Which PH5 lamp should I buy??? :p

 

I think either the black or the white one... as my dinning area will have concrete (bomb shelter) and white walls.

 

Spent 4 freaking hours in the afternoon choosing toilet, taps and sinks!!! My contractor recommend me his supplier El Bano at 486 Sims Ave. The staff there were quite helpful and patient with me (4 hours....)

 

Their selection is not bad but doesn't have grohe stuff on display. As i have spent MANY hours researching Ik new what I want so it was "Relatively" fast to decide from the catalogues.

 

Settle for Johnson Suisee toilets and sink. MIL say toilet and sink must buy same brand if not the" whiteness" is different (...........). I would have love Toto for design but i think I can save some money here.

 

Bought Grohe shower sets, mixer and taps - $2k for 2 toilets. The Bauedge rain shower for the MTL and icon rain shower set for the CTL :(

 

Bought Grohe kitchen tap with pullout spray - i find the pullout function quite useful when cleaning the sink. :)

 

 

I think next time don't need to spent so many hours walking all over the place in Balestier and Jalan Besar comparing prices and product. Just see a few shops, settle on the brand and just choose within the brand. If not.. choose/think until the cows come home.

 

 

 

 

That's interesting... I never considered the color of lamp based on this criteria. That's some food for thought!

Re the toilet - yeah that's how i feel too. If its good for heavy duty (public use) it shd be good for me too.

cross my fingers the seat is comfoy. that's a big drag abt choosing toilet - how do u know the shape of the seat is comfy to your bum? the sales suggest that i 'sit' on it but i didn't think its such a great idea to be sitting on the bowls in the showroom...!!!!

 

Today I went to select the appliances. And i thought I had finally finalised my items:

 

 Bosch for everything; ceramic hob, 45cm dishwasher, washer/dryer combo, steam oven. Bosch hood is way too exp for its performance, so I was open for any brand. I really like Fujioh performance but it really doesn't make the cut in terms of design. And for the hood I am easy on function :)

 

Salesman Raymond at Paris Silk recommended Brandt hood - good price and great design! So i decided to take it. Then I start to explore Brandt ...... hmm... didn't realise they got decent products at a cheaper price. Raymond said that it terms of performance, Brandt and Bosch is similar. Apparently Brandt is the first brand to produce the steam oven. and being the second line from De Detrich, they share the same oven and hob technology. cool. i am sold.

 

so i decided to take Brandt for all the built-in applicances.

 

Then I started to look at the fine prints on requirement. The induction hob requires 32A connection. Darn! Turns out - HDB's max is 15A!!!!!!!!!

 

Raymond suggested Domino - 2 induction zone requires only 16A for Brandt. But that is still more than 15A... turned to Bosch - its 15A for 2 zones.

 

uurrrgghh.

 

my house is windy so the induction hob will be great. but i will go crazy if my electric trips everytime i use the hob, turn on my a/c and watch tv at the same time. apparently max capacity for the whole house is 32A.

 

Maybe I have to go back to gas :(

 

On the washer - Raymond advised against the combo machine. I am still neutral abt getting the combo or 2 separate machines. combo save space but I agree the performance shd not be as good as 2 separate machines. i am stacking them anyway so will not make a difference in terms of space planning.

 

Then the fridge - I was initally gonna get the LG 2-door with water and ice dispenser. Then Raymond showed me the Samsung with similar functions but it has 2 separate coolers - meaning the food smell doesn't circulate between the freezer and chiller - great ; so the kimchi smell will stay in the chiller only! Both are similarly priced but as I have used the LG, I am not sold on the Samsung yet.

 

Has anyone used induction/ceramic hob in HDB and have no problem - pls let me know!

 

If you have any recommendation on the brands - Bosch or Brandt appliances - do let me know too!

 

 

cheers

My renovation started on 16 Nov so it has been 3 weeks thus far.

 

Progress seems to be quite slow but I suppose there was time taken for the floor to be dried.

Week 1 - hacking and laying of toilet wall tiles and kitchen floor tiles

Week 2 - lay toilet floor tiles. prepare floor to receive parquet. allow cement floor to be completely dry

Week 3 - lay parquet (workers did it in 1 day!). remove false ceiling and strip out the cables for electrical wiring. redo piping.

