What's Cooking?

Time again to show off my pathetic cooking skills!

What to do when a guy is too lazy to go out of the house for lunch? He peeks at what he has remaining in the fridge and tries to whip up something that can pass off as food.

Hmm..what do we have?
- Mee Sua: A lot of it from my mum. Better finish it up
- Lettuce: Left a bit half the size of my fist. Better finish it up or it will suffer the same fate as the kangkong that last occupied the same spot (trust me you don't wanna know what happened to the kangkong).
- Crabsticks: Plenty left in the freezer. I'll take 2 please.
- Meatballs: Ping Pong brand (with a piggy on the packaging - wife swears by this). 6 bouncy balls then

Pop them all into boiling water with anchovies to make some kinda soup base, and drip some sesame oil and dust some pepper....Viola!
Lazy man's lunch:

Furry stuff from Lush

Before we went off for our honeymoon, there was an offer from Lush Lush. Actually Lush holds discounts from time to time but this one was pretty good with their furry rugs at $199 each only (the normal "discounts" were at $299. You can look out for their adverts on each Saturday's Life section, where most furnishing shops do advertise as well).

So before our honeymoon, we ordered a furry rug that is kind of silverish-grey (depending on how the tuff tilts :P) and 2 greyish-brown big 20 by 20-inch furry cushions. Sigh..maintenance will be tough but these we like them all the same..haha.

Still, I can expect to pick up more fur and dust with the vacuuming and mopping (oops, forgot to keep the vacuum cleaner first before taking the pic..hehe)

What to eat?

Hmm.. what do you do when the wife's away in freezing cold Beijing, you're home alone and it's pouring outside?

Eating in of course! So here's digging into our stash of exotic instant cup noodles bought from Japan:

So what did I choose?



The verdict? Well it's thicker curry with a mild cheesey flavour. Not too bad but not something to take more than a couple of times.

Home

Some photographers came up to our house to take some shots, on request of our ID back in July when the house was ready. We obliged. It'll be a long before you see it so neat again..

Wedding Photos Online!

We've updated Facebook with some of our wedding photos and you can see higher quality ones on Picasa by clicking on the slideshows below.
Day 1 - Traditional Tea Ceremony:

Wedding Day 2 - ROM

Wedding Day 2 - Banquet

Honeymoon Blurbs 03

Toilet technology is always fascinating in Japan, with their obsession on cleanliness and all..



Check out this 3-in-1 tap at a public toilet in an underground shopping mall.
Soap dispenser, tap and hand dryer all in one handy device attached to a regular wash basin. Cool!

Honeymoon Blurbs 02

In case we don't wake up the next morning after having this last dish for late dinner...



You would know what took our lives..

Honeymoon Blurbs 01

Here's an advert for one of the products in the cosmetics shelves in the department store that we went to in Tokyo near Akihabara:



Silver Ions + Grandma + Chio Bu Armpit = GOOD!

Wedding Day 1 - Highlights

Here's the photos from Michael:




and video from Mr Tat!

Day 2 - In The Beginning..

There's a Chinese saying..the best moment of a day is in the morning, and the best season of the year is spring. So how better to start the day off than to have a wholesome home-prepared breakfast?

So Barney skipped down to the nearby minimart, bought some eggs and milk, and whipped up this breakfast for the both of them :)

With tummies filled, it's off to getting married (again - Day 2 :P )

Day 1 - Customary Wedding Rituals 101

Reporting live from Barney's home, the combing of hair ritual (上头) was just completed. With the help of modern technology i.e. the telephone, we were able to coordinate this to near clockwork precision and timing!

In 2 hours' time, Barney's gang will raid Bishan in order rescue the bride from the evil clutches of the wicked sisters who will ensure that Barney be subjected to all forms of suffering humanly possible before he is able to gain entry to rescue the fair maiden from her imprisonment..ok..in case someone actually reads this.. KIND, GRACIOUS, NICE sisters who are making sure that the hero that comes rushing up to the barred gates is the one true prince charming ;)

..in the meantime.. the protagonists will attempt to catch more winks before the tiring day commences!

Post-Reno

First test of our ID for after-sales service i.e. after we had paid up fully.. haha..
He made prompt arrangements for the electrician to come and inspect a relocated telephone point as it was not working. Also, he asked if he could get professional photographers to come in and take pictures of the house for his publicity shots. In return, we could get the soft copies of those photos as well.

Not too bad, as I've been trying to get good shots of the house but am failing miserably. No wonder lor, these guys look real pro with all their lighting equipment and 20kg tripods. Oh well, after we get the soft copies, we can put them up and let you guys know which magazine it might appear in.

Hehe, we've also invited our ID and his gf to our wedding banquet. See if you can spot him.

Final Piece in the Housing Jigsaw - 安床

After some delays with getting stock for the mattress that we ordered, we finally have it delivered to our house.

With that, the final carpentry can be in place for the bedside tables (in case they don't fit :P).
Immediately after the taboo 7th lunar calendar month, the "an chuang" 安床 ritual was performed. Unfortunately, this also means that we can't touch the very comfortable bed till our wedding date..

Philips Carnival Sale

We finally got our vacuum cleaner as we popped by the Toa Payoh Philips Carnival Sale. As Hulk was redeeming our vouchers obtained from our DECT phone, she noted there was this sale coming up 23-24 Aug.

Not too bad! The vacuum cleaner we have been eyeing was ~$100 off the retail price for the newer model tool!

Hehe... Philips FC9160 for $228. I think vacuum cleaners are one of the better deals around (we still got our rice cooker cheaper from Best Denki's occasional offers $99 versus ~$120).

Counting Down - Remaining Tasks

So many things to do yet so little time! The counter reads 27 more days...

