sarah833

Wow that's a big shoe storage area! Where was the original main entrance situated?

Hi Peachydurians, Well said! Most of the comments and posts started by the originator of this post are quite negative. No need to be sour grape towards people who choose to spend more on quality products, and put down on people who choose to buy from Taobao. BLUM Hinges and fittings are some of the finest in the market, if budget allows why not! (IKEA kitchen cabinets uses BLUM tandembox drawers and hinges btw). Online shopping is HUGE in China, even my shanghainese friend/ex colleague who works in a top management position in a Scandinavian MNC buys from Taobao. I discovered renotalk slightly less than three years ago, midway during my renovation work for a 5rm resale flat. This is a great community with diversed experience and the t-bloggers contribute greatly by sharing their renovation experience and finds here. Back then I get to know of a number of very popular t-bloggers who mix their Taobao loots with custom made furnitures and quality fixtures with great success. Keep calm and carry on sharing. Om Shanti

I spent about 35k including furnitures and furnishings for my 5 rm resale flat with floor area 125sqm, excluding the kitchen cabinet and two bathrooms and I don't think it's substandard work from the reaction I get from the visitors when they stepped into the flat. I didn't engage an ID and didn't do much carpentry work except for the chalkboard countertop and the mid height 8ft wide wardrobe,did quite a bit of hacking, redo all the electrical wiring, installed a 4-split aircon units and changed all the windows with the balcony,living room and one of the bedroom's windows fixed with double glazed glass panels. Don't rush into getting everything ready if you are tight with your budget and regret your choices later. The dream sofa or Tv console or bed frame or dining set or sound system can wait. And you don't always need brick wall for a Scandinavian themed nest, many of the Swedish homes I visited in Sweden don't have bricks as feature wall

Hi Greg,The post about color selection comes in handy for my friend, thanks! Good to hear that your tb purchases are going strong: ) I didn't do up the kitchen,bathroom and windows (except for the double-glazed windows for the balcony ) three years ago. This is like home improvement project phase 2 The BRAVAT annual sales is worth checking out, most things are gg at 50% off during the annual sales during one weekend in August.

Hi Greg, Its been a while since I checked out T blog, I just did a google of the long note you wrote about choosing colors for my friend. Stopping over to say hi and hope you have sorted out the air con issue? How are the big items you bought from taobao, are they still going strong ? I did some small renovation project this year to change the windows to single/double-glazed panels, replaced the shower sets, washnbasins and kitchen sink mixer to the loots I bought from Bravat annual sales, replaced the curtains with the linen curtains I bought from crate and barrel online store, reupholstered two dining chairs at second charm and finally custom made a hairpin leg kidney shape coffee table and two chairs from secondcharm month ago: ) . Shariffah is so friendly to work with. Thanks for the recommendation!

http://world.taobao.com/item/521018444309.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.vPcVXw#detail

Retail price $199,selling at $120. Bought this solid pine chest of drawer for a DIY project but my handyman is too busy to carry out the execution. Google IKEA hacker website for inspirations. Interested please PM me as I am no longer active on this site

Bought it last year from Taobao for my bathroom without realizing that the water pipes in my shower stall are concealed behind the wall tiles. $180 or best offer. Photos available upon request as I have forgotten how to upload photos onto this site. Please PM me if you are interested as I am not active on this site

Hi billy Sorry i meant the water pipes in my bathroom are consealed behind the wall tiles. Didnt take this into consideration when i bought the shower mixer set. It comes with full installation manual and packaging. I can pm you some pics this evening (have forgotten how to upload pics on RT..) Regardss Sarah

Bought this this May for the bathroom in my bathroom without realising that the water tap is concealed behind the wall tiles. $180 or best offer http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.137.5SNIvT&id=20821475953&ns=1#detail

Hi I am selling this shower mixer I purchased from Taobao this May: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.181.wI4jgU&id=40148117214&ns=1#detail Didnt use it in the end cause I didnt realise that this model requires two connection points to the water pipe and the water pipe in my bathroom is hidden behind tiles.

