sinalifmim85

Also, i chose the ring-wifi doorbell coz: 1) Very easy to set up 2) The most highly rated and reviewed item (no. 1 in US and hot seller in amazon) 3) Very practical ( act as a security camera as well) 4) Cheaper to buy from amazon than in SG. Saw one company selling for almost $500.

Yes it does. For the ring-wifi doorbell, you can check out at youtube on how it works. All u need is a home dedicated wifi broadband connection. Easy to set up. For the touch switch, its the same as a normal wall switches. The only diff is that it has another component layer which is the outer touch screen. Its very sleek and very responsive.

Next up, ELECTRICAL, L BOX and FLOORING. Will update them soon!

Other miscellanous items bought; Ring-Wifi Doorbell: Bought the one in silver from AMAZON. Paid SGD299 and delivered to doorstep in less than 10 days! Livolo Touch Switch: Bought only for Living Room. Bought 2 sets of 3 Gang switch and 1 set of 1 Gang switch. Sold by a seller in carousell which happens to stay nearby. Comes with remote control as well.

TAMPOI PURCHASES; Went over to JB on a Saturday morning with Dad. Objective: 1) 6 Ceiling fans (Living, Dining, 3 Bedrooms, Kitchen) 2) 12 Downlights (Living & Dining) 3) 5 Ceiling lights (Toilets, Household Shelter, Service Yard) Decided to go there to buy these items as cost in Singapore is way too high and would burst our tight budget. So, we decided to go there, get the items and back to Singapore. Only one single mission! haha Items bought- Ceiling Fans; For living room- KDK 56" For Dining area- Alpha Excel 42' For Rooms- Fanco. With light kit (2 exchangeble LED bulbs each 10Wx2). Bought 3 sets Vento Fino 1: Wanted to get Fino 2 but was told by David that the height would be too long coz we wanted to place this fan on top of our HS. Told by David that the maximum downward length that we can get is 50cm. Fino 1 is 45cm while Fino 2 is 65cm. Therefore, purchased Fino 1 instead. Along with the fans, we bought all the required lightings 12x 18watt tri colour 6" Square LED downlight, 4x 12Watt LED ceiling light, 1x 36Watt LED ceiling light. Total Damage: RM3480! Do feel free to ask me if you have any enquiries to buy from there.

TAOBAO purchases: First of all, im totally a noob in taobao and it doesnt help that I neither do i speak chinese or read chinese. Googled and found SGshop. Decided to use them instead as other websites such as peeka or Oops was not as easy to use as SGshop. As advised by David, its better for us to get the vanity cabinet separately as it would be cheaper. But after looking and surveying around, a 90cm stainless steel cabinet (we want it to fit as much in the common room toilet wall) would cost around 1k per set!. A 90cm stainless steel mirror cabinet would also cost us $400 and above per set! As we have a budget to meet, I decided to get from taobao as recommended by fellow bloggers. So, here are the things that we bought from taobao; Stainless Steel Vanity Cabinet: This Set comes all-in with the ceramic basin and tempered glass black top. Bought 90cm and 70cm length. Stainless Steel Mirror Cabinet: Same as the vanity cabinet, bought 2 sets; 90cm and 70cm. Faucet: Had to get a high faucet as the vanity cabinet comes with a counter top basin. Bought 2 sets. Total damage(Cost+shipping+GST+delivery): $870! Told my wife that even if in few years to come and should these items fail us, there shouldnt be any issues in changing them. Not having any high expectations as we are paying peanuts for these items. Minor defects wouldnt be an issue and we are well prepared for this.

Up next, Toilet; We got most of our items from Renodeals at Bukit Timah. Its an all in one shop which sell lightings, bathroom and kitchen accesories at a very good price! Look for Christopher- ask for discount from him and he'll be willing to do so. Rainshower set: Bought 2 sets if this for $188! Unbelievable! Usual price was $244 for one. Also, got a critzo shower mixer 2 sets for $100+. Storage heater: Champs 30L storage heater. Got it for $200+. Got a discounted price from Christopher. Also, we got a stainless steel 2-level caddy from there. Overall experience: Very satisfied!

