contractors are good. I'll rate them about 8-9/10. The electrician contact she recommended is good as well about9/10, but pricey... Actually, I recommended my ID to my parents who were also looking for ID to renovate their new place.... I must say that during the reno process, my parents are much more difficult than me. So it prompted me to ask her is my parents her most difficult clients. She told me no, she had clients who made a lot of changes through out the reno. And she understands, because the homeowners have spent so much in a new home, they could have just spend a minimum amount to furnish it and live in it. But if they choose to spend more money to renovate it, they have to like their reno. So she will do her best to fulfill their needs. I must say I'm impressed with her answer.

My reno was completed for about one month already.... Somehow, I kinda feel something is missing. I enjoyed the reno process. In all reno process, there definitely be some hiccups, it is how the hiccups are being resolved that determined the outcome. In the next few post, I will share my experience during the reno, reviews on ID, curtain maker and mover. I tried to take pics on the completed renovated home with furnishings but because my home is too small, my mobile phone can't capture what I wanted. I will have to use my wide angle lens to do so. I'm currently having a vacation, will do so when I'm back.

Haha... U are right. It would not be nice if u have digital lock on door and then use conventional lock on the gate.

Initially my colors are dark brown... My wifey also doesn't like grey when I showed her last time. But when ID introduced grey to us, we began to like it. Now almost all our stuff are grey... walls, ceiling, cabinet, bed, rug, mat...

Grey is nice! Almost all my laminates are grey too 😂 Your carpentry will probably take 1 week to be fabricated. By the time u are back from your trip, the carpenters will probably be starting to instal them... So I think it's just nice.