5 Apr 2014 Sat
Oh yes, we believe in Fengshui audit. My family has moved house 4 times, with this being our 5th house. We really see and feel the difference in a fengshui-ed and not fengshui-ed house. The first 3 houses were not fengshui-ed and funny things went on. I'm glad that they decided to see fengshui for the 4th and 5th house and we are now having smoother paths and happier times together.
Chen Jun Rong did our 4th house. (the 5th one was done by my friend's brother). All of us loved the house that he audited very much and stayed there for about 11 years. He is a very popular fengshui master and is considered a 'premium' in the fengshui industry. Others usually charge $600-$800 for a 5-room flat but he charges $3000+! Because of the cost, we didn't engage him for our BTO.
In search of a good FS master, I went to renotalk. There is a widely discussed master called Zhang Tian from http://www.fengshuiyinyang.com/. Most of the forumers recommend him for his reasonable price, the change they observe after FS, and that he does not ask you to buy things from him for better FS. However, they do say that some of the suggestions made by him would result in an awkward layout or additional cost to renovate the house. His favourite remedy is to ask people to tilt the main door to a certain angle, putting salt bowls at corners of the room, not use some of the toilets in the house, relocate the kitchen sink or stove and putting plants at some place. Encouraged by the good reviews online, I decided to contact him for a quote. You can search for 'Master Chang' at renotalk and you can see a thread about him all the way back to I think 2008.
He charges $683 for a 5-room FS audit. It includes a 2-3 hour FS audit, choosing of open door date, dong tu date and move in date. As what forumers say, he only replies to your email but never picks up your call. His style is a chop chop kind. During the 2-3 hour, he first started asking us if we had anything to ask him. After that, he took out his ba gua plate and started walking around the house. He told us that he needed 1 hour and we could go out for a walk if we want. We did and when we were back 30 min later, we saw him drawing on our floor plan. He is not like others who would go back to the office and produce a nicely typed report for you 2 weeks later. He just draws on the floorplan, write down the essential things and pass it to you at the end of the appointment. Things that he pointed out to us include the dining and living room arrangement, sink and stove arrangement, bedroom arrangement, study room arrangement, various rooms and living area colours to use, colours to avoid and aircon position. However, the thing about him is that he doesn't really explain why some things should be done the recommended way. His general answer is that 'it is good for you'. I guess it is because you cant really reveal these secrets.
At the end of the audit, we were quite headach-fied because there were a few things which he suggested which we did not really like:
1. Put 4 plants in front of our main door (it would be quite an obstruction as you need to detour to the main door. note that it is not placement along the corridor, it is in front of the main door.)
2. Install a light in between the metal gate and main door and on it 24 hour (we have not really seen anything like that before?!)
3. Build a partition wall at the main door so that the main door would not directly face the living room's window (oh man, we wanted our living room to be as spacious as possible)
4. Relocate the sink and stove to be 1.5-2 ft apart on the opposite side of the kitchen (we wanted only 1 row of cabinet, but this arrangement requires 2 rows of cabinet which is extra cost and reduced kitchen space)
5. Paint one wall in the master bedroom red (red?! our design was a neutral tone and it was more soothing that way)
6. Put 8 plants along the windows at the living room, if not at least 3 (so many plants? I'm not a plant person.)
So, we thought about it, discussed quite a bit, grumbled quite a bit before we went back to our ID again to change his design. He originally already did up a design for us and we loved it lots. But no, re-work was needed. After much consideration, we decided to go with most of Master Chang's recommendations. Our revised ID design is in the next post.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Lights and Fan
27 Apr 14 Sun
We settled downlights and ceiling fan today! Yes, downlights are pretty common but it is the price that matters. We have shopped at numerous places for downlights and each LED 12W bulb usually costs around $50-60. The whole house requires an average of 25 downlights and lights alone would cost you $1200! We found a place which sells really cheap downlights in the west:
Lighting Garden
252 Jurong East St 24 #01-143
Tel: 68970781
They sell this type of 12W downlight (day/warm) at only $29 each! We came here randomly about one month ago but didn't buy yet as it was still early and we hadn't really done any research on lights. But we now confirm that this is the best deal (well of course there are some who would drive into JB to buy downlights, which cost about RM60 each). All in all, we bought 23 12W downlights ($29 each) and 2 6W downlights ($25 each).
