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PinkMonkey

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Posts posted by PinkMonkey

  1. Posted

    On 7/29/2016 at 1:34 PM, juju7891 said:

    Hi PinkMonkey. Love to see more pictures too! Also, would you mind sharing your contractor's contact details? Many thanks!

     

    On 7/29/2016 at 1:43 PM, cerealprawn said:

    Totally love your choice of tiles and laminate for tv wall.

    Can you please PM me your contractor contact? Thanks so much in advance.

     

    On 7/29/2016 at 2:09 PM, linyong said:

    Hi Pinkymonkey

    Your reno is looking good! please post more pictures 

    you seemed clear of what u want n go for it.

    can I have your contractor's contact pls. 

     

    8 hours ago, megafish said:

    Very swee leh your Reno. Love the idea of tiles for kitchen top!

     

    Can share contractor who did your living wall panels and kitchen cabinets?

     

    PM you all, thank you for reading my blog.

    Will update more info when I'm back in Singapore. :)

  4. Posted · Edited by PinkMonkey

    On 7/10/2016 at 8:25 PM, simplydelish said:

    hihi! the hood looks interesting.. is it really more effective? may i know the price and where you got it from please? thanks! :)

    @simplydelish Yes, it's more effective. Because the "suction" area is closer to the cooking zone, and the suction is really strong. This is important because most kitchen are small, having a powerful efficient hood means less clean up later.

    I got it from TaoBao, about sgd$200. Link here

  5. Posted · Edited by PinkMonkey

    On 7/10/2016 at 4:05 PM, aicila said:

    Thankful for such an informative blog entailing the home automation details and furniture/laminate selection. Very impressive and cosy house you have! Thank you for all the tips shared! Lastly would you mind sharing the contacts of your contractor? :)

     

    On 7/10/2016 at 9:20 PM, seal33 said:

    hi, can i have your contractor's contact? I really love your living room feel

    Thank you @aicila and @seal33 :)

    Yeah, sure, PM you.

    I will post more updates this weekend. After moving in for about 3 months now, can review some of products that i bought. 

  6. Posted

    13 minutes ago, daolevo said:

    Hi Hi, where do you get your curtain track? Your contractor install for you? 

    Thanks

    Hi,
    I ask contractor to help me buy, plus install for me. The track doesn't cost much.
    Its the custom made curtain that's expensive in SG.

    But both my MBR and common bedroom, I use roller blind, and I get them locally. Because in general, quality of roller blind from TaoBao not that good.

  8. Posted

    1 hour ago, wsketchpad said:

    Finally there's a blogger that's into some level of home automation! haha. Have you considered expanding the scope of automation? Maybe control your aircon as well and maybe get a z-wave controller and control your lights too!

    In the beginning, we were looking at options like z-wave, zigbee, or even raspberry pi ways to do some home automation. In the end, we chose logitech because it's most "out of the box", we don't have to do too much techie stuff to get it work. But we may add other controller if we feel the need. 

    Controlling air-con is something we might be doing soon, but not for the comfort that once you step into the house but for haze. The air-con that we chose is Panasonic with nanoe-G for air purifying purpose. So we can do is this.
    1) In harmony, creates a trigger to switch on living room air-con
    2) Using IFTTT (If This Than That) recipe, like this one to monitor SG weather website and turn on air-con when there is Haze near where we stay plus if time is near our knock-off time.
    -> This way, air-con will start working and purifying air when we are on the way back home.


    For lighting control, initially we have this idea of getting this receiver for TaoBao and making each light bulbs in the house smarter. This way, we can control lightings with a "recipe" as well. But in the end, we didn't implement this, as we thinks our home is really small. If we got a 5room or EM, then it may be worthwhile doing. 

    However, we do have more gadgets that we are currently installing for the house that really makes life easier, like in the toilet, in the laundry yard, and common bedroom. (to be updated... :notti:)

  9. Posted

    6 minutes ago, teegz said:

    your kitchen top looks so good!! do you know if it's easy to maintain?

     

    The wiring part is really informative, does this help to achieve a 'surround sound system'? :D

    1 of the ideas we explore was subway tiles, which is very popular in scandinavian theme home in the forum. But later, we think that there are many joints for the tiles, and the gout or silicone in between will be hard to maintain in the long run. Because you know... kitchen can be quite oily and messy... 
    Both me and hubby come to a conclusion.... easy to maintain and practice comes first in priority... so yes, this kitchen top is easy to maintain.
    There are also some other research done before marking this decision... will share later on our "findings".... hehe


    Hasn't really tested on the surround sound yet, but it should be. Or that's at least what we planned it to be... haha....  Will do the setup after all reno are done, and then do a review.... 

  10. Posted

    And on the other side, my hood is up as well.
    The contractor also patched and paste tiles on this side of the wall. Was originally window, but we think it is very hard to maintain, hard to clean up, and not too much use, so we decided to also paste the kitchen tiles with the spare tiles given by HDB to have uniform look on both side of the kitchen.

