Furnishing the home

Now that the renovation is almost completed, the next step would be to furnish the home.

Due to limited budget, we obviously cannot afford furnishing the entire home and thus, would have to focus on essential items first. You may want to read this article on the 7 essential pieces of furniture for your first home. It makes sense although I must admit, I found this article randomly from Google.

1. A SOFA

Prices for an L-shaped or 3-seater sofa start from $700. The cheapest one that we've found so far (not counting those kucing kurap ones) is a 3-seater leather sofa from Ikea. It's actually quite comfy but the colour is beigy-white (quite hard to upkeep). We've also seen other decent L-shaped and 3-seater leather sofas at Sea Horse going for less than $800. Nowadays sofas have become so sophisticated that you can get sofas with slide-in/slide-out seats, put-up/put-down headrests,  recline features, or all of the above (but they obviously come with a price). 

Our story: You may have recalled our sofa story in a previous post. We are glad to inform that due to our persistent hounding, the sales manager agreed to lower the price to $850. The goods have been delivered and the sofa now lies smugly in the living room. (GRIN)

Note: Mode Studio is now having their Opening Sale at their new outlet in Marina Square Level 3. 

2. A DINING TABLE

The author aptly listed "A table that you can eat from" because nowadays we tend to have our meals in front of the TV (if at home) or outside. This is mainly due to difference in meal times, popular TV programmes at dining times, and the added convenience of dining out. 

Dining tables are, unfortunately, very expensive. They are priced as though to penalise those who really want to have proper meals (inelastic demand). In addition, some are really ugly - either too elaborated with glass designs, or too bulky.

Our story: We wanted a dining table that was value for money because we don't forsee ourselves using the table every single day except probably to put mails and keys on it. Big furniture shops like Nova, Courts etc pride themselves with Mediacorp-drama-worthy dining tables (i.e. big and elaborated). After scouring the limited dining table market, it seemed that only Ikea had slim & classy designs. However they weren't cheap either (total set around $700) because you have to pay for the chairs separately. And the material (compressed wood) was...questionable. We finally found our dining table set ($599 - 1 solid rubber wood table, 6 chairs) at a Furniture & Home Expo. It is the cheapest set we've seen and at least it's made of solid wood. We'll post a picture of it once we have it delivered.

TIP: If you're doing home reno, you can also ask your contractor/carpenter to build a dining table for you.


3. WARDROBE/CLOSET

If you are doing renovations, built-in wardrobes may be a natural and more convenient choice. They look better (i.e. you can customise the laminate and the design), fit better (i.e. full heighr & can fit the whole length of the wall) and can last longer (assumption). I know Ikea offers custom-made wardrobes, but I am not too familiar with how much they cost.

Our story: We picked D'Esprit mainly because their in-house carpenter had great workmanship based on earlier experience with him. He didn't disappoint and we're very happy with our full height 5-door wardrobe in the master bedroom. Mr Hill threw in free anti-slam door hinges as well!

4. BEDSIDE TABLE
A bedside table is good for putting your spectacles, a cup of water, storybook, alarm clock, watch, and other random stuff that you put away only when you're about to go to sleep. Prices for a bedside table start from $19 (Ikea, no frills, just 5 pieces of wood). Normal furniture stores are still selling normal-shaped bedside tables (i.e. Cuboid-ish) so you are only selecting a bedside table based on price, colour, material, drawers/no drawers.

Our story: A friend of ours introduced us to Hock Siong. The place is a hidden gem for those who don't mind quality 2nd-hand furniture from 5 star hotels and showrooms. We found a solid wood bedside table there that cost $45. The table has a drawer and a casement cabinet.

TIP: Hock Siong has a wide selection of writing tables (those you can find in hotel rooms), coffee/end tables (those you see in hotel lobby lounges) and lamps. They also sell high quality stuff like rose-wood sofa sets and dining tables. Hock Siong provides free delivery for purchases more than $300.

5. WINDOW COVERING (i.e. BLINDS/CURTAINS)

The wife initially thought that blinds/curtains were a waste of money because they will be redundant most of the time. Nonetheless the article did bring up a good point about needing some place to change. Since HDB bathrooms are really small and the floors are usually wet after shower (see Point 6), it makes it rather inconvenient to wear long pants in the bathroom. In these circumstances, blinds/curtains can help to protect your modesty.

