Carpentries II - Settee and Console

The settee is up. Hopefully this provides more space for guests to have a seat on when the parties is going on.

Connected to the settee is our mini tv console which we would have our soundbar and perhaps a small tv on days where a projector will not be feasible.

Carpentries I - Kitchen

ID suddenly texted us saying that the carpentry has started today instead of tomorrow. To be frank, i was quite annoyed because it was an agreement to start tomorrow and i had plan to take half day off to oversee the whole operation so that nothing goes permanently wrong. It would be great if the glue had not been set in and the wood have not been sawed if it was not the right piece. Fortunately, the works were of standards and we were quite satisfied with it. I guess again we are reassured on the standards of works our ID will be providing. Thumbs up! And that is a sneak preview of our fridge in position.

Everything is looking just the way we wanted it to be. The choice of theme we had decided for our house was to be largely Scandinavian, but swapping the whites out for the black for a good contrasting impactful color. If you look closely, there is a special feature to this part of the kitchen, but we shall reveal it here next time when we have a better photo showing it.

Our settee have also been delivered in their individual pieces. Would probably be set up tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing our house piecing together.

Concept drawing. Sort of.

Initially we should be able to upload our concept drawings earlier, but there were much disappointment in this segment of the renovation as there were quite a number of ideas which we wanted that was not included inside since day 1. Although there were some partial faults with us because we were quite indecisive at times and had multiple changes, but there were several which we had brought up since the first draft and till now it is still not in the pictures. Nevertheless, this is just a drawing and as long as the final product is exactly how we want it, things should be good.

One of the reason why we opted for an interior designer instead of a contractor was because of the concept drawing, which are able to help us visualise the outcome of our choices. However, the inaccuracy and 'fake-ness' of the drawings is a disappointment. Spaces such like the walking area of the walk in wardrobe and toilet is quite unrealistic because in reality, it does not look that big. The carpentry should be starting at the end of this month, and soon, our renovation journey would be completed.

Dyson, Just Too Cool To Resist (pun intended)

We went down to Expo again for the Courts Expo Fair, hoping to chance upon a good price for any home appliances that we may require. Well, in particular the Dyson fan. It was only after we gotten our house that we realised that there are so many fairs in Expo, and one could always get a better price there during such fairs, as compared with the sales in the big stores at the shopping malls. There may be times where we could get a better price online too, but some products just require us to have a hands-on on the physical item because we invest in the buy, and the fairs are definitely the best place to be. It does not have to be just home appliances too. Even stationeries, pet foods, soaps etc could be found at a steal price there, if you could wait for it that is. It would defeat the purpose if you ran out of soap and choose to wait 2 months for the Body Shop Expo Fair wouldnt it?

Back to the fan. Had wanted to get it ever since we saw the advertisement in the cinemas, and we fell in love with the sleek and sci-fi design of the fan. However, we had then not invested in this because well, the price is too premium-ish. So it had always been in our to-have-list but never in the to-buy-list.

It was only when our house was in the making then we realised we needed a tower fan in the living room because a ceiling fan would not be effective because of the positioning of our sofa, and the hubby thinks that the wall fan is just fugly. So we had to get a standing fan, and although it was often debated to be a bad idea because it takes up estate space, and could be troublesome during house cleaning because it would be in the way, we had to get one because it was the only option. But most standing fans ain't exactly aesthetically pleasing, except our dream fan. And so, it was purchased.

Grilles, Glass, Platform up

The grilles are up! Initially we did not want to have any grilles because we much preferred an unobstructed view out of the window. However we understand the danger that it potentially may cause, especially next time when they are kids in the house. Hence we came up with a creative way of putting the grilles up.

We had the frame for 3 grilles but we only had 2 grilles installed. This way, when there are no kids in the house, we could push the grilles all away and have back our lovely unobstructed view. We had customized a latch to hold the two grilles in position too so that it does not move around despite the lack of one grilles. However for our 4 window grilles, we just had the full set because we would ultimately have two blocked windows regardless we have 3 or 4 grilles. Happy with our end product!

