annastans

Kitchen Countertop Updates Finally some good news! So I'm happy to say that we have found a suitable supplier for our kitchen countertop and it's Silestone We were quite bummed when the Caesarstone prospect fell through but I'm happy to say that we have managed to find a better alternative. When my husband first told me that he was going to contact Silestone to get a quote, I thought to myself that it was nearly impossible for us to get this; but I have to thank him for going ahead and today was the measurement We have picked Lagoon and it has a nice marble-like look. Couldn't be happier! Lots of other things happened today so will update soon!

Welcome to renotalk! I'm sure this will be a very useful avenue for you For picture posting, you just have to upload the desired picture to photobucket / flickr etc and get the URL of the image you wish to load. Then click on the icon with the image of a tree in this response page, called 'Image" and enter that URL into the box provided. And you're done! Hope this helps and all the best in your reno journey

Hello 3Dyms, Thanks!! We got them from a place called Budget Furniture located at 23 Woodlands Terrace. They have some nice stuff but not a whole load of selections. There's a catalogue that you can choose additional items from. There are some other nice design TV consoles which you can have a look at. Oh, and do remember to bargain; they don't mark up a lot but no harm asking for discounts. Hope this helps

Today we bought the last of the major furniture items :'D White chest of drawers to be placed below the altar Matching white TV Console. Hopefully all the whites blend in nicely in the living room! All deliveries are scheduled for Saturday and after settling the remaining amounts, I'll feel less poor! Whee! Oh right, and we also purchased our washing machine from Zero; the Samsung front load WF702U2. Remaining tiny accessories and furniture stuff can wait till we get our next pay cheques

Hello Bengologist, this was originally $399 then he gave it for $320. It's got 4 drawers and the opening up you see in the pics above is a 180 deg flip about a joint in the middle, not a slide back. Super cool! I thought it was worth it

Hang in there makanology. You guys have been doing a great job with the personal rectifications and as for Alan, discount the cost of items you had to do up yourself, from the final payment. That was really bad handling on his part and he should make it up to you. Must be stressful times for you both but on the bright side, you have a handyman husband to see you through all this! Congrats on the wedding

Over the weekend we dropped by Expo to purchase some of our items and we managed to grab our sofa, coffee table and TV Here they are! Our TV! We will only be able to start watching all cable channels from 20th July but at least we can view the free to air channels meanwhile! Besides, I shall console myself by getting busy in the kitchen till cable comes (I can hear my husband thinking to himself, ya right ) We got this half leather sofa in this colour with some changes; So we will be adding an extra seat in between making it 3 + 1L along with it's 2 seater version. I'm just hoping they all fit into the living!! Got this coffee table bundled in as well and we will have it in white. It can be opened up as well!! (See pic below) Ta daa! I just hope everything comes in good condition and on time!

Hi jaykr, Yes! I realised that when you posted pics of your items! Then I realised lots of people in renotalk have this combi. Quite popular items these are. Now all I need is my kitchen aid and I'll be happy looking at my kitchen everyday I got the RB-2CG hee! You got the 3 burner one didn't you Mine had a major space constraint that the hob HAD to be within 80cm max so I couldn't get the 3 burner hob but was so happy that the 2 burner hob could fit in. Totally can't wait to try it out but I suppose I'll have my clumsy moments when I first start using it. It's a risk that I have to take with the faucet I suppose but was trying it out yesterday and...it was so much fun! So no regrets so far.. We will make a decision on the counter top by this weekend because we are still speaking with a few suppliers. I still prefer quartz (because there's the option for white shades and properties) so trying for that. But if really no choice then we will get granite, Black Galaxy. That would bring us back to square 1. Ugh. Yes! I'm amazed how fast it finished up! Now is just about getting the contractor to do up touch ups and waiting for furniture to be delivered. The shopping bit is very exciting and would be a lotttt more enjoyable if not for the haze. All the best for the table top installation! I hope you don't face any problems like i did!

Update continued.. Wash area vanity area and mirror (so pretty! ) MBR toilet vanity area and mirror Common toilet vanity area and mirror Ventilation fans installed in all 3 toilets All working track lights installed at staircase landing! A little bit of work is pending such as the balcony area ledge which needs to be painted! Then some minor touch up work. We placed the orders for the beds, storage frames and common room wardrobe yesterday so we are left with the sofa and balcony now Yay! Some progress at last.

