theitsybits

Day 60 cont. I can't decide on the placement of my common toilet basin. Option 1: Middle of toilet It makes more sense but i'm worried that it's abit cramp or arms might hit the shelves on the right? and most people put the soap on the right and there's no space for that? Option 2: Middle of vanity This gives equal space on both sides of basin..but not sure if it will look lop-sided and misaligned. choices! And we chose this white textured laminate for our shoe cabinet and feature wall that is wood-planked, like cottage..i was so excited looking at the laminates book, because we initially only chose from the in-house laminates which were painfully limited..we only got to choose from other brands when their in-house laminate wasn't long enough for the planks (initially coordinator said OOS). one regret i have is the vanity laminates..my vision was something cement-screed or concrete like, but there was none available when choosing..after choosing for a long time, the one we chose was OOS and we had to make do with this..not sure how it will turn out or if it would go with our theme my kitchen white laminate does not seem as glossy as other brands too *sigh. i guess we can only really see the effect after they are completed.. and..anyone knows if such splinters is common for carpentry? i suppose it will not be seen, but... there are some issues with the configuration of my kitchen..initial agreement of big metal drawers end up becoming wooden drawers..and the flat pull-out tray at the bottom of a cabinet end up becoming a U-tray that is usually below the sink (for pipes)..it's mounted in the middle of the cabinet and nothing much could be put there! it was originally for tall appliances such as my kitchenaid or juicer or blenders.. oh well, hope they get it changed.. and lastly, this is why i need the house to be ready very soon..my room has become a warehouse and i can't even change my bedsheets now..i just keep stacking bags and things on top..

Day 60 Gosh, it is already 2 whole months since we started renovations and I'm losing count of the days. It's been 6 weeks since we informed carpenter to come for measurements, 3.5 weeks since measurements were taken, and we finally saw come carpentry at our place today!!! Kitchen is taking shape! after the hob and sink, i still have pretty decent area for food preparation..in fact, more than i thought i had! My ledge in MBR toilet done. My ledge in common toilet. And the final door for toilet is also up!

i think i probably have to pay ba..ay small issue.. yea only book photographer..guess can work that out later.. haha this bride, do like outdoor places and how pictures turn out, but i've a huge tulle ball gown and wearing it in air-con room i start sweating le..but i don't like studio shots..so yar, abit troublesome..

wow u've lots of great ideas for you place.. =) is color your priority for flooring? what about other factors like the feel when you step on it or maintenance? i personally do not like the hollow feel of laminate and it's not as lasting, esp at the edges..so in terms of preference and cost, i probably wouldn't change them..a good polish will have them look as good as new.. but if your priority is color, to complete your ideal look, then change them!

actually, i've no idea..i haven't planned anything nor spoken to my photographer, but the package only includes number of hours for photography, never mentioned anything abt such entrance fees and who should bear them..

i guess really muz go down and see first..i kind of thought it's not that big and will definitely have lots of people trying to get a good view/shot inside! hello, pm-ed. good luck!

yea, i can't start on wedding preparations before finishing renovations..that's why wanted to hurry get this done first..i'm starting to panick, so many more things to do and the hotel will want to meet us very soon!! really hope everything can go smoothly from now on.. i suppose that it's going to be difficult to take wedding shots inside the domes? but i'm not afraid of cold, the colder the better..i miss 18 degrees summer..!

you might end up going earlier than me...! busy this week and out of town next week..plus weekends are always burnt with reno stuff.. still haven't started on any pre-wed shots planning or altered the gown or done anything about the wedding in 4 months time..

since pinkwhale is busy, i shall be kpoh and help answer some questions.. 1. i asked the same question, but cost should be similar..cuz cheaper tiled top (compared to solid top) is offset by workmanship of the structure..but it's probably more durable.. 2. more grouts = more cleaning and maintenance i suppose, must take extra care..alternatively, white tiles with black grout looks beautiful and has less maintenance issues with grouting (see paloma's kitchen!) 3. The cabinets are wood-grained laminates. 4. hacking ain't that costly (i hacked 6 walls), but price wise i suppose it's better to check with our contractor (he's not an ID).

hahaha yar, still a lot ppl asking abt ur place! i didn't used to like the tiled kitchen, but now, the more i see the more i like..but well, husband doesn't like.. yar lor..i guess different people have different thoughts on this ba..some insist on licensed contractors, but got problems/delays also bo bian..Mr K is super on the ball, and I'm really very thankful that his part of the reno went so smoothly.. i'm more particular la, i rather think through things and tell them exactly what I want then they decide, do le, i prefer another way, den muz make them change..even things like my counter height, wardrobe height, i want it customized since i'm taller and can utilize more space! my house ar..carpentry a lot of problems no guarantee when ready though it's been almost 6 weeks since we got them to come measure..

