Food & Electronics Fiesta

Got this mailer for 美食电器节 (Food & Electronics Fiesta) in the post a few days ago.

I wasn't expecting to find anything but I browsed through it anyway. Surprise surprise - look what I spotted at the back! There isn't a model number but it sounds like the Toshiba Android TV (47L5450) that I've been eyeing since October last year when it was first released. (>3<) ~♥

Based on the online research and recce that I've done since then, Mega Discount Store would have the lowest price at $839 (inclusive of free delivery) if I bought it online from their Rakuten store, with the 15% + additional 5% MasterCard discount every Tuesday. Next up would be Mustafa at $854 (inclusive of $25 for delivery). It comes with 3 years local warranty, a free Android air mouse and a HDMI cable. (Price as of December 2014) 

Now, if this is really the model that I have my heart set on, then $698 would save me at least $141! How can I not make a trip down to Expo for such a great deal?!

And so, my Saturday will be a busy one. The bf and I will be heading to Sembawang in the early afternoon for a baby shower (his good friend's baby). After that, we are off to Yishun in the late afternoon to collect some wall stickers for my new place (more on that once I've gotten them). And to top off the day, we'll be going down to Expo for my TV (I'd be totally bummed if that's not the model I wanted though, boo).

Positive thoughts! And good night!

Update: Cheap sales gimmick! Besides the fact that it was a lower end model (47L2450) - the list price at the booth ended up being $799, not $698! :( I also popped into the other hall which was having a Home & Furnishing fair since I was already in the area, but the items there were almost as dismal as the ones in the Food & Electronics one! Moral of the story - don't waste your time with these Expo fairs cuz there are usually way better prices out there! And without the need to travel even!

Online Shopping 1 : Bailey's Mummy 0

Public holidays (and any free time on my hands, in general) are a painful, terrible time for my wallet. I almost always end up spending money even without stepping out of my house, lol. Not that I'm complaining. Purchase of the day being:

Ta-da! Yes, this be our blog's profile avatar. Haha. I was annoyed with the poor quality of the original image on our profile and Google-d for a higher res one. Which led me to Zazzle (and this). The 20% off all mugs discount code sealed it for me. US$31.35 later, I'm 1 mug richer and a happier cat lady Mummy. Standard shipping will take 5-12 business days after manufacturing. It's not cheap, I know, but I absolutely adore it. See you soon, my darling mug! 

Bookmarking this for future purchases. (Zazzle is overpriced!)

Update [04/04/15] : ARGH. In my mindless crazy-cat-lady mode at finding such a cute mug yesterday, I didn't do my usual homework - I actually found to my utter dismay this morning that I could have gotten the same mug at HALF THE PRICE on cafepress! That'll teach me...

Update [22/04/15] : Finally got my mug from Zazzle today and printing quality isn't that great. Definitely not worth it!

On the home renovation front, I got in touch with 阿旺 this afternoon - a painter who came recommended by our home seller. He actually holds a regular daytime job and paints part-time on weekends. I'll be meeting him on Monday night after work at our new place to discuss and get a quote on painting. If nothing goes too wrong, I hope to start painting next weekend. :)

Setting the wheels of carpentry in motion!

Met up with the ID just now to pass him the final drafts for carpentry. At 11:20pm. (Yes, both my ID and I work long and hard hours. But him more than me, I think. Since I was out late today cuz of gym.) These are rough snapshots of what they look like until I can get these drawings to a scanner.

