An ongoing journey

Balcony Wood Deck
Open Wardrobe System ... Stucked ...
All Things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

CityGas ready
Since when did things become so expensive
Halfway through
All for the savings
Mayhem
Renovation is tough work - Part 7
Renovation is tough work - Part 6
Renovation is tough work - Part 5
Renovation is tough work - Part 4
Renovation is tough work - Part 3

Friday, December 26, 2014

Merry X'mas 2014!

Just did quick collages of A and B to send greetings this joyful festive season! :)

Merry X'mas 2014 & Happy New Year 2015 to all!

Monday, December 01, 2014

When I wanted to mount my current 40" TV to the living room, I got laughed at ... So I was "ordered" to get a TV of at least 55" size.

I deliberated between a 60" FHD and 55" UHD TV. The 65" UHD models were out of budget, costing nearly $4K ...

Finally got this at Mega City, United Square. I gave up the 32" LED TV for a further $300 discount.

Samsung UA55HU7000. Built-in digital tuner, wifi and UHD resolution.

Free keyboard and mouse.

Had to buy longer cables for the connections to the various devices though.

Wall Mount

All Ready ... Almost
Going Digital

Balcony Wood Deck
Open Wardrobe System ... Stucked ...
All Things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Wall Mount

You just have to love these swivel wall arms. This allowed us to watch TV from our bed :)

Related Posts:
All Ready ... Almost
Going Digital

Balcony Wood Deck
Open Wardrobe System ... Stucked ...
All Things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

All Ready ... Almost

Dining and TV feature wall is up.

Kitchen

Common bathroom

Master bathroom

We decided against boarding up the pipes. The estate was quite old and prone to leakage on the ceilings ... a pity.

Related Posts:
Going Digital

Balcony Wood Deck
Open Wardrobe System ... Stucked ...
All Things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Going digital

Going keyless. The fingerprint reader worked very well! Installation took about 2 hrs, including chiseling, drilling, etc.

In addition, it came with 2 RFID tags, 2 RFID cards and 5 spare keys for backup. All for $980 from MyDigitalLock. The Dorma door closer was another $100. Had to install that else the warranty would be void ... However, due to the low ceiling height, the door closer would hit upon the door upon closing ... hmm ...

Samsung P718:

Balcony Wood Deck
Open Wardrobe System ... Stucked ...
All Things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

Saturday, November 01, 2014

A Must Have

I knew I must have this. Despite all the various open wardrobe systems out there in the market, I didn't like any of them, they are more suited to walk-in-wardrobes.

I only like IKEA's. It's good enough to stand on its own. The drawers could even double up as a TV console!

It wasn't easy getting this up ... Firstly, when IKEA came, they can't drill into the false ceiling above because they don't have the appropriate wall plugs.

The next day, my contractor arrange for timber strips to be reinforced above. I had to again go down to IKEA Tampines to arrange for another installation date. Of course, I had to keep reassuring them any issues or damages arising from the installation to the dryboard, I'll take responsibility.

So there went another $35 for transport.

Finally, the IKEA guys came down once more. They still complained that they can't drill to the dryboard ... So I talk to their supervisor taking all responsibility. I must have this no matter what.

Finally, it's all installed and looking good! Problem solved!.

Related Posts:
Balcony wood deck
Open wardrobe system ... stucked ...
All things German
Let there be light
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

It's hard to find a good keyboard

I think this one could stay with me for quite a while. The last one was too noisy.

Logitech K360
- On/Off switch
- Wireless - 2 yr battery life
- Near-silent keys
- No NUM lock indicator
- Volume controls
- Weird key layout because of the compact size. Need some getting used to,

Friday, October 31, 2014

Boo!

Happy Halloween 2014!

It was so coincidental that A's room light was faulty since a few days ago... good to create some "spookiness" in darkness!

I switched on the night lights and placed the kiddos close to the lights. I took the chance to introduce Halloween to them, a holiday widely celebrated in the west... we also had treats, but no tricks...

They had fun with the lights. Kids are kids... no matter how you get them to pose, they will look cute, innocent and photogenic. More angels than devils I say! :)

Related Posts:
Halloween Craft
Halloween 2008
Happy Halloween 2009
Halloween @ TCC

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Balcony wood deck

Wood decking done up today. Like the feel. Hope to laze there with a latte soon.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Open wardrobe system ... stucked ...

We decided to get the Ikea Stolmen open wardrobe once more. I had always liked it and it served us well for 6 yrs previously. Our buyers for our previous home like it too. Sadly, Ikea is going to discontinue it in 2015.

Parts are limited at Ikea Alexandra and I had to go down to Ikea Tampines for it. However, due to the false ceiling and the beam at the top or the ceiling ... the Ikea installers couldn't install it today. They don't have the wall plugs for dryboard partitions ...

Gotta see what our id can do for us tomorrow.

At Ikea showroom.

The uneven side wall and false ceiling ...

Unfinished product ...

My Happy Pair

See how happy the kiddos are!

We brought them to the new place. They inspected their room and gave their approvals on the wall colors. The colors were chosen by themselves, boy - blue/green, girl - yellow/pink. :)

After seeing their room, now they were so excited about moving that they started collecting and asking which were the items to move to the new place!

Related Posts:
My Cuties
Feeling Warm
Sibling Spats

Saturday, October 25, 2014

All things German

After two months, I must say I most look forward to this ... the Hansgrohe rainshower! Made in Germany. I first had a feel of a rainshower at the Fairmont hotel. After that, I know that I MUST have it in my next home.

Raindance S240

Comes with a thermostatic bath mixer.

Pura Vida basin mixer. Nice! Made in Germany.

Grohe accessories. German brand but I think it's made in China now.

What other German brands do we have? I drive a VW ... although I cannot speak for the quality of the 7-speed DSG ...

Our baby bottles are NUK, a German brand too.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Let there be light

Light at the kitchen utility area changed today. This was what we chose

Not this ...

All our lights were LED except for the living balcony area. I had to say LED lights were quite bright!

Related Posts:
Quartz and it does not mean a watch
Out with the old

Quartz and it does not mean a watch

The new kid in the block ... quartz has been getting quite popular in kitchen surface tops recently, more so than the solid surface. I've no idea what's quartz except is more scratch and heat resistant compared to solid surface.

Hob is mounted too.

Look from the dining area.

However, the sink looks small now that it's mounted :(

Don't even think about changing ... it's near impossible ...

I comfort myself that this time round, I have lots of counter-top space!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Handy Bluetooth

I like bluetooth headsets, even more if it's Plantronics. The newest addition is the Marque 2, M165. It comes with voice activation, prompts, battery life indicator on the iPhone and a car charger. Nice.

The older Jabra that I had doesn't seem very compatible with iOS7 onwards because it takes quite a long while to connect to the phone. For Plantronics, it's quite instantaneous.

Now in white too.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Out with the old

Finally the balcony railing is gone.

Installation in progress.

The completed work.

It's ridiculous how expensive things had become. This replacement cost $2,000 and the amount of metal looked lesser then its predecessor ...

That's why its called the "Good Old Times" ... maybe?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Moving along nicely

Met up with the our ID to discuss some details. The cabinets are coming along nicely.

Cutting the hole for the kitchen sink.

An ID firm told me that they couldn't do solid veneer doors, only semi-core doors. We were fortunate that ours was able to do it for us. It cost an additional $130 per door but I really liked the solid feel. How do we verify it's indeed solid? I tried to lift it up and I could barely do it! I could lift the semi-core veneer door we did for the common bathroom with ease!

Our ID was very proud of the door, the frames and we agreed too!