As we're usually busy with work, we're pretty spent by the end of each weekday. So we're going to need the remaining weekends to iron out some of the major items for the wedding listed here:

No. Description
1 Photo Montage
2 Complete song selections
3 Finalise banquet program
4 Guest list for ROM
5 Remind banquet guests
6 Banquet table assignments
7 Mum's clothes
8 Siblings' fitting at bridal studio
9 Print photojournal and photos
10 Choose photo for hotel LCD screens
11 Dye hair(?), manicure, pedicure
12 Plan honeymoon itinerary
13 Prepare wedding speeches
14 Prepare wedding vows
15 Meet Wedding videographer
16 Meet Wedding photographer

House Warming - More Thanks!

Phew we're finally done with the different batches of house warming!

Thanks to all who took the time to come, thanks for all the well wishes, and thanks for all your gifts. Our apologies if we've not been good hosts or if you are a victim of food poisoning taking the food we've prepared because Ban has been sticking his marker pens in to add colouring to the food -- just kidding!

We'll probably play host again to some of you next time since we can do some gatherings for festivities etc now. Next target: NYE or X'mas eve? ;)

Waiting Finally Paid Off!

Getting to Compasspoint to run wedding/house errands and to take a late lunch, we dropped by Best Denki as usual (yeah we keep going to electrical and furniture stores to look at things we *are* going to buy to catch them at bargains..).

To our surprise the Philips rice cooker (HD4754) that we've been eyeing for a while, was on sale! Dropping from a price of $162 to $99, it's the biggest discount seen for this model (and strangely, doesn't seem to be advertised in the papers..).

So Barney carried back one rice cooker today. Next experiment - Cooking Rice!

Remaining item on the wishlist:
1) Philips handheld vacuum cleaner FC6093 - to be purchased at Philips showroom with $30 voucher obtained from DECT phone purchase
2) Philips vacuum cleaner FC9160 or FC9064 - waiting for the price to drop and to maximise vouchers

Eat and Eat..

Just did one round of food tasting at Sheraton the other day..
Once again, both sides of the families gathered around a round table and our siblings came to give some comments as well..

Too bad the youngest dinosaur just entered NS and can't book out to enjoy the delicacies..

Here's what we wanted to taste:
1. Deluxe traditional Hors of Oeurve
2. Sharks Fin Soup with dried scallop and bamboo piths
3. Sauteed Prwn balls in spicy vinegar & deep fried soft shell crab
4. Pan fried candaian cod
5. Li Bai herbal emperor chicken
6. Stewed Hong Kong seasoned vegetables with Yunnan Ham
7. Stewed Ee Fu noodles with chives and mushrooms
8. Both choices: Sweetened water chestnut cream with egg served cold? Plus Praline crunchy chocolate tart that was offered as part of the bridal show

Response: too meaty and some of the flavours were too rich. Guess we'll tone down a bit starting from the appetisers..

House Warming - Batch One

Thank you!
Thank you for the gifts, well wishes, feedback and most importantly, thank you for just being there. Pardon us if we have not been good hosts..招待不周. I also fear we might have underestimated the popularity of the items from Barney and Hulk's kitchen (or maybe you guys are just underfed coz we didn't cater for enough..? :P )

The turnout was very good and better than expected. Many old acquaintances were renewed and it's good to see you guys again. It's been some time and fortunes have changed. Most of you guys now belong to the "alumni" gang, outnumbering the last surviving members of the firm. (I can only count on one hand the remnants..).

Although I brought a camera, we simply had no time to take photos or even talk to everyone personally. I hope we didn't neglect anyone..too much :P.

Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves, and we'll see you soon again at our wedding banquet ya? ;)

Once again..Thank You!

House Warming - Batches

Our place is above average in size relative to most HDB apartments, but not THAT big. In order not to have too many of our friends sitting on the floor (despite it being quite clean already :P), we've decided to hold the house warming in batches for various groups of friends.
(Sequence is totally random and unbiased - in case you are wondering!)

Batch 1: Mutual Friends from Work - 27 July 2008

Batch 2: Dino friends - 16 Aug 2008

Batch 3: Hulk friends - 17 Aug 2008
etc..

Extra stuff.. Lelong lelong!

We're into the final stages of shifting in and are getting rid of extra stuff.
If you are keen or know anyone who is, let us know!
We're getting rid of the following brand new items:

Threads are posted in Renotalk and SingaporeBrides forums:
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15311
http://www.singaporebrides.com/forumboard/messages/268785/716516.html?1216281704
1) "Ice Cube" - Hanging Pendant Halogen light
Dimensions: 7cm across the cube
Off: On:
Great for lighting a passageway casting shadows on the surrounding wall.

Min bid price: $40
BNP: $60
Retail price: ~$70 -$75 at Jalan Besar shops

2) Aluminium suspended disk rack with glass shelves
Dimensions: 124cm (wide) x 85cm (tall) x 35cm (deep)
Ceiling mounted.


ID had taken this from a condominium unit (brand new) but it couldn't fit out kitchen dimensions.
Min bid price: $40
BNP: $60

Package price (1) + (2) = $100

(Delivery not included. Self collection near Sengkang Central).
Please contact via havoker@bigfoot.com.

Welcome!

We welcomed the first external visitor to our house!
As the ghost-who-drifts (GWD) needed to get a work lamp at Ikea, we offered our him a ride as we were on the way to Ikea too. In helping us carry our bulky purchases back, our new home welcomed it's first non-family visitor!
(pardon the mess..keke)

Ikea Return Policy

The hulk showed her wrath while trying to fit a poster into the Ikea Ribba frame, and cracked the plastic cover. So off to Ikea, and the very nice customer service officer allowed us to change it for another.

Kudos for Ikea's exchange policies. They're amongst the best I've seen in Singapore.

