It still feels weird to me whenever cab/Uber drivers ask me whether my BTO is new and I say yes but then quickly realize that it's been up and running for a year already. A YEAR ALREADY!

Speaking of which, our 1st move-to-own-home anniversary is coming this December!!! And I plan to change things up a little! Nothing drastic or major since we're perfectly happy with our current layout and furniture, I'm thinking more of smaller decorative pieces like artwork and clocks, you know?

Listing down some of the home-related items that I'd like to change so I can start to actively look out for replacements! Selagi aku tak list down the things to do kan, selagi tu aku tak akan buat HAHA:

1. Wall Clock

Our current clock is the generic plastic SGD1.50 one from IKEA and was meant to be temporary tau hahaha easy to be lazy when you know the existing one works just fine!!!!!

Kesian nya rumah cantik tapi pakai jam dinding harga seringgit lima posen je. Hehehe.

We're now looking for a new clock which is simple and preferably wooden with white/brown accents! Haven't seen anything we like so far, not even on our travels and random internet trawlz. The closest one that I like is this one from Etsy, which is SGD140 with shipping:

Two of our friends (from separate groups) recommend the clocks on Society6 too so maybe that's the place to start? So many cute designs! I really do want one without a black border though, so if we really can't find anything else I might just bite the bullet and order the one above from Etsy.

2. Wall Decoration for Living Room

Sekarang our wall decoration for living room is a framed picture of three hexagons in gradient colour linked to each other and new guests will always ask "What does it mean?" hahahahaha apa sak korang, macam tanya soalan existential pls. Kita pun tak tau la, it's just a design we saw, we liked and we recreated.

Tapi honestly kan, what we really want for our living room is this brass geometric wreath!

We actually wanted to buy bendealah ni from this Etsy store tau but it ships within US aje. Meh. I also like this horseshoe shaped version from another Etsy store, maybe if we really cannot find anything else we like, I can try my luck and message the owner to ask if she'd consider shipping out to Singapore. 

I'm still hoping we'd stumble upon something worth hanging as wall art/decoration during our upcoming holiday in Tokyo though, so we'll hold out until January next year for this.

3. Decorative Pieces for Living Room Shelves

Hahaha kesian our living room shelves sekarang ada a mix of random stuff sebab kita belum put much thought into decorating them. But the time has come to put in some thought and it is now!!!!!!!

Picture of the shelves I'm talking about so you all tak terpikir pikir shelves apa ni si dekni berbual:

These 3 shelves in the living room that you will pass by just before you masuk dapur. 

Currently, we have a large Sparkling Snow scented candle and a white candle warmer from Yankee Candle on the lowest level, a glass terrarium from Typo, a Tampines Town Council corporate calendar, a glass vial of sand from our Maldives honeymoon and a crystal cube engrossed with silhouette of Empire State Building from NYC on the middle level and a brown framed picture of us at our Trash the Dress photo-shoot at the top level. Got so random not?!?!?!

Unfortunately I really have no idea on how to re-style these shelves la - what should I add? what should I re-locate? how should I re-arrange? I should really trawl Etsy, Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration soon!!!!! Wahai website website puaka, I am coming for you all soon..........

4. Plants along the Main Door

And by plants, I really mean herbs! You know macam those grow your own herb kits yang very hip and very trendy sekarang? Some people really tergila gilakan nowadays! Yang macam ni la:

Cuma sorry to break it to you people ah, actually ni benda nenek moyang kita dari dulu dah buat seh hahaha. Except dorang punya pokok cili merah, pokok daun limau, pokok daun curry and pokok daun inai LOL

I'm interested in growing both omputeh herbs and melayu-centric herbs (lol) but I'm not entirely sure if Saliheen is okay with them growing outside our main door. He didn't seem to mind when I step cakap "it's about time I have my own cili outside our house!" a few months ago haha! Kesian seh aku, tengah halfway masak sekali realize cili dalam fridge dah habis.

I'm quite malas to pergi cari all the biji biji and soil though, so this will probably be the least of my priorities hwa hwa hwa... Ooh or maybe I can put up some fairy lights or decorative vases at the area outside our main door since we have that area all to ourselves??? Need inspiration! Stat!

5. Wall Decoration for Walkway

Currently we have 1 framed quote on our walkway wall which says "Today I Choose Joy" and as much as I love the quote, I want to "spice" things up a little at the walkway leading to our master bedroom.

