Microwave, Rice cooker, Kettle, Pots and Pans

Settled many kitchen buys. We are always on the lookout for deals for electrical appliances. Besides the big electrical stores, you would also find these things sold at departmental stores. So, no lack of choices. We found great deals:

Panasonic Microwave
We started out looking for a microwave, but we then found out that there are some ovens which have multi-purpose functions which would be convenient. So in the end, we looked at those multi-purpose ovens and decided on Panasonic for its price and outlook. The Panasonic inverter technology microwave has addition functions for grilling, toasting and baking food. Cost $369 everywhere. So we went to Isetan one day when it was having a household sale, and bought the oven at a $30 discount + 3 microwavable glassware.

Philips Rice Cooker

Rice cookers look all the same to us. The function is also the same right, cook rice. They are priced the same everywhere. So when we went to Tangs sales yesterday, we decided to buy it after seeing that it is a great deal. The same model had a 20% + 12% Tangs rebate. Originally priced at $109, it only cost $76.70 after discount.

 

 

Tefal Water Kettle

Nope, we are not looking at those traditional water kettles which take a long time to boil. Instead, we have decided to buy a hotel style instant water kettle which only has a 1.7 litre capacity. It is sufficient for us, since we will only check-in to the house at night. Similarly the Tangs sales sees a 10% discount + 12% rebate. The kettle costs $63.30 after discount.

 

 

Pots and Pans

We don't know what brand is good, so we just go for the popular brands. We have heard of Tefal, so when they had a 20% discount at best denki, we bought 2 frying pans at about $90. At Tangs, we saw a set of 3 WMF pots selling at $89, we just snapped it up. Our pots and pans are a lil more expensive as it has to be compatible for induction cooking.

 

 

 

 

Yea we really travelled to many places in search of great deals. It's fun! All the weekends are spent on household shopping. All these already cost about $700. We realize that the kitchen costs a lot, more so than the other areas of the house. There are still so many miscellaneous things that we need to buy for the kitchen!

Reno at 2nd week

25 May 2014 Sun
Went over to the house to take a look at the progress after 2 weeks, and we were very pleased to see things moving. At the end of the 2nd week, these were completed:

a) Hacking works
b) Installation of door frame for the master bedroom door which we relocated
c) Electrical works
d) Kerbs for washing machine, fridge, kitchen cabinet and shower screen
e) Homogenous tiles (partial)
f) Installation of aircon

Some pictures!

White homogenous tiles for the living room

 

Our master bedroom after hacking away the wall in the middle

 

Washing machine platform

 

 

Aircon installed. For aircon, it was the guys from gain city who helped to install.

 

Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Hacking works

Today is the day where they do hacking works. We have 2 walls to hack, one at the kitchen and between the master and guest bedroom. Our ID got 2 men to do the hacking work and it was all completed today. And he even sent us live updates, so cool!

 

 

Tadah, exciting. What's next?

Booked the Honeymoon Air Tickets!

After much much delay, we have finally booked our air tickets for the delayed honeymoon! Before the reno started, we didn't really know when we could fly. It should definitely be after the reno and before his school re-opens in end July. So here's the plan:

-Reno works be completed by end June
-Honeymoon from 3 - 23 July
-Move in between 24-26 July if there are dates. If not, we would have to wait till after the 7th month

Time is so tight but no choice leh. It would also be odd to move in 1-2 July and then leave the house empty for the honeymoon. And we are not sure if the reno works could be completed by end June. If it delays, we would have to see how then. So nevertheless, before the reno could be complete, anything is uncertain. So we just decided to book the air tickets for our Europe honeymoon!

SIA is having sales, but they are very expensive. And cos we are travelling multi-city, and probably cos we are booking quite last minute, every airline also seem expensive. We are going to London, then Italy, then Paris. So we are flying SQ from Singapore to London and Paris to Singapore. The few airlines that I checked are priced like this per pax:

-Emirates: $2.2K
-SIA: $2.1K
-British Airways: $1.9K
-Qatar: $1.9K
-Qantas: $1.8K
-Air France: $1.8K

Looking at the price differential and that we prefer not to have flight connections, we decided to just book SIA. Get the 13.5 hour flight over and done with!

