My new home part 1 (:

I've taken a really, really long hiatus from blogging.
Since junior college to now which is like....
.....
.....
.....
.....

7 freaking years!


In between those 7 years were....mad rushes to study for exams, complete essays and assignments, family time, 2 nieces and 1 nephew was born, started work as a staff nurse in the biggest hospital in Singapore, completed the 2 year bond with said hospital, took half a year to look for a non-shift job, fell in love with a wonderful man, getting married to that same man in 2 months time, and now settling in my new job and getting a house of my own!

Phew!

Doesn't sound like much but it sure is!

I'm gonna have to do retrospective entries for informative updates of past events but I've decided to start things off with what is happening at present,

HOME RENOVATION !!!

A home is a foundation to a family. Hence it is time Wee Keat and I start cementing the right and sturdy foundation to our future home (:

In order of things, 

1) BTO/ Resale?

NEITHER. 

We were lucky to be able to secure the Sale of Balance Flats (SOBF) in Sengkang.
YAY~~~~
And its around 5-8~ minutes walk to Sengkang MRT (bonus!!!) considering that most BTOS nowadays are in really weird and out of the way locations accessible by feeder buses/LRT or personal transport. 
Btw, LRT is not "accessible" in my definition. I hate taking the LRT and I am real sorry if any of you out there actually likes it.

As flabberghastingly expensive owning a HDB flat in Singapore is, resale is wayyy more expensive than a BTO/SOBF. Hence WK and I agreed that its either we aim for the SOBF or the upcoming Bidadari BTO sometime upcoming this year which also means I will only have a home around year 2020 (frustrated face with frown). A resale is going to be AT LEAST 100k more, which is honestly, a SHITLOAD OF MONEY!! The things I can do with that money....

Anyway,

The order of decreasing vomiting-out-money is: Resale -->SOBF-->BTO. It correlates to how fast you can obtain the respective which is: Almost immediately-->a few months to a year-->4 years.

2) ID or contractor?

Contractor.

The first person we met with was an ID from Weiken. Before the meet I read up on them and there are mixed reviews on price and professionalism but since she is an acquaintance of WK's bro, I went along with it. During the meet to discuss our needs and wants in a home, she was soooo friendly and nice and suggestive of where to put this furniture and that and all and after that it was like she disappeared into thin air. No follow up nothing and NO quotation given. Unprofessional. And expensive to boot! She's fairly new, so I wonder how she's gonna survive in the industry with an attitude like that. 

Second person was some random company I saw on Facebook (which i'm not going to name). He owns his own company and runs it with his wife. Again, SUPER FRIENDLY AND NICE with good works. Good price too! WK and I were so psyched to engage him as our contractor. Promised to email a quote, did not get back. Even with multiple reminders with his empty promises to email by Friday/ Thursday/ blahblah, it never happened. I don't know what is up with him. Either he has too many projects at hand and can't complete what he has, or he decided to throw a possible project away. I still see him posting his "reno offer" on Facebook so I'm guessing its probably the latter and he is just lazy (Dont think it takes much effort to keep reposting an empty offer and the same pictures on FB right?)

Third person was a contractor I've always seen on reno forums. Alan. Way before we looked for a contractor/ID, I've heard about him and his reliability and fast results with good quality works. I told WK about him and he thought, why not? We called him and true enough, he immediately asked to meet us on the weekend itself at our new home. No need offices or downpayment of 10 % before house inspection (like what most IDs do)

That's right. We havent even engaged or confirmed him and he personally went to the new house to meet us and to lend his expertise and opinions and really measure the dimensions of the house. Really nice chap and we have a really good feeling about him. And guess how long it took for him to send me a quotation? 

WITHIN A WEEK! 

Even WK was impressed. We decided not to waste any more time meeting unreliable people or people working for companies that charge exorbitant prices just because they "oversee" everything. Not to mention empty promises. We are the owners, we shall oversee the progress ourselves instead of relying on others. We are engaging Alan, permit has been applied and we can't wait for things to start! While waiting for things to progress, Alan has advised us to start searching for hob/hood/oven/sink etc. Thus moving on to number....

