Moving House Day

It's an exciting day where my hubby & me prepared for the actual moving house day!
They said 7 essentials are required: Charcoal stove, rice, oil, salt, vinegar, tea & bamboo poles.

We invited our families to have a simple lunch & some mahjong session.

Preparing for "Moving into New House"

TV Console finally arrived... however...

Our TV console finally arrived however, we have no choice but to accept it even though my hubby went down to their shop to check on last thursday before the delivery on saturday.

On the day of delivery, we found 3 flaws on the TV console:
1) a circular patch on the black glass top (no matter how I wiped, the patch just remained)
2) the internal of the black drawer was not sprayed properly. The exterior looked fine. The internal drawer should be white, yet there were sprays of black on the interior. This occurred to 2 of the black drawers.
3) The base is still being secured using rusty brackets.

Well, what can we do? Just accept and don't ever step into that furniture shop again!

We rejected the coffee table but still need to pay a total of $600 for the flawed TV console. Looking at the living room arrangement, we decided to do away with the coffee table first & found a classy side table (black tempered glass top with SUS legs) from v.hive at $149. We decided to purchase the side table instead & it will be delivered on this coming saturday with our study chairs. v.hive is definitely recommended for their study tables & chairs.

Bad experience with TV Console & Coffee Table

It was a horrible experience with a furniture company (situated in Sungei Kadut).

During the purchase, the sale person & lady boss were very nice & gave us attractive discount + some customization for the TV Console & Coffee Table. They said their products are different from others as they have a factory in Singapore & assembled by themselves. Thinking that Made In Singapore gives better quality products, we purchased the TV Console & Coffee Table & asked for delivery on last saturday. Besides this, they even talked us in getting the bed from them. However, we declined.

The TV console arrived turned out to be a horror! The inconsiderate furniture company sent a TV console with scratches at the base PLUS rusty brackets to us. If we had not spotted these flaws, we might have accepted the TV console because the top & side looked new. However, during the delivery, the china workers placed the TV console in a way that the base is facing us, hence, we are able to see all these flaws! How do you expect the customers to accept such FLAW product? They still insisted that they had assembled the TV console 3 days before delivery. If so, how do the rust & scratch come from? We deduce the company must have reused the base from somewhere. It was so maddening that my hubby took the pictures & asked them to bring it back. For the coffee table, one of the stainless steel legs was also crooked. The worker stepped on it to straighten it right in front of us! The coffee table table top had patches as well. Even though the china workers said the glass top will cover the wooden top, they cannot possibly ask us to accept it! My hubby called the sales person to check & he said he would get back to us. The lady boss, on getting back to us, said her workers feedback OUR EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH! It was really a bad experience with this company. Till now, our TV console is still not settled.


Rusty brackets on the TV console - Can you accept these?


2 scratches on the base of TV Console - Inferior Product?


Patches on all four corners of the Coffee Table - Recycled Top?


Coffee Table Stainless Steel Leg with rust?

Delivery of Furnitures

Piecing up slowly, our empty house is turning into dream house soon. The sofa, fridge, washing machine and 40" TV had arrived yesterday. We also went to a carpet shop in Marina Square to get our grey carpet for the living room. Luckily the sofa from ST Louis was trouble free. What I could say is -> the sofa is really comfy!



Around 1.30pm, the electrical goods arrived. We were unable to wall mount our TV due to rejection of TV console back to the company. Fridge & washing machine came along as well.

Overall Washing

Our dream house had been washed to prepare for final touch-up & handling over.

Dining & Hanging Lights Installed

My 5 hanging crystal lights are installed on the second storey. The feel of the house had turned soft and romantic. Yippie!

Kitchen Cabinet Completed

The kitchen cabinet was finally completed except for back glass & some touch ups.
We hope the cleaning can remove all the dust and dirt on the floor, walls & cabinets.

Wardrobe, Window Grills & Main Door

The theme for master wardrobe was to have a basic white with some black flowery prints. We quite like our wardrobe when we saw it in our master bedroom. A small compartment table was also fitted onto the wall. However, the position needed to be adjusted as we felt it was way off to the right.


