FINALLY...

After 3 months and 18 days, it's finally done... We are happy, excited and just relieved that a new chapter in our lives is about to begin. It's our biggest investment so far, and it's hit our pockets quite hard, but we believe it's a once in a lifetime decision and we pray that we will be happy in our new home. At this point of time, we are very tired after the first part of the move but every time we step into the house, a new excitement greets us. May God fill our home with blessings, joy and happy moments and may we live in a house of love, understanding, generosity and kindness. Presenting our new home...

The lens effect makes the living room look bigger than it actually is...really.

TV console, Haiku fan, Q Audio speakers, old TV - a 55 inch Samsung curved UHDTV.

View from the bedroom doors.

Rear speakers for a surround sound. This is the first time we are able to hide the speaker cables within the false ceiling - well almost. There is a short vertical trunking as HDB doesn't allow cables to be concealed within walls. Since the two speakers are wall mounted, there needed to be a short length of wire from the ceiling.

Our recliner sofa from King Living, an Australian brand. It's comfy and rather luxurious, all for the sake of the middle-aged man known as the husband, who has a back problem and needs to be pampered.  

Two of our three concrete German-made pendant lights for our yet-to-be-purchased dining table. The lights will be lowered to a height of 1.4m from the floor when the dining table is in place. We've cable tied it up so that no one bumps into it.

The kitchen counter with the kitchen in the background and the entrance way on the right.

The view as you enter the house.

The fire rated solid wood main door with a Samsung digital door lock. Goodbye to keys!

The first door to the right after entering the apartment is the kitchen. We bought a black Hitachi fridge with a mirror finish - hard to maintain as the finger prints are visible every time we touch it! 

We got a La Germania stainless steel standing cooker with red knobs; and a Fujioh cooker hood. Looking at the kitchen colour scheme, I now think it's rather bland. We should've had some strong colours for a more striking look. 

The reputable Electrolux washer and dryer. The brand is Swedish but the washer is Made in Thailand while the heat pump dryer is Made in Poland.

The kitchen counter view from the kitchen.

An angled view showing the TV area.

The tiny kitchen bathroom.

The study room. It's long because we joined the original balcony with the study room to make it a long, almost 7 metre long space. 

One part of the bookshelf incorporating a glass display section for our old cameras.

There are two entrances to the study room. This is the view from the other end. The lone chair in the room is mine. It's a super comfortable gamer's chair that hugs the body - mine at least. I've not sat in a more comfy chair so I decided to get it even though it looks a bit 'obiang' (old fashioned and not stylish), at this stage of my life, function takes precedence over form!

Meg's room. It's the smallest bedroom in the house and it's smaller than her current bedroom at our old place. Once the super single bed is assembled, it will look even more cramped.

A view from the other corner of her room. We had the girls' desks built and they are similar, just mirrored on the other side in Emma's room.

The pocket door between the girls' rooms were specially made in the hope that they will communicate better and bond throughout their lives, despite the age gap. The opening also helps to create an expanse of space so the rooms don't feel too 'tight'. 

Em's room, which is about a foot wider than Meg's.

Em has another additional wardrobe section  - four, compared to Meg's three.

A mirror of Meg's room.

Alas, our master bedroom had a problem of a leaky opening from the rotted wood of the window unit air-conditioning panel, seen on the top right, so we had to have it replaced with a casement window then seal it up again. We'd discovered the wall 'popping out' last week because the rain water had seeped in between the original wall and the newly plastered layer like a huge pimple that was waiting to burst. Luckily it was discovered and rectified before handover of the house. I had to bear the cost of the window and the repair works but it's something that has to be done, otherwise the problem will worsen and surface later on.

The problem has since been fixed and the opening sealed up and painted. I will add the updated picture once I've shot it.

The master bedroom bathroom. We got black shower fittings but the water pressure in old blocks isn't great. It's bearable but nothing like our old place in Sengkang.

DAY 54

The bathroom and kitchen fittings went up yesterday. I went down to the house when the plumber was there to let him know what goes where. It was a good thing I did because he thought the above right faucet was in the middle. We'd kept the Kraus faucet box in the storeroom and he didn't know about it. So we have two faucets for the kitchen sink, which now looks a little small in relation to them. Our Kangen machine will be connected to the faucet on the right but it can still function like a regular faucet. The pull down faucet will be the main one that we will use. The site inspection with the contractor and our designers has been set for 21 Nov. A week has been set aside for rectifications - which is inevitable - so the handover is scheduled for 29 November, way past what we expected but since we're not in any particular hurry, that's alright. I'd rather they do it well than to rush them. We've booked our tentative move date for Dec 7. Lots to do before this crucial date.

