kingandbin

Ok!!! Took some photos of our home over the weekend. Will share them soon!

Hello!! I saw that you sent me a PM as well~ Replying you now! Yup sure~ PMed (: Hihi, thanks for reading our tblog! Okie, PMed you their details already~

Aiyo, so sorry for missing out on replying you! Haha taobao is awesome, but you've just got to ensure everything is ordered ahead of time in accordance to your Reno's sequence! For the first TB order we tried Oops.sg, sea shipment was minimum of 1cbm. We ordered under the amount and our items' shipping fee averaged to $3 each. After that it was prime all the way. Super worthwhile Will recommend prime as it's the most value-for-money. For smaller items like clothing I've done direct shipment from TB before, apart from faster delivery time there isn't much difference honestly. And yes, excited for you too! Hope all goes well for ya.

Sure, PMed! Thanks for the compliment! Have PMed you

Hmmm having the grains to match would be a challenge. As the tiles I opted for are from China, the grain's patterns are not as natural as Spanish or Italian tiles. For the more expensive kind (i.e. $5psf and above) it might be possible? Best to consult your ID/contractor or even those from tiles shops! Whoops, sorry it took me so so long to reply! I see that the tiling works for your home is pretty much done already! For the benefit of others as well, here's how it looks. Just tell your ID/contractor that you want the grout colour to match the tiles, and the tilers will mix the grout colour specially for you.

The rainshower has been holding up nicely! The parts are very shiny (including the rainshower head) and can serve as a mirror when showering lolol. Water pressure is great as well! According to my husband who uses the rainshower function the pressure is a tad bit weaker than the rainshower in his parent's home. I use the handheld shower and the pressure is amazing. It gets water stains quite easily though because of its shiny finish but that doesn't bother me. Will recommend! As for our light purchases, will recommend to get them from Taobao. All the lights from our home are working well so far. Only one light bulb we used in our master bathroom went awry. It started smoking suddenly when the electricians were here to help us install the led light strips previously. Luckily they noticed and immediately removed the bulb. Apart from that, all is well. All the furniture we ordered have been great. I assembled most of them myself with little help from the husband. Haha. Those pieces advertised as solid wood (实木) are actual wood unlike IKEA's particleboard wood material. No regrets here @casperlai For ezbuy prime purchases that ship via sea, be prepared for delays. Those via air usually arrive slightly ahead of estimated date. Several of my items via ezbuy prime's sea shopping were not delivered successfully to me in sg though delivery was scheduled because of issues from the logistics company. The last item I finally received from ezbuy prime's sea shipping was ordered way back on 11/11, and it only was delivered successfully last Friday after 5 failed attempts *faints* @LizzyD My kitchen's racks are from taobao, and not BLUM so I'm unable to advise you. The quality of those I have is only so-so though. Have sent you Contractor E and J&E's contacts. @emptysoulz @Aminah Muhammad Hi both, thanks for reading my t-blog! PMed you with the contact details you requested!

Hello tiff!!!! You're hereeee. Thought you won't start a tblog for your home already Just wanted to say that I really love the design of your shoe cabinet (3D and the actual outcome we saw). Cannot wait for more pics of your completed home (cause still kaypo). Haha. Love from Kings & Bin! P.s. He is asking how the bed thing went in the end

Hi both, sent you a PM

Hey @ahmiu, I really love my flooring! So do people who visit my home Friends and older relatives have thought that it is actual wood till we told them that it is tiles There are some people who do wood-look tiles but choose a contrasting grout colour, which I don't quite understand haha. My home's tiles are the shorter kind (60cm) which resulted in more grout lines than usual wood-look tiles (90cm kind) but since the grouting is specially mixed to match the colour of the tiles, it still looks harmonious. Maintenance is a breeze as well, since it's all tiles. Best way to determine if you'll be ok with the look is to go visit a house which has such flooring! See, touch and feel it in person. Our contractor took us to a house with wood-look flooring for site visit and we immediately decided that we'll go for wood-look as well. Hope this helps!