Our story: Mr Hill brought us to a "window specialist" to select our window films and to enquire about blinds. We found the place dodgy and KTV-like, and mainly because the price wasn't cheap, we decided not to get the blinds from them. We contacted Mr Ang the blind man, who also did the blinds for the wife's existing flat. The husband was very please with Mr Ang and the quote and agreed to purchase the blinds for him. We'll be installing timber blinds for the living & master bedroom + roller blinds for the void at the service balcony. The blinds cost around $1000, not cheap because we got a lot of windows!!!! and the void is 2-storey high!!!

6. SHOWER SCREEN

Although a shower screen is technically not a furniture, the wife insists that is an essential element for the washroom. The shower screen only serves one purpose: Block water thus keep the floor dry. These screens don't come cheap. The screen is made of tempered glass and the labour cost to set up the screen is expensive too.

Our story: The wife is very happy with her shower screen in the shared bathroom although Mr Hill & the husband beg to differ. According to them, the screen was awkwardly positioned and looks really ugly, but the wife doesn't care :)

HDB 2nd Appointment

Starring: 'The Operation Manager' and 'His Woman'
 
The 2nd HDB appointment was held on 1st of April (PM).

During the appointment, we signed a few forms, received the house keys, and voila, the appointment was over! The whole process probably took less than 15 minutes. After which, we proceeded to the 2nd floor to get the utilities transferred to our names (also around 15 minutes).

In normal circumstance, you would pass your agent his/her cheque, but we decided not to. Mainly because of the following reasons:

1. When we inspected the flat 2 nights ago, the flat was not totally cleared out. There were still a lot of junk lying around. We wanted to ensure that these items were gone, else our agent should take responsibility by getting town council or disposal company.
2. The owner still owes us the letter box key.

Advice by operation manager:
Please note transaction is incomplete should any item remains outstanding. Thus, the buyer should ensure all items are in order prior to issuance of cheque to his/her agent.

Fortunately, we withheld the cheque as we did really face some complications.

When the operation manager went to inspect the house the night thereafter, he could not open the main door successfully. The previous owner had secured the main door 4 times, with a padlock, main lock, metal grille lock and a bicycle lock but the operation manager could only open 2 of these 4 locks.

He called the previous owner frantically but was unable to reach him. The previous owner had switched off his handphone while his agent feigned ignorance. It seemed that our agent was the only one who tried to help.

We are not sure if we would have received the same attention if we had paid her earlier. The rest of the night was emotionally for both the operation manager and his woman.

Prayer was answered the following afternoon when the previous owner called and agreed to assist.
Matter was resolved in the evening with a change of new locks.

Take-away:
At the end of the transaction (and before each party returns to his own way), please ensure you have the followings:
- The seller's contact
- Ensure house is empty
- Every single item, stipulated under the ownership clause

Bonus:
- Future Home address of the seller, through eaves-dropping

Our Flat-Buying Journey

Starring: 'The Architect' and 'Miss Hard-to-Please'

We decided not to enlist the help of a buyer agent while searching for the flat.
Reason being that we are not obliged to any agent and we need not receive unnecessary 'promotion' through phone.

We actually consider the parcel of flat adjacent to the in-laws.
Here are some pics of the development (linked directly from H88.com.sg).
We like this development because the exterior & surrounding landscaping look really good. However, we couldn't seem to find a flat within this estate that could provoke an emotion to our hearts. Most of the flats we viewed were either blah, or had one or more defect (e.g. overhanging ledge outside your living room window for the unit on the 14th floor).

If you like condo-look-alike appearance flats, you may want to consider this development.

Disclaimer: It's at Woodlands.Choose it at your peril.

On one faithful day, 'Miss Hard-to-Please' had a sudden craving to check out EM flats. And chanced upon this ad online:
 

The ad did not look too promising, especially since the agent did not post any photos and the $10K COV feels fishy~

Nonetheless she went ahead to book an appointment with the agent since she has never seen an EM before and did not want to miss out on a good deal even if it's too good to be true.