Due to the low ceiling in the kitchen bathroom - the false ceiling is much lower to accommodate and hide the AO Smith water tank - our rain shower is quite low, just a few inches above MJs head. The plumber had to saw off one parr of the original connector otherwise it wouldn't fit.

The Grohe faucet with the Otto toothbrush holder in the kitchen bathroom.

The handspray unit hung in between the shower screen and the WC. 

Toilet roll holder cum phone holder on the right.

The black faucet in the master bedroom bathroom. This is the first time we're seeing the installed semi-recessed basin too.

There was no issue with the shower set in the MBR bathroom since the ceiling height is higher.

One half of the shower screen is up.

A special hand spray unit purchased from Tokyu Hands. It's quite expensive compared to the regular ones so we bought one to try out first. 

On the left is the toilet roll holder with a side hook and phone holder on the top.

The void above the kitchen counter has been boxed up. I thought we could put some stuff up there to display but I guess our designers think it's quite unsightly and doesn't have that clean look. Boxing up also minimises having to clean the top area so we are in agreement.

Another few of the boxed up areas.

Lots of wasted space behind these boxes. This is the area above the shoe cabinet.

Behind the white door on the left is a space for our brooms and cleaning solutions etc. This is the dead space behind the fridge so we wanted to put it into good use and I suggested the broom/mop storage area. The main door has been removed. I asked the contractor about it and he said it was taken back to the factory to include some trimmings. He didn't elaborate and I didn't ask more. 

The configuration behind the white door.

Em's wardrobe solution. The smaller top left door can't be opened fully but it's wide enough to put in and take out stuff. The door below it opens fully so that's solved.

A better view of the top cupboard door.

No problem pulling the drawers out now.

Actually I thought we asked for a dark table top only because we know that the kids will dirty the white surface very quickly.

The power sockets, data points, TV antennae, cable point, LAN point all set up. The black wires are for our speakers and the OpenNet cable box.

DAY 51, 52 and 53

It was mum's birthday on Saturday so after an extremely luxurious dinner, we took the family to see the house for the first time since all the fixtures were assembled. Mum last went when everything was in rubbles. The main door was removed, we weren't sure why; the sockets, LAN point, data points had been set up in the TV console and part of the study desk which had been erected the day before was taken down. Again, we weren't sure why. On Sunday, the electricians came to install the brighter down lights in the kids' rooms but they were still not bright enough! It has to be changed again...

DAY 50 - Part 2

Went there again this morning after dropping Em off at school. Wanted to get some shots in daylight. So it's basically similar pix from last night, only that it's got a much better colour balance, with no tungsten cast.

The entrance is rather 'cosy' = tight now, with the installation of the shoe cabinet. Even though I lament the diminishing space, I acknowledge that we do need lots of storage area because we lack this in our current home and everything is left in the open, contributing to the visual mess.

View from inside the kitchen. The counter is on the right, shoe cabinet in the centre. 

A vertical version of the same view.

The kitchen cabinet doors have been attached.

Opening for the sink. The depth for this area is much more than usual. It actually extends beyond the normal human reach but because the cabinet, cooker and sink had to be aligned, it resulted in this anomaly in Anthropometry.

Laminate in roll form.

Super thin veneer.

I don't think there's enough cabinet storage space despite all these shelves. They're not that deep nor tall.

One of two doorways to the study.

Am so relieved to see that the top of the glass display cabinet has been aligned.

The super long table top for all our computers, printers, speakers and other gadgets.

A view from the bottom showing how its being supported and fixed to the wall. The box below will hold all our power sockets.

Close up of the box which will be hidden from view.

They've used these short wooden pieces to strengthen the table top. and to make the connecting points more rigid.

Top down view.

This would've made for a luxurious master bedroom!

We've asked for brighter bulbs in the kids' rooms and are awaiting its arrival.

Em's room.

The 'problem' door on the left side has been removed to be rectified. The solution is to have two doors for the left section, with the top part having a smaller irregular shaped door. It's visually not ideal as it won't match the rest of the wardrobe but I guess we don't have much of a choice.

A bunch of cables in the console for the TV, cable, speakers, amp, etc etc etc.

The small broom cupboard that is behind the fridge on the other side.