Bengologist

Like what I have mentioned earlier, I have a really bad habit of going for items which are wayyyyyyy above my budget. What's the solution for this problem? Do I have to - a) save money & go for normal lightings OR b) splurge on them & cry in one corner of my room when I see my bankbook Thanks to lawrenceke (hey dude, if you are reading this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your renotalk blog ), I found the answer. I went for option C, which is to save money by buying such lightings from taobao and have them delivered to Singapore. WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! The only two disadvantages for this option is that I have to take higher risk for the ordering of these lightings from China and that I have to forgo the 1 or 2 years warranty which Singapore shops tend to offer. These are the two extravagant masterpieces I have purchased from Taobao. 1) For passageway 2) For hanging above dining table P.S.: Sorry for the bad resolutions. I took pictures of it on my computer screen using the camera on my Samsung phone. Yeah, pretty dumb move when there's so many smarter ways of saving the pictures.

More Photographs of lightings 6) Saw this at Palace of Lights. The price range is from $600 to $800. Can't remember the exact amount. 7) The LED downlights I bought from Palace of Lights. Still can't believe I got each of them at 38 bucks (with one year warranty)! Good deal! 8) The service yard's LED ceiling light I bought from Thomson Lighting @ Balestier. Doesn't look impressive but it's ENERGY SAVING! Woohoo! 9) Square LED ceiling lights for kitchen and toilets (also from Thomas Lighting @ Balestier)

Photographs of lightings 1) Forgotten where I took this picture but this is one of the lightings that caught my attention. 2) Interesting pendant light from lighting.com.sg 3) Circular LED downlights from lighting.com.sg (they do not have the square ones yet) 4) Good design lightings (from lightings.com.sg again) for the bedrooms but they are not do have the LED versions 5) T5 lightbulbs (from lightings.com.sg again again and again). Might revisit the shop again after I confirm with my ID how many tubes I require.

