I’m feeling very motivated at the moment. And that’s because I have finally completed the baby blanket before baby arrives. Currently at 37 weeks gestation and I am not ready to welcome this bundle of joy. Mentally and physically. Oh … Continue reading
My mum has been preparing dinner for me ever since she found out that I’m expecting a baby. But last week she had a bad sprain, and so we asked her to take a break this week first. Moving around will not help especially when Chinese New Year is just around the corner. I want a happy Chinese New Year this year with all my remaining loved ones! Grant my little wish please.
Pretty please..
And so, for the last few days, my dinner was take away food. Thinking of a change today, I decided to cook something simple. And yes, I am a fussy eater. So I tend to crave different food every other day. Spoilt by my parents’ great cooking. Or just plain pregnancy hormones.
Hubby was home late so I took this chance to drop by the nearby supermarket and do some simple grocery shopping. I learnt my lesson last week when i bought too much things and I almost couldn’t get home by myself. When I got home, I was breathless and my leg cramped. What a mess I was.
I decided to cook sautéed lala with baby bean sprouts and chilli padi. I like food with some kick. No pun intended.
Next to clear my fridge, I thawed my salmon to make my next dish. Baked salmon. Sadly there’s no lemon leftover…or any not dried up lemon left. I substituted it with tomato.
It turned out pretty yummy. Sweet and tangy. Best of all, there’s no hint of fishy taste.
Ever since I found out that I am going to be a mom very soon, I’ve have been working on a new project. What project? – a blanket for my newborn baby. I have always like to make things. Paper origami, … Continue reading
By the time I penned this down, I’m past first trimester.
My period has been very regular ever since I’m married. To the point that it arrived on the expected day. Wow.
I have been keeping records on app like Period Diary previously when I used iphone and then Ovia app when I switch to android phone.
And so when my period was late, the first thing I did was to order the test kit online. Why online? Its cheaper compared to pharmacy. I can get 2 at the price of 1. $$ saved.
Who’d know I will get a Big Fat Positive?
I was angry and on the verge of tears when I showed my hubby the results.
I am not ready seriously. Not mentally prepared to accept a new life in my life when I just lost my beloved Dad months ago.
I felt guilt and regret. Knowing Dad will not be able to see his grandchild and my child his grandpa. Reminded me of my grandpa as well. I’d never seen him before. My grandpa passed away when my mum was expecting me. He died of lung cancer. Very sudden too.
It’s ironic. Talk about deja vu.
I realised we should have used protection. But it was that one time only… Maybe hubby’s are great swimmers. God’s will perhaps.
“Fate rules, Eve. You follow the steps, and you plan and you work, then fate slips in laughing and makes fools of us. Sometimes we can trick it or outguess it, but most often it’s already written. For some, it’s written in blood. That doesn’t mean we stop, but it does mean we can’t always comfort ourselves in blame.”
Glory in Death by J.D. Robb
I haven’t gotten much rest this year I realised.
From moving to our new home, to pet adoption, to Dad’s sudden passing, to my wedding, to my brother’s solemnization, to our first family trip, to court case trials and then when I thought “oh yeah time to relax….”
My schedule is packed again.
Planned a short trip for my mum and her friends, uncle and aunts. Thereafter, my first overseas company team building trip. Many will say I have a fulfilling year because I wasted no time. Maybe, I just don’t want to remember certain things.
I started growing plants this year. I have failed many times in the past. Perhaps I don’t have green fingers…unlike my Dad.
I accidentally killed several pots of Roses, African violets, and Air plant.
you’d got to admit roses are difficult to care for, especially in tropical climate. Right? Too much sun and heat…
Super guilty that I drowned the air plant. And It was a gift from my aunt. Oh man. Sorry Aunt Karen. I still got the other half of it. Because the plant broke into 2 when the strong wind on a stormy night toppled the container. The air plant does not need any soil. You can just hang it around by the window.
When I returned home from the team building trip, a pleasant surprise awaits.
My orange Kalanchoe plant in full bloom. Pretty!
Totally brighten up my day.
Kalanchoe
“You’re a breath of sunshine in the dark stillness my life has become”
Shadow: 9 (New Species) by Laurann Dohner
I am officially married for 3 months now.
Why officially? Legally I am married since January 2013, but we need to observe and practise traditional customs. So…a banquet, tea ceremony etc. Continue reading
POST LONG OVERDUE. bleah. was supposed to post in on 19th July. Well. Pretend it’s 19th July.
*Drum roll* The carpentry commences.
