our renovation status

Pa, Hao and I went down to peep at our flat this morning.

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Living Room

They have started to lay the walkway tiles. But its the wrong tiles!! I called our ID immediately and it turns out that the tile shop sent the wrong tiles. So he asked his contractor to stop laying the tiles. Gosh! Imagine if we did not go down today to take a look.

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Dining Room

That's the false ceiling for our dining. Loved it!

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Master Bedroom

Wall was hacked to connect both rooms.

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Balcony and service balcony floor tiles were laid. Nothing done in the kitchen. Common bathroom wall tiles are done! Nice! Master bathroom is still under tiling process.

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Yummy Dinner at Ka Soh

Went for dinner at 9pm at Ka Soh at Amoy Street after I selected my ROM dress. Not telling you how it looks like, except that it will be in ivory. Be prepared to be surprised! *grins*

Our Water Closets

Master Bathroom WC

Common Bathroom WC

from American Standard

hacked!

My walls are finally being hacked!

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Study Room hacked to have an open concept theme with the living/dining area

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Debris from the Study Room's 3 walls

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To be hacked: Wall separating Bedroom 2 and Master Bedroom

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The aircon guy is going down on Tuesday to do the routing of the pipes. Finally, my renovation is going somewhere.

Yes? May I help you?

Hao and I went toilet accessories shopping today. He did all the research from the forums and shortlisted a few shops that were recommended by most. Our aim of the day was to check out the toilet and kitchen accessories, tv, washer and dryer, fridge, cooker hood and hob.


Went to most of the shops recommended by the forummers at Jalan Besar but did not see anything that we both liked enough to order. Finally, we found it in the last shop we visited, Royal Fanco. Do not judge the shop by it's outlook. It may look small, messy and old, but the owner knows where is everything. He recommends the latest goods and the way to mix and match. All those that he recommended are still in boxes coz there are no place to display them. He opened up the boxes to show us the different basin and bath mixer. He even took the mixer and put it on the wash basin to help us visualise how it would look when placed together. He also demostrated in his toilet the different functions of a showerhead. We were quite impressed by his service and attitude, and also found the pricing of his goods reasonable. Hence, we ordered basins, mixers and showers from him.

Next, we went to Alexandra. Hong Liang was recommended for their cheap electronics. The salesman was friendly and helpful. He apparently knows his stuff too. And the best thing was that he knew that we were only checking for prices, but he still generously answered all our queries and gave good recommendations too.





Then all the way to IMM. Asia Excel Marketing was recommended in the forum for their reasonable pricing and they are the authorised dealers for a brand of kitchen sink, Franke. So we went to check it out. The price of the cooker hood and hob he quoted matches Royal Fanco. Too bad for us, granite sinks from Franke is out of stock. Only left the stainless steel type, which we do not really prefer.





We were happy customers today. Got most of our questions answered and glad to have gotten some stuff that we really liked.

now i know...

why the permit is taking so long. The guy from our town council called me today. And I happened to ask him about the permit. Told him I still haven really started the renovation yet becoz I have got my permit. Then he explained that is because we are going to hack walls. So the HDB at TPY needs not only the top view of the floor plan, but also the side view (meaning x-sec) of the area where the wall will be hacked and what will be the "after". He said that HDB at TPY already rejected once and sent back to my ID all the requirements, but apparently, they did not change anything and resubmitted again. And hence, it was once again rejected.

The process goes:
ID submit online to HDB at TPY. HDB at TPY check and approve. Send to town council in charge. And town council issue permit.

Finally I understood, and my designer also understood now, so he promised to rush the side view drawings out by today and resubmit. Hopefully, the permit can be approved by this week.

.........

We are quite irritated with our designers. 3 and a half weeks ago, they have zapped a copy of Hao's IC and said they will submit to HDB to apply for permit. They said most probably will take around 1 week. 1 week plus later, on the day to start renovation, he said that our permit is still not yet approved. 2 weeks after (last wednesday), he mentioned most probably, the permit will be approved this monday (which was yesterday) and that we can arrange with the aircon installers to meet up on this thursday becoz most probably the hacking can be done on wednesday. Becoz of that, I have taken leave so that we can both go down and take a look and at the same time, pay the aircon guy.

