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hc28

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Posts posted by hc28

  1. Posted

    Day 44 - Carpentry work (update)

    Today manage to get out the office slightly early, so went over to take a look before going for my dinner.

    I think 80% all the carpentry works are done today. I just snap a few photo and rush for my dinner.

    The very grey side of my kitchen, and the hood are installed today as well.

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    the other side of the kitchen

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    My closet and dry vanity area.

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    So far I am very happy with the result, so experience at this point of time is good, so just hope it will keep this way till the handover.

    ​Today I also put in order for another towel bar that I really really love from Amazon, and thanks to tips from hc28 and OceanEleven, I manage to get free shipping for the items. Since I got saving the cost of shipping so I go for the soap dispenser as well. :jammin: :jammin: :jammin:

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    did u take advantage of their priority shipping since its free? haha

  2. Posted · Edited by hc28

    The first thing I bought was...

    A bed...(king size too)... From this you would know I like to sleep.

    Spent 2 weekends doing butt test on all beds in IMM, Toh Guan furniture mall, big box and Courts Tampines.

    Eventually short listed down to 2 beds which I felt gave similar plush feel without being overly expensive. The Englander Hotel Harmony and MaxCoil Masterpiece. The big 4 brands in mattresses that gave a similar feel mostly cost above $5k, especially Simmons cost something like $8k to get the feel that i wanted.

    Maxcoil Masterpiece; The shop in IMM that sells purely maxcoil mattresses...(uni spring? or uni steel? or something) was interesting. The friendly boss sat me down and provided lots of advice on how to choose and lay sheets on heavy beds. He also mentioned that they are the only maxcoil distributor who can sell masterpiece because of their volume... Okay that means I had no choice but to get it from them if I wanted that model. I don't doubt that statement but I found the same thing in courts the next weekend. He is probably ill-informed. Anyway, eventually I didn't get Maxcoil as they didn't have the fabric that I like and headboard choice was limited. Total cost with storage frame is slightly more ex too.

    Englander Hotel Harmony;

    The lady in the Englander branch in furniture mall gave a great service and I really wanted to buy it from her but unfortunately she couldn't match my asking price. Quote iirc is around $4k. I asked for $3.5k :P and was flatly rejected. So I said I would go try other beds first before deciding. She didn't seem too keen to keep me and mentioned that the next time I come price will probably be higher, so I left. Ended up I bought from it from Alex in the Plaza Singapore branch. Initially he too couldn't match my asking price, which was a more realistic $3.6k this time. Though his boss was around and I can physically see that he tried to discuss to bring the price down but the final offer was still some $3.8k, so I walked.

    Coincidence? About half to 1 hour later, thought I wouldn't be getting any bed that day and was peeping into Mayer's outlet (Staff went to the loo or something), when Alex spotted me and brought me back to his shop again. For some reason the boss relented somewhat and the price went down further. Still not exactly $3.6k but good enough. Can't find photo to show on this bed though. I got the King size with fabric and storage headboard.

    Just FYI since u already bought your bed. The mark up for mattress on cost is roughly 60-70%. The discounts that they can offer is huge.

  3. Posted

    Today is a 吉日 so went down did my prayers and 动土 for my unit. ID also got his staff to do measurement. So what's next? Maybe go expo for furniture fair? Any comments From those who went? What are my reno kakis doing? Share leh.. haha

    To me, expo furniture fair is a waste of time. Its always there and never ends. Almost every other week is a furniture expo. You can try to haggle if you're going down but I wouldn't make a special trip just for it.

    You will realise that you can get the same prices at their showrooms. And if its there almost every other week / month, what's the purpose?

  7. Posted · Edited by hc28

    Anyway does anyone know if the black Friday deal cover all amazon products?

    Also, how do i get free shipping for these items? must I hit the minimum US$125 spend before i get the free shipping? otherwise, how can i get the free shipping?

  10. Posted

    Nextstep, it ships to singapore le! Already have in the cart :) Just curious if it is actually cheaper to buy from Amazon or is it just for lazy ones like me? In honest truth, I prefer to support local business whenever I can.

    i just came back from howards and its selling the small one at S$33.99. didn't bother to check the price of the big one because the pricing doesn't make sense to me. i know OG also have. but dk how much. i think i will just get from Amazon since kara, nextstep and so many other renotalkers have done so.

  11. Posted

    Day 38 - Minor Update

    Question

    So sorry I am a bit "mountain tortoise" kind,

    Because ex-owner of my unit did pray pray after they move out, they also remove the 天公 and 地主

    and leave a big ptach at the wall, I just want to find out can I get the town council to repaint the wall for me? or I have to do it myself?

    IMG_9910_zpsqkqtwo5a.jpgIMG_9911_zps7ejhy2qh.jpg

    i also had this issue. what you can do is to call town council and they will get someone to paint for you.

    but i happened to just casually ask my painter if he can do it with the leftover paint. will have some slight difference in colour. but aiya, its outside your house anyway and according to my painter, few weeks or months later, all will be the same. for me, within 2 days look the same liao.

    another alternative is to just call the block maintenance guy directly instead of town council. after i handover, i had some holes which i wanted to patch up on the outside of my unit and also alot of bulky rubbish to throw. so i just called the guy and he came up, got the rubbish cleared and holes patched within 30mins. much more efficient than calling town council which need me to give 3 days advance notice before i throw something. and also much more efficient than calling my contractor whose guys will most probably come down after they finish work at another site or the next day. if you are interested, i found this guy no. at the notice board of my block. he is just the "head" bangala of all the other bangala.

