Mission Impossible

[zihui 7]

Wow! No wonder u boughy soooo many downlights. Even toilet uses downlights! But u will save alot in the long run. Led last a looooong time!

Tom dixon lights are super chio! Cant wait to see more photos!

hahahaha yea, that's why we had box after box of LED downlights

I can't wait to see how they'll look as well! Am gonna rush down to the unit after work to check out the installed lights and the newly-varnished Burmese teakwood parquet floors

[zihui 7]

When u buy things ahead of time, it's like that.

My grohe 900mm shower bar also can't fit now due to the boxup.

I know! we're in the same boat, lala81

maybe you can try selling it?

i've sold off my kitchen faucet & mixer to a fellow Renotalker who read about my TB woes and offered to buy it

[Pokz1981 2]

And a photo of the LED downlights in the MBR toilet -

Sorry, all photos were taken using my iphone so they don't really do it justice. Warm LED downlights were used, so they look much better in real life *beam*

I like the wall tiles look for your toilet above. Very nice.

[zihui 7]

And a photo of the LED downlights in the MBR toilet -

Sorry, all photos were taken using my iphone so they don't really do it justice. Warm LED downlights were used, so they look much better in real life *beam*

I like the wall tiles look for your toilet above. Very nice.

Hi Pokz1981,

Thanks for the kind words and for reading my blog!

[zihui 7]

It was another busy day yesterday - actually, everyday is going to be busy from now until the apartment handover date. I'm going to heave a HUGE sigh of relief when everything is over, although somebody correctly pointed out to me yesterday that the renovation of a house is never really over, is it? Lots of things going on at the same time so it gets a bit overwhelming at times, particularly when you consider the fact that apart from the renovations, we have other things to plan for and to do. So let's get on with the photo updates first -

Yesterday, the teakwood guys came down to carry out the grinding and sanding of the Burmese teakwood parquet surfaces. Here they are in action -

Sawdust was flying everywhere, so by the time I got to the apartment in the evening after work, JT's hair was a sandy brown color *chuckle*

After the grinding and sanding of all the surfaces were completed, the teakwood guys started varnishing the surfaces with lacquer -

Looks like back breaking work to me. On a slightly related note, when I was younger and in primary school, I used to think that the smell of drying lacquer was intoxicatingly pleasant. However entering the apartment last night nearly knocked me out cold - the smell of lacquer was overwhelmingly choking! *cough cough* Wonder if I inadvertently got high last night from the lacquer fumes... Anyway, here's how the surfaces look like after the varnishing -

The Walk-in wardrobe flooring:

The MBR flooring post varnishing:

The staircase was not spared the grinding and varnishing treatment as well since the steps are covered in the material too. Here's how they looked like last night when I went down to check on the renovation progress -

can't really see much right? hahahaha

there is a reason why I'm not a photographer after all. My trusty handphone camera is not going to put any professionals out of work anytime soon!

The teakwood guys will be coming down again this afternoon to carry out the 2nd and final round of sanding, grinding and varnishing once again after the painters have completed painting the bedrooms on the 2nd storey in the morning.

Edited October 24, 2013 by zihui

[zihui 7]

In addition to working on the teakwood parquet surfaces, 2 other teams were hard at work yesterday as well - the electrical team and the rubbish disposal team.

The electrical team has completed the installation of all the light fixtures, including the calibration of all the light switches - oh well, almost all at least.

First, the dining area now has our Tom Dixon beat lights, awaiting the arrival of the dining table & chairs (to be delivered this Friday):

Thank you TB! Super pleased with the Tom Dixon lights. TB is like the largest God-send for all of us undergoing the renovation process.

JT felt that the Tom Dixon Beat Lights were kinda dim, but that's the effect that we were going for. Anyway, we have LED downlights installed at the dining area as well, so if we require bright lights, we'll just turn on our LED downlights. If we're going for the warmer, softer effect, we'll go with the Tom Dixon lights. Although to be honest.... most of our meals will be consumed not at the dining table but in front of the TV instead hahahaha

Makes me wonder why we bothered buying a dining table and chairs in the first place - solely to accommodate guests?

More importantly... my staircase cove lights are up!

Here's how they look!

The view from the ground floor -

And here's how the cove light looks when I'm standing on the 2nd storey, looking straight on at it -

Loving it!

Can't believe how different the entire apartment looks once the lights go up. So now we have lights almost everywhere, including the kitchen, the walkway, the dining area and all the toilets.

Unfortunately.... another hiccup has arisen. Two actually -

1) Our FSM asked us to place 9 led lights at our foyer area at the main door entrance. We thought that we were being smart by buying a LED strip with 9 led bulbs - but the electrical team took one look at them and vehemently objected - for aesthetics purposes. They did a mock up for us to see and we're forced to agree - not only do they look puny and insignificant, they actually look kinda.... stupid. So we now have to urgently rush out to buy 9 led lights which will be placed outside the apartment at the main door entrance.

2) We bought 2 lights for the balcony from TB. Unfortunately, once again we neglected to bear in mind the fact that being outdoors, we should have gotten ourselves waterproof lights that have been approved for outdoor usage, instead of solely selecting our lights based on design and price. The electrical team installed the lights at the balcony before shaking their heads once again. Apparently if and when it rains heavily (and as we know, these "once in 50 years" incidents are happening with alarming regularity these days...), the rainwater hitting on our selected lights will cause our electricity to trip, resulting in a power outage. All because of 2 lights that are exposed to the rain. So last night, we made the decision to take them down. So we'll now have to urgently rush out to buy 2 suitable replacements that are waterproof and have been approved for outdoor usage.

