We've decided to replace our expensive chengai wood deck (we were quoted 3k+!) at the patio with these wood-looking tiles. But the tiles at LSH are 15 x 60, which make it a bit short to replicate the strips.
They're cheap though, $3.30 psf. And the walnut oak grains are beautiful.
Next, we're looking for matching tiles for the wood tiles. Front courtyard.
Which texture should we go for?
Interesting - A Coach Feature Wall for the Bathroom?
Patterns and Colours, not to our liking.
For the living room, we're looking at homogenous tiles. Glossy and off-white, to make the place look bigger.
So there you go, the off-white tiles leveling with the wood tiles at the patio, then stepping down onto the rough sandstone tiles in the open. The backyard tiles will be the same as the front courtyard so there'll be a uniformity there. We did choose some bathroom tiles but because this is our first stop, we did it at random.
Next stop, Hafary. Saw similar wood-looking tiles but they're in longer strips this time!
However, it's also more expensive :( $4.50 psf. We also notice the wood surface here looks more like laminated wood.
Bathroom tiles selection. Light beige for the wall, dark beige with strips for the featured wall, and dark brown for the floor. *camera is not bringing the colours out well*
For practical reasons - choose dark colour for your bathroom floor. The best choice is to get smooth tiles for easy maintenance but.. I really love the sandy resort look! So heck the smooth ones.
Hup Kiong's contact person wasn't at the shop so we decided to come back another day.
My hubby looks like he's excited opening presents.
See the difference? The "real wood" vs laminated wood. But the "real wood" strips, as I've mentioned are shorter and they don't give the stips effect. Damn, can't have the best of both worlds eh!
2 sets of tiles - 2 from each shop - to compare. More or less the same, but if you look closer, there're some differences in terms of grains / colours. So it's really up to the preferences of the owners. For me - plain, as white as possible, cheap (because that's for the whole entire living and dining).
Comparing more bathroom tiles.
On Tuesday, we went to Hup Kiong and tried Soon Bee Huat. Hup Kiong has a wide range of homogenous tiles but by then we have seen so many tiles that we've grown numb to them. I wonder how some people can visit the same shop for 50 times just to choose their tiles.. In any case, I would recommend those looking for tiles to visit the very big showroom at Soon Bee Huat (3A, Toh Guan Road). Not only do they have a WIDE variety of tiles, their prices are quite competitive too. And their showrooms are huge and beautiful. They lay out the tiles in mock up pretty bathrooms and kitchens, and have the tile numbers quoted at the side for easy reference. I would like to visit it again to take some pictures if I have the time.
Some pretty flowery (chinois chic) bathroom tiles I've found. Am thinking of using white flowery tiles for the bathroom upstairs because it's very small, but we're afraid it may be too empowering. Maybe white wall tiles with flowery feature wall. But hey, it doesn't match my resort look for the bathroom downstairs!
Alright, 4 shops - the max we would visit for TILES. Laying them out to compare. Christina took down the ones we liked and she's going to ask for discounts. Yay.
Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to my blog, we are beginning to meet more new neighbours. Those that have moved in (and in Johnny's case - moving out soon) and those that are moving in (including Mohd's family). A big welcome to Steven and Joanne!
It's true - I couldn't find any information about the area on the internet. When I search for the words "jalan bahagia" it leads me to street directory pages or some location with the same name in Malaysia. Either that or it will lead you to a youtube video posted on a fire which broke out in one of the flats some time ago. When I searched for words "Whampoa" or "Balestier", it gives me a lot more variety of food reviews on whampoa market (and some bah kut teh shops) and a little historic background of Balestier. Which intrigues me a little bit more. But still, nothing on our charming Bahagia itself.
On the forums, the people are forming into big groups to chat about their neighbourhood. But the Jln Tenteram group seems quiet. Furthermore, I'm not sure whether Tenteram (the new buildings) vs Bahagia/Mamor people have the same topics to discuss about on renovations. In any case, I'd be happy to share about the renovations process here, make some new friends and form more mahjong groups. Ha!
Update: 12 April 2009
Christina just confirmed the tiles we liked very much from Lian Seng Heng cost $2.80 (RP $3.40). Yay~
2 comments:
Coach inspired featured wall...! I can't believe wat i'm seeing Gigi! Helen may love it cos she's a fan of Coach. Hahah.
Its fun reading your blog and seeing u + charles doing the "shopping"... and its only the beginning! I'm sure its lots of work / research and can be confusing sometimes to see so many BUT its definitely very fulfilling isn't it?
I think its a very exciting process in our life...am sure you and chuck loves every min of it. hehe..
Yeah, when I saw the Coach tiles, i knew I gotta take some pictures hah. And yes, certainly very confusing when we have so many options! I hope ours will be as exciting as it was for you :)
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