#15 - Door Opening Ceremony

Sales completed on 21st May 14! Met our ever helpful Agent (Ashton 97837896 Propnex) the same afternoon to collect our keys and proceed with our door opening ceremony at 7pm, the earliest we could make it when there's still some light? We did a google search and just followed the simplest method.
http://wiki.geomancy.net/wiki/Procedure_for_1st_time_Opening_of_entrance_door

We had no electrical power nor water so most of the stuff we did we had to depend on our bicycle lights. Haha! Reason why we had to perform the ceremony so urgently was cos the SP Power guy would be coming into the house to do some inspection as per their procedures before they could switch on the supplies the following day.

Note pictures were taken the following day.


- Fruits basket with 5 red apples, 5 oranges, bunch of banana, bunch of red grapes and the pineapple we rolled into the house placed in the middle of the living/dining room
- Bowl of wet cotton wool and green beans
- Plate of Tie Kuan Yin tea leaves
- 1 orange sponge cake as we can't find any where selling Fa Gao

- Red packet with S$2 and 2 oranges at each of the 4 corners of the living/dining area
- Rice and Green Beans mixed and sprinkled all over the corners of the whole house













- Red packet with S$2, 3 oranges and 1 orange sponge cake placed on the kitchen stove











The next day was fully equipped. Tools and equipment, fan, floorplans, etc

First thing that was done once the SP Power guy left after switching on the supplies : bowl water!

Progress of the growth of green beans

#14 - Additional Refrigerator - still shopping for

Toying with the idea of getting a secondary fridge to fit in the yard area to store the drinks as well as food and treats for our doggie so the main fridge can freed up for the missus.



Shortlisted :

- Panasonic NR-BJ226 138 litres fridge/52 litres freezer (S$399 from major dept stores)
W526 x H1390 x D584










- Sharp SJD26T 153 litres fridge/50 litres freezer (S$449 from major dept stores)
W545 x H1389 x D610











- Samsung RT22FARADSA 181 litres fridge/53 litres freezer (S$449 from major dept stores)
W555 x H1545 x D637










- Electrolux ETB2300PE 162.5 litres fridge/61.7 litres freezer (S$689 from major dept stores)
W540 x H1470 x D615

#13 - Switches - still shopping for

Visited Legrand's showroom today to look through all the available Arteor series.
In the end we still feel that we will be sticking with the same old Tattoo Round Buttons Edition for the majority of the switchgear in the house; with the option for maybe Wood Wenge Style for switches which may be located on cabinets.

Legrand 68612234 (Legrand Sg Showroom - 15 Jalan Kilang Barat #07-05 Frontech Centre S159357)
http://www.legrand.com.sg/arteor/

Used to get all the Arteor series from Choo Chiang (http://ccm.sg/www/) but might have a better lobang from Tommy via Weng. Will decide on exactly what we need before placing order.

#12 - Doors and Grille Gates - still shopping for

Visited Doctor Doors to look at their innovative Combi Door. Unfortunately the price was on the high side and beyond our budget. Otherwise it would be cool to have that with the Samsung Push Pull 7 Series digital lock (works out to almost S$4k)

Salesperson : Bryan Tan 90888885 (Doctor Doors Gallery - 10 Admiralty St #01-90 & #04-68 North Link Building S757695)
http://doctordoors1-px.rtrk.sg/


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Also visited MetalWorld for their iron wrought gates. Pretty impressed with their quality but prices are on the high side too (abt S$1k)

Salesperson : Loh Xian Zhi 64466188 (MetalWorld - Blk 3013 Bedok Industrial Park E #02-2142 S 489979)
http://www.metalworld.com.sg/


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Also went to Yontat Doors. Prices are reasonable but designs are limited.

Salesperson : Evonne Chai 67428446 (Yontat Doors & Hardware Pte Ltd - Blk 1014 Eunos Ave 5 #01-36 S409740)
http://www.yontat.com.sg/


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Lastly visited Best Industrial based on recommendation by Ah Weng. Plenty of designs and prices are reasonable too.

Salesperson : Anyone 67423633 (Best Industrial Pte Ltd - Blk 1079 Eunos Ave 7 #01-169 S409582)
http://www.bestindustrial.com.sg/

#11 - Fans - still shopping for

Visited Fanco's showroom to view their range of ceiling fans. Shortlisted 56" Air Track for living/dining and MBR and the smaller 48" Air Track for the common bedrooms. However the 54" Air Fresh though slightly smaller, gave off stronger breeze due to the design of the blades. Prices at the showroom were pretty high. Can get better prices everywhere else.




Air Track Silver










Air Fresh Silver







Showroom : Fanco Fan Marketing Pte Ltd - 30 Mandai Estate #02-03 Mandai Industrial Building S729918
Salesperson : Jennifer 67667277
http://www.fanco.com.sg/index.php/products/singapore

#10 - Tiles

Our particular unit has a special feature. Both bathrooms are plastic. Yep! They are similar to the bathrooms on airplanes. The good thing is HDB will be hacking away everything and building proper cement and mortar bathrooms FOC for us. Unfortunately the selection of tiles are pretty limited...

