My tiny chill out place

...where I spent nights after nights watching my KDrama Rooftop Prince
<옥탑방 왕세자>. Hopelessly addicted to the drama.

Well, actually, recently we change a new set of wallpapers and switched our furniture around. Hence, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of my house, while it is still neat and tidy. Feels like a new abode once again!

Weekend Fun

Last Week's Happenings

Last week we welcomed our two first visitors to our new abode when we officially moved in. J and E.

And the boys had a whale of a time playing at the pool and eating hotdog buns.

Before the swim or rather dip...

Ziv always repines that it was too hot to swim under the blazing sun, however, he changed his mind at the drop of the hat when he was told that he would be having an aqua buddy.

Trying to operate the jacuzzi.

After the dip...

This week's happenings

On Friday evening we got our new car and we have been driving two cars on the road because there were so many errands to run. First it was getting the new car, Kev drove the new one while I trailed behind (since I do not know the way) to park it at the Performance Motor. Then on Saturaday morning, we sent the new car to fix up window film and then drove the old car to brunch and later to collect the new one... Confusing, I know. Actually all these can be solved since our the PML salesgal offered to help us run all the errands, however, Kev declined, because he can't trust anyone with his cars.

Managed to snap a picture of the gleeful driver on the way to Performance Motor in the morning. Another gleeful passanger was seated behind fascinated by the panaromic roof.

Thereafter, revisited Spruce for brunch.

Kev's brunch. Big breakfast.

My brunch... Egg benedict on sliced toasted bagel with grilled shrimps soaked in hollandise sauce. Perfecto!

Ziv had a long beef sausage for Ziv all for himself. It was almost like a practice to go down to the playground under Spruce. Even playing alone did not deter the boy from running here and there. I have to gave Kev some credits, cause these playground pictures were snapped by him, while I leisurely sipped on my latte.

From this picture, Ziv seemed to have grown taller and bigger.

This weekend, we welcomed with open arms another set of guests to our abode. J and her two chummy daughters, J and S. Ziv remembers them as 'jumping sisters', because Ziv had fun bouncing on their beds last Christmas. And of course, they were here for a swim. Just yesterday, J and I met up for MJ. In less than 24 hours, we meet up again.

J bought like 50 breads from Four Leaves for the kids and a box of nicely decorated donuts for Ziv, so much so that I decided to take a picture of them.

And by the way, our company is having a photography contest and I decided to take part in this contest. This is my photo for the competition. And the caption for the picture is 'Friends'. It is hard to capture moments like this. It will be framed up on our wall even though it doesn't win me any thing in the contest.

Some pictures of Ziv at the new abode

As some may know, I shifted to the new abode. And lazy Saturday to me is lying around and snap pictures.

Thanks to Carlton Trading

I want to thank Kevin's Carlton Trading for the fabulous blinds. And best of all, they are complimentary! I love them just as much as I love the wallcoverings.

When it comes to blinds or rather window furnishing, always trust the professional and I NEVER compromise for any thing that are ready-made. Ready-made blinds or curtains makes your house look like they are rented out. I hate IKEA blinds and curtains in particular, they just look disgustingly shoddy and mediocre. Imagine, having a million dollar house, and the windows are decorated in IKEA blinds or curtains. What a shame! Or imagine this, having top-of-the-line interior design company do up your house, and you install a ready-made curtains on your windows. Speechless...

With the right blinds or curtains, the rooms lit up instantly and it looked that it cost as much as the house. In fact, blinds or curtains these days play multiple roles, apart from providing privacy and to block off sunlight, it is now made to blend in to the interior design of the house and becomes part of the design, especially those Disney characters blinds, and customizable blinds with your own pictures.

I never have to worry about the colors of the blinds or what type of blinds to use etc, because, Kevin IS the professional.

Photo Blog: The Interior

Busy... Here's a photo blog.
The interior of my new abode.

I love the wallpapers.

Thomas Train wallpaper for Ziv.

We hand-carry the train bed to new abode.

Some photos meant to be arty-farty...

Today is not a smooth day for furniture delivery.

First, the outdoor umbrella came in wrong colour. Stupid Natural Living amended the color code on our invoice without notifying us. What a way to do business! Next, the dining table came bigger in size! What's wrong with people these days? So, the dining chairs are left alone without a table.

