::Nigelrene Loft:: HEIGHT ISSUES

One of the biggest considerations during home planning - mister's and missy's height

For the shortie: Get her IKEA stools for the floor-ceiling wardrobes/cabinets. Allocate the lower wardrobe spaces to her. Get a shorter fridge, if possible.

For the tallie: Double consider if ceiling fan is still feasible after bringing down the ceiling by 15cm to 240cm. At a height of 187cm, N is just 53cm away from getting his head/hands chopped off should he accidentally jump for joy on the bed or do a morning stretch in the living room. Or worse, holding a baby up in the air while playing with him/her (I wun be surprised he might just to that. The Klutz) -___-"

::Nigelrene Loft:: SERTA MATTRESS

No longer need to count sheeps to sleep :)

We got them in Number 5's

After spending 3 days hunting for our favorite mattress, we finally found one at the Furniture Fair. Set us off our budget by quite a bit, but we concluded we could cut down in the other less significant areas. Was supposed to meet Ms Ong & WK at the fair, but we were both looking at our own stuffs in order to maximise the time spent there. So I texted her about Our Dream Mattress, gave a rough gauge of its location in the showroom so that they could go and try. It somehow also became their dream mattress and took them one day to decide to burst their own budget!! :D Yay! to the same awesome mattress! Has to be awesome to make FOUR rational adults think so irrationally. ;p 

oh and by the way, the halos in the sheep pictures are EXACTLY reflective of my night vision right now. Weiyuan, that answers your question about how bad my night halos are? Not that bad. Go for the surgery!

In the midst of our home preps busy-ness, we took some time off on Friday to JUST.CHILL.

6 tigers. 6 buffalo wings. Level 3. 1 drop of tear.

And we caught Pirates of the Caribbean.

Needed the break from the neverending house preps.

Sunday's wedding luncheon with the cave people!

A wedding gown that fits the fairer skin. Contemplations of the "Michael Jackson jab" to make skin fairer. Dirty tan. Healthy tan. I should just stick to my own skin :) Sofa shopping thereafter. There's a particular brand that we both fancy but it doesnt come in the correct L shape that we want! URGH! Means more sofa shopping again...

::Nigelrene Loft::MATTRESS SHOPPING

Bed shopping at The Sleep Clinic in Courts Megastore - even the Bb felt the sleep bug in the air.. ;p 

awwwww....I reckon N makes a good pillow :p

We have been to at least 3 different venues in Singapore, and tried on countless brands and models, in order to find our perfect bed.

We were at the Courts Megastore over the weekend because Sleep to Live offers a free body assessment using 18 different points on your body while lying down to determine the mattress type suitable for you and your partner. So far it is the only brand that uses science to sell and tailor the bed to our unique body needs by combining 2 sets of support type on your side of the bed into a mattress . I was quite sold to the support system the mattresses provide. The only con was that the mattresses are all too plushy and gives a sink-in effect.

Drawing reference to my own home, the only thing that we have not changed in the entire household is our mattresses. A good mattress can really last you a lifetime. So I imagine it ll have to take me thru my 30s, 40s and maybe 50s....and as you age, you definitely prefer something harder. And if God grants us His blessings, I definitely want to be able to roll out of bed easily with a tummy.

After a 2 day adventure trying out many different mattresses, here is a summarised shopping guide after all we have been through:

Size

Size matters. The bigger it is, the less disturbance from your partner. The only limitation is the size of your room. The larger your partner is, the bigger you should get. For me, it naturally has to be the King. ;p

Support

Support comes from the spring within the mattress. Different brands boast of different benefits that their spring technology provides.

Inner spring - wired coils as the basic support structure and a wired border

Pocketed spring - individual springs that can move independently according to the human body shape

Unicased - the trademark spring support system from Sealy that has interlocking in between each spring stabilises the spring

Comfort

Almost all brands carry different lines of products under them. There is always a low- high range selection with varying comfort levels. Comfort level are differentiated by the different layers of materials they layer over the mattress:

Sheep wool - Dong nuan xia liang: simply translates into winter warmth and summer breeze. When you feel cold, it naturally insulates you but when you feel hot, it ll cool you down.

Memory foam - plush and soft to lie on. But doesnt allow mattress to breathe. Body feels hotter when aircon is not on if this is the top layer.

Natural/artificial latex - allows the mattress to breathe. Body feels cooler even without aircon. Good as a top layer. There are brands that claims to use natural latex but normal consumers like us wouldnt be able to tell anyway, so I dont care if it is natural or not.

