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

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

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!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Renovation is tough work - Part 7

Many hours were spent comparing prices, deciding on the dimensions ... even for accessories like a towel bar, towel hook or a shower basket.

After some browsing, I decided to go for these from Amazon and its resellers.

Grohe 40 364 robe hook - US$21.45 from Amazon

Grohe 40 462 Essentials 24" Multi-Towel Rack - US$85.56 from www.faucetdirect.com.

Grohe 40 507 Essentials Cube Tissue Holder - US$63.67 from www.faucetdirect.com.

Grohe 40511000 Essentials Cube Robe hook - US$44.28 from Amazon

Grohe 40 689 Concetto Single-Post Tissue Holder - US$29.7 from www.faucetdirect.com

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Renovation is tough work - Part 6

Today, we met up with the id for a discussion on the carpentry. As with all discussion, it's never a half hour thing, especially when we have the two kiddos with us ... it's a weekend, can't possibly leave them with our parents. Parents need a break as well.

It took us one and a half hour ...

More costs ... the electrical and additional items like windows, false ceilings for the bedrooms. Wants vs money ... wished I had more of the latter.

I do hope the end result is worth it.

Related Posts:
Renovation is tough work - Part 5
Renovation is tough work - Part 4
Renovation is tough work - Part 3

Friday, September 26, 2014

Renovation is tough work - Part 5

We bought lights from OSK Lighting at Eunos. I would expect that we are paying higher because our id bought us there. My wallet was lighter about $3,100.

They also have a bathroom section. However, their bathroom accessories prices were a bit too high for me to stomach.

So the search continue and it brought me to Jalan Besar. I dropped by Poh Seng, Royal Franco and GR Link Marketing. All these three shops have a limited display space but the owners were all quite friendly and forthcoming with their advice and opinions. In the end, I selected GR Link and went down the next day with CP. After all, CP has to like the stuff as well.

I think in all, I probably visited these shops 10 times, some with repeated visits. I'm glad because I saved about $900 compared to some shops at Balestier ... However, if you are a high-pay earner, I guess you have to equate if the time spent on these visits are worth the $900 savings, afterall, considering the rate per working hour, time is money ....

This shows that my pay is low, yah? :(

Items bought:

1. WC Baron 888 with basin at $390.
This is one of the most popular now because it comes with Gerberit flushing system and a 10-yr warranty. I actually used a Baron 9 yrs ago and didn't know that it would rise up to be a leading brand in SG.

2. Joven Storage heater 25L at $230. Seems quite alright, a UK brand. I had some relatives using this.

3. Ariston FK62 CXS oven at $899. Ariston had removed the pizza function from their entry models, e.g. FH52... forcing those who need the pizza function to get the higher-end models. They also did away with the rotisserie function, which probably wasn't that useful after all.

Specs:

End of Cooking Timer
Catalytic Cleaning
Integrated Ventilation System
End Of Cooking Timer
120min Auto Cut-off Timer
Glass Inner Door
Double Glazed Door
Internal Light
Anti-Fingerprint Stainless Steel
Embossed guides
2 Grids, 1 Tray
6 standard programmes:

.Multilevel
.Barbecue
.Gratin (Fan Grill)
.Pizza
.Pastries
.Traditional

4. Fujioh hood FX900. This is one of the most popular because it's suction power is good and it doesn't use charcoal filter, so no regular replacement needed.

5. Fujioh FG 773 SGVL hob. Cost us $750 together with the hood. We found a seller online retailing this for $720 but decided to go with a single shop. We chose the white glass top for this. I quite like glass. I had a hard time cleaning the water stains off the stainless steel hob I had used before.

Other misc stuff like mirror, washer taps, bidets eventually brought up the costs to about $3,200. Renovation is certainly not cheap.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Renovation is tough work - Part 4

After further research on Amazon, prices from other websites, I decided to buy locally. I guess the benefits would be fast delivery, local servicing and proven compatibility. Faucets bought from US would need a thread adapter to connect to our local pipes.

or me, Grohe or Hansgrohe for the bathroom would be good either way. Hansgrohe had most of their products still made in Germany. Grohe outsourced quite a number of their products to Thailand. That's for the BauLoop and BauEdge range of products.

The deal clincher was that this shop, Home and Bathroom in Balestier. It's along the row of shops where Hafary is located. It carried a extensive Hansgrohe range and the rainshower was going at a good discount, at $1,057!

Also bought another shower set (include mixer, shower pipe, basin mixer) for $373 and kitchen sink mixer for $243 from Hansgrohe.

Related Posts:
Renovation is tough work - Part 3

Renovation is tough work - Part 3

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Things are Moving

Things are progressing along quite well. Today, the door frames are up. Tiles still work in progress. I quite like the matte tiles we selected for the kitchen.

Leading to the kitchen:

Door frames for rooms:

The management office subsidised $180 of the cost to replace this rusty pipe. I only had to fork out $100.

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

A Peek At The New

The 3D drawings. Of coure, this is not the finalised product. There are bound to be changes. Of course, we won't be choosing the chandelier. Things always looks better on paper ;)

Renovation is tough work - Part 3

Went to Heritage Bathroom Gallery at Geylang and Watertapz at Balestier today. Didn't find anything at Watertapz. They seemed to be doing renovation and it was quite messy there.

I'm quite alright with the prices at Heritage. Once I can confirm on the stuff, I think I'll order through them.

The Grohe kitchen sink mixer. Most of my taps are from Grohe. There's a 5-yr warranty and the prices are not really that high for the entry level range. Some of the non-branded taps are already priced closed to Grohe's.

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Renovation is tough work - Part 1

Stop work order aside, the next step is to start looking at toilet accessories and aircon. Went to 3 different shops for bathroom stuff today.

1. Ho Kee at Genting Road
2. Wasser-bath (WB) at Balsetier
3. Universal Union (UU) at Geylang.

The selection at Ho Kee was quite limited, especially for Grohe stuff. My must have for the renovation this time round, a Grohe rainshower with thermostatic control. I found the cheapest at $888 before further discount. Interior Affairs was retailing at $1041 even after a 49% discount ... Pays to look around a bit more.

Saw this a Wasser-bath, same price as Universal Union. It had a problem ... it required conceal water piping ... We were doing exposed piping ... oh oh ...

Eyeing some of the other Grohe stuff

Prices were about quite near between WB and UU.

After this, I still had to go to Gain City to order the aircon.

Bedrooms (kids): 9,000 BTU each - MSY-GE10VA

Master bedroom : 12,000 BTU - MSY-GE13VA

Cost: $3,099

Bracket:$150

Extended 2 - 5 yr warranty: $99 (unlimited claims) - Promotion

Upgrade insulation and pipe: $180

Living Room: 24,000 BTU - MSY-GE26VA

Dining: 9,000 BTU - MSY-GE10VA

Cost: $2,649

Bracket: $150

Extended 2 - 5 yr warranty: $99 (unlimited claims) - Promotion

Upgrade insulation and pipe: $120

2 times installation: $85

Total: $6,631