Here's an update on the house progress and I'm happy to say that we are almost done! Only pending work is the countertop ( of course) but we are very pleased with the progress of the rest of the items The dining area (ex study room) with the dining table that came in yesterday! The plumber has installed all the taps and accessories and here's a view of the sink and washing area The oven has been fitted. The area above is a ventilation vent but the carpenter has taken it back to cut it to a shorter height. Wash area louvred PD door (closed) Opened (teehee)

Thanks kooky! We did look at some quartz samples from China and put them through some abuse. All fared pretty decently but the only thing that worries us is that it's not been tested here. In any case, we are keeping our options open and trying out all possibilities. The black surface you chose looks lovely though! It goes well with the red cabinets! I've taken note of your supplier and thanks for helping out kooky

Thanks for the compliment Makanology!

I would like to second that. Got my hob and hood from zero too and delivery was prompt. Prices also were one of the cheapest around.

Now for a couple of updates! Our fridge arrived today! However, they forgot about the oven!! It was on the same invoice so how could you forget it!! They have rescheduled for Thursday but they have yet to confirm the timing. We got the SS version of the MRF62C. So pretty!! And it's a lot bigger than I thought.. The casement windows for the balcony are up!! And once again, they look so pretty! The portion towards the top had to be left open as HDB did not permit the building of casement windows over it. We had the option of boxing up with Acrylic panels but we thought it might be good to leave the opening as it is to facilitate ventilation within the balcony, especially since the toilets and compressors will need proper air movement. Now that it's up, the overall look doesn't seem too bad too Polishing of the flooring and varnishing of parquet upstairs is done up. The only source of light in this picture are the cove lights and we are pleasantly surprised by it's brightness! We may have to take out 1 bulb from each side in the future though as it can't be too energy efficient. Or we can stick to operation any 2 sides at any point in time. Was checking out the lights today while waiting for my husband and it struck me how pretty the kitchen lights look! Nice That's one more thing to be happy about!

So we decided to move on with our lives after the whole Caesarstone episode to pick an alternative kitchen countertop. I was previously in touch with BMS Marbles when I was evaluating granite countertops so today I got back to them on the granite and iQuartz (more on this later) selections they offered. So they gave me the Snow white and Pure white samples for quartz and since I wanted Indian granite, I received the Indian Black and Indian Black Galaxy samples. Indian Black Galaxy Indian Black Snow White (Quartz) Pure White (Quartz) And we proceeded to put all 4 samples through the scratch and stain tests In addition to the coffee stain pictured above we have added red wine and will leave the stains on overnight before wiping off the next morning. The scratch test results were average. The quartz surfaces had reasonable scratch marks, meaning yes there is a teeeeny tiny scratch line but you can't see it unless you were looking for it; and even then you would have to look very hard. The granite samples were comparable with the Indian Black faring better than the Black Galaxy. The glossy finish of the Black Galaxy makes scratches stand out more than those on the Indian Black. So when I went down to the shop I was told during the conversation by the boss that it is iQuartz. iQuartz products generally start with "i" while these were just snow white and pure white; and iQuartz's official website doesn't even have anything close to Snow White. SO when I returned to the office I emailed asking for confirmation as to whether it truly is iQuartz and if there will be any labels for identification. The lady serving me mentioned that she wasn't sure and that she had to wait for her boss to return and so will let me know tomorrow. I don't know, maybe she honestly did not know, but I just find it strange that someone working there wouldn't know if it was iQuartz or not. Oh well..let's see what they say tomorrow.

Btw, does anyone have reviews on Colorquartz? They have been in singapore only around 1 year or so so if anyone has used them, please feel free to share your views. The test reports look better than good so far but if anyone has some real life experiences to share it would be greatly appreciated Hopefully tomorrow brings with it some clarity...

I see I see.. well, we'll probably sleep on it and hopefully tomorrow morning we will be able to make a decision. Today we went down to GR link once again to purchase the remainder of our bathroom accessories to be installed on Thursday. No pictures were taken because I was just too upset

MiracleSG, what edge profile did you pick? And what was the thickness? We have to top up 2k on top of our initial granite quote that's why it sounds so unattractive. It was because our countertop exceeded 70cm width that's why..