I kind of like wooden shadowbox shelves (something like this) but I have a feeling Saliheen won't and will be all wet blanket and say ni benda collect habuk (Lu punya PS4 pun collect habuk ape.....) Plus we'll have to decide whether kita nak leave the shelves kosong or letak decorative pieces... ada added decisions! So now I'm veered towards the idea of something similar but with mirrors instead:

This hanging mirror costs about SGD200 each from this Etsy store but again, it only ships within USA. BUMMER MUCH! If Saliheen isn't averse to having a mirror hanging on the walkway wall then I guess we can start looking out for similar mirror pieces locally or get my handy dandy uncle to craft a piece or two for us.

If he IS averse to having a mirror hanging on the walkway for whatever reason, then I guess we'll stick to the current framed quote until something else that is more interesting comes along.

Actually kan, I CRAZY love the idea of mounting this neon sign from this Etsy store to our walkway wall - if we choose white bulb, it'll still fit our pseudo-Japanese minimalist/Scandinavian home, kan...? Tapi I actually berangan je la, the harga is quite susah nak telan ok!!!!! SGD1840 with shipping wtf!!!!! Harga telan kaca!!!

I'm sure Saliheen will say no to this... kan B kan??? 

Unless you want to say yes then of course I tak akan membantah..........

..... I guess not.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Quote of the Day

We fiiiiinally moved off our fat asses and printed our favourite quotes for our wall frames!

"May The Wings Of Your Eyeliner Always Be Even" is my absolute favourite, of course, because that Saliheen ah - hah! - he couldn't care less if his eyeliner wings aren't even! This print hangs directly above my dressing table, to give me strength and willpower while I fight my daily battle with pesky and uneven eyeliner wings goddamnit.

"Today I Choose Joy" is something that both Saliheen and I agreed on; we have had days when we feel sadness, dejection, and days when people irritate us, infuriate us or cause us grief, and in order to overcome all those emotions, we always tell each other to take the high road, to ignore and/or to choose to be happy instead. We'd like to think that we're fairly positive individuals and we hope that little bit of positiveness is passed on to our guests whenever they walk past our hallway to the common bathroom. Masuk toilet pun nak kena rasa riang ria, beb.

"Work Hard, Stay Humble" is a life motto that Saliheen keeps close to his heart, and now one that he keeps framed up in our master bedroom. Besides loving its meaning, I think the typography is so, so cool and I love it to bits! Saliheen and I are a boring uncool couple (as we all already know) so we need that little bit of coolness to jazz up our space. Hehe.

The 1st print was inspired by an article I read on Beauty High (then recreated by my baby sister because the seller was no longer producing the print) whereas the 2nd and 3rd prints were bought from The Motivated Type.

Furniture from Second Charm Are Here!

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: The Final Overview

I know I haven't mentioned who our home renovation contractors are but now that our home is ready after 6 weeks of renovation, I think I should mention them by name - the renovation company who handled our home renovation so well was *drumroll please* Roslan Renovation Contractor! :D

Sounds very old school and very melayu, I know, but we trusted them because they did renovations for my parents and my nenek's homes before. Their office and catalogues memang nampak a little old school and worn out but don't let that deter you because dorang tau buat kerja k! 

As long as you know what you want, insya Allah they will be able to execute your ideas. So if you ever want to check out Roslan Renovation Contractor, boleh contact the person in charge of all our renovations: Abang Zaini at 94894370. Just cakap Farhana and Saliheen dari Tampines yang recommend!

No official website or Facebook page because being a long established company who start bertapak even before the era of social media, naturally they're not very active on social media or the Internetz lolz. But you don't have to worry pasal dorang punya legitness because Roslan Renovation Contractor memang confirm confirm registered and recognized by HDB - you can see the confirmation here. 

Nak pergi their office pun senang, it's at 970 Geylang Serai #01-13 Tristar Inn Complex Singapore 423492, sederet Hajjah Maimunah Restaurant and Hotel 81 Tristar, opposite Joo Chiat Complex. Lepas appointment, pusing kiri when you keluar their office, dah boleh pergi makan kat kedai kopi Teh Tarik heh heh. Anyway, these are the reasons why we love and highly recommend Roslan Renovation Contractor: 

(1) Almost everything is under one roof

One of the best things about engaging Roslan Renovation Contractor was the fact that we didn't have to source out for everything ourselves! They had in-house catalogues for stuff like doors and door handles, switches, taps and sinks, etc which we can choose from, so this is great - considering that they are contractors, and not IDs.

