lovescandi

Today's update: We realised that one of contractor J's in charge forgot to conceal our TV wiring in the brickwall box up!! He was so busy that day coordinating the installation of the cabinets and kitchen/toilet kerbs that he didn't stop the tiler doing the craftbricks and he overlayed the entire wall instead. Anyway I already anticipated some screw up but this is quite upsetting for me cause I wanted my brickwall to be perfect with the TV mounted on it. Now there are several options which hubby is discussing with them but either way its no longer the same. Well, screw ups are typical in renovation as long as its not too major. Like for e.g. I bought some stuff which the size didn't fit etc etc but I learn from them and understand that some measurements during reno is not just so straightforward. Apart from this, so far Contractor J has been very accommodating and doing up everything according to schedule + the walk in wardrobe he has done up is beyond amazing - no major screw up until this brickwall (and its not his fault, his worker) so yap, I can't complain, can I. Kitchen cabinet will be up next week! Till then ... Craftbricks purchased from Taobao, SUPER DUPER LOVIN' IT!

Today's update: Contractor J's workers came to fix up my walk in wardrobe and I was really pleased. The layout we decided ultimately to fit what hubby and I need was perfect. I was even happier with the space right on top to place my handbags as the height was great for my bags with handles. Anyway we chose American Walnut laminate for the internal laminate of the wardrobe - if some of you didn't know, the typical wardrobes are all white laminate and coloured internal laminate costs way more however Contractor J understood my budget restraint and gave me a discount for the coloured internal laminate Also, I came back to check on the house in the evening when it was completed and was speaking to another uncle working for Contractor J. He was there to pick up the workers and send them home - then while I was speaking to him, I realised that all the workers working for contractor J are either Singaporeans or PRs. The driver told me that it was very important because bigger ID firms what they do is they go to the checkpoint everyday to pick up all the Msian workers and send them to the job site since labour is so cheap. When the workers don't want to work they can just not turn up and they are not obligated to possess good workmanship. The reason why he told me this is because I told him actually I was contemplating between an ID and contractor - and he said lucky I take contractor J cause he is a very responsible contractor. Even after 6 months if anything wrong he will come and fix. He told me other IDs once they handover they will entertain you for some months and after that if any problem crop up with the house, they won't bother entertaining you at all. Contractor J also gave me soft closure in my walk in wardrobe for all the drawers - super pleased! He told me over the phone he had also gotten an electrician to run lights in my wardrobe so at night I don't need to switch on the light and just need to slide the aluminium black frame he's fixing for me and the whole wardrobe will automatically light up, love love the idea! Today tiler also finished my craftbrick wall but haven't put a protective layer - once he's done so I will post up the craftbricks I purchased from TB, IT LOOKS AMAZING Can't wait for the entire house to be done especially my kitchen and living hall! How's my progress so far?

Hi there, I haven't gotten my painting done yet. My sister has also engaged him, will review and share if he is good when he's done, thanks!

And a new addition for the bathroom - Grohe Icon Rainshower The halo-shaped spray face reduces the aesthetic volume and delivers a large full spray thanks to the perfectly aligned shower nozzles and GROHE DreamSpray® technology - will do a review on this after I move in!

Weekend update: Today tiler came in to do the kitchen base + 2 toilet kerbs. Was there as well to do up my craftbrick wall. Saw contractor J sending in my walk-in-wardrobe and he mentioned they will be installed by next week. Hubby loved the drawers for then entire wardrobe as they were all soft closure and the finishing was great - now I'm certain my carpentry is in good hands! After I saw the process of them preparing the wall to be overlayed with craftbrick, I could totally understand why the brickwall quoted by all the IDs/contractors was so pricey - it was a lot of work for a single wall. Anyway, Contractor J came in to do the frame for my craftbrick wall before the tilers started to prepare the wall for craftbrick. Was very impressed with Contractor J's in house spray painter - after the raw wooden frame was mounted onto my feature wall, the spray painter started 'sanding' the frame, and spraying my frame with a huge air-brush machine with a few layers of base coat before going it over with his black spray with several coats.The effect of the frame was so so smooth and perfect. Can't wait for the craftbricks to be up by next week!

