Killer windows

Windows cleaning is no joke. I kid you not.

Spent the entire Sunday before last, washing and cleaning the many windows in our house. Between my good friend and I, we covered 4 that day (ie. 2 each). There were 3 more to get done... Foyer windows, which I've cleaned thoroughly once (after wet works) so I may just give those a wipe-down before we move in. Living room windows, which the bf did once (but he only cleaned the glass, not the frames - doh!). Yesterday was spent doing the one set of windows that's the hardest of all to clean - the bay window in the bedroom. But boy, what a sense of accomplishment it gave me seeing the end product once it's done.

Nice clear view from the platform bed. Not much to see but it's windy at least. :P And no more blotches of dust and dirt on the glass~ 3 pails of water it took me before the water turned a murky grey. (Needless to say - the first 2 were almost black.) I had to stick the fully-extended window sponge/squeegee cleaner out thru the tiny casement on top (while standing) to be able to reach the bottom of the bay window glass panel on the outside. 4 hours of hard work to get it sparkling clean!

The intention is to turn this area into a cosy reading nook - lay a fluffy carpet on the ledge, throw in a couple of different-sized cushions and we'll be all set!

Painting has been completed. Mr Leong was not a happy bunny and complained that I took too long to get back to them for touch-ups, so I had to top up an additional $100 for them to come back. Pfft.

Also had our 'new' TV wall-mounted this weekend. The bf's friend recommended the full-motion Sanus VMF220-B1 so that was what we went with. Love how it swivels left and right. I can watch TV while doing the dishes in the kitchen now! :D

The ID is arranging for the final round of cleaning this week. Have some slight defects on the platform that I need him to fix but he said the carpenters are already complaining at the number of trips they've made back to our place. Hope they can fix it - I don't think I can live with cracked laminate and broken silicon edges.

This Friday is polling day. My colleague and her husband will be coming over after voting to help me with the installation of our IKEA curtain rods. Wardrobe and fridge will be delivered on Saturday and I aim to get some diy wallpaper in the foyer. If time is on my side, I also hope to get enough packed on Sunday to start moving some of the smaller stuff over from my parents' to ours, with a driver friend's help.

In other news, Bailey's condition is deteriorating... :( She seemed to be improving slowly 2 weekends ago, so I actually called to cancel the appointment with Cat Clinic the following Monday and just retain her existing review appointment with Joyous Vet. But since she got back from her review last Thursday, she looks to be having difficulty lifting her hind legs in the litter box to poo even! Not good. Dr Heng is only at the clinic this Saturday and her appointment slots are full. So I may have to bring her in for the cartrophen jab as a walk-in patient.

Bailey's health issue is the only glitch in my happy moving plans right now. I might have to leave her with my parents if she doesn't get well anytime soon, cuz a move (ie. a change of environment) may prove too stressful for her. (Not sure if my prolonged absence will be any better tho.)

Seesawing between depression and anticipation...

Off to IKEA I went again

Spent the entire Saturday last weekend at IKEA Tampines shopping by myself (the bf got his knickers in a twist at lunch and stomped off -that's a story for another day- but pffft, who needs men!?). This trip was mostly to get wall fixtures initially - towel rack, kitchen hangers, curtain rods etc and I thought I could bring it home by myself in a cab but I actually got told off by the cabbie when I tried to board cuz my rods were too long (2.1m in length) and they couldn't fit.

Uncle: It's too long! Cannot fit across the back seat!

Me: Ohh. How about we put it between the front seats so it goes across from the front to the back?  

Uncle: No no no! What if it goes thru the glass behind my back seat!?

Me: ...

Uncle: Or later the rod whack me in the face how!? Who's going to be responsible!?

Me: ..........

Uncle: Cannot cannot cannot! I cannot take you! You go find those 9-seater cab!

All these complete with agitated hand gestures. Not sure what I owed him previously. :P Oh well, after that episode, I decided to go back upstairs to arrange for delivery rather than to waste time trying and risk getting blistered by yet another angry you-owe-me-money-in-your-past-life cabbie.