Some sad news at last! Haiz.. So as I mentioned earlier, the kitchen countertop was to be installed on 20th June and today we received the final quite following measurement taking. The countertop width was more than we initially agreed on but we didn't think it would make too much of a price difference. We were quite wrong. The final quote was almost 1k more than the initial and the choice was quite clear to us. True that the caesarstone is an amazing counter top to have but we were not willing to spend this extra amount and have called it off. It's truly sad that last minute it had to be this way but have no doubt in the material quality and the service provided. Both are exceptional. Now the search begins for a suitable alternative and I'm contemplating getting iQuartz instead. ICrystal offered by them seems pretty and of course the 2nd choice is granite. Any users who have used iQuartz and can share their honest feedback? We would appreciate your help loads! Thanks!!

And so, it's time to continue with picture posting! Post 4: Second Floor Pictures From left to right: 1) Common toilet corridor light and track lights installed. 3 track lights were purchased and to our horror, we saw that only 1 out of the 3 was working upon installation We purchased them from JB so another trip has to be made to get the 2 extra LED lights! Argh! I want freebies in exchange! 2) I'm so happy the way the wardrobe turned out!! The casement mirror reveals a deeper set of shelves when opened and I can't wait to start using it! Oh and the 2 right most door are mu husband's while the rest are all mine Whee! 3) Fixed panel for the MBR with rain shower 4) 2 glass panels and 1 swing door for the common toilet with rainshower 5) 2 of these lights installed in the common toilet. So pretty!

Post 3: First Floor Pictures continued All drawers are Blum drawers and I love my "spice cabinet" area near the hob! If you notice the white grated thing below where the hob is supposed to be (pic 2), it's for ventilation as the oven comes below it and also for changing the battery for the hob. Pic 3 shows the tall unit which acts as a mini pantry with the built in oven slot above it. The last 2 pictures are in the balcony area and the big gap is where our front load washing machine will sit. (Pretty balcony lights shine bright!) There are a lot more pics but I'll have to call it a night and continue tomorrow . Thanks for reading!!

Post 3: First Floor Pictures Yayyy so finally some pictures of the house! So carpentry is done up, window grilles have been put up. And the fans are not too bad too The purple wall area is the dining area and I must say that I totally did not like the colour when I first saw it painted but now that almost everything is done up, I'm really happy with the colour combi! They all seem to complement each other. Husband thinks that the blue tiles now "stick out like a sore thumb" but I beg to differ! They are still the highlight of the kitchen to me

Post 2: The Caesarstone Tests So initially we wanted Snow but last minute we were told it was out of stock so we went with ocean foam instead, pictured below. I think it's just as pretty, if not more The sample that was given to us: And so the testing begins (This is my husband's doing ) Here are the tests from left to right: 1) Immersed in coffee for 2 hours 2) Frozen at -40 Degrees C for 1 hour 3) Baked at 83 degrees C for 1 hour 4) Sawed (that's right, sawed) Conclusion is that the sample was as good as new after the first 3 tests. For the last test however, scratch marks could be seen at the edges while the middle portions were unaffected. So users take note that the edges are a bit weak. Well realistically, we wouldn't freeze, bake, saw at or leave stains for 2 hours on the countertop but I suppose my husband just wanted to be assured it's worth the money. Hee. They will be coming down for installation on 20th June

It's been a really long time since my last update and significant progress has been made meanwhile! I shall cut short my talk and let the pictures do the talking Post 1: Amazon Items for the House Went away for a short business trip and came back with some of these items for the house! Wheee List of items from left to right: (yellow suitcase lock is for size reference) 1) The White Lantern:No idea where to put it yet but bought it as it's just so pretty! 2) Holder for broom/mop 3) DecoMates non-ticking silent wall clock: Will probably placed in 1 of the rooms 4) DecoMates non-ticking silent wall clock: This is for the kitchen. No lock for size measurement but diameter is about 30cm and will add some colour to the white tiles. Overall pleased with them

I see I see. Thank you very much for the reply though! I'll check out the website and see what can be done. Thank you once again