I bought my lights on the dining area from Johor Bahru Malaysia, it was cheap, only cost me RM418 (equivalent to around SGD180), you may click here and here to see the lights.
However, I do not have time to go in Malaysia again, thus I would have to source for another place selling cheap lights in Singapore, and then I found www.lightings.com.sg.
After a little sourcing and comparison, I do find lightings.com prices cheaper, and no bargaining is needed. The prices are fixed as per listed on the shop, no reservation and most people do cash and carry. There are some bad comments on the forum, but I find their service ok and satisfactory. Btw they do charge $18 for delivery.
Although their prices is cheap, the quality of the lights is so-so and some I would say inferior. Out of the lights I bought from them, my wall light in the toilet spoilt and was repaired once only after few months of using it. One of the down lights in my kitchen do blink on and off. However, all these are not a big issue to me, because I can easily repair it by changing the bulb. Anyway the quality of lights are quite depending on luck sometimes, doesn't mean you've spent big money and you'll get a light that will work fine forever.
Down lights, $24 per piece

I like this type of down lights, simple and nice, easy to clean.

How it looks on my living hall. By the way, I've 9 downlights in my living hall, which were controlled by 3 power switches. I can on just the 4 as shown in this picture, or the 2 on top of my piano, or the other 3 on the way to my rooms, you should plan your lights wiring in this way, to save up the energy consumption.

Ceiling light in my MBR, $70

Ceiling light in my common room, $40

Wall light in my MBR toilet, $48

How much do you need to revamp your toilet? It might cost you a bomb although it could be the smallest room in your house.
Here is the cost I spent on my master bedroom toilet:

The overview of my small toilet on the side with basin and mirror:

Storage mirror cabinet - $170
Wall mirror from IKEA - $19.90
Baron basin and toilet bowl (promotional price for buying these 2 together) - $330
Water tap - $55
Vanity cabinet with glass door - $600 approx (pls click here for my carpentry quotation)

A closer look on the basin:

I like this design, it is easy to clean and maintain. However, I should buy a bigger one as this is a bit smaller given the size of my vanity top. My advice to all is to measure your top before buying the basin.

A closer look on the tap:

If you think $55 for a water tap is expensive, you're wrong. Many toilet accessories sold in branded shops are chrome, not stainless steel, this water tap is stainless steel, and I paid for its design. Click here for my purchases from Royal Fanco.


This mirror cabinet is worth buying especially if you've a small toilet. I should have bought a bigger one since my wall can accommodate the size. You can keep your toiletries, perfumes, cosmetic items in the cabinet.

My vanity cabinet with swing glass doors:

My carpenter suggested a sliding door, but in order to save the cost, I chose to have this type of swing doors. So far I've no problem with it. You may click on the label of "carpentry" on the top left corner to see my other carpentry works.


Wall lights from lighting.com - $48


This is the toilet bowl I bought together with the basin at $330


Toilet paper holder - $18
Bidet - $12
Toilet bowl offset - $8 (you'll need this to fix the toilet bowl to the floor, measure the hole before going to purchase the toilet bowl as there're a few sizes of the toilet bowl, your contractor should advise you on this)


Double towel bar - $32
Toilet brush and holder - FOC from Royal Fanco


Crizto "i" hook - $22


Shower screen with stainless steel handle - $350
My husband wanted a clean look on the shower screen, thus it was designed without any holder at the top of the glass, but after moving in, I found it not secure as the shower screen is quite big and sometimes when we close the door too hard it would shake, thus I paid another $100 to get the glass factory to fix an iron bar at the top of the shower screen to hold it. You can see the iron bar from the reflection of the mirror cabinet.


Rain shower set (including handheld spray, on-off button etc) $159.50
I forgotten the price for the shampoo holderr, but I think is around $28

A closer look on the rain shower headset:

Frankly, I'm not a fan of rain shower, I shall blog about it in my next article.


Matt finished swing glass door - $500

Lastly, tiling for floor and wall - $2200
I like the colour and combination of my toilet tiles. But if given a choice again, I'll choose a darker colour for the floor, so that stains are not so easily spot.

