LLCC

Hi huggsss, Thanks! If you just want a step up bath area for shower & where you can sit on the fringe area (instead of having bathroom shower chair) & not meant to be used as bath tub then it's fine. Just wish to caution that it is not possible to fill up with enough hot water in such a big tileup "tub" with a 40L water heater tank, but that's partly because we made the tub too wide. I don't have the breakdown cost just for that bath area. The masonary works for 3 bathrooms, kitchen & 1 balcony including the tiles & cement screeding for whole house skirting cost about $12K. Hope this helps. Rdgs, CC

Hi huggsss, My sister adopted black theme for her bedroom & adjoining bathroom (hacked the wall to create direct access from her bedroom to the common bathroom on 2nd floor). Our kitchen is white & grey theme. You can view some photos at the link in my signature. Rdgs, CC

Agree with you. The only storeroom I have is under the staircase. I think it's more practical to build floor to ceiling kind of shelve cabinet on 1 side of the wall in either living room or studyroom/guestroom and store away stuff that we don't use often on top shelves. Easier to access them to check what we have too. We tend to forget what are the items we have right inside the storeroom, out of sight, out of mind.

Hi jazzfish, I knocked down original kitchen wall & sink/stove to change the entrance to kitchen from living room & repositioned the sink & stove. I hang my laundry on the wall in my rectangle balcony, using wall-mounted system. Still keep some bamboo poles for hanging bedsheets, just perched the bamboo poles on the ledge near to the lightings in balcony. Previous owner hang laundry on ceiling in the kitchen but I removed the metal brackets on the ceiling. Rdgs, CC

Yes, they'll perch on the ledge of my balcony when there's nobody at home as I found traces of bird **** on my pebble-stone flooring at the balcony a few times. I didn't fixed awning so it's an open area that will get wet when it rains. When there's very little movement inside the house, I saw birds perching on the ledge of my balcony. I thought of hanging a Japanese fish-shaped wind socket on top of the ledge but haven't figured out how to hang it there. Anyone has an effective method to scare the birds off? Rdgs, CC

Yes, White Powder Coated aluminium. Just wanted to let you know how much I paid, for your reference. I won't recommend the window contractor who did my house.

Hi Wenny, My quote dated Jul 08 was: Supply & install WPC aluminium sliding glass window (291sqft) $4,365 I selected green tinted glass too. Not sure if the price was reasonable though. CC

We can get good WiFi coverage all over the house if there is one user. Our router is on level 2 guestroom/studyroom. If more than 1 person is accessing (from laptops) or when room doors are closed, MBR & living room gets a very low 1Mbps signal. But no problem if only one user in the house. However, we are using the almost obsolete Wireless-G technology. New wireless sets are Wireless-N which offer vastly extended range (can access wireless from 10 floors below) so coverage becomes a non-issue for EMs. Note that if there is too much wireless traffic going on in the room/house/block, your connection speed can drop because everyone is on the 2.5GHz wavelength (microwave oven running very close by at 2.45 GHz can affect too). If your block has a lot of internet savy people, it's better then to get the Dual-N router so you can switch to 5GHz which is still "uncommon" and enjoy uninterrupted bandwidth while you have that headstart. That however, means you also need to get adaptor for your lappy that can work on 5GHz frequency too - a big expense if you have many sets, but the enjoyment is worth it. Your desktops will be better served with a LAN cable as LAN'll be faster than Wireless. As for whether it's better to place the router in MBR or living room, with Wireless-N, it makes no difference. If you're still using Wireless-AB, you should upgrade at least to Wireless-G to enhance your surfing experience.

Hi red devil, We paid $75 for 1 data point. We're using StarHub Broadband, and placed our wireless router in one of the bedrooms on 2nd floor which we're using as guest/studyroom. No problem with internet access even when using laptop in MBR or in living room downstairs. Rdgs, CC

Hi! Thanks for sharing your joy with us. Interesting layout indeed. I would love to have your storeroom! Bedroom 2 & 3 positioning also quite different, not side by side, so lots of privacy.

Oh, we have a bamboo tree too! We didn't built a roof over our service balcony so our tall bamboo can stay in the open & get the sunlight. Every morning there'll be a bird perching & "singing" on our bamboo tree. The bamboo tree was seated along the corridor in our previous flat. We had problem moving it to our EM cos' it's too tall to get into the lift. We had to tie rope around the pot and lower it slower down our previous flat, with someone on every floor to catch hold of it & keep it in position. We used the same method to lift it up to our EM flat but gave up after it reached the 4th floor as it was too heavy & the angle of lifting is not very right. In the end, LL & his 3 friends took turns to hand carry it on their shoulder & walked up the stair case to the 10th floor! With a rooftop garden, you can line the side with bamboo trees to create a piece of nature in your own house, lovely!

Unfortunately no, I don't have the floor plan. That Bishan penthouse belongs to friend's friend, I happened to be in my friend's house & tagged along to visit the penthouse cos' I was so curious. The big difference is the view. Imagine a bedroom or study room with a sky view (good for daydreaming), or having a drink or BBQ with friends at the L-shaped open air balcony with a sky view (so cool!). You're basically paying a premium for the view. EM is rare. EM with such a view is lagi rare. Private condo unit at $750K price range cannot offer such a view. My guess is those who go for such unit are ex-private property owners who are retirees with spare cash and have plenty of time to seat at home & sip tea & chat with their spouse & friends. A convenient location where they can shop for necessities is important too.

I visited one penthouse EM in Bishan last year, quite near Bishan MRT. My friend's friend got it for $600K+. There are several of those point blocks where you have 4 units of 5-room flat on each level, then the top floor is EM. But from outside it looked like the very top floor is single floor Executive Apartment. The 2nd & 3rd top most is the EM, with L-shaped corner outdoor balcony, very nice view.

Hi, Broke the glass turntable tray in our Ariston MWA222 microwave oven Called up Mayer Marketing, it'll cost $70 just to replace the glass turntable. Does anyone know where to buy microwave oven turntables in Singapore besides Mayer? CC

Saw 1 feedback on Fanco fan, seems ok but most Renotalk people are talking about Crestar. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20451 Quote vin13: "Fanco is not bad.. using the model: FF9 close to 5 months liao... for us, we usually on the medium speed.. the low speed not useful while high is too high, newspapers starts flying.. maybe we have lower than norm ceiling bah tongue.gif"