(then again, given the *ahem* quality of some Ikea products, they had better provide a good return policy).
Oh, and you can change the colour of your products too as long as it's within 100 days of purchase and you still retain the receipt.

On the Kindness of Others

When my parents held a house warming or received gifts for their wedding, there were a few very popular gifts received. That's the reason why we ended with 3 of those very classic Morphy Richards Iron (the chrome one with black handle)...
Well, we didn't have to buy an iron for more than 25 years though..

In order to avoid gift duplication, and to get truly useful gifts from our dear friends, we've drawn up a wish list. We're truly grateful for the response so far since most of the necessities have been catered for. A very pleasant surprise came from Hulk's ex-client's users (no she didn't terrorise them into giving), who gave us $500 worth of NETS vouchers which we used to subsidise our electrical appliances purchases.

Our siblings also gave us support too. Their subsidies helped to make the kitchen more affordable, and gave better air circulation to the always-sweating Barney (hey the suit isn't exactly comfortable you know!)

We've also gotten help in subsidising the Philips vacuum cleaner we've been eyeing for a while. So the only major items left on our wishlist are:
1) Philips DECT phone CD440 Duo
2) Rice cooker (Panasonic or Philips with fuzzy logic for cooking porridge and rice)

Well, we should take advantage of the Philips sale till 31st July since item (1) comes with $30 worth of Philips voucher which we can use to subsidise either the vacuum cleaner, or the (2). And, $150 worth of Philips purchase gets you a free sandwich maker.

To sum it up, thanks for all the contributions, thanks for all the help. You've all put in some part to help build up our new home little by little :)

Murphy Loves Us

After the ordeal with the sofa delivery, we were hit with another issue. On the morning just before the delivery, I got a call from E that the original supplier for the bedframe would not see him the bedframe design that we wanted..
This would put us in a very bad situation as we had already gotten our contractor to customise a partition wall support for it based on the dimensions of the bedframe. If it was a normal bedframe it would be no issue, but this was not one easily found on the market, especially with the very tall bed head.

E told us not to worry, as he would manufacture the bedframe locally himself then, by hook or by crook. However, the second slammer came in the afternoon, when he was stuck at the Dunlopillo warehouse. According to him, the distributor had told him that there was sufficient stock and he had gone down to collect the mattress, but only to find that it was out of stock.

The only consolation that our reasonably priced dining table came without any incident from E.

For now, the bed is about to escalate to a more pressing issue as we have our traditional "an chuang" ceremony date picked. However, without the bed in sight, there is no "chuang" to "an". Hopefully there is some way out before it becomes tricky to handle and explain to our parents.

UPDATE: We've managed to postpone the "an chuang" date. This buys us more time for E to order the mattress and manufacture the bed frame, delivering at a later date. Phew!

Bridal Studio Photography Review

Met up with our studio coordinator and gown designer C yesterday to review the photographs taken by the studio. Was a mad rush from the North of the island to the South after the Starhub incident. Sigh..missing the twins' baby shower was the letdown of the day. Somehow we keep missing out of the couple's celebration events.. :(

Back on track..
Thanks to the brillant Hulk, our studio package has more configurable items that SPRO (oops..keke) that we can swap in and out for more "poses" (in marriage terms, each pose refers to a photograph that is taken differently). In swapping out all the optional items e.g. a 4R mini album, table top photograph (commonly used in Channel 8 serials, often found on the floor shattered when a married couple quarrels :P ), we had the option to choose up to 53 poses.

The Hulk was initially worried that the photographs would not turn out good as she felt some of her poses or facial expressions were unnatural. Thankfully, this was not the case. We still managed to pick out some rather ok (albeit "standard") shots. Hulk's evening gown series didn't turn out that well, probably because of the photographer's instructions to suck in the tummy (where there is none!). Think it caused the partial transformation from bride to Hulk in exasperated exhaustion.

Updates from the New Place

Oh, and I'm actually blogging from our new place. Both cable TV and internet access are available now..keke..

Meeting the curtain guy soon in an hour's time (Thats LDM and Tattat for the recommendation), and after that, more cleaning! Going to setup our Movie Room too.

Oh and we got this at a bargain at Ikea on Friday night. Hauled it back in our handy Honda Jazz (despite the size..try doing that in any other sub 1.6 litre car!). Guess which part of the house it's going to go to? ;)

Screw ups..

Despite the all the planning and homework done, there are still unforeseen scenarios that can happen to throw a wrench into the works. Since our new house is a previously unoccupied new unit, it seems that Starhub would need to get its technicians to activate the cable lines in our house from some switchboard somewhere.

It didn't help that the standard splitter from HDB was apparently stolen from the electrical riser just next to our main door (well, one costs about $20+ to $30 so it's probably equivalent to 150 to 200 aluminum cans). And the irritating technician who came down yesterday was so inflexible and rigid, demanding that we had to expose the hidden trunking where we shifted the cable points before he could do anything -- company policy he says. I say: Stupid policy - why can't he just test the shifted point, and only if there are issues, ask to test the source where it was tapped??

So the sequence went like this:

1 July Tues - Starhub tech came down. Took one look at electrical riser - asked us to call HDB/Town council to install missing splitter. Then took off.
Called HDB, called town council, HDB referred to subcon, no reply, call subcon, chase subcon, got a contact number for the subcon technician. Arranged for splitter and line installation on 2 July Tues, and tech promised to call after it's done.

2 July Wed - HDB subcon tech came down and install. Didn't feedback anything. Had to call him to check status. Went home in the evening to try connection. Still no go. Called Starhub 1633. Apparently Starhub tech has to come down again to activate the cable points. Duh. Pushed for Saturday morning activation

5 July Sat - Irritating Starhub tech didn't want to activate shifted cable points, had to get contractor to hack at our finished walls (GRRRRRRR!) to find the original starhub points where it was tapped. This dragged till late Saturday evening. We missed S&S twins baby shower. GRRRRRRR!