We also require 2 track lights for the entrance and living passageway. Other places usually sell a set of 3 track lights at about $200, but his is only $110.
Next would be the ceiling fan for the living room. The good brands for ceiling fans are KDK, Creststar and Franco. KDK is the most attas brand and is the most expensive. Just so happens, this place that we went sells fans too. They only sell 50" Crestar's new Rainlite model at $380, which includes a lifetime motor warranty, remote control, holder for 2 light bulbs. Specs are here. It's also considered a good buy as other places are selling this at $400ish. But it doesn't include installation, which we could get our contractor to do it.
We settled downlights and ceiling fan today! Yes, downlights are pretty common but it is the price that matters. We have shopped at numerous places for downlights and each LED 12W bulb usually costs around $50-60. The whole house requires an average of 25 downlights and lights alone would cost you $1200! We found a place which sells really cheap downlights in the west:
Lighting Garden
252 Jurong East St 24 #01-143
Tel: 68970781
They sell this type of 12W downlight (day/warm) at only $29 each! We came here randomly about one month ago but didn't buy yet as it was still early and we hadn't really done any research on lights. But we now confirm that this is the best deal (well of course there are some who would drive into JB to buy downlights, which cost about RM60 each). All in all, we bought 23 12W downlights ($29 each) and 2 6W downlights ($25 each).
We also require 2 track lights for the entrance and living passageway. Other places usually sell a set of 3 track lights at about $200, but his is only $110.
Afternote: We went back to his shop to get more lights. His 4" T5 is selling at $23 each. We bought 22 pieces for our cove lightings.
We also bought a kitchen LED light (bottom right hand) from him at $160.
Two bathroom light (middle level, right side) at $60 each.
Storeroom and service yard light at $25 each (top white round).
The only outstanding light is the dining light which we have not bought.
25 May 2014 Sun
We finally found our dining light somewhere far away. And you would probably know where it is - Jalan Besar. And guess what, we found that the lights here are also very cheap!
Lightings.com.sg
314 Jalan Besar S(208972)
Tel: 62950314
Some of the common lights are 10 over dollars cheaper than the jurong east one. But the jurong east shop sells the cheapest downlight. Wasted that we didn't get the best of the best deal. But oh well, we finally found a dining light here after looking for it at numerous places.
Yup, the 3 black rectangle like tube with crystals in between. Will be great for our black and white dining table. Costs $225.
Total damages for lights and fan is $2,392.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Sofa from V Furniture
26 Apr 14 Sat
Our search for the perfect sofa was a long one. We started off with wanting a super comfy and high leather sofa which could support the head. But as those sofas look bulky, we decided to look for a fabric L-shape sofa which looks more modern. We shopped for sofas at IMM, all the furniture shop you can find at Tradehub, Furniture Mall, Harvey Norma, Courts and any miscellaneous furniture shop in the west and in the end, we decided on this one from V furniture at IMM.
Our search for the perfect sofa was a long one. We started off with wanting a super comfy and high leather sofa which could support the head. But as those sofas look bulky, we decided to look for a fabric L-shape sofa which looks more modern. We shopped for sofas at IMM, all the furniture shop you can find at Tradehub, Furniture Mall, Harvey Norma, Courts and any miscellaneous furniture shop in the west and in the end, we decided on this one from V furniture at IMM.
We love the special step at the side. As for the arm rest at the side, we can customize it to be a normal one without storage space for pillows. V furniture is opened by a local company and has a factory in Malaysia. Their sofa sets can be customized to customer's needs. For us, besides the arm rest, we are also asking for the back pillows to be made bigger so that there would not be any holes in between. There are 2 outlets in Singapore, IMM and Park Mall (flagship store below).
