chairs

This is chair from MOOPAK.....$70 a piece. Black fabric with chrome legs.

This is IKEA chair $49 a piece....black feltish fabric with chrome legs. But this one I have to ferry the chairs myself.

WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE?

Fridge and washing machine.

Now the best place to view fridge and washing machine is COURTS....
Then you go to the little shop in Hougang and give them the model number of the appliance that you've picked out:-).

Fridge:
1st choice...
Panasonic NRB301MS6
$699 Courts
Very spacious. This one has freezer at the bottom. But sis says, freezer in the bottom take up more electricity.
Got 4 layers
capacity 276L; enery 606

2nd choice...
Samsung RT41
$671 courts; $609 audio house
Freezer at the top. Spacious.
capacity 330L; enery 611

3rd choice...
LG GRM 392YLQ
$709 courts
capacity 318L; energy 706

****
Washing machine...

1st choice...
Electrolux
7kg: EWF984 $1079
6kg: EWF861 $889

2nd choice...
LG
5.5 kg: $529 WD1048oNP $499 at audio house
6.5 kg: $629 WD10490TP $589 at audio house

curtain day

The lyksele sofa bed in bedroom 2.

Master BR with curtains.
Ektop with curtains.
My kawaii piano with curtains.
Living room with curtains.
Men from Hong Ming Store putting up my curtains.
Guy doing the curtain in the bedroom.

dahlia gallery

Oval dining table with sexy legs! Interesting wood grains.
$2800.
If the item is the 1st piece carried by the dahlia gallery for the 1st time and I buy it I get 50% discount. So this sexy oval dining table is a steal at $1400.
Cons: it is wood veneer. Width 160cm by 100 cm.



The MASTERPIECE!
Award winning dining table.
Hello!!!! think of the cleaning I have to do on those irregular edges. I guess design people are not cleaning people.


I love this coffee table. I think it cost either 900 or 3000. Cannot remember which.



Normal looking rectangle birch wooden dining table with rattan details on the side of the table.
$1800.


www.dahliahome.net

Interesting furniture shop if you are into wood stuff.
47 Amoy street.
I found this 3 storey furniture place by chance.
Danilo from Isreal was really helpful.
Must be the angmoh-ness, he actually invited me to take photos, take photos!!!!

So here are the photos.

kopitiam table

check this out...

www.polyart-marble.com

mirror mirror on the wall...

Before.....& ......After.....

Mirror mounted on the wall.

marbles

If you want to see what the marble looks like:
go to www.tsm.com.sg

Under products, they have an entire jpg file of all the marble and grains that you can see.

Checked Tien Seng marble....
Yes they do custom make...
No steel legs.
Price from 5k up.

The quest for the perfect dining table

Sunny day! Perfect to set off on a full day hunt for my dream dining table set....

Planned itenary:
1. stop at bank to set aside budget for dining table
2. Castilla (I got 20% discount vouchers)
3. Air at Wilkies Road
4. Urban Foundry 18 purvis rd www.urban-foundry.com
5. Lush www.lush-lush.com

Castilla...
This is my 2nd round of Castilla. They have the most beautiful marble dining tables.
BUT.....5K for table alone minus chairs.
I was even shown a marble dining table that was extendable.....only one that I've seen so far.

Walk down the road to Air....
I've always liked what I see at Air. But this time I decided to check out their flagship showroom at Wilkies Road.
The hard-to-locate entrace (reminds me of the Lourve Museum in Paris where we went round and round when the pyramid was the entrance)....duh!....
I liked what I saw here.
Things that I liked were around 3K
There was one with white marble on solid teak legs....about 4K.

Headed down middle road towards raffles hotel next....
Urban Foundry...
cool place.
I like this place.
The lady that attended to me was very patient in showing me the stuff that they carry.
What impressed me MOST was her sincerity and HONESTY!!!!!
Remember that harvey norman dining?
I saw a coffee table with that type of marble....
lady said that was Black Macquina....has been discontinued because it chips easily

Then I was shown a selection of white marble samples:
Volex: has brown/green grains
Bianco carrena: has greyish tints
Sartinaro lightly viened: base is pure white
Granite: if I want black to go for granite

cool....
1.8 x 0.9 x 0.75 costs $3710

1.6 x 0.9 x 0.75 costs $3440 can be brought down to $3239.10
includes transportation and I can go with lady to her supplier to pick out the marble that I like.