Ok.. truth is. it has already started some time last week. And that I wasn’t aware. Because my contractor told me things will be put up only this week. Therefore I wasn’t expecting much work done before this week!
So when he hit me with that news last weekend, I was overwhelmed. Bro knows me well. Asked me not to be shocked but rather be surprised when he texted me. I do not take surprises well. I am not saying that I like slower/delayed progress. But rather I prefer to be in control to lose control. And just how many surprises (shock) did he give me for the past 2 months?!
My house is like a war zone. some drilling, people climbing up and down, pieces of wood here and there. Noise from every corner, dust flying around.
Then my nose started to protest. *sneeze* sensitive to dust.
And I was asking Hubs. Don’t you think our house has many workers? 5 I saw.
Don’t you know our house is a major project? he quipped.
Oh. I wondered. Kitchen cabinet (top and bottom, a full height cabinet), a full height shoe cabinet transformed from a DB box, wardrobes in both rooms, TV feature wall, TV console and a floor to ceiling feature wall along bomb shelter all in a 67sqm flat unit. Well, maybe there’s quite a fair bit of things to do.
And it looked almost half done. So I deduced that they must have started early last week. Good thing that they knocked off at 7pm. We wouldn’t want any complaint from the neighbours.
Picture of my kitchen cabinet. I did not make full use of the corner (see example below). Reason being those type are not heavy duty. And if I am to get Blum for that, it will cost alot.
Example taken from Houzz
This is the laminate Hubs chose for shoe cabinet. It will definitely look good on the shoe cabinet.This is the only laminate that he chose and I approved.
All other laminates are chosen by me. Mainly is because of a game that we play. We like to blame each other if any decision one made is prove wrong/fail. But Hubs is too easygoing to actually get mad with me on such things.
And we have Blum system in our house. Soft closing for the win!
Blumotion for door that Hubs found.According to the browser found online, I think this costs S$4+ before GST.
One of our wardrobe… to be completed.
And the glass door issue, sadly it cannot be changed to our desired location. Because of the design of the kitchen. The allowance left between the wall and the door is about the thickness of an index finger but the tiled wall is at an angle (thicker than an index finger). If placed at where we wanted, we won’t be able to open the door. Our oversight once again. We can’t possibly ask them to get a new door or cut the glass door smaller. At least, I won’t request that of them. I think I should drop it.
Putting all the things together is very much like playing Lego. From pieces of wood to a drawer, to a cabinet…etc. It’s amazing. And it certainly requires many years of experience and skills.
Taking a break on my renovation progress as I do not have much to update. I am still awaiting the drawings. And now, it is left with carpentry (mostly) and electrical stuff (wiring, cove lights and other ceiling lights).
So, I will touch on the stuff that we bought earlier. Those things that are essential for renovation.
We got ourselves a gas cooker hob after much consideration. Electrical/induction cooker is like the in thing now but we decided not to get that. My parents have been using gas hob so did their parents. And reviews from other induction hob users I got are not always positive when it comes to the taste of food.
I am a fussy eater and it’s not easy to cook tasty food using induction cooker. Hard to caramelize food i heard. Better be safe than sorry.
We got a 2-burner hob. No point getting so many burners when we won’t be cooking so many dishes at one go. Save tabletop space as well.
Same goes for our sink. We got a single bowl sink. If we have more space, we would want a double bowl sink. One side for placing dirty dishes, the other for rinsing/ soaking.
Did I mention our tabletop is quartz? I guess no.
Why quartz? It is non-porous among many other reasons. Houzz got it all. See article below on the Pro and Con of all type of materials for kitchen countertop. And thanks to my contractor for letting me know the presence of quartz.
Not going to discuss brand. There’s so many out there and of different prices. It is up to individual personal preference.
As our kitchen countertop is black, so it our stove and sink (colour is anthracite). *laugh* So it will match! *grin* Black toughened glass for gas stove. Sink is made of 80% granite.
We decided to have our sink top mounted. Not going to have a under-mount sink because of the sink design. If it is under-mount, the mixer(tap) will be on the kitchen countertop and the carpenter will need to drill hole through the countertop. It is a BIG no-no for us. It requires good skill. Definitely. More importantly, we don’t want to sacrifice our countertop should we decide to change the sink. We will need to remove the countertop in order to remove the sink. So top mount is our best choice.
The other 2 drilled holes are for soap dispensers. We want to keep the top surface clutter-free and avoid minimum water splashing.
I went crazy with lighting after that talk with the salesman. Once I started shopping, I am unstoppable. And so, I spent quite a fair bit on the lights. *blush* ya, woman….