Although the selection of the ID pose a huge headache to me, I managed to scan through the list thoroughly and make my selection quickly. However, the headache did not cease there, as the next bigger headache came hitting on my head - Electrical Appliances/Furniture/Lightings As much as I want to adhere my spending strictly to my budget plan, I realized that my immune system to visually appealing items is almost close to zero and this means that I have to pay an extra price for my exorbitant taste-bud. I start my search for electrical appliances, furniture and lighting as early as 5th April (remember Ikea?) and spend the next few weeks roaming around the streets of Geylang, Joo Chiat, Jalan Besar, Balestier etc for the right additions to my house. I will begin with lightings. LIGHTINGS Before I begin my hunt, I met up with my ID to discuss the number of lighting points he proposed to install in my house and the kind of lights I am require to buy. Frankly speaking, I know nuts about selecting the suitable lights for every part of my house and I have to seek help in this forum. Even after reading pages after pages of information about lights (okay I lied, I browse through them), I still find it difficult to transfer this wisdom into my 2MB human processing unit. However, I understand something --> LED lights can save lots of energy, so it's the best. Hahaha! Geylang Road -> Went there thrice to find lighting & bathroom wares shops (I stress it again, it's solely for lightings & sanitary wares, no other purposes). i) Vlux - Step into Vlux and was immediately greeted by a 'bodyguard' who follow me around but didn't really explain anything. They have a good range of products but their price are equally ATAS! ii) Lights Advance - Quite a decent selection of lightings, especially crystal chandeliers. Price range is average. iii) lightings.com.sg - This outlet is relatively smaller than its counterparts in Balestier, Jalan Besar but the services provided by the Filipino saleslady is definitely the best among its peers. Despite the fact that I reiterate my point that I'm just window-shopping for lights and might not purchase any, she still smile and explain all the difference between LED, PLC, PLL lightings to me. Kudos to her! iv) Pavilion Lighting (updated on 23rd May 13) - I have not read any reviews about them but happen to see it while window-shopping in Geylang for the remaining bedroom lights, T5 tubes and door bell. As soon as my right foot touched their floor, a salesman (his name is Wei Liang) came forward to attend to me. Although my original intention was just to see see look look, I was impressed by his services. Not only did he offer me abundance of knowledge on lightings, he also provided me with fantastic discounts on the T5 tubes, bedroom ceiling lights and door bell which I had purchased (Not sure if it's due to my super-bargaining skill ). On top of the lighting knowledge, he even taught me how to breakdown the renovation quote my ID offer me on kitchen cabinets, wardrobes etc and also introduced me to a couple shops in Geylang where I can get massive discounts on sanitary & kitchen wares. He highlighted that most shops or IDs earned a fair share of commission when introducing other shops but for him, he's basically offering help to his customers and not a single cent of commission is earned. Their lighting prices are probably the best along Geylang Road but his services are of the highest quality. I even gave him a call days after the lightings are delivered to my house to find out about LED strips, which he gladly impart the knowledge. One word: Fantastic! Joo Chiat -> Made a U-turn at Geylang Road & make my way to Joo Chiat just for this outlet on a hot Sunday i) Brilliant Source Lighting - Saw a few positive reviews about this shop and decided to do some exercise by walking a long distance to Joo Chiat Place from Geylang to find this tiny little shop. By the time I enter the shop, my shirt is already half-drenched in sweats. The price of their PLC downlights are really affordable at $25 per piece (if I didn't recall wrongly) but I wanted LED downlights. The selection is not a lot, so I made a move after a couple of minutes. Not really worth a trip unless you found something desirable on their website. Jalan Besar -> Can't recall much except that I stepped into lighting.com.sg (opposite Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant) and Rad Son Lighting (beside Royal Franco bathroom wares). Balestier -> This should be renamed as the Renovation Street of Singapore for its high number of renovation firms & lighting shops. LOL! i) Chan Huat - The Big Brother of lighting shops along Balestier. You can easily find at least 4 outlets along the same road. Offer a great variety of lightings which come in all shapes and sizes. The price is also reasonable. However, the services varied from outlet to outlet, so anyone who wish to purchase lightings from them shouldn't be deterred just because of bad services in a particular outlet. ii) Thomson Lighting (@ Shaw Plaza) - I was excited when I saw the big words "MASSIVE SALE" and immediately ran into the shop. After walking around and playing with the lighting switches, I took out my wallet and burnt a huge hole by ordering 5 units of LED lights for my bathrooms, kitchen and service yard. However I was satisfied with my purchase as the other outlets are selling the same type of LED lights at least 40% higher. The only downside is that I have to pick them up myself as my purchases are below the $500 free-delivery mark. Shall upload the pictures later. iii) LC Lighting Centre (@ Shaw Plaza) - I reckon they have the biggest display area in a single outlet along Balestier Road. However, I'm also confident that their high rental cost is also reflected in their lighting prices. I will advise shoppers to go there to get a 'feel' of the lightings you want to buy and go to other outlets for the same item, it will be cost-effective. iv) Extreme Lighings - This shop is recommended by my friend who has purchased all her lightings in this shop with huge discounts. The varieties are not exactly what I'm seeking, so didn't hang around for too long in the shop. v) Light + Form Concepts - Expensive Expensive Expensive vi) Palace of Lights - I have read quite a number of negative remarks on the forum about this lighting shop, so I entered it with caution. However, I was greeted by an enthusiastic uncle who makes effort educating me on LED downlights. The best part? Their LED downlights (squares design with glass) are on promotion, selling each unit for only $38/- (exclusive of GST) . I immediately placed an order of 11 units and told them to deliver during the 3rd week of May. I will upload the pictures later.