Some of the things I bought in the 1st round:

1) UTRUSTA Pull-out waste sorting tray

2) ENUDDEN Wall shelf with 4 knobs, white

3) GRUNDTAL Rail, stainless steel

4) RÄCKA / HUGAD Double curtain rod combination, white

5) RINGBLOMMA Roman blind, white

6) FIXA Screwdriver, li-ion

After queueing a good 30-45 minutes to arrange for my stuff to be delivered and then finding out that (besides having to pay a good $55 to send those few miserable items) I had to hand carry the smaller pieces home cuz the delivery guys were afraid they might lose them, I figured I might as well check if I can add more items to my delivery order should I buy more. It actually costs $5 per add-on item after you've made arrangements, but I appealed to the kind lady handling my order by telling her how the cab driver didn't want to take me and I really only had a few items, so she took pity on me and told me they will let me do it as long as it was by that night. YES! Back into IKEA I went...

More things I ended up with in the 2nd round:

1) MOLGER Bench, birch

2) ALGOT Storage bag with stand, white

3) FILUR Bin with lid, white

Also wanted this mirror but it was out of stock when I got to the aisle. Added to my shopping list for the next IKEA trip!

Sunday saw me joining the ranks of the 月光族 handing over the final cheque to the ID... 

Monday had me rushing Bailey to the vet cuz she's not well again... She was hiding under our bed the entire Sunday and looking giddy on Monday morning. Her historical imbalance problem seems to be back. :( Dr Heng prescribed daily painkillers and nerve support supps. Not sure if that's going to help much... Will be getting a second opinion from Dr Geetha next Monday at Cat Clinic.

Wednesday was me looking for that industrial sealant at Selfix Jurong Point for my shoji door tracks in vain - they only had the rubbery finish type. Also found out that I can't vote in the area where our new place is at (gotta register with your latest address by Feb 2015) so I guess I'll just continue to vote at my parents' area, boo~

Today scored me a good deal off someone from Carousell. Bought and picked up a used (1 month+ old) 49" LG UHD TV. The size seems a bit much for my tiny living room and it was $200 past my original budget for a TV, but it was too sweet an offer at $1K with almost 5 years warranty so I ran with it. Looking forward to my couch potato days! :D

Tomorrow is family dinner.

Saturday is windows-cleaning + mattress delivery.

Sunday is painting touch-ups (postponed from tomorrow) + IKEA delivery...

Busy busy week!

The bits and pieces...

Are finally coming together... Nearing the end now (almost!)...

Still pending some minor rectifications (tall cabinet in kitchen missing an additional shelf I asked for, storage cabinet also missing one more wall shelf) but most of it has been completed. The ID has also helped to have our Japanese shoji doors put in last Saturday and they look absolutely brilliant (to me). I know I'm biased tho. Haha! :P So much love. :)

He was really worried about the installation (quote “弄坏了 我赔不了给你啊”) and cuz I was busy that entire day, he was onsite personally to supervise. Called me up several times during the process to check and confirm on what to do (plus take a photo of that nick on the door panel sustained from shipping lol). Luckily, I've learnt to mark everything up with masking paper notes so it was easy even without me being around.

True enough, the height was short by 1-2cm (just like what I measured the other night) but he got his people to fill the gap between the top track and the pillar ceiling with excess pieces of wood from the tracks. They don't look the greatest but I think I can bear that minor imperfection. His suggestion was to use some kinda industrial glue to seal it up - I'm still trying to find out what that is exactly! Another diy project to add to my growing list.

Also, there are gaps between both doors and their respective sides of the walls due to the parquet skirting (which I was mentally prepared for). It's more pronounced on the left side tho - that particular wall is not completely straight so the gap actually widens towards the top... Oh well. I guess I'm gonna have to live with it. At least until I think of a way to fix it!

I was actually hoping to get the painters in this week for touch-ups but they're not available until next Friday, unfortunately. Mr Leong (the boss) actually complained that he didn't earn from my job and sounded none too happy when I called him up on Monday afternoon about it. He said his worker had told him that the painting was done (that was not the case - he actually didn't finish in time and told me to call them back again for touch-ups when the carpentry is in). Partly my fault for not confirming that with Mr Leong back then when his worker said that to me and checking on the caveat (if any). Anyways, he mentioned that he would let me know after arranging a time but when he didn't respond to my sms last night or call me back by this evening, I decided to give him a call again. He then told me it'll have to be next Friday but not before he voiced his displeasure (again) and I parroted what his worker told me previously (again too).

