I'm personally starting to get pissed. There has been no updates from my contractor at all. I don't even know whether the wall has been hacked. I've chosen him because he had such good reviews, responsive, and provide updates. Responsive yes, but why do I always have to ask him what is going on. This really sux.

We paid him the 2nd payment 1.5 weeks ago, he said he would want to meet us last week to discuss on the laminates, until now, I have not heard anything from him.

I'm so disappointed now. For someone who has such good reviews, and we are not even a nasty couple. But I don't really like the fact that I paid him so much and I have to follow up with him.

Is that even the norm?

Hack away!

Last week, I called HDB on Monday only to find out that the contractor has submitted insufficient documents for the hacking. Sent a 'harsh' sms to ask him to follow up. There was no updates from him till Friday even though he was supposed to meet us to confirm our carpentry. Finally, on Friday, I smsed him for updates and he told me that the permit is approved and they will hack on Monday.

Yesterday, I had a terrible headache, but we still decided to head down to the flat. And to my disappointment, it has not been hacked! I kinda of expected it as the permit was still not approved on Monday morning. So far, in terms of dates, the contractor has never been able to keep to the time he set. I was so disappointed and was contemplating if I should asked him about the hacking.

Decided to give him till wed or thur before I lash out on him. This morning, I finally saw the approval for hacking on HDB website. Hopefully they start the hacking in these 2 days!

Anyway, last we checked, all the items are already waiting patiently in the house, lights, oven, hob, hood, sink, tap, water heater bleh bleh bleh!

Looking forward!

Kitchen Appliances

These are the stuffs we got for the kitchen.

Fujioh Hood FX900 from Goh Ah Bee

Fujioh Hob FG792GL from Goh Ah Bee

Bosch Oven HBN331E2J

Double Bowl Sink from Viva Nueva

Kitchen Tap from Viva Nueva

Mitsubishi Fridge MRC46C in Pearl White

Where Art Thou?

I just had this really sad inner calling. The thought of seeing the preggy cousin-in-law soon scares me. I hate being asked the same questions again and again.

We have not been hardworking, so last night, we decided we really need to work hard. Another cycle gone. I still see no potato.

When is my turn ah?

Ups & Downs

Birthday week was pretty ok. Had lunches, dinners, cakes.
We spent our Friday at Wild Honey and its extremely pricey breakfasts. Then headed on to check in at Pan Pacific. Perhaps they knew it was my birthday celebration, they upgraded us from deluxe room to panoramic room. The view was ok, but the service was impeccable. The concierge brought us up to the room, and there was free flow of coffe, tea, and cookies on our level.
toot also felt that we were lucky enough that it was a really quiet level. We enjoyed it and regretted not extending 1 more night. But I'm sure we will go back real soon.

Onto Reno, the hacking permit has yet to be approved. And it has been 2 weeks! I just called the HDB officer today, apparently, the application has been returned to contractor due to insufficient documents. Now I'm really worried that we will not be able to complete in time if we can only start hacking next week. Of cos, I sms the contractor, using a really harsh tone (I hope) asking him to follow up.  Grrr. Need my angry face now.

The beginning of a new decade

It's moi big day today!

I can't believe I have hit the big 3!

My birthday wishes this year:

1. Reno to be smooth, house to be perfect for the next 30 years.
2. Hope to celebrate my birthday with a bigger family next year!
3. Stay healthy for both of us.
4. Work to be smooth for both of us.

It's weird to be upgraded!
Can't wait for my staycation. :p

The beginning

Ever since we got our flat, it has been a rush.

Checking Defects
BSC said they need 14 working days to fix my minor defects. Till today, they are still fixing. I kinda gave up and decided to let them do whatever they can and close the case. Reason being, the more they do, the worse it gets! In fact, some of the stuffs, we decided to just do it ourselves.   -_-"

Contractor
Since we were not hard up for designs, and wanted as little built in cabinets and stuffs as possible.
We sent a 'request for quote' via the forum and all we got were phonecalls /emails asking us to go down to take a look at their showroom. toot probably received about 20 calls and only 1 or 2 of them provided a quote based on my specifications which I wrote down clearly. 1 of them gave me a sample quote! Duh. Totally defeats the purpose of the 'request for quote' function since we never received a proper quote.