Now we have 2.5 holes in our house that needed more patching the following week. More dust that we had to clear after many mopping attempts. Sigh..

Oh, and the sofa delivered was of a wrong colour. The sales guy at the furniture store had the cheek to say that we chose the wrong code. Shouted at the idiot. Been a long time since I did that to anyone. Well, he did call back to admit the mistake, and arrange for the sofa to be delivered first with the wrong colour, and then send us the correct sofa covers later. When he mentioned partial payment, it was shot down quicker than Osama if he was walking in front of the White House. Of course I'll only pay once everything is ok!

Redness...

The appointed card printer service was good! Not only were they friendly (almost to a saccharine overdose), they were also patient, precise and detailed. When we arrived to collect the cards (and they weren't ready yet due to a minor miscommunication), they offered to deliver the cards to us, outside of office hours.

Thank you Tdragon!

Here's a sneak preview
(pardon the low quality of my mobile phone camera..too lazy to take with a proper cam..)

We love our foldable/adjustable futons

At slightly over 100 bucks each, we opted to get them in place of a mini sofa in our entertainment room. Home2Be delivered them to our new place FOC (and for such cheap items..thank you so much! :P )

Comfortable and good looking (in our opinions), they're rather snazzy in that you can bend them in various configurations, and they stay there in that position. Very stable indeed! Like a well trained yoga master or contortionist, they bend in many angles and are much more portable and fun compared to a sofa. Hehe..we think it's a good find. When you're at our place, do give them a try :)

Hope they last though :P

Reno completion..

We're almost done with the reno!

Armed with mops and brooms, we'll start to clean up our new nest and shift things in. We've stocked up quite a number of items at our respective homes and they're taking up so much space..

Hehe we're such suckers for the "bullet" dustbins at Friven and Co that we bought 3 of them at their 70% off sale..

Bargaining at the Big Stores

There's a little known fact that most are not aware of: that big electrical department stores can be rather flexible with their pricing.
A few neighbourhood stores are well known for having much lower priced electrical appliances than the recommended retail prices usually displayed on large electricals chain stores.
Here's a strategy that we took:
1) Large electrical chain stores are good showrooms. You can also ask the sales persons for details on each model, and take back a brochure or two.
We've encountered some pretty good sales people at Best Denki Taka, Bishan, Harvey Norman Millennia Walk who are rather patient and know their stuff.
2) Call up neighbourhood stores and ask for best quotes
3) Go back to a few select electrical chain stores, and see if they can match or better these quotes
*tip* Harvey Norman stores at a particular IT mall or convention centre seem to be pretty competitive *ahem*.
4) Take the best deal (package them to reduce transportation fees or hassle).

Even with such well thought out plans, there are always Wild cards in a UNO deck.
The recent IT show gave an unbeatable price for our TV because of useful vouchers thrown in as freebies.

Dang! You can't plan everything.

Mass Market Alternatives

For those in the know, there are places that you can get affordable furniture at prices that are generally lower than those of retails stores.
Such outlets do not typically have a nice shopfront in an airconditioned shopping centre, but can be found in industrial estates and even online.
If you look at some of the neighbourhood furniture stores, they typically do not stock much at their shops except for old fashioned tables and chairs.
However, they have some colour printed catalogues of the latest furniture collections from furniture manufacturers in Taiwan and China.
If you look closely, you'll even find some of the same furniture retailing for 3 times the price in major furnishing hubs like Furniture Mall.

These stores sometimes also carry rather good "flattery" of designer pieces. But due to legislation they would be averse to admit so.
If you are a frequent browser of home furnishing magazines, you might find these alternatives rather familiar when you walk into these "factories".

For chairs, you may want to check out the backlanes of Eunos Ave 5 (behind Paya Lebar Singpost Centre) and search for Gnee Hong or Comfort Furniture.
For dining tables and beds, try contacting Mr E of Hommage Furniture. ;)

Studio shoot

After the very fun (but tiring) time that we had with Michael and Eric, the bridal studio photoshoot turned out to be more anticlimatic. Maybe we were pampered too much by the dynamic duo with their jokes and spontaneity. Maybe because our bridal studio photographer was having a bad sore throat. Or just that because half the time was spent in the studio indoor shoot that it became less interesting?

The bridal studio shoot, being more formal, was also more "posey". The hulk complained that she had to strike contortionistic poses that defy the normal human postures. It was easier for the purple dinosaur though. The male maxim for the day was to just "act cool". It wasn't that hard. hahaha..

Presents from banks..

Credit cards. Once a status symbol and part of the much-sought-after 5Cs, they are now just wallet-fillers. Barney and Hulk are determined to make full use of the discounts, rebates and vouchers provided by credit card companies to stretch their spending power to the max.

Since rebates are capped at a certain amount for specific durations, usually Barney and Hulk have typically applied for these cards EACH.

Here are a few cards that we are using/have used to get some rebates:
1) Standard Chartered Platinum Card
Back in Dec 2007, they had a promotion for signing up with this card. There is a whopping 10% cash rebate on purchases within the first 2 months
of card activation.
The catch: It was capped at the first $1000 of spending. Meaning a maximum of $100 rebate.
Barney and Hulk each got one, and with payment for air conditioner installation,
lightings and miscellaneous items, $200 of cash rebate was clocked. QED.



2) Standard Chartered Manhattan Card
The card is one of the lesser known ones outside the circle of people who are preparing for marriage as it was launched some years back and there has been little publicity for the past 2 years or so. However, many are leveraging on its cash-rebating power since there does not seem to be a restriction on the type of purchases on the card.
The catch: You get max rebate of 5% with spending of above $3k within a month (less rebate with less spending). Each quarter you are entitled to only $300 of cash rebates. This means that you should limit your spending to $6000 a quarter.