CURTAINS & CARPENTRY ADD-ONS Happy CNY eve folks! (Time to collect Ang Baos! We've not gone through the customary wedding yet, so my parents say we can still collect red packets and only start giving them out next year or the year after ) Our curtains were installed 2 days back. Been sleeping basked in sunlight so yay, goodbye nature's alarm clock! Living room & dressing room's are 85% blackout in the same shade of grey. The colour turned out subtly glossy which we didn't expect, but it still looks ok. Master bedroom's is a matte darker grey. Day curtains are off-white. Here's our living room's current look at night. The position of our dining table changes on a regular basis lol. Beside the couch is cube shelving unit which holds all of King's boardgames. Friends say we can open our own boardgames cafe at home already. Haha. Dressing room Master bedroom. Please excuse the wooden board on the right, we still have some furniture we've been too exhausted to DIY build Previously when the carpenter dropped by to check the areas we needed rectifying, we also requested for some extra works to be done. First is to have something up on top of our low wall. It's been our (and guests) favourite spot to lean on and rest our elbows. This resulted in the painted top of this wall to slowly change colour Initially during reno planning E asked if we wanted to have the top tiled with the same tiles as our floor but we've never seen something like that done before. So we decided to leave it as it is first to see how it goes. Here it is with the laminated countertop. The laminate is from some leftovers they had in the factory. The carpenter sent a pic of samples he thought might match our home and we picked this one. We left it to the carpenter and our contractor to decide on its thickness but on afterthought I think we should have done it thicker so it looks more like the butcher block effect in our kitchen. Still very satisfied with it though! Super useful Added some shelving in the DB box cabinet as well. It's the original depth provided by HDB so it is too shallow to keep shoes directly in, but we store them lengthwise and it fits 2 pairs per shelf with lots of space to spare. We don't own many pairs of shoes so the storage is sufficient for our needs

Hey @hoWL! Aww, thanks for taking the time to read through this lengthy t-blog and for the kind words! Glad to have inspired you a tiny bit hehe Have sent you the details you requested. Sorry for the delayed response!

Yup managed to move it over during the weekend, thanks! Feels like we can finally take a breather. Time to focus on wedding prep.. The big day is very soon and we've not prepared much yet! Ooh nice~ After carpentry everything will progress very quickly. Acid should be after carpentry and painting, before toilet's stainless steel accessories are up. Then second round/finish up electrical works if I recall correctly. The end is near, congrats!

They have cuter individual names but it shall remain a secret Yep he was! We didn't expect him to come by actually, only thought his workers would be here. How's the progress of your home! Started works already?? Awwh. The ventilation fans we installed for the toilets work great! But the windows actually won't affect the look of the bathroom much so don't be too sad! The tiles and lighting are more important Hehe thank you! Simple but cozy was our goal. Hope that the outcome is so what close to it! The mattress couldn't fit into our vehicle Today there will be another attempt to move it. Will share the story after we successfully move it over and shift in! Crossing fingers that it can happen today (:

Hello! Done It probs wasn't sent out successfully the previous time- I rmb writing the PM! Hope you receive it this time round Hi @nettienette, sent~ thanks for dropping by here!

CURTAIN APPOINTMENT Last Saturday, a bunch of E's workers came over for rectification works. This included stuff like painting touch ups and grouting touch ups. The carpenter also came over (first time I'm meeting him haha) to take a look at defects and also take measurements for additional works we requested. In the midst of all these, the curtain supplier (ever-so-popular Vincent from this forum) we contacted came as well. The discussion was chop chop and quick. He took measurements for all our windows, brought out samples and we decided on the materials + colours on the spot. We chose grey blackout + white day curtains for living room, wardrobe/spare room and master bedroom. For study room we opted for white Venetian blinds with black tape. It's more expensive to do blinds instead of curtains for the study, since it's a package price if all were curtains but I've dreamed of having blinds for a longgg time and wouldn't budge on the decision. Oh Vincent's sister (we just called her Aunty) tagged along and she enjoyed touring our home lolol. Asked quite a few questions about the flooring till Vincent had to summon Kings over several times for decision-making cause the hubs was chatting with her. In the end, since E happened to be around too, she took E's namecard to pass to her son who will be doing his reno soon too. Hahaha. Wanted to move our bed over and so brought our bed buddies to the new home. Here they are enjoying some TV time In the end, the bed couldn't be moved over but that's a story to be told another time.. Thankful for a nice view of the skies! My maiden home is on a low level so Ive never got to enjoy the luxury of pretty views. Or much of a glimpse of the sky, for that matter.

PMed you!

Hello! Pmed you

Hey guohong! Thanks for taking the time to read through our renoblog (: Will PM you their contacts shortly. Yes the suppliers had to make a hole cut-out for the fan. We gave the self-purchased fans to our contractor and he got his supplier to fit in the fans when fabricating the windows. It cost about $400-$500 to change both toilets' windows. The windows of that room will be likely be closed most of the time, and we'll have curtains for the pole system so hopefully it'll help keep dust out! We're also planning on keeping less used/worn clothes in drawers and only have regularly worns clothes displayed. It'll somewhat force us to keep our wardrobe lean too I guess. Haha.

It was supplied by our contractor. To get it directly you can check out www.swingslide.com.sg. PD door is the name they use to liaise with contractors, and with consumers direct its Swing Slide door. I believe it's the same company. Cheers!