  12. Posted

    So it's an option to leave the hob just sat in and unsealed? Mine is unsealed now as well, just sitting in the cut out on the cabinet...

    i did ask my contractor to seal it because i thought his workers missed it out. thats when he told me that it is his practice to leave it unsealed.

    firstly, no worries about the hob shifting as it is so heavy so it will be "set in place" on its own.

    secondly, they choose not to seal it up as usually when we use gas hob, if you look carefully, the gas come up from one big hole. we will use the burner to cover the hole, and the gas just go everywhere from there. the igniter is outside of this burner, so when we "tiak tiak tiak", the flame will burn outside the burner. the step is to release the gas, thn start the igniter, so in between, gas will escape everywhere and could also escape into your cabinet below. not that its a big issue, but if you seal it up, the gas will stay in your cabinet till you open it up whereby you will smell alot of gas and think maybe gas leak.

    however, if we never seal it up, the gas can dissipate through the gaps between the hob and table top. not that it doesn't escape from the cabinet doors also la.. but thats the reason he give me which i choose not to ask more since seal or don't seal, not much impact anyway.

  14. Posted

    thank you thank you, can't wait for it to come but mean time also a bit panic.

    But I know after that everything will be super fast liao, maybe by end of DEC all will done. (But my hob and aircon still got no news yet hahaha)

    haha. i don't think will need so long. from the time my carpentry come in till final touch up and handover was only about 2 weeks!

    but maybe you should try to be around on the first day if possible or every other day so you can vet through the carpentry and laminates to minimise the replacement when everything has been installed.

    although my contractor replaced every item that i highlighted with a problem, there were some tricky bits as some of it was like full height cabinets. i'm not sure how he got his guys to replace them, but he did a good job!

    hob installation and aircon mounting i think should be very easy.. haha mine also nv use silicon to seal the hob.

  17. Posted

    Thanks! Hopefully after the chemical wash my Hansgrohe stuff will look NICER.

    IRL so shiny, my iPhone cannot capture. :curse:

    Thanks. THE WC IS SUPER COMFORTABLE LOR like a pillow for my butt. HAHAHA. No regrets there. Money well spent. Glad I didn't stick with the small HDB toilet bowl. :good:

    Thanks!! You guys can be mesmerized by the fire when you guys come. :)

    OK la the light don't really bother me now HAHA! Maybe when it does I buy some black sticker to cover. :sport-smiley-018:

    I have been told by some that chemical wash should not include your accessories as they may tarnish easily. As such some contractor wrap up ur accessories in plastic wrap before the chemical wash.

  18. Posted

    Common bathroom

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    We did not do much to change the common bathroom as space was a constraint. We were also told that we could not shift our WC position from our first ID but we subsequently learnt otherwise from @ahyong81 and my contractor. Very wasted as we would have loved to change the layout of this washroom.

    Common BR3

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    L-box for this room was done in an L-shape which is same for our common BR2

    Common BR2 (original MBR)

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    This is the original MBR. The previous owner had shifted the MBR and we chose to retain the design. Not much of view anyway.

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    L-box and carpentry. These are the only lights in the room.

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  22. Posted · Edited by hc28

    the mirror for your vanity is very nice. I was wondering how it would turn out as a part of it extend out of your vanity top. However, its really flows very well as the mirror reflects the glass.

    Now then I noticed that the top of your mirror is the colour as the vanity top. I didn't do it for mine. Abit wasted. Your effect looks quite nice. Maybe I will paint mine myself.

    Really kudos to your ID as the kitchen glass backsplash as the colour seem to match the laminate exactly. Makes the whole kitchen colour theme flow very well.

    Congrats on almost completing your renovation! :yamseng:

  23. Posted · Edited by hc28

    Our renovation has been completed!

    Over the weekend, we met up with our contractor to run through the rectification done for all the defects that we have highlighted. All works have been completed to our satisfaction and our contractor also told us if got anything that we discovered after we move in, we can just call him and he will definitely assist us.

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    TV console area with ceiling cove lights

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    TV console with cove light.

    It seems that in the photos, the cove lights are very concentrated on one area and not spread out. is it camera issue or just technique?

    Kitchen is next to our common 3. No kitchen door as we are not sure whether we really need it. If cooking, will the oil fumes flow to the living area? As we couldn't make up our mind, our contractor mentioned that kitchen glass door (with or without frame) is very easy to install and we can choose to add in if we find that we need it in future. Any kind advice from bros here?

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    Full height cabinet to house the DB and full height suspended cabinet with open shelf surround our main door.

    Total have lots of space to keep shoes and storage. Our contractor provided us full adjustable tracks for the internal (train tracks), so we can adjust them according to our needs.

    Our new door as compared to the previous one below. Our initial plan was to remove the grooves and patch up the door before painting. However, after painting, can still see the shape of the old design. Not sure if the worker no skill or the door condition poor. In end up, top up to change the main door.

    4b624aae-e0b5-4249-8352-731d999931fc.jpg

  24. Posted

    As suggested by the ID about the planning:

    1. Initially wanted to a mini walk in wardrobe in the MBR but put aside the idea and stick to L shape incase we need to put the "baby cot" when time comes.
    2. I still not satisfied about my shoe cabinet :( . Any Ideas?

    gallery_71156_917_135902.jpeg

    Actually, for me, i will still go with the "mini" WIW in the master bedroom with the L-shape along the dresser parallel to the bed. The baby cot will still be able to fit in between the bed and the wardrobe. Although this will cause some inconvenience when assessing your dresser, it will only be for the initial years as after that your child will most probably be sharing the bed with you. Also, if you put down the baby cot gate, it will extend to the side of the bed which is better as you can sleep with your baby.

    For your shoe cabinet, have you thought of doing a full height or full height suspended with open shelf on the wall facing the HS intead? I think for me i will prefer that way. haha

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