No problem! Barney and Hulk planned their spending, even taking the risk of paying
for some items in full to capitalise on the cash rebates (from reputable shops of course). Some of our friends who were privy to our payment schedule plans were either impressed or disgusted at the lengths we have gone to ensure maximum redemption.
Next intended target: Banquet bills ;)

3) Standard Chartered Business Platinum Card
This is a new card being launched by the bank, similar to the Platinum Card in Part (1).
Hence we will adopt the same strategy. 200 bucks, here we come!

To date, we have clocked almost $600 in cash rebates and still counting.
By our best estimates, our cash rebates can go up to $1.2k.

Let the slideshow begin!

The slideshow's out!



Thanks Michael!

Photography Marathon!

Having reshuffled our casual shoot session dates due to work commitments, we finally managed to take a day off to do this at last yesterday.

You can see how ambitious we are with the following locations in mind:

Phase One
Early Morning: Sentosa
Noon: Alexandra Park or Kent Ridge Park
Lunch: Vivocity
Dessert: Dempsey Ben & Jerry's (our original intended ROM location)

Phase Two
Afternoon: CHJIMES
Late Afternoon: California Fitness Orchard & Cineleisure
Evening: Icon @Orchard MRT exit
Dinner: Taka?

Phase Three
Balcony @Heeren
Behind Irish Pub

Dropped Phase 3 locations altogether but had a pleasant surprise at the backup location and at places along the way ;)

Here's a preview:














Our very professional, jovial and accomodating photographers are from: Enchanting Kairos - Michael and Eric. Thanks for all the hard work and sweat! Sorry we dragged you guys out from early morning to almost midnight :P

Singapore ID - Finals

After several rounds with several IDs, we've finally arrived at our choice. A former member of GPlan, we've seen his work at Hulk's friend's place and are ok with the workmanship. Friend JnK did warn us that this ID might not be speedy if we're in a hurry and they did have some frustrations along the way. But the end result turned out pretty ok, so they won't stop us from engaging him.

The highlight of course, is that S is able to give us what we want, within a more comfortable budget. It wasn't that easy of course. It took us at least 3 rounds of negotiations and meetups before arriving at the final contract, and after referencing costs from our IDs and individual contractors.

In late October/early Novemeber 07 we signed on the dotted line. Set! The renovations can start then!

Singapore ID - Round 3

Oh, in our last blog entry, I realised out I left out Cissern, who did not even bother to reply to us after repeatedly showing their "quality" materials and emphasisng that they use the best materials and workmanship. Verbally of course.

This round is refreshing in that we are now actively seeking out IDs to visit:


A&D Interior @Upper Serangoon
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3328
Actual: http://lovenest.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/1-more-to-go/
http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3328&st=0
This was a popular choice in the forums in many of our readings. They also had some interesting ideas which we thought could be a good fit. In dealing with our wardrobe space issues for the MBR, Johnny from A&D suggested erecting a false wall in the middle of the bedroom just outside of the wardrobe solely for the purpose of mounting our room TV.

In our earlier discussions with other IDs they (and us) were always thinking of making use of the wardrobes to mount the room TV, which somehow makes it feel like we are making full use of the wardrobe.

This solitary wall mount intrigued Barney and made the two duo more accepting towards the idea of the false wall mount being used solely for the purpose of mounting the room TV. Barney remembered seeing this setup in one of the showbooths at Expo previously and thought it cool, albeit, wasteful in terms of space and materials.

The showroom also had a setup of long rectangular tables perpendicularly against tall dark tinted mirrors. This was the real thing that we have seen in many of the ID magazines. Large mirror in the dining hall became part of the standard required items.

A&D wasn't that expensive despite the feel the firm gave us. But it was still stretching our budget by quite a bit, and provided if we did only one of the toilets.


Hulk Friend @Thomson
We visited a friend of the Hulk whom, with several like-minded friends, run a small cafe slightly off the beaten tracks somewhere in Thomson.

Not only are we treated to a relaxing afternoon (a rarity these days) with good company, we were served good food as well. Hulk friend's advice: don't read too many ID magazines or we'll get more and more confused and messy. It's quite true to a large extent. However, being the curious little critters we are, we couldn't resist flipping through pages and pages of ID magazines (especially when we had Cookie Monster pass us their stash of Homestyle magazines gotten from a mutual friend who was somewhat linked to the magazines' publishers).

On our second visit, Hulk's friend started to pen down some ideas of hers. Eventually, her own busy schedule and her semi-retirement state (from field of ID) made it challenging for her to take on our job. But we did take away some points which we evenutally did implement in our final design.


United Team @Thomson Plaza
Fascinated with the wallpaper featured in the showroom, we walked into their office. Initially, the "team" looked occupied and we decided to move on to Wide Angle first. Subsequently, we did come back here to talk to a young lady. After hearing our requirements, she confidently boasted that she would be able to make it within our stated budget.

This was not the case, however, when we received her email a week after. Attempts to meet up did not bear fruit as she was either too busy or seemed disinterested. This ID was dropped off our list without much consideration.


[Layout plan from United Team]



Wide Angle @Thomson Plaza
Oh we finally bumped into a man who was gentler in speech than Barney! Richard was big on wallpapers and proposed a dark, mysterious theme much alike its showroom and adverts in the magazines. Despite throwing in some freebies (they were linked to some art clock/carpet shop in Novena), we still found their prices a little steep.

However, we did affirm that we wanted a large dark mirror at our dining area similar to what they have done for their clients.


Intra Design @Bedok Central
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1557
Actual: http://renotalk.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=62&
Intra Design was widely acclaimed as having one of the better workmanship in the carpentry and design. And the cost shows.

