Small House Holding Our Big Dreams

[trcd 13]

On 15 July 2016 at 0:06 PM, Catt said:

Wednesday 13 Jul'16 Update:

Went to the house and spoke to the electrician (husband and wife team). Was quoted $60 for a double socket. I think that's fairly reasonable since my colleague's ID quoted her 70-90 for double sockets.

Total for electricals scared me a little, but I have to absorb the impact since Darkling Half wants plenty of sockets (again, we have been deprived of substantial sockets for 7 years..so what can I say) in the kitchen for her use. I hear her saying things like...oh but I need a socket at the prep area for blender (which we do not own one of..so..err...trying to tell me something?)...oh TV area better have more, one socket for each appliance...etc. Friends, I did convince her that there would NEVER be enough sockets, sooner or later you will find a multi- extension plug growing out of the wall. So electricals came up to about $3k +. I"m not saying it's expensive as we did have more sockets than I estimated, and installing things like 2 ventilation fans and a lighted medicine cabinet did add to it as well. She also made a duckface when the electrician's wife (the sharper and smarter one of the pair) told her that it was illegal to have outlets placed 30cm above floor level. Apparently HDB requires 50cm above ground. She mentioned it could be done, but we have to bear the risk. Law-abiding me persuaded Darkling to stay with 50 cm (but seriously half the homes I've lived in and been to are 30 cm above floor  ) and she was NOT happy. Too bad!

Also met the windows/ sliding door/ door gate guy. I forgot that unit numbers can be built into the gate. So now I'm lazy to convey that message to my contractor and halfheartedly thinking about buying my own sign instead. My unit has two unit # signs, one given by HDB (old and yellow sign) and one that the previous owner stuck to the current gate. Not nice!

The contractor also handed me a binder book of laminates (Arova brand) to review.

Here are some pics:

Toilet tiling half-done. Grouting not done. Mixed reviews from friends and colleagues. Older colleagues dislike the tiles. Feedback is that it looks like a badly-done paint job. Younger colleagues love the tiles for the swirls and the variation patters. Nevermind, the people living in the house like can already. From a side view with the light halfway down the wall, the tiles look uneven (yeah I made a duckface to the tiler on this), and I was already told beforehand that this could happen due to the type of tile used (long). After grouting it might look less obvious. I may have the same issue with the subway tiles (short but plentiful). So basically they are telling me tiling is uneven no matter what is selected. Errr...let's see what happens after grouting.

 

My pathetic attempt at matching kitchen cabinet laminates with the countertop and my peculiar floor tiles.

I like "Ground" but am worried it will make the kitchen look very dark. "Gainsboro" is a warm grey which might counter the darkness. 

 

Not too sure about our wardrobe. It's sliding doors and I'm afraid of big panels of solid colour. Maybe something woody and light (Laricina) ? There's texture on this, so I'm still deciding if it will be a hassle to clean. Tried my powers of Manja to get the contractor to change white laminates within the wardrobe to grey or black. I"m not very good at the skill of Manja but it seems to have worked some. since the contractor sort of grunted in a 'I give up' manner. Thank you daddy for allowing me to practice on you for 35 years. 

Ok, will update with more pics and less words next time. Hopefully everything is tiled up by Saturday!

PS: They managed to 'realign' the annoying pipe in the toilet. So now there is more walking space between the WC and the wash basin in the shower room.

 

 

Eh, nice variations on the tiles... I wish I was bolder in selecting bathroom tiles!

Don't worry - you can buy nice unit numbers and stick them onto your main door.

I was also afraid of cleaning textured laminates and went down to Lamitak to have a proper look. In the end, opted for a textured one for the wardrobes, and smooth ones for the kitchen (much easier to wipe the grease off).

I like "Ground" and "Champagne" for the laminates. Good luck!!

[Catt 8]

On 7/16/2016 at 11:22 PM, trcd said:

Eh, nice variations on the tiles... I wish I was bolder in selecting bathroom tiles!

Don't worry - you can buy nice unit numbers and stick them onto your main door.

I was also afraid of cleaning textured laminates and went down to Lamitak to have a proper look. In the end, opted for a textured one for the wardrobes, and smooth ones for the kitchen (much easier to wipe the grease off).

I like "Ground" and "Champagne" for the laminates. Good luck!!

trcd, in the end the white textured one I selected was over the budget...now I have to look for alternatives.

