Our home reno: I love Monoyono's decor!

Monoyono is awesomeeee.

It's a concept, novelty store that sells gifts, home decor, wedding and other accessories. Maybe similar to Typo? Monoyono has stores at Raffles city, PS and Vivo in Singapore. 

I absolutely love the decor items sold there. Makes me wanna buy almost everything. I visited the Raffles city store this week and saw something for our home. It's a poster frame that says 'The only Happiness in life is to love and be loved'. Totally love this line. I bought it without having a second thought haha. It cost me $39.90.

Anyways, when I went home, I decided to look at Monoyono's website and found 2 other amazing posters that would very much suit our place. You can imagine my excitement since I find it so difficult to find the right type of nice posters in Singapore. All the good ones are sold overseas! So I decided to buy them too! Gonna have a cluster of 3 frames for our living room yay! Hope they're enough to add the pop of colour to brighten our space! 

Here are the pictures of my awesome buys! 

Our home reno: 1st draft 3Ds

Helllooooo again! Another update on our home renovation journey.

Last Tuesday, our ID sent us his first draft 3D designs for our home. I was sooo excited to see what he came up him. Buuuuut, unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with what I saw. Basically what he came up with seemed more modern contemporary than scandinvian. You know how obsessed I am over the Scandinavian concept, so you can imagine my dismay. G was pretty bummed out too.

I guess it was the choice of colours that he used? Rather than focusing on whites, he had quite a bit of brown in his designs. And the woodgrain that he used was rather dark, giving a more modern feel. The furnishings he used seemed pretty dull too. To be honest, his designs were good. I would have loved them if I wanted a contemporary designed home. The living room was especially nice and it looked like it was from a showroom! 

Anyways, we gave him our feedback and he was very responsive and arranged to meet us to show us the other woodgrain options. He knew that the brown wall colour was too dark as well so he said he would change it to white. 

So we met him on Thursday to give him our specific comments and he was very open to listening to us. He showed us lighter wood laminates for our feature wall, shoe cabinet and kitchen cabinets. I saw what I liked so we confirmed our choices =D The difficult bit came when we had to think about the designs for our  master and baby bedroom cabinets. G and I were kinda clueless. Our Id proposed a few options but we just couldn't tell what's good to have! Lol. It didn't help that I couldn't visualize properly haha. So we're just gonna see the amended 3Ds to decide what's better! Anyways, he proposed full white wardrobe for our master since it's completely fitting to our theme. I just hope they're not that difficult to maintain! 

We touched on whether to have wallpaper for our master bedroom. According to our ID, if we don't want a darker colour wallpaper for just one side of room, then it's better not to have wallpaper at all. Having pure white walls may suit our theme better. That made sense to me. I always see plain white walls for scandi spaces. Yay! So we can save money on wallpaper! Hehehe. 

Back to kitchen, we decided to have cabinets on the other side as well. One side just ain't enough! We need more table top space for our kitchen appliances like rice cooker, oven, toaster, water dispenser etc. So we'll wait for him to design this as well!

Hopefully we'll be happy with the amended 3Ds and confirm all the designs! 

Here are the 1st draft designs! 

Preparing for Baby Market 2013!

There's gonna be a huge baby fair at expo, from 4th to 6th October. With so many participating brands and exhibitors, we're expecting to see a huge variety of baby items and good deals+promotions! That's why we're planning to buy our major baby items from the fair and I'm thinking of taking leave to go on a Friday just to avoid the crowds.

In order not to be overwhelmed at the exhibition, I've started researching on what to get quite early. This is the kiasu me! I've looked at online websites, reviews and even visited store fronts like Kiddy Palace, Mothercare and Baby's boutique @ tampines just to check some items out and their respective prices. 

I began with googling for a newborn checklist and identifying those major baby things that are bigger ticket items that will cost more. My idea is to focus on  shopping for such items at the fair since they will likely give me the most cost savings! Anyway here's the list of items I've short listed so far!

1. Baby stroller

- Combi Well Comfort, retails at $359.

Reason: It's important to buy a stroller that suits our lifestyle and travel arrangements. Since we don't have a car, it's crucial for us to get a lightweight stroller that's easy to carry around and close (especially when we get on taxis or trains). 

I found that the Combi Well Comfort is best suited for our needs! It's only 4.6kg and appropriate for newborns since its 170 degrees reclinable. It has a convenient folding system which allows easy closing in a single step. We love how its so easy to close! You can even do it with one hand. It's also very stable despite the lightweight but I some reviews say that you can't really hang heavy things on it since it might topple. And I also love how its has a reversible handle which can be switched easily so I can push baby facing me or front facing.

Alternative choice: Combi Miracle Turn. We love this stroller too since its not very heavy and is even easier to use since its has very easy rotatable wheels! Only down side is its price =( It retails at $600+ which is kinda steep for us!

2. Electric Breast Pump

- Medela, Pump in style advanced, retails at $599

Reason: There are just sooo many good reviews (offline and online) on Medela's breast bump. My sister, Adeline and Gerald's friend Jaqueline swear by the brand. My sister has passed her set around 6 times! So you can imagine its durability. It is expensive compared to other brands but I guess it's worth the price since so many people rave about it. 

Alternative choice: Ameda dual Electric pump, retails at $399. Found at Kiddy Palace and Isetan. Originally, I was rather convinced to buy this since it had many good reviews online and definitely more affordable than the Medela. Apparently, it's very functional and even quieter than the Medela so you can pump the milk near baby without waking her up. But I have my concerns about finding the ready availability of its accessories like the bottle to fill the breast milk. Medela has such accessories readily available but I'm not sure about Ameda.

3. Bottle Sterilizer

- Pigeon Rapid Steam Sterilizer set, retails at $128. Found at NTUC extra, Kiddy plalace.

Reason: Good reviews online and from my sister. And it seems rather affordable too! I'm likely to get Pigeon bottles as well since they're recommended by my sister too.

4. Baby carrier 

- Ergobaby Sport Carrier, retails at $175 + $42 for infant insert.

Reason: I've short listed 3 popular carrier brands for baby carrier: Manduca, Ergobaby and Baby Bjorn. These brands seem to have the best reviews based on my search. I kinda kicked out Baby Bjorn recently when Pearline shared with me this article that says that Baby Bjorn is not good for baby's growth due to the posture that it carries baby in. And I finally chose Ergobaby over Manduca since I simply read more reviews on Ergobaby and it's almost more affordable. 

Ergobaby is known for providing good comfort to both parents and baby due to its ergonomic design. It helps to spread baby's weight around the carrier's shoulders and hips so it's very comfortable to wear. It can be used to carry a newborn with the use of an infant insert which provides the good back and neck support which a newborn needs. 

There are quite a few types of carriers under Ergo and they include: The original, the organic carrier, the Performance range and of course Ergobaby sport. I had to research on the differences so as to decide which to purchase. I've read so feedback that the downside of Ergo is that it can be quite warm to carry due to its material. Because of this, I decided it may be better to get the sport version since it uses lighter, thinner and softer material which may be more suitable for our hot and humid climate. 

Alternative choice: Pognae brand baby carrier. This Korean brand was recommended by Pearline and it will be present at the baby fair. I'm thinking of checking it out since she mentioned its pretty good. I couldn't really find many reviews on it though since it's a Korean brand. We'll see!

So far that's what I have! I'm thinking of adding more things to my list so that we can maximize our shopping trip. Maybe I'll look for nursing pillow, baby bath tub, moses basket, baby rompers as well! 

Our home reno: Bathroom and kitchen accessories

After our routine preggie appointment, we decided to do some research for our bathroom and kitchen accessories. The purpose really is to learn more about the types of accessories needed, respective brands and costs. This is to prepare us when shopping together with our ID in the near future.

So our first stop was Heritage Bathroom Gallery @ Geylang, which WQ recommended to us. The place also has some pretty good reviews on reno forums. Anyways, the shop wasn't too big and their items were quite well arranged and organized. Didn't feel too overwhelmed inside. 

We were greeted by a salesgirl who pleasantly surprised us with her good service and product knowledge. She showed us the toilet bowls, shower systems, bathroom accessories set, storage heater, kitchen sink and mixer. We were quite convinced to buy the Grohe rain shower and normal shower systems, which were both on sale and have 5 years warranty. They're really quite pricey though! But I guess we'll be paying for quality?

The rest seemed okay to us and I guess we couldn't really tell if they were good or bad. The toilet bowl brand she recommended was Magnum, which apparently comes from Italy. We couldn't find much information about it online. 

In general, the prices seemed pretty reasonable to us although we didn't really have other prices to compare to. The salesgirl helped us to note down the list of items and prices so that we can go around and compare with the others. Sooo useful =D

Anyways from the shop, we learnt that when purchasing a toilet bowl, it should have the following qualities:

- Have good flushing mechanism

- Easy to wash and clean

- Comfortable

And it's better for kitchen sinks to have curved inside corners instead of right angled ones. They're easier to clean as maintain.

We visited Hoe Kee next since it was so nearby. I wasn't expecting any good service based on web reviews but the young girl who served us was not too bad. I must say though that the shop is pretty overwhelming because it carries a lot of things. 

We saw their in house brand, Roz toilet bowls which were more expensive than Magnum. We were kinda indifferent to that. I was more interested in their Blanko stainless steel, kitchen sinks from Germany! They had a package which seemed pretty decent: A double Blanko sink with kitchen mixer for just $389! It seems like a better deal compared to that at Heritage, which offered a US brand sink for $430 and Grohe mixer of about $100+. We also saw their Ariston 30litre storage heater which was around $230-$290, similar to Heritage. 

Anyways, our visits were really useful! Now we know what to buy, our options and prices =D Easier to decide when we're down to the actual buying!

Doctor's visit at 23 weeks!

We just had our appointment with Dr Heng today! I'm 23 weeks now and my weight jumped to 56.2kg from 54.6kg last month. Dr Heng says my weight gain is still perfectly acceptable and I should be able to gain another 6kg more. Thank goodness! I've been worried about putting on too much weight! In any case, I think I should cut down on unhealthy, fatty and sweet foods -.-

As usual, we had our ultrascan to have a look at our lil baby! Dr Heng was saying that baby seems to love taking photos cause she keeps facing us hehe. We could clearly see her eyes, nose and mouth! And her mouth was actually doing suckling movements, so adorable! 

Anyway, baby put on like 70g since Monday's detailed scan! So now she weighs 590g! Amazing growth man. She's expected to be 1kg at my next appointment! Can't believe baby's growing so fast! Just really happy she's a good weight and size. 

Here's a snapshot of our ultrasound! 

Dancing baby!

Our lil one keeps moving and kicking when I'm in bed! It's such an amazing feeling. I started humming and singing to her when she started and it just feels so nice bonding with her like that! I *hearts* you baby girl!

Our home reno: Dining and master bedroom lights done =D

After baby's detailed scan today, G and I made our way to lightings.com.sg at Geylang. 

We've been doing our research online and getting advice from G's friend who got his lights from there. Based on reviews, lightings.com has quite a variety of lights that are nice and affordable. The best thing about them is there's no need to bargain (in fact no bargaining is allowed) or worry about hidden costs because that's their USP. We saw that they were selling the same pendant master bedroom light that we wanted from the previous shop we visited. And it was a lot cheaper! We wanted to check out their dining room lights too. 

Anyways the showroom at Geylang was pretty small but we saw what we wanted so yay! The Filipino sales staff who attended to us offered such great service and was so patient with us. She was definitely not pushy, willing to answer all our queries and went the extra mile to even change a bulb for us to show us the difference between a 14W light and 24W light. She also shared on the differences between normal, energy saving an LED lights. In addition, she showed us how to change the bulb for our dining light, which was really easy. 

We decided on our room light really quickly since it's similar to what we want.  We took a while to decide on our dining room light though and finally settled on a 3 bulb pendant light. Hope it fits in with our theme! 

Anyways, our investment for today cost us $279! Seems pretty alright =) We're given 1 year warranty for our purchases too!

Here are some pics!

Detailed scan @ 22-23 weeks!

We just had our detailed baby scan this morning at parkway east hospital! 

The session lasted around 20 minutes. It felt odd in the beginning because Gerald was asked to be outside and my sonographer was quietly doing the scan for me without saying a word. The silence felt deafening. And I was basically looking at the screen not knowing what I was seeing haha. I suppose she was trying to focus on taking the many relevant shots of our lil girl.

Finally at the end, she invited Gerald back in and spoke! Haha. She explained and showed us different parts (eg. head, eyes, lips, limbs, spine) of our little one and told us baby's about 22 weeks and 5 days old, weighing about 520g. Wow, baby's already half a kilo! We felt comforted when she said she couldn't see any abnormalities so we're hoping she's right! Keep safe baby! We just want you to be healthy =)

Gonna end off this post with my latest baby bump pics!

Creating our beautiful home.

 Finally after three years, our 4 room bto flat at Punggol Emerald is almost ready! We received our HDB letter and should be getting our keys end Sept or early Oct. So exciting! I can't believe we're gonna have a place of our own. 

We've been making preparations since August. Before I share more on what we've done, let me talk about our theme for our home. Unlike many others who fancy modern and contemporary designs for their home interior, I've always wanted a Scandinavian theme for our place. Think white walls, beiges and light wood touches forming a canvas for the house. Add pops of colour (like orange, red and green) and texture through specially picked furniture and soft furnishings. Scandinavian (Swedish in particular) homes are always so cozy ad uniquely decorated with personal touches. That's why I love them so and always wanted a home like that. 

Being quite obsessed with such a theme, I've done quite a lot of research, saving photos of Scandinavian living, dining, master bedrooms and kitchens for inspiration. I think I went a lil crazy! Hehe. I've also combed the Internet for furniture, lighting and soft furnishing ideas and potential places to shop at in the near future. 

Anyways, time to touch on what preparations we've done so far! 

On August 18th, G and I went for the furniture and renovation fair at expo. Our intention was really just to check out the IDs out there, understand their reno packages and get to know the price range. Little did we know that we would actually confirm our ID that day! It was really unexpected because I'm the type who really does her research (eg. Through online reviews and real life referrals) before committing to anything. But that kinda went out of the window when we met our ID Mr P from Cisceern that day. 

I guess we were quite impressed with Mr P after he spoke with us. Compared to the 1st ID we spoke him, he was very detailed and patient sharing his portfolio with us, their package and all the materials that they use for their tiling and carpentry works. The great thing was he understood our Scandinavian theme and shared that he was doing a similar project with another client. He seemed rather professional, experienced and reliable compared to the other young IDs around. And we appreciated it when he took a look at our plan and shared some good ideas that he had. Gerald was pretty sold from the start and I was eventually convinced when the GM came to speak to us about the company, their brand promise and their commitment to their clients. And so I took the leap and nodded my head. We paid a deposit of $1,288 and decided to engage them! Afterall, the package seemed pretty decent and comprehensive and we were quite clear of the additional costs for the other things we wanted. 

There was pretty good progress thereafter! A week after, Mr P showed us his company's show flat at Kaki bukit before he shared the space planning and ceiling plans he did for us. He also sketched a potential design for our study room which we really liked and also gave us some ideas for our baby room =D We liked how he was always willing to give us his honest feedback on our ideas. For instance, we appreciated how he told us we shouldn't have a mirror in the dining room when we suggested it. He said it'll make our area seem too 'cold' which is against our theme. 

Another week later, Mr P brought us tile, lights and sofa shopping! It was fun but mind boggling at the same time. Shopping for our homogenous tiles was easy! We picked white tiles for our living room and common area. Lights were slightly trickier! Mr P brought us to skiezlightz where we saw the lights we love for our scandi theme and all our remaining basic lights. Basically we were looking for something special for our living, dining and master bedrooms. We managed to get a quotation for all the lights we needed but we didn't commit because we had to compare it with other choices. The total was $2,900 for us for a total of 25 lights! 

We visited OM to look at our free sofa and other furniture. Great place with unique designs. Love love love the sofa that they were gonna give us! It's a L shaped, fabric sofa with removable covers. Very comfy! In the end we picked the beige for the colour and a pale orange for our additional sofa cover. In the end, I decided not to go for a bright orange or red sofa which I originally had in mind. I agreed with Mr P's advice that its better to choose a neutral colour and decorate it with bright colour cushions or throws. We didn't manage to pick out other furniture because nothing was suitable. Maybe it's for the better since everything there was quite pricey hehe. 

Anyways, that's all we've done so far! G and I should be checking out our master bedroom and dining lights at lightings.com.sg after our research. We're likely to get them from there and the rest of our lights from skiezlightz. And we should be seeing our 3D plans from Mr P soon! =D Can't wait! 

That's it for now =)

Our lil getaway!

We just had our staycation at Amara sanctuary to celebrate our 6 year anni and babymoon! Since we won't be going for a trip for sometime, Gerald booked us the awesome courtyard suite which we stayed 2 years back. I love Amara sanctuary. It's such a quiet and tranquil place hidden in Sentosa. No crowds, no noise. Just the sound of great, great nature. And the suite is amaaaazing. We loved our four post, resort style bed. Nothing can beat having our own heated, jaccuzi pool in the backyard. 

We spent most of our time relaxing in the jaccuzi (it felt so good having tidbits in there), slacking on the bed watching tv and sleeping. The visited the common pool once and it was pretty nice and exclusive but I didn't swim there cause or was just toooo cold. I did have a goo laugh watching G do silly things like trying butterfly stroke and dancing in the pool. He always makes me laugh.

We did a lil exploring at vivo and I was so happy visiting franc franc looking at all the nice home decor and furnishings. And we had fun making our way to the Malaysian food street and rws despite the heavy rains. The food was sooo good. Our combination of Penang char kuay teow, KL hokkien mee and clay pot rice was divine.

I truly enjoyed the staycation. Any time with my hubba is well spent. Wonder how our anni will be next year. Will we just be spending it at home with our lil one?