guojiawen

Thanks! Seems affordable compared to the espring one, i was quoted like $2k or around that for it.. Will explore around the website

Hello neighbour *waves* We have the same theme! Look forward to seeing your reno and the sharing of ideas

Haha! If never cook much actually don't need to plan in detail.. As long as we know where are the utensils, pots, maggie mees, eggs and canned food can already

Hi there, I'm engaging Master Tong for my fengshui audit too but he hasn't gone onsite yet. Still waiting for keys. Just want to ask, how was the process like? Are there many restrictions on layout etc? Thanks in advance!

Hey Claypot, How much was the hyflux water filter? Just wondering, if we have hot and cold water for kitchen sink, do we put a separate tap for the filtered water instead? Thanks!

Sounds like can holiday at home! Nice theme there

Hi breakster, Welcome to the family of renotalk t-bloggers! Let me guess.. your theme will go more TW style?

No worries. Thanks for replying!

Lol, makes sense to try out our fav music.. thanks for the tip! Will do more research on sound bars and hopefully get an affordable one

haha! maybe that's why we are twinnies

Love the colour you chose for your laminates! The mint is really lovely!

Okay! Will update when i eventually buy from taobao

Hello xiaohuiis, I've PM-ed you

LOL. ya, we'd have done the same and dump everything into all available space if not for my friend advising me that when we eventually need to get around organising or cooking in the kitchen, it will be a pain. so i decided to spend some time doing up the planning hehe. thanks for the heads up on the cupboard above the dish rack, i didn't even think of that. super noob here. haha. for the food prep side, i'm thinking of finding those sink that can have attachable cutting board. so the top of the sink can be part of the prep area. saw this from somewhere before, just cannot remember where and what brand. will go dig that out and share more.. the ready to serve side.... i guess if really no space just turn around and place on the oven side before bringing out to dining area liao

Haha okay.. den i don't feel so bad for asking for revisions to the 3D drawings

thank you for sharing! have yet to start buying from taobao yet. mustering the courage. lol.

tips & tricks for sound bar (copied from philips support forum) Center the SoundBar right under the TV for a balanced sound experience, so picture and sound play from the same origin — just the way the cinema engineer intended. Place the SoundBar so that the speakers are in line with your ears. This lets you hear more detail, especially at high frequencies. However, this should be balanced with the preferred height of your TV. Leave at least 1 meter of space between the SoundBar and both sidewalls so the sound reflects in a balanced, symmetrical way. To experience the maximum surround sound effect, allow 3 to 8 meters distance between the sound setup and the listening area. Make sure the SoundBar doesn’t block the TV screen – the TV should be elevated higher, or be wall mounted. The ideal place for the TV and SoundBar is on the wall: if the TV is wall mounted, the SoundBar can be easily mounted under it with the supplied bracket. You can then remove the feet pads for a cleaner look. If wall mounted, leave a 10 to 15 centimeter gap between the SoundBar and TV, so you can access the top control panel and vertical disc loader (for most of our models). The subwoofer can be placed anywhere in the room as long as it’s at least 1 meter away from the main unit. This prevents sound vibrations from interfering with the disc reader. Leave about 10 centimeters between the subwoofer and the wall to let sound carry with the airflow. Obsessed with replicating the ‘live’ experience? Then place your subwoofer on the right side of your TV and SoundBar – the bass and brass section of an orchestra are traditionally located on that side. Great sound also depends on your home environment. A room with curtains and carpet helps to dampen the noise reflections for more authentic sound. Speakers and subwoofers out in the open also produce better sound – so avoid placing them in an enclosed shelf and cupboard space.my ID drew a very nice detailed drawing of all my carpentry works, just like how i learn my D&T back in my sec sch days! as for my TV feature/console, ID thot we are jus placing the soundbar on top of the drawers ... but we are actually gg to mount it! haha ... ID says he normally leave a standard hole for the TV cables at 1100mm from floor for TV mounting. now the measurements are very impt for us becos we are having a soundbar below the TV and future expansion of TV size affects where the TV should b hung now... and once the hole is drilled, its there forever! tentatively we are eyeing on a 50" TV. so now i'm not sure if its ok to leave 10cm from the drawer and 10cm from the TV. i think i shld hav a hole for the cabling to rch the soundbar too? so it will b neater and concealed ... for any bigger TV in the future, i guess i won't get anything bigger than 60" ... cos its either too ex or its too huge for the small living area. just in case i get richer next time the 60" TV will leave only 3.2cm gap from the soundbar ... and 6.4cm gap if its 55" TV, which i'm not sure if its too narrow. and oso i dono whats the probability tt i will upgrade the TV in the future. hmmm should i leave a 15cm gap from the TV to play safe? but visual wise, i personally feel it looks more sleek with the TV and soundbar close tgt ... Any idea how to choose a good sound bar? Hubby & I are still thinking if we should spend on one.. And btw, congrats on your upcoming solemnisation! Enjoy the special day