Available Floor Tiles

Available Vanity Top

  

Available Wall Tiles















So we decided to put in a request to purchase and use tiles of our own...

Lost count on the number of times we visited Hafary... this time round though we got Abby to accompany us. Managed to finally select the floor and wall tiles for both bathrooms as well as kitchen/yard.

Salesperson : Aaron 62501368 (Hafary Gallery - 105 Eunos Ave 3 S409836)
http://www.hafary.com.sg/

Look of both bathrooms

Floor Tiles

Feature Wall Tiles (Shower Area)

Wall Tiles (Rest of Bathroom)

Sample pieces of all the tiles

#09 - Bed and Mattress

Purchased a queen sized storage bed with King Koil extra firm mattress.

Salesperson : Maggie Ang 65694628 (Red Apple Interior Furniture Co Pte Ltd - 2 Jurong East St 21 #03-19 IMM Building S609601)
http://www.redappleinterior.com/

#08 - Hansgrohe

Was contemplating whether to purchase the bathroom fittings locally or from iceprice.com as I did the last time. Noticed that the prices over at Iceprice had increased, plus factoring the increased shipping costs, and since Hansgrohe SG was running a promotion, we decided to just purchase everything locally. Totally costs purchased locally as compared to ordering from Iceprice was an extra S$300+.

Salesperson : Jessie Toh 62534665 (Home & Bathroom Building Products Pte Ltd - 566, Balestier Rd S329883)
http://www.homeandbathroom.com.sg/
http://www.hansgrohe.com.sg/

Stuff we purchased :







Talis S2 Kitchen Mixer with pull-out spray (14877)

 Metris S Shower Mixer (31660) x2

Metris S Single Lever Basin Mixer (31060) x2













Crometta 85 Wall Bar x2















Raindance - E100 AIR Hand Shower (28502) for common bathroom

Raindance - E120 AIR Hand Shower (28507) for master bathroom

#07 - Wash Basin

Got x2 Ideal Standard round Semi-Recessed Basins for our bathrooms.

Salesperson : Gloria Gutano 62555111 (Ideal Bathroom Pte Ltd - 545 Balestier Rd S329866)
http://www.idealstandard.sg/

#06 - Oven

The woman of the house have inspired visions of doing plenty of baking in future, thus the need of a proper oven. Let's hope it won't end up as a white elephant.

We got the Mayer MMDO8C at a promo price of S$699. Also decided to add-on additional 2 years warranty for an extra S$72.

Was also told that there will be a new 9kg load washing machine model from Ariston coming out soon. Will be aiming that too.

Salesperson : Angie 68384079 (Mayer Marketing Pte Ltd - Great World City #02-25 Kim Seng Promenade S237994)
http://www.mayer.sg/

#05 - Lorenzo Dining and Lounge

Got a Lorenzo Dining set (table with 4 chairs) even though we will be using back our current Lorenzo dining benches.

Salesperson : Jaslyn Lee 67461180 (Sims Dr branch - 601 Sims Dr #01-13/18 Pan-l Complex S387382)

Also got a recliner for relaxing.

Salesperson : C H Lim 62295648 (Changi branch - 4 Changi South Lane #01-01 Nan Wah Building S486127)

Will go back to Lorenzo one day to take pics of the actual furniture pieces and update here.
http://www.lorenzo-international.com/

#04 - Hob & Hood

Happened to come across Rinnai Roadshow at S'pore Expo Food and Electronic Fiesta 2014 and purchased the Rinnai Hob and Hood package on impulse. Probably can get a better price elsewhere.

Salesperson : Patrick Ong 62822804 (Ong Quoe Hai Sundry Shop Pte Ltd - 20 AMK Industrial Park 2A #02-02 AMK Tech-Link S567761)

http://www.rinnai.sg/

Rinnai RB-2CG

Been using this Hob for 7 years and the inner-flame technology is great. Not to mention it looks good too. Decided to buy back the same.









Rinnai RH-992CT

Criteria for hood : chimney, glass, strong suction
Was going to go for the RH-998C initially as we are using that now, but the 992 has a stronger suction so that's the one we choose.

#03 - Air Conditioning

Dropped by Gain City's 33rd Anniversary Exhibition at S'pore Expo and signed up an AirCon package.

Though the current Fujitsu System 5 is working fine, the setup in the living room area was not optimal due to the near proximity to each other. Furthermore, since we are doing renovations anyway, that obviously will be the best time to get everything changed lest problems cropped up later.

Whole package costs us a whopping S$6,776. Might not be the best price but we were fine with the service rendered thus far.