In the end, we went back to contractors /IDs with good reviews. We shortlisted 1 Contractor and 1 ID. Both of them were really nice. In fact, these were the only 2 we met. As both the prices were about the same, and both of them were easy to speak to, the deciding factor came down to who could solve our Mini kitchen issue.

We first wanted to hack the kitchen wall when we met the contractor. After meeting the ID, we decided to keep the kitchen wall. When we met the contractor again, he was able to identify the issues given the layout that I wanted. So we decided to hack the wall and expand it out again. When we met the ID, he does not appear to be supportive of the hacking, but we insisted in the end.

After serious consideration, we went with the one who could provide practical suggestions to the kitchen and decided to really hack the wall. After the application for hacking was submitted, we changed our mind on the door opening and decided to move it further down again.

So yes, after rounds and rounds of changing, we have finally decided. I hope this goes through smoothly. It has been 2 weeks and permit has yet to be approved!

Wall that is going to be hack and extended since we have a wide passageway

  

Pigeon Hole

Snapshots of our house!

View from Main Entrance

Living Room and Suggested Study

Love the L-Shaped Windows

Entrance to the bedrooms

Entrance to MBR

Master Bedroom

More L-Shaped windows. $$$

MBR Bath with White Sink. Yeah!

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3 with Deep Corner for my Wardrobe

Bedroom 3 - Entertainment Area

Mini Kitchen

Right Wall to be hacked and rebuilt

Service Yard

At least my clothes can air dry for now before the rest of the buildings are up.

View of the common Toilet from the Kitchen

Blogger is not really good for photo uploading! 

And my photos are stacked inside other photos. It's weird. I had to spend so much time trying to make my photos look ok. 

Empty House for Now

Officially engaged our contractor on Friday. Hope all goes well. Can't wait to see how it turns out even though we are doing minimal stuffs. :p

Hectic weekend for us. We had to go to TCM place, reached at 740 and my oh my, queue was so so long. I had never queued so far back before. It was not even 8. This time, we decided by 820 that, we should not wait, cos there were about 15 groups ahead of us and will take us almost 5 hours before our turn.
toot suggested coming back on a weekday, I had a tiny concern, Uncle chan wanted me to see him if my period is still not here by Sunday. In the end, I gave in, we will drop by on the day when we are meeting our contractor instead.

Headed for our favourite breakfast at Swensons, yes they serve lovely french toast. Went to Giant to search for Menova racks for the household shelter.

Then we headed for Hommage to shop for furniture. I would say it was a fruitful trip. We saw a couple of furnitures which I believe is from the same manufacturer who manufactures Tonin Casa's furniture. toot was happy, he thinks he will have an atas house. Especially when the uncle said I'm atas. -_-"

Went back to my house for dinner and Daddy says that we should 动土 the next day! It was so fast. Also went to Audio House to see the Samsung Smart TV promotion. I realised that when it comes to TV, toot is exceptionally energetic. We had been out the whole day since 7am and he actually wanted to go to Audio House at 8pm! Didn't get the TV in the end and he decided we should go Mega Discount Store the next day.

Maybe he really wanted the TV, we did buy a TV, but it was a LG Smart TV instead. Quite convinced by the guy, as LG is the only one that has a browser in the TV. I hope he didn't smoke us. :p Got my fridge as well! No Hitachi slim fridge since the factory in Thailand is closed and out of operations, got a White Mitsubishi and I hope it's nice.

That afternoon, Daddy and Mummy went to our house and Dad performed a simple 动土 act by hacking on the wall! And it was done.

Sneak Preview!