3) Home appliances

House is small (92sqf for a 4 room flat), kitchen is small, toilet is small....you get the gist. No space to buy things which may be nicer than what you have to settle for. WK and I are also on a tight budget, what with the wedding coming along and the home reno screaming for attention too. We both worked for about 2.5 years each after graduation and we are tanking the cost of everything, so you can just imagine how tight that is. I wanted to say tight-ass but doesn't sound very appropriate harhar.
Courts, IKEA, Gain city, Hoe Kee and scouring through forums, we go places to source for things. I don't know what is good and what is not. But for starters, Alan says for hob/hood, go for Fujioh/Rinnai. Don't get it wrong, he doesn't have any affliations or lobang with any of the 2, but rather his honest opinion from experience. 
True enough, after enough reading, people swear by these 2 brands' hob and hood. The downside is, it's not sold in major stores like Courts etc.
We managed to find it though, in Hoe Kee.
YAY!
Other stuffs, we search in other places.


a) Hood

Fujioh appears to be the best hood brand around, and I was so happy when I found out how easy it is to maintain the hood in terms of cleaning. Chimney hood is a no-no because hey, my kitchen is already so tiny!
This hood even has a detachable oil-tray that collects the oil. Uncle Johnny from Hoe Kee gave a demonstration using a steam machine and we love the suction power and the low noise it has. A few years back, people love the model FX-900 but I noticed a newer one with a stronger suction power, the FS 890.

It has 92% suction power (strongest out of all the hoods) and its made in Japan! I super love Japan and Japanese electronics/appliances are always the best/one of the best. But we've seen the demo, touched this beauty personally, seen its magic and ease of maintenance and cleaning, and it comes in 4 colours! We are sold! Its not the thinnest nor aesthetically pleasing hood around (considered bulky for a slim hood) but who cares about aesthetics when what you really need is something that actually WORKS.
Its like buying an awful tasting chocolate with beautiful wrapping when you should have bought the yummylicious one with mediocre packaging. 

b) Hob

Since it was between Rinnai or Fujioh as the best hobs and I'm very set on FS890 hood, it is definitely more cost-saving to take the Fujioh hob to get a better deal price. Makes sense right? I've read about the Rinnai Inner-flame tchnology and how people rave about it but Fujioh has fans too! Since hobs and hood comes in pairs like husband and wife, plus I've always wanted a 3-burner growing up in 3-burner houses that my mum uses, we've decided to get FG 773!

Stainless steel looks old plus prone to scratches so glass is a clear winner! (I'm so punny hehe)
Both the hood and hob width is about 890 cm and thats a little pushing it so we gotta confim with Alan first if this size is okay (cross fingers!). If no, then I'll settle for a 2-burner hob from Fujioh.
Both of these babies come in a package price of SGD 799 from Hoe Kee!
For a good brand with awesome power and reliability, it's a really good price. :)

c) Sink

I did not quite like the look of stainless steel sinks which is the norm everywhere and I grew up with those kind of kitchen sinks, too. Like i said, its scratch prone and well, its the same boring colour. 

Uncle Johnny introduced us to the beautiful Blanco granite-composite sink series from Germany!
Their sinks are aesthetically pleasing, scratch proof, heat resistant, rust proof, acid resistant and non-fading colours. They come with optional fittings like cutting boards/ strainers to match with the sinks too!

I've always always wanted a double-bowl sink but who am I gonna kid? I have a freaking small kitchen space. Its either I get a small hob with big sink or big hob with small sink. With a sulky face, I chose the former cos dirty plates can always be stacked but I've never heard of stackable woks/pans :(
After much consideration for the single bowl and looking for something deeper to fit in more things (what is the purpose of super shallow sinks someone PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME) we decided on the beautiful Pleon 8 series.

Of course I'm not getting white, cant imagine the horror of scrubbing it daily (shudders). I'm getting it in the beautiful alumetallic which is a grey-toned beauty to match with my intended colours for the kitchen. Ahhhhhh! I super love this sink! Tap and mixer combo going for a promo price of SGD 614. Yes, it is a tad more pricey compared to stainless steel but hey, sometimes beauty comes with a (slightly higher) price! 
Definitely gonna above mount this, too pretty to be undermounted! I can't wait to wash plates in you!

Uncle Johnny tried to sell me a Fujioh Oven but I can't see much reviews on it, with most people and bakers swearing by European branded ovens like Ariston, Bosch and Brandt. So these three babies are quite decided already. We already placed a small deposit to lock the price. Can't wait for kitchen reno to start!

Shall write about the other appliances in part 2 of this post since they are not obtained from Hoe Kee. Till then!



With Love,
Ais <3