These are the list of IDs which have contacted or met up with me: 1) Home Success (ID: Mr W***** L*) This guy is the first person to drop me a message after I click "submit request". As this is my first meeting with an ID, I'm pretty excited and arrange to meet him at a coffee bean outlet near my workplace. I was late for 45 minutes for the appointment but his colleague and him were patient (at least on their face, but maybe they are cursing and swearing at me inside their heart, hahahaha! ) and offer to buy me a cup of large mocha. Like what I mention earlier, this is my first meet-up with an ID, so naturally I was left in awe when he go through the floor plan and the proposed design to my house. He subsequently agreed that he will try to accommodate to my budget and let me know the quote within 2 weeks. One month has passed since I last saw him but the quote is nowhere to be found. I pray that the aliens who abducted him is treating him nicely. LOL! 2) 3D Innovative Design Pte Ltd (ID: Ms J**** C***** and Mr Eddie) If you guys/girls have been reading my entries, you will know by now this is the ID company I have engaged for my house renovation and my ID name is Eddie. Initially, it was a lady who contacted me and arrange to meet me at a McDonald's near my current home, on a Sunday morning (poor people have to work even on Sundays, I better stop complaining about my 5.5days work week ). However on the day of the appointment, the lady messaged to inform me that she was down with a heavy fever and had arranged for her colleague (Eddie) to meet me instead. I went through the same motion with Eddie the way I had discussed with the Home Success guy and he also promised to provide the quote to me within a week. The quote eventually came and although it's not the lowest from what I have received, I went ahead with them because I was pretty attracted by their granite cabinet top promotion (granite cabinet top instead of solid top, for the same price!! ). Went to their showroom a couple of times to sign the contract and choose the colour/materials, plus making tonnes & tonnes of changes to my renovation plan (I'm a terrible customer with a fantastic personality. Ha! ) 3) D'Trenzo Interior (ID: Mr I***) After my discussion with Eddie in McDonald's, I made my way to Balestier to meet up with this guy in his showroom. Over the phone and messages, he sounded like a mid-forty/fifty guy who might have been in this industry for more than a decade. I was surprised when I met him in his showroom/office! He look like he's only twenties or thirties and acted a bit like a "Ah Beng" (Sorry about that, pal). I repeated the words I have told Eddie earlier on and during the conversation, he contributed a lot of ideas & themes into my renovation plan. However, what really distinguished him from the other IDs is his ability to provide a quote ON THE SPOT!! His quoted price was reasonable. If I did not go with 3D Innovative Design, D'Trenzo Interior is definitely my next alternative. 4) Jbuildwrkz (ID: Ms A*******) In the first place, the lady who contacted me wasn't Ms A******* but another lady, Ms K*******. I arrange to meet her up at the same coffee bean outlet after my work and as usual, I was once again late for 30 mins for the appointment (I think that coffee bean outlet is cursed, I'm never punctual everytime I arrange my appointment to be there). Before I start my routine speech on my renovation plan, she took out a notebook and started sketching my floorplan in her notebook. When I inform her that she can sketch the layout on the floorplan provided by me, she says it's okay, she prefer it to be this way. Unlike the other IDs I have met, she doesn't take out any ruler to do any measurement on the floorplan and she doesn't contribute any ideas to whatever things I have said, just merely drawing them out on the notebook, therefore I was quite skeptical about their professionalism. In addition, I did not manage to find out anything about their company on renotalk, so this further eroded my confidence in this company. However, I do have to highlight that their quote is prompt and they quoted the lowest among all the quotations I received. 5) Unitedteam lifestyle (ID: Ms R*****) She sent me a message to inform me that my design plan, which includes false ceiling in living hall, 1 set of kitchen cabinets, 3 bedroom wardrobes and other general works is possible within SGD15,000.00. She invited me to her showroom at Thomas Plaza but I was lazy to go. No further correspondence between us after that. 6) Love Home Interior Design (ID: Mr J***) I did not send any request online to this company as its shop is located very near to my current home. Handed my floorplan to the senior designer and he provided me a message with the quote in it. However, I wasn't that keen on engaging his services as he give me that "NO NEGOTIATION" expression on his face. This is just my personal opinion (yes, I do judge people and I'm truly apologetic about that ). After I sent him a message to decline his services, he accepted it like a gentleman and wish me a blessed renovation journey. Perhaps I have misguided my assessment on him. Sorry pal! 7) De Style Interior (ID: Ms K** H****) She sent me a message to invite me to her showroom at Ubi Avenue 3 (Vertex building). The address is in fact in the same building as 3D Innovative Design but I was pretty reluctant to go. I counter-propose to her to meet me somewhere nearer to my workplace or current home but she insisted that I should head down to her showroom as it's only at the showroom that she can better illustrate to me the items she intend to quote me. I wasn't impressed by her and hence I requested her to send me a quote first before I made the trip down. I stressed to her that my budget is only SGD15,000 and she told me that she will keep as closely as possible to it. I went to do a check on the company and was amazed that they even renovated the house for Ponsak (MediaCorp celebrity). The first quote arrive in my hotmail days after our conversation and the quoted price was SGD22,000 (inclusive of GST)!! I told her that it's wayyyyy above my budget and her reply was "I always ask you to come down so it's easier to discuss. No discuss how to know what you want, so I randomly quote as per your vague request" I was astounded by her reply and I told her don't bother as I will look for someone else. However, she says that she will re-adjust the quote to remove some of the unnecessary items so that it will fit into my budget, so I agreed to it. The second quote returned with a figure of SGD20,000 (inclusive of GST) and immediately I drop her a call to notify her that my budget is SGD 15,000. Her reply is "I already try to accommodate to your budget le. Anyway house is a lifetime item and you won't be renovating it again and again after years. Comfortable is the key after a long day of work". Once again, I politely thank her for the second quote and decline her offer. However, she insisted that she can come out with a good quote which will guarantee satisfy my budget request. I didn't bother much and told her that I am really going to sign with someone else instead. The final quoted price -> SGD 16,500. Thanks for the effort but no thanks. 8) The others (Includes Urban Design House, Space Concepts Design, etc etc) Sorry for lumping these guys into this "others" list as I do not have much interaction with them. Did not meet up with the guy from Urban Design House, receive a decent quote from Space Concepts Design and a few others which have been "shift-deleted" from my 2MB memory space.

