Garrison

Kitchen I think the 1st thing everyone has headache about for kitchen is what "cabinet surface should I use?" Solid surface, which is plactic, gets scratched easily and less resistant to heat. Granite is hard and lasting, but limited colours. Quartz is less porous than granite, harder, but also limited colour and expensive. In the end we decided to use granite for the balance between budget and quality. And the only both the wife and I like is the Galaxy. The picture has the sink and hob position reversed. But I have decided to install the hob on the same side as the sink, so that will be wet area. ID and relatives who are housewives agree. The area beside the frigde will be for coffee machine, microwave, etc At first the ID had the top cabinets on both sides black, but again I felt it was too dark, so we changed one side to wood grain laminate. Bathroom My wife insisted in having a shower screen in both bathrooms. We decided to remove both the basins provided by HDB. For the master bathroom, we built a vanity cabinet and mirror, so we can keep the extra TP, shower foam, etc. Black solid surface for the vainty cabinet, and the laminate will follow the MBR. For the common toilet, we will install a sink cabinet instead. And the shower screen will have to be L-shape, which I feel will be too small to shower comfortably. But my wife will be the one using it mainly, and she's only 148cm/42kg BTW the wall tiles provided by HDB do not look like this. It is a ugly cream colour, and with a strip of UGLY green mosaic . HDB rule is you can't hack the tiles, and we decided not to overlay them, as that will make the bathroom smaller. Not to mention the $$$. But after looking at some of the photos of others who overlay the bathroom, I'm starting to wish I had spent the money. Next up, TILES

So, for the design. I actually planned the layout with my wife and got the ID to design for us. This is HDB's suggested layout This is the mirror image to the actual layout of my unit. So mine is flipped horizontally. To me this layout is very minimal and does not maximize the space. So I made some improvements Living/Dinning area First thing in font of the door is a shoe cabinet and settee parallel to the door. This serves a few purpose.1) keep shoes (of course) and a place to seat to wear shoes and socks2) provide a partition from the door to the rest of the room, since my unit is diagonally across the lift lobby, I don't want people looking into the house if the door is open.3) create a small foyer of sorts. I had the idea of using "outdoor" tiles for the small foyer. The ID also suggested getting a nice small light for the foyer. More on those later. Maybe. The first design the ID gave us, the shoe cabinet is all white, no design. I wanted some design on it, my wife wanted ventilation for the shoes. So I came up with the idea of cutting long slots on the door. These slots will be slanted 45deg inwards, and the edges will have wood grain laminate, so you will see the wood grain instead of looking inside and see the shoes. They also serve as a bevel edge to hold and open the door. We have a half height mirror feature wall for the dinning area. My idea is that the shoe cabinet will reduce the space in the dinning area, so a mirror will make the space look bigger and brighter. I had no issues with the design the ID did for the living room. She understood what we wanted and got it right the first time, although the draftsmen took a few tries to get everything correct. Both my wife and I really like the colour she chose. The wood grain is actually a little bit lighter then what is depicted in the picture, and the white is a matte white, not glossy white. I positioned the TV console on the long side of the hall instead so that it can continue to the cabinet and subsequently the shoe cabinet. Unfortunately that means I have to re run the TV point provided by HDB to the other side. Master Bedroom Again I positioned the bed on the other side as I wanted a TV console to continue to the wardrobe. And unfortunately this means I have to re run the tv point again. Not much else I can do here due to the air-con ledge access window. Some people build their wardrobe over the window with a removable panel at the back. But this means you have to empty out your wardrobe every time you do AC servicing. Too much hassle. Pass. For the first design, the ID did everything in 1 colour, and a much darker wood grain. I felt it was too boring and dark, like living in a hotel room. So she added the stipe, and we spent a lot of time choosing the colours to match. My wife fell in love with the textured wood grain laminate, and we spent a long time choosing a lighter colour with similar texture as well, and another lighter solid colour to match. Study Room Nothing much here. Just a study table and wardrobe. Again the first design by the ID was all dark grey (Lava Slate from Lamitek). It has a rough stone like texture, which is unique. My wife loved it, but I felt it was too dark, Makes the whole room look very gloomy, like living in a cave. So she added the light grey strips, which adds some nice contrast to the design. These are the major rooms I think. I'll write about the kitchen and others later.

Hi RenoTalk! Ok, first, a little background. Me and my wife collected our keys in May, but we started our hunt for ID last year. (We were supposed to get the keys in March, but HDB delayed till May). So we decided on the ID at around the same time we got our keys, after going through several quotes. Work has started last week, so I'm pretty late in starting my blog. We wanted a cozy look, with modern touch, not the usual modern gloss white look that is quite popular nowadays. Our key criteria was easy maintenance, and maximize storage space. I must say I am pretty pleased with the ID, she was able to capture what we wanted, and we were quite happy with the first design she did for us, and we did not have to make much changes. Well, long story short, this the 3D rendering of the house. Ok, I'm jumping ahead. This is the layout. Ok, that's all for now. More details later.

Hi, can I ask for the link to the kitchen organizer in this picture?

Some pointers to share after months of searching for furniture: 1. Only believe 50% of everything a sales person tells you. If a shop tells you they have their own factory in Sg/Malaysia, and can customize anything you want, ask them for the factory name and address. Specific address, not general location like Sungei Kadut or Kedah etc. Chances are they are lying and will not give you. It is unlikely a small furniture shop can have enough volume to sustain their own factory. Think about what you are asking them to customize. It is easy to simply choose the color of the leather/fabric for your sofa, but a lot more work to customize length, height, which require redesigning the frame structure. 2. If a sales person tells you to put deposit to lock in the price in case of fluctuations, if you ever feel pressured to confirm and pay, especially when you say you need to shop around, walk out immediately. Don't fall for the "Special Holidays promotion, until this weekend only" or "prices may go up next month because of xxx" line. 3. Don't make payment on the first visit to the shop, no matter how good the price is and how much you like the furniture. Get a name card, make them write down the article and price, customization to make, etc including GST and delivery. If they refuse to provide everything in writing, forget about it. Go back and do your research on the shop. If you think the shop is ok, then go back with the written price. If they do not honor the price, then forget it. 4. Always ask and pay what is the minimum deposit needed. Never pay in full "to earn credit card points" like the sales person will tell you to. The points earned will not be worth the potential headache later. Even for big companies like Gain City, I will pay with CC but keep a balance of few hundred dollars and pay COD.

is there any where to get more info for the pieces? dimensions, material, price, etc?

Hi everyone, currently looking for washing machine. Was pretty much set on Hitachi, even though it is slightly more ex, but I thought the water consumption is less (>6l per kg according to PUB testing), so can save on water bills. But I went to a major electronics department store, and was told Hitachi not value for money. One customer had the motherboard replaced twice in less than a year. And the rubber gusset is not good, will leak after a while. For the money, should spend a bit more and get Bosh He then kept selling LG. So I'll like to ask if all the things he said is true. According to him, 1. Direct drive motor quieter, save energy longer lasting cause no belt. 2. LG provides 5 year warranty on rubber gusset 3. Only LG has weight detection on a front loader and adjust the water and time accordingly. And he prove this by tuning on and the machine does not indicate time, while the sensing indicator flashes. Other machines display the time immediately. To me I don't see how sending the weight affects the washing time. If 1 cycle is 5 min, 10 cycle is 50 min, whether is half load or full load. Anyone with knowledge can verify these claims?