Hey guys,

any advice on soundbars?

Thinking if we should get a set anyway since we have a contact, even though we're not super into sound effects etc.

Looking at Sony / Harman Kardon / JBL / Yamaha...

Any advice or thoughts? Harman Kardon seems to only have 1 model that's $1999 before discount I really like the brand personally. Haha.

TIA!

Cancelled some of my TB loots (since I really didn't want to get furniture from there in the first place) because I found some gems in Singapore... Hopefully they will all be in stock by November, since I don't mind paying a deposit for them.

FURNITURE 3:

Extendable Dining Table from FortyTwo

It's exactly the size we need. 120cm when unextended, 180cm when extended! Any bigger and we can't fit in unextended (wanted to get a 140cm from IKEA, but wayyyy too tight). Only downside was the gap for chairs to slip in were only 105cm, so we couldn't get the Taobao chairs.

Tufted dining chairs in cream

Then I found THESE at Harvey Norman! I need to order them in, and they're pricier, but the width is 46cm so it fits perfectly and the colors of the legs will fit my table perfectly too. Talk about luck in finding furniture! Hehehe. Finally solved my dining room conundrum. Wanted to mix and match textures and colors... Small doesn't mean I cannot try things! More furniture doesn't mean it'll look messy as well! Want to really go all out with the modern classic design.

Mirrored Stools as Bedside Tables

I love these to bits! I think they'll add character and style to my master bedroom, and they aren't too pricey either. Save me the trouble of importing mirrored furniture from Taobao, plus, the other sellers I've found are really, really expensive! Their size fits perfect too, since my bedside table can only be up to 40cm wide (I know, tiny rooms suck).

Small Console Table for the Entry

My entry area is non-existent due to my small living room and lack of a "proper" shoe cabinet area (totally my choice!), so I decided early on I wanted an entry area near to my main door so I could put knick-knacks. Found this GORGEOUS black and gold one that's apparently foldable too. And what do you know? It's the perfect width as well!

Antique Brass Coffee Tables

Oh these are absolutely going to STUN in my living room! I can't decide if I want the nestled ones or the round one. Thoughts?

I can really see my living room coming together now and I cannot be more thrilled! Talk about a good furniture haul!

Hi Dear,

May i know where you got your entry way table and brass tables from? Ive been looking for these since froever! =D

Hi Dear,

May i know where you got your entry way table and brass tables from? Ive been looking for these since froever! =D

Nook and Cranny!

Taylor B buys:

Bought two Crystal lamps for the bedside tables

Bought 2 mirrored bedside tables

And a mirrored tray for the living room decor

Still need to go back again for other small decor pieces as I've got $80 store credit now...

Trying to hunt for the rest of my pieces so we can be done with the reno stuff and start paying bills

Thanks dear - I love nook n cranny their prices are competitive too! =D

Hey guys,

any advice on soundbars?

Thinking if we should get a set anyway since we have a contact, even though we're not super into sound effects etc.

Looking at Sony / Harman Kardon / JBL / Yamaha...

Any advice or thoughts? Harman Kardon seems to only have 1 model that's $1999 before discount I really like the brand personally. Haha.

TIA!

Cheap and good = recommend Philips Fidelio HTL9100

It has detachable bluetooth speakers for you to place around and gives you true surround sound effect as compared to other soundbars that relies on the sound bounching off surfaces to give you the surround effect

Expensive but good = recommend SONOS soundbar

The soundbar itself, without the seperately purchase subwoofer, is already awesome. But its expensive.

Cheap and good = recommend Philips Fidelio HTL9100

It has detachable bluetooth speakers for you to place around and gives you true surround sound effect as compared to other soundbars that relies on the sound bounching off surfaces to give you the surround effect

Expensive but good = recommend SONOS soundbar

The soundbar itself, without the seperately purchase subwoofer, is already awesome. But its expensive.

Thanks bro. Checking it out now.

Appreciate it a lot!

My dinner not so ex leh. Hahahaha!