They are having a promotion now. We set our eyes on this set which cost $2,247 (original price is $4,400) last Sat. But didn't order it as we wanted to look at more designs at Park Mall. When we went to Park Mall last Sun, we found that the same sofa costed more at Park Mall! Staff at park mall told us that if we want the same thing, we should go buy at IMM as they cant sell it at the same price. And so, we went back to IMM today (exactly one week later) and guess what! They couldnt sell it at $2,247 anymore. The promotion has ended, sadded! After much bargaining, we bought the sofa at $2,388. OK lor, consider the extra $141 paid as supporting local set-up and for the salesman's attentiveness (he could still remb our requirement when we went back).
Do look at the furniture at V Furniture, it has the very cosy feel. We have been to those shops at tradehub (like nova and rozel) and you feel so pressurized with them asking you to buy this and that at low prices. For V, you could tell that their things are of a high quality and they pretty much leave you alone if you don't buy. Weee!
Saturday, April 19, 2014
The Bed
19 Apr 2014 Fri
We bought the bed today at Red Apple, IMM. Woohoo. Our ID needs to know how thick our mattress would be as we are customizing the bed head.
Is branding important for a bed? We don't really think so as it is the feel and comfort level that is important. Luckily for us, buying the bed is a breeze as we both like the same kind of firmness. Nothing too firm, nothing too soft, moderate is the best. After lying on numerous beds from Simmons to Slumberland to Sealy, we finally decided on... King Koil. Hahaa, it is an old-fashion brand I know. But dunno leh, when we lied on the particular model, we both confirmed that it is the one that we want. Even after we tried the other expensive (think $8,000) mattresses, we still preferred this one. So after lying on about 60 beds on different occasions at different shops, we decided to buy back this one at IMM.
Model: King Koil Abey Medium Comfort
Specs: Natural latex, individually pocketed spring, non-flip, 29cm thickness
Size: King size
Price: $2,400
Freebies: Mattress protector and 2 pillows
We bought the bed today at Red Apple, IMM. Woohoo. Our ID needs to know how thick our mattress would be as we are customizing the bed head.
Is branding important for a bed? We don't really think so as it is the feel and comfort level that is important. Luckily for us, buying the bed is a breeze as we both like the same kind of firmness. Nothing too firm, nothing too soft, moderate is the best. After lying on numerous beds from Simmons to Slumberland to Sealy, we finally decided on... King Koil. Hahaa, it is an old-fashion brand I know. But dunno leh, when we lied on the particular model, we both confirmed that it is the one that we want. Even after we tried the other expensive (think $8,000) mattresses, we still preferred this one. So after lying on about 60 beds on different occasions at different shops, we decided to buy back this one at IMM.
Model: King Koil Abey Medium Comfort
Specs: Natural latex, individually pocketed spring, non-flip, 29cm thickness
Size: King size
Price: $2,400
Freebies: Mattress protector and 2 pillows
Monday, April 14, 2014
Aircon, Fridge, Washing Machine, Hob & Nob!
13 Apr 14 Sun
Yes la, settled a small part of shopping for our electrical appliances! Very exciting times. When we were still dating, I find shopping at ikea and best denki very romantic as it signifies the readiness of us wanting to set up a home together. And now, this is happening for real. There are some things which we needed to shop first so that our ID can incorporate the dimensions into his reno.
We have actually shopped for many of these things numerous times at Best Denki, Courts, Harvey Norman and Gain City. After a while, you find that things are around the same price, there could be a promo for the fridge here but discount for aircon there. It became quite difficult to track what and where after a while. Today, we decided to go to millennia walk's Harvey norman as we heard from our ID that they sell nice furniture there. And in the end, we ended up buying a whole of things except furniture.