Some lights that I bought. It is the underside. It’s four leaf clover. Then I realized, it’s heart shaped. So sweet. Though it’s a tad too big. I still love it very much.
And I fall in love with those old school Edison light bulb. I have a ceiling light that can use such light bulb. Love the glow of the filament when it lights up. And I sincerely hope the bulb will not blow so quickly. *finger crossed*
So, my flooring is done.
A close up of the tile for my flooring.
And then the workers started on the false ceiling.
False ceiling. By its name, it is false not real ceiling.
Hub took a photo of the plasterboard in the trash. You can see the insides of it. Fibre and gypsum i guess.
A photo of the original board below.
One of the false ceiling concept caught our eyes during one of the house visiting. So we sort of fixated on that particular design. Even after we went scouting on our own on several nights, we still choose this design. We have L-box with cove light and down light.
Warm light for the cove lights and white light for the downlight. This applies to both the hall and the master bedroom.
T5 lights for the cove light. Our T5 is not LED light but normal T5 fluorescent tube. Down lights will be 12W LED lights.
LED lights will be more energy saving as compared. According to a salesman at lighting shop, he mentioned that normal lights (not referring to LED lights), there are running on AC power which will cost your electrical bill.
LED light like other electrical appliance (eg. TV, washing machine, fridge) runs on DC power is more energy saving.
We thought of getting LED version of T5 light before. But we heard from somewhere that LED type is much more expensive and knowing that we will not turn on the cove light frequently. It is not for illumination purpose but more for ambiance purpose. It will defeat the purpose of getting an energy saving version.
Well, I suck at electrical works. I do not understand the physics behind it. It’s tough. I was not an engineering student. I am glad that now I understand LED is a device and not a light bulb. It will not short fuse. It will only not light up. Thus, I do not have to be afraid of buying LED lightings from elsewhere fearing that it will cause short circuit. However, I still have to know the voltage for all the lightings in a area and not overload it.
We had miscalculated something when we decided on having the false celing. That is… the placement of the aircon.
Our aircon for the hall will be directly under the false ceiling. And in order to allow the air con to “breathe” and for easy maintenance, there need to cut a portion out of the false ceiling.
When our contractor brought this up, it scare the hell out of us. My first thought was “why didn’t I thought of it earlier?” I have this nagging feeling regarding the false ceiling before but I forgot to jot it down and ask. I sort of blamed myself for this.
We were so worried that there will be an unsightly gaping hole in between the air con and the false ceiling. Just the thought of it makes me want to hit my head hard. I did not blame my contractor as he is right to have some allowance in between. Am I too gentle on my contractor?
And on our next weekly inspection, we realised that the space cut one are not what we supposedly thought of. The false ceiling does not look half bad.
And my worry of the location of one of the downlight was avoided. It is originally placed above the air con. Luckily, I voiced our my concern and my contractor surprisingly put in a location where in my mind I have thought is the best place (the left side of the air con instead of the right side. B’cos I do not like light above the TV area, it will cast reflection and cause refraction of light). I am glad that he knows what I want.
Hub and I managed a sigh of relief. Phew.
Just that the trunking is unavoidable. Ugly! I need to keep reminding myself that at least the air con trunking does not run through the passageway and it will not “hurt” my intended mirror wall or feature wall.
And one of the air con is not placed at my intended location which kind of rub me the wrong way. I reminded myself that I have to be sensible at times. In my intended location, there will be more trunking exposed (2 tracks). The location my contractor placed only has 1 track. 2 tracks vs 1 track of trunking. Anyone with right mind will choose the latter. A neater look.
Reason why I suggested my way was because the cool air will be more blowing directly at my supposed bed area.
Nonetheless, I still don’t feel good.
Then yesterday I just got a shock. Not good. Surprises I got a few times. They are pretty pleasant. This time round, it is not. It’s awful.
The kitchen glass door was not swinging in the direction we wanted. It swings outwards and not inwards. We wanted it swinging inwards is because we hope to make use of the space outside the kitchen…Like placing a dinning table or hang some picture on the wall. With the door resting at the wall totally whack our plans. I may have taken it quite bad. That’s the first thing I saw when I entered my house. I was like what the f* is that glass door doing there? It is not supposed to be there!
Hubs stopped me from calling up my contractor in that instance. I was fuming! Not wise to do any phone call. Hubs asked me to think if what he did was ok. The fuck its okay was all I wanted to throw back at him. But I listened to his advice, took a step back and think. Seriously think.