 

So far, there has been a few incidents:

1. toilet floor - after the MTL floor tiles was laid, I hated them. between overlaying and cement screed, I chose the latter. The contractor was intending to deliver the floor AS IS, without any sealer!!!He said cement floor is like that, will have water marks all the time and cracks. don't need sealer as the toilet already been waterproof. i was shocked and insisted on a sealer and one more layer of cement redo as the workmanship was really shobby. he said the sealer will have a slight yellow tint and the floor will look aged. somehow i don't really believe him so i am currently trying to check if this is really true.

otherwise i am actually happy with the look of my white wall tiles and cement floor.

 

2. i wanted copper water pipe but the plumber did stainless steel. I have no heart to ask him to redo but in retrospective i really regretted it. The original quote for ss pipe was $680. As i requested for copper pipes my contractor up it to $1300. In the revised quote the amount is $800 for ss steel as he claimed that i needed extra point for my dishwasher. In reality he knew i have a dishwasher from the very beginning, so he already priced it in when he quoted $680, but now he tried to increase his margin in the revised quote and that made me very angry. My partner thinks that we should not argue over $100-200 with the contractor and ruin our relationship with him as he still has to complete the rest of our reno. It could also be due to the fact that we are likely to reduce our scope of work so the contractor decided to price in more margin when he can .

 I agree with my partner but somehow feel that I my contractor is not honest. This is a frustrating feeling but something which I was aware of when I signed the contract. Even though we agreed that the works can be flexible but i knew that once we signed the contract we wil be at the mercy of the contractor...

 

In the coming weeks I will visit my place more often to make sure there is no more major hiccups such as missing out new electrical points etc.

 

Hope for the best. So far everything else has been ok.

 

 

 

Today we went to buy our electrical appliances. This has been a very difficult task selecting the suitable appliances for the house within one's budget. i must have spent zillion hours researching, reading reviews in blogs and talking to countless sales people. So here's my finall call:

- Ariston Hob PH741, 75cm, $750

My key criteria was cast iron. The nearest competitor is Bosch but it was 60cm, and I like the idea of an ceramic plate too, so i chose ariston.

 

- Brandt Hood AD990, 90cm, $630

My key criteria is perfromance and design. Fujioh score on performance but failed in design. This one can go up to 1050sqm/hr and looks q sleek.

 

- Brandt Oven FE811, 52l, $815

This has been the most dificult decision. The choice was between the Brandt, Bosch and Ariston (all the basic models as I don't need the catalytic blah blah self cleaning functions). I rank my frequent usages - baking and roasting. The Brandt has a top and bottom plus fan which the others don't have. So I went with this one.

 

- Brandt Steam oven. $1,524

As i chose Brandt oven so I got the same brand steam oven. I have simple requirement for this so didn't care about the brand - i would have gone for Bosch (but its more exp $2k) or Ariston ($1.5k) if i have chosen their ovens.

 

- Bosch integrated dishwasher, 45cm, $1230

There is really no much competition in this category. I chose the small one as I intend to use this often. Its hard to fill up the 60cm dishwasher at one go unless you have a party. And i don't fancy keeping dirty dishes over a few days :|

 

- Bosch Maxx7 Front load Washer, WAE2436, 1200rpm, $1060

I have considered Electrolux and other Jap brands, but decided to go with Bosch. There are many different opinions on this depending on which sales person you speak to - the country of production, fake water consumption data etc (??). I just decided based on the brand as i feel that Bosch in general is more energy efficient.

 

- Bosch Maxx7 Sensor Dryer, $790

Some salemen told me sensor dryer will shrink your clothes, other deny that. As i don't think i wll use the dryer often except on rainy days and with towels and bedsheet, I am ok with it. plus i intend to place the dryer next to the window, so can save some money here vs the condenser dryer which is much more exp

 

- Samsung 2-door Fridge with water and ice dispenser, $1599 (without free gift - LED TV)

This was a tough competition between the LG and Samsun. In the end the dual separate cooler whicn Samsung offer won the deal.

 

- KitchenAid mixer, $680

I sneak it in as I reallllllly desired one. But I think Tangs offer the same price but with addititional 12% discount - I need to check. If its true i will complain to ParisSilk and get more discount!!!