Bathroom Cabinet

Bedroom Platform

Kitchen Cabinets

ID suggested to frame up the shelving for the bathroom cabinet, rather than open shelves against the wall per my drawing for better weight support, which I agreed with. He also mentioned that the bedroom platform may not have as much storage as what I visualised (likely only 4 columns, rather than 5) but he will get the carpenters to redo this one for me. Plus I forgot to draw in the checkered backsplash for the open shelves section in kitchen wall #2. :P

According to him, my drawings will make more sense to the carpenters - his 3D folks need exact details and angles to generate the drawings so he needs to redraw them all. Not sure what kind of 3D people they hire but they sound very low level to me if they can't even work from what I feel are already very detailed drawings (lol). Or is that just the design snob in me talking? Anyways! 3D will take another week or two. :)

Initially, I was gonna ask if I can get a discount should I opt out of 3D drawings. But after the teething hiccups at the beginning of my renovation (the kitchen tiles fiasco being one of it), I've learnt (to my bank account's misfortune) that what I'm visualising may not necessarily be what my ID is seeing or even thinking from my attempts at description. And that's completely understandable since it's my design and not his. So this time round, I'm going to err on the side of caution since carpentry makes up the bulk of my renovation costs. Having clear visual representations of my cabinets would definitely help, to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Using matt white doors for all the cabinets, except for the bathroom which has mirrored doors and a small glossy white one for the compartment where I intend to keep the toilet paper (and which will apparently cost me more cuz it's an extra door, doh). The frames for all the cabinets will be using light-coloured matt wood laminates on the outside (which has always been my personal preference) and coloured PVC on the inside (if my budget still allows it).

Kitchen - EWP 4063M (light brazilian walnut)
Bedroom Platform - DWV 4539AE (mercury elm)
Bathroom - DWL 4532LX (segato naturale)
Foyer - EWS 9228T (beige cinnamon wood)

Matt White - ECG 0011VC (cool white-v)
Glossy White - ECG 0001CC (cool white-g)

Nail-biting time starts right about now...

Kitchen floor tiles is love.

Got a call from the ID this afternoon asking about the status of my carpentry drawings. ARGH. Been hanging out with Mr P much too often lately. Need to start on them P.R.O.N.T.O.

He followed up later on in the evening with photo updates and then a call to set cost expectations for the VO (variation order). Apparently, it won't be cheap cuz of all the extra work I made him (or the tilers) do so far, such as:

1) Fixing oversized kitchen wall cutout

2) Taking down initial kitchen wall tiles

3) Concealing the metal holders (u-channels) for kitchen and bathroom glass walls

4) Tiling of kitchen cabinet base

Am I not right!? Does it not look better with tiles compared to plain cement!?? I doubt I would've been able to stand seeing cement at the base when I opened the full height cabinet on the left. Money that I don't have well-spent, haha.

I'm expecting at least 1.5k and hoping it won't exceed 2. But realistically, I'm not so sure. Just praying that the amount won't break the bank! (Or what's left of it, even) Otherwise, Bailey may need to start earning her keep lol.

All floor tiles now completed! I absolutely adore my kitchen floor tiles. Not entirely sure of my bathroom tiles tho. I'm reserving comments till I see it in daylight on Thursday morning when I meet my ID and electrician. Wall tiles grouting to be done tomorrow and that'll be the end of wet works. Glad I dropped by tonight so I can leave the guys some food and drinks to thank them for their hard work, since tomorrow will be their last day.

Minor imperfection spotted in the bathroom just now:

Water outlet cap stuck under the solid half-wall I asked to be build. ID said this was the original vent and can't be moved. Wall can't be moved inwards too much more either so this was slightly compromised. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Goodbye, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Although I have never met you personally, I grew up with your austere, yet reassuring presence surrounding us. It was constant and it was just there. You were like the solid pillar that would never give. But alas, your time to rest has come... I hope you did not have to suffer overly much before that.

Over the years, I may not have agreed with some of your hard-headed opinions (after I grew up and developed my own) but no one can discount the legacy that you've left behind. The fact that you are truly gone has (surprisingly) left me incredibly bereft and it's with this great sense of sadness that I'm writing this entry. 

Your demise feels somewhat like the death of a kin, rather than a complete stranger - a pseudo grandfather, perhaps. Watching videos and reading articles about you online brings tears to my eyes. You have done much for Singapore and no words can express the amount of gratitude I feel. Thank you for your hard work and may you be in a better place now. 