Bamboo fibre - absorbs odour

Pillow top - Plush and soft to sleep on... mmmmmmzzz :)

So within a brand, the most expensive mattress is usually the thickest one! Because it will have ALL OF THE ABOVE + maybe more :p

After trying out a the mattresses all over singapore, we also realised that some secondary factors play a part in the decision making too:

Store settings - Depending on the store layout, lighting and aircon, the comfort level from the same model may feel different in different stores. So it's always good to go different places to try out the same mattress. We have already ruled out one of our shortlisted mattresses because of that.

Freebies - Most brands offer freebies such as pillows and protector. Some even offers bedsheet set. Some wouldnt hesitate to give you up to 4 pillows + a long pillow + 2 protectors - you just have to ASK.

Bedframes - Some stores offer purchase on purchase. Top up $300-600 to get a set of bedframe together with your purchase. Some models of mattresses even come with free bedframes! Designs are verrrrry limited though...If you want to classier looking ones within the store, you usually have to pay more...

Discounts - ASK for discounts. Market rate is about 10%. There was an sales exec aunty who offered us additional $100 off because she understands how expensive a property is nowadays and she pities young couples like us and claims will try to help in whatever ways she can...it is good that the GE has just passed not too long ago and people still remember all the hot issues that have been brought up ;)

Personal preference - Some like it hard, some like it soft. Some like it medium soft. You ll need to find a compromise during bed selection.

Luckily N&I have the same kind of preference for comfort level, so it s easier to buy a bed that we both like. We have shortlisted one but a bit hesitant to buy it yet cos it is not within our budget :( We ll have to decide by this weekend!

Pfffft

It's easy to become lazy!

And not realise you are growing sideways until a visit to the salon and your favorite stylist asks you if you d put on weight.

6 weeks of inertia getting back into the fitness regime after a 1-week + 1-month off pass which started from a purrrrrfect vision correction and then a flying fox landing misshap which gave my workout partner a bad knee.

And I cant give up my food indulgence 

*BURPS striploin steak + grilled seabass + lime chiffon cake luncheon and fan choy + BIG pau brekkie*

Seriously need to do something about it soon 

::Nigelrene Loft:: FRIDGE SHOPPING

SHARP has a new fridge that can be opened in both directions!

Too bad we both love to have freezer in the top compartment :)

So we are still on the hunt for a good fridge

::Nigelrene Loft:: CEILING

Never imagined interior designing can be as such. There are so many tiny details to look into! And I do have quite a bit of personal requirements here and there that cannot be summarised by a particular style type. I am so glad we are doing this by ourselves :) Nigelrene Loft has quite a bit of an odd-shaped ceiling for ceiling planning. The perimeters run from an entryway, to the dining and to the living room. There is literally no clear cut way to cut up the ceiling into its respective sections.

To make way for a ceiling fan, we will need to 'declutter' the ceiling by not having any lights mounted within the same space. And we kinda agreed that we dont like ceiling fans that come with lights attached at the bottom.

So the options are to either have an 1) L-box, 2) inverted L-box, or 3) false ceilings

HDB rule states that there must be a 2.4m clearance between the ceiling and the (raised) ground. So we have a 6-inch ceiling space to play around with.

1) L-BOX

 Boxed up light-points that run around the perimeter of the room. Allow downlights. You can choose how you want the L-box to be carved out - with ripple designs or

A simple L-box

The L-box will allow ample real ceiling space for mounting a fan.

Most safety-cautious people would prefer to mount the ceiling fans to real ceiling for better stability, and a lower possibility of having heads chopped off. lol

2) INVERTED L-BOX

Essentially the same as L-box. Just that it allows mood lights. Florescent tubes can be placed between the ceiling and the box - cove lights. Can opt for a different color from downlights to create a different mood.

The con is that it traps dust.

For odd-shaped perimeters like what we have, it would be difficult to line the L-box around a so-called perimeter around the living room.

So there are bigger panels of L-boxes that can be built above ground areas not belonging to the living room. This way, you can segregate out a living area.

But compartmentalizing the ceiling like that makes me feel claustrophobic. I love space. And that applies to my ceiling space too. Compartmentalising no doubt increase the cosy feel but cutting up the area above seemingly reduce the space down below. And I cant breathe. I wonder if anyone knows what I mean...

3) FALSE CEILING

Like what it's name suggests, a fake ceiling below the real ceiling.

What I need is SPACE. Pure SPACE! With no fancy designer cut-in, or funky grooves anywhere. Just simply space and a lot of lights. A false ceiling would give me that. I wonder if these are called star lights, whether they will be easy to change, whether they ll be too hot for our living room and whether we will still be able to mount our ceiling fan sturdily..

But I ve found answers to my last query :) Just need to get a longer rod for the fan, and pay a little more labour fee for the false ceiling :)

N keeps telling me to leave everything to the contractor and that he would have ideas for us. But I am sure when it comes to designs, nothing beats having visuals. And at least now I have a direction with the ceiling...

::Nigelrene Loft::SCORPION vs CANCERIAN

Meanwhile, research has progressed from the balcony into the other areas of the house (YAY!!): namely the theme, colors and the living room layout. Now I am trying to figure out how to run the false ceiling/L-box over the odd-shaped perimeters of the ceiling above our combined living room and dining area, with special considerations for a ceiling fan and how to segregate the living from the dining area.

While googling for an overall concept, here are some of what appeals to the CANCERIAN.

Throughout the months of intermittent googling on the world wide web, I find myself drawn to a specific style type - one which is warm, spacious and as near to nature as possible. Each plant and each leaf in the background appealed to me, so I guess I ll have to start training up to have green fingers soon after xx years of no-touch with them ever since my cactus died. The CACTUS, the hardiest of hardy type of plant that apparently survives in the desert, died on me. But I assure myself that it was a PINK pasar malam cactus. So it could have been a inferior good.

In the meanwhile, while shopping for the gadget aspect of the home, N has introduced me to the digital door lock and the Samsung smart TV. It took me a while to accept his concept of having a door lock that uses a pin and/or tap card and/or fingerprints because I still belong to the old era of believing money should be kept in biscuit tins. Ok, that was exaggerating it a little, but you get the idea.

So while the cancerian has been busy googling about the aesthetics of Nigelrene Loft, the scorpion has been busy googling about the latest technologically advanced additions to it. It was only until I recently picked up the Home & Decor issue for Jan 2011, that I came across the horoscope to home building column and I realise that horoscope does play a part in home building too!!!

I am not quoting word for word but here s the gist of what it says:

CANCERIAN: Homely and loves warmth. Chooses earth, neutral and warm colors.

SCORPION: Loves to be at the edge of technology. Prefers to have up to date technological gadgets in the house.

::Nigelrene Loft:: OUR FIRST FURNITURES

The FIRST furniture we added to Nigelrene Loft was actually one that went into our homebuilding process for a greater purpose, and not for curing some crazy gambling itch - The IKEA stool. Because the missy of the house is *er hemz* not as tall as the built-in cupboards ;p

I proudly say that because for a couple who just picked up MJ not too long ago, and has been been travelling all over SG with new-found khakis everywhere recently, we would seem to be the hardcore gambling-addicts-to-be, and one would expect that our first add on would be The Mahjong Table! We expected that of ourselves too!

Heh Heh! But the hardcore gamblers had alternative solutions in the meantime to cure some withdrawal symptoms...

An impromptu BYO (bring your own) *insert whatever* weekend that evolved from a supposed Malacca weekend that was planned wayyyy tooooo late in the midweek of the long weekend ;p no more hotels available. So they decided to pop over to view our flat and for a mini MJ get together.

Bring your own 'freezer' - courtesy of Gen. ;p

My IKEA stool put to good use!

Bring your own chips - since IKEA and GIANTS are just around the corner, we hopped over to get some basic drinks and snacks for the guests. Also got hold of 2 chairs to add on to the backless ones N&I lugged over from his home in the morning.

Did our first pizza order in and surprised that our postal code was recognised by Pizza Hut already!

Bring your own Mahjong Table and Mahjongs!! - Courtesy of Roy and Amy

Guess that's why getting the MJ in as the first set of furniture isnt as urgent :)

Most of his friends got the portable table! And since we were still undecided between the traditional or the portable one, we decided to put it on our KIV list until such time when we have finally come to a conclusion...

Having one of your options over for a trial run usually sets some bias. It didnt take us too long to decide...and we got it on the very same day! :D

So we had the girls over on Sunday with our spanking new MJ table. MJ set is from my parents' home though, so we are still on the hunt for our own! It's abit hard to come to a unanimous decision now because missy loves pink and mister loves gold.

We shall wait for that day when we both get a common understanding..

Defects rectification has just started yesterday. So with that started, our own renovations should be commencing verrrrry soon. The tiles could wait till Nigelrene Loft is up with it's spanking new look!

::Nigelrene Loft:: KEYS

An Xmas exchange gift that N's collic got for him 2 years back. We didnt know what to do with them until now :)