Upon returning from the trip to IKEA, I immediately diverted my attention to the right bearings of the renovation process and that is to find an excellent contractor/interior designer to fix up my empty house. I have been following the heated debate about the pros/cons of a contractor versus an interior designer in this forum but due to the fact that I do not possess any clue about beautifying a house, I decided to engage an ID and dump everything to him/her. However, there is one major problem -> Budget As this is going to be my future home (at least for the next foreseeable 5 years), I have made the decision to pay for all the renovating and furniture/electrical appliance expenses, therefore there is a need to balance my renovation spending with the other aspect of house furnishing. After utilizing all my debit/credit, balance sheet, profit or loss and cash flow forecast knowledge I gained from my studies and work, I managed to come up with a renovation budget -> SGD 15,000.00. After I submitted my particulars on the "Get Free Renovator Quote" function of this website, I immediately received endless stream of calls and messages. It came as a surprise as I have previously performed the same function before the collection of my home keys but I did not receive a single message or call from anyone, so I guess those IDs are pretty realistic people. Hahahaha! I will provide comments on the IDs I have met up in the next post. To be continued.............

Hahaha.. Really? My sister and her boyfriend commented that those mosiac designs on the wall is very ugly, although I personally think that they look pretty good. Anyway thank you and have a fantastic weekend!

Well, there's seven pages worth of information on your thread and I have read it all, so I find it useful, especially since my renovation is going to commence soon. The schedule plan the ID send me indicate that they are starting on 1st May 13 but it was delayed for a week as there are some changes I would like them to make.

Hi there! Wow, I've learnt a lot from your blog entries. Guess I'll be keeping an eye ​ on the renovation work to minimize the imperfections which might surface after the renovation. Thanks a lot! Hope everything's great after you move into the house! Cheers!

Wow! Just beside Buangkok MRT Station! Good location! Mine's pretty near to Punggol MRT Station, about 8 to 10mins walk. Thanks~! Have an awesome Friday!

Hi WhiteCookie! Thanks a lot! I also wish you a smooth reno journey! Can't wait to see your renovated house too! Cheers!