I think you only have to buy lights and doorbell sendiri since they don't have 3rd party suppliers for those. Maybe kitchen hood and hob too, tapi that one I'm not too sure because we bought ours before we engaged anyone. We could've chosen our kitchen sink and tap from their catalogue too but we weren't sure who to engage as our contractors when we bought ours separately from Universal Union.

Another contractor who we asked for quote gave us a slightly higher quote but kita kena cari barang such as bathroom sinks, aircon units, bedroom doors, etc sendiri, you see. So... puas hati kita pilih Roslan Renovation Contractor kan? 

Their quote was lower and the fact that we just had to set aside 2 to 3 hours to sit comfortably at their office to choose doors, aircons, sinks, paint colours, etc from their in-house catalogues was very, very attractive for Saliheen and I. We didn't want to waste any more time running around looking for fixtures and fittings for our house on our own. 

(2) Their quote is affordable and within our budget

We wanted to engage an ID initially but we realized our budget of S$30,000 for 3-room BTO flat was not going to work for IDs. Roslan Renovation Contractor gave us a quote that was below S$30,000 and threw in a discount, considering my parents and my nenek have engaged them before. 

Abang Zaini is also flexible and boleh ajak berbincang! With everything that was included into our renovation works + our custom made requests + cement screeding, the final price which we had to pay was very muai, imho.

(3) Excellent service

Even though nama company Roslan Renovation CONTRACTOR, it felt like we had a dedicated ID!!! 

Abang Zaini was always contactable throughout the renovation process, he made regular trips down to our unit to make sure all the works were in order, he crafted drawings so we could have a better idea of how things will look like and we didn't even have to take leave from work when the door people datang to install doors, when City Gas person datang to pasang barang gas, etc. Because why? 

Because semua dia settlekan. Ringkas. We only had to spare our weekends to meet him, receive updates and tengok progress. (And squeal macam budak budak everytime ada benda baru hahaha)

So it's like, we engaged them at contractors' price but their service is machiam ID service, you know?!

We were also never pressured to make more payment or to choose something that is mahal but not necessary for our rumah! In fact, there were a few times where Abang Zaini advised us not to take on something because it is pricier and will not be worth our money considering our lifestyle and usage.

It's very heartening to know that he gives suggestions not based on how expensive it will be, but how functional or useful it will be for our daily lives. We also liked that he will always kasi pros and cons of different choices, suggest the best one based on his experience and/or observation but still leave it up to us to decide. If I had to use one word to describe Abang Zaini and his service, it has be: Ikhlas.

Anyway, if you have been living bawah ketiak mak and don't know what happened during our renovations or how our first home looks like, you can do some catch up reading through the links below:

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Collection of Home Keys at HDB Hub
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Buying Kitchen and Toilet Accessories
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Buying A Mattress
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 1)
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 2)
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 3)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 4)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 2 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 2 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 3

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 4 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 4 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 5 (Part 1) 

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 5 (Part 2) 

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 3)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Post-Renovation

This post is NOT sponsored, by the way. We paid Roslan Renovation Contractor in full, fair and square and I am truly sincere when I say we are very happy with our renovation outcome and we had such an excellent experience doing our home renovation with them. Abang Zaini and Roslan Renovation Contractor is good and reliable on their own, and they don't have to pay us advertising money or sponsor our home renovation just for us to puji them melambung and promote their services. They were ikhlas when they worked with me, so now I am ikhlas with my review of them. 

And with that, maka berakhirlah satu lagi perjalanan khronicles saya! Till the next set of khronicles :D

Konstruction Khronicles: Post-Renovation

Alhamdullilah, we held a small and intimate kenduri doa selamat for our new home with our closest families and friends yesterday, just like what we wanted :)

We intended to keep it simple and serve french loaves with chicken curry but our parents and friends brought lots of makanan and kueh mueh as buah tangan so we ended up with quite a feast hehe.

Took pictures of our completed home before the kenduri doa selamat, some of them are below!

Kitchen & Service Yard

Our white fridge in our white kitchen! ♥♥♥

We do NOT regret removing the door and side window panel from our teeny tiny kitchen at all!!! Makes the kitchen and service yard look and feel more spacious than it really is, and we love it.

Our LG washing machine which arrived last Friday! We're quite ghairah to try out our washing machine because...

... our washing machine can nyanyi apparently, someone told me on Twitter HAHAHAHAHA. 