Our MBR toilet glass work is up too. And yes, there is a door to the toilet if you look closely. It is a clear glass door but we will be getting the frosted laminates to paste over the door for privacy. It is just that my ID recommended such method as a frosted glass door would have higher maintenance issues, otherwise there will be much stains and discolored marks. This way, if the laminates are giving us the problems, we could just change the laminates at a cheaper cost than changing the entire door. And also revealing our rain shower. The pressure and functions and designs are all highly commendable. Cant wait to bathe there!

Our platform is up too. Love the choice of vinyl flooring but was quite disappointed with the grey trimming which did not match well with the vinyl flooring. Hopefully our ID can find something that is of a closer match, otherwise we would request for it to be black instead. The platform does not feel entirely solid either and there were some areas which we could hear a thud when walking over it. Are most platforms like this?

Let the cold wind blow

Installation of our air-con units. Found this highly raved about contractor on Renotalk whom apparently has one of the cheapest price in the market yet maintain the best quality and standards of workmanship. Everything seem good so far so I will definitely recommend this contractor too.

We got the Mitsubishi Starmex Sys 3 for our house. 24k blasting in our huge living room, 12k blowing in our huge MBR, and 9k cooling our bedroom 3 for any guests next time. The reason why we require such a big ass aircon in the living room is because we did not carve a study room out of the huge living room space, plus we had the open concept kitchen. Hopefully it will cool us down sufficiently.

Putting the compressor unit at our ledge, the small space which is technically not part of the house, yet we have to pay for it.

They even covered up our aircon so that it will be protected from all the dusts that will be flying around during the renovation. It helps to deter contractor from switching on the aircon and enjoying it while doing our renovation too haha!

Let there be lights!

We have finally purchased all our lights from Sembawang Lighting House. Initially we wanted to get the cheaper version of lights from taobao/qoo10/tampoi but they did not had the safety mark on the driver. Being the afraid-unable-to-claim-insurance-if-anything-happen couple, we decided to invest a little more into getting lights with the safety mark. Nevertheless, please don't burn our house down. Again like every other part of the renovation, we were taken by surprise by how expensive lights can cost, and how many different variations there are. We have opt for all our lights to be LED so that they can hopefully last longer than the usual fluorescent bulbs. And hopefully use less power too!

All the sperms from the ceiling before the lights were installed. And that is Ah Chong, my electrician who is duh, in charge of all my electrical issues.

Kitchen light and fan is up. I have always been in love with the Vento Fino since the day i chanced upon them online. This is however an Elmark version of the Fino, which is less aesthetic than the Fino, but it is made of plastic, and i figured it would be easier to maintain this than the Fino's wood blades as this is located in the kitchen. Tested the wind and it is damn cool (pun intended). The oscillation was however on the slow side, but i guess everyone will get more wind in some sense.

Let there be lights! Finally we are able to go to our new house at night without having to bring our portable camping latern. We had mounted the projector too, hopefully it is in the right position and distance from the wall. Originally it was planned to be further in front (beside the access panel) but on testing, we realised that the screen was not big enough. It was big at about 100 inch, but not close enough to our desired 150 inch. So we move it back and hopefully it will be just nice without being blocked by our TV console. Shall wait till all the furniture are in and set.

She has arrived.

The Alfred to Batman. The JARVIS to Tony Stark. Meet Alexa, the key to our home automation.

Finally laid our hands on this device after reading countless reviews about it. There were always two sides to all reviews, and generally, we pay more attention to the negative side to see if we could live with it. Afterall, we roughly knew the great side about it, that's why we are reading the reviews in the first place. As this product came from the U.S, many people including ourselves, wonder if this voice recognition software would be able to capture and understand the Singapore slang. It took several Singaporean reviews and being part of the SG Home Automation Facebook Group before we decided to take the leap of faith and purchased it.

Originally I wanted to get the new Echo Dot. Although Amazon had cunningly designed that you can only order an Echo Dot by voice through the original Amazon Echo, there is a way to trick the system and purchase a Dot without the original. The Dot does look better and could be linked to our home audio system, but I chose the original in the end because I do not want to leave our home audio system on 24/7. Perhaps next time for our bedroom if all goes well.