More photos from IKEA:- 6) Black table lamp for the bedroom (I think it's pretty expensive at $49.90) 7) Low Energy Bulb (Is this consider cheap? I'm not sure about the average energy-saving lightbulb price) 8) Roller Blind (I've read on some forum threads that curtain and blinds are usually in the range of few hundred to thousand plus dollars, why is this so inexpensive?) 9) Storage Bed Frame (Price of $249 do not include mattress but it's consider very very cheap!) 10) Bedside table (I'm probably going to get this for my new house)

After we loiter around aimlessly in the empty house for half an hour, my parents and I felt that it's time to move on to the next step. No, you got it wrong, it's not to find a Interior Designer asap, but go to IKEA to get a 'feel' of how a newly decorated house look and smell like. LOL! We're glad that IKEA is only 4 bus stops away from Punggol Bus Interchange and that it's not populated with people on a Friday afternoon. Here are some of the stuff we found in IKEA:- 1) Beautiful table lamp (and the price is affordable too!!) 2) Glossy coffee table (I think at $99, it's quite a steal!!) 3) Expandable dining table set (Reasonably priced at $469) 4) TV Media Storage (Quite a decent piece of storage furniture) 5) Casement Wardrobe (Not sure how many feet long)

Hey lawrenceke, Hahaha thanks! I just hope that it will transform into a decent lady. If it transform into a sexy lady, I'm afraid my parents will have a shock of their lifetime. Hahaha!

Hmmm.. Desmond Tiew, not sure who is he. My ID name is Eddie, a young chap in the company. Don't worry, I think it will be better if you share your experience here so that everyone can also benefit from it. I will also share with everyone my renovating experience so that newbies might benefit from it in the future. Although my renovation has not exactly commence, I have learned so much knowledge about renovation that I can consider switching to this industry. Wahahahaha! Yup, added you as a friend!

Hi multi888, Thanks a lot!

WOW! The Vodka decal is so pleasing to the eye! Very attractive addition to your house! Good job on that!

Hey jus4fun! Thanks for the pat on the shoulder! I just gave your profile a glance and realized that you also went for 3D Innovative Design as your renovator. Who did you engage? Did he/she do a good job on your house? too!

Hi ProjectH, Thanks a lot! I can't wait for it either. Guess I will be constantly bombing my ID's phone to find out the progress. Hahahaha!

Hi StaleBread, Thanks for the compliments. I also wish you the best of luck in your renovation! Cheers!

Hi harocarlos! Which area is your BTO? Also in Punggol? Well, I don't dare to place too much fanciful ideas into my renovation as the folks are not agreeable to anything other than the traditional home layout, so I will probably stick with the safe theme of doing false ceiling, L-box etc for my living room and keeping it as "normal" as possible for the bedrooms & kitchen. I will throw in some themes (eg retro chic, Mid Century, scandinavian style) when I have my own family next time.

Hi mrmerry! Thanks a lot!

Hi Makanology, Thanks a lot!

After the collection of the keys, my parents and I could not contain our excitement and immediately rush down in a cab to view our new place. Although the new apartment is smaller than what I have imagined, I'm pretty contented of the space and also enthusiastic of being a first-time homeowner myself. Below are some photos of my "naked house" taken on that day:- Living Room Kitchen Common Bedroom Master Bedroom Master Bedroom Toilet P.S.: Apologies if some of the pictures are not well-taken, I was too overwhelmed that I have gone berserk and randomly snapped these photos from ridiculous angles. Hahahahaha...

Hi everyone! After lurking around this site for a couple of months, I have finally decided to come out of the shadow and step forward to share my renovation experience and at the same time, seek important renovation advice from everyone. Although I'm still in shock on how I survive this perpetual procrastination, I managed to drag my body to the computer to create this mini-blog (I really deserve a pat on my own shoulder, haha! ). Unlike ninety percent of the renotalk bloggers here, I have applied for this new Punggol BTO flat with my parents (yeah, unfortunately I'm still a bachelor ). After about three long years of anxious wait, we finally received the letter from HDB to collect the keys for our new home. Coincidentally, the collection date falls on 5th April, a day before my birthday, hence I guess this must have been an early birthday gift from the government (let's put aside the HDB loan repayment ), Like what the other bloggers did, this is the floorplan to my new house:-