The Finale

Our renovation has officially ended a couple of months back, but we were still getting our stuffs ready, hanging up clocks and photos, setting up new gadgets and completing our home. With our housewarming party due the following week, we did a mini photoshoot of our house so that we could compare how much transformation the house has gone through. We have always seen others posting their before and after photos so we had made it a point to do it too, else it is too late once the walls starts coming down and the carpentry up. So for those that does visit this blog, here is the preview of our home....

The entrance, where we had sealed up the original door to the kitchen.

Our shoe cabinet which also concealed the unsightly bomb shelter door.

The view of our living room once we step into our home.

Here's the open concept kitchen as well as the entrance to it.

Presenting the deep-end sofa for us to lie down comfortably to enjoy our movies.

A custom made sword case as our tv console. And a plain wall behind it.

which transform to anything we want at a touch of a button.

Open-concept kitchen which we have not been cooking much.

and the other end of it with our service yard behind those doors.

The corridor splashed with maroon and the doors framed black.

Our recreational room where we work out and namaste.

keeping the room simple so that it could be anything we want next time.

Here's our study area where we get the work done.

Took down much of the walls to combine both rooms into one.

Bedroom cum study room cum walk in wardrobe.

Our platformed curb for our beauty sleep.

which opens up to store (and hide) our future belongings.

Our wardrobe which closed up the original door to the masterbed room.

and the other side of the wardrobe.

A little changes to the toilet, with the toilet bowl remaining constant.

and finally, how our vanity cabinet had enlarged to this.

This is home... truly...

Quality does Matter - Bedhead Lights

Previously we had bought our LED strips from Qoo10 in our attempt to save some money considering that the whole package cost at least one-fifth of what the local lighting shops are selling at. Most of them were working fine, except our bedhead ones which burns out every 30min. We assessed the fault to lie with the adaptor, and suspected that it could have overheated in that enclosed cabinet. Regardless, it was quite disruptive having to off-on the switch again only to have it burn out again in 30min. Thinking it was a faulty adaptor, i ordered another adaptor from Qoo10, and that burned out in like 5min. Zzz.

So i decided to head down to my local lighting store to get their expensive adaptor which look like this, and it definitely feels better than those laptop-charger-like adaptors from the Qoo10 seller. At almost three-times the price, it better be good. Turns out, it did work, and the burn out issues did not happen again.

Now we could enjoy some proper ambiance lights at our bedroom without having it blackout every now and then. Fortunately though, the other adaptors for my LED strips at the kitchen and living room had no issues so far, but if they do burn out, I know the appropriate solution now.

My ID had also made a fitting box for the adaptor as it could not fit inside the bedhead. Not the ideal situation i have to say, but this does make it look better than having the adaptor exposed in this shelves. Hopefully, it does not cause it to overheat further.

Why do it when we can get a robot for it?

Meet Ms Xiaomi, our new helper around the house. It was released last month on Sep 16, and I had it placed on order the moment it goes on sale in Taobao. The specifications were amazing, beating most of the high end robot cleaners out there right now, yet at only a fraction of its price. Now that it is in our hands and we are using it daily, we can confidently say that it lives up to its claims. The smart technology inbuilt and the powerful vacuum power had left us in nothing but awe. Definitely recommended to buy. I will do a proper review on this again at a later date. Had been bombarded with work and school lately. Stay tuned!

Insect Netting - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Please pardon us for the lack of updates lately. Audits at work are sucking us dry!

Many years ago hubby had a traumatic experience with a hugeass flying ugly cockcoach while he was bathing. With nothing to defend himself except a showerhead, he was trapped inside as it landed on the shower screen door and he needs to push it open to run out, likely causing that ugly thing to spread its wings and attack the prey. One could only imagine the terror of how a buck naked prey knows its death fate with that giant ugly thing guarding the only door to freedom. Ever since then, he always bathed with the shower door half opened, so that he could attempt slipping out without touching the door should the situation arise again.

That definitely was not the best solution, but it provides a contingency plan for hubby. However after seeing the solution at a friend's house, we knew we had to get the same thing too! We bought an insect netting from Qoo10 and used it to cover the bathroom window! Although yes the ugly things could appear from elsewhere, but it blocked out a good amount of area that it could appear by. One could only roughly guess how much mental damage the ugly thing did when they see the great height that hubby goes to prevent a similar occurrence.

It really did not require much effort. Just 10 minutes and some stick on tapes that were provided and the net could be nicely installed to keep the bugs out. Thus far it has been effective, and we really hope it could be for the long run, though the thin net does make us question its durability. Only time can tell.

A glimpse from the inside. The great thing about new BTOs are that the windows are accessible from the aircon ledge. This is because the netting could not be installed on the inside as the panels would protrude out from it. However, there is no problem from the outside. Also it is aesthetically pleasing because you cannot really see it from the inside. Definitely recommended if ugly giant things annoy you too.

When one is too lazy to go to the gym...

You bring the gym back home! Finally gotten our workout bench after seeing a good deal online. Hubby went down to inspect and realised the quality is pretty good. The whole thing is very stable, which we guess is the most important aspect. Other things like the ease of adjusting the height was part of the factors too. We had seen several complicated bench that we felt were too much trouble to get them.

It was not perfect though, where there were some paint chipped and scratches, but overall it was great, especially for that affordable price. Am really glad to finally have a proper bench to work out on. Previously we had done it on the bed and floor which were definitely not as effective nor comfortable as this. We like how it could be folded up too, which allow us to keep it away easily should the need arise.

Workout could not be completed without the weights. Am so glad i had my handy trolley to help me move the weights from the car to the house. Side story, this trolley was a free gift, which made me spent extra $80 dollars on another appliances so that i could get this for free haha! But since i needed the appliances too, it was worth it.

The dumbbells were not of a quality that is worth raving about, but it does get the job done. Time to head to the bench to work out!

Workout Bench
Recommendation Rating: 4 stars
Positives: light, sturdy, affordable, comfortable
Negatives: scratches and paint chipped

Dumbbells
Recommendation Rating: 2 stars
Positives: aesthetically nice, get the job done, above average quality
Negatives: slightly more expensive, rather dusty and oily when first opened

Find them: Qoo10 GenConnect
Special tips: Go store collect. Aside from savings from delivery fees, the owner would give extra discount too! Remember to ask for it!