 

 

Finally... the pressure seems to get lesser once the appliances and the toilet/kitchen wares have been bought!

 

It was a fun journey but no less painful. i find Renotalk forum very useful in providing reviews for the different products.

The parquet floor has been laid. I used larger parquets for the living area (asethetically looks better) and the smaller ones for the bedrooms (to save money)

 

 

 

in the study room looking into the master toilet 

 

 

 

common toilet and my troublesome cement screed overlaying the ugly tiles that was just laid previously. 

 

my very very ugly pipes in the common toilet :(

 

 

for the master toilet, i used my kitchen tiles and it worked out quite nicely...

 

the kitchen

 

the gap is for the dishwasher. in retrospect - i really regret laying the cabinet base for the kitchen. I think its really unnecessary and its doesn't give u flexibity to change your kitchen layout in the future

 

the washing machine area at the end of the kitchen

 

 

 

 

Does anyone knows where to find this lamp? saw it in the restaurant and really love it

 

The slide and close windows has been installed at the balcony!its black powder coated finish from a local supplier, similar to Bestview windows but I think its cheaper than them.

 now i can enjoyed my nice view or close the windows when the a/c is on! :)

 

 

 

i have chosen a veneer finish for my kitchen cabinet at the bottom and white laminate at the top. Probably will go for a white surface but still thinking abt which material to get. The silestone will be best but its soooo expensive. My contractor offered Samsung soild top - anyone using it at the moment? can give any feedback?

 

this is a rosewood veneer. it has very interesting design and hope will turn out well for the kitchen. finger-cross.

Some carpentry at last!! sorry for the bad iphone qlty pics :(

 

the kitchen - i changed my veneer from rosewood to mahogony as i think the rosewood will be too overwhelming. I got very good inspiration for kitchen carpentry from this website:

 

 

the tall cabinet for the steamer and oven. quite like the height of both appliances. i told the carpenter i want the top cabinet to be at the same height to the rest of the wall cabinet so that it looks neat.

 

i regret a little to prefer form over function - i think i should have chosen a higher wall cabinet but in the end went for 60cmX50cm Blum Aventos doors (open from bottom up)

 

i decided on handles to protect the veneer doors (considering how oily and dirty hands can be in the kitchen) i think it should look ok. thanks to inspiration from Lieblingsg kitchen carpenter website :)

 

 

the 4m wardrobe - kekeke

 

mirror doors in the middle with white laminate door on each end

 

the 1.5m shoe cabinet - kekeke

there is a open shelf with Burmese teak veener (same as my bomb shelter) and a drawer below. the doors are white laminate

 

I have to say that so far - the carpentry are of really good quality and the workers are very neat. when we went over to the house on the weekend it was really neat. all the WIP pieces are stacked neatly on a corner. The quality of carpentry work is one of the key reasons why i chose this contractor and so far he hasn't disappoint. Despite the initial hisccups, my contractor has been extremely patient with me for my changing plans and choices! I shall conclude his service after the reno for your info.

 

 

Hi Wonderland,

 

May I know where did you get it window? I am keen in getting one for my new home too.

 

 

HI ALL!

 

SORRY!!!!

 

Yes Liebingsg - My reno has been completed in March and then we got married in April and I have been too shack out to update.

 

But anyway - here's the results of our reno. THe flat is more of less furnished but I will show the unfurnished house so you can see the renovation better.

 

 

As to the windows - so sorry I can't find the name of the supplier now. Its a local guy and not Bestview. Let me try to see if I can find the name later.

 

Oh Liebingsg (just some trivials) - everytime I walk to TBR market I always wonder which flat is yours haha. I saw a artichoke lamp flat near the bus-stop on the top floor but I know its not yours cos its not copper hahaha.

The living room area

 

Shoe build-in

 

   

 

 

Note- you need to tell the contractor the height between each shelf. I thought this should be standard but they turned out to be too low for my high heels! So i have to remove some shelves to make space for them. grrr

 

The open shelf should also be bigger. My contractor intitally designed 40cm height but I reduced to 20cm which I regret now as its looks dark and the veneer (same as the bomb shelter) couldn't stand out.