Aircon
We have shopped at various places for aircons, and find that the low prices that they always advertise are the most basic units which you would need upgrading. For us, we are looking at system 3 aircon where we need a 24 power unit for the living room, 18 power for the master bedroom and 9 power for the guest room. They say that for aircon, the trusted brands are Mitsubishi and Toshiba. All the places which we go to recommend these 2 brands. Mitsubishi is preferred over Toshiba as it is easiest to remove its parts for cleaning. From all the quotes that we have gotten, the configuration that we need cost +/- $3,200. The price is there one, cant run away from it. And so, we decided to go to marina square's Gain City to take a look as they specialize in selling aircon. They quoted us $3,219 for Mitsubishi Inverter aircon which includes a $150 gain city voucher. Yes la, because of the voucher, they are the cheapest among the rest and because you cant go wrong with a place that specializes in aircon, we decided on them.
Fridge
They say that for fridge, the trusted brands are Hitachi and Mitsubishi. Call us shallow, but what we looked for in a fridge is its looks. We wanted our fridge to be part of the décor in our kitchen, and hence decided to buy a white fridge as our kitchen cabinets are white (and fengshui say white is good for kitchen). And this decision is a good one as in the entire fridge market, only Mitsubishi and Fisher & Paykel sell white fridge - it helped us narrow the search. As the latter is too attas, our choice was only limited to Mitsubishi. Gain city's salesperson introduced a Mitsubishi model to us and we compared its price to courts and Harvey Norman, where Gain City is more than $100+ cheaper. We decided to buy the 379 litre fridge at Gain, at $739. Somehow, the picture made the fridge look silver, it's supposed to be pure white.
Washing Machine
And because we are buying a fridge from Gain, they asked if we needed a washing machine. For washing machines, they say that the trusted brands are LG and Hitachi. You need to decide on getting a top load or a front load washing machine. A top load one is easier to reach, takes a shorter time to wash (but also means it's not as clean) but uses more water. A front load one is the opposite of a top load and takes twice as long to wash. Being lazy people, we decided that a top load one (45min to wash) is sufficient. As to the size, if you got to wash the comforter, you need at least a 8.5kg washing machine. Hence, we decided to look at the 9.0kg washing machines. We ultimately chose a 9.0kg LG washing machine at $419. This is $30 cheaper than Harvey and we believe also cheaper than other places. The thing about Gain is that whatever they publish on the price tag, if you buy more from them, they will discount for you. The price that I shared is after their further discount. I wonder if this could be done at other places!
And so, we settled these 3 items at Gain. We only need these like 2-3 months later. So they said that we could first pay a deposit, and if there are promotions later on and we find that the price drop, they would be able to give us the lower price. They also asked us to sign up for a free membership, whereby we are able to earn a 1% rebate on all our purchases. We walked out of Gain feeling accomplished and happy with our deals.
Hob and Nob
We are very clear that we want to get an induction cooker. It is easy to clean, safe, aesthetically pleasing and we don't need to buy gas. We looked around and felt sad that an induction cooker costs about 3 times more than a normal stove. In addition, as we are not going to have 2 rows of kitchen cabinet where the stove is, we got to buy a chimney nob. This is also more expensive than the normal ones. We looked around the big appliances stores and IMM and see that a 2 zone induction pane costs around $1500. Do note that if you buy the pane, you should at most get a 20amp one or you would find that your house would trip whenever you try to cook. Taking this into consideration, the most you could buy is a 2 zone pane. We are ok with this as I don't think I can multitask by cooking so many things at one time.
The usual appliance stores cater only a small section to the hob and nob, but the flagship Harvey Norman at Millenia Walk is different. They have an entire shopfront for this and it was a great shopping experience. We were choosing between Brandt, Bosche and Electrolux, and after hearing the salesman's introduction and promotion, we decided to get Brandt. Brandt's cooker is by Germany and hood by China; Bosche's cooker is by China and hood by France. He said that the hood doesn't usually spoil and recommended Brandt. Moreover, the buttons for the hood is touch screen one, meaning that the oil wouldn't clog up the buttons in future. And the main point, there is a package promotion whereby the Brandt hob and nob costs $1,799 including a $200 NTUC voucher. Yes la, I love vouchers. Since the price was so attractive, we decided on this. Welcome to more? cooking.