I got 9 drawers total so if top up all is extra $400-500 depending on range. While small amt compared to other things in Reno... These items add up! Haha.

Pocket alre bleeding. Unlike a lot of youngsters in SG, we got no access to MaPa Enterprise leh...

Must be prudent!

I also must speak for the "normal" drawers la. I use at my current rental it's really quite solid also. No complaints.

The top up is for the blum runners & it does not matter whether if its big or small drawers. The cost of runners depend on the length & weight bearing capacity. $50 is about right unless its internal drawers.

The top up is for the blum runners & it does not matter whether if its big or small drawers. The cost of runners depend on the length & weight bearing capacity. $50 is about right unless its internal drawers.

My contractor recommends the higher range drawers for the big drawers.. Meaning instead of S1, go for S2 or S3 instead. So top up more.

Let me paste what I had written on Ahyong81's blog.

"Just to chip in, Blum is indeed quality product. Been using for a year plus and working fine.

Soft closing with hinge is not exactly that costly, about $2 per set. A normal HDB full door height needs about 4 hinges but only 2 soft close.

Blum's costly item are the side partion drawers such as the Tandembox series, the Avento lift systems and the servo drive system.

So purchasing the normal drawer runner, hinge with soft closing etc only are still pretty much affordable.

I had used Blum, not but from Blum themselves, through another source who offered a good discount."

If you are keen, you can ask you carpenter to write down what Blum are needed and get a quote from my source.

My ID and carpenter allow me to source my own. Carpenter list down the type and quantity, I do self purchase.

Let me paste what I had written on Ahyong81's blog.

"Just to chip in, Blum is indeed quality product. Been using for a year plus and working fine.

Soft closing with hinge is not exactly that costly, about $2 per set. A normal HDB full door height needs about 4 hinges but only 2 soft close.

Blum's costly item are the side partion drawers such as the Tandembox series, the Avento lift systems and the servo drive system.

So purchasing the normal drawer runner, hinge with soft closing etc only are still pretty much affordable.

I had used Blum, not but from Blum themselves, through another source who offered a good discount."

If you are keen, you can ask you carpenter to write down what Blum are needed and get a quote from my source.

My ID and carpenter allow me to source my own. Carpenter list down the type and quantity, I do self purchase.

Thanks for the offer, bro. Due to our time constraint, we cannot source from outside and have already confirmed for my contractor's carpenter to settle it all for me. We'll nego for the pricing elsewhere.

Last Taobao shipment (hopefully):

We're at the last leg of "purchases." Pending a trip to IKEA to get the rest of our stuff, and for our friend to help us with the Sealy mattress, soundbar and TVs, we're all set.

Harvey Norman discontinued the Pablo dining chairs, forcing me to go back to TB to hunt for some, after unsuccessful trips to furniture stores (BLEH).

My last shipment just reached me, collecting it on Monday due to the hubby's work schedule, but excited! Not sure how my medallion will turn out.

This shipment consists of mainly decorative items that I cannot find in SG or is wayyyyy too overpriced here. Still cannot find any wall art for my office so might have to go back to paying Etsy prices for those. And also, since hubby preferred (and we bought) the mirrored bedside tables from Taylor B, we're also no longer ordering the mirrored stools from Nook and Cranny, which is making me doubt all my other buys. We might go white for the entryway table (from IKEA...) and then DIY a coffee table instead of paying $369 for it - since I already need to stock up on spray paints, might as well use them all right?

Can't wait for it all to be over. Carpentry's scheduled to come in before end of October (about two weeks from the beginning of this week), so hopefully we can move in by mid-November - still need to talk to the landlord about this. AND I need to start packing Still reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Hopefully this shipment will turn out good, too. Still in doubt over the rainshower set for the hubby's BR outside. BLAH.

