macuser77

Just curious- it can be done? Way before we went Hafary, we were at SBH every week. We wanted floor tiles for wall tiles and the SBH person said that floor tiles can't be used as wall tiles as they were too heavy or something like that ( it was too technical for me to comprehend)...

Cleaning of toilets: Glossy vs Matt Tiles Its the Mrs here..a totally irrelevant post, but may be useful to anyone who has to clean the toilet him/herself... I remembered that we were at Hafary and were at a loss as to what wall tiles to choose for the toilet. The very knowledgeable sales executive at Hafary told us to get glossy tiles as it would be easier for cleaning. We heeded her advice but it never dawned on me how easy it is to clean glossy tiles until today. Was cleaning my toilet at my parents' (which had glossy tiles) and oh my!! It was a breeze cleaning the soap scum off the tiles. This is such a contrast to the matt tiles in my old toilet (which had since been hacked thank goodness!). Back then, matt tiles were strongly recommended by the so-called ID, using the oft quoted reason - aesthetic reasons, without taking into consideration maintenance in the long run. I still remember those times when I cleaned my toilets, no matter how I cleaned, the soap scum just doesnt seem to go off. So an advice to all potential toilet cleaners - GET GLOSSY TILES And a BIG thank you to the sales executive at Hafary!

Hi. Seems like we're using the same contractor. And yes he's freaking punctual. He even called me to inform that he'll be 5 mins late. Haha. You'll be in safe hands as he's super duper organised. Just that you may need to remind him on detailed things occasionally as he's super busy.

Hi. Think we have the exact same wall and floor tiles ! Good choice by the way haha

Hi It's the mrs here I may not necessary be right..it's been proven that I make wrong decisions too! Anyway we'll most probably leave the walls as it is as my in laws love to cook We figured oil stains, if any, will look less obvious on cement screed walls

Hi mrmerry.We were satisifed with his progress and works as the previous one was a nightmare. At least we have not seen any faults to date. Maybe we're easily satisfied. Haha

Hi. It's $4.10 psf

2nd purchase from Taobao: Many thanks to the forummers here, my wife and I have discovered the lovely world of Taobao. Our first purchase was pendant lights and photo frames (which are dirt cheap compared to Ikea). Prices are attractive as we couldn't afford the original designer ones. Next headache was track lights. We were looking around heartland shops, noted not much price difference. Average is $40-$45 per LED. I guess we're still living in stone age, where 40++ for a bulb is a no-no. And so its back to Taobao: To those who are expert in Taobao, is the price reasonable ? Thanks in advance

No money to get second compressor : The remaining part of the hall will be boxed up with alumninium glass panels. This will be our living area which will be air-conditioned. (Mr.K's workers were hard at work even though he said today's a "大日子 ")

Tiling works : Tiling works are almost complete (view from balcony) :

Theme Realised that I've omitted our theme. Here it is, nothing fanciful, just keeping it simple. We realised that less is more :

Hi all. Need your valuable inputs on these, which has been troubling me for the the past 1 week : 1) To keep it as it is ? (service yard) Mr K suggested leaving the wall as it is. My wife agrees with him as she feels that the place will be too white if the walls are painted white. She intends to hang vintage posters/ signs. But I prefer it white as it goes with our colour scheme. 2) Philips LED lights are freaking ex. Can ikea LED spot lights fit into the conventional track light brackets ? Philips LED bulbs are way too ex. Thanks in advance

Hi jus4fun. Thank you for your kind words. We know how you feel as we have been through it. Taps and basin came loose within a month, drawer was stuffed with cardboard to compensate for misalignment, and Mr K tilers had an enjoyable time hacking the tiles as they came off very easily. Problems are endless with the prior "reputable" firm. Don't worry bro. 忍 a few more years, and when u can't tahan (like us), do a second round of reno. Though an expensive lesson learnt, you will be more prepared for your round 2

Hi Jess, It's actually normal ceramic tiles. Hope this helps.

Honeycomb tiles It's the mrs here. Hubby wanted a shower feature wall for the master toilet and we spent a good few days fretting over the mosaic tiles to be used..until I spotted the honeycomb tiles! I must say, the honeycomb tiles is really a good choice! I love it for its understated beauty and more importantly, it is half the price of expensive mosaic tiles! We recently spotted the same mosaic tiles on the pillars of my favourite hawker centre, Bedok BLK 85, and boy am i glad that I managed to dissuade the hubby from selecting them. If not, I would feel like I'm bathing in Blk 85....