Obviously, I mentioned this to the bf, the bf then told his mum (since Mr Leong is a personal friend of hers and came highly recommended by her) so she gave Mr Leong a call to speak to him and understand the situation. Which was when he explained to her that it was cuz I've held up the touch-up process too long (usually, they allow up to a month max but I took a few months to get back to them). 'Luckily' for me, this was a recommendation so it got sorted out semi-peacefully in the end. I got told off by the bf's mum for holding him up and had to call him back up again to apologise and offer some monetary compensation if the retouching proves to be too much work. :( The bf had to get a word in at me too, which I'm not very happy about since he should have forewarned me about this! (This is, after all, my first-ever renovation and he's already been thru 2!) So the bf will be footing the extra bill for painting cuz the gf will be almost bankrupt after handing over the final 5% cheque (2k thereabouts) to the ID early next week. :P

What's left for now...

1) Painting touch-ups
2) Minor rectifications (ID)
3) Citygas switch on (ID)
4) Final general cleaning (ID)
5) And nothing in the bank (Bailey's Mummy) ($_$)

和風万歳 desu!

My first-ever order from Taobao is finally here! WOOT! :D :D :D

I opted for the 6:30 to 10:30 pm delivery slot, but I actually got a notification sms from 65daigou in the early parts of the evening with a more accurate estimate that my order would arrive between 8:49 - 10:09. (Don't ask me why the odd minutes - I have absolutely no clue why either lol.) They were pretty spot-on with their estimate too. I got to our place at 8:40 and there was actually a delivery guy with a giant package waiting for the lift. When I asked him if he was delivering to the 10th floor (where we're on) and he said yes, I told him the delivery was probably for me haha. What great timing. :P

Despite the multiple layers of carton packaging used by the seller which took me a good 20 minutes to unwrap, 1 out of the 3 pieces still sustained slight damage (a minor chip at the top corner). Oh well~ Gonna figure out a way to fix it eventually but I guess I can live with it for now... I mean, what else can I do right!?

Lined them up against the wall for a 'test run' and they'll look something like this once up!

Very pleased with how it looks and can't wait for it to go up! :) Going to need the ID's help (or rather, the ID's subcons') to saw the top and bottom tracks to the correct size. Did a quick measure and it seems like the height could be shorter than what I need by 1-2cm. Not sure if it's my fault or the seller's - I'll have to track back the dimensions I gave them when I placed the order... Hopefully it's just my measurement earlier that's inaccurate cuz they were leaning against the wall and not completely vertical. Crossing my fingers and toes!

Conclusion: Both 65daigou and Taobao have served me relatively well this first time. It has been a slightly bumpy ride but no regrets as yet! So yes, I may very well make another purchase if I ever spot something on Taobao that I can't find anywhere else.

Long (diy) weekend...

Over-estimated myself and under-estimated the amount of work involved for the diy project I took up this holiday weekend lol. Had a flash of inspiration while surfing on Pinterest the other day and decided to order myself some wall stickers from Qoo10 which I used to makeover the bedroom door. $30+ for a new look, which is only 10-15% the cost of a new door. Will make do with it until the bank account recover from the renovation, haha. :P

 

Here's the before and after of our bedroom veneer door. Quite happy with how it turned out. Even the mom thinks it's nice - she actually asked if we can do it for her place (3 bedroom doors! Just kill me!).

Diy is actually highly therapeutic but boy, it's a whole new ball game when it takes such long hours lol. It's so much work trying to remove the backing paper, paste the sticker onto the surface and making sure there are no air bubbles beneath it! And all done by me, myself and I too! Unfortunately, I couldn't completely eradicate the air bubbles no matter how much I tried, but it's not too obvious (thankfully) cuz of the random wood print and texture of the wall sticker. Matt surfaces hide flaws a lot better than glossy surfaces do. :)

Managed to clean up the insides of the platform bed and the kitchen cabinets with my Mom's help today. Still pending windows cleaning which I'm totally not looking forward to... They're simply CAKED with dust and grime. It's gonna take a lot of hard scrubbing.