Next, Living/Dining Room; For furnitures, we chanced upon this place called SPACE@Tampines. Its a new building opposite Ikea. There are many furniture shops down there side by side. Among the many furniture shops down there are: 1) Cellini 2) Star Living 3) Absolute Bedding 4) Living Solution and many more which we cant remember. So here are the furnitures which we bought from there- Sofa: Bought this sofa from Absolute Bedding at SPACE@Tampines. We chose a 3 seater sofa same as the first picture but picked a brown colour, same as the second pic. We wanted to get an L shaped Sofa like the brown one but the dimension was way too big. Our criteria for sofa is simple; fabric and high back support. Loved at first sight upon seeing this. Sat on it and loved it! Dining Table: Initially we wanted to get a marble top dining table but totally changed our mind when we saw this at Living Solution. Its a few doors away from Star living but opposite Cellini. We simply love the clean cut design. Did not get any chairs as none was to our liking. Total damage just for the table: $1529! Original price was way higher. Thanks to the very understanding auntie that served us- Wenley!. Dining Chair: Went back to SPACE@Tampines a few week later to confirm the bedframe colour for my parents at Absolute Bedding and saw this dining chair! It matches perfectly with the Sofa Colour as well as the dining table. Feels very comfortable and solid! Got it at a bargain. Bought 6 pieces.

Hi! Been a week since i logged in, too busy with work. So, here's a little detailed updates of our purchases: KITCHEN; HOB+HOOD+OVEN: We bought this from Hoe Kee as they were having a promotion. We opted for a stainless steel hob instead as wife and mum do heavy cooking. Mum used to have a tempered glass hob but it cracked after few years of usage!! We went around to ask for opinions and soon find out that tempered glass hob will crack if used for heavy cooking. Sink: Got this from a shop in bukit timah called Renodeals. Original price was $488 but was offered 40% discount. So paid $288 instead. ID did told me to get a minimum of at least 0.8mm thickness but this is 1.2mm thick!. Mixer: Got this from renodeals as well. Ixiss brand from Germany. Original price was $200+ but got it for $90+. Washing machine: Got this Samsung 10kg Digital Inverter top loader from courts for $799. Wife and mum have been using top loader their entire life! Thus, this decision. Fridge: Bought this huge Samsung top and bottom door fridge. Its the biggest for this range @ 579L. Cant get any bigger i.e 2 doors side-by-side fridge coz our kitchen simply wont have the space to fit in one! Got this on offer during an expo sale for $1199. Original price was $1499.

I do have a car. When at customs, u just have to show the receipt. They will just take a look at the items in the car to ensure it tallies with the receipt. After that, you will be told to park inside the red zone, together with the receipt, proceed to the payment counter and pay up. That's all. Hope that helps.

Buying ceiling fans at JB is definately a bargain! I bought 6 Ceiling fans from tampoi! Kena GST $71 at custom. Still way cheaper after tax compared to price in SG.

Next up.......PURCHASES! Will post pics and details of all these soon as I am too busy with work this week. Here are among the few things that we have bought and done so far as of today: 1) Kitchen sink & mixer 2) Dining table & chairs 3) Sofa 4) Rain shower set 5) Hob, Hood & Oven 6) Ceiling fans 7) Lights (downlights and ceiling) 8) Toiletries holder 9) Toilet vanity cabinet (comes with basin) 10) Toilet mirror cabinet 11) Toilet basin faucet 12) Storage heater 13) Touch switch for living room 14) Fridge 15) Bedroom and toilet doors 16) Window grilles 15) Washing machine 16) Ring-wifi doorbell *Looking back at the list itself makes it so tiring. The countless trips and survey, it is simply tiring. This is no easy journey. But at the same time, its fun and fulfilling. Also, some other things which we have either yet to buy or decide: 1) TV console 2) King size bedframe and mattress 3) Curtains/blinds 4) TV for living room 5) Carpets/Rugs 6) Storage racks for store room 7) Glass door (kitchen entrance) 8) Microwave Oven Any advice or recommendations from anyone of you here would be of a real help. Thanks!

Hi @xhomesweethomex & @OceanEleven, Thank u so much for your advices. We do initially wanted to do a full brick but changed our mind instead. Was convinced by our ID that it would turned out good. Let's hope it would turn out good as it would be something different at the same time.