Another furniture was too big for my living room, and I have to transfer it up to the terrace. And it is WHITE!

Forgot to take pictures of the furniture on top. More to come.

Looking forward to Friday.

We are moving in on 11 June 2010!

We are finally done with our renovation and are all ready to move in to the new abode on 11 June 2010. Prior to that, we need to get the chandelier up for the bedroom and we are still waiting for our indent lighting from the lighting store.

Next up, we will be expecting, the sofas, coffee table, dining table, refrigerator - the whole enchilada this coming Tuesday. Moving to the new abode is less tiring this time round because, we are not moving all our existing furniture to the new abode. The furniture for the new abode is going to be brand new. And how I wish we can just pack a lugagge and go.

Anyway, the apartment is now spick-and-span. Move in condition.

Here's a sneak peek of the interior.

Yesterday, we sent our little helper to arrange his own CDs and DVDs. The little one was chirpy throughout and it was my first time seeing him so accomodating and contributive.

Maybe that's because we only packed a fraction of his CD/DVD collection...

Other than the minor unpacking, Mummy did nothing and only snapped pictures, Daddy cleaned the cabinets and the little one? Entertain himself by jumping up and down the platform bed and posing for pictures.

In another story, today we had grilled sausages for breakfast.

Kevin is having a full plate at work these few weeks so it is impossible to have brunch. Thanks v much to C, she packed some really nice sausages from the butchery (not sure if they are from German butchery).

I am not a fan of sausage, as a matter of fact. Nevertheless, here are the grilled sausages for Kevin and Ziv. I have to admit they taste real good.

A night visit to new abode

Tonight I visited my new abode. Was still under renovation, will probably be complete by end of this week. The new furniture is coming in next Tuesday so I'll be either on leave or "working from home".

Today I grabbed the opportunity to capture some night sceneries near my abode. The outcome?

Two words.

Worth it!

The camera worth the price.

Btw, while I was leaving my place. I saw this. The forgetful cleaning aunty did it again. Its funny what happen when people get older and memory starts to fail.

This is the first day where the 4th owner of the abode tour the residence. Apparently, he seemed to love the roof terrace alot. He was running freely in the open space.



Pictures taken from the roof terrace. Night view. It was close to 9:30pm when I took these pictures but they don't look like they were taken this late. Especially the clouds!

These are the pictures that goad me to improve on my photography.

New Abode Renovation Part 2

Yesterday was somewhat a fruitful day.

10am: Woke up in a state of utter denial and shock. My iPhone reflected 28 missed calls and they were all from Kevin, I knew he was already waiting for us at the car porch. I could not believe it was THIS late. Changed and left the house with Ziv without makeup. I knew that I got to vamoose before Kevin the volcano erupted.

10:30am: Reached MIL’s place. Deposit Ziv and off we sped to our new abode. Our interior designer arranged someone to cover our floor tiles and aircon with cardboard.

10:40am: Kevin led the contractor into our house while I stayed in car to makeup. We left new abode to go to Serangoon Garden for Mac breakfast.

10:59am: Managed to grab the Mac breakfast instead of lunch. Back to new abode to meet up with interior designer to have a final consensus on the design.

11:10am: We were late. The interior designer arrived earlier than us, for the first time. Brain storm, took measurements etc…

2:06pm: Designer left our abode, and immediately came the architect, developer OUB, management office head and some other uncles to discuss about the roof terrace. Arrived on a common consensus and we were glad that in the event our privacy is being intruded, we will win the case if we decided to bring it to the court. That’s enough. Not trying to be eristic, but somehow, people like them failed to think ahead.

3:15pm: Went to the bank to withdraw money, change NRIC address, bank in money, and sign up sales talk with Kevin.

5:40pm: Finally, we had time to sit down and have dinner together.

7:00pm: Drove back to the sojourn to wait for mover guy to send us the empty boxes and conduct on-site quotation. That’s the problem with apartment without guards, you have to be at home for very minor stuff.

7:30pm: Sped off again to town to collect our lightings since they closed at 8pm.

8:20pm: Back to new abode to store all the lightings.

9:00pm: Finally, ended the day with long hot bath and snacking in front of the TV to watch IP Man 1 with Kevin till 11pm.

I have never been so worn-out.

