::Nigelrene Loft:: RATTAN LIGHT

The only thing that was executed according to original googlesketchup plan - The rattan light for our balcony!

This ball of cane costs $120 after discount but I am not complaining! :)

::Nigelrene Loft:: TEAMWORK

Gymming 2 times a week is fine

Gymming 2 times a week and mummychores 3 times a week is fine

Gymming 2 times a week, mummychores 3 times a week and 'household chores' every available other time of the week is energy sapping!

It is certainly tough juggling between a gym schedule, a mummychores schedule and a home building schedule. And that's even before renovations commence! We soon found that we are literally energy-sapped from doing all the 'household chores'.  So we try to hit the big screen at least once a week to keep our sanity in check, though we usually end up in some kind of electronics store to check out gadgets for the home *gags*

We ve decided to try out something different tonight to make maximum use of OUR time BEFORE our big late night movie date! Taking the cue from "How many man does it take to change a lightbulb?"

ONE!!!!

SO, the man's gonna hit the gym by himself tonight ,while I go check these babies out! Sucha win-win situation, I m sure we both make a great team!

 

GSS gives us even more reason to shop now ;) And I think he s leaving most of the aesthetic aspect up to me....so I hope I dun break our own piggy bank ;) I think I will still ask him for his opinion after his workout ;)

::Nigelrene Loft:: WARDROBE ISSUES

The biggest problem of living together....

Fighting for sharing space :D

There is no way this could be enough for us because we each own one + spillover at our current homes, and there is no way we could extend the wardrobe space within the same room. Not even with a queen-sized bed. And because of this...........

We are going to have a wardrobe room!!! 

I didnt say WALK IN WARDROBE because that's not going to be what it is, takes up too much space and we have intentions to have that room easily converted back into a usable space ;) We were at IKEA over the weekend for some ideas :) 

Every aspect of storage is well thought out...

Choice of bifold doors, sliding doors, hinged doors, clear/mirrored/wood/frosted/laminated

They even have corner spaces tackled:)

Now it's whether we want to salvage/rebuild/buy off the racks from IKEA :)

::Nigelrene Loft:: SOFA

After being on a 3-weekend hunt for a right-sided L, plushy comfort, aesthetic appeal and high headrest :)

We finally found The Right One.

It wasnt the intended brand we were looking at though. We just chanced upon it while heading for another showroom in Kaki Bukit. An "Up to 70%!" caught our eyes. We popped in and saw exactly what we have been hunting for! With double concurrence from Atsu, who was here in SG with us over that weekend, we struck a deal. N&I are now one step closer towards our home building! :D

and we never got to that showroom ;p

::Nigelrene Loft:: GOOGLE SKETCHUP

The Fiance and I agreed that we would not be splurging on an interior designer for our home. So we set out to design our own little nest. With no prior designing background, nor any home decor experience, we heavily invested in our interior designing bibles - the Home and Decor; and the Squarerooms magazines. We even bought the debut H&D's Renovate magazine which was selling at S$10, only to find that our estate has been given free copies of the magazine! 

But pictures can only do so much. We could pick out the best of every design that we heart and have them jigsawed together to build our little nest. Question is, will the mix-and-match concept work? To answer that, we needed more visuals of the whole house, pieced together. And we couldnt simply embark on the renovation journey just to find out how it would look like, and hopefully rectify our mistakes along the way...

So I first started drawing out my some of my concepts in 3D on art papers in my attempt to show and convince my co-owner some of MY concepts. I even had them colored. Even N, being the typical nonchalent man that he initially was towards the whole reno project, who told me to leave everything to the contractor, picked up the pencil and drew me to-scale pictures of HIS concepts.  *that did touch me a little*  We even meet up sometimes during lunch in our excitement to show each other our ideas ;p of course, it is not always smoothsailing, and we do have our little arguments over the other party's idea. We are afterall two separate individuals who have different views and ideals of how we want our dream home to be like. But we have always kept our arguments objective - argue over the idea only. 

Most of the times, an argument starts because one party has no idea of the picture the other one is trying to paint - READ: never attempt to use words to explain what you can do better in pictures, because we never SEE the same picture. -__-" And if two persons, who are supposedly telepathic because they are in love, can't see the same picture, imagine the disaster if we plunge into renovations with our contractors/carpentors?! Manual 3D diagrams take too much time. And in paper forms, they dont allow us to see the nest as a whole...

Everything starts with GOOGLE.

I found us a FREE software from Google called the Google Sketchup.

