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The following are the photos of the items that he said he considered buying: Some kind of candlelight holder - Candlesticks - Ottoman with storage - Some form of beanbags -

The HTB was in Chennai for business last week so asked him to see if he can bring back anything for the house during his spare time. I honestly thought that he was going to bring back a souvenir / painting / pottery or even a statue that would remind him of his trip to Chennai. Instead, he comes back with something that frankly speaking, we can buy from almost any shop in the world. *facepalm* This is what happens when you leave men alone to do the shopping Photos of the house related shopping provided by him - He wisely (I'll at least give him that) decided to give this shop a miss - Instead, he headed over to Express Avenue, the largest mall in Chennai - Ongoing sale, so he went in

I've got to eat my words now. THANK YOU GREGLHC! we headed over to the Expo during the long weekend to check out the Times Book Fair. Even though the poor HTB was ill after his business trip so we only went down after he was finally a bit more human. Funny how his 'illness' means he needs to sleep a lot but when he's inside the Book Fair, he can treasure hunt for 1 1/2 hours, no problem. After hunting for treasures, he finally emerged with a carton of 30+ books. Guess he's finally satisfied After we were done with the Book Fair, we heeded Greglhc's advice to check out the Home Expo and we're so glad we did! We had a great time haggling with Pierce, the owner of Bez Gallery, over the price of the bedframe (storage bed, headboard etc). He's extremely patient and friendly. I've tried to find negative reviews of them but havn't come across any as yet so we placed our deposit for the following - I've always wanted something like this and thankfully the hubs is perfectly fine with it. Another item off the list!

hahhahha well said, sarah! we normally head to Alexandria Village (over at the Bt Merah industrial zone) for our fix of handmade Teochew kuehs! Have you tried out that place before?

Thanks for the heads up, greglhc!

hahahaha true but we've already placed a deposit for the Serta Diamond Suite mattress so think we won't be looking at the mattresses. will just pop in to see if anything else catches our eyes but like what i said to cookiegal, we most probably won't buy anything. we'll only pop in because we're there for the book fair

Congratulations!! I can only collect my keys on the 9th of Sept but am already looking forward to opening the door for the first time. Your reno process is about to start! Enjoy the ride!

Thanks for sharing your experiences cookiegal! I agree with you. These shows keep popping up non stop. We were actually there around 3 weeks back for the previous Electronics & Food Fair. At that time, there was another Furniture & Living fair so we checked it out but didn't want to buy anything. I highly doubt that we will buy anything this time as well. It's just that the HTB wants to go for the book fair (the last time he went for the MPH fair there, he ended up buying 2 cartons of books) so since we're going to be there, we might as well pop by to take a quick look (it helps that there's the Metro fair and the Harvey Norman fair happening on the same day too) But i 100% agree with you that we shouldn't be pressurized into buying something. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We've already earmarked another furniture shop for our sofa & dining table purchase so unless something spectacular happens, we're not going to be buying any furniture at the expo. Btw, some RT forummers have had bad experiences with Nova & Novena (not to mention so many others) so we're very worried about buying from such retailers.

The Home Show? Yeah, my HTB and I will be heading there on the 8th of August. He wants to go for the Book Fair, I want to go for the Metro Fair so might take the chance to pop by the Home Show as well as the Harvey Norman expo sale going on at the same time Thanks for the heads up!

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! I think your kitchen looks amazing!! *drool*

Nope Burst our budget for the mattress but hopefully it's something that we can enjoy for a long time to come Your friend told me that after paying so much money, we're going to have longer hours to pay off everything so by the time we come home, we'll be so tired that we can just fall asleep on the floor. Why waste money on the mattress?

Outstanding view! Welcome to RT and share more photos of the process with us!

After getting all the good advice from the friendly people in here, our agonizing mattress hunt has finally come to an end! We've had numerous discussions about the mattress that we should get for our new place and the final shortlist as of last weekend looked like this: HTB: Serta Me: Maxcoil and Omazz (On a sidenote, the hubs and I are definitely not The Princess and The Pea type of people. We laid down on so many mattresses and apart from the firmness, we can't really tell them apart. Some people can feel the difference in temperature, the spring density etc so the only conclusion that we can draw from this is that we are both 'dead meat' (si bah)) Last night, we reached a final decisions and plumped for the... .... ... hahahahaahahhaha the goofy sheep reigns supreme!!!