Have alr booked my leave from 3 - 28 July. Shiok max!

Start of Reno!

12 May 14 Mon
Yes, our reno has finally started! The fs master advised us to 动土 on 12 May at 6.08am. You didnt see wrongly, it's early in the morning. And it is best if the contractor can immediately start their reno after the dong tu procedure. But as he also expects that no contractor would be able to start work so easily, he told us that it would still be fine if the contractor starts work at 9am.

We did ask if there are any other dates or timing that we could choose from, but the fs master said that the criteria for dong tu date is very stringent. Have to balance the occupants' bazi and the house qi. He said that we are already fortunate that we have a date. He said that if we want to do it on another date, we got to bear the consequences ourselves. Wa, his words were scary and we decided to just listen to him.

So to dong tu, what we need to do is to chip off a certain part of the wall for 5-15min. For us fortunately, this area was at the service yard and the walls are not tiled. It would be easy for the contractor to patch the area back. Imagine if we had to chip off the bathroom wall or smth. He advised that I should avoid renovation this year as rabbits fan tai shui. Good in a sense, I will just leave it to the hubby to settle all these things and just visit the progress of the house on sundays when they are not working. So for this dong tu procedure, darling did it by his lonesome self. But not that I can help much if I were there, how do you actually use a hammer and a chisel?! His master piece:

 

And after 1 day of reno, we visited the house today (vesak day) and see that they have already done up some wire casing in the living room. OK, evidence that they have really started work.

 

Coffee and Dining Table

10 May 14 Sat

Great, we have finally settled on our coffee and dining table! As usual, we shopped around the furniture shops at IMM, tradehub and anywhere in the west but could not find anything that we like. In the end, we travelled out a bit to Sungei Kadut, choa chu kang area in search of new furniture shops. I have never gone to sungei kadut before, but apparently he has, and I was surprised to find that there are much more furniture showroom there, even more than IMM and tradehub added together.

After entering the 3rd warehouse showroom, we decided on our coffee and dining tables at:
Furnishing (S) Pte Ltd
68 Sungei Kadut Loop, Nutzcentre
#01-01 S(729504)

Dining tables are dining tables lor, 4 legged usually. But we found this one which is so unique and at one glance, we knew that it stands out.

 

Instead of this black N, we ordered a white one. The top pane is clear glass. Chairs are black or it would be dirty really easily. The chairs that we got are not the two at the sides of the table, but the chair in the middle of the picture. Ya, the 2 at the side are more glam, but it would cost a total of $400 more. So in the end, this dining table plus 4 chairs cost us $1,210 after much bargaining. They are pretty sticky with the pricing and don't deliberately mark up the prices and then give you a big discount like those shops at Tradehub.

 

Next up is the coffee table. We also wanted to find something classy as it is the look for our living room. So we found this:

 

 

The top is a black tempered glass and the side is stainless steel. The top of the table can be opened up and rotated round to give you another design:

 

Depending on the space of our living room, we will decide whether to open up the coffee table or not. This coffee table costs us $540. We walked out of the shop feeling accomplished!

Kitchen and Bathroom Sinks and Bathroom Accessories

4 May 14 Sun
We found a place with very cheap bathroom and kitchen sink! Here's the place:

Good Price Hub Pte Ltd
Taman Jurong Shopping Centre
399 Yung Sheng Road #01-24

At places like IMM and Tradehub, the bathroom sinks are usually about $100+ - $200+. But we found a shop at Taman Jurong which only sells the sink at $98 each! We bought the rectangle and triangle shaped ones (2nd and 3rd one at the LHS) for our 2 bathrooms.

This under-mount kitchen sink is $360. We got a small one as the kitchen is small. Like this design as it is not the usual round corner ones. Looks more modern.