Salesperson : Alvin Teo 65691212 (Gain City Best-Electric Pte Ltd - 2 Jurong East St 21 #03-14 IMM Building S609601)
http://www.gaincity.com/
http://www.mitsubishielectric.com.sg/products/for-home/air-conditioners.html

Our configuration :
System 3 Inverter MXY3A28AVA
- x2 MSYGE10VA fan coils (standard size for bedroom) for each of the common bedrooms
- x1 MSYGE18VA fan coil for living/dining room

System 2 Inverter MXY3A28AVA (same capacity condensor as above)
- x1 MSYGE13VA fan coil (opted for bigger fan coil) for MBR
- x1 MSYGE18VA fan coil  for living/dining room 

Reason for choosing the above config :
- Common bedrooms are standard size

- MBR is slightly bigger and we predict that's the place we on air-con most of the time, thus the bigger capacity for better cooling
- Living/Dining area is huge, approximately the size of 5 of our common bedrooms, thus we opted to cool that area with x2 18VA fan coils powered from separate condensers for maximum cooling efficiency


Cons of above setup - Electrical bills will shoot up if :
- we on aircon in the living/dining area frequently or
- we on aircon in the MBR and the common bedrooms at the same time frequently

#02 - Floor Plan

That's the floorplan of our resale 111 sq metres 5 room flat in Compassvale Arcadia. We love the lack of wasted space, the kitchen layout which permits hacking of the wall and construction of a proper backyard for our laundry, the big living area, the unblocked view (from some angle anyway).

#01 - Contractors and Interior Designers

Consulted a number of different ids and finally settled on Abby Tan of Green & Lush, recommendation from Jeffrey (I-Finishing Works 91009878).

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FIRST id CONSULTED

Keith Fan - 96338455 (Dreamvision Designer - 72 Eunos Ave 7 S'pore Handicrafts Building #06-09 S409570), recommendation from RenoTalk member subdude (http://www.renotalk.com/forum/blog/1451-creating-honey-bees-5-room-hive/) 

- We were actually looking for Samuel who is also the boss of DV but when we walked-in without an appointment, Keith was the only available staff to attend to us

- Keith had some nice ideas and was very prompt with all our queries

- Being the first id we were consulting, we thought he did not have sufficient experience when he needed to consult Samuel when we posted some questions

- Eventually decided to drop Keith as somehow we can't have a proper bond with him

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SECOND id CONSULTED

Eric Poon - 94315393 (Corazon Interior Pte Ltd - 71B Pagoda St S059230, access via staircase besides Mei Zhen Xiang, 3rd floor), recommendation from RenoTalk member CharisOng (http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/64878-modern-cozy-home-greenleaf/?p=848932)

- Eric is very professional in that he try to find out about our lifestyles and cater the house to fit into that style

- He was the only one who racked his brains to come up with a Space Plan that fit into our requirements, which unfortunately we subsequently discarded due to our fickle-mindedness

- He gave us the impression that his quality of work will be top-notch

- His quotation was slightly on the higher side as compared to the others

- He did not have his own HDB license yet (and was totally honest about it) when we visited him but he should have gotten it sometime September

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THIRD id CONSULTED

Daven Chua - 90033622 (Living Art - Blk 177, Toa Payoh Central #01-162 S310177), random walk-in visit

- We felt Daven was more of a contractor type

- Quotation was quite affordable

- Would be a good choice if you know exactly what you want and do not need any fanciful design

- Wasn't able to click with him

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FOURTH id CONSULTED

Calvin Tan - 90618096 (Posh Home - 33 Ubi Ave 3 Vertex #01-46 S408868), recommendation from RenoTalk member leonjennawong (http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/64054-leon-jenna-reno-experience/)

- We clicked very well with Calvin but he did stated upfront that by right he was already too busy to take up any more projects

- Was told that Posh Home work as a group and the whole team contributes to the ideas for the customers instead of individual designers doing their own thing

- Company is GST registered which is a negative on our budget

- He had more than 14 yrs of experience

- Calvin did not revert back to us after our first meetup, which reflected badly on his professionalism in our opinion

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FIFTH id CONSULTED

Yevette - 96696940 (Su Misura), recommendation from personal friend

- Yevette was actually recommended by the id whom my friend engage as he was too occupied with projects on hand. Eddy was his name and they are working in the same company

- We felt Yevette had very good design sense

- Her presentation gave us a good impression as she made the effort to present her concept and ideas with photographs so we had a better idea

- Unfortunately we felt she is a little too soft and demure

- We had a hard time deciding between Yevette and Abby below

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SIXTH id CONSULTED

Abby Tan - 98002416 (Green and Lush), recommendation from personal friend

- We were instantly very comfortable and felt a bond with Abby

- Abby understood our ideas instantly without much explanation, ie, we had the same wavelength making everything very easy

- She made efforts to help us save $ by recommending ideas we never thought of before instead of just going along with what we wanted