And this is a to-scale view from our balcony with our latest agreed-upon kitchen idea ;)

It has been a headache trying to figure out where to place the fridge. The current 80 by 73 allocated fridge space is too small. We have decided to shift it outside the kitchen after much deliberation and shifting around using the Google sketchup. A 360 degree 3D image is possible at the click of a tab and a scroll of your mouse! I was able to have a preview of what it ll look like from the kitchen stove out through the little glass window beside the fridge and all I could say is I am still very pleased with the sights because the fridge will not be blocking my view :) If there's anything I hate, it s the feeling of claustrophobia.

Aside from its fabulous toolbox which includes a measuring tape, the Google Sketchup also includes a wide variety of material and color selections for you to mock up your wall colors and carpentary laminates! It even allows you access to its huge online collections of Google 3D images so that you may not have to draw out every piece of furniture yourself! If you intend to buy a Samsung 46" TV, google from its collection and you will get EXACTLY what you want ;) I was even able to find a 1.87 3D mini man to fit into the house. Of course there will be some limitations here and there as not everything has been inventorised - Like I wasnt able to find our 52" Philips LED TV and a shihtzu to add to our 3D home image. But with the existing tools, I was still able to make the nest as near to what we envisioned it to be as possible.

Now I am sure my meetup with the carpenter this weekend is going to be good :)

If only I can find another software that allows us to have interaction with the 3D images. It d be great if I can open up my cabinets and show the carpenter EXACTLY where I want each compartment to be placed :p

::Nigelrene Loft::AIRFRYER!!

Now a proud co-owner to the latest kitchen gadget - The Philips Airfryer!!!

Enjoy deep fried food without the extra oil! We brought it to N's home and made some fried drumlets and hashbrowns on the same night. It came with 2 cookbooks too and the variety of things you can cook with this machine is quite impressive.

With min purchases, there were great deals for brides-to-be too! ;) Pocket friendly substitutes for bird spits you get from medical stores. Saves time too!

Atsu flew in on the same day for the weekend.. 

And as a parting momento to last for the next 6 months until our wedding day... :)  

Too bad we couldnt hang out as much as we d love to due to various bridal and lofty commitments already planned before he announced his grand arrival 2 days before it happened! But we did get A LOT of things settled. And I am secretly glad that I unknowingly missed my 6-week post-op review on Sat *heh* Now I am 2 photoshoot gowns, tv, theatre, sofa, vacuum, iron, hairdryer, rice cooker and airfryer all down!

N's gonna be away over the weekend and has left me to take charge over the house! Going to be Home Alone!

::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!

::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...

Easter 2011

It was an all food, all play plus all work weekend leading all the way from Thursday night right through Sunday! I wonder where we found the time to do all of the above!

An impromptu overnight MJ got us down and out by Sat...yet we still had to trudge our ass to Nigelrene Loft by 2pm for the laundry system showcase + we were expecting another entourage of guests at our new place before the Crab feast that night. Little wonder how we found the energy to do another round of MJ on the same night z.z The coffee machine s coffee was POWER and super nice!

Dear dear, I also want one, please?

Thurs evening at Brussel Sprouts. A tall glass to end the short week :) Fries are free flow if you order a platter of mussels!

We had a platter of quirky items with weird names. and so it seems not so weird afterall!

My archilles heels ;p The Man cant fathom why the love for chicken wings - not enough meat!

Gave SG clams a first and last chance.

Aud and Ben brought over the famous Tiong Bahru chwee kueh. Just in time for the starved N&I at Nigelrene Loft. We had no time to go out for lunch before 230pm.

And a lot more sinful food outings over the weekend that had no chance to be photographed, mainly cos we were too tired and hungry zz_zz" heh... New home + new hobby makes one tired!

Hinoki Luncheon!

We got the prime seat and watched masterchef lawrence display his culinery skills right in front of us! N was sooooo inspired to eat Jap after starting on his HK drama serial on some Jap chefs O_o"

Starters was tofu with century egg puree, topped with caviar....Ohhhh laaalaa!

All torched. Gives a crisp outer skin before you savour into the succulency of the fresh flesh.

Cod fish was lovingly topped with spicy roe and a pickle for you to chew on

Foie gras sushi! Despite my restraints towards eating anything inhumane, and foie gras is one of them, this piece of sushi made me change my mind towards foie gras. It simply melts in your mouth...

We didnt want any prawns cos N is allergic.. but The Chef suggested we have some tempura, so we did! And N caved in to the prawns despite his allergy ;p

Was almost very full after the unagi rice....but there was still space for something exotic. No sea urchins on Monday :( We got the oysters instead! If you are not fans of oysters, this wouldnt appeal to you. N&I usually order or lua without or (oysters), so you can deduce why there is no verdict for this dish ;p

Ended with an icecream! Luckily! Had to wash away the oyster smell that lingered in our mouth! ;p

And a prelude of our working bit of the weekend..

And our lovely view :) We ve been guilty of taking one too many breaks in between chores to enjoy this! :D explains why we were there every day over the weekend! ;p

Life's grumbles

You know how when you are free, you are really free for the whole day because nobody asks you out. But when you are not free, everybody seems to want to go out.

Here's my schedule for coming Saturday. O_o" 

Sadly...we ve gotto skip the joyous celebration of Char's housewarming and Beth's first month. That would still leave us some in-between breathe time. And YES! I am finally staking my claim over this year's Valentine's Day present!! :) Perfect Eyesight!! Am gonna kiss The Bag goodbye though, but I can definitely give up a bag for a chance to see the world clearly! 

Gotta save that moohlah for things in Our Home! We ve shortlisted a door system and the decking wood type for our balcony. That's gonna burn a hole in our pockets..

Over to the real wedding preps, nothing much has been done in the month of March except for shortlisting a bedframe and (still) trying to do up the guestlist.

We are pretty much stuck at the guest list stage because we've ran out of tables!!! :( This happens when you dont have a draft guest list up before booking the venue...but 400 is already A LOT of people! If we could have things done our way, a banquet would definitely not be on our list. I would prefer a garden or a beach buffet wedding, anytime, or none at all to save the hassle. 

We might possibly not be able to accomodate all our friends and collics...it will be easier to host an announcement dinner over at Our New Home with them rather than with the parents' friends and relatives. Negotiation is still in progress. I am keeping my fingers crossed on this. x_x

Design Ideas - Green Pad

Another reason what to love about our HUGE balcony space.

I envision it to be alot of wood and greenery. And space. It would be best with a seamless flooring transition from the living space, or with foldable aluminium glass panes. I like to have an open space with a lot of natural lights.

And we will have plants..

Cant wait to get the keys :)

Brainstorms

Been trying to do up some interior planning for the house to see what kind of extra expertise we may need to seek and Murphy's definitely in our plan. :)

It might be a little troublesome to transport him back to my house every morning though...but that's what most human babies' mothers do, no? Alternative is to get another tiny terrier to accompany him, which at the moment, doesnt seem too appealing.  x_x

I just lost a war to that little imp who refused to pee on the papers at home for CONSECUTIVELY 30 hours!!! Can you imagine he held all that pee so that he can go downstairs for a pee-walk?!?!?! Can you imagine my heartache for him to hold his pee any longer?!?! So I gave in. Pee-walks, back to normal. O_O" *sigh*

This is him early this morning, after holding his pee for 24 hours and looking very pitiful.

HOW NOT TO GIVE IN?

So back to my happier plannings (of cos Murphy is still included cos I still love him very much), I have many great ideas for our balcony! (yeah. only the balcony at the moment. haha! I gather I still have 4 months to gather our keys, and another 7 months to get it up, so I still have time)

Home will come with one helluva big piece of land-area for the balcony, in comparison to the total land-area ratio anyway. It ll be an open concept - no top grills, window panes, and with a sink-in planter across the far edge.

We can either:
1) pebble it up and plant some fake flowers (like showroom pic below)
2) Rear those tiny fishes for foot therapy (and charge all my friends $xx for coming for fish massage)
3) Board the floor up up

Of which, I found the 3rd option more desirable.

I like this! Can sit and nua with a cuppa and my book/mag/Ipad. Looks so cosy!

Or this! We can sit there and sip wines till we grow old, and our teeth drop and my boobs sag. Yeah, you roughly know the idea.

Or this! We can still sit there and sip wine, but this time with sunnier colors and ROCKING chairs!

Of course, our view will be different..

We will not be looking at mountains nor rivers nor the greens. Instead, we will be looking over a built-up concrete jungle.

So maybe we might just leave things simple back there. We can sip wines in the living room in front of the TV instead. Not to forget that anything we wanna place in the balcony has to be weather proof (no windows remember?)

Maybe we will just get a portable BBQ pit like this and have our family and friends over. And also leave a space to set up a MJ table right there.

Not to mention that soon laundry load will be too much for that pathetic few steel poles in the drying ledge beside the yard (see 1st pic for a 1:100 scale of how 'long' that will be), the balcony might even end up as a bamboo pole area for sunning the clothes.

Now I am back to square one.