Boconcept In case anyone is interested, BoConcept is having 20% off all purchases (excluding accessories) when you pay using DBS credit cards. Offer ends today. Savings can be quite significant, so it is a good opportunity not to be missed.

Our first purchase We love sales. Dining table: Side board: Chest of drawers for master bedroom: Our colour theme is white white and more white, as my Mrs has lots of knick knacks (rubbish) to display.

The most common tiles used in renotalk : The Subway My Mrs was fretting over this for the past few days as the subway tiles were bigger than those we saw. I told her not to worry as we chose white grout, which will not emphasise its size. And i was right (like what i said earlier, the tilers did a wonderful job)

A pleasant surprise We thought the wall tile will be plain and ugly. However, this came as a surprise We actually changed to white honeycomb tiles specks of black. But luckily due to some miscommunication, the original black honeycomb tiles that we ordered were delivered instead. And Mr. K was right ! The honeycomb tile were in his words "黑色 honeycomb 美". The fierce tiler was scrutinising his masterpiece, and my Mrs saw him slowly and carefully wiping them. And look at the edges. They were cut to perfection ! By the way, Mr K told us he will decide the grout colour for us. And we were extremely pleased to see white grout ! He really understands what we want. (the entire shower area will be black honeycomb)

Windows I know not many will think much of this, but we love it. (by the way we left it to Mr.K to choose the windows). He told us it has a tinge of blue, as pure white will turn yellowish over time. To us, the tinge of blue makes it even nicer

Glorious wood tiles ! So far so good. No complains. Very neat laying of tiles and we're very happy with the wood tiles that we have selected. (luckily we listened to K and went Hafary). Enough said.

Mr.K's hardworking workers it's the mrs here! Am really amazed with the speed of how things are moving. Mr K is really on the ball and his workers work very hard - almost till 7pm everyday from monday to friday (It is embarassing but I actually knock off work way before them haha) Though we have moved out of our flat, but as I live very very very near, I will still make an effort to drop by after work everyday and check on the progress (hubby told me to visit the flat only on weekends but i simply cannot wait till the weekend to see the progress!!). Everyday a pleasant surprise awaits me, be it a hacked wall or tiling of the toilets etc. I must admit Mr K works very very very fast though we have told him countless times to take it slow. I am definitely not complaining as this is such a refreshing change from the previous renovation where we had to handhold the "ID" on every aspect. I am also beginning to realise that we have some misses (eg. way too big subway tiles etc) but I must stress this is no fault of Mr K, but more on lack of doing homework on our part. Will leave it to hubby to post pictures of updates!

i love your common toilet wall tiles! They're gorgeous! Makes me regret choosing boring white tiles for mine.

Air-con discussion Didn't expect any progress as we told mr k to take it slow. Monday came and he called us asking if we had made a decision on the air con. We were shocked to hear from him regarding the air con as hacking works only commenced last week. The conversation was : K: 有找小弟(k's cousin) 谈冷气吗 Me: 还没有。下个礼拜可以吗。 K: 不可以 Me: ... ...(LL) He's really on the ball and fierce, unlike my previous "everything also can" ID. At this point of time, we were really glad to hire him as he seems very responsible and pro. For a contractor, he seems to have a flair and taste for interior designing. Replies from him are very prompt, and he's really punctual. I remembered on our second meeting he informed us that he'll be 5 mins late as he needs to use the loo in a coffee shop (xiao di made us wait for an hour, and Jiawei (another contractor mentioned here) made us wait for 2 hrs). Nevertheless we will still be getting our air con from xiao di as he and k has 默契 ( he has k's eyes). For the uninitiated , he is k's cousin, Anyway when we suggested buying our air on from Gain City, we could sense that k was quite apprehensive about it, as he mentioned that there were some hiccups for some of his previous jobs with gain city. Anyway here are some of the pics on the progress : Hacking (Part 2) and toilet updates: We got a pleasant surprise when we saw the toilet wall tiles had been partially done up. And we were worried that the white tiles that we chose will look boring plain and "hospital" feel. However, we were quite pleased with our choice. On a side note, everyone says k is fierce. But wait till u experience his workers. The hackers were still ok. However the 师父 (whom xiaodi addresses) are no nonsense guys. We can see that they take pride in their work. I could tell that they were irritated with us and gave a "don't come and disturb us" face when I asked if they wanted cold 100plus. Just a fierce reply 不要. We were very happy to work with such serious and no nonsense people