We also got some bathroom accessories. Tower rack at $39, shampoo rack at $39, toilet roll holder at $22 and hook for $18. Got 2 sets each.

 

And for the kitchen sink, we got a tap which is matt finish. There are 4 such designs from the shop and we got the matt one that is at the most right hand corner. Sleeker than the rest. They sell this at only $115 where other places sell the same design at $180. It's a steal!

Now only pending the bathroom taps which we didn't find one which we fancy from the shop. They only have 2 high basin mixer taps and one is out of stock. The other is too chunky. Got to go other places to search for our bathroom taps.

25 May 2014 Sun
We finally completed the bathroom accessories shopping at Jalan Besar today. Found our bathroom basin taps at:

Poh Joo Hardware Engineering Pte Ltd
389 Jalan Besar S(209004)
Tel: 62923388

It just so happens that when we went there today, they started their GSS sales. And guess what, many of their things are hence cheaper than the ones we bought at taman jurong! :( Their GSS is until end of Aug, so hurry down if you need to buy these things. Neh, just when we thought that we already got a good deal at taman jurong. We bought 2 of the same bathroom tap at $108. Original price before GSS was $200. We got the one in the middle.

Total damages for all these, $1,123.

Bennington Multipoint Instant Heater

3 May 14 Sat
We bought a heater today. There are gas heaters, storage heaters and instant heaters in the market. I know nuts about heaters, neither does he, but he did some research and found out that forummers all recommend a multipoint instant heater for BTO flats.

Gas heaters are a no no for us as we don't have gas! Storage heater is big and bulky. Instant heater gives you water instantly, and if you are living in a BTO flat, it's not a bad idea to get a multipoint instant heater as HDB has already built and concealed all the cold and hot pipes nicely for us. One set of heater can be linked to both your toilets and sink taps. We found good reviews for the Bennington C600 model and found out that it is a Singapore brand, yay. Not many big electrical stores sell it, can only be found in Gain City. Great that we are their member, can get 1% rebate, yay.

So today, we bought the heater at $279. Installation is $100 which you need to book with the company yourself.

 

We are gg to place this at the common bathroom.

 

Interior Design drawings

1 May 2014 Thu
After about 3 weeks of rework, our ID finally came out with the revised design! I must say that our ID, Ian Chia from Home Concepts is very accommodating and is always patient with our numerous requests for change. And the awesome thing is that we thought that the fengshui arrangements would make our house look awkward, but he was able to come up with great design which puts our mind at ease. Here's the before and afters.

Before living room. We loved this design a lot. The platform for the living area made it a focal point. But FS master said that we got to turn our living and dining area the other way round. And the wall where the above TV is must be cream.

 

 

After living room. Dining and living switched position. If we really choose the brick wallpaper, need to find a white version as FS say that side cant be greyish. But I cant really decide between the above brick wall and below plain wall. Howww

 

 

Remb the partition wall that we had to build? I thought that it would be an awkward piece of wall but no, our ID made it a really stunning one. So this is the view that you would get when you open our main door. But again, I cant decide which partition wall we should get. He likes the brick one for both though.

 

 

And then there is the master bedroom. We originally wanted this kind of neutral toned room:

 

But FS says that we should have one red wall in the room! So here it is. It took us quite a while to get used to the change. Because of the red wall, we changed the homogenous tiles to laminate flooring. If not the red would be too outstanding.

 

Our original study area in the master bedroom. But FS says that the direction of the study must be changed. So in the end, we changed it to facing the wall. Still nice la.

 

 

And there is the kitchen. We originally had our stove and sink in one row of cabinet. But FS says that they must be on opposite side at 1.5-2ft apart which means that we need to do up 2 rows of cabinet. So from this:

To this:

 

There is no change to the guest room. No one is sleeping there anyway (for the moment). But we should be changing the white floor tile to grey laminate like the master bedroom.

 

There is no change to the 2 toilets.

 

Very pleased with the drawings. Hopefully the end result would be the same!