New Abode Renovation Journal Part 1

Few days ago, I took a day off to conduct defects rectification with the developer. I hate to kvetch consistently because at this point of time, defects rectification is not my priority. I will be having a huge tongue wagging battle with the architects over some design faults on the roof terrace coming Monday. Will leave that to a later post.

Anyway, we requested for the developer to replace tiles for us, the marbles tiles on the floor were of different shades and obviously they are from different batches. For that, Kevin cannot accept it. “Your negligence is not our problem,” was what he asserted (to the developer). We have been reasonably lenient with the rectification, but somehow, more defects surfaced after the rectification. What a headache!

Nevertheless, the developer promised to get everything replace and so that we can officially start our renovation this coming Monday.

To put it bluntly, the interior designer’s design ideas is rather insipid. I have high expectation because the company was awarded as one of the promising brands in Singapore. We are starting renovation on Monday and yet the sketches are not even confirmed! Oh well, I don’t like to rely on others, so most of the time I took over the 2B sketch pencil to cover his duty. I don’t mind doing that if he charges cheaper afterall, it is my house, so I should design it my way. Contradicting. Fine. I’ll do the job.

We plan to complete the renovation in 3 weeks to 1 month’s time so we have ample time to move in and leave our current sojourn between 15 to 18 June.

We have yet to buy lightings (another big headache) and I saw a wall mural which I really fancy, it has a hefty price tag of $800 and was from Thailand! Overprice for sure. I am trying to get a bargain from the boss.

Next up… the battle with the architects.

New Abode and TT Bed

Have been busy lately for obvious reason, the new abode.

I need to:
- Spot and get the defects fixed
- Change the furniture delivery dates because the TOP date was slightly delayed
- See 3D perspective by my interior designer and find other ideas especially sometimes the designer can't really give me what I want
- Start packing, which I dreaded! Who is going to help me pack my clothes??

And the list goes on and on and on...

Too lazy and busy to type more... Here's a photo blog.

And BTW, Kevin fixed the TT bed 2 weeks ago. Here's Ziv, admiring his bed.

TOP loh!

After the very much anticipation, we finally got the TOP letter from our developer! The next few weeks are going to be full of activity and definitely eventful. We are going to rush on our renovation in order to facilitate early abolishment of our current tenancy agreement. What can I say? It is never too hard to say adieus to our current sojourn, because I have got enough of unsheltered parking lot (even HDB has covered lots), swimming pool that shares the size of the drain along Hwa Chong Institution, the Dracula mosquitoes and the frenetic barking dog right across the road!

Well, the hitch? We have to pay up to 6 months of maintenance fees at one go plus the survey fee.

Well well well, at least we get to move into our very own abode. That’s what we always wanted.

Goodbye RSZ...

And hello... BMW X1...

Just when I thought that I am the ONLY one in the family who will buy birthday present for myself months before the day comes... I have a companion now! Great minds think alike? Or birds of a feather flock together? Kevin pre-booked his BMW X1 this afternoon from Performance Motors after our brunch at Spruce with the Yip family.

Kevin, who often falls prey upon by new car models (just like every other guys in this world), always has the tendency to change his automobile once every 2 to 3 years made no exception this time round. He has been eyeing on the arrival of this SUV model since last year and it will be coming to this sunny island this June or July. Just in time for his birthday.

I am ecstatic that he is finally able to actualize his dream of owning a conti after so many years. By the way, this automobile has a reasonable price tag and it is deemed as one of the cheapest or second cheapest SUV in conti car market. (Kev will grind his teeth when I said that).

May I present the BMW X1 (we booked a white one)

We were in the Performance Motors showroom test driving and chatting with the sales consultant for about 4 hours till the point whereby Ziv becomes so familiar with the logo that every time he spots a BMW logo he will exclaimed, "Daddy's car!", regardless of the model.

Next up, news about our house. Good news! Our new abode is expected to TOP in 1 or 2 weeks' time! Was invited to a poolside party this evening and took a few pictures of our unit.

Our unit is the penthouse as highlighted in the picture below:

Not only Ziv is thrilled looking at the swimming pool, I almost wanted to jump into it to have a dip because the weather these days is just too humid and boiling hot!

The gym room is facing the swimming pool, club house is on top of the gym room.

At this point of time, my life is really fabulous!