Appended below are the summarised emotions derived from the flat viewing:
1) 'Jia1 Xiang1 de4 Gan3 Jue2' (translated into English = Feeling of Home-coming, ie. Ipoh Kampung Feeling)
2) Big...Very Big
3) Dirty, dusty & smelly (Huge make-over need to be done)
4) Koi Fish Window, Koi Fish Sliding Door, Koi Fish Motif...1st to be hacked and go'
5) 'Oh-my...Grey Granite Floor...2nd to be hacked and go'
6) Cornice at Ceiling - so old fashion...3rd to go
7) Brown Aluminum Sliding Window Frame - 4th to go
8) No Bomb Shelter???? (see floor plan)

Despite these many concerns, we opted for a 2nd viewing and paid $1000 for the option to purchase (OTP) 4 days later.
Main motivating factor was governed by points 1 & 2.
The 10k COV was also lucrative as savings from COV can be used to hack the granite floor (which was later vetoed due to budget constraint).
*By the way, please ensure that you have your HLE letter before committing to an OTP. You can negotiate with the seller to give you an extension or post-date the OTP.

The ad was actually put up by a freelance agent who told us she is the self-made/default buyer agent.
We didn't want to jin1 jin1 ji4 jiao4 (too calculative) and have no time to do the paper work, we accepted with grace her self-appointment as our buyer agent.
To give her due credit, she did try to cut the COV to $9K (not successful) and helped to appeal to HDB on our behalf regarding the submission of ROM cert (successful, but credit goes to the helpful HDB officer as well).
* To appeal, you need to submit to HDB a receipt of your wedding banquet/ROM/wedding gown with the date of your ROM written on it. To add more oomph you should submit a letter from the JP as well.

1st Appointment with HDB
- Date:19 Feb.
- As we will be exercising the additional 10k grant for living near to parents, our parents have to be present, together with their IC and marriage cert.
- Hear say, 1st appointment is for the HDB officer to understand if we are indeed genuine of marriage (to ensure the couple are not those scam type with foreign wives to buy HDB), 

More details of 1st & 2nd appointment will be posted in due time. So keep a look out for it.

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For potential flat-buyers, surfing through PropertyGuru (iPhone app available as well) and flipping through the Saturday Classifieds could be sufficient to help you in your flat-hunting journey if you have an idea on the location and type of flat you want.

By the way, a buyer agent normally earns 1% of the flat purchase price (paid by the buyer) while the seller agent earns 2% (paid by the seller). There is a serious conflict of interest which I really don't understand (why would the buyer agent want to reduce the price for you since he/she is earning based on commission?). HDB allows you to be your own agent and they organises seminars to educate you on the necessities during flat-buying/selling.

Free Advice from "The Architect" when Buying A Resale Flat

"The Architect" would like to share his two cents' worth on some guidelines to adhere to when buying a resale flat. 

Design Consideration:

• The windows should face in the general direction of North & South; to minimize heat build-up from the morning (east) and evening sun (west).

• Sufficient Daylight is of importance. Room depth should not exceed 3 x the height of floor to ceiling (ie. If the full height glass window is 2.8m = the room depth/length should not exceed 8.4 for efficient daylight entry.

• Rectilinear layout for ease of furniture installation.

• Degree of inclination to accept the as-built interior design, if any.

Additional Consideration:

• Check if the house is ‘clean’; look out for hidden amulets, ‘Ba Gua Mirror’

• Check the condition of sanitary point, esp at ceiling region to ensure no leakage from unit above. The last thing you want is a new home filled with shit!

• Check out if surrounding neighbors own the flat or is sublet-ing out the flat to multiple tenants; check the no. of slippers per household and if there is excessive hanging of underwear and bras

• Take a walk around the estate, keep a look out if there is excessive clothes being hung at window for drying. If so, it means there isn’t enough ventilation/sunlight for drying of clothe or it could be the item stated above: too many tenants in a flat – social security issue.

Points to note:

• Home visit during daytime. If agent/seller do not agree, give them a piece of your mind.

• Buyer is entitled to request either the agent or home seller to switch off light to determine if daylight is sufficient.

• Don't get cheated by sellers who switch on the aircon to full blast to give the illusion that the flat is very cooling.