Here's the link for my kitchen and room lights with LED + remote control -please buy the 48watts one. Anything lesser than this is not bright enough for a typical bedroom http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=19971695342

Hello, Here you go: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.92.nP9iRO&id=18387027489&ns=1#detail http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.9.HZErrD&id=17052131900&ad_id=&am_id=&cm_id=140105335569ed55e27b&pm_id=

Nope don't need you can just buy it anywhere in Singapore. However I bought spares for all the lights from the same seller in case

Same as what I paid for

Hello, I have no idea how much yours would cost - perhaps you should get your quotation directly from the contractor. Anyway my renovation costs under $20k, I am doing: 1. Top/bottom kitchen cabinet one side, bottom cabinet right side 2. Box up of aircon piping and boxup of gaps for my TV console 3 Full height shoe + storage cabinet 4. 10SQM craftstone 5. Aluminium black frame walk in wardrobe 6.Plumbing 7.Electrical works I have a china professional painter contact where he paints an entire 4-room for $550 (paint you need to buy yourself, I got mine from Winly Paint at Lavender) so I didnt use contractor J's painter. Apart from this, my service yard windows and grills are done via bulk purchase with my estate's facebook fanpage (much cheaper) than going to ID/Contractor Hope this helps. Also, till date I have not shared Contractor J's contact with all of you - mainly because I am waiting for the kitchen/living room to be done up before I review the entire renovation with him however so far, all is been going very smoothly except afew minor hiccup (e.g. I bought wrong door bell and toilet lights) but hiccups are inevitable as I read from many reno-talkers However during this renovation process, I've learnt that coloured internal laminates such as internal kitchen drawer laminates and wardrobe/shoe cabinets costs way more. And also, contractors prices are only if you want shelves in your kitchen. Every additional drawer costs $40+ due to the cost of the tracks. I personally prefect drawers so I opted to have my entire kitchen's bottom cabinet on both side with drawers. Back splash of the kitchen wall also differ from glass backing to kompacplus backing or even stainless steel backing. These are costs which you may not realise at the start and during planning when you want to have this and that, the price of the reno increases

Hello guys, many of you posted PMs to enquire the links for my TB items. I appreciate if you guys could read the posts before this because I've posted them up Some updates: Today Contractor J's electrician came over to do up my electrical wiring - he finished up the walkway tracklights, 3bed rooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and service yard within a couple of hours. Tomorrow he'll be doing up the living room which is more complicated. For those who have the same layout as me and you'd like to use tracklights too, the trick is to buy 1metre tracks if you don't want to mess up the ceiling with too many conduits and tracks. You don't even need a connector to connect 2 tracks (1metre + 1metre). Simply get your electrician to place the tracks side by side and you can run them straight without going round the living room or wasting money buying track connectors. I'm not sure if you guys understood what I meant - but feel free to question further as it was a new idea thought by contractor J and the electrician as I told them the original conduits and tracks were too messy and complicated in the ceiling. Eventually we tried it out today to see if placing 1metre tracks side by side works without a connector and it does the trick indeed Bedrooms and kitchen light with remote control and colour of lights are interchangeable to 3 different shades (white, off white and warm) OUR BEST BUY - HUBBY AND I LOVE THIS LIGHT SO MUCH!! Walkway track light - using 7watts, its perfect! (My neighbour is using 3watts, too dim. And my friend bought 12watts, too big,bulk & bright) Service yard wall light (had to change the bulb to bigger watt in LED as the original one provided was way too dim)

Mentioned previously, Im using Oops.sg - I think they charge reasonably for forwarding services however when it comes to customer service, its really difficult to get them unless you email them (takes awhile to reply) or catch them when they are online for live chat. If you want an agent that checks for all your items and repacks them properly for you, many would recommend Peeka - however of course they are more expensive as you have to pay agent fee on top of your GST and freight charges.

Rose gold

Hi can I find out if there is a gap for the spoon and the cover for the sugar holder? Im thinking of getting the same one but it looks like there is a gap and ants will slip in. Thanks for sharing!