With the help of Cookie Monster and Kiddie Snack, we made an appointment with Mr D. Boy, he was loud and proud. Hahaha..and his attitude shows. Intra Design does not give a breakdown of the costs, but from what we understand, they take in a lump sum of money and usually do a good job with it, supplying quality materials without even being asked for it. E.g. German soft closing hinges (which Cookie Monster thought was some cheapo brand from China :P), ability to choose almost any tiles without having to top up the costs, designer electrical switches etc.) Barney also noted the designer watches Mr D wears and thought that this young beng must be earning wallops and wallops of cash!

Mr D's coordination is usually rather seamless and he is efficient from what we hear. Cookie Monster recollected his experience: "D asked all the workers to come up to my apartment one day, and lining them up, did a short introduction. One by one, each was told his tasks and off they went to start work." D also takes the initiative to MMS updates to Cookie Monster as and required.

However, that lump sum was also way beyond our budget, so Intra Design did not stay on our list long.


Earnest Interior @somewhere near Woodlands/Yishun
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10147
Actual: http://membina.blogspot.com/
http://blog.shoutz.com/clemvondream/
Cookie Monster and Kiddie Snack told us that they had visited Earnest Interior as well, and they might be able to fit our budget better. Cookie Monster observed that Frankie was meticulous in his proposals (sometimes to the extent of being too careful and too detailed :P). Earnest Interior did get some good feedback from the media recently, and were proud to splash it over their website. Their showroom was tucked in the middle of nowhere at some furniture outlet. Going through a furniture showroom, we were then led to their office.

Barney and Hulk did learn about some design and material considerations in their discussion with Frankie. However, in the end, our budget restrained us in the things that we could do with Earnest, and we found some of their proposed designs a little too conservative. Too bad Frankie, but you are one of the nicest chap that the duo had met.


Boon Siew Interior @Bishan Central
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5460&st=0
Actual: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=338&
Barney's new neighbour just started to show their presence, and from the renovation notice pasted near their front door, Barney noted that it came from an ID near Hulk's place. So we decided to do a bit of reading up on Renotalk. Feedback was rather positive (with some complaints about a firm with almost the same name) and it seemed like they could perhaps fit into our budget. So we decided to meet up with Mr Low.

Mr Low was every bit..a modern uncle(?). He seemed knowledgeable about renovation in general and could tell us very detailed processes like painting and sealants, as well as carpentry work. Furthermore, he was able to do most of what we had asked for within our budget..with air conditioning to boot! This made Boon Siew one of our finalists in this race to engage an ID.

In the end, after comparing the initial sketched designs, we found that Boon Siew could be a bit too conservative for us, and so was eliminated.

[Update: Look at the "Actual" link for this firm. We could be wrong about Boon Siew. They could be rather daring and have some pretty nifty ideas too.]

Ideal House @Upper Serangoon
This is one of the most popular ID firms in the Renotalk forums as of the writing of this post. Seems like they are doing some good business eh? So I don't think I'll need to link any feedback or actual houses being done up for this post.

We have made an appointment with Mr K on a fine Saturday morning. Mr K was polite and friendly; he even had to rush back to his showroom at Upper Serangoon :P
The Ideal House quote was one of the best we've gotten, and Mr K seemed to have plenty of lobangs from solid surfaces to sanitary equipment like sinks (we liked the round soap-dish-like sink at the showroom). Needless to say, Ideal House made it to the finals in our list. They were running a very close second to our final choice.


Art Trend @Balestier
We've gone up and down Balestier a couple of times but never seemed to have the opportunity to enter this uniquely designed showroom. Cookie Monster passed the contact of this lady designer to Barney, and it resulted in a session with Art Trend. Despite the trendy outlook of the showroom, Art Trend didn't produce a high quote.

However, by then we have already started talking to our final choice and gotten quite excited with him. So Art Trend had to go.

Singapore ID - Round 2 (Expo)

Expo Home Shows
We went for one of those Expo home and furnishing fairs as there was a high concentration of IDs under one roof. The Purple Dino wanted to cut down on some legwork you see..


Baroque @Expo & Joo Chiat
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1017
This is one of the more frequent names in the Renotalk forum at that time, and pricing was supposed to be more ok.
At the Expo show, we talked to a lady who sat us down and started scribbling on a blank piece of A4 paper on what we wanted. Punching some numbers, she gave the quotation on
the spot. She didn't give much feedback and was just 'orh orh orh'ing' all the time. Our conclusion: general lack of interest in our business.

After going back and giving the forums some more reading, we decided to give them another chance and dropped by their HQ at Joo Chiat after our appointment at Rezt & Relax.
Andy was more convincing and was able to produce a printed quotation after a week or so. He was able to give some feedback, but only when asked. We heard that his colleague
Lawrence (or something) was one of the more popular ones around, but he wasn't free on the day we walked in.

The best thing about Baroque? Andy passed us a quotation of electrical works pricing (e.g. how much each lighting point costs, new cable TV point etc). which we thought
was reasonable. It became our benchmark for price comparison and has it's own place in our Reno Folder.
Rating: 3.5/2.5/2/3.5/?


Orange Cube @Expo & Kaki Bukit
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8542
Actual: http://odielim.blogspot.com/
http://gnmrenovation.blogspot.com
Their booth was nice, with various modern themes decked in daring colours. Their displays inspired us to have our own "cozy corner", a place to relax, read a book, listen
to soothing music while lounging on a comfortable seat..
We talked to David, a rather young chap who was eager to show off his ideas and some designs he and his colleagues have done.
David was the one who gave the idea for using two rows of parallel wardrobes to create the WIW. The display at Expo also left our mouths watering for a cozy settee in our
new home.