CEMENT SCREEDING! David also told us to futher save cost and since we are using vinyl for whole house, it is still do-able to appeal to HDB for a free cement screeding for the living/dining and rooms. I did my own research and find out that free cement screed from HDB contractor is no longer applicable and have stopped doing so since 2015. However, David told us to proceed with the appeal. HDB will most likely reject if you are doing screeding only for rooms. But they will still do it if you intend to do whole house. i.e living room and bedrooms. We proceed with the appeal. I went over to the HDB office for my area (Tampines). They gave me a form to fill up and the contact no. of the HDB officer handling for my area. Submitted the form to her through email and within 2 weeks, its approved!!! A few days later, screeding was done! All free! that saved us 2k on cement screeding alone! Phew!

Flooring selection: Living/Dining room: Rooms: Laminate selection: Shoe cabinet: Kitchen:

Here are the 3D renderings after much discussion with David: We told David that we wanted a simple and clean design. We liked the design thus far!

Also, two more things which David managed to get his own lobang are 1) Electrical works 2) L-box and partition wall (living and dining) 3) Subway tiles at kitchen. (backsplash) At a very good price and within our budget too.

After Our 2nd meet-up with David, here are some things that we have changed which still fit into our budget: 1) Flooring: VINYL. After discussing with parents, they finally agreed to it. David brought us over to a completed project at punggol with viny flooring installed. Mum agreed to it. 2) Brick wall: Half height L-shaped at dining area comes with half height L-shaped mirror. David managed to throw in the mirror and bricks in together at no extra cost! 3) Kitchen table top: i-Quartz 4) Vanity cabinet: Not applicable. After visiting the punggol flat, they used a ready-made cabinet. David also advised us that this would be cheaper. If he were to do up the vanity cabinet, it would cost more as it is considered carpentry works. 5) Kitchen cabinet: 2 sides top and bottom hung. 6) Service yard: To hack the service yard walls. 7) Wardrobe: L-shaped full height wardrobe @MBR and 1.5m full height wardrobe at bedroom 2 (parents room) 8) Additional full height 900mm full height shoe cabinet **** room 9) Tempered glass at both bathroom 10) Whole house painting 11) Window at service yard All within our budget!! Phew!

Hey, that's a good alternative which we didn't though of! Thanks for your advice. But nonetheless, we decided not to use too much of bricks.

Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed advice. Much appreciated. We decided to do a little bit different from the original plan. Yes, due to cost and at the same time, from my ID's advice.

As mentioned earlier, me and wifey decided to get an ID instead of contractor as we are both too busy with work schedule. We simply do not have the time to constantly be on site and do occasional meet-ups with the contractors. But before that, we didn't expect to get our keys earlier than expected!. And so, we had to adjust our budget accordingly. Here's the list of our criteria: 1) Budget: 25k maximum 2) Concept: Minimalist/Scandinavian 3) Deadline of work: Not applicable ( Coz we are not in a rush to move in!) 4) Homogenous tiles for living/dining. (as we are bringing my parent along, they insist on this. But me n wife's preference is vinyl. ) 5) Kitchen cabinet top and bottom for both side of kitchen. (due to our small and constrained kitchen!) 6) Tempered glass shower screen for both toilets. 7) Vanity cabinet for both bathrooms 8) Full height built-in wardrobe for MBR and Bedroom 2. 9) Feature wall (bricks) **** room area. We sent out a template of our requirements and send out to various ID's. We also visited some ID's at the same time. The result turns out to be....... based on our request, it would be more than 25k. Some even reached to 35k!. Unbelievable. The price range vary by quite alot among the different ID's. Ultimately, we David from T** I******* L**. More than 10 years experience in this industry. We were impressed by his knowledge and counter proposals on our first meet-up. Me and wife immediately made a decision to choose him. At the same time, he was very honest with us with regards to our budget. Nonetheless, the counter proposal was below 25k! Infact, its more than what we wanted and at the same time very nice and applicable. And so, the journey begins..... Will update more details soon ya!

I shall post on my selection of ID soon.

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Hi everyone. Its been a long while since i wanted to post my reno journey here. Been getting ideas and designs from fellow bloggers and I feel its time for me to contribute! To cut it short, here's the floorplan layout of my 4 Room BTO standard. As u can see, the design is slightly different from a typical 4 room BTO unit. The living/dining is an L shaped desiign. The HS is tucked into the kitchen. Due to that, the kitchen is waaaayyy too smallll!!. The first thing on me and wifey's mind is to hack away the service yard walls. But on the other hand, the MBR is slightly longer. Here's pics of the unit upon our first entry into the house.