summersann

This isn't interior design related, but Chong Pang food market reopened! It has been under renovation since we moved into our new place, and we've only gotten to eat the food from the coffee shops around the food market. But wow, I never knew why people kept telling me I'm lucky to be near Chong Pang. Now I do! No more having to go to Bedok 85 for awesome hawker food! On a more interior design-related note, mom's room is looking better (from the previous mess and sparseness). The walls are still kinda bare though, hmm.. Suggestions welcomed!

The sofa on the balcony is from IKEA! The name is Garpen. We bought two one-seat sections and joined them together It's $50 for one section, cushions sold separately. Cushions were about $20 each, depending on size.Our balcony door type is accordion. Not sure if it can also be called bifold. But we paid a lot for the doors. Sliding would have been much cheaper, but we wanted unobstructed access to the balcony and really disliked the idea of sliding doors. Think we paid about the same as the price you were quoted. We also have 6 panels. If you opt for that, make sure they don't use the cheaper type like PD door material. My ID said they have a cheaper type, but it turns out to look quite cheap and flimsy. Pink pouf was about $150. They have many other colors available. I love their poufs Hope this helps!

Very nice gate!

Haha I'm guessing the CB2 one has a gorgeous price too?

Thank you for your kind words I didn't get anything from Lorgan's. Didn't even go there because the places we went to made us happy enough the armchair is from Room of Woods. My display cabinet as in the one in our study that I just posted? That one's from IKEA! Blue stool's from egg3, you're right. Display cabinet is about $260 and stool is around $150.

We didn't negotiate at all actually. We verbally confirmed with our ID that we would use their services, but only paid the cheque on the day works were to start. It's a matter of trust I guess. Find the one you feel you can trust

Wasn't too excited about the cabinet, but got it because the boy quite liked it. Now it's slowly growing on me. Haha Still arranging parts of the house, here and there, a little a day. The balcony slowly takes shape. Can't wait for everything to be settled!

Here's my opinion (based on my limited knowledge) 1) If you stir fry a lot, I assume things like how fragrant the onion or garlic is matters? Induction hobs will not satisfy in that aspect, because they don't brown the spices as well as a direct fire does (gas hob) does. We don't cook much, and most of our cooking involves making soups, so we went with induction. 2) Use LEDs for areas that you'll use often. They last longer, and should not run into problems anytime soon. If they do, your lights supplier must be willing to replace for you because LEDs are not supposed to break down so soon. They're supposed to last years. But then again, I don't know what PLC lights are I only know of LED vs halogen. 3) Samsung! There are others who will vote LG, for many good reasons too. Samsung is pricier, but Samsung's technology is faster than LG's. Depends on how into these things you are. If you're just a normal user, and you don't really care about these things, just pick the one that you like the most and think is the best bargain! Don't get a Smart TV unless you're going to use all the features. Otherwise, it's pretty much useless. Hope that helped!

It's good to start visiting IDs/contractors before you get your keys, because the process can be a long one (popular IDs may have their hands full at the moment and can only get back to you later when they've cleared their projects; the discussion process is to-and-fro and can take a while before you settle on ideas; IDs may take a while to do sketches for you to see). We started looking for IDs after we made the offer for our resale flat. That's about 3 months in advance before we were scheduled to get our keys. However, I don't think it's wise to confirm on an ID until you have officially gotten your keys. In your case, because you are waiting for a BTO, maybe chances of any last minute crop ups are unlikely (I don't know because we don't have experience with this). But in any case, you should never confirm with an ID and make any payment until you have your place. All the IDs we considered met us many times without any confirmed payment (the ones that used tactics like limited offer and package deals to pressure us into paying first were immediately axed). We only confirmed and made payment on the day works started on our new place. There are too many horror stories about IDs and contractors, so always exercise caution. Packages may sound good on the onset, but check to make sure there aren't hidden costs (e.g. having to top up later if you choose to pick anything outside their stated list of materials for the packages, etc.). Okay, that was lengthy we went through a lot of research and heartache meeting IDs, so just hope to help

Hmm, mine isn't giving any problems at all. I find it quite smooth. But then again, maybe what you define as smooth is different from mine? but it's serving me well, so if you like it, I say go with it!

Hey bleucheeze The IKEA drawer unit fits nicely, with just enough space (not very visible gap) for it to be pulled in and out if we needed to move the entire unit out from under the table. The drawer unit is 69cm tall, and our tabletop is 70cm tall. Our tabletop is 2 metres long. Our ID got the carpenter to do it up for us because we couldn't find one of that length out in the market (unless we wanted to get a dining table to use as a study table. didn't do that because dining tables are really wide ).

Thank you rainbowstars Been looking for a suitable cabinet for mom's room (something that looks like our own cabinet), but nothing's been catching our eye. Chanced upon a cabinet yesterday and decided to get it for our room! So our original metal cabinet goes to mom's room. Problem solved!

have you moved in!

We did away with the hood for our kitchen. My own experience with a hood back in my old place was that it didn't do much good for the fumes Another ID shared with us that he found his hood (and he used an industrial one at that!) useless and recommends his clients to do away with the hood. Of course, some people still swear by their hoods, so there's really no hard and fast rule. It depends on how often you cook and what type of cooking you do I guess? My guess is, if you really do quite a bit of frying, no hood is useful unless you use those that they use in hawker centres (the humongous ones ).

We had the same issue when deciding whether to redo our staircase or not. You need to see if your staircase railings are the screw on type, or the embedded in tile type. If it's screwed on, it's as easy as removing the entire railing and fixing it up later onto the new tiles. If it's embedded in the original tile, that's where there's a problem because you can't hack the old tiles without damaging the railing (unless the workers are willing to do it super slowly around the railings so as to avoid damages. Ours was the embedded into the tile type, so we chose to overlay parquet strips on top of the original tiles, and retained the original steel railing with timbre top. Hope this helps!

Thanks Makanology for your suggestion! The current plan is to put up photo frames, but we're trying to see if we can get other ideas Finally got our balcony chairs today! Placed them side by side to create a sofa of sorts. The dog and cat are enjoying it Shall continue to add stuff to the balcony to spruce it up. Suggestions welcomed!

Planning for the balcony. The walls need some frames for decoration too. Anyone has any suggestions (on what to put, where to put, how to put)?

Beautiful ideas! all the best with renovation!

Sounds exciting! I love making my own enclosures for these small animals. Made my guineas' pen out of those same Daiso pieces & cable tie too Your rabbits are lucky they found a good owner!

To be honest, I have no idea. I just wanted them to store food I first saw them in Crate&Barrel, but the ten-piece set is more expensive than on Amazon. Howards has them, saw them at the Harborfront branch. You can consider Amazon if you have someone coming back from the States

My friend got me the ten piece pack, so the sizes come fixed. I find it quite useful because it comes in different sizes, as pictured. Good for storing almost anything, but definitely use them to only store dry foods (because liquids can get under the silicon suction cap and kinda get stuck in there unless you remove the silicon for washing). Where are you planning to get them from? The ones I saw in Singapore have been marked up quite a bit.

All the best! It'll all work out and be worth it in the end

My OXO containers and pet food mat are here! Thanks to good friends

It's more of finding the corner/s they like to go in, then putting a pee pen there (so sometimes you may have to put 2 instead). They like to keep themselves clean whenever they can, so you'll have to clear it often too so that they'll want to use it. You're using puppy pen to keep them in? Cuz puppy pens are quite tall! They still jump out?

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