Laki aku berbual macam itu washing machine boleh nyanyi lagu Kpop, lagu R&B, lagu rock kapak segala sak. Seram jugak eh kalau baru habis cuci baju tetiba washing machine start teran "Diaaaaaaa!!! Isabellaaaaa!!! Lambang cintaaa!!! Yang laraaaAaAaaAAAAaaa~" HAHAHAHAHA

Master Bedroom

LOOOOOVVVEEEEE OUR MASTER BEDROOM LIKE CRAZY WTFBBQHWNE9VGFTAWKFW8342RFW!!!!!!!!

Must really credit my husband for the look and feel of our master bedroom because he was the one who suggested build-in bed base and wardrobe (which I now adore like crazy) and he chose the material and colour of our master bedroom curtains. Aku tolong 'ye' kan aje haha.

I was a little skeptical about the material for the curtains honestly, and was worried it'll look too metallic and futuristic lol zaman cyber concept dah habis woi. But the curtains ended up looking really luxe and sexy hehehehehe. Love the slight sheen of the curtains! 

Passageway & Guestroom

Still a little iffy about the door colours being a little too yellow for my liking (not this bright in real life though, in reality the door colours are more light maple than anything) But overall the passageway looks really warm and nice, especially during nighttime. The camera can't seem to capture the true colour of the lights too - it's not that yellow in real life, I promise! Also, jangan tegur IKEA frame masih kosong because... we got no time to print lah ha ha ha

We opted for blinds for the guestroom because we think curtains will be too "heavy". Very very happy with the blind by the way, Rene from Waltz & Windows initially said our blinds will be made up of two separate blinds but somehow she managed to get us a single one that can cover our guestroom windows in its entirety. No gaps! Happy!

Haven't had the chance to unpack my stuff for my vanity table so the boxes are still waiting under our Micke desk heh. You can't see our Billy bookcase from the picture above because we placed it opposite our Micke desk.

And while we're at it, can we all now come together and appreciate how fantastic it is for that freaking Hampen rug from IKEA to be able to fit so snugly onto what's left of the floor space after kita dah letak the desk and bookcase??? Perfect fit, like it was meant to be! :D

(Also, if we buy just ONE MORE thing from IKEA to letak inside that room, I am calling it the IKEA room I SWEAR)

Living Room

The custom made shelving next to our main door and kitchen entrance...

... and my favourite part of the living room!!! It looks a little "warmer" than the rest of the areas because I took this picture with our warm white light switched on. Nak tangkap mood and ambience lah konon lololol

We envisioned a super cosy living room area where we can lepak lepak with friends or have nice warm cuddles while watching TV hehe... so I guess we managed to pull it off somehow?! Can't wait for our sofa, coffee table and TV console from Second Charm to come in now so we can see how all of them look like together! 

Day and night curtains are by the wonderful Windows & Waltz of course, material is more plain than our master bedroom punya but looks just as lovely! Fits the feel of the area, imho. The Lack TV console pulak is temporary for now, we'll decide where to relocate it when the times comes.

Now that the renovation progress is over, I really want to do a recap and mention our home renovation contractors by name!!! Will blog about it soon! (Most probably tomorrow lah)

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 6 (Part 3)

Dulu dulu before ada rumah sendiri, Saliheen and I like to make random trips down to the Big Three at Tampines North Drive 2 - IKEA, Giant Hypermart and Courts Megastore - to tengok tengok barang and berangan pasal our future home! Sekarang bila dah ada rumah sendiri and we need to make trips to all of them for home-related purchases... PERGI SAMPAI THE PENAT IS TAK KELAKAR SIAK.

Dah tak nak turun naik sana lagi until tahun depan!!!

Boleh imagine tak, kita actually turun naik IKEA and Giant Hypermart for a few weekends in a row tau! IN A GODDAMN ROW!!!!! If IKEA and Giant Hypermart handed out permanent residency passes, memang kita dah layak for PR status dah.

Last weekend lagi kecoh because we went to all three within a few hours. BETUL PEH CONQUER! And pergi bukan setakat tengok tengok je tau, ni pergi to make purchase hor! Kita banyak rasa sakit seh on that day - Sakit kaki berjalan, sakit tangan angkat barang beribu and sakit kocek membayar. Lol!

First and second pictures are of the queue and our purchases from IKEA last weekend, and the last picture is of my housewife husband feeling and looking jubilant after his steam cleaner purchase from Courts. I thought lega lah sikit my hearing if dah takde someone nagging non-stop at my ears about the benefits of steam cleaners but now I have to tahan the sound of steam cleaner being used incessantly inside the house pulak wtf!!!!! #cannotwin

We also made trips down to heartland hardware stores to beli household items like clothes pegs and pails as well as to Mustafa Centre to borong some oils and spices and dry items! 