    Remaining works will be to seal up the sides of the hood, and seal up the countertop joint with silicone.
    Chosen a 45degree hood, to maximize oil and smell suction at the cooking area. To provide more details later. :notti:

    large.kitchen_04.jpg

  11. Posted

    Tips
    Be kiasu when comes to silicone sealing. There are many types of sealing silicone in the market, remember to request your ID or contractor to use silicone sealer that are

    • Water-Resistant Once Fully Cured
    • Mould & Mildew-Resistant
    • For Use on Baths, Showers, Basins & Sanitaryware
    • Waterproof & Water-Repellent
    • 150°C Heat-Resistant
    • White
    • Premium Quality Acetoxy Curing Sanitary Silicone
    • For use on Baths, Showers, Basins & Sanitaryware
    • Adheres to Most Non-Porous Surfaces

    Example... this type
    It doesn't cost much but save lots of hassle in future. 

  14. Posted · Edited by PinkMonkey

    9 minutes ago, Stream said:

    I'm leaning towards having 15 x 90 tiles. Will that be difficult to lay properly? 

    - Need to see your living room size, if not big enough, expect large number of wastage due to cutting of the tiles. 
    - 90cm long is more suitable for outdoor. When used in-door, higher chance you may knock onto the uneven-ness of the floor, even if it is lay 100% flat now, as house expand in the day and contract at night, might wrap alittle at the side. For 90cm, when it wrap alittle bit, can be easily feel because its quite long. But if used outdoor, as you're wearing shoes, no problem. 

    One of our initial choice is also 15 x 90, but in the end, we drop the idea.

  15. Posted

    Shopping List for Living Room

    1) Sofa
    Option used: 颜色分类：双人位布艺/西皮几人坐：组合

    Tips & Tricks
    Online shopping is always a challenge when you cannot see or feel the product. Since I wanted a textile sofa, i requested for sample materials, because sample pictures are not enough. They may turn out really different, due to lighting and camera used, and also if they used photoshop. So asked for sample clothe or leather used to be send to me. In my case, I chatted with the sales girl using AliWangWang (messenger app for TaoBao). Quoted 10 RMB for those samples.
    I used a vPost china address, so they ship to my vPost china address, then ship it to Singapore. After touching the real material used, then i chose the color and material i want. 

    Review:
    Comfortable: So-so, abit harder than I thought it will be
    Material and finishing: Good quality. 
    Overall: Satisfied purchase, the goods come in good condition, no loose running thread.


    2) Side chair
    Option used: 颜色分类：胡桃木+头层真皮

    Review:
    Comfortable: Very comfortable.
    Material and finishing: Good quality. Better than i expected.
    Overall: Good buy, good price.

    3) Curtain

    • Day curtain
      Option used: 颜色分类：GF-09291尺寸：每米价格（韩式挂钩加工）
    • Curtain
      Option used: 颜色分类：GF-140421-4尺寸：每米价格（含韩式挂钩加工）需要几米拍几件

      Review:
      Hasn't hang up, but the material feels good. Good quality stuff, will review again after hang up and tried.

    4) Clock
    5) Dining table

    6) Speakers (Canton Chronos series)

    Audition a couple of times for these speakers when I was in Stuttgart, in their Saturn store (similar to Harvey Norman or Courts in Singapore). Like the sound and the overall aesthetic, able to match with my decor theme.  

  16. Posted · Edited by PinkMonkey

    2 hours ago, Stream said:

    Your reno looks very promising :)

    1) Mind sharing where you got your uber cool armchair and the sofa? :D

    2) About the wall panels, yes, agreed that painting the gaps black will look warmer. What's the pricing like as I will be doing something similar but just one tiny corner of my living room. Disappointed to learn of the 8ft (2.4m) limit of the laminate length. I also prefer the clean look of  a false ceiling fitted with downlights but 'm trying to avoid it as HDB ceiling is rather low. Without the false ceiling, there's a 20cm gap at the top. 

    3) Using large size tiles for the kitchen countertop certainly saves costs. But what about the sides of the tile, which is not finished the same as the top?

    Good luck with your reno!

    Thanks !

    1) Sure, I will update my shopping list in next post. :P
    A closer look at that sofa
    large.chair2.jpg

    2) Gotta ask the contractor to quote you, could not estimate the pricing as it would also depends on the area size of the corner. About the laminate length, if you don't mind, could "stitch" with another piece, if it is wooden design, would be able to notice much. My false ceiling is only about 15-16cm from the top. Above my air-con blower in living room, there is still quite a big gap of allowance, its not that low.

    3) The sides will be using stainless steel trim, which is closer to the look I want from my moodboard.

  20. Posted

    11 hours ago, Starrain said:

    Wow! I just started reading your blog. Thanks for all the tips!! Good tips!

    You mentioned you compared your contractor laminate with Lamitek laminate. Which was your choice in the end?