No No No. I can’t accept. I calmed down a little when I sent a message asking him to explain. But my mood still didn’t serve me…or others any better. I hurled harsh comments at any one that crossed my path that day.
I wanted to apologise. I didn’t mean to say harsh things. But I meant every comment I made.
What I saw in the morning just get me started off on the wrong foot. Or renovation has finally taken a toll on me.
After the first message I sent, I let Hubs do the messaging. Though I am still the one to answer the phone call. I think or I hope I have sounded better on phone. My text message was just too nasty according to Hubs.
He treated me like a sister and I him like a brother. What happened was not major. He just stepped on my landmine. And I blew up. Perhaps I just do not like him doing things without notifying me even if he done those things with good intention and for our benefit.
Gotten my kitchen cabinet drawing some 2 weeks ago. Currently pending my shoe cabinet and wardrobe drawings. I like the laminates we chose very much. Lots of things to organise before I note them all down. Like types of kitchen countertop, types of laminates, wall painting.. Prices and all sort.
Renovation is like another full time job to me. At least I do not need to think about my work after office hours. Home renovation, I can’t. It will always be at the back of my mind. Waiting to sneak up on me.
Flooring… we wanted to do laminate flooring. Why? It oozes a cozy and warm vibe. And the cost is lesser than parquet. Because laminate flooring is not made of real wood. We even submitted our application for screeding at Punggol HDB Branch. However, after hubs’ friend cautioned him how difficult it is at maintaining the laminate flooring, we decided to cancel our screeding appointment. Laminate flooring requires detergent specially for laminate flooring. We tried calling and also left message notifying them, but sadly the officer did not pick up. So we promptly change the lock pad. *shrug*
We want a LOW maintenance home. I don’t want to stress myself to remember to shut all windows before going out, fearing that rain will “injure” the laminate flooring. Home is a place my heart yearns. A place where I can relax and be myself.
We thought of having granite flooring. Having granite flooring may increase the house value. But the high cost and the thought of one day, if we decided to sell our existing house and the future owner does not appreciate the flooring we have and decided to hack all away. We would definitely feel the heartache. Having granite flooring for a 4-room flat will cost around S$10k or more, depending on the quality and size (600x600mm or 800x800mm) of the tiles. Needless to say, 800×800 will cost more than 600×600. My cousin just renovated his new home and has granite flooring, thus, I know the price.
Oh! I didn’t mention marble. I don’t recommended marble. Alrighty. Marble is a soft stone and FYI granite is hard stone. Marble is softer than granite. And it is not resistant to stain, water. High maintenance (need special detergent) and high cost.
In the end, we choose homogeneous tiles. It cost slightly more than laminate and definitely cost less than granite.They have many designs and a lot have grains-like designs those natural stones have. There are matt and glossy tiles depends on your preference. Stain and water resistant, therefore low maintenance.
Actually I don’t like having tiles. For the most simplest reason, it is cold on the feet. It is not advisable to have your feet on cold tiles, especially for pregnant women. Singapore is four-season summer country. Imagine in an air conditioned room and cold tiles, it is definitely not fun to walk on. Chinese TCM said that the han chi (cold energy) enters from your feet, and your body will become vulnerable. Meaning: decreases your immunity and get ill easier.
Word of advice from an ID: wear socks to bed.
Seriously, it’s up to personal preference. No matter how much others object or advise you otherwise, as long as you like it is utmost important. Told you I always follow my heart. Live without regret. Learn from mistakes. Life goes on!
Now….
Our flooring cost slightly expensive as compared to other quotes we have. It is 600×600 size. S$9.50 per square feet (inclusive of workmanship). For tile flooring, most important to note is the gap between tiles (grout).
The smaller the gap, the better. It is more pleasant to the eye. And less space for dirt to trap in, thus lesser time will be spent on cleaning.
Picture taken on an impromptu visit in the evening. Before acid wash. Freshly laid. *laughs* Hope I can get a day photo soon. =) Now, it’s all covered up with corrugated paper.
Realise there is a black area lining the skirting? It will be painted with our selected colour in the later stage.
There’s a slope at the main gate for all new houses unlike our parents’ houses which is at right angle which we feel that it’s better. Or we are used to it? According to neighbours who check with Feng Shui (Geomancy), they said that right angle at door is better as it prevent good energy from flowing away and bad energy from flowing in. No photo on hand at the moment.
One more thing to note….
The tool to determine if the floor is level. Some equilibrium kit. Don’t know what it is called. Placed it on your newly laid tiles/laminate. The bubble should be within the marked area.