Electricians were over at our place this week, installing the doorbell and fixing the ugly trunking for one of the bedside lamps. (Perhaps I've picked on their work once too often, the electricians actually knew to send me photos before leaving to make sure I approve of what they'd done lol.) Partition guys have also finished up the pelmet above the sliding glass doors, outside the kitchen. Gonna check with the ID tomorrow on whether it's ok for me to arrange for the painters to come back this coming week for retouching.

Changed the date with 65daigou to deliver my sliding doors on Wednesday night instead, just in case the carpenters decide to come back this coming week (so they can help with the door installation, fingers crossed).

Also got a call from Grafunkt this afternoon - my beautiful TV console has arrived! Need to find time to head to the Millenia Tower showroom to see if there's anything else I want and whether I can hit the $2.1k mark for free delivery. Otherwise, delivery is $85 which I think is an absolute rip-off. Haha.

So many things to keep in mind and settle!

I is for IKEA & Inspirations

Hopped over to IKEA Alexandra yesterday for some furnishing recce and was really inspired by some of the smart decorating ideas they had in-store. Wasn't very fond of the crowd tho - it was just absolute long-weekend madness.

Finally found the E27 3.5W warm light bulbs that I needed for the 2 bedside lamps. The original ones that came with the lights were in 2 different colours! (Just goes to show you again that you can't trust China products/sellers too much - they have no quality control whatsoever - they just throw in whatever and hope you don't complain) The bulbs at IKEA weren't cheap, but after already wasting money on 2 cheap ones that aren't of the right dimensions from Qoo10, I decided to just go with what I can see in IKEA rather than buying blind and risk getting it wrong again. Even if the price is double what it is. :(

Also scored this awesome Ryssby 2014 lamp shade (in birch) that was originally priced at $119 for just $20. :D I was already eyeing it 6 months ago when I first spotted it at IKEA, but $100+ for a lamp shade seemed like a bit of a splurge back then, so I couldn't convince myself to part with my money. But $20 now??? How to resist!? I willingly handed it over this time lol. Probably priced to sell cuz it has been discontinued and they just want to clear their remaining stocks pronto. But doesn't matter to me, pretty is pretty even when discontinued hahaha.

Gonna be the replacement for the Japanese shoji paper one (also from IKEA) I have up in our foyer right now. It may not be immediate cuz that one still works, even if its pretty old and tattered as you can probably tell from the pictures...

 

Other plans this weekend - vet today with Bailey and more diy goodness (with some cleaning thrown in, if I have time) tomorrow at our new place! :)

Update: Just got a notification email from 65daigou this evening that my Japanese sliding doors are in town! :D Earliest available delivery date is actually next Tuesday but with work being as busy as it has been lately, I'd much rather not take the risk of not being able to make it home in time, so I've arranged for delivery on Friday night instead. Can't wait to see those doors!

2 birds with 1 stone!

After 2 long days of work this weekend (and a multitude of body aches and pain lol), I'm happy to announce that we are almost completely insect-proof and cat-safe now (minus the kitchen and bathroom). :D

Spent both days diy-ing insect screens I got off Qoo10 for the living room, foyer and bedroom (5 sets of windows in all) with the help of a very kind friend. They look great, if I may say so myself. :3 Such a great sense of achievement right there, heh heh. Hello wide open windows (with new/oiled hinges), goodbye insects! 

Living Room

Foyer

Bedroom

Terrible backlight in the photos cuz it was early evening by the time we were done, but true to what you see, they're almost close to invisible so I think it's pretty darn cool. Can't stop admiring them!  ♥

Update [04/08/15] : ID was over at our place last night checking out the glass work from last week and planning the final bits for partitioning work. He actually thought I paid someone to install my insect screens! Wahaha. Needless to say, he's well impressed with my mad diy skillz. :P

The fixed glass panels for the kitchen half-walls have also been installed this week, so that should be the end for glass works I believe. They also changed out the rubber tubing on my bathroom glass door to swing both ways just as I requested, yay!

Partition folks coming in next week according to the ID and then it's probably time to arrange for the painters to come back for touch-ups. Also pending the return of our bathroom cabinet mirror doors, which were taken out to fix the visible glue defects at the edges. Hope they can do something about that!

Final stretch of the home run...