Our Magical Story

Koon Koon was back yesterday morning and had just left for Barcelona about 15mins ago. Over the weekend we managed to confirm 2 supplier that is the supplier for blinds and our outdoor decking. I would consider it pretty fruitful :)

It took us a while to decide on which material to use for outdoor decking. We have a choice between the one that almost everyone will use, chengal vs a very new material, palm wood.

Chengal wood has been in the market for years hence its effectiveness for outdoor decking is proven. Because its so widely use, the natural resource of this wood is diminishing. Hence the prices of chengal is steeper. This is how chengal looks...



Palm wood on the other hand is a very new material in the market, but its hardness is as good as chengal. It is cheaper and eco-friendly too. We were also told that NEA Parks are using palm wood too. With that, we decided on using palm wood for both our balcony and planter. Palm wood decking comes with grooves which will look something like that,

Posted by Jacky Koh & Lilian Lee at Monday, November 09, 2009 |  

In these recent month, it has been a lot of flying for Koon Koon.
This latest contract job that he had signed for requires him to fly from China to almost all over the world!

After coming back from Belgrade, Serbia, a week later he was required to be in Shanghai. His stay in Shanghai was only 2 weeks and he is coming back to Singapore this weekend before flying to Barcelona, Spain.

This has to be one of the worse moment for both of us because he is flying around almost every 2 weeks, I am also busy at work due to shortage of manpower and we have to see to our renovation, etc, which is also going on now!

We believe that with proper time management we should be able to get things done.
Last night, we received 3D drawings from our ID, Jon. I also took the opportunity to make an appointment with Jon this weekend while Koon Koon is back in town.

We are still hoepful that we can complete our renovation by Christmas this year :)

Posted by Jacky Koh & Lilian Lee at Thursday, November 05, 2009 |  

The last trip in Singapore was a short one, Koon Koon flew to Belgrade, Serbia, for work. Before he left we were discussing on the final quotation from our ID.

Apparently, because of our busy work schedule we dragged the thing for about 2 weeks. 2 weeks after that Koon Koon is back in Singapore again. Hopefully we can settle our quote and get the renovation going. We aim to get it done by Christmas :)

Koon Koon was back on Wednesday evening and that night we had dinner at Tampines 1. We went into this place thinking that its a Japanese restaurant. Who knows it turned out to be a Foodcourt that sells only Japanese food! The ambience was amazing!

It is segmented into 4 season; winter, summer, autumn and spring. The prices of the food is of course steeper than most food court but cheaper than Japanese restaurant.

Our overall critique of the food was delicious but oily :(

The name of the place is 'Manpuku', its concept is similar to 'Marche'.


The window display is awesome!

Posted by Jacky Koh & Lilian Lee at Thursday, October 22, 2009 |  

Koon Koon is eventually back!

We made full use of the time while he is in Singapore to source for Renovation Contractors for our house. I went through referrals from friends and colleagues, browse through the internet as well as renotalk.com (forum for renovation). Eventually we shortlisted 3 ID Contractors.

They are;
1) I Bridge Rhiss
2) A & D Interior Decoration, and
3) Ciseern

We spoke to all 3 in detail on what we want. We also went down to their offices to make sure that everything is alright. Lastly, we requested to view some on-site work to check out their workmanship as well.

Another important thing that one needs to do is to check out whether they are HDB registered contractors. Contractors that are not registered are not supposed to renovate HDB flats. Although our property is a private one, we opted to go for a HDB registered contractor.
To check, click here.

Next, we check on whether they are RADAC certified. Contractors under RADAC are accredited contractors.

I would say both A & D and I Bridge offer us reasonable quotes for the amount of work we are planning to do. Next, we are down to select which ID can offer us better, innovative designs.....We do have a contractor in mind already :)

Posted by Jacky Koh & Lilian Lee at Wednesday, September 30, 2009 |