On the flipside, he urged us to pay a deposit to secure this
"special package" at Expo, which we turned down right away. We have decided that we should never rush into any deals especially if it involves a big sum of money and
smooth talking salespersons. Nevertheless, we decided to drop by their HQ at Kaki Bukit to view the quotation David will be doing up.

Orange cube had a nice showroom in Kaki Bukit. Spacious and bright, the design really reflects the name of the company. Seems that they like to use bright colours.
Having done some homework in between our initial meeting @Expo and here, we learnt that their lead designer Amos was well received, and that we had friend (Mr Machine Gun) who
had utilised his services just some months ago and found their work satisfactory.

However, the initial pricing came up to be the highest we've seen so far! $42k excluding GST!
Despite David coming back on several attempts: waiving off GST, offering free System 3 (and then System 4) aircon from Mitsubishi/Daikin, further discounts etc, we still
felt that pricing was on the high side after striking off some of the nice-to-haves. Having analysed the breakdown from the quotation, their windows and wetworks (floor tiles,
cement bases etc) were highest in all that we have compared. Conclusion: Mr Machine Gun must be rich..kekeke..
Rating: 1/3/4/2.5/3


Vogue Design Place @Expo & Balestier
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11702
Actual: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=209&&st=160
Their young staff invited us into their booth, but a more senior person took over. Mr Jimmy sounded like he knew his stuff, as he emphasised that he had started
off as a carpenter and had more than 10 years of experience under his belt at several "more famous" ID firms. He drew a basic layout, listened to what we wanted and made
practical suggestions. Subsequently we were to meet him at his HQ at Balestier a week after.

Going back, we were unable to find any references to the firm at all in the forums (later on we did though, and though it didn't look good with some complaints). Purple Dino
was also concerned that it was not listed in HDB/RADAC's list of licensed contractors (but ironic..see more recent posts). However, the quote that Jimmy gave us was quite
competitive and we were able to redo our toilets (see post here) within our budget. The showroom
was also nicely done up with a dark cozy theme with a dash of goth.

Amongst all the IDs we had one of the most interaction with Jimmy, and we met him no lesser than 4-5 times. He also offered to show us some of the units he had just completed. He brought us to the tileshops along Balestier and gave his recommendations on some of the tiles. In the end, what made us drop Vogue? Well, the place that was recently done up and shown to us killed this firm from our shortlist. We didn't like the carpentry workmanship, and although Jimmy had said that the place was close to the theme we were looking for, it wasn't. It felt antiquated and cramped (but that could be partly due to the tiny 4 room layout of the new Punggol unit). It dawned upon us that maybe the firm will be unable to convey our ideas well enough. Sorry Jimmy, you tried hard, but we just didn't bite.



Note: Even after we dropped Vogue, Jimmy was nice enough to drop us a note that he has since left Vogue and joined another firm. Kudos to his professionalism and patience.
Rating: 4/4/2/3/2


Rezt & Relax @Expo & Joo Chiat
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1093
It was only after we turned back to walk through the Expo booths one more time that we came to sit down at Rezt & Relax. The booth was appealing in its "arty" and mysterious feel.
It did feel like there was some thought that have gone into the design. Rezt & Relax felt expensive and "class" alright..
However, the person who attended to us (no offense intended) felt like a "lao beng" to us. hahaha..How contradicting!

After hearing our inputs, we were invited to their HQ @Joo Chiat. Upon entering their dark, industrial-feel office, there were rows of newspaper and magazine cuttings displayed,
apparently some accolades from the media. (hmm..but some are from the evening tabloids wor.. that would explain the "Bengish" relationships.. :P)
Lao Beng probably felt that we would not give them much to earn, as he has delegated a rather young (barely-out-of-poly young) man named Max to serve us.
Max had some nifty ideas but they were expensive ones. At the end of the day, Rezt and Relax's quotation wasn't as expensive as Orange Cube's, solely because we dropped so many
items off to make the numbers reasonable. Otherwise we would have no doubt that if an apples-to-apples comparison was made, R&R was the most expensive of the lot.

Rating: 1/1/2/2/?

Singapore ID - Round 1

Living Art @Toa Payoh Central
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=12718
Wandered in one day after dinner and decided to talk to the people inside. This was more of an introduction to ID and space planning for us more than anything.
Being the first ID we visited, we had a mish-mash of various ideas - from reading all the forums and issues of Home and Decor :P
Initial wishlist (apart from the necessary stuff)
- Walk In Wardrobe (WIW)
- Wooden platform at balcony
- Flat screen TV swivel
- Bar counter/breakfast table
- Some form of cozy corner

The lady was ok but the quote gave us quite a shock. Either it means dropping items from our wishlists or the pricing was too high.
Walking out after the discussion, we both concurred that it was the latter.
Rating: 2/2/2/2/?

Unimax Creative @Toa Payoh/Balestier
Feedback: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10275
Further down the road, we bumped into a tiny branch of Unimax Creative, and met Derek.
Always smiling, he listened to our suggestions and smiled at the end of each sentence we said. He didn't really have much feedback or comments, but just to tell us to
wait for his quotation. Perhaps it was past closing time and he was tired..We didn't really have much of an impression.

Some IDs and more than a month after, we got a call from Derek, asking us to meet him at his HQ at Balestier. The showroom was impressive in design, having a dark, modern
theme with extensive use of high gloss materials and glass. Derek was able to show was a professionally done up space planning design and the quotation was lower than we
expected (after looking at the showroom layout - we thought it felt like a big name).
There were some innovations in the space planning that we have considered before.
From Unimax Creative, we got the idea of hacking the adjoining bedroom for wardrobe space in the MBR. This gave us sufficient storage space without compromising the living space
within the MBR. The smaller room (with the walls hollowed out for wardrobe) will become the new study.

In the end, we still felt that we could get a better deal elsewhere, and Derek did not give us the impression that he was enthusiastic. So...too bad.
Rating: 3.5/2.5/3.5/3/?