Airfryer
Oh ya, I also want to mention this. I have heard many people raving about an airfryer for its simplicity in using and of course, healthier way of cooking. So when Groupon launched a deal on the Philip Airfryer, I bought it without hesistation. I only paid $229 as compared to $269 in stores. It includes a 2 years warranty. Say hello to a lazy way of cooking~
It was a fulfilling weekend!
Yes la, settled a small part of shopping for our electrical appliances! Very exciting times. When we were still dating, I find shopping at ikea and best denki very romantic as it signifies the readiness of us wanting to set up a home together. And now, this is happening for real. There are some things which we needed to shop first so that our ID can incorporate the dimensions into his reno.
We have actually shopped for many of these things numerous times at Best Denki, Courts, Harvey Norman and Gain City. After a while, you find that things are around the same price, there could be a promo for the fridge here but discount for aircon there. It became quite difficult to track what and where after a while. Today, we decided to go to millennia walk's Harvey norman as we heard from our ID that they sell nice furniture there. And in the end, we ended up buying a whole of things except furniture.
Aircon
We have shopped at various places for aircons, and find that the low prices that they always advertise are the most basic units which you would need upgrading. For us, we are looking at system 3 aircon where we need a 24 power unit for the living room, 18 power for the master bedroom and 9 power for the guest room. They say that for aircon, the trusted brands are Mitsubishi and Toshiba. All the places which we go to recommend these 2 brands. Mitsubishi is preferred over Toshiba as it is easiest to remove its parts for cleaning. From all the quotes that we have gotten, the configuration that we need cost +/- $3,200. The price is there one, cant run away from it. And so, we decided to go to marina square's Gain City to take a look as they specialize in selling aircon. They quoted us $3,219 for Mitsubishi Inverter aircon which includes a $150 gain city voucher. Yes la, because of the voucher, they are the cheapest among the rest and because you cant go wrong with a place that specializes in aircon, we decided on them.
Fridge
They say that for fridge, the trusted brands are Hitachi and Mitsubishi. Call us shallow, but what we looked for in a fridge is its looks. We wanted our fridge to be part of the décor in our kitchen, and hence decided to buy a white fridge as our kitchen cabinets are white (and fengshui say white is good for kitchen). And this decision is a good one as in the entire fridge market, only Mitsubishi and Fisher & Paykel sell white fridge - it helped us narrow the search. As the latter is too attas, our choice was only limited to Mitsubishi. Gain city's salesperson introduced a Mitsubishi model to us and we compared its price to courts and Harvey Norman, where Gain City is more than $100+ cheaper. We decided to buy the 379 litre fridge at Gain, at $739. Somehow, the picture made the fridge look silver, it's supposed to be pure white.
And because we are buying a fridge from Gain, they asked if we needed a washing machine. For washing machines, they say that the trusted brands are LG and Hitachi. You need to decide on getting a top load or a front load washing machine. A top load one is easier to reach, takes a shorter time to wash (but also means it's not as clean) but uses more water. A front load one is the opposite of a top load and takes twice as long to wash. Being lazy people, we decided that a top load one (45min to wash) is sufficient. As to the size, if you got to wash the comforter, you need at least a 8.5kg washing machine. Hence, we decided to look at the 9.0kg washing machines. We ultimately chose a 9.0kg LG washing machine at $419. This is $30 cheaper than Harvey and we believe also cheaper than other places. The thing about Gain is that whatever they publish on the price tag, if you buy more from them, they will discount for you. The price that I shared is after their further discount. I wonder if this could be done at other places!
And so, we settled these 3 items at Gain. We only need these like 2-3 months later. So they said that we could first pay a deposit, and if there are promotions later on and we find that the price drop, they would be able to give us the lower price. They also asked us to sign up for a free membership, whereby we are able to earn a 1% rebate on all our purchases. We walked out of Gain feeling accomplished and happy with our deals.