Howdy folks, this is a semi-pointless post of me sharing a few more photos + some comments on new taobao buys not featured previously. Since my last post on our taobao purchases, I've made at least 2 more orders via Ezbuy prime (ikr, the addiction is REAL!!) but didn't have the time to share about them. Some of the items have arrived, others are on a ship otw to Singapore, and 1 or 2 of my items are still missing in the China warehouse Sobs. Seriously though, half of the house consists of IKEA which the other half are Taobao stuff. Some of my friends are in disbelief. The only stuff not from these places are electronics like our Living Room fan (living room only ah, bedrooms ones are from tb too), Fridge, Hob, Hood, Stove. Anyway! I'm here to share a little more on some taobao buys, since I realized I've got photos of a handful of 'em! First up, mason cup with handle. Rating: 5/5 Seen here pictured with ice cold water (coincidentally or not-so-coincidentally, the wordings on the glass say "Ice Cold Drink" lol) with some grapefruit bits inside. Yummeh. Achieve the café feel at home for only ~$0.60 a piece! Next item, large mason dispenser jar. Rating: 4.7/5 We got the 5l option! Slightly troublesome as the tap can only be attached when the jar's sitting in the frame and no matter how hard we screw in the tap, it will leak slightly. But will still recommend! It's perfect for serving drinks at gatherings and we plan on using it to store plain water for daily consumption. We paid for the cheaper option with the metal can below and received this. #tantio #freeupgrade I saw a more colourful version with plastic tap and lid selling at Giant recently for a good price, but this is still more economical~ Dried flowers & padded pot mat. Rating 5/5 (for both!) Bought a whole bunch of dried flowers and picked the prettiest of the lot for display in the living room. Love the cotton flowers! Baby's breath is from an old bouquet we dried ourselves. Glass jar from IKEA. Got a total of 3 pot mats in varying patterns! They look cute but are more troublesome to clean than regular rattan or cork material mats, since they need to be washed. Assorted Chairs & Side Table from Taobao, Rating: 5/5 for all. Back when we were cleaning the living room area and kept all our furniture in one of the rooms. All are from Taobao, except for the pouffe which is from Hipvan. Better look of the baby blue side table at this post. Funny story of the side table... all furniture from TB has to be self-assembled and there was once that King wanted to nap, so he told me to wake him up when I was done assembling this side table. It came in two pieces - the tray table top, and legs. Needless to say, I woke him up from his nap within 5 minutes. Of the 5min, 4min was spent opening up the packaging. Hahaha. Pole system wardrobe reviewed earlier. Rating: 5/5. Got it for within $140 which is value for money! Here's a look at the kitchen with our bright white LED light strip turned on. Very bright but useful, especially since the ceiling light we got is slightly too dim for comfort. Dining table fully extended to 2.2m length. Featuring the 3 pot mats from TB mentioned earlier in this post, and our robot vacuum we nicknamed "Robaca". We called it Ka Zua (hokkien for cockroach) before then but decided to change the name before it stuck * Putting a note here in case I forget again: Just got reminded (after owning the fridge for a month omg) upon reading a fellow tblog that the fridge is supposed to come with a free gift!!! Something like vacuum cleaner or rice cooker, can't recall. But we didn't receive it! Time to disturb the electronics store uncle.....

PMed all of you @d3n It was almost $500 if I recall correctly. Not cheap cause it's a PD door!

Hehe I'm honored to be on your stated list of tblogs! Your writing style is so cute and amusing lah. Will be following this thread closely for more updates!

POLE SYSTEM WARDROBE There were some who showed interest in our pole system wardrobe, so I thought I should share about it since we finally put it up yesterday! It is placed in our spare room which will be used as a wardrobe room for the time being before we have kids. We are also planning to get a dresser to fit more folded clothes & our messy stuff. As for installation, it was super easy to install (Score: 5/5! Bin did it entirely by herself) but to get the instructions, we had to download Wechat and scan a QR code. The instructions are in the form of a video which was entirely in Mandarin. Haha. There weren't any hardcopy instructions given. Top portion has some frames as it will be used to put up curtain tracks next time after we procure fabric to do up curtains. The poles are made of steel (very hardy) and the parts are well made. Overall, it is nice and sturdy but the horizontal poles can't be extended too wide or they will bend at the joint area. Been hosting gatherings for Christmas for "pre-housewarming" and also mainly because it forces us to clean up the house and to prepare it for living in instead of procrastinating. Haha Here's our meal from today. Merry Christmas everyone! (Oops, took too long to compose this and it's past midnight already )

Np, have sent you his number~

Hello @Danmify! Hehe thanks! The flooring we picked turned out to be one of the best decisions we made and our guests love it too Now still patiently waiting for more stuff to arrive from taobao so we can beautify the space with more soft furnishings & decor~ How was amount of the dust/dirt trapped inside after 2 years? Can imagine having to use a huge fluffy magiclean to run through all the gaps or hosing it down with high pressure water. Gah, now I'm not looking forward to the "perfume" coming from the bathroom! Totally didn't consider this cause the design looked too pretty, nothing else mattered then when deciding.. hahah. Hopefully our ventilation fan will help the situation abit. Same to you, have a lovely Christmas and holidays! P.S. Following your cats on IG and they are adorable!!