Singapore ID - Who did we select?

Time for a mini review of our renovation interior designer search!
(Disclaimer: All views are personal and could be biased. We are in no way advertising for or bad mouthing any firms.
We do not profess to be experts and are known to make mistakes as well. Pass your own judgements or take ours at your own risk.)

Evaluation criteria (scores out of 5)
- Price!
- How comfortable we are with the ID
- Innovative designs that fit into what we would want
- Practical suggestions
- Workmanship
etc.

Tools
- The Reno Bag
Stolen from another younger purple dinosaur, the elder dino has taken this as his own. All the reno tools are duly stored in this bag.

- The Reno Folder
Provided by one of the ID firms, it's used to store all the quotations from IDs, invoices/delivery notices from all the electrical/furniture shops, blank floorplans, etc etc..

- The Measure
Originally belonging to Dino Mummy, it has "fengshui" measurements on one side, and regular ones on the idea (Purple Dino did not know this until he was told later when
Dino Mummy couldn't locate her Fengshui Measuring Tape). Extendable with a metallic strip, and spring-loaded to snap back to its base, it's compact and can double as a
deadly weapon *whoosh*! *ouch*

- The Camera
Almost out of a job after a holiday in Korea, Mr Fujifilm F30 received a new task: to document all reno-related activities visually.

- The Pencil Case
Brought out of retirement after Purple Dino left school, Mr Billabong Blue needs to take stock of all the stationery used.

Floorplans..

Even before we got the keys to our place, we have started the ID search with the floorplan given by HDB. The floorplan is pretty much to scale, and does indicate which are the structural supports in the unit. ie. no hacking of support beams.

I've also done a 3D mockup using Google Sketch Up


However, it does not contain the electrical, water supply and other structural layouts.

Only upon entering our house do we realise that some stupid architect has managed to place unhackable support beams at the most awkward places..grr.. that's one of the cost of buying HDB. No nice condo designs :(

Mags..

Along the course of our ID search and seeking ideas, we've amassed quite a small library of interior design magazines. Some bought, some borrowed.

Thanks to a kind colleague who was also doing reno just around the same time, and an ex-colleague whose dad has access to some publisher, we had a wealth of design information (sometimes, a bit too much -- the more ideas we see, the more confused we got..hehe).

Here's our reading list:
- Home & Decor
- Squarerooms
- Homestyle
- Style Living
etc..

Eventually, we realised that some of the "featured homes" tend to be repeated over several publications around the same period as well.

Personally, our favourite tends to be Squarerooms somehow :)

Interior Design Search

Our interior designer/contractor search started off with a casual enquiry one day while walking around Toa Payoh Central. Seeing Living Art round the corner where we had dinner at a usual kopitiam (the jie-mei's will remember this as the one we used to frequent after pilates classes), we popped in with our floorplan just for fun. This started off the visualisation of how we would want our new home to be like.

After Living Art, we also dropped on a branch of Unimax Creative a couple of shops away as well. There was going to be a Home and Decor fair at Expo the following week and we decided to head down there since we figured there was a collection of IDs in one location that can make our search easier.

These first steps started our long journey of seeking an ID that will suit our needs and budget.

Here's a list of our conquests..

Baroque @ Joo Chiat
Vogue Design Place @Balestier
Orange Cube @Kaki Bukit
Cissern @ Macpherson
Rezt n Relax @ Joo Chiat
Living Art @ Toa Payoh
Unimax Creative @ Toa Payoh/Balestier
Boon Siew @ Bishan
United Team @ Thomson
Wide Angle @ Thomson
Hulk Friend @ Thomson
D'Espirit @ Clarke Quay/Jurong
Ideal House @ 780 Upper Serangoon
A & D @ Upper Serangoon
Earnest Interior Frankie @ Sims Ave
Art Trends @ Balestier
IntraDesign @ Bedok


Eventually, we went to no less than 18 different places and met a wide variety of interior designers from the Phua Chu Kang types to the kiddos and wannabes..

Backlogs 08 - Our House Part 1

21 Oct 2007

After our key collection, we are opening up our new house for the first time!

On choosing a suitable date, we arrived at our doorstep. With the guidance of this uncle the dinosaur mum engaged, we started with the door opening ceremony by flinging a mixture of rice, sweets, salt etc etc when the door was opened initially. Oranges were then rolled in, signifying that the REAL owners have arrived! Shoo shoo to those that do not belong!

Rolling in the gold! (kam's)

Balcony
ARrrrgh! Can't we get rid of the ugly metal railing there??

Bomb Shelter

Now how do we cover that ugly metal circular plate there? hmm...








Bedrooms

Master bedroom

Study and other bedrooms

Kitchen and Service Yard
See the pretty flower patterns?
Well, we're going to be doing away with them somehow...









The service yard louvered window panes are pretty useless..

This is where the washing machine will be standing









View from across the service yard overlooking
our master bedroom window and aircon ledge









Toilets
Peachy pink vanity top
Matching basin and toilet bowl









complete with the tiles, flowery and all!

Eeew!

Backlogs 07 - Furnishings Part 1

29 Sept 2007

Even before we've gotten our keys, we started to look at what we would want to have in our new place, just to get a feel of how things would look like...and also how much these things will cost.

In recent years, wallpapers have made a comeback as a fashionable mode of decorating one's home. Gone are the days when wallpaper is used as cheap wall coverings in place of proper paint, or fragile paper that tears easily. These days, wallpaper is made of vinyl and high quality paper. Some can be textured to emulate leather, stone, sand, and even have embedded crystals.

At the end of September, we made our way down to Singapore's largest wallpaper showroom and one the bigger names in import of wallpaper, Goodrich Global at Changi South Road.

Check out some of the wallpaper we've seen: