A Little Bit of Nature at Home

Vin wanted a water feature at home, not for the fengshui but for the peaceful sound of water flowing. Sel was not keen unless Vin promises to be the one responsible for cleaning the water fountain. We found out that a neighbour at Jade Spring had just bought a water fountain for S$536.00 at IMM. And, we're kind of broke to get a S$500.00 odd water fountain!

As luck would have it, we found a water fountain at Thompson Plaza, Astoria that was originally priced at S$238.00 and we've got a S$50.00 discount because of GSS. Hee!

Water Fountain with Money Plant - S$188.00

Since our living room will be laminated, where do we place this now?

More Lights from JB

From D-ONE Electrical Sdn Bhd

Touch Sensor Table Lamp - RM60.00 x 2

(Master Bedroom Bedside Lamp)

Silver Square Ladder PLC Downlight (comes with Philips 24W E27 spiral) - RM37.00 x 8

(Master Bedroom & Parent's Room Lights)

Almost all their lights are going at 30-50% off. Apparently, the boss wants to clear their stocks as he intends to focus on selling other products moving forward. Thus, you might have limited choices there but if you can find one that suits you, it will be cheap!

Anyway, we're almost done with our lighting purchases. We'll probably buy simple and cheap ceiling lights for the household shelter, service yard, common and master bathroom from IKEA.

FYI, we're still waiting for sponsorship to buy our LED downlights for the living room and dining area :P

Cement Screeding

Despite what most people say about cement screeding done by HDB we decided to go ahead because we simply do not have the budget to pay our ID for cement screeding (HDB does cement screeding FOC for those who intend to laminate their flooring). Some people had complained about the long waiting time before the screeding is done. Others have had issues with the workmanship of the cement screeding.

The application process is pretty simple. All you have to do is to drop by the nearest HDB Branch Office and submit the application form. There is usually a queue so the waiting time is usually between 2 weeks to 1 month.

But we were lucky! Sel had submitted the form on 22 June, Wednesday and HDB did cement screeding for the 3 bedrooms while we were in JB today. We had dropped by to see the outcome but it was too dark to really see. Hopefully, it's nicely done. *fingers cross*

Masterbedroom

Parent's Room

Study/Guest Room

Touring Jade Spring with Jason

It's quite depressing going through our unit with Jason. We showed him what was planned where and most of the ideas that we have agreed with Gary will be change. In comparison, we much prefer the ideas given by Zhiqi and Kenny.

Well, since we agreed to give him a chance, we went along and view the other units at Jade Spring that he had worked on. Sel had recognised one of the unit as she has been chatting with the owner on MSN. It was Christine Yeo's house. Her house was quite well done. It's not perfect but the imperfections were quite minor. The other unit that he had worked on was not impressive at all.

He understood that we wanted to move in as soon as possible and promised to get back to us on his revised quote at his earliest convenience. Frankly, we don't know how much longer we can wait since we're almost sure that we're going to give Kenny a shot.

Quotations from the 2

OMG! Both ID firm burst our budget!

• Kenny from U-Home Interior Design quoted S$32k


• Zhiqi from Artrend Design quoted S$44k

Vin liked Zhiqi's ideas very much. Although all that she can provide us at this point of time is the quotation and the space layout proposal, she had went an extra step by putting post-its on a few magazines to show us a rough idea of the designs she had in mind for the space. Unfortunately, S$44k is just too much! Even if we're to compromise the designs/materials, it's unlikely that we can cut S$10k off the quotation. Then the effects might not be the same as what we've pictured right? If we have the money on hand, at least we can consider. The fact is we don't have such luxury!

After scrutinising both quotations, it clear that even the exact same item cost more with Artrend. Vin can't possibly force this through. And Sel was quick to point out that overspending will be a burden to the household. We still have a few big items to buy for the house. Plus, we both have more than enough good ideas/designs for the spaces.

Anyway, we're meeting Jason from Design36 tomorrow to view some of the units at Jade Spring that he had worked on. So let's see how it goes tomorrow...

Another Happy Buy

Most IDs' had told us that it's not practical to place our fridge, sink, hob and hood in the same row because it will limit our workspace in the kitchen. We're quite adamant about it especially we had bought a mini hob and hood (it's only 600mm wide!). So we're in pursuit for a mini sink as well. And it's not that hard to find.

From Choong Ying Pte Ltd

Undermount Sink (strainer not included) & Tap - S$500.00

They sell lights and fans as well and they had quite a variety too. After going around the warehouse a couple of times, we eventually settled on the lights below.

Ceiling Light - S$95.00
(Master Bedroom Welcome Light)

Hanging Light - S$165.00
(Walk-in Wardrobe in Master Bedroom)

Now, Sel wants a sink cover so that the sink can be converted into a workspace when not in use. Anyone knows where to get one?

Air Condition Installation

It took Gain City 1.5 days to complete the installation. It's quite well-done even if we say so ourselves! Although Sel was alone overseeing the installation, Vin was happy with the positioning of the air-cons. Sel, however, have doubts on the position of the air-con in the master bedroom.

