Blogging the last two days of singlehood

Wednesday, 3 Nov 2011
Woke up today at 7am. Took today & tomorrow off from work because there's a lot of errands to run. The rest of the house is awake too. Went for breakfast at the coffeeshop downstairs, then took a cab to ROM. Arrived at 8.05. ROM opens at 8.30. So had to stand outside. Soon more couples started to arrive, and everyone stood outside. As 8.30 nears, all couples (including us) edge closer to the main door, hoping to be 1st in line. Darn, should have formed queue right from the start.

8.30am. Doors open. Our queue number: 0006. Waited for about 10 mins, got attended by a man, who upon realizing that the Solemnizer is my uncle, cut short the briefing, on the pretext that "your uncle will brief you". We had to pledge some civil oath to declare that we're above 18, not currently married, and that all information in Form A is correct. After which Mr ROM hands us the cert & other paper docs for that day. Total time spent with Mr ROM: 15 mins.
Author's note: Remember to bring your ICs, witnesses' IC (original or photocopy) & letter of consent by Solemnizer.

9.30am. Arrived Woodlands 656. The big spring cleaning begins. This involved mopping the floors, wiping stuff, cleaning toilets, changing bed sheet. The whole affair was a 4-people effort that lasted for 2 hours.

1pm. Lunch at Everything with Fries, Holland Village. Loved the lamb burger. But can't wait for the Fergburger in Queenstown.

6pm. Rehearsal. Realised that the march-in is very long. Selected the march-in music and tested out all the audio & video. The hotel AV coordinator is very friendly and accommodative. We are also thankful that everyone came for the rehearsal in full force.

Thursday, 4 Nov 2011
Woke up at 7am again. Because of stomach ache. Realised I missed out a friend's bday yesterday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MELISSA!

Breakfast at coffee shop. Rented 6 plastic chairs for $1 each (deposit $100) from the warehouse at Depot Lane. Went back to pack cum clean my room. I have 2 luggages to pack: overnight bag for the hotel & things to put in new house and beyond.

11am. Mani & Pedi at Summer Nail Salon Great World City. Bought deal at $22 for gelish. Normal pedicure costs $32.30. Am typing this as I wait for the pedi to dry.

The Unveil of 656 Woodlands Ring Road

Starring: Mr "If you can't see it means it's clean" and Ms "You're not allowed to sit on the sofa".

After 1 month (plus) of renovation, the humble abode at Blk 656 Woodlands Ring Road was finally "ready"! The couple spent 2 days cleaning the house, during which Mr "If you can't see it means it's clean"'s philosophy was frequently applied, especially in obscure parts of the house. Nonetheless, the cleanup was still torturous; and to add to his  misery, Ms "You're not allowed to sit on the sofa" didn't allow him to sit on the sofa.

The sofa is currently covered with bedsheet and Ms "You're not allowed to sit on the sofa" insists that the sofa will only be functional when there are guests or after they move in. Otherwise it remains as an artpiece.

Cove lighting + art piece at the bottom-left corner

TV Console + Display cabinets from Mode Studio

Hock Siong coffee/end tables

View from the living room + ZX's grilles

Roller blinds for the service balcony void

Tempered glass sliding door for the kitchen

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 :)

The Renovation Story: When "The Designer" Met "The Engineer"

Starring: "The Designer" and "The Engineer"

In "The Designer"'s world, the house should be designed to look like a showflat. That is, sleek designs, cozy lighting, proper placement of furniture, etc, so as to create a romantic and resort-like ambiance. Unfortunately, the expression of "The Designer"'s creative mind is severely restricted by (a) budget and (b) the existing grey granite floor.

Here are some of "The Designer"'s Inspirations (photos are linked directly from the web):
















In "The Engineer"'s world, the most important things to change are the toilet WCs and the kitchen. "The Engineer" is also strongly against standing standing fans and only endorses ceiling fans. Renovations to the rest of the house is secondary, and will take place only if budget permits.

Unfortunately, Woodlands Ring Road world belonged to both of them. There was a lot of compromising to be done, and a lot of expectations to be lowered.

Here's a summarised version of the renovation list that they came up with. The detailed version has around 90 items, and there is no need to bore the reader with irrelevant and uninteresting items like "Install kitchen sink with tap" and "Polishing of existing granite floor".

Living, Dining -- mainly the brainchild of the "The Designer"
1) Demolish existing hall feature, pillar, pipe cabinet, ceiling & cornices
2) Ceiling/Lighting/Ambiance feature
3) Sand & Re-varnish stairs railing
4) Timber venetian blinds
5) Elaborate oriental-styled TV console and shelving
6) Ceiling Fan -- veto-ed by "The Engineer" because she doesn't like standing fans

Toilets -- trump card played by "The Engineer"
1) Layover floor tiles
2) Replace WC & wash basin
3) Shower screen
4) Replace the bi-fold door

Kitchen -- Mutual decision
1) Entire makeover (including demolishing of existing floor & wall tiles)
2) Kitchen cabinet + Solid Surface + Stainless steel plate
3) Tempered glass sliding door

Master Bedroom -- Mutual decision
1) L-box/Cove Lighting -- Requested by "The Designer"
2) Full-height wardrobe
3) Timber venetian blinds
4) Ceiling fan

Whole House -- Mainly "The Designer"
1) Painting
2) Replace sliding windows to casement windows (white colour) -- "The Designer" claims that casement windows provide more ventilation
3) White colour window grilles -- "The Designer": For the minimalist look
4) Designer doors -- "The Designer" (duh)

Being a good civil servant ("The Engineer"), they asked for 3 quotations so that they can make an informed decision about who they wish to hire:
1) Random Interior Designer at IMM
2) "The Engineer"'s previous contractor
3) "The Designer"'s contractor contact

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Author's Note: Make sure that the contractor pays a visit to your house so that he can give a more accurate quotation. The site visit will also help him pick out potential problem areas and suggest alternative solutions.

The contractors take about 2 weeks to come back a preliminary quotation. After which, you should do a cost comparison based on each item in the quote. This action is highly-recommended because we discovered that despite giving all 3 contractors the same requirements, they all came back with quotations containing either too many or too little items.

Nonetheless, the general cost for our 90+ items to renovate is $10K more than our expected budget of $30K. We took a leap of faith, and "commissioned"* contractor 2 (details to be revealed in the next chapter). Thereafter we worked with him to push the renovation cost lower.

* Definition of "commissioned":
Pls note the word 'commissioned' used by the designer merely mean that the contractor 2 was approached to work out budget first.
No actual contract was signed at that point of time.

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.