If you sum up the above prices, the total is around $4600. This cost does not include the hacking cost (I spent $2900 to hack off all the tiles in my toilets, rooms and kitchen) and some miscellaneous items which I do not remember.

All the accessories are purchased from Royal Fanco unless I stated so.

All the iron stuff you see in my toilet are stainless steel, consider the material and the workmanship of it, I do not find my cost of $4600 expensive, especially this is my master bedroom toilet for which the size is bigger than the common toilet.

These are the companies specialising on Invisible Grille:
1) One curtain - Invisible Grille
Contact: David Phua 97222800 / 64451669
Website: www.invisiblegrille.com.sg
Address: 6001, Beach Road #19-06 Singapore 199589
Email: sales@invisiblegrille.com.sg

2) Legate Asia
Contact: Alvin Ng 9691-2925
Email: sales901@legate.com.sg
Website: www.legate.asia
Address: 7030 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 #02-39 NorthStar @ AMK Singapore 569880
T: (65) 6242 1911
F: (65) 6846 1922

3) E Marketing & Home Services
Contact: Alvin Chia
Address: 61, Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, Shun Li Industrial Park,Singapore 417943
Email: sales@ehomeservices.com.sg
Website: www.ehomeservices.com.sg
T: (65) 8337 1277 ‎


I got Legate to visit my place and quoted me for my 2 bedrooms, but at the end I got David from InvisibleGrille to do my grille for the living hall.
Price quoted by Legate is $12 per sft, by David is $12.90 per sft (heard that price has increased), but Legate charge $120 for powder coated track while David did not charge this, so I find David's quote slightly cheaper and I let him do the job. In total, I paid $750 to do the grille for my living hall window, including transport and labour charge.

Generally, the service from David was good, he had even cleaned the floor and windows for me. He had also helped me patched the wall after the installation and helped me paint the affected area.

There're many points I want to blog about this, I'll separate them in different header for easier viewing but before that let's take a look of my grille:

Do you find it invisible?

Take a closer look


Why Invisible?
Like many, we do not want to install the conventional grille in our rooms that make us feel like imprisoned, I'm glad that there're others who share the same thinking as us and come up with this idea. However, I do not suggest Invisible Grille in your bedrooms, you'll know after reading my below comments.

Is it really invisible?
It is not really invisible, it looks like wires across your window. There's once my SIL commented are those for hanging clothes? Fainted.
Anyway, to me I find it look nicer than the conventional type, at least those 'wires' are slimmer than the conventional grille, and those friends who had myopia do find it invisible...hahah, em.

Is Invisible good?
No. It is definitely not as good as the conventional type. The wires can be cut by wire cutter, thus not suitable for window on corridor and I don't think is suitable for bedrooms too.
Once installed, it is permanent, unlike the iron grille where it can be opened. Thus cleaning could be a problem.
My two bedrooms are installed with the conventional grille, sometimes I do hang my children clothes there for drying purpose, but you can't hang anything on the invisible grille, it'll be loosen. The conventional grille looked more durable.
Besides, do note the gaps between the wires are very narrow, thus it'll be hard to open and close your windows, especially if you're short. For me, I'll need to use a clothe hanger to close the windows....

Costs
It is about twice the price of the conventional grille. Legate quoted me close to $700 for my 2 bedrooms, but at the end I decided to install the conventional type which costs me only around $400.

What should you do before installing the invisible grille?
Clean your windows. Ha, sound funny but mind you, once you've installed the grille, is really difficult to clean it.
Repair your windows if necessary, I did not checked my windows during the renovation, after moved in I realised one of the windows can be closed but cannot be locked, but is very difficult to repair it now as I've installed the invisible grille. Whenever there is strong wind and rain, I'll have to pray that the wind would not open my window and the rain will not get into my living hall, sad.

So, after seeing the above review, will I install the Invisible Grille if given a chance again? Yes, I'll still install the grille in my living hall, as I need it to protect my kids from falling off the windows but I do not want to see myself in the prison like locker. But, before the grille is installed, I'll probably repair my windows first.

In summary, the only advantage of Invisible grille over conventional grille is the cosmetic result, so if you're not so particular about this, why not install the conventional type? Anyway I don't find those in my bedrooms look ugly, you may see below picture or refer to my other posts:

My original doors are those natural wood colour laminated doors, which were quite a popular colour in the 90's, but an out of fashion colour and design now. We wanted to change the door, but to our horror, door seem to be an expensive item. Even the cheapest plastic door can cost you $200, even an bifold door for toilet can cost you close to $300. We definitely want to save cost on doors, especially when we have so many doors in the different rooms and toilets.....
My contractor helped me think of a brilliant method, we get the factory laminate the plywood door with Nyatoh wood. Paint it in dard brown colour, which costs me $200 per door, inclusive of the lock handle. We add $40 for the stainless steel bar, and this is how our door look like:


For my common toilet I did not put the stainless steal bar, save the $40 :)


We prefer this type of handle instead of those round type:


We get the contractor to paint the old door frame same colour as the door, so it matched up nicely.


The original door look like this, so ugly right?

The feature wall is designed by myself after copy here and there from magazines and renovation forums. So, you might have seen similar designs from somewhere. My requirement for the feature wall is again, simple, I don't like complicated designs which waste resources. Example, many times you see those feature walls designed by the ID are with spotlights, spotlights might create nice effect for photo taking, but I can assure you that you'll not on the lights most of the time. So I do away with all the spotlights, or reflection lights, instead, I use downlights on my ceiling which give me clear view and classy design.


My feature wall is full height around 76 sft. For the price please click here.

This is how the feature wall look in my hall, beside my piano. The 2 display shelves above my piano were given by the carpenter FOC.


A closer look on the lamination. I've paid more to get a thicker white gloss laminate as some commented in the forum that for glossy laminate, you can see the wave or curve easily especially if the laminate is too thin.


TV console with sliding door:


A closer look at the workmanship:


Do visit other pages on the carpentry works.

I hacked the existing wardrobes in my bedrooms and built new ones. Here are pictures of the wardrobe in my master bedroom.
This is a full height wardrobe, the size of around 7 ft, with sliding doors, built in sliding mirror. It costs more than a normal wardrobe due to the height and the glossy laminate, for my quotation please refer here.

Full height wardrobe is a must to me, as I do not like to clean the dust accumulated at the top of the wardrobe, and sliding door can save the space in my room. Everything must be kept inside the wardrobe, I like a clean look of it:


Take a look of the following if my wardrobe is those transparent type or those racks without doors:

Is so messy right?

One feature I like about this wardrobe is the built in mirror, which allows me to view my outfit and save my room space at the same time:


A closer look at the mirror:


I would not say the workmanship is perfect, I would say it is acceptable given the cheap price. I engaged a contractor from Malaysia to do all the carpentry work for me, they do have company in Singapore though. A closer look at the workmanship:

Many had asked me for the quotation, you may refer to the quotation given below. However, do note that this can only be a guideline to you, as my renovation was done in October 2010.
( living )
1.Feature wall with laminate finishing 76 sgft = $1596.00
2.Tv console A/L sdiling door 6 ft = $660.00
3.Feature wall with mirror 41sqft = $900.00


( kitchen )
1Ttop cabinet 8.5ft =$722.50
2.Low cabinet with 14.5ft = $1232.50
3.solid surfale top16.5ft =$1320.00
4.Stainless steel packing 1pc =$100.00

( Bed room 1 )
1.Wordrabe with swing door 7ft =$1260.00


( Bed room 2 )
1.Wordrabe and bookcase with swing door 6.5ft =$1170.00


( Master bedroom )
1.Wardrobe with sliding door 7.5ft =$1500.00
2.vanity cabinet with A/L door and solid surface top 4ft =$680

Total=$11141.00


# white gloss laminate # 0.7mm 1pc =$46.00 ---- 2mm 1pc =$200.00

1. Tv console 1pc =$154.00
2. kitchen cabinet 4pcs =$616.00
3. Bed room 1. 3pcs =$462.00
4. Bed room 2. 3pcs =$462.00
5. Master room 4pcs =$616.00

I have negotiated here and there with my carpenter, the final figure I paid is $11,000 in total.

For pictures on my wardrobe, click here.

For pictures on my feature wall, click here

For pictures on my mirror at the dining area, click here

As you might be interested in getting the contact, here it goes:

Ah xiong +6016 7051751 (Msia) ; +65 81849871

Please tell them you're introduced by Winnie from Hougang for a better quote.

Update:
I'm getting his Singapore contact, I'll be updating here soon.

I was a bit worry after I put deposit for the wallpaper with Montella, as I read some negative comments about the company. Except for the "not so pleasant" face from their staff, I considered myself for being lucky to have my wallpaper fixed at the designated timing without problem. For pricing and my initial selection, please click here.
The wallpaper has been pasted on the wall of my master bedroom and the wall of my dining area, so far no problem.
Here's the picture of it:





Although wallpaper is hard to maintain, but I must say it has created a classy look to my master bedroom. I shall also post its picture on the dining area when I have one.

Click here for the picture on the wallpaper on my dining area.

After checking from the internet, I bought 4 fanco ceiling fans for my house. Three 52 inch fans for my bedrooms and one 56 inch fan for my living room.
I bought the fans from Royal Fanco, although his price is slightly higher than the quote I got from an online seller, his 52 inch fans are great buy at $165 per fan only inclusive of the nergy saving bulb daylight. For review on Royal Fanco, click here.
The reasons I chose Fanco over other brands are:
1) Cheap
2) Better design
3) The detachable lights are also in better design and cheaper
4) Generally durable
5) Acceptable R.P.M. (something to do with the spinning speed), all my fanco fans can work on level 1 speed, I do hear complains on other brand where the level 1 give no wind at all, so do check out the RPM speed before buying your ceiling fan, I'm sure you don't want to buy a fan with 3 levels speed but only level 3 can be used.

Here are some photos of the fan in my master bedroom:

I like the design, simple and nice.


The design and colour of the fan match the design of my bedroom very well.

The price for Fanco fan is very reasonable, for just slightly more than $100, you get a ceiling fan in working condition and it is lasting.
Out of the four fans, only one fan has given me problem. It made noise whenever the fan is on, but is my fault not to call the agent immediately, I called the agent only after 9 months of using, although it is still within the warranty, I need not pay for the spare parts, but i have to pay for the transport and labour at $40. The repair man told me I should have called them in the first 3 months, whereby I do not need to pay a single cent to get them to rectify the problem. So a lesson learned here is, problem must be rectified early.
The after sales service from Fanco is good and acceptable. I have called them to my house twice, the first one being the incident described above, where the motor of the fan was spoilt, I paid $40 for transport and labour (as transport and labour is not part of warranty), the second time I called them because I still hear noise after the fan is repaired, and this time round I did not pay a single cent as it was within 3 mths after the first repair. However, the second visit turn out unnecessary as the noise was from the lights which were loose, the man help me to screw up firmly which solved the problem :)
Although the second visit was not because of the deficiency of the fan, the man gave me another slip and told me that the 3 months extended warranty after repair will count from the date of the second visit. I was delighted about this :)
Overall, I like my Fanco fans as they are really value for money.

Update:
I just found out that Fanco fan provides life time warranty to its fan motor :)

Fanco website: http://www.fanco.com.sg

No, I have a full length TV feature wall with console custom made in my living room, I do not want this bulky fixture in my master bedroom. I want a specious bedroom, thus the lesser furniture the better.
Many people told me I cannot just hang my TV like that, but I give it a try. I get my contractor to fix the power point in the middle of the wall, where my TV will be. My 29 inch Sharp had been mounted there for a year, so far so good, no falling off.


It was mounted on the wall, beside the entrance to my toilet in my master bedroom. A clean and sharp arrangement. No extra space taken.


Even the person mounting the TV for me told me might not be able to do this, I told him just give it a try, and roll up the wire at the back of the TV, as long as I don't see them.


Yes, those wires do get dusty over the time, but who cares? You don't get to see them, and cleaning is not a problem if you want to.


So if you ask me, "Do I need to buy a console in my room? Do I need to build a feature wall?" The answer is no!