Yesterday, Hao received a call from our co-designer saying he just called HDB and the permit is STILL not done yet! I wonder what is wrong. I would have expected them to call HDB after 2 weeks of submission to check but until now, we still have not got our permit! Today, he called Hao again, and told him that the permit is still not approved and we cannot have the aircon installer to go down on thursday! ARGGHHH!! We were quite pissed. In the end, we arranged with the aircon installer to meet on next monday (when the both of us will be working!). What to do??!!! Sigh, we have already been delayed by this for more than 1 week. I hope they can manage to finish by the scheduled time to avoid clashing with the lunar 7th month.

sunny sunday

Craving for wanton noodles since thursday. It's not any wanton noodles but Pontian Wanton Noodles! Heh. Went there for breakfast. For those who do not know, you have got to try this! It is a stall in S11 kopitiam behind Junction 8. The wanton are ok, it's the noodles that are superb! Pontian (Ben Zhen) is a small town or state (I'm not sure) in Malaysia. It is the noodles that is the highlight of this dish (at least for me *grins*). The noodles are handmade and are very tasty. Try it!







Went to the library. As usual, I go straight to the fiction section for english novels. And the first author I usually look for is Nora Roberts. Loved her books. Can say that I've finish reading each and every one of her books. Some are romance and some are thrillers. Liked the way she describes, the scenary, human feelings, various situations, etc. You will really get into the story when you read her books.





It is unusual that I will step foot into the General Collection section when I visit the library. Since I was waiting for my parents to choose their books, I decided to go check it out. Flipped through some of the designs books until I came to a section which has books for philosophy and self. Found a book that is interesting, A Cup of Comfort for Women in Love. It consists of many short true-life stories by many different authors. Similar to Chicken Soup series, there is also Cup of Comfort series. Check out the website below.





http://www.cupofcomfort.com/index.html

toilet bowls and more toilet bowls!

Today is the day for checking out our toiletries and kitchen accessories. Since we are meeting our co-designer at 2pm, we went for lunch at Raffles City.





Had lunch at Soup Spoon. I have not visited Soup Spoon for 2 years! The last time I had soup there was before the renovation of the basement level of Raffles City. But the soup still taste superb, and they have more choices now too! I had my favourite Mushroom Stroganoff, ordered Tokyo Chicken Stew for Hao and spicy wedges to share. Yummy!









Met our co-designer at Lavender MRT. Coz we did not check out the shops ourselves before today, we do not know much and also have not come up with a budget. He brought us to xin xiang jun to check out everything first. Gosh! We spent almost 3 hours there looking at toilet bowls, washbasin, taps, shower, cooker and hob, kitchen sink, etc. I guess the salesgirl was pissed off coz we walked off with only a quotation and no confirmation of any items. Heh, who cares since this was the first shop we went to. He also brought us to smaller shops becoz it may be cheaper. But he let us take our time to slowly choose and compare prices from different shops before making a decision. At the end of the day, the only thing that we can almost confirm is our toilet bowl. We will either be getting American Standard or TOTO brand. He also brought us to the tile shop to show us the tiles that our designer had chosen for us.







Super tired and hungry after looking at so many toiletries. Had dinner at Shaw Towers. We went to a pasta cafe, Creation. My sis and cousin know which one I'm talking about but for those of you who do not know, check this cafe out. The pasta is delicious and it is at an economical price! What is best is that they do not charge for service and GST. The queue was very long when we reach there at 6 plus. We both ordered set dinner, at only $14.90, which comes with soup, drink and dessert. I had Salmon Alfredo and Hao had Spicy Seafood Crabmeat. Yummy!





I can say that this is the first time that I'm tired of shopping! My eyes really crossed when we looked at so many different types of toilet bowls and toilet accessories. And this is only our first trip for our toilets. After Hao finished his research from the forum, there will still be more trips to check out the highly recommended shops, for toilet bowls, kitchen accessories, electronics, lightings, etc. I can say that it is fun since it is our first time shopping and deciding for stuffs for our home together but Gosh! It's tiring!