Small wall art for our respective bathrooms (whale and Batman, my hubby's fav); cross for the entryway; beautiful flowers for throughout the house (fresh flowers are waaaaay too expensive for the amount I need. I love flowers EVERYWHERE! They make a house a home IMO); my tufted dining chairs (lighter color than in the picture); velvet hangers x 60; signage for the office; marble contact paper; carpets for the entire house; anti-slip mats for the bathtub; long, anti-fatigue mats for the kitchen and a baby gate + extension for the walkway so the bunnies don't get in the rooms (and harass us, seriously, my buns are like CLOCKWORK every morning when they want food).

Hopefully I will check off everything on the list to buy soon. We've already hit the budget and counting...

SOLID TOP TEST:

I found my glorious Gloria () marble-esque countertop but was devastated to find out that there's no Quartz counterpart. So I set out to damage the sample since Edmund tells me solid tops aren't worth it (will scratch, will stain bla bla bla). That said, it IS half the price of Quartz or more and my test was quite successful.

Specially cooked chicken curry (with turmeric), to my husband's delight, to test the solid top sample. (my hubby LOOOOOVES curry)

Light soya sauce, dark soya saue, oyster sauce, pasta sauce, tomato sauce and curry. The most "common" things I use to cook. If it passes these tests, should be good right? And also, I put a hot pan on it for 10 minutes, and also used a kitchen scissors to scratch it.

Stain/heat/scratch Test

Left this for well over 16 hours.

\

After rinsing off with tap water after >16 hours:

Expectedly, the turmeric stained the surface.

After cleaning with Daiso magic sponge (white color; not my favorite, I ran out of my 3M blue and white magic sponge)

Not too bad, 70% came off easily.

After cleaning with Method multifunction spray and cloth

Ehhhh. About 30% left? Visible but not that obvious anymore.

Cleaning with vinegar:

Only visible under certain light. About 10% remains.

After 10 minutes of burning hot pan sitting on top of it:

Visible scratches from resting pan on top, but very light, can be buffed off with 3M buffing sponge; but kitchen scissors scratched it easily.

It has to be said that I could have just cleaned with vinegar from the start (left it for 30 minutes then clean with magic sponge) but I wanted to test my often-used cleaning supplies to see how it affected the stains. Also, I hardly ever leave turmeric stains for more than 5 minutes, let alone 16 hours!

STAIN TEST: 8/10 (takes some effort to remove and might not remove 100%)

HEAT TEST: 9.5/10 (no visible damage for the most part)

SCRATCH TEST: 4/10 (easily scratched but can be buffed out gently)

Will also buy 3M stainless steel cleaner to try cleaning solid top, heard it works and saw it at Selffix the other day.

AMAZON BUYS:

I reluctantly cancelled my last one, but did get replacements in Singapore so I'm not too hung up about it, but I'm unfortunately still brooding over Rachael Ray's Lazy Tools. I love the idea of being able to prop them on anything, but reviews are that they're very heavy and the pots must be in the right size. Bah. I guess I might have to suck it up and just use a small plate.

A SimpleHuman/OXO loot of sorts this time round. Still contemplating if I should order more of the white/stainless steel trash cans (round ones that are quite teeny) because they are soooo pretty and luxe, but US$19.99 a piece isn't exactly cheap. Might go back to trusty ol' IKEA. So far I'm only ordering 1 white one for my marble bathroom since it's unobtrusive and of course, white and pretty.

Couple of good finds: the OXO dish draining rack. Oh how I HATE drainers with stainless steel bases. It would eventually get rusted over time no matter how expensive it is. And then I'd have to clean up the rust. So when I found this pretty one that uses all rubber / plastic and still has a spout (I've been using IKEA's without a spout and tray)... I was SOLD. Immediately. HOOT NOW. The rectangular bin would fit right into the service yard's tight spots I'd think! Then there's my bath pillow and caddy... Talk about a luxurious spa experience in that marble bathroom of mine. The rest speaks for themselves, so many people buy liao!

Edited October 17, 201511 yr by bykaraanne

Mwahh love your descriptions and reviews! We're rushing from place to place today, but I'll reread your posts again when we have time to breathe. Sending chummy thoughts your way! Xx.