I like "Ground" too...decisions decisions!

[Catt 8]

- deleted whole rant about contractors who made me wait 1.5 hrs for nothing and nasty neighbours with smelly shoes.

Here's a question to everyone out there: Have you seen this black patch above your airconditioning unit before? Do you know what causes it and how it can be cleaned/ prevented? Picture below shows the A/C unit in my rental unit home which was installed by the landlord about 2 years ago, so I'm the first 'user'. Recently I noticed there was a sooty looking black patch on the ceiling right above it. This A/C is serviced regularly every 3 months and I wash the filters myself every 2 weeks.

 

 

[trcd 13]

Could the black patch simply be dust/soot stains?

[Catt 8]

7 hours ago, trcd said:

Could the black patch simply be dust/s

7 hours ago, trcd said:

Could the black patch simply be dust/soot stains?

I was thinking soot but...cant think of why it would happen. Or burn marks like those you can see round fluoroscent tubing.

[trcd 13]

Maybe it really is dust... (from the blower and it has accumulated over time)...

Try wiping off first?

[Catt 8]

15 hours ago, trcd said:

Maybe it really is dust... (from the blower and it has accumulated over time)...

Try wiping off first?

I tried. Haha. Anyway it doesn't matter, I was just concerned as I hope the same thing won't occur at my new place  

[Catt 8]

20 Jul'16- Another Helluva Day

Went down today at the request of my contractor to discuss 'stuff'. Mainly to deal with the subway tiles in the kitchen and other miscellaneous items like door catalogues, paint colours, measurements and confirmation of this'n'that. I'm quite naggy and he's quite forgetful...together we form the 'old couple' team. Maybe I should be more professional when talking to him, rather than saying things like "I'll beat you if you make me wait for 90 mins again".

Anyway, I was really happy when I got there, cos I saw this, and I got that feeling you get when you nagged at your parents that you want a puppy and one day there's a pet carrier sitting in the house when you get home from school..... or when you are checking your Toto numbers and when you get past the first 3 sets and your numbers match:

Half-finished product:

The frames and tinted glass still stacked in a corner:

 

A not very good picture of the subway tiles being put up at the kitchen. I love my subway tiles as they are so small and cute!

Then the tiler pointed this out to me (that's my darling father's thumb in the pic- I visited with him yesterday). WHY?! Argh! It didn't occur to me that I couldn't do a 45 degree cut as the tiles are different in thickness due to the 3D effect. So there's this ugly-looking gap at all corners/ beams. My father suggested grouting the gaps in white instead of black or grey so that the uneven BIG gap would be less noticeable. Luckily he was there otherwise I would have another meltdown...  I spent the evening staring at the tofu tiles in the toilet of my rental house while showering, thinking how ****tily done up they were but yet still neat around the corners....

My father thinks that they have done a really good tiling job, and I have to admit that the gaps are really even between each tile. I don't see them using tiny strips of cards to create an even gap and yet they got it so uniform.

I left the unit in high spirits then checked my email while waiting for a cab back to work....and my spirits fell into the bottom of my heels. Amazon CS wrote back to say that they were sorry for not updating my shipping status for the Kraus Farmhouse sink and tap for 9 days since I first ordered. The sink was out of stock and they didn't know when it would be available. I nearly threw myself in front of an oncoming lorry, but my heel was stuck firmly in a gap on the road and I couldn't jump. When I got back to the office, I frantically called Amazon US and the CS told me that that piece of information was wrong as there were 13 pieces available now. They gave me free (and upgraded) Global Expedited Shipping for the mistake (ok I saved SGD$350 there), but the ETA is still going to be end of August or 1st September.

Wah lao eh. Scared me!

 

[JohnJohn 13]

Glad that everything turned out ok with the sink and you got free shipping to boot!

[Catt 8]

Yah JohnJohn...still it's end Aug/beginning Sep delivery ETA. So much for 'expedited' shipping which is supposed to take a week. Feels like they are still blowing smoke up my arse...or smoking something really powerful...I haven't broken the news to my contractor yet. He might have conniptions since in 2-3 weeks his carpenter is coming and he needs to measure and have the caeserstone cut.