Marble mounted on wooden legs are cheaper...$3160

I just SOOOOOO lurv their service.
Their marbles come from Italy

This place gets 5 STAR vote from me.
Er....I only have a budget of 2.8K for table and chairs and transport!!!!!

By this time both my feet had blisters...so time to put plaster and grab some lunch.
Lunch was $3.90 nasi lemak at Beach road place.
hehe....I find myself looking for cheap lunch these days....

Then final stop LUSH.
Things look so spread out on the map....but immediately after Irving road was kapo factory...quick ring the bell.....phew....made it.
It was not too difficult to find...Lush was in this building called Centro Bianco...luckily the advert says next to Kapo Factory....

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!!!
The 3 Beautiful dining tables, with spastic legs had legs made of CHROME.
Now, between chrome legs and stainless steel legs...I'd go for stainless steel.
Chrome will lose the luster and after a while it will rust.
Now I am the type of buyer that expects some mileage out of my purchase...read....need to last donkey years like 10, 20 or more!

So I looked at other things.
Egg chair: $1,200
Barcelona chair: $825....Moopak selling $900
White granite round side table with fibreglass base: $420....this is cheap...urban foundry selling $880.
Benz Bench: $680...but TAKEN!!!!!
Swan chair: $818
Corona lounge chair: $1300
Furry cushions: $35 each
Furry rugs: $380 - 480

Called Moopak to find out what was the 2 slabs of marble they have:
black macquina...hmmm
Light applelano brown

Looks like the ones I was at Lush.....
The lush marbles come from CHINA.

****
Well marble is marble....and budget is budget.....
I am going Moopak on Friday.
Spoke to the owner.

1. They can customise...meaning....I can bring in a photo...of what I saw that I like in a magazine...and they can make it for me.
2. I can have Steel legs!! yippee.
3. They have new types of marble....well this one I have to see first.
But it looks like it will be moopak marble ....unless I have some windfall or something....then I will definitely go to Urban Foundry.

Arne Jacobson Egg Chair

I love those Egg chairs....

The ones at Park Mall was thousand plus.
Castilla...$1980
Another shop....$1712
I saw one at GWC Vhive going for 300 plus....

But of course the Vhive one looks and feels not as shiok as the real thing. Though, perhaps even the castilla ones are reproductions?

Speaking of Castilla....
They have the best quality marble dining tables that I have see so far.
Think I will go back there and look to see if they have any on sale.
Very ex....about 5k.
Way beyond my budget....
hehe...but nice to look at.

I need to look at fridge and washing machine.
Then FINISH my shopping spree.

Need to get NTUC vouchers to buy cooking essentials.
Bought my bedsheet with tangs vouchers.
haha....buy more on credit card and then chalk up points to collect vouchers....

About NEEDS and WANTS....
eg. I want a carpet, but I need a fridge!
Er.....guess, I'll keep dreaming about that carpet for now.

rugs and cushions

Rugs....
Should I get Beige OR dark Brown???
I have beige curtains; marble floors, white sofas.....thinking of black marble dining table with stainless steel legs....

HOW HOW HOW?????
Aiyah...now down with flu and keep coughing.

My mirror is coming on WED!
will put photo here when it is fixed up.
Cost of full mirror done on dining wall....quote....$700.
Mirror from THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS....weekend sale....$380...plus delivery and installation.

more things to look at

Baroque dining table...looks exactly like the Harvey Norman one but few hundred cheaper!

Rococo....I think the legs are different.
Delma....again legs are different.

So Which LEGS do you like? Please tag your choice of baroque, roccoco or delma.

stainless steel bench.
Wonder how much. I saw a cushioned bench yesterday at Home2be costing 350.
It'll be good for theory students to sit on benches.

I like this dining chair. Do you?

more on dining tables

LUSH
www.lush-lush.com

I found that Harvey Norman marble dining set here. Lush carries 3 designs of marble top dining set. Price: $1780; $1880 & $2000
Still, it is the legs, the legs!!!!!
Those Baroque legs looks a bit spastic.
They have a lot of designer reproductions here. Pretty neat stuff.

Tien Seng Marble
www.tsm.com.sg

They have a WIDE range of marbles in all sorts of colours and grains. I read in some renovation forums that this place can cut marble slabs for you. I called but sales person was out. Definitely need to check this one out.

Moopak
www.moopak.com

The owner is out for the long weekend so I will need to wait until Tuesday to get quote from the owner. Well that definitely buy me some time to check the other places out.

The dining set!

Choice 1: Harvey norman $1.9 without chairs
I like the marble. I don't like the legs. I saw this at an ad for LUSH...so wondering if Harvey Norman is like Courts...like they sub to LUSH???

2nd Choice: a hot favourite

Cellini black tempered glass. Yesterday went to look again, still got FEEL.
I love the stainless steel LEGS...exactly what I am looking for.
BUT...glass....if this table is going to be multi-functional....for writing, baking, food preparation, computer work, theory work, dining....
glass....hmmmm?

3rd Choice: go back to Mootak and get it custom made!
Price like harvey norman $1.9 without chairs
need to throw in chairs...estimate $150 per chair...and those are normal looking chairs...throw in
$80 for transportation....
buy hey...I get to choose the LEG design!
And the colour of the Marble....I was shown the above specimen.
But the owner has gone away...so I will only be able to talk to the owner on Tuesday.

Marble table at harvey norman

Cool marble dining table from Harvey norman.

The cheapest one that I have seen yet.....1.9K minus chairs.

Tada!!!!

New kitchen top.

day of the kitchen top

This is my kitchen top. There is a crack on it so the developers are replacing it.

kawaii

Music Clef...
I know the boss. So it was easy to specify what piano, how old and what kind of sound I wanted. Boss narrowed my search down to 3 sets. I guess the final decision has to be a non-cerebral one. Yep, I choose my piano based on 'feel'. A gut feeling that lets on, yep, I'm going to enjoy playing and practising this piano for the rest of my life.

I went over to the REAL kawaii shop to check out what the new models sound and feel like. In spite of the humongous size of the showroom and the posh environment.....oh, the shingeru kawaii is beautiful....cost 50K, and the entry level upright costs 7k. Erm....all beyond my budget.

They have 2nd hand sets going for 6.9K.....and that is still beyond my budget.

So, I returned to Music Clef to make my final decision.
7yrs old US6X model, an upright grand.
Cost 6K....brought down to 5.8 if pay in installment and 5.5K if pay upfront....
and bargain down to $5350 final price!
Throw in cover, coaster, adjustable bench, free delivery and one free tuning.
ok...i am happy!

Crucifix

$95.

Rather unique looking because it is like a painting and yet it is like a sculpture.

Some crucifixes leave you feeling poignant....but this one gives a feeling of calm.

Anyway, I have only one spot to put up a HOLY object.

I intend to hang it at the spot where you walk directly in through the front door and that is the first thing you see.

holy family

The beautiful Holy Family.

I love this statue. Price a whooping $220

Made in Italy.....I was told.

the surface top team

Potato polishing my cresto surface top.
Don't ask me why baby powder calls this chief bangladeshi 'potato', but this fellow is suppose to be the the BEST!
Yep Yep, nothing but the best.

digression...
My piano tuner btw, is the best from big Y. I went through many technicians who could not hear what I was complaining about. It was a strange clicking sound every time I played that particular key. And finally big Y sent YF over. YF and I clicked immediately because she could HEAR what I was describing and I felt so relieved that finally I was understood. YF has been tuning my grand piano for the past decade.

Big chief K from Cresto personally delivered the warranty card, stamped and everything.
He was very patient, humble and he LISTENED!
I showed him the scratch marks on my walls, on my closet, on my widow sills.
And he LISTENED!
Big Chief K explained that his workers could not fix the scratch marks and I should get my designer to help me fix. He said I needed to paint the marks.

Right.....
Paints.....
I know where to get them....
I asked Big Chief K to go down with me to ask bangladeshi workers downstairs to come up and paint.

1 o'clock, no problem, bangledeshi was eating his nasi bryani....

tick tock tick tock....
I waited till 2pm.
Called BIG BIG Indian Chief....
Er, I spoke to chinese chief just now and he asked you to do paint touch up.
no problem....I send my workers up.

Worker came,
"Ma'm we give you paint, you do the touch up yourself"
I did not have container. So worker went down, found 2 empty paint containers, and generously poured me the cream colour for the walls and the white for the ceiling.

****

MY LESSON ON HUMILITY....
Have you tried stepping on the 4th step of a 5-step ladder, and try to paint your ceiling?
Right...
I need a ladder.
Where to get one?
I walked out.....
Perfect, closet guy was next door at my neighbor.
Closet guy offered his ladder, while he went to paint the bumps on my closet.
So here I was with a good morning towel tied round my hair, painting over the false ceiling that was patched up from the light person.
I was very very slow.
Balancing precariously, THIS IS HARD!!!!!
Closet guy came out and saw moi....doing my 2nd patch up.

" I used to be a painter"....closet guy said.
"good! why don't I pay you a token and you help me paint the touch ups?"
"I do it free for you"....closet guy then took over the painting of the ceiling.
He did the touch up while I pointed where the covered holes were.
Not just one coat, but he actually went a 2nd round so that all the pencil markings, covered patches were fully invisible !!!!!

***

Then sofa came.
It helps to have a vacuum cleaner.....
I went through 3 rounds of wiping my floor. It is quite quite clean now.

Curtain guy came.
Hong Ming Store Pte Ltd.
Mr. Hong did the measurements. Another very humble boss.
He helped me decide on colours, how far out to put the tracks, what to put in my rooms etc.
Then he did the maths.
Bill: $2488
He gave me a little reduction from the 2.5K bill. So I was happy.

***
G did not show up.
I had bought an extra coke for him when I went and buy lunch.
Anyway, I gave coke to the closet guy who helped me paint my ceiling.

I need to buy a smaller brush for the cream to touch up the chips on my wall.

***
I ran into Mr. H, big chief chinese guy.
He said the kitchen top will only arrive end of the month.
OK....
That will give me some time to wait for the piano sale plus shop around for a dining set that I like.

Piano

My piano tuner came today.
There is a warehouse sale at Big C.
Piano tuner said, no good.
I know.
I worked at Big C before.

Piano tuner gave me some tips on what to look for in a second hand piano.

I learnt something new today:
I did not know that the swimming pool downstairs will affect the humidity of the piano.
Or placing plants nearby, or water features.
hmmmm.

I asked about Music Clef.
Piano tuner gave her approval.
Since Music Clef is opened by ex-big Y people, don't think they will cheat me.

Piano tuner asked me to get either U1 or U5, not the U3.
Somehow the in between one just does not measure up.

OK...

The Examen

By asking each night, before going to bed, two simple questions, and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the answers, we can grow to find out what brings us life, and what drains us of life. The two questions can be phrased in a number of ways:

- What brought me most life today?- What drained me most of life today?
- What brought me most joy today?- What brought me most sadness today?

- What was the highest point of my day?- What was the lowest point of my day?
- What moment of today would I like to relive?

- What moment of today would I never want to relive?


As each moment or activity is brought to mind through the working of the Holy Spirit, we are asked to focus on going through that moment again, and asking ourselves what is it that we were doing and how we felt to bring about such consolation and desolation. This is how we get in touch with our deepest self, and how we get in touch with what God is saying to us in the little things of each day. It is about reflecting on our lives, our actions, our moments, and our feelings, instead of just rushing through life.


The saddest point in my life today was when G asked me to settle it with D myself.

There were 2 high points today:
When the phone line got cut off as I was talking to D, I felt abandoned.
And then, D called back.
And I knew that I was not abandoned.

When I was at Mootak, the part time shop person said that there was a sale next week.
He made the experience at the shop a memorable one because I saw good pieces.
And knowing that there was a sale next week, if I really liked something, I would go back and get it.

You know at the end of the day, things are things.
People matter.

honesty, integrity...

Maybe I am STUPID?

Joo Chiat curtain experience:
#1
Budget fits, product fits.
Then the guy handed me his card.
Monli Curtain
Mr. Do Re Mi
????

And I thought, I'm not going to buy curtains from Do Re Mi! If there is a problem later, how to find the person?

#2
Lelong $3 per meter on display outside curtain shop.
Yuen Sun Textiles
What kind of house is this?
Guy asked in hokkien.
HDB I said.
Bo lah, mmm si hdb.

And suddenly $3 material was charged $10!!!!
Workmanship.
Gang ji.

!!!!
Ok.

Grillman...
Grillman was measuring my door when phone call came.
Some owner wanted to know his name, his partners' names....etc.
He said he don't want their business.
Giving back their refund.
!!!!
Grillman called me today.
I said, I have not checked with my management about design.
Hey....its true, I am not lying.

*****
I saw the painters.
I got the paint numbers.
Managed to ask them to come to my unit tomorrow to paint up the ceiling and the walls.

I feel tired.
Need to wake up early tomorrow to put newspapers on my floor.
Then clean up the place after.

Marble dining table

I went down to Mootak to see the dining table.

Unfortunately, no dining table was available for me to see.

I was given dimensions

quoted the price:

$1950 for 1.6m by 0.8m

$2350 for 1.8m by 0.9m

I was shown samples of the marble material.

It felt a bit Emperor without clothes.

I find it hard to sink in money without seeing the thing in front of me.

Are you J?

No J is over at DL.

Ah....

He owns that place?

Business partners.

Ah.....

Solid surface top

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=621


Solid Top usually comprises of material made from Acrylic and Polyester. Different brands got different mixture ratios.

Brand: DuPoint CorianComposition: 100% AcrylicPrice: S$110-145 per ft runWarrenty: 10 YearsRemarks: Considered the BEST of solid surfaces... but i think this reput was earn when they are the only company producing 100% acrylic surfaces.

Brand: LG Hi-MacsComposition: 100% AcrylicPrice: S$90-110 per ft runWarrenty: 15 Years LimitedRemarks: Proberly the next best alternative, however some ID advised against using this due to little price difference with branded stuff like corian.Brand: HardstoneComposition: 100% AcrylicPrice: S$70-80 per ft runWarrenty: unknownRemarks: Was introduced by ID on this brand, similar to corian also using 100% acrylic. Very limited colours.

Brand: Samsung StaronComposition: Acrylic Resin + Aluminum Tri-hydratePrice: ??Warrenty: 10 Year Limited??Remarks: na

Brand: MontelliComposition: Acrylic + PolyesterPrice: S$70-75 per ft runWarrenty: 10 Year Limited?Remarks: One of the standard solid surfaces used by local contractors. Not much info on this, but often see this brand's catelogue at IDs place.

Brand: CrestoComposition: Acrylic + PolyesterPrice: S$65-75 per ft runWarrenty: 1 Year?Remarks: One of the standard solid surfaces used by local contractors.

Other Alternatives:Granite - around S$90 per ft run.Anyone with additional information please contribute!

Grills

I want my grills simple. Grill man thinks it will be 450.
But turns out I have to find out for the design designated by my management team

Ah C calls this arrangement do re mi...

and you thought do re mi was only for music!

I think I regret getting this light. Because it is white and will get dirty easily and it is difficult to change bulb.

LIGHTS!

The handsome Ah C putting in downlights

And there shall be light

Lightman came today and what I thought was a 3 hour session of installing 29 lights turned out to be a whole day affair. Tweedle dee dum....I have to leave at 5 and Ah C still has 2 down lights to go and he has yet to patch up the holes!
Luckily there was my Pa to take 2nd shift while I went home.

For an electrician....
Ah C has fanciful blonde highlights on his fringe.
Did you know he has PERFECT eyesight? gees, he could have been a pilot.
Alternatively, he could have gone for corrective lasik?
And you thought only PCK has those last finger nail kept long....Ah C has his thumb fingernail pointy like a lou fat ye.

Ah C was very good.
He let me practise putting in a light bulb. I wanted to make sure that I knew how to change bulbs since I will have to double up as handyman in the house.

***
I took photos.
Will put it up when the blog allows me to.

Sofas

Sofas...

I went to the Ikea sale. Unfortunately what I wanted to get was not on sale. Anyway, I am getting cow mummy's ektop sofa. Nothing in the world will make me change my mind. And if you visit, you've have the oppotunity to sleep in the guest room on the very colourful Lysele.

Curtains

Fabrics galore!

This is going to bust my budget of 1.3K
I went shopping at Joo Chiat Complex. Sure there were 1.3K stuff that fitted my budget. But I was in like, obviously not in love.

So what constitutes value?

1. You must LOVE the curtains. As in absolutely fall in love with it! Hey, you are going to wake up to the curtains and go to bed with the curtains hanging there 365 days for the next donkey years!

2. Washability. Curtains get dirty. If the curtains are cheap and it tears when you machine wash, you don't feel half the pain. Maybe if it is very very beautiful, then don't wash....as in hang it until 10 years then throw and buy new ones.

3. Priceless.
Again, the ultimate decision is I want it to look good. So the LR will have the BEST!
The rooms do not need such nice ones so they will be getting cheaper ones.

****