EdensMom

Hi there ... . I tried to PM you but it says 'bro cannot receive messages'? Maybe you are too busy!!! Anyway, can you please PM me or advise how to contact you. You installed 4 fans for me a while back which are great. I just need your assistance with something else now..... Thanks thanks.

Oh haha - I didn't know that I needed to empty my inbox. Sorry for the late reply.... See here for Bro's link: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/42520-ceiling-fans-downlightsetc-trusted-supplier-since-2011/

We purchased from Bro who is in these forums..... got the fanco type .... I visited 6+ stores around Balestier, Geyland and Jalan Besar to look at all the different fans and work out pros and cons. Once I worked out what I wanted, I realised the Bro in the renotalk forums had by far the best price, and he had lots of positive reviews. So,. we did it. Got 5 different fans, some with lighting attached. He was easy to deal with, gave us a good price, installed them well, and offers warranty, etc etc.I would certainly recommend. He also gave very honest advice.

Air flow isn't a problem. Everyone always comments how breezy our place is. But, the netting does get dusty ..... so you need to clean every 6 months or so,otherwise airflow could be blocked.

My advice..... as someone said above ..... the most difficult part is to have the carpenter, painting, and electrician to "work together" The second most difficult part will be to work out what design you want. You could just spend a lot of time looking at other people's photos on this forum and pinterest, and then ask your contractors to copy these exactly, Another idea would be to visit a few ID, and ask them what they would do. Then, through doing this, if you find an ID with a good price that you like, you could make it easier on yourself and choose to engage them. Otherwise, you could just take their ideas, and then envision what you what and tell your contractors. Personally I think the freelance designer / 3D drawings can be a waste of money. If you're on a tight budget, the best thing is if you get exact photos of something you want (eg a built in cupboard, the kitchen colours, etc) and then ask a contractor to do it.

PD door (ie slide n swing) is quite confusing for visitors and guests who do not use these regularly. A good example of this is at Thomson Medical Centre they have PD doors in all the rooms...... so many patients have no idea how to properly open and close the doors! They are always asking the nurses for help. I would recommend a normal swinging door i you have the space.

I would recommend Shalom. REMOVED LINK Have moved with them twice..... the entire house ...... prices a competitive, quality is high, and very trustworthy. The do a lot of government jobs too.

Thank you so much w7_lee ...... this is inspiring! I have been trying to deal with mould for a few years and found your old post from 2010. I wasn't sure if it would be worth wrecking my sealant to do this ..... but now I see you 2015 posts, and I say absolutely I want that! Thanks for being so ingenious and thanks for updating 5 years later with photos.

Be careful with cheap hydraulics! I got one too, but I always ask husband to hold the bed up, as I worry it could crash at any time.... would be just deadly.

Also think about ease of cleaning ..... if undermount is done correctly, it is much easier to clean and keep hygienic. But, if it is done poorly, it can get water trapped underneath and also leak. Personally I did the top mounted so we can replace if needed. If you get a standard European sized sink it is much easier to replace or upgrade in the future if you need.

I thought about this as wanted to use both. What I realised was that it is impossible to open and close the casement-type windows when there is both the screen and invisible grille. So, we kept traditional grilles on the window. I assume you want the grille for safety? Certainly the magnetic screens wouldn't stop someone falling out as the magnetic strips are not strong enough.

I recommend Helping Hand (as per link provided above) or else Shalom were wonderful too. Good value and highly professional. http://www.shalom.com.sg/

I started a different thread complaining about this company over two years back! Makes me mad that people still keep having the same frustrations. Stop buying from there!!

You can DIY from the website listed above (I have done it on one window) or else you can get it installed for you. We used a company called Magnetic Screen and it is great. We've had it in place for over 2 years now. It is easy to open and clean, and certainly keeps out all the insects and a lot of dust. Magnetic strips is much better than velcro.

I like all your ideas! However, for #2, is the service balcony properly covered and enclosed?. Also, hacking bathroom walls can be expensive with the tiling and waterproofing required. Do you plan to use your dining area as a dining area? If you don't move the store, perhaps you want to consider knocking down the kitchen / dining wall, so you have a more open space. The dining area seems very small compared to the rest of the place, which is lovely and big.

You can get invisible grilles. That would be the safest way. Otherwise, any of those 3M type sticky locks you buy from NTUC could help, but I wouldn't count on them for safety. We decided to go with the grilles, as couldn't find anything else.

If you can accord to have a smaller master bedroom, I would take it out of Bedroom 1, and then turn Bedroom 2 into the master. Bedroom 1 is ideal or making an extra room since it has two sets of windows and is already quite large. I don't know how to upload pictures, but I will try to describe .... make a wall which goes vertically down from the windows at the top and make a sliding door entrance from the corridor. Then if you still want storage space, you could add a large cupboard onto wall between the kitchen and dining room.

You could make pipe the feature of the bathroom. I have seen it done by wrapping rope tightly curled up around the pipe and it has a resort type of feel to it. We thought about it, but decided the cost to knock down the wall and retile, etc wasn't worth it at all. Better to just have two smaller bathrooms!

Yes, sorry for slow reply ...... it does come with free repolish within 10 years. So far we haven't needed it. I forget the brand name just at this moment, but i would recognise it is you gave me a list. It's a Singapore company, and certainly not Corian. Sorry that isn't much help.

My experience ...... if you have a good contractor that you trust, do everything with them. It makes it easier in terms of guarantee / warranty on the work done. If you mix and match, and something goes wrong, each party may try to blame the other and it will cause you more headache to fix (eg if the guy doing the kitchen scratched the new floor in the dining room, or he drills a hole in the door way wrong place, etc). Also, the renovation schedule becomes more of a headache (eg when to paint the place.... after the kitchen is finished, which means the first contractor got to come back again, etc). We tried to use someone different for kitchen versus rest of the house and it turned into nightmare. Also I agree - dark colour in kitchen bench can hide dirt. which isn't great in a kitchen. Also, sometimes it shows up watermarks very easily.

Why not use something other than marble? Then they can set it in one piece in your house???

Yes, ipaq444 ..... I chose solid surface..... so many people are surprised when they see it, as it is very thin and flat, and looks a lot like quartz. I was a bit worried that it may discolour with heavy kitchen use (we cook two or three meals a day at home, including Indian style with saffron, etc) and it has been two years, and still looks good as new. It obviously isn't as tough as quartz or marble, so you cannot chop directly onto it (must use a plastic chopping board) but we have no problems with it and I know it is safe.

HI there, Just to say thank you to Eric and team for installing fans for me one month back (Dec 2014). We got three sets of ceiling fans with lights in bedrooms, and one an without lighting for living room. My hubby and I spent a long time looking at different shops and models, and Eric's service and product knowledge were much better than all the Geylang, Balestier, and Lavender shops where we looked. Also he was able to offer us a good discount - I wouldn't say it was better than every place we looked as some had clearance sales, etc, but across the mix, we were very happy to trust the work to Eric. Also Eric offered to come for no-obligations visit beforehand to make recommendations, which no other shop would do. Our whole family love the fans! We would certainly recommend. He didn't ask me to post this, but I felt so happy with service, that I wanted to share (which is rare! usually on this forum I am complaining about places!).

I don't think it will look so bad when the fridge is in there either ...... it might actually be a nice divider, since it appears fairly close to the entrance of your kitchen. If I were you, I would mention your frustration to the ID and see if they can give a discount, but honestly I don't think you'll have many alternatives. Just keep an eye on it further 'errors' happen. Enjoy your new kitchen!

How did you end up going?