    I'm also a 3 roomer! Waiting to get my keys!!

    Oh! Your wall panels are so beautiful! :wub:

     

     

    We chose Lamitek, their wood selection looks more natural. Actually the contractor can use any brand of laminate, in the end he helped us buy also (cheaper as well:P)

  22. Posted

    12 hours ago, ricepapergirl said:

    Wow this is really cool! I'm slowly reading through the Amazon and Logitech website, but can I just quickly check: how does this work? The hub connects to your devices via IR (does your devices need to be compatible? I can imagine hooking up my PS4 and XBox360 to this, but how about if I also wanted to connect a low-end DVD player and maybe SCV? Or even an Apple mini?) and then the remote works purely on RF to the hub itself? Did you get it locally or shipped it from Amazon?

    1. Device compatibility - you can check your list of devices here https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/compatibility

    2. My experience with low-end player... So far, i have tested on both the old and new Mio TV box. Both works perfectly... those SCV box or Mio TV Box, most are from Motorolla, when setting up, key in Motorola brand, then key in the model number in the setup. You can find the model number on the box itself.
    Then the hub will present you all the available function for your SCV box, and ask which button you want to assign them. For some functions that duplicates, for example, both TV and SCV box have the volume control, then you can choose the Volume control on your remote to control only the TV or only the SCV box.

    3. I bought it through Amazon. It's quite expensive locally.

    4. How it works

    • Remote control connects to Hub via RF
    • Hub communicate to low-end devices via IR (Infra-Red) using the IR blaster
    • Each IR Blaster can blast an area of devices with IR signal from the hub. If you want to blast more than 1 area, for example, you place your devices at 2 different areas in your cabinet, the Hub can connects up to 2 IR Blaster. 
      - You need to buy these 2 things if you want an additional IR Blaster. (Because the Hub is
      a) 2.5mm to 3.5mm convertor
      b) IR blaster

    Perhaps this video explains better on how it works: 

     

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Planning for Living Room - Part 4 (Universal Remote)

    Since the blog titled "Smart"..... this is introduction of the 1st "Smart" things we use.

    Our living room looks pretty empty, minimalist. And you wonder where are the TV boxes?
    They are all in the home shelter. Main challenge for this approach.

    1. Remote control
    2. Heat (will talk about this when home shelter is done).


    For us, there is 2 popular options we seen in our colleague home oversea.

    1. HDMI + IR over Cat5 or Cat6
      (Example: Sewell HDMI over Cat6)
    2. WIFI enabled Media centre IR blaster.  

    We chose the "smarter" choice of the 2. Because if we use IR over Cat6, you still need alots of remote controller to control each devices, the only benefit is that it repeat your signal to some faraway hidden area. Whereas option 2, we picked Logitech Harmony , it does even more. (you can get them cheaper during golden deals or logitech sales).

    What it does?
    Well... we have these items that we need to control.... Android TV Box, Viewqwest TV Box, Marantz AV Receiver, PS4

    So what this remote does is, we can program a set of task to these shortcut keys.
    Example: If i press TV logo, it auto switch to HDMI port 2 of my AVR, and then turn on my Viewqwest TV Box.
    Or if i press "Off", it send a off signal to all my devices. 
    You do not have to carry many remotes even when you have lots of devices. And best of all, you do not need line of sight since it doesn't use IR.
     

    + Point
    Even if you don't use the remote, use any iOS or Android device, you can control the hub as well. If you have AppleTV or other popular TV box, you can do voice search as well. 

    large.Harmony.png

  24. Posted

    Current progress, the wall panels are up for living room. Hubby also fixed his speakers, but yet to do his cable management.
    Remaining work for living room : Curtains and skirting.
    Contractor also helped to fixed up the sofa and chair we bought from TaoBao. Will share our TaoBao buyings later. :yeah:

    The wall panel for TV looks lighter in real life than in pictures.
    large.104.jpg

    Look from master bedroom out. Our fengshui plants is also placed. Draceana plants are also chosen NASA plants to purify toxic in the air, hope to purify those renovation chemical smells away. The wood panel in this pic looks more like the real life color we see.
    large.101.jpg

  25. Posted · Edited by PinkMonkey

    Planning for Living Room - Part 3 (Wall Panel.. Cont)

    This is how Wall C is done.
    Even for the top part, the wires are concealed.

    For Wall A & B, its the same. Except it does not need Layer 1. It only needs layer 2 and 3.

    Layer 1 and 2, anti-insect and anti-termite oil are applied, this helps to prevent insect in future. (Just to play safe).
    Layer 1 is there to level the wall, as there is wires passing through.

    Layer 2 is where they nail the plywood onto the wall.

    Layer 3 is where the laminate are pasted on. And then Layer 3 paste onto Layer 2. So there is zero nail on layer 3 and yet holds together very strongly.
    large.Wall_Panel_WallC.png

     

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