Awesome Again

The Awesome Twosome have redeemed themselves. We've reached the home stretch on the renovations without too much stress. What's left to be done is the upstairs parquet flooring, the driveway flooring, installation of the bathroom fittings/aircons/lights/fans/cabinets/window dressings, and a last coat of paint. Ms Bear was fairly pleased when she visited the site today. My fear that I chose ghastly tiles was unfounded, but the grey ones in the driveway were lighter than I expected, though that's not a big issue.

The next challenge is to continue our hunt for nice lighting. Ms Bear braved the weekend and pre-Hari Raya crowd at Ikea today to inspect the array of light fixtures but will be ruling Ikea out as a source. The Artemide from Germany is unfortunately slightly delayed due to stock shortage, but should be on its way soon.

Fiddler of the Roof

Sigh ... the Awesome Twosome have let us down again. After agreeing to remove the roof overhang over the backyard grilles, their builders chopped off more roof than required. This was after Mr Bear had provided sufficient instruction of the extent of coverage we wanted. Mr Bear thinks I am being a bitch about things, as he can live with it, but I say when one lives in a tiny terrace house, one wants to think a little big when one can. Due to the configuration of the backyard, the truncated roof also creates a wedge shaped area which is not easy to utilise. Worse, Ms Bear has a perfectionist streak which is not tolerant of contractors' misplaced initiative. The emergency meeting onsite at lunchtime tomorrow will decide whether any drastic remedial action will need to be taken at the contractors' own cost.

Anyhow, we've at least achieved one aim of getting more sunlight into the backyard which will be the home of our Hacker kitchen. Things will get even brighter once the plastic sheeting is removed.

Before and After Photos below.

Not-always-Awesome Twosome

The 2Bears had dubbed their interior designer and contractor duo the "Awesome Twosome". They were living up to their name ... until today. Hopefully it's just a hiccup.

Mr Project-Manager-Bear put on his mental hardhat today for a surprise visit to the site and left some distressing news for me at the office.

The new roof over our backyard had been extended much further than we initially discussed with AT. The original concept was to create a narrow uncovered area before the backyard grilles for space for some laundry poles and maybe potted plants. Instead it went about one foot beyond the grilles becoming too much of a dark canopy. Luckily the wood frame can be trimmed down to size and the excess tiles removed.

The next shock was the work done on the upstairs bathroom walltiles. Ms Bear had designed a pattern for her current bathroom based on The Mark's bathroom which she wanted duplicated in the new house. It's very simple - black diamonds on a white background. It involves cutting out an equilateral triangular edge from the corner of each white tile, and aligning them to create a space for the diamond shape to nest. At least that's what my last (much more intelligent) contractor did. The end result is bright and light, and somehow makes a small bathroom expand. See the "do" followed by the "don't" picture respectively below. Can't imagine what Hokkien expletives were uttered when the contractor was told the bad news that he had to hack off his day's work and start over.











On the positive side, Mr Bear gave a big paws up for the terracotta backyard floor and work is actually going nicely on schedule. All in all, quite a productive month of renovations.

More Cool Things for the House

Feast your eyes on our recent finds: a great font for a house number in raw stainless steel, and a doormat that will stop guests in their tracks. One day we'll flip it around just to be rude.

An Enlightening Experience

I've already made known my disappointment at the ceiling fan selection in Singapore, and lest I leave you thinking that I am otherwise satisfied with the local homeware shopping experience, let me assure you that there are other annoyances to write about in posts to come.

Today's post is to expose the ridiculous markups of lighting retailers. As an example, the 2Bears were recently browsing in the Artemide shop in Park Mall, basking in the lightbulb glow. Ms Bear was sufficiently taken by the 2-armed Tolomeo Sospensione (top image) to contemplate the S$1400+ price tag.

But ever the enterprising creature, Ms Bear decided to surf the Internet to see what it went for online. Guess what, the general saving was S$500 WITH the shipping cost included. Ms Bear highly recommends German website http://www.ambientedirect.com for an easy-to-use interface and an impressive range of lighting and other wares. The Tolomeo will land on Mr Bear's doorstep in 2 weeks. If the goods live up to our expectations, candidates for future purchase include the Caboche, the Lightdisc, and the All Light (left set of images, clockwise). As you can see I'm not a chandelier kind of bear.

UPDATE: I am horrified at the bad service offered by Ambiente Direct. More than a month has gone by without a firm delivery date. I've complained with no meaningful feedback and have left instructions for my order to be cancelled. Thank goodness I didn't order too much.

Tiresome Tiles

Mr Bear is glad that I have found The Perfect Tile for the living room floor, as he is tired of the Balestier Road, Defu Lane and Tyrwhitt Road tile beat.

I'd become quite obsessed with what's under my feet, wherever I went, be it in shopping centres or friends' homes. We'd decided on homogeneous tiles as they are known for being hardy and yet aesthetically pleasing at the same time. But it was only after a visit to Soon Bee Huat that my tile needs crystallized in my mind. Everything before, to Mr Bear's dismay, was too faux marble or too spotted or too white or too matt, until I came across a beigey gray tile with a lightly mottled finish at SBH which I think will go well with the dark wood furnishings in the living room.

Some think homogeneous tiles are not luxurious enough. "Why not go for marble ?", we've been asked. After enough business trips being holed up in various hotels, albeit nice ones, the marbled hotel lobby look has worn off on me. Give me clean lines like in my favourite London hotel, the One Aldwych, anytime.

Where are all my fans ?

The 2Bears have had a "fan-tastic" time in Jalan Besar and Geylang searching for the perfect ceiling fans.

2 conclusions:

(1) Singapore is sadly behind other developed nations in the ceiling fan stakes. I bemoan our utter isolation from the supply of designer ceiling fans. Just check out http://www.modernfan.com to see what I mean. Our fan shops contain a hodge-podge of styles and quality standards from makes like Elmark, Amasco, KDK, Tamco, Crestar and Arcadia. Although there are higher-end brands available at X-tra Resort at Park Mall, they cost the equivalent of a split-unit aircon. There's a definite business opportunity for a specialist mid-scale shop retailing fans in the $300-600 range.

(2) There is no mainstream location for ceiling fan shopping that we know of. If the 2Bears did not have their BearMobile, how would we conveniently get to the centres of the fan trade in Singapore ? Courts and Harvey Norman should sit up and take note. Ceiling fans are the perfect low cost way to climate-control a home.

Anyhow, the 2Bears settled on a 4-blader from a brand called "UFO" which had a matt silver design (and price !) closest to the Modern Fan concept ($ 500) , and a more traditional ceiling fan from "Unior" with 5 wood-finish blades ($ 300). These were totally unknown brands that an able Jalan Besar salesman convinced us of. He was the best one so far, impressing the 2Bears by talking lucidly about the pros & cons and pedigree of his spinning wares. Before him, we had to cope with a series of fan salesmen both disinterested and uninformed.

We'll have the UFO hover over us in the living room, while the Unior will sit nicely under the exposed beams of the backyard roof. We will be 2-cool-Bears.