Hi Harriette, Lucky you! My sister stays in a 5rm flat next to Senja LRT station, on the 13th floor. I stayed at her flat for a while after I sold my walkup apartment and I quite like that area but after doing some research on the resale price I realised the slightly older blocks around the ponds and the much older flats like the long block with bigger floor area are better value (to me) - for the same price I can get a corner unit on a higher floor compared to a low floor corridor unit at Senja. I didnt plan to buy a 5rm resale flat but just happened to chance upon the advertisement on PropertyGuru. It was within my budget so I just asked my agent (my good friend) to contact the owner. It was love at first sight and I made the offer on the spot. Looking forward to see the transformation of your new nest!

Thanks Ness! Came back on Tuesday and still having a very bad jetlag! Been sleeping during the day and stayed awake till 5am past two days.

HI Harriette, Welcome to the neighbourhood! I been trying to get a 4 room corner unit around the pond without success and bought a 5 room corner unit behind the long block on the right in the photo you took a year ago. No more pond view but happy with my purchase coz I get more much space in this older flat for fraction more and its bright and breezy as well, just like my sister's unit at Senja across the street from yours If you are commuting to orchard/chinatown by bus you will have a love-hate relationship with the bus service 190. It runs very frequently at 3-10 minutes interval, takes 20-30 minutes to reach Orchard Road during off peak but it's always packed! But thanks to the angry commuter who uploaded the video of her long wait for the bus and finally board one on the 13th attempt (very unusual, must be some big event going on that day??) , we will get a new bus service to orchard road this weekend

I got mine from a window contractor I found on this forum. The old doors are really solid, one of my friend lives in one of those pre war flat at Tiong Bahru and she kept the doors too. Love the terrazzo floor and the hidden bed!

Haha I know of another RT blogger who has a spreadsheet to monitor costings too. Zihui you are making us very jealous if you are not way over the humble budget you set for the reno

Major like! Love your choice of furnitures and lightings

I paid $1400 for the double glazed window at the balcony measuring 3m-3.2m (ard 10 feet) x 1.1m (or 1.2m, forgot the measurement). Mine is on a low floor along a side road, it cuts out a lot of noise but not 100% as Wabisabi mentioned. I cant hear the traffic noise from my bedroom when I sleep at night even if I leave 2 panels of the windows open though. Think the wooden bedroom doors help?

Haha Zihui Forget about the Hello Kitty sandwhich maker, tell your HTB you want to go Paris instead of Africa for the delayed honeymoon He probaboy choose Africa so that he can set aside a smaller budget for your shopping haha

Lucky you! How much space has he been allocated for the wiw? Are you getting a shoe cabinent as big as Vanessa's cutome made?

Haha poor you! Have you bought or suggested getting something for the house that made him frown?

Hi Mrs Merry I bought the Ecosense products through a friend who is a cleaning freak. She said the floor feels cleaner after mopping and the bathroom cleaner packed in as many as 20 lemons in the 500ml bottle. Just did a google and see that this is the company that markets them in Singapore: http://sg.melaleuca.com/ I bought a lot of eco bar soap from the organic restaurant in the middle of the paddyfield in Ubud during my visits past 2+ years, love them! Switched to a Turkish brand tea series shower wash with essential oil after my supply of bar soap ran out. Been using Bodyshop's Rainforest Moisture shampoo for the past few years. IMG-20131007-WA0000 by Sarahbj3b, on Flickr

I switched to using these eco friendly products since 3-4 months ago: 20131005_214259 by Sarahbj3b, on Flickr I use the green multipurpose cleaner for the floor and the yellow one for the bathroom. The 500ml bottle cost twice as much as a 3000-4000ml commercial cleaner but its highly concentrated, a small cap full is sufficient for each round of cleaning.

good job!

haha Zihui, think the marketing people will "siam" you when they see you walking towards them lol Its not just Mama Lemon, I know of a number of household products and food items "shrink" after the operating cost keeps going up. My sister runs a chain of shops selling mostly goods she imports directly from china, and a few of her shops sell household products and food items she sourced locally as well. Over the past 3-4 years I have seen prices of daily essentials heading north, and if the price maintain, the quantify or quality suffers. Zihui if you were wondering why the restaurants charge such exorbitant price for the dirt cheap mussels, it boils down to cost. Rental is a big killer for most businesses, and labour cost.The rental for a shop unit at Holland Village is easily a 5 digit sum a month, the waitress may be paid $1200 a month for putting in 12 hours x 6 days week (often more...) but the foreign workers levy will add another $500-700 to the cost each month.