Our wardrobe


Small compartment table

The main door & window grilles were installed. However, the color of the door was not really to our liking & appeared in patches. We need to tell our ID to redo the painting for the doors. For our flower pattern grilles, it was supposed to be silver. Yet a dash of gold was added on top on the silver, making it looked as if they were reused. We need to change the color of the grilles to pure silver. =(

Glass Doors & Parquet Finishing

The glass doors for kitchen, common and master toilets are installed. Initially, I was doubtful if the two hinges are able to support the weight of the kitchen glass door. The ID assured us it can and is under warranty.

The clear glass door for the kitchen allows light to shine through from the living room to the kitchen. We enlarge the size of the glass door to create a more spacious effect. We intend to look for some transparent stickers for the glass door so that kids will not bump onto it. Besides this, the stickers will add an arty feel.

Kitchen with glass door installed

The glass doors for toilets come in opaque. We feel that the toilets were totally facelift after the glass doors were installed. They were fabulous except some minor touch-ups are required around the hinges & door lock. Some paints started to peel after the hinges & door lock were drilled & installed. =(

Common toilet with glass door installed

The parquet flooring was polished. The whole house was filled with wood dust. We spent the weekend clearing up the wood dust. The floor polishing was done well. However, parquet on the sides of the staircase were not pasted properly. Gaps can be seen. The workmanship of the parquet makes us unhappy.

Kitchen Cabinet

The kitchen cabinets were halfway done. The tall cabinet was completed with oven. Basin was installed as well, except the hob. Some of the doors were not yet fixed. However, the overall structure was up. I hope there is enough space to put my dishes...

We chosen a grey tone of wood for our kitchen cabinet doors. The others would be blended with white laminate. We had a hard time to decide all white concept or a color tone that can withstand dirt & oil. On second thoughts, we decided on getting a darker tone.





The living room lights are also installed. It gives a cozy feel with warm light on the grey wall...

Installation of Lightings

The electrician came to install the lightings. The master bedroom had been installed with down light.


Master Bedroom

Lightings were also up for rooms, kitchen and toilets.
The remaining lights for dining room and 2nd storey will be scheduled in July after the main door & gate are installed.

Painting & Parquet

The whole house was painted with Dulux paint and laying of parquet was completed by this weekend. As the house is a modern concept, the living & dining room walls were splashed with white. The dining room wall leading to the 2nd storey was colored with Ash Grey to create layering. Whereas the TV console wall was splashed with Mosaic Grey to create a contrast.


Dining Room Wall connecting to 2nd Storey - Ash Gray


TV Console Wall - Mosaic Grey

We chose Lilac White for our Study Room and Barely Pink for our Guest Room. My hubby found the guest room too sweet! Haha...


L to R: Study Room - Lilac White & Guest Room - Barely Pink

I managed to piece a 180 degrees view of the living room from the dining area. With the parquet over the stairs, it shortens our journey to the goal of our dream house!

False Ceiling & Cornices

False ceiling & cornices were finally completed.
False ceilings were done in the following areas:
1) main door foyer
2) living room (L-boxed)
3) paasageway from dining hall to living room
4) common toilet foyer
5) master bedroom


Living Room [L-boxed]

Cornices were only installed in the dining hall & staircase area. Having cornice in the dining hall will give a different feel from the "boxy" living room. Moreover, it gives a more spacious elevation.


Dining Hall [Cornice]

The storeroom under the staircase was also constructed. After construction, we found that the height of the door is a bit too low. Guess we need to lower our head when entering the storeroom due to the space constraint.


Storeroom

Painting works will start off next week, followed by the laying of parquet for the staircases & bedrooms.

Lightings

The aircon installation workers from Gain City had come to lay the pipings on last friday. Aircon would be installed after the painting works are completed. The best possible way of laying was done to minimise over exposure of the piping. Our ID was kind enough to offer to cover some of the pipings with false ceiling.

Over the weekend, we had done all purchase of lightings - downlights, room lights, kitchen lights, dining light, staircase light & etc. Total cost is ~$2.4K. The dining light is a five piece individual rectangular shape egyptian crystal light. We spent weeks looking for a suitable light (in terms of budget and quality). Finally, we bought it from House of Light along Balestier. The sales person, Jason, was also friendly and nice. We managed to see a staircase light that we really loved at first sight from the same shop. It was a 5 piece tinted black glass with crystals inside. It will be hung from a circular silver base from the 2nd storey ceiling to lit up the 1st & 2nd floors. So looking forward of how the house will look like!