 

My husband also set aside some time to fix up all our IKEA purchases - Billy Bookcase (S$59.00), Micke Desk with Integrated Storage (S$99.00) and Lack TV Bench (S$19.90). Wahhhhh my hero!

(Hero hero pun, the next day sampai sakit sakit budak hero ni lololol)

Sneak peek of my vanity table setup! ❤.❤

Remember I actually wanted to re-use Saliheen's existing Micke Desk? Saliheen thinks it's a little too small and he doesn't want to dismantle the desk to bring over so we decided to get a brand new one from the same series but with integrated storage! Boleh jugak letak barang for showcase. (He also murmured that the extra storage will come in handy for my "excessive collection of beauty products" wtf jangan ingat I tak dengar eh!)

Our house is now alllllmost ready for us to live in, you gaize!!! We're left with curtains and delivery of our washing machine and fridge, which are all due to arrive at our unit this coming Friday HURRAY! 

We're still not moving out from my parents' place until Christmas Eve though, since our gas turn-on appointment can only be arranged for next week. Senang cakap one week from now I'll be sleeping in my new home for the very first time!!!!! Hopefully I don't start to melalak into the night kerana rindukan rumah lama :( I didn't think I'll be emotional about moving out of my parents' home but a few nights ago I started sobbing while eating my mum's ketam lemak so who knows what will happen on the eve of Christmas :/

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 6 (Week 2)

It's been a busy weekend and banyak benda dah berlaku for our new home since I last updated! Can you believe that our home renovation is now officially over????? 6 weeks felt like 6 hours! (Bedek hahaha) 

Will blog more about our contractor and share thoughts about the whole renovation process once our payment to our contractor is settled and I can catch a breather! In the meantime, I ceritakan dulu pasal what happened over the last weekend eh.

Completion of counter-top installation

Already blogged last Thursday on how our kitchen and bathroom sink counter-tops are already installed so I'll just share a few more pictures taken last weekend. 

Frame in the last picture is senget, I know, but we'll fix it proper when we've printed the content, I promise! Anyway, we both looove how everything turned out, I'm just a little iffy with the bathroom cabinets' laminate design but Saliheen thinks it looks okay now with the countertop installed. Whatevzzz, me is definitely loving the bathroom mirrors more!!!

Anyway, our contractor helped to do some drilling works last weekend as well so we listed down all the areas where we needed drilling. Nothing much really, just some hooks for picture frames and a clock in the living room. As you can see, we bought the el cheapo S$1.50 plastic clock from IKEA as a temporary solution! Sementara kita cari clock yang kita betul betul suka and boleh afford.

Installation of Storage Rack

Also had professionals over to install our storage rack last weekend! Too many choices in the market for storage rack so we decided to just order from a company that slotted their 10% discount voucher through our door. Since the prices are about the same across the market, 10% off pun okaylah, kita ambik jelah.

Not too fussy about storage rack lah, we didn't care bolted ke tak bolted ke or the planks are wood ke metal ke, so we just told the guy in charge we want 1 storage rack 'N' in grey. (You can ask for 2 racks if you want them in L-shape) He came with another person for installation and it only took them 15 minutes to install the whole thing. Very speedy gonzales.

If you tak cerewet pasal storage rack macam kita jugak, you can call or text Mr Lai at 6441 7809 or 9816 6358. Mungkin boleh try tanya pasal the 10% discount because he didn't even ask me for proof of voucher before he left and said "No need, no need" when  I wanted to pass it to him lolzzz.

Original price for our 4-tiered 56 inch (in length) rack was S$130, but with discount we paid S$117 only. It's bolted, comes with wooden planks, and ada grey or brown colour.

Very happy we got the storage rack installed and settled because that means we can start moving some of our barang barang into the storeroom already! Yayyyyy. Dah boleh start unpack, declutter and shift things out from our guestroom, yang sebelum ni looks like this:

Sekarang tinggal nak shift our our clothes and shoes from my parents' home aje, can you believe it! Berbaloi jugak kita shift barang barang kita sikit sikit sampai lama lama jadi bukit.

Delivery of Mattress from Tilam King

We also got our mattress from Tilam King delivered last weekend!!! Best tau golek golek!!!

We got the Premiere Series, which we ordered 2 months ago. So pleased with this purchase!!!

Kita belum bukak the protective sheet and belum pasang bedsheets segala because we want to get the curtains installed first. Takut berhabuk during the curtain installation pulak.