[trcd 13]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

I tried. Haha. Anyway it doesn't matter, I was just concerned as I hope the same thing won't occur at my new place  

I called Mitsubishi today and checked with their technician on my air con's isolator switch. Asked them about the black patch on the ceiling, and he said it was likely to be dust from the blowers and should be easily cleaned off with some soap and water. Hope it works!

[trcd 13]

Wah so lucky to get free expedited shipping! At least everything turned out ok. I'm sure with grouting, the gaps will be seamless!

Don't sweat it. Can google for dimensions of the sink if the contractor needs it. I did the same for my hob as it did not arrive in time.

[Catt 8]

Trcd: Guess you know what I'll be doing this weekend with the patch above the blower. Will try the soap and water and hope it comes off!

I did take down the dimensions of the sink so if the contractor needed to he could get the carpenter to start work. However I really hope that it arrives sooner as my colleague went through the same thing (with an undermount Taobao sink) and the online dimensions were slightly off in comparison to the real thing. I'm just very paranoid because these sinks are not common here and I don't want the carpenter to forget that this baby weighs a hefty 30kg (empty). I believe the folks in US build a different type of support for farmhouse sinks.

I realised you bought pendant lights instead of tracks...I did the opposite (first idea was to pendant light the whole house). Hopefully it's bright enough, if not I still have 6 emergency Ikea floor lamps to 'aid' me. Gotta thank @ricepapergirl for the Chan Huat recommendation though, bought all the lights in one afternoon. 

[Changbp 5]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

20 Jul'16- Another Helluva Day

Went down today at the request of my contractor to discuss 'stuff'. Mainly to deal with the subway tiles in the kitchen and other miscellaneous items like door catalogues, paint colours, measurements and confirmation of this'n'that. I'm quite naggy and he's quite forgetful...together we form the 'old couple' team. Maybe I should be more professional when talking to him, rather than saying things like "I'll beat you if you make me wait for 90 mins again".

Anyway, I was really happy when I got there, cos I saw this, and I got that feeling you get when you nagged at your parents that you want a puppy and one day there's a pet carrier sitting in the house when you get home from school..... or when you are checking your Toto numbers and when you get past the first 3 sets and your numbers match:

Half-finished product:

The frames and tinted glass still stacked in a corner:

 

A not very good picture of the subway tiles being put up at the kitchen. I love my subway tiles as they are so small and cute!

Then the tiler pointed this out to me (that's my darling father's thumb in the pic- I visited with him yesterday). WHY?! Argh! It didn't occur to me that I couldn't do a 45 degree cut as the tiles are different in thickness due to the 3D effect. So there's this ugly-looking gap at all corners/ beams. My father suggested grouting the gaps in white instead of black or grey so that the uneven BIG gap would be less noticeable. Luckily he was there otherwise I would have another meltdown...  I spent the evening staring at the tofu tiles in the toilet of my rental house while showering, thinking how ****tily done up they were but yet still neat around the corners....

My father thinks that they have done a really good tiling job, and I have to admit that the gaps are really even between each tile. I don't see them using tiny strips of cards to create an even gap and yet they got it so uniform.

I left the unit in high spirits then checked my email while waiting for a cab back to work....and my spirits fell into the bottom of my heels. Amazon CS wrote back to say that they were sorry for not updating my shipping status for the Kraus Farmhouse sink and tap for 9 days since I first ordered. The sink was out of stock and they didn't know when it would be available. I nearly threw myself in front of an oncoming lorry, but my heel was stuck firmly in a gap on the road and I couldn't jump. When I got back to the office, I frantically called Amazon US and the CS told me that that piece of information was wrong as there were 13 pieces available now. They gave me free (and upgraded) Global Expedited Shipping for the mistake (ok I saved SGD$350 there), but the ETA is still going to be end of August or 1st September.

Wah lao eh. Scared me!

 

 

I also use subway tiles. Tile edge gaps can trimmed out.

 

Edited July 20, 2016 by Changbp

[Catt 8]

Nice idea Changbp, it does make it look neater. The tiler did suggest it, but my dad doesn't like it unfortunately... he has some weird aesthetic reasoning of his own. I know it's my house, but since I've shot down every one of his ideas, I'm just giving in to one of his.

So I'm going with the "rough-and-ready" look since it's subway tiles and throw my OCD-ness out of the window. Times like this, my fingers itch to do the work myself....