got air-con really can consider!! maybe should go down recee first..

got air-con??? really???? i dun like taiwanese wedding shots lei..everyone's going there and the pictures abit.. out-dated, can see is taken fr taiwan de..plus now typhoon..

haha yar not taken yet..traditional wedding in Jan'13..initially didn't want to take, since i don't find it meaningful to take in studios and random places..my dream place is Sweden, but can't afford.. husband suggested at home, since it's smth both of us built from scratch and would start a new phase of life together here..plus, can on air-con! i'm super afraid of heat.. gardens by the bay looks pretty though, very avatar-ish..might do some outdoor shots too, but i suppose it'll be crowded... a sweating bride with melting makeup don't sound very pretty..

Thanks to the husband's chasing, carpenter is coming down to install kitchen and toilet vanities tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to get our kitchen and I'm hoping that everything is alright. And because this was quite last minute, my sinks and basins are not delivered yet and we've to go down to collect them ourselves tomorrow. That was what I meant by not being able to plan our deliveries without knowing the timeline! Lots of inconvenience. But well, very thankful to finally get some carpentry into the house..I've lots of pots and pans and cutlery and glassware plus quilts, bedsheets which are overcrowding my room now..after some cleaning (assuming no issue with kitchen), I suppose we can start migrating things over.

yes, really looking forward to finish up our home, so that we can fill it with things we love, take pre-wedding shots in it and finally move into it..long long journey.. but husband says, if it's not difficult, why do it? perhaps after all these, we will cherish our home and finally settling down together more..

yea it's a very difficult situation..husband is liaising with carpenter directly now (minus relative and coordinator) and things seem to be moving, plus we get someone who actually updates us now.. i guess we have anticipated problems when we agreed to use them, but it's too late to back out now..at least carpenter is really working on our carpentry and answering our questions now! totally feeling very thankful, and telling the husband, please ask him to do a good job, I don't mind tipping him! MIL is the one who insist that we use them wor..they weren't keen to take up the job 'for fear of not meeting our expectations'..sigh..perhaps they are really swarmed too..I guess we can only make do with things now and husband will continue chasing and following-up on progress.. at the end of the day, yes, it is taking very long..but all we wanted was some progress updates and an estimated completion date so that we can plan the deliveries with all the different shops..if they had been more forthcoming about the delays and updated us, things might not have come to this..it was difficult to trust them as they initially told us measurement early in the week, but despite chasing and chasing, carpenter only came for measurement last minute on Saturday..and we kept confirming completion date, they said in 2-3 weeks, end-July..but as end-July drew near, they couldn't deliver and didn't confirm progress nor estimated completion date..we can't be sitting, waiting and praying for carpentry to come right? so yea, can't do anything much now after confronting them, but continue to chase and wait..

Yar, very very headache.. =~( she might have good intentions, but as a fact, it has made things difficult for everyone involved..I tried explaining that, but obviously it didn't turn out well..and timeline has been communicated since May! i guess now only can sit at home and pray that my carpentry will arrive.. if they do deliver in 3 weeks, my carpentry will take a total of 8 weeks..it will be almost 20% of a year..and if delay somemore...........maybe a full quarter or more.. people renovation 6-8 weeks, my carpentry alone will take at least 8 weeks..and they tell me, carpentry usually takes the longest, other works like tiling, wet works can be very fast.. =/

To be fair, I don't think it's about wanting to earn our money in this instance. They weren't keen to do for us too, but MIL insisted. After a long dispute, they actually matched our contractor polygon/pvc prices with internal laminates. It does seem like nobody can do it at that price point, since other carpenters use 'branded' laminates like Fomica, EDL while they import their own laminates and have their own factory here. That also explains why the choice of laminates was relatively narrow (no cement-screed like laminates that I wanted) and when we finally chose a few, 2 of them were out of stock and they have to keep coming back to us to choose again. I suppose that if their customers are complaining about delays of many weeks on forum, they simply can't cope for whatever reason.