Dining Light

As for the downlights and other lightings, we bought from our ID recommended shop - Pantech Lightings along Jurong East. The boss is also a friendly one.

All toilet accessories were also finalised. We were still deciding on instant heater or storage one. Eventually, we went ahead with the storage one though it would up our cost by about $280. I prefer stronger water for showering, hence my hubby let me decide on this. Apart from these, the toilet will look nicer without the instant heater being wall mounted and disrupted the mosaic workpiece. Haha....

Tiling Works Completed

All the tiling works had been completed. For the next 5 days, plastering for the whole house will be done. The guest room had been plastered first. You can see that the walls are smooth.

Guest room with walls being plastered:


Common toilet:

Common Toilet Shower Area

Master Toilet is completed!

The mosaic for master toilet was up finally. You can definitely see a great contrast when the toilet is with and without mosaic. The mosaic added a classy modern touch to a plain white and black toilet.



The common toilet mosaic was also up. It gives a very sandy resort feel... The floor tiling is supposed to be completed tomorrow. My hubby said this will be his personalised toilet.





Windows were also installed for all the rooms. It was so infuriating to find out that the window contractor had installed the window frame at our balcony, where we were supposed to have full height glass door to segregate the living room and balcony. Our balcony was supposed to go windowless. How can you imagine having glass door at the living room and windows at the balcony? Doesn't it look weird???

The pure white kitchen wall had been filled with silverish glass-like mosaic as well. The kitchen tiles are completed. Now looking forward to the kitchen cabinets.



Next phase will be lying of electrical wires and sand-blasting. Aircon installation will commence next friday after sand-blasting.

Living Room Flooring

Visited my new house on Labour Day & the living room flooring had been completed! The contractor had placed some cardboard protection over my homogenous flooring to prevent scratches while they are still in the progress of other works. I hope they do take good care of the new flooring.



Master toilet flooring was also done. The mosaic in the shower area was not up yet. The shower area flooring was made about 1cm lower so as to prevent water from spilling out. The unfinished include shower screen installation, vanity, my glass bowl, tap, mirror, WC & other toilet accessories.



The room's windows were also extracted, leaving it bare. Our new silverish window frame with tinted black glass had arrived too. This week, the contractors were going to install the windows.

Kitchen Flooring

The kitchen floor tiles were completed after 2 days. The platform for cabinets, fridge & washing machine were also built. I prefer to have the platform for washing machine & fridge since washing of kitchen is required at times. The platform prevents the water from getting into the base of the fridge & washing machine.






Here are some considerations in selecting the kitchen floor tiles:
1) Color
If your kitchen is small or there is not enough windows to lit up the whole kitchen, it is preferred to go for light colors to brighten the kitchen space. Alhough our kitchen is not considered small, as the section in front of our fridge & tall cabinet is not too bright, we chose whitish-grey floor tiles. White floor tiles are hard to maintain. Besides this, if you are a heavy cooker, going for a darker tone also makes the kitchen less susceptible to oil & dirt. However, the brightness of the kitchen will be offset.

2) Texture
Always go for rough surface kitchen floor tiles. During cooking & washing, the kitchen is bound to be wet. Hence, rough flooring will reduce chances of slipping.

3) Size
The tile company that we went to had 3 sizes on floor tiles - (1) 60 x 60, (2)60 x 30 & (3) 30 x 30. Initially, I wanted the 30 x 30 floor tiles due to the fact that water drainage will be better if the kitchen is to be washed. However, our ID suggested taking the 60 x 60, reason being the tiles will have lesser gaps & overall appearance is more appealing, thou the water drainage might be slower. Of course, we heeded our ID's advice. The outcome is still acceptable.

3rd week...