Hob and Nob
We are very clear that we want to get an induction cooker. It is easy to clean, safe, aesthetically pleasing and we don't need to buy gas. We looked around and felt sad that an induction cooker costs about 3 times more than a normal stove. In addition, as we are not going to have 2 rows of kitchen cabinet where the stove is, we got to buy a chimney nob. This is also more expensive than the normal ones. We looked around the big appliances stores and IMM and see that a 2 zone induction pane costs around $1500. Do note that if you buy the pane, you should at most get a 20amp one or you would find that your house would trip whenever you try to cook. Taking this into consideration, the most you could buy is a 2 zone pane. We are ok with this as I don't think I can multitask by cooking so many things at one time.
The usual appliance stores cater only a small section to the hob and nob, but the flagship Harvey Norman at Millenia Walk is different. They have an entire shopfront for this and it was a great shopping experience. We were choosing between Brandt, Bosche and Electrolux, and after hearing the salesman's introduction and promotion, we decided to get Brandt. Brandt's cooker is by Germany and hood by China; Bosche's cooker is by China and hood by France. He said that the hood doesn't usually spoil and recommended Brandt. Moreover, the buttons for the hood is touch screen one, meaning that the oil wouldn't clog up the buttons in future. And the main point, there is a package promotion whereby the Brandt hob and nob costs $1,799 including a $200 NTUC voucher. Yes la, I love vouchers. Since the price was so attractive, we decided on this. Welcome to more? cooking.
Oh ya, I also want to mention this. I have heard many people raving about an airfryer for its simplicity in using and of course, healthier way of cooking. So when Groupon launched a deal on the Philip Airfryer, I bought it without hesistation. I only paid $229 as compared to $269 in stores. It includes a 2 years warranty. Say hello to a lazy way of cooking~
Sunday, April 6, 2014
First entry to our Flat
5 Apr 14 Sat
We collected our keys on 31 Mar but asked the Fengshui master if it was a good day to open the door. He suggested for us to do it today instead. Ok great, since it was on sat. I felt really excited when we were about to open the house door. When we did so, we rolled the pineapple into the living room and shouted HUAT ah!
Glad we took a 5 room. The living room is bright and spacious. Our living room is very windy too! We were there throughout the afternoon and didn't feel the heat. Hence we concluded that our house wouldn't get xi zhao.
The rooms are very small though. If we did not hack the other wall, I think we would have to walk about in the master bedroom like a crab. The other guest room is even smaller. I'm not sure how we are going to fit in a bed and a wardrobe if it is to be occupied in future.
The kitchen is also small, but not really an issue as we wont really cook. I think that the toilets are quite nicely done up. Esp the MBR's toilet. The shower hose area even had mosaic tiled walls. Not bad.
They are still building the playground downstairs. View from our living room.
We collected our keys on 31 Mar but asked the Fengshui master if it was a good day to open the door. He suggested for us to do it today instead. Ok great, since it was on sat. I felt really excited when we were about to open the house door. When we did so, we rolled the pineapple into the living room and shouted HUAT ah!
Glad we took a 5 room. The living room is bright and spacious. Our living room is very windy too! We were there throughout the afternoon and didn't feel the heat. Hence we concluded that our house wouldn't get xi zhao.
The rooms are very small though. If we did not hack the other wall, I think we would have to walk about in the master bedroom like a crab. The other guest room is even smaller. I'm not sure how we are going to fit in a bed and a wardrobe if it is to be occupied in future.
Walkway to the rooms and common washroom
They are still building the playground downstairs. View from our living room.
We then checked the condition of our house. We found 2 defects so far: (1) Water leaked from both toilet's sinks when we turned on the tap. (2) Rusty hinge at the front door. There are some hollow kitchen and toilet tiles, but does it really matter? We are unsure if we have to report this as we don't know how critical it is. Will ask our ID for opinion. Other residents have complained of other defects like damp ceiling, rusty main gate, bomb shelter's handle hitting the wall when it opened fully, faulty mailbox, cracks on tiles so far. Really must open eyes big big and inspect.
Remb to inspect other things like whether the toilet can be flushed, whether water at your washing machine area and toilets is choked when you drain it, whether the handles of the windows are loose and mechanism for hanging laundry are working.
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