Here's a visual of the Taobao loots I received filling up my living hall and one of the bedrooms- 99% in perfect condition or exceeded my expectations. Most are crated up if not boxed up very well. Small items are all consolidated together by Oops into a big bag. Just to share, I purchased my craftsbrick from TB too and they look amazing. Can't wait for it to be up! Oops made a mistake saying they shipped out 22 items but they only shipped out 21 items. When I asked them where was my last item, they found it in Guangzhou's warehouse. Thankfully I have one more shipment coming in so they will ship it together for me. Solid kitchen tap from a good seller. All my bathroom accessories are from them. They even packed with dustbag, gave gloves etc - it feels like a $200+ tap

Honestly we have no idea how long the battery lasts but the battery is the samsung type of battery and they gave two batteries. So when one battery is flat, you can swap to the other battery. Anyway I bought extra for my mum and she says its too advanced for her to understand - she rather look through the peephole so I have one set extra. Anyone is keen to take over at cost price?

Hi my husband has played around with it and its indeed good! The screen is sharp and you can see the person clearly outside. Its easy and fuss free to install yourself one thing for sure. Its exactly as what you see on the seller's description. Very well packed when it came (in sturdy double carton boxes). Recommended!

Received my first taobao shipment today, looked very impressive. All came in good order except one of the metal shelving (bombshelter sort) that had a scratch as it was not packed properly. Otherwise the taobao shipment was perfect. Here are some items I particularly liked - quality was superb too: Kitchen Tap ( heavy and solid) http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.1.uAYsXh&id=18787934487&ad_id=&am_id=&cm_id=140105335569ed55e27b&pm_id= Clock (Fabulous workmanship) http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.0.0.g2E6p4&id=18846714355 My door peephole with videography and photography http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.9.aiGQmV&id=25159128471&ad_id=&am_id=&cm_id=140105335569ed55e27b&pm_id= Super good and solid toilet roll holder http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.389.BwCbOT&id=18716219000 Very heavy and solid bidet spray (sg selling $80> ++) http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.1.gyWz2x&id=19931296608&ns=1 Very responsible and good track + tracklight seller http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.139.XYGfEg&id=12611507766 Awesome watch winder for hubby - well packed + good flawless leather http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14070231876&spm=2014.12193480.0.0

Updates: Contractor J came to lay flooring protection for the entire house. He said he gave me a more expensive protection rather than the typical cardboards so thumbs up! Also, I found out that the uneven tiles in my entire house wasn't fixed by BSC - they removed all my tapes and just swept my house (I took it for granted that they fixed it) but when a neighbour came over he told me my tiles was so uneven and I got a shock. Then I had to get them to come over again and this time told the in-charge I want them to hack away all the uneven tiles and redo them - really a waste of my time cause now I can't do my toilet kerbs! Well, reno has ups and downs isn't it

Hello here you go : http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.240.t1pJMm&id=19263817562&ns=1#detail Hello, here it is : Clock: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.0.0.g2E6p4&id=18846714355 One seater sofa : http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a220o.1000855.0.0.uNhRQF&id=18326683192&rn=&acm=03054.1003.1.67386&uuid=F63KQFLf&abtest=_AB-LR32-PV32_503&scm=1003.1.03054.ITEM_18326683192_67386&pos=1

Hello, have found out why the topup came up to $1k because the remaining amount was for topping up for domestic shipping. I found out that items not from Guangzhou that required domestic shipping to the warehouse was charged separately. Especially bigger items such as my dining tables and chairs, domestic shipping was not cheap. I really hope all goods arrive well since I've paid so much eventually. Anyway, as I'm overseas are the moment, Oops told me that if I topup shipping late, they would charge me 10% additional on top of the $900+ , sounds crazy so I had to call home to get my husband to transfer. I also found out that this $900+ shipping includes domestic shipping for items I have yet to ship too. For e.g. I ordered 50 items in my first order but only shipped 47 items, I am also required to pay domestic shipping for the 3 items not shipped so they can 'close' the order. For those who asked for the links, I will update when I am back!

A quick update on my Taobao items - I used Oops as my freight forwarder and got a shock today when I received the top-up for shipping. Oops charges 500RMB /CBM which is very reasonable and my total first shipment was a total of 3.31 CBM however I received a hefty bill of almost $1,000 for shipping + GST (few hundred dollars). Am awaiting for the breakdown of why my shipping was costly from Oops. I estimated I have 1 more shipment to go which is about 2.5CBM so hopefully the first shipment won't set me back too much.

Thanks! I bought 10SQM

Love your sink!

LOVE THE SOFA!! Its from Hommage? Awesome home!