She had seen most of the Jade Spring residence install the A/C on top of the bathroom door. That way, most of the A/C trunking is hidden or only exposed in the toilet. The current position might cause the A/C to be 3/4 blocked by the walk-in wardrobe and expose more of the A/C trunking. But Vin is quite adamant about the position. His point is installing the A/C on top of the bathroom door is too far from the bed. Oh well, it's done and over with. We'll have to live with it now.

Living Room A/C

A/C trunking through kitchen & service yard

Study/Guest Room A/C

Parent's Room A/C

Master Bedroom A/C

Toilet trunkings (Top - Master Toilet, Bottom - Common Toilet)

Compressors on A/C Latch

After the installation, we tested the A/C and realised we have overlooked the fact that we have only one isolator on the air-con latch. Gain City have advised against sharing an isolator for the 2 compressors as there was an incident whereby the circuit breaker caught fire after tripping a few times. Now, we have to call the electrician again to install another isolator. *Doink*

The Follow-up with Design36

Since we've paid a deposit, it felt wasteful to let the ID firm go just like that. So we thought why not see who's taking over our renovation and try to make do with it. We found out that Jason is the boss of Design36 and he'll be handling our renovation moving forward.

Our first impression is that he's a decent guy. But we don't quite feel comfortable with him. Some of the ideas that we had agreed with Gary initially have to be changed. Going through the quote with him made us realised that the quote that we had signed with Gary is quite messed up!

We were honest with him by sharing the fact that we're looking at other ID firms since we found out Gary had left. He understood and agreed that we should start from scratch. All he asked was that we give him a chance to show what he can offer, in terms of design, price and workmanship.

That sounds fair so we went with it although we were really upset with how Design36 handled Gary's departure. Let's just see how it goes.

Down to 2

After the first point of contact with the few ID firms at IMM and Balestier, we're pretty sure of who we'll end up with. To the IDs, the first discussion is more on requirements gathering. It's all about space planning, concept and our priorities. To us, it's about how the ID can help improve on our ideas and how they manage our budget to deliver the renovation.

Base on the first impression, we liked 2:

• Kenny from U-Home Interior Design (IMM)


• Zhiqi from Artrend Design (Balestier)

The reasons:

1. They're both open to our idea. As in they're very suggestive and yet they do not force their ideas on us.


2. They're both organised and meticulous when we were going through what we wanted on our floorplan.


3. There's somehow a chemistry.

Kenny had promised to provide us with a quote in just 2 days (which is impressive). Zhiqi will try to get back to us in a week (which is kind of the standard turnaround time). Anyway, we gave them the same ideas, budget and deadline. The ultimatum is we want to spend our Hari Raya this year in our new home.

Now let's hope that the price is right.

Shear Bad Luck

We had started planning for renovation for the longest time. The progress:

1. Keys - Collected


2. Electrical works - Completed


3. Air-condition installation - Scheduled on Friday, 11 June (as requested by our ID, Gary from Design36)

The only problem now is that Gary is uncontactable! URGH! What is going on? We've tried calling and messaging his mobile, calling his office line and have yet to get a response from him. We were initially angry. Then, we started to worry if anything had happened to him.

Later, we finally managed to get through to the office line and was told by the staff that he had left the firm. It's now time to PANIC!

Vin printed a few copies of our floor plan for us to scout for a new ID at IMM. So now we're almost back to square one.

What a Steal!

A few days ago we had browse around the lighting shops at Geylang to look for LED downlights for our living room. In the midst of it, Sel was looking for a suitable welcome light for our small foyer. It so happens that the one we both liked was with Swarovski Crystal and it wasn't cheap. Vin was tempted to get it there and then but Sel was quite sure she saw a lighting shop at Balestier selling mostly Swarovski Crystal lights.


True enough, they found the shop, it's Casa Nuovo. Spoilt for choice, we had our usual disagreement. It was sorted out maturely by a game of Scissors-Paper-Stone and of course Vin won. Here's what he chose:

Swarovski Melody Crystal 4 Reflex Luminaires - S$196.88

(Foyer Area Welcome Light)

Vin was grinning from ear to ear all night long. He was so pleased with the buy!


We actually found out that our fellow Jade Springer had bought the exact same lights for S$388.00. Gosh!

Unexpected Buy @ Funan

Window-shopping for us usually resulted in actual shopping so we thought let's go window-shopping at Funan. It's mostly IT stuff and we've got no intention of buying any IT related product. Oh well, we still ended up spending.

We stumbled upon Sony speakers at Challenger that sounded quite good and was within our budget. Vin was happy with the fact that we just bought the last 2 units available. We bought the Prolink wireless keyboard and APC surge protector from Challenger as well. Lastly, the Belkin surge protector was from South Asia Computer.

Sony SRS-D4 Speakers - S$60.00 x 2

(Master Bedroom & Parent's Room Speakers)

Prolink PCML-5308G Slim Mini Wireless Touchpad Keyboard - S$89.00

(Living Room PC)

APC Surge Protector - S$37.90

Belkin SurgeMaster - S$62.00