With utmost respect, I bid you farewell. #RIPLKY

我怕了你...

That's what the ID told me just now.

Seems like our home renovation is bringing out the worst in me... I'm turning into your regular home owner from hell. Just call me Renozilla lol.

The charges against me:

1) I forget to tell him the things I want.

2) I don't remember the stuff he tells me. (FALSE!!!)

I DO keep the things he tells me in mind but in a constant bid to have things just right (blame the perfectionist in me), I overthink the parts I have issues with and try to fix them somehow, overwriting our previous discussions.

Which in turn, gives him heart attacks cuz I'll call him and ask about these issues that he thought were already agreed on, haha. (Ok, I can understand how it sounds like to him...) But but, I need my house to be perfect!

Does that make me a difficult customer?

Anyways, the issue today that led to this comment: 

This is the kitchen base for the right wall of our kitchen. My intention for this side is to have (from right) the sink, the washer and then a full height cabinet to hide the fat ugly pipe. The original plan was to not have a base under the washer so I can slide it directly below the kitchen counter with no worry on the space below not being enough for the height of the washer. 

 

But unfortunately, the water outlet for the washer was jutting up from the floor in the middle of nowhere (see pipe outlet wrapped in blue) so they had to shift the outlet to the left and cover it with concrete base to have even flooring for the washer to go in.

Herein lies the problem(s). The base needs to be extended out depth-wise, so it juts out from the rest of it. FUGLY. Another minor issue I had - the full height cabinet to box up the ugly pipe on the left will have neither tiling nor cabinet wood on the base. Is that normal!? (Apparently, it is - according to my ID) I personally feel that that would be a bit raw and unfinished since it'll be in plain sight when I open the cabinet, so I sent him a message on WhatsApp to check if it can look like this.

He insisted that the base below the cabinet is usually left as concrete but will ask the tilers if it's possible to do as I asked. As for the extension of the base, he's gonna try to keep it small (he suggests 650mm or 630mm minimum). He would rather we have it a little bigger than too small... The OCD in me screams no, but I think practicality will have to win this round. Hopefully, it won't be too unsightly!

This was what saved the day for me - our kitchen backsplash tiles are completely up and the effect was just as I visualized! YAY. Pretty tiles = A happy Bailey's Mummy :)

ID says I can arrange for delivery of lights, sanitary ware and electrical appliances mid April. Exciting times ahead!

初めまして、怠け者です。

So Bailey and I finally got off our lazy asses (ok ok, mostly just me) and kicked Mr P out the door to start this blog...

Considering how it was supposed to have happened when I first got Bailey, I've actually hung out with Mr P for 5 long years! One major life-changing event down. Now, it takes another one (namely, buying a new home for Bailey and myself) for me to actually do something about it. But hey, better late than never... Right!?

Back then, the options were limited. (I checked out Blogger but figured I can do better with WordPress. And I would have, if I ever did. But I didn't - Mr P got the better of me, as usual lol.) Half a decade later, they still are! 

I thought I've hit upon the perfect one when I found Dayre. Blogging from my phone - how much more convenient can it get!? (I was horribly wrong) There I was... Happily curating/editing wall and profile pics on Dayre, until I realized to my horror that it doesn't allow backdated entries!? WTH. All that time for naught! It's cute, if you're into short form blogging but 500 characters per post was too short a limit for me (too much to say, just not enough time, haha).

There you have it. The story of everyone's lives.

Anyways, in home renovation news, I'm supposed to be meeting the ID tomorrow morning to discuss electrical wiring for our new place. 

My initial electrical planning/wiring draft.

All the stuff that Google is throwing at me right now is a lil much for a complete noob to be reading at 15 mins short of midnight. I think I'm gonna stick with this for now and digitise it after I've met the electrician this coming Thursday.

ガン...頑張ります。