Had been playing with it for the past 24 hours, and it is pretty neat. I have taught it to switch on and off my lights and fans in the room but it is really a tiring process to set everything up before you can enjoy the wonders of home automation. Just a quick introduction to how things are going to be like at our house next time.

I will speak to Alexa > Alexa will trigger an IFTTT recipe to send a link > the link will trigger my phone tasker > the tasker will send a command to my Broadlink RM Pro > the RM Pro will send the radiowave to my Livolo switches > the Livolo will switch on my lights/fan > my lights/fan are turned on. :D

Why will I do this instead of just pressing the switch? Because I can.

Links for reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/3arbeh/how_to_hookup_tasker_to_ifttt_using_autoremote/
http://wiki.winkathome.net/Supercharge_your_Echo_with_Tasker_and_IFTTT

Splashes of Boldness

Painters are working hard today. Had quite a scare in the beginning when we saw hot pink color in the paint bucket. We quickly whipped out our phones and show them the desired color we want and repeatedly ask them to assure us that we will eventually get that tone of color. All we could do was wait and see....

All is well~ We were trying to achieve maroon tone for the house, which is one of the tougher colors to produce as it was a fine line between red and purple. This turns out perfect. The fiancee love it because it is her favourite color, and the fiance love it for the boldness and color splash! Yay!

Our bedroom was to be painted green because of fengshui matters. Initially we wanted the maroon for the room for the seductive romantic feel of the Scarlet Hotel but had to do away with it because the color was not appropriate according to the FSM. It was fortunate that we could do the maroonish in the living room so we were still happy about it. There is a thing about splashing one solid color on the wall. We like colors that stood out which gives the effect of BAMM, if you know how that feel haha.

Just an overview of the two bold colors together in one photo. We had our door frame painted black too and that had drastically improve the whole look of the house. Definitely recommended to paint your door frame black if it suits your theme.

Electrical, Cove, Aircon Pipes

The electrical wiring are mostly done.


The aircon piping are completed too. We would have to wait for the paint to be up before we could install the aircons. Our false ceiling is up too. Noticed the access panel in the middle of the room? Our ID was so thoughtful to think about having an access panel there so that we can easily access the power point which our projector is connected to. This allow us to troubleshoot any problems if any, or remove the cables and projector should it become faulty or it's time for an upgrade haha!

Got tempted by our ID to do a cove lighting. Originally we were firm with the decision of not having a cove lighting because of fear of breeding those icky insects in those spaces, and not to mention the huge amount of dust that will be collected at the top. However, after much considerations (of how often we shall clean the area) and many beautiful mood boards online, we decided to give it a go, and hopefully not regret it! We just have to be more diligent in placing mothballs and cleaning it up, right?

A glance at how the top of the cove look like. Honestly, this is not what we expected, and we may had reconsider against doing this should we have known that this is the outcome. The way this is done actually left too many gaps into the whole false ceiling, which is a potential breeding place which we are trying to avoid. Ideally, the section of the false ceiling should have been sealed off, so that the only area which may have the icky problem is just the external cove area, which could be easily cleaned away. How on earth are we going to clear the eggs if it is laid INSIDE the false ceiling. Let's just hope the effects is really worth it, and we do not have any icky eggy problems to deal with within the false ceiling. Otherwise, we will definitely advise against doing it.

The forming of the electrical network

Our electrician is down today to set up our electrical network. This was one of the biggest headache to us because we need to decide and get everything correct right now, else we will have to face ugly exposed trucking around the house. We spent a great deal of time planning and counting, making sure we have sufficient power points in every corners that is required.

This is our final electrical plan after much changes and planning. Pretty comprehensive uh. The different colors are coded according to where the switches are positioned, and that is the biggest hurdle in the whole electrical planning.

Prior to talking to my electricIan, we thought we could have our switches anywhere connected to any lighting. Boy were we WRONG. Here are the 3 tips that we have learnt from our experience.

1. When you first enter the bto, you will see many holes in the ceiling. Those are power points provided by hdb and are already wired inside the building structure, connected to their in built switches. Good thing is they are already well hidden, but bad thing is that the switch positions are pretty much fixed. So technically you can't really change the corridor light to be controlled by the entrance switch, unless your electricIan rewired it which means extra moneyyyy.