Besides all of that, we also used our time during the weekend to bersihkan the rumah sikit and made several trips to beli barang rumah omg PENAT TAK TERHINGGA TAU!!!!! Jangan cakap my hands and feet, my hati jantung limpa segala pun mintak ampun!!! Nanti I ceritakan pasal our recent purchases in the next entry eh sebab kalau tak, y'all pulak yang penat nak baca entry ni.

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 6 (Part 1)

JENG JENG JENG. We weren't expecting this at all but our counter-tops are installed already!!! 

Our contractor janji counter-tops will be ready by today or tomorrow so we were pleasantly surprised when we went to our unit yesterday to drop off some barang barang and saw the kitchen transformed. Pictures were taken at night so lighting isn't the best but hopefully I'll get better pictures of the kitchen counter-top and the bathroom sink counter-tops (those are ready too!) this coming weekend. 

Saliheen and I are madly in love with our kitchen now. He was skeptical about the counter-top design at first but I convinced him that this white with black and brown specks counter-top will "add character" to our white kitchen. Character ape pun aku tak tau lah actually, but somehow it works lah kan.

Konstruction Khronicles: Week 5 (Part 2)

Since we knew we were gonna be at the new unit to check out the carpentry progress last weekend, we decided to get some other stuff settled as well - like the delivery of our dining table and chairs as well as appointments with curtain specialists. Whoop whoop!

Delivery of Dining Table & Chairs

That's our dining table and chairs which we ordered from Comfort Design HURRAY!!! We got them delivered last Saturday afternoon and they are the Norya Dining Table and Titus Wood-V1 Chairs in white.

To be honest, when we were at Comfort Design last two weeks, we were very worried about the colour of the table legs clashing with our colour palette. Unfortunately we couldn't find anything else we like + within our budget anywhere else so we decided to just 'kamikaze' in the end. And now that the dining table and chairs are in our living room, we think the table legs memang too dark for our liking :/

We'll live with them for the next few months to see if the colour grows on us but if not, we're considering spray painting them white terus. We'll see how lah eh. But other than that, we're very happy with our purchase!!! Both the table and chairs are very sturdy and very comfortable. We know because we dined at the table with another couple malam tu jugak hehehe

Appointments with Curtains Specialists

I previously blogged about ordering curtains from a shop in Joo Chiat but I got a little annoyed when my calls were left unanswered and not returned. So many players in the industry for me to choose from, why should I wait for you when you cannot even answer or return calls, betul tak? And to think I timed my phonecalls to be at generally convenient timings and spaced out between each other to kasi chance pfft

So I contacted 2 other curtain specialists to get their quotes instead - Rene from Windows & Waltz and Andy from Soon Seng Heng. I knew Windows & Waltz from Shidah (who blogged about them here) whereas I discovered Soon Seng Heng from good old Google search. 

There are so many other curtain specialists hawking their services online but I chose these two based on the simplicity of their websites lololol. So superficial I know, but I follow my gut feeling also hor!!! Andy from Soon Seng Heng was especially impressive with his email replies - very prompt and to the point. Also helps that his quote is much lesser than $1500 (which was the quote from auntie langsir kat Joo Chiat)

But in the end, we cancelled our afternoon appointment with Soon Seng Heng because we decided to engage Rene of Windows and Waltz (who came to our unit in the morning) on the spot! Her quote was $1200 for the curtains and blinds we chose for our 3 rooms, which is below S$1500 too wtf how come the first auntie langsir kat Joo Chiat punya quote sampai $1500 one!!! Mintak kena bedal jadi sambal ke ape siak.

Anyway, Rene was super nice and we really like her! Good vibes. She was also willing to rush our order walaupun sekarang tengah peak festive period. If anyone wants to engage her for curtains and blinds you can quote my name and she can give friend friend discount tau!

Some other stuff we managed to do: More packing and purchase of a whistling kettle! I also won myself a blender from a lucky draw last Saturday! Which means that's two items off our home wishlist yay yay :D

Anyway, here's a quick list of things that will happen this week:

(1) installation of kitchen and bathroom sink counter-tops

(2) delivery of our mattress from Tilam King

(3) installation of storage rack

We're already at the tail end of our renovation and I'm all burned out from all the trips and decisions and bloody packing we've been doing for the past 5 weeks. Gimme my functioning home already!!!!!

I will now end this entry with a familiar picture of my husband vacuuming our house. Again.

I wasn't joking when I said I can compile and sell a pictorial book called "Saliheen Cleaning Things" YOU GAIZE