Thank you all..! It's amazing that even strangers can be nicer than relatives. =( We have emailed all the points and communicated them repeatedly. But what I have came to realize is that you can't reason with unreasonable people. Everything is very clear-cut, from which dates we informed them to come, which dates they finally took measurements etc. Deadline was committed by themselves, and we've confirmed it many times. They even tried to dispute such basic details, but had nothing to say when I insisted it's all in emails and sms, cannot run away. MIL insist on letting us have internal laminate, and apparently they are the only company that provides that at market prices. I do not dispute that, and it's supposedly better as pvc/polygon is poisonous etc. But with such attitude and delays, reviews of bad workmanship, it's just very frustrating that they do not look at facts. By the looks of it, 20 more days would not be sufficient. And to them, it's really take it or leave it after all the anguish and delays and frustrations they've put us through. They even said that all other contractors/IDs are the same, no guarantee, if delay, just have to wait. There's just something very wrong, and I can go on and on about it. Doesn't help anything. Husband will settle, and he is in the worst position, whether to terminate this or continue chasing them. And even if we give them 20 more days, what can we do if they tell us, they need another 20 more days because carpenter was sick?They can say whatever they want. Afterall, not a matter of life and death and we should not be calculative with relatives.. =/

No payment has been made yet. But it's just very tough, with screaming relatives pointing fingers like we are the one at fault..like there's nothing wrong with the delay and it's normal but we are making a big fuss.. The attacks are always on the DIL, I will leave the husband to decide while I wash my hands off this.. I guess we knew it would turn out this way, but MIL was too insistent that we caved in. Afterall, we were supposed to use them for all renovation works. Initial quote took 2 weeks, revised quote didn't come even after 5 more weeks. Prices weren't cheap though it was 'at cost'. Dismantaling the plastic partition in toilet cost 250! That was why we went looking for other contractors. =(

thanks my dear..but both of them said those things, most of if by MIL..like we're making a big fuss out of nothing, like we are making things difficult..like it's normal and all contractors/IDs work this way..it was just quite horrible i heard your reno is starting soon! don't worry, you're in good hands..who knows you might complete reno earlier than me..

hello hello! good luck and enjoy the renovation process

Carpentry Update We went down yesterday to get an update on our carpentry status since they were unable to meet initial July dateline and have not been replying our emails/sms/calls. We needed to know what was the completion status, scheduled date, reason for delay etc. 3 weeks ago, they told us it'll be ready in 2-3 weeks, and now, they are telling us another 3 weeks more. With the negative reviews on forums and delays, we really needed some answers. We can't just sit down here and wait and pray that carpentry would arrive some day right? Let's just say that it was really a horrible experience and no customer would want to go through this. - The carpenter assigned to our job says that it will take 20 more days. And if he is sick for one day, it will take 21 days. If anything happens to him, well, it will take god-knows-how-much-longer. These are things that they cannot control. We were told that the 'best carpenter' was assigned to us, and they were already rushing our job. Only kitchen was completed after 3 weeks. If not happy, get someone else to do. What did we expect them to do? Kowtow to us? Basically, if the carpenter changes his mind and say he needs another 30 days, there's nothing much we can do. - We were seemingly at fault for chasing them to meet the deadline they initially committed. We were told that we were too calculative and making a big fuss, and that it is not a matter of life and death, so what if it takes a few more weeks? Although we were not in a rush to move in, a deadline committed was a deadline committed!! 5 weeks for carpentry is ample time, and they weren't even apologetic about not meeting the deadline. - I told them that we were busy, and do not have time to keep chasing them to get work done. I was told that I'm not the only one busy, they are also busy, no time to reply emails/sms although it was been weeks since simple questions like what is the expected completion date was asked. - They got all defensive and aggressive when we mentioned that they had very bad reviews with lots of delays on forums, and that we were very concerned. - When I laid out all the facts and timelines, I'm being questioned that 'if I think I'm very good' and that nobody but god is good. - We agreed that they should work on vanity for toilets first, so kitchen and vanity could be delivered and installed for my plumber to come. And there were all that drama and tears, pulling in all irrelevant things into the picture. Playing dirty when they can't give any satisfactory explanation nor solution. Lesson learnt: You can never try to reason with unreasonable people. Whoever is older and cries first win. We have no way of ascertaining that our kitchen is indeed done. No way of getting them to meet deadline 20 days later. Chasing doesn't help, and with that kind of attitude, there's just nothing much we can do. Just when we thought we agreed on the sequence of works, they called to say that our shoe cabinet laminate is out of stock. They were supposed to work on our toilet vanities first! And 2 of the few laminates we chose were OOS. My heart went cold.

i've bought quite a few pendant lights and track lights, and even curtains and chairs from Tao Bao. Prices are a lot cheaper but sometimes, buyer will request additional amount for shipment although it's stated shipment inclusive. Even if shipment is indeed inclusive within China, you usually have to get someone to buy it for you like daigou65. As they charge by volume or weight, shipping will come up to quite a lot.. it is indeed still cheaper but you take the risk..like one of my lights were yellowish, not very white and I had to get my contractor to spray paint it white for me..