Into our 3rd week of renovation, the following were done:

1)Kitchen wall tiles were up (except the mosaic)
We had a hard time in choosing the color of mosaic to match the wall tiles as we had to consider on the kitchen cabinet too. The initial idea was to have white kitchen cabinet due to we coming across the modern concept from many reno magazines. However, on the long run, it is still preferred to have a kitchen cabinet that is easy to maintain. Hence, we decided on grey wood concept for the kitchen cabinet. To spice up the all white kitchen wall, we injected 2 rows of silverish-white mosaic tiles. The unfinished parts are to be filled up with mosaic.




2)Kitchen toilet wall tiles (~70% done due to shortage of tiles & waiting for new delivery)
The kitchen toilet wall tiles are also white based with flower prints. Under the reflection of light, sheer flower patterns can be seen creating a fresh feel.

3)Wall to segregate the hob & washing machine (100% built except the tiling)
Thinking of where to place the washing machine is also a big headache for us. We are unable to place the washing machine at the original position as we had replaced with the tall cabinet. To place it besides the kitchen toilet entrance will make the passageway to toilet looked narrow & cramp. Placing beside the dustbin can help to block the dustbin cover, yet the washing machine will be next to the hob. To separate 'fire' from 'water', we done some reading on fengshui & decided to create a wall to separate them. At least, there is space for tall cabinet, the passage way to the kitchen toilet is not blocked & there is no direct clash between 'fire' & 'water'. After the wall is being built up, there is about 3 metre of space left for my solid top. I hope it's enough for my hob, basin & table top.


4)Common toilet wall tiles (~40% done)
My hubby was quick to decide on a "resort feel" for his personalised toilet. The color theme is beige, coupled with mini size mosaic tiles. I do like his color sense for this toilet but still, I decided to create my own toilet theme in our master toilet. Hahaha...


5)Master toilet wall tiles (~40% done)
Modern concept with a mixture of white & black. The black shower area is infused with rectangular shape silver-black-transparent mosaic. Remaining walls will be filled with white shiny wall tiles. For my basin, I decided on translucent black glass bowl to go with white solid top. How about my vanity? Hmm...

6)Living room floor tiles (~20% done)
The floor tiles were done up on one saturday. I can say the progress & workmanship is quite good. The main tiler was a very nice guy who advised us on the layout of living room tiles to match with the kitchen tiles alignment & how they should be laid. I think the living room should be done by next week.




7)Building up of study room wall (100% done)
The previous owner had hacked down one of the room's wall. We had to build up again & make it into our study room.


So looking forward to our dream house being piece up...

Post-Hacking

3 days of hacking had ended with heaps of debris. The clearing was fast & the house seemed naked now. Sand was spread across living room. Tiles for the living room, kitchen & toilets had also arrived.

Layout of homogenous tiles on living room was discussed. As the foyer was a bit small, there is a bit of problem in fitting the 60 cm x 60 cm tile. Should we place 2 tiles to exactly fit the foyer? That means when we are to enter the house, there is this running line cutting the centre of the door. Or should we lay the homo tile to be at the center of the door, with homo tiles cut to fit the left & right remaining floor area? Upon advice from the friendly "lao ban" (the head tiler), we went for the second choice.

Discussion on tiling orientation went on for kitchen, balcony & toilets. As we had different themes for the toilets, we had to spend extra time scratching head on the color combination coupled with a touch of mosaic tiles. Luckily, our ID & "head tiler" provided some valuable feedbacks. Sometimes, simplicity is beautiful too...

Hacking

Selection of ID is a big headache. We finally finalized on the ID after rounds of discussion & some hiccups. Let's keep fingers crossed everything will turn out right for ... our dream house...

The reno started today! Hacking needs to be completed in 3 days... Wonder how it will be...

Selection of Tiles

Choosing the right tile for your new home is not easy, even after deciding on the theme - modern. There are many colors & designs that kept you tossing & turning. After 3 visits to the tile company, we finally decided on the following:

(1) Living Room - Homogenous tiles (white-beige) to match modern concept
(2) Balcony - Grey stoney feel tiles to be more weather proof
(3) Kitchen - Grey wood cabinets with white solid top & back splashed with tempered glass
(4) Kitchen Toilet - Simple modern concept of white tiles & dark grey flooring
(5) Common Toilet - Resort feel with a pinch of sand colored tiles
(6) Master Toilet - Modern concept of white, black with mosaic tiles

Let's keep fingers crossed that the final reno turns out to be good!