ID and Renovator Hunting

hubby cheng and i went to the showrooms of two Interior Designers we short-listed on Sunday..

the outcome was good..we were happy with the second one :)

it ain't an easy task though..before that we were looking through websites and flipping through magazines here and there..

our aim is simple: we wanted someone we could trust to do a proper job and someone who would not hack plenty of money out of our 'already depleted and building bank account'..

i have gotten 2 quotations so far...one from a famous ISO certified company and one from a normal company..

i am waiting for 2 more quotations to come in before we close our list and have further discussions.

here's a few tips i have learnt so far:

1. have on hand 2 sets of floorplan (one in it's original plan and one with your intended design)- this will come in handy when you visit your renovator, few copies would be good.

2. have a list of renovators- best to start off with friends' and families' recomendation (especially those whom they have hired for their own homes. haha, go check out their houses to view the final products)

3. short-list the renovators and pay them a visit at their showrooms (for the renovators i have short-listed, i make it a point to visit their showroom cause' i want to see for myself what kind of company i am dealing with. no point getting a renovator who don't even make it a point to deco their showroom well)

4. bring along your valuation report (this comes in handy cause the renovator often only works with the floorplan first. so bringing a valuation report would let them have an idea of the place. this is especially important for me as mine is a resale and with the report, i am able to show them my living room's cornice)

5. pictures of your intended design (if you have an intended design which you saw in a mag, you might wish to bring it along so that the designer can work towards your design. but for me, i prefer to describe the idea to my designer and have him work it and draw it out. haha, that's part of the reason why we are paying him, right?)

6. view the showrooms! (haha, do visit a few high end designers' showrooms. not to be high-class or anal. but just to see their designs and listen to their opinions. for me, visiting the showrooms allow me to explore a few designs i have never thought of and after the visit, i could jolly-well copy their design and ask around for quotations.)

listening to the designer's opinions are also very beneficial. this is from my own experience. as my unit's wastage pipe is still in cast iron, i asked for it to be changed to PVC pipes. two of the 'not so good' companies i went to jolly-well included in it in the quotation.

but two big companies i went to actually told me that i could get HDB (thru their sun-contractor) to change it and it would be better cause they have changed for thousands of households and most importantly, they are working for HDB (quality and pricing can be trusted to a certain extent)

this was something hubby cheng and i had never thought of. :)

that's why it's important to get different opinions.

and also, sometimes it's good to get 'no's from your designer instead of all the 'can do, can be done, sure can la'.

on sunday, hubby and i went to visit 2 designers. one of them is a famous one online while the other is an ordinary one.

the ordinary one said yes to my everything, including the hacking of a wall into half from the top and shifting of the water taps from one end to the other.

but..(yes, there's always a but)

the famous online designer actually told me no. he told me about how the hacking of a wall into half from the top would affect stability (possibility of not being approved by HDB) and how i shouldn't shift my water taps to the other end cause' the pipes would be very long and there is a possibility of pipes blockage.

he even told me the difference of gas heater and electrical heater as for gas heater, he might have to install extra pipes, each $100.

he brought a few matters for our consideration which i found it good. he said that things can be done but it might have a big effect years later.

haha, i superlike this guy la. he's getting back to me on his quotation. so i'll see how it all goes! :)

till then, this is my little knowledge for sharing :)

iwll be getting my keys on 29 Oct 2008...haha, 2 more days to go!!!

my house :)




Sentosa Day with my Bestie



went to the beach on saturday (25 Oct 08)..very good day with super duper good weather..

it was a super sunny day! and we had great chips and SuperDogs by the beach..







it's been ages since we stepped on Sentosa..it was a day well-spent though...with the gossips, food, sun and extremely salty sea water..haha

too bad there aren't handsome guys to add on to the great scenary..maybe next time we should give Palawan a try :)






hubby cheng was very sweet today..

while i was working OT in the office, he called me out of the blue and told me "i love you"..

haha, i asked him why and he said it was because he thought of me while he was eating dinner earlier and decided to call.

not that it's the first time. but just that it came at the time where i was tired from work and it just made everything else fall into the right place.

and i suddenly thought of the night of our Solemnisation Ceremony.

we were both lying in bed, watching Oylmpics and feeling tired from the day's rush. then i felt sleepy and decided that i wanted to sleep on the left side of the bed. and so, i started to push him to the right side but he refused to.

he insisted on sleeping on the left side, which was something weird cause' he never really mind the left or right side of the bed.

and so i was, making those kiddy actions for him to move and all along he just kept saying that i should sleep on the right side.

finally, he gave the biggest hint of why he wanted me to move. he just pointed to the pillow and said "surprise".

haha, what a spoiler. i am just so block head. he actually hid a card with his sweet sweet message under the pillow while i was bathing.

and silly me just couldn't get the hint.

haha..the rest is history. but i just thought it to be very sweet of him.

love you, baby :)









i am sick..

but the saddest part is being sick on a Friday night. that leaves me with saturday and sunday to recover and it's back to work on a blue monday.

well, i have always thought myself to have rather good an immune system, except for the weekly flu and sinus.

but yesterday night, while out with grace, i found myself to be down with a fever, bodyache and flu.

after having dinner with grace at Carousel and walking about in Far East for a while, we headed to the taxi stand.

only to find it queued with people. so, we walked towards Hyatt Hotel's taxi stand before i hopped onto a cab and told my bestie goodbye.

sad night though..because of me being sick, we didn't have a long long chat and due to the long dinner, we only made it for window-shopping.

but dinner was nice though. we had buffet at Carousel at Royal Plaza at Scotts.

was an expensive dinner at $65 per pax but i managed to get a discount with my DBS card. a whooping 15% percent off the bill. hee, so the final bill came up to about $55 per pax.

dinner was okie. they have a rather huge variety of sushi, seafood (including lobster and oysters-fresh ones i mean!), 10 different types of starters, all sorts of meat, pasta and even chicken rice!

ha..but the best were their deserts..simply yummy..especially the choc fondue :)

it was a nice meal with a bestie. too bad, jul decided not to come due to work.

we took about 2 hrs for the whole buffet.

afterwhich, we dropped by Isetan and there were so many black dresses!!..haha, i am so gonna get a few this year end. i have been searching for one for coming to a year but i just haven't found a perfect one.

maybe this is the time to get it! :)

we also dropped by Far East to walk around. too bad the shops were closed early. but she managed to show me a nice dress shop where she bought the dress she wore to my ROM.

hee, and i got my eyes on a pair of heels that were freaking high but pretty :)

but due to my fever, i actually placed the heels back to the shelfs. haha, maybe next week, when i get there and it's there..haha, it's gonna be mine!

and today, though i am sick, i managed to load my ROM video on Friendster..go take a look if you want...

wanted to post some pics on friendster but the pics are just too big in size..so, i'll see how tonight..

meanwhile, mr cheng had been very nice to me..haha, not that he's nasty but he's been extra nice to me. i got two dresses from mr cheng last month. he bought me a pink one from CottonOn and a blue one from a korean shop in AMK Hub.

super happie :)

love you darling, you are the best! :)