2. The beams are a pain. You can't remove them, you can't drill through them, so you have to work around them. Try not to think about wiring past them, as that means exposed trucking required, or routing via another room. Complicated and messy I feel.

3. There are such things as concealed wires. Meaning the wires are technically hidden in the walls. This however means you can never change the wire, so better get real good wires such as audio cables, or only do for those built in power points where you will never have to remove or change the cable. 

Ultimately, spend more time planning and discussing with your ID to get it right first time one time, so that the ugly exposed truckings can be avoided. 

Kitchen works

Had an off day so went to settle the renovation loan matters, and dropped by our house to take a look at the progress. Chanced upon the tilers who were just wrapping up the works for the day. Really have to praise their good workmanship. Just looking at how they carefully take out the blue mosaic from the middle of my kitchen wall speaks quality and skills. We had to take out the mosaic because blue is a no-no in our house fengshui. So please dont get me anything blue related!

The rough edges of the demolished wall was done up properly. So far so good with the quality they are giving. This would be our open kitchen concept. Hopefully we are able to watch the tv/projector while preparing our favourite dishes in the kitchen. Wouldnt want to miss an exciting part while preparing snacks to munch on uh?

The cement base is up. Previously the pipe was located on the right at the blue upright line area. We were so upset with it because that would force us to put our fridge at a weird location. Luckily we consulted our ID with our concerns and he proposed this to us! Turns out we have been upset at nothing all along. Now the fridge will be located at the entrance while the sink is located beside it. More working space now!

Seriously look at how beautifully the mosaic were removed. None of my adjacent tiles were damaged in the process. Hats off to the tilers. And that two tiles above was because of the electrical point required some readjustment thats why the removal.

Closing up our original kitchen entrance due to the clash of fengshui. It was located near the main door, and due to the positioning of everything, the good 'qi' from the entrance would have flow straight through the kitchen door and out from the service yard if we had kept the original entrance. Hence, to prevent that, we close the original entrance and open another one at the side. We love and prefer the way it look like now anyway!

Nicely done tiles work. Still short of the last step of applying the grout between the tiles.

Making good the parts which the walls came down. And done the shower kerb for our MBR. Things are slowly falling into place.

That's it for now. We can expect our final draft of design and the aircon to be up soon!

The Start of Home Automation

Introducing the first purchases of the Home Automation. Have always been a fan of automating the house, or rather the convenience of being able to control the home electronics regardless where we are. Imagine being able to turn on the aircon in the living room while on the way home so that you will not be greeted by a stuffy house when you get back, or that you could be in the comfort of your bed and switches off all the living room lights, kitchen lights, toilet lights, televisions, etc without having to get out from underneath your blanket. No more urgh feeling of getting out of bed because we forgot to switch off the kitchen light! Woohoo!

Broadlink RM Pro is the heart of my entire home automation system. My system is actually quite laidback, where I am not exploring the Z wave or Zigbee, but rather staying with the common infrared or radio frequency. This way i would not be limited to only the latest few models of aircons and door locks that are equipped with Z waves technology. This Broadlink RM Pro is basically a universal remote control that well, remotely control every technology around it that is controllable with a remote.

The coolest factor is that it has a learning capability where you just have to point the original remote at it and press the button, and it will learn and copy the command for future uses! This way, with a one time set-up, all my remotes can then be kept away keeping the living room clutter free. Tried it with my current fan and lights and worked wonderfully, so shall bring it for the final test in my new home living room next time!

Livolo switches are like the arms of my home automation system. Almost everyone's light are controlled by the manual switch, but that would not do for my home automation system. Instead, the livolo switches are touchpads which could be toggled on and off with a remote. Pair this up with the Broadlink RM Pro and you know that the magic is starting to brew. I could not test this yet as i was not willing to dismantle my current plug to fit this in, but i have high hopes for it at the new home.

Of course, just reading about how great all this are would not be sufficient. Get to experience it first hand at my house next time when the renovation is complete and i will gladly introduce the world of Home Automation and the Internet of Things to you! Hoooya~

Ensuring the fine details

Every inches make a difference. Building a home is definitely hard work, but it will be worth it!