Hi, I went to check out eStore. I think the $80 is just for removal and installation. If you look on the same page, Baron 203 WC is going for $138 while Baron 303 WC is going for $188

THUMBS UP for Hommage. After scouring RT, we've decided to only buy our furniture from reputable companies (after all the horror stories, we're trying to avoid certain shops) so we decided to check out Hommage Lifestyle. Eric attended to us and sat down with us for close to 1 1/2 hours (and this was on a Saturday and there were MANY people in the showroom no less). He is extremely patient, sincere, knowledgeable and we have nothing bad to say about him. No pushy sales attitude on display at all and we will 100% be getting our furniture from here. We havn't bought yet because we've narrowed our shortlist down to around 2-3 items of each piece of furniture so we've informed Eric that we want to go back to think about it, discuss again, take final measurements before placing our deposits. I will most certainly be recommending HL & Eric to my family members from now on.

Yeah.... I'm really tempted to get it from the old uncle. Maybe we should.... Will discuss with the HTB again. After all, there's really no reason for us to not support the sunset industry - plus, it's a one of a kind piece.

Hi oldskool, I really couldn't help but laugh when I saw the donut-like lamps hanging over the mosaic table, continuing with the Simpsons theme but the things that really got me giggling was the 'ping-pong' dishes and the 'chicken cage' from Bali. Where in the world did you find furniture like this???? If you ever have a housewarming party and invite me, I'm definitely going to get you all the old school games for you to display - chapteh, 5 stones, old maid, donkey etc

Hi oldskool, Thanks for the tip! I will certainly head down later on this week to check the outdoor furniture out! This hanging chair was from Boulevard over at Turf City and they have a weekly 'Weekend Promo' where the hanging chair goes for $399. There's this really old school shop near my office which does solely wicker furniture over at Kallang Bahru. He quoted me $350 for a black wicker hanging chair so he's certainly a possibility plus it feels nice giving my business to an old uncle who's keeping the sunset industry going on. Thanks again oldskool!

Hi potatoes! *waves* it's fabric But like i said, i doubt we'll be getting it in this particular color and design. We just want a sofa-bed in the Entertainment Room so that we can sing KTV / watch movies on it and turn it into our little chill-out place. After all, after paying for everything else, odds are we won't be able to go out anymore

It's been such a hectic weekend that we head into the work week feeling as if we havn't had any time off at all. Spent the entire Saturday at Parisilk, 2 particular furniture shops before ending up at IMM once again (seems like we're spending way too much time at this place) while the entire Sunday was spent for the final day gown selection at the bridal boutique. My HTB commented that he's looking to finally getting all of these out of the way, complete the moving in & unpacking and he's going to just spend an entire weekend doing nothing except eating, reading and watching TV. Shortlisted several items that we're very tempted to get. We expect to be able to reach a decision on the mattress & headboard by this week after the HTB comes back from his business trip to Chennai so decided to take a look at some other items instead, taking a break from mattress testing - 1) Hanging Chair (for the balcony) Chances of getting this - Very high. HTB almost placed a deposit but decided to shop around a little bit more to see if he can a better deal elsewhere. If we can't find a better deal, we're coming back here to get this. 2) Red swivel Chair Chances of getting this - Slim. We can't shake the feeling that there are better pieces out there and this isn't even a priority to begin with. 3) Sofa bed (for the Entertainment Room) Chances of getting this - Average. We definitely will be getting a sofa bed for the entertainment room, though not necessarily this particular piece in this particular colour

OMG I have many fond memories of that mosaic table and am so impressed with the personal Simpsons touch (D'oh!)! I think your design is one of the most unique and quirky ones in RT and am eagerly looking forward to see the completed outcome!

*fingers crossed* Hope your delivery goes smoothly, Vi! I've read a lot of bad reviews about FC as well, that's why I'm hesitant to go there in the first place....

Thanks for the tip, 3Dyms... we just read in the Straits Times that Serta is having a 48% discount over these 2 days to celebrate our Nation's 48th birthday so we intend to pop by again to test out the beds again and check out the prices (so much for "No more promos") I've never heard of Omazz before, which just goes to show how foolish we newbies are at this furniture hunting business hahahhahha Will certainly check them out too before committing to a particular brand Don't worry 3dyms - i'm sure you'll be heading over to BKK soon for a family getaway! I can imagine how fun it'll be shopping with daughters

hahahaa we'll be moving into Jurong East hahahahaaha

hahaha don't be stressed, don't have a headache planning your reno is stressful but planning your holiday should be very fun!! have you ever been to Bali before? Hotel or Villa? If it were me, I would plan my holiday according to what we like to do and what we intend to enjoy. The household stuff is secondary. I just went to Bali again this January with my HTB and his family to celebrate my b'day and had an awesome time, enjoying the water sports and just chilling out in general. Also came across this place with nice modern, Balinese furniture http://www.opendesignbypenelope.com/contact-us It's at Kuta, so it's incredibly accessible