Bigger picture of the tool from Google results.
Ikea sells it. Just that I don’t know where. Saw it in someone’s shopping cart at Ikea last week. *laughs* But it does not have magnet at the bottom. Ours have. Guess any hardware shop will sells it. Not useful in bathroom as water needs to flow to the drain.
Do put in a few knocks on your tiles to check if it is hollow or not. Not sure if this is useful. No harm trying. Hubs did that…
My flooring is done on the 1st week of renovation. When I checked them out on a Wednesday, it is 3/4 complete. My guess is time taken is around 3 – 5 days. Because when Hubs made a visit down on Saturday, it is already covered up with corrugated paper.
Nowadays, cement base is commonly found in new homes. My parents does not have that. They bought ready made cabinets and the stove area is a whole block cement structure from base to waist level.
So this is a new thing to me. Well, everything is a first to us.
Kitchen area is small, small and smalllll. Within such a limited space, we need to go vertical.
So we wanted bottom cabinets to sit on cement base. We do not want suspended cabinet. Why? Suspended bottom cabinet cant take as much weight. You cannot put too heavy stuff. And after long term of usage, there is chances of it falling off dues to wear and tear.
Top cabinet will be suspended. No other way. Unless, it’s a full height cabinet.
I don’t want to question how often you will be in the kitchen or how often you will cook. Because I heard so many questioning us and telling us otherwise until I am so put off by that.
So cement base (picture below) is 50mm in height. And the sides are furnished with tiles (extra tiles are provided by HDB, check your bomb shelter). Any excess needed, you have to buy from HDB. (eg. in event of touching up of hacked walls and etc)
Not only for kitchen cabinet, our fridge and washing machine have a cement motar base as well. In case, there is a need to wash the floor, the elevation will prevent water from coming in contact with the base of these electrical appliances.
The one without tiles furnish will be where our full height cabinet located.
The surface area of the cement base will be smaller than the cabinet. Referring to the width. So that the cabinet can sit on top of it. To give our wiggly toes space for us to lean in. We always lean against it when we prepare our food. My parents’ house does not have this. Maybe last times contractor did not thought of it? or extra work = extra money spent. Inflation last time is not as bad as now.
We have asked our contractor for extra “powder” to fill the grout at kitchen. See how’s the workmanship of HDB, I wanted scream at them. The grouting is not even and dirty as compared to those my contractor done. *geez* Furthermore, this is a new flat, not some resale flat. HDB won’t do anything as it is not considered as a defect. I am not asking my contractor to do it. I don’t think it’s fair to them to do it for free. Nor I want to pay a fee for this grout filling works. I can do it. At least, I can ask my Dad for instruction. He’d done that to his house.
And see how the base for the fridge eats into the doorway? My miscalculation. If I have know this would happen, I will not have a base constructed for our fridge. Sighs. I will get over it.
However I like his thoughtfulness that he actually removed the sharp edges. I am very careless person, very prone to small injuries. I mean VERY. haha. I am very sure that I will still stub my toes somehow. By the way, the base for the fridge must be bigger that the fridge. We won’t want to see fridge topple over right? haha.
Only our bathroom at master bedroom (mbr) will have shower screen. This is after much consideration that we finally settled on this arrangement As our common bathroom will be “hidden”, we find it a waste to have shower screen installed at common bathroom. Not going to use it frequently I believe.
So the base is for the clear tempered glass to sit in. Furnished with our bathroom tiles.
So, I think that’s about it. I have covered tiles and bases. Bear in mind: Never underestimate the cost of these small things. All these added up will be quite a figure.
Internet was down for a week. And now I am past my sleeping time. Zzzz. Time to go to bed. I just hope my house renovation will goes smoothly and swiftly. Ever since renovation started, renovation is always on the back of my mind. Practically, we have no time to plan our wedding (customary..tea ceremony and wedding banquet). Every weekend, it is to be spent on shopping (or window shopping) for house items, gathering ideas for renovation and finding ways to maximise storage space. And my blog is turning into a renovation blog. *laughs*
At least my mode of destress remains the same. Reading. I enjoy it a lot. Perhaps it is reading that allows me to stretch my imagination and visualise the final result of renovation.
Just finished ‘Lothaire’ by Kresley Cole. Not my favourite hero.
Currently reading “Suddenly Royal” by Nichole Chase. An adult version of Princess Diaries.
1 more month to end of renovation works. Counting down not so eagerly? *shrug*
Waiting to be Written 