Due to our mistakes, the electrical team will now come down once again on Saturday to install the fengshui led lights, the balcony lights and the kitchen track lights (which they couldn't install yesterday as the carpentry team will only deliver and install the kitchen cabinets tomorrow). Time to urgently rush out to buy more lights before the electrical team comes down for the final time this Saturday.

As the painting team is going to come in and start with the painting for the apartment these 2 days (painting for the 2nd storey will start today while they'll finish up the painting of the first storey by tomorrow), it was important to clear out the rubbish so that the painters can start without further delays. Remember how I described my place as a 'warzone' when I went down on Tuesday? The rubbish disposal team had to work hard in order to clear out the mess caused by renovation works thus far. So we've gone from this photo taken on Tuesday evening -

and this (also on Tuesday evening):

TO THIS! (taken last night)

Well, I said earlier in this post that the installation of the lights makes the house look totally different.

I retract that statement - it should be the lack of rubbish makes the house ENTIRELY different!!

Another seriously busy day is ahead of us again - the painting team is coming in to paint the 2nd storey, followed by the teakwood team for their final round of grinding and varnishing. But the most exciting progress for today is the fact that the glassworks team is coming in and all the glass is going up! So I expect the glass for the MBR shower screen and the staircase's glass railings to go up by today! Pity I can't make it down this evening to check out the progress for myself, got plenty of other errands to run. So I'll just have to rely on JT's photo updates before I go down to see for myself tomorrow evening.

GO JT GO!

[zihui 7]

JT's Daily Update (24th Oct '13)

So as previously mentioned, the glassworks have been delivered and installation is taking place as I type.

JT just whatsapp-ed the progress updates over to me and I'm getting excited (yes, I'm easily excitable ;p)

Photo time!

1) The glass for the staircase has arrived! Together with some sort of suspension cable to align the glass to the staircase. All very Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible-like, tying in with my t-blog:

2) Close up photo of the delivered glass:

3) The commencement of the installation (and suspension):

4) Slowly taking shape....

Progress is still ongoing (with the painters doing their job on the 2nd storey) so I've asked JT to constantly keep us updated today.

It's super irritating to know that so much is going on, we're excited to see the progress but due to other pressing matters, we don't have time to go down to the house today.

*EDIT

JT just sent another photo to us. This time, it's of the painting in progress on the 2nd floor. It may not be a very clear photo, but at least you can see the colours emerging, especially when you compare the difference in color between the 2nd storey and the 1st storey. Alternatively, if you look at the staircase cove light, you can see the difference between the painted parts and the color of the plaster underneath:

We're trying very hard to balance creams with whites and greys because we don't want our city living home to become too cold and harsh... really quite worried that the overall effect will end up looking confused or messy instead of being nice *sweat*

Edited October 24, 2013 by zihui

[ProjectH 0]

You did very well with your budget... what mission impossible?! Very warm n cosy place!

[zihui 7]

You did very well with your budget... what mission impossible?! Very warm n cosy place!

It's very tough lah ... these days, we travel around with a calculator. Not a pocket calculator, not the calculator app in the iPhone. An actual office-sized calculator.

We need to calculate the cost of Every.Single.Thing

just to see if we can afford it.

Another week or so to go, then we can finally see if the whole thing ties together nicely.... *fingers crossed*

[ProjectH 0]

It's very tough lah ... these days, we travel around with a calculator. Not a pocket calculator, not the calculator app in the iPhone. An actual office-sized calculator.

We need to calculate the cost of Every.Single.Thing

just to see if we can afford it.

Another week or so to go, then we can finally see if the whole thing ties together nicely.... *fingers crossed*

i hv a spreadsheet to monitor costings and I stared at it EVERY day. boo ...

[zihui 7]

i hv a spreadsheet to monitor costings and I stared at it EVERY day. boo ...

hahahaha yeah we have a spreadsheet as well which we refer to religiously

funny how come the figures keep increasing with each passing day.

[zihui 7]

The painters have completed their job and the 2nd storey bedrooms now have been painted...

Photo sent by JT:

That's all fine and good, but I'm still waiting for the most exciting update - the staircase.....

*holds breath in anticipation*

[OceanEleven 203]

The painters have completed their job and the 2nd storey bedrooms now have been painted...

Photo sent by JT:

That's all fine and good, but I'm still waiting for the most exciting update - the staircase.....

*holds breath in anticipation*

Though I cant rem your budget but it seems many things are done,

Looking at the photos posted, it's like unwrapping a present with much anticipation.

One day day to Big Day!! Hope all things are planned and prepare. So going where for honeymoon?

[zihui 7]

Though I cant rem your budget but it seems many things are done,

Looking at the photos posted, it's like unwrapping a present with much anticipation.

One day day to Big Day!! Hope all things are planned and prepare. So going where for honeymoon?

I agree! There's so much going on everyday that I can't wait to see what's been done and how much the house has changed in the span of a day.

My biggest worry now is that the colors, themes and furniture may not all fit into each other seamlessly *fingers crossed*

Honeymoon? NO MONEY ALREADY! hahahhahahahha

[oldskool 2]

ur place is coming together! mission impossible made possible, looks great!