So we finally received our TV console from Second Charm 1½ weeks ago!

Our coffee table and sofa arrived about 2 days before our Bali/Gili trip, and we expected our TV console to arrive next in mid January 2015 since we were told it'll be ready 8 weeks from our order date (22 Nov 2014). 

Unfortunately there were 2 delays, which we didn't mind at all, but we were a little peeved that the folks from Second Charm didn't bother to update us about the delays. Kita yang kena message them a week after every promised period to ask for updates. Lambat kita tak kisah, but bilang lah kalau ye pun.

But takpelah. Janji barang sampai. Everything is to our liking and sempurna, except if you count the right side door of our TV console... the catch mechanism not working that well seh. Kita tak kuasa nak hantar pergi hantar balek lagi though so we will leave it as it is. Konon macam that is the quirk of our TV console! Hehe.

Looooove the quality of the wood and workmanship though, and I am diggin' the roundness of each piece. The colours of all pieces pun matching to a T! Dalam gambar nampak lain because they were taken at different times of the day so the lighting is different - I'd say the real colour is closest to the first picture. 

Now the bulk of our house is somewhat complete! Yay! Tinggal details like a nice clock that will fit our home theme (we're currently using the el cheapo IKEA one) and printing the prints for our wall frames. Masih ah tak buat buat padahal dah beribu guests datang tengok our rumah tau HAHA. 

Oh, and maybe work towards purchasing a new TV since our current one is Saliheen's 3-year-old room TV and meant to be sementara? Lagi lagi this weekend Singtel is coming to pasang Wi-fi and setup our cable!!!!! Yes, we have been living in our house with NO freaking Wi-fi for the last two and a half decades months k. Macam tinggal dalam gua kat atas gunung k.

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 3

I know I aaaaalways sound excited about my renovation progress (that's because I AM) but I think this week was the absolute most exciting for Saliheen and I because our flooring and lighting were due to be up and running!!! Penting k these two! We had a ~pretty~ packed schedule last weekend so I nak sharing lah sikit what happened. Let's go in khronological order eh:

9.00am - Collection of Keys from HDB

Finally received confirmation from HDB that we can collect our key back from them so kita singgah sekejap in the morning! Quite relieved we didn't wait for HDB to lenggang kangkung buat our cement screeding works after knowing how terrible their service was (blogged here). If something as minor as returning our key took them one month and two phonecalls, what more something major like cement screeding??? Tak boleh harap betul.

10.00am - Contractor Appointment

We were the most excited for this OBVI!!!!! So much so that Saliheen and I tak boleh concentrate the whole week and keep whining ASAL LAMBAT NI NAK SATURDAY ASAL NI ASAL NI ASAL BELUM SATURDAY NI y'all wouldn't have wanted to be in the same house as us last week ah basically hahahaha

But you might like to be in the same house as us from this day onwards because our rumah dah ada flooring and toilet doors y'allz YAY YAY

Last picture is of my husband sweeping the floor for, oh I don't know... THE TENTH BILLIONTH TIME

Electrician came that morning as well to confirm the location of our lights and said he'll be done in 2 to 3 hours. Had plans immediately after that so we left, with the intention of returning to make sure the lights are in the correct places and working fine later that afternoon.

11.30pm - Purchase Dining Set from Comfort Furniture Design

Returned to Comfort Furniture to confirm our purchase of dining table and chairs! We went with our first choices - Norya for dining table, and Titus for dining chairs. Delivery will be in 2 weeks' time, which means we'll have our dining able and chairs ready for when we move in! This was quite important for us because we wanted a proper table that we can eat and work on.

We know we could have gotten similar chairs at a cheaper price elsewhere but we wanted the convenience of buying everything under one roof, we preferred Comfort's version (in terms of quality and ergonomics) and we really aren't willing to go through the online route. But in case anyone wants chairs like these but at a cheaper price (and by cheaper, I mean half price), you can get them at Star Living here (S$49.00) or Forty Two here (S$45.90)

1.00pm - Confirm Furniture Order for Second Charm 

Since we didn't get lucky when we went to Second Charm last week, we attempted one more trip down to its warehouse to confirm our order for furniture. We spoke with Sharifah, the owner herself!

She was in a bit of a rush because she had to attend to three different sets of customers but we didn't mind because we already had time to speak to another guy Azmi and we've already considered the prices after our first trip to Second Charm. It was much quieter then. If you want to have a more relaxed visit, go on a Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday!

Second Charm will be customizing 4 pieces for us - two-seater sofa, one-seater armchair, a coffee table and a TV console! We opted for fabric instead of PVC for our sofa and armchair and the above swatches are the available colours, can you guess which colours we're going for?! Actually got more lah but this collection was the one yang memanggil kita hehe

Our orders will take about 6 to 8 weeks to process, which means we might have to do without any of those until end December/early January. Which is okay lah, duduk lantai pun tak mati pe. Unless your lantai ada onak dan duri ah then maybe you should reconsider your choices in life.

3.00pm - Lunch, Lights and then IKEA

Went for our lunch at Bagus and coincidentally Sham and Aisyah wanted to have lunch and come visit out unit if we were available. Since we wanted to go back to our unit to see the installed lights anyway it was perfect timing!

Tested (and squealed over) the lights then after dah lepak lepak for about half an hour, we made our way out. By pure coincidence, all of us wanted to IKEA after that so off we went lo! Aisyah saw and pointed out this LACK TV bench to us whilst there and we were very happy over this find lah!

Saliheen wanted to have a temporary tempat letak TV while waiting for our TV console from Second Charm, you see, and we also want to have an el cheapo bench to letak luar rumah. So I pun suggest - apa kata we purchase this LACK bench, use it for our TV then once our actual TV console arrives, we transfer the bench out to our corridor and buat as bench untuk orang duduk pakai kasut lor! It costs S$19.90 anyway, kalau disintegrate after a few weeks out in the corridor pun kita tak akan rasa sayang sangat.

10.00am - Late Night Visit With My Family

We wanted to return to our unit one more time after our IKEA trip because kita kemarok kita nak testing the lights again and see how our unit will glow at night pulak. Picked up my family first so we can show them our new home too :D

Soooooooooooo much love for our home during the night!!!!! During the day pun love jugak lah, this love for our home at night is a different kind of love k. Suuuuuper cosy, just like how we wanted it to be :D :D :D

No more major updates until next weekend because our contractor dah preempt yang carpentry will take some time. Pintu bilik might come in this week, though! Dah boleh main ketuk ketuk.

Anyway, just wanted to mark this next mini milestone with a mention: We've started packing our barang barang last Thursday! It's a little early but we'd rather slowly sieve through our belongings and decide which ones to throw or bring to our new home than to pack everything within one to two days. Hopefully the penat tak rasa sangat kalau buat slowly.

And talking about rasa rasa ni kan, friends have been asking if I dah start rasa emotional about moving out! Honestly, I still don't feel emotional or whatever, might be because I'm still too focused on the logistics of moving out to truly realize the implication of this next step I'm taking in life. We'll see how I fare on the first day away from my family and the very first place I know as home eh? (My parents tak pernah pindah rumah)

Mungkin my emotion receptor lambat activate lah, macam time I nak kahwing dulu. I didn't feel nervous or stressed during the weeks leading to my wedding but the minute I nampak my vendors masuk rumah 3 hours before the nikah, that's it, the gemuruh naik ke tengkorak masuk tekak lah siol.

Kostruction Khronicles: Week 2 (Part 2)

As mentioned in my previous entry, air-con units already installed and all our rooms are painted! Even our storeroom, door frames and the top walls of our toilets pun dah kena painted seh. We didn't know our contractor was gonna do that so it was a pleasant surprise ❤  

Other than that, newest progress for Week 2: Window grilles are up for our service yard! No window grilles for our living room and bedrooms because we don't see a need for them right now. 

We also received deliveries for our kitchen hob, kitchen hood and oven from Universal Union and lights from Philips Concept Store (main dining) and New World Lighting (everything else) as well!!!!!

Should have taken a picture of our main dining light to tunjuk y'all, the actual thing turned out to be bigger than we remembered?!?!?! It didn't look as huge when we saw and bought it from the store last week seh. Hopefully it won't be too much of a distraction or hindrance for our guests who are tall haha.

Uncle in the above picture is our carpenter! He made his own drawings based on our requirements and his skill is really damn impressive lah! Dia draw berdiri lagi k. Just need to doa that his workmanship will be as impressive as his drawings. The other uncle in hot red shorts is my husband, of course, looking over our contractor (not pictured above) and our carpenter to confirm instructions and re-checking materials to make sure they match the flooring. 

Saliheen and I were pretty amused with ourselves that day, by the way! You see, we couldn't remember the exact colours we chose for our kitchen cabinets, wash basin cabinets, build-in bed and wardrobe tau, but when our contractor asked us to finalize the colours, somehow we ended up choosing the same colours for everything!!!!! That is how much we know what colours we want for our home, and how predictable we really are as a couple lor. Lolz. Gotta admit, that made us even more confident of our choices. Very good feeling :D

Oh, and in case you thought flooring dan siap and we bentang carpet for our home already, not yet! Bawah carpet tu masih cement screed. That carpet is just a spare one we used to sit and wait for our contractor and suppliers. Will throw it away once the renovations are over and we no longer need it, or wash it and give it away to someone else. 

Even though we had to be at our unit from about 10.30am to 3.00pm to wait for our contractor and deliveries that day, we had about an hour just before noon to turun bawah and beli drinks and snacks. And guess what lah, while we were walking towards the coffeeshop, we saw this!!!!!!!!!!

ZOMG SALIHEEN AND I ARE ECSTATIC BEYOND BELIEF LAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We didn't even know this shop existed in our new neighbourhood k!!! Walked in to check out their selection, and we were excited over everything. Glorious halal meats, rempah ratus and sauces, as well as barang goreng instant such as curry puffs, roti boyan, different types of nuggets, etc. Even has its own functioning website here.

Saliheen has grumbled before about not being 5 minutes away from Mustafa Centre once he shifts to Tampines so this is his rezeki, really!!! It's not open 24 hours lah, but at least dah tak susah cari barang masak for us. Not need to worry about travelling out too far to buy halal meat lo! This shop is exactly opposite our flat (we can see his shop from our living room) so kalau last minute nak masak and fridge takde ingredients pun takde hal bro, memang takde hal bro~ 

Chatted with the owner, and he was so friendly and funny! Next time kalau nak beli barang, pekik je nanti saya campakkan masuk rumah awak, he said. Hahaha! Macam dah biasa main discus throw je abang ni.

Our niat hati for the next day was to head over to Second Charm to confirm our order for customized furniture but this happened, of all days lah kan:

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry or rasa geli hati or be incredulous because prior to our trip down to Second Charm, I made an off the cuff remark "Maybe we should check their Facebook... mana lah tau hari ni kedai dorang tutup"

But we were high on excitement lah, and somehow neither of us checked Facebook in the end LOLZ. Bila dah sampai and we realized the whole building was on shutdown, Saliheen (mock)chided me for "my mulut masin" lololololol. This is not the first time this has happened to us, by the way. Once in awhile I will tergerak hati and betul betul it will happen! Hahahahaha. Cuma other times tu, we called to check lah. This time, terlupa pulak hehehe

Of course we were super bummed about that initially, but it's okay lah, insya Allah we can attempt another trip this weekend pulak, after our contractor appointment in the morning. Our contractor dah janji that our carpentary works will be in progress and our flooring will be ready by this weekend so that's something to look forward to! Dah boleh bukak kasut to masuk rumah BEST NYA.

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 1 (Part 4)

Sukaaaaa sangat dengan last weekend.

Even though my otot otot dah mintak ampun and my back is breaking the bad, it is very puas hati to know that Saliheen and I managed to pack quite a number of our home-related errands over two days.

We started Saturday morning with an appointment with our contractor to run through the work done and to choose our paint colours! Terribly boring with our choices - Barely White for both bedrooms and Sail White for living Room (or the other way around) + (I think it was) Orchid White for service yard. 

The electrician came down to the unit as well so after we confirmed all the electrical points, he got down to business and set up all the necessary wiring.

Our toilet bowls pun dah refixed and our water heater storage tank already installed! Brand for our water heaters is Ariston. Bukan kita pilih, memang freebie from our contractor so kita okay je.

Before and after installation. Gambar 'before' tu actually untuk tunjuk our new toilet flooring in daylight sekali hehehe 

We were supposed to meet the carpenter to discuss carpentry works on that day too but he'll only be back in Singapore next week so bo pian lor, tunggu lor. We've already fixed for an appointment with him next Saturday so we've scheduled all of our deliveries (kitchen hood and hob, oven and lights) on the same day too. Sekali harung! Next week pergi new unit kena bawak khemah ni.

Philips Concept Store (Jalan Berseh Showroom)

Address: No. 1 Jalan Berseh Road, New World Centre, #01-16/17 Singapore 209037

Tel: 62995358

Operating Hours: -

Website: http://www.lightings.com.sg/

After we were done with our contractor appointment, we went to Jalan Besar lagi to finally decide on our main dining light. Jalan lima minit, found something we like from Philips Concept Store (we saw their selection from outside) and made our payment segala within 10 minutes. Senang and ringkas.

We chose the design yang black colour in this picture, but ours is wooden. Very sturdy! Costs about $400plus, which is within our budget. Woot woot. I actually prefer the one on the bottom left but the size is terlalu besar. Orang tinggal Jurong pun silau siol nampak lampu ni in our unit.

By the way, someone told us after that yang this Philips Concept Store is good but expensive! We don't mind the expensive part because memang kita dah nampak, kita dah berkenan, kita beli je lah. Asalkan bagus. Lagi lagi we didn't want to stress over the main dining light anymore! But just thought I'd mention the expensive part, in case anyone wants to buy from this store and nak tau whether mahal ke tak, in comparison with other lighting stores. 

Star Living @ Paya Lebar

Address: 10 Eunos Road 8 #B1-12, Singapore Post Centre, Singapore 408600

Tel: 6747 0052

Operating Hours: Weekdays: 12.00pm - 9.00pm, Weekends & PH : 11.00am - 9.30pm  

Website: http://www.starliving.com.sg/

I came across Star Living punya nama in an online forum while looking for reviews on Comfort Furniture! Checked out their website and saw a few pieces yang macam promising gitu so we took a trip down. 

Gambar rocking chair ni untuk kasi seri je. Takde kena mengena dengan kita nak beli ke tak nak beli haha! But comfy gila, you know. Sayang the colours won't go too well with the concept we have in mind.

Anyway, our window-shopping experience in Star Living was not too bad. The designs are decent, and prices are most definitely affordable. The staff pun tak membontot so you can browse in peace, but they're always nearby if you need help.

We considered a few of their pieces but nothing really stood out to us, though. Some of the items nampak cantik on website but looks and feels meh bila in real life - one of the factors why we're not too keen to purchase furniture from online sites. Takut indah khabar dari rupa, you know.

Went to Courts and IKEA in the evening to look see look see lagi but nothing caught our fancy.

Comfort Furniture

Address: 110 Eunos Ave 7, Comfort Design Building, Singapore 409573

Tel: 6747 7217 (office) 6747 4809 (showroom)

Showroom Hours: Mon to Sat: 9.00am - 6.00pm, Sun & PH: 10.00am - 6.00pm

Website: http://www.comfortfurniture.com.sg/

Next day, we keluar rumah bright and early to check out another furniture store, Comfort Furniture, which was a recommendation from Kak Amilia from Facelift Design! We checked their website first but website takde letak harga so we used their wishlist function to submit a list of our preferred items for quotes dulu. Got a reply the next day, prices were within our budget so we paid their showroom a visit.

Saliheen really took a liking to chairs yang ada "black cross cross" wtf I have no idea why.

Honestly, we were more attracted to the pieces in Comfort Furniture than in Star Living! Macam lagi lawa and quality lagi satisfactory? Idk. Price-wise, Comfort lagi mahal than Star Living but generally still affordable lah. Service pun okay, nobody bothered us while we were browsing. Tu penting k! I always pangkah stores whose salespeople cannot back off and masih suka menyebok even after we tell them we don't need their assistance at the moment. 

Second Charm

Address: Blk 21 Kallang Avenue, #05-165, Mapletree Industrial Building, Singapore 339412

Tel: 62942919 / 96289171

Operating Hours: Tue - Sat: 11.00 am - 5.30 pm, Sun: 12.00pm - 5.00pm )

Website: http://www.secondcharm.net/

Next we went to Second Charm!!! We wanted to go Second Charm last month actually but missed it out because of a silly miscommunication. Sekali last Sunday bila kita stepped into their showroom, it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT FOR SALIHEEN LOR. Dengan aku, dia tak fall in love at first sight tau, tapi dia boleh fall in love at first sight dengan kedai furniture ni!!! BRENGSEK.

If you see basah basah kat lantai Second Charm, suspect kuat it is Saliheen's air liur. Member drool over the pieces tak agak agak siak.

But I can understand why he is so enamored, this place is really... charming lah. Worth a visit, especially if you're into restored vintage / mid century modern furniture pieces. I was also telling Saliheen how it felt like we were being welcomed by friends the minute we stepped out of the lift and walked towards their warehouse because it has a very chillax and cosy vibe. And the people we talked to there were so warm and friendly! Their prices pulak are a little more than we anticipated to pay but dengan Saliheen punya mata dah keluar heart heart.......... anything can happen, you guys.