I got the Macro one coz it's the one that's most sellable with the least complaints (according to the city gas sales man at triple one somerset)

Sharing Our Kitchen Planning (and welcoming suggestions of course!) Spent the last 3 days researching on kitchen ergonomics and realised that the work triangle won't apply in my case. This design is called a kitchen galley design. Please take this sharing with an open mind, especially if you already cook very frequently at home and find the below planning nonsensical. LOL. Will be happy to learn more from you guys.. Here's our kitchen after minor amendments so you can gauge the orientation of the kitchen (still pending addition of lights under the upper cabinet on the oven side and changing of many of the cupboards into drawers): 1. Kitchen height - the ideal height is to take our height divide by 2 and + 5cm to that. As shared by a fellow renotalk blogger 2. Toe kick (In our terms, the kitchen cabinet base) is essential for cooking ergonomics. Basically, it provides a recess for our feet so we can get close to the counter top without losing our balance. Without that, we will be leaning over more and straining our back, shoulders and arms in the process *ouch*. 3. Planning our storage around the kitchen Our kitchen is divided into 5 areas - the consumables (food), non consumables (cooking ware), cleaning (sink / wet area), preparation & cooking area. The most used items shld be placed on the bottom of the top cabinet, and the top of the bottom cabinet, followed by the less frequently used items and finally the rarely used items (working our way up and down respectively). I find this Blum Dynamic Space Planning page really useful in terms of having an idea what we need to store in a kitchen (especially since this is our first home, and... I don't cook). So here's our two sides of the kitchen! This is the fridge, sink and cooker hob side: This is the oven side: All pictures on organising the stuff inside neatly are taken from a super nice website - I heart organising! Loads of tips on keeping our house really neatly organised! P.s After doing up the planning did I realise that we have more than enough storage in the kitchen for a small family. Haha!

Thanks yan01! Just out of curiosity, how many times did you change ur 3D drawings? Ours is not stated in our contract. My ID just said usually don't take many drafts, so i take it as unlimited since nothing is in black & white. Of course won't abuse the position also.. hehe. On second thoughts after receiving the 2nd draft, maybe its a good thing coz now i see the 1st draft in a diff light. Haha.... only going to make minor amendments to our drawing from the first draft now..

Received my 2nd draft of 3D drawings today but won't be sharing it. No nice pictures for everyone. Sorry! Asked for the amendments to more classy and simple design but instead of becoming simpler, the 2nd draft is more complicated than the 1st draft Could be my bad as well - asked in particular for this laminate for my TV feature wall (Shown before in my ideas for living room in an earlier post) and asked for changes to the bomb shelter feature wall + shoe cabinets. But somehow, my ID changed the TV feature wall to this design (but more yellowish instead of white) and changed the bomb shelter feature wall and shoe cabinet laminate to this kind of design (yellowish instead of white too!) I very much preferred the 1st draft of the 3D drawing after the comparison to the 2nd draft. So it shld be another 8 to 10 days to get the 3rd draft of my 3D drawings. Since we are communicating via emails, I sincerely hope there won't be further mis-communications In fact, this time round, I have numbered my requests (previously it was like a laundry list of requests). Crossing fingers the 3rd draft will turn out to our expectations! Need advice from everyone - if I only paint one wall in each room blue (different shades in different rooms) to be the "focal" point of the room, how does that sound? Right now, i think all the sides of the walls are painted in blue..

Thanks both, guess I belong to the more kia-si category but now I know minor things still ok!

Emailed you Gary Most welcome kusudama!

Found several websites that basically sets the stage for decorating our dream home in blue For "colour blinds" like hubby & myself, it is definitely useful. Setting it in this post so I can come back & refer when shopping for the finer furnishings. 9 fresh ways to decorate in blues Colour of spring 2014 - Dazzling Blue

Am planning the kitchen ergonomics at the moment. Just wondering, anyone have idea if there's concerns in hiding the wine chiller below the built in oven? Something like the below pic: