I’ve been meaning to keep a record of building up our new home but I just didn’t seem to manage to set aside time and effort to actually track things down

Anyway, to briefly sum it up:

• 26 Aug 2014 – collected keys
• 22 Oct 2014 – engaged a contractor
• after Christmas – paid deposit for kitchen sink and tap
• end Jan 2015 – started renovation works
• Subsequently, I did not really keep tabs or “milestones”

(Somewhere between start of 2015 till now: plans for a custom bed to be made, chose colour of wall paint and kitchen cabinet material, paid a deposit for window blinds to be made, installation of ONE window blind (because the other was damaged and had to be installed in a later date ), got (and installation of) air-conditioning units, lights and ceiling fans, a mattress, an oven, a stove hob, a (random) chair and side table, bathroom accessories and a washing machine.)

Even though I flipped through the IKEA catalog several times and both Guan and I made a couple of trips to IKEA Tampines to have a rough idea what we wanted, I still felt undecided on a lot of things so I made a couple of solo trips with Kaien while Zayden and Reuel were in school

I love love love LOVE this colourful couch! But it’s way too pricey and it’s canvas-y material (Guan and I agreed we preferred, er, fake leather to cloth-kind of sofa/couch because the former is much easier to clean) and even though there are two sets in the AS-IS section at half price off, Guan won’t take them because “you may never know what people have spilled on it” (I quote).

Darn me and my love for all things pretty (and colourful)!

Since about the beginning of this month, our renovation works have more or less been completed. We were left with things to be drilled and attached to the walls and a bulk of them were from IKEA. I knew we would take a really long time and planned to spend at least a day shopping at IKEA. Finally, last Sunday afternoon, Guan was available and parents-in-law could help watch the kids and we made our way to the Tampines outlet with my shopping list in hand.

Goodness! Even though we had (somewhat of) a plan and had a list, we weren’t able to finalise several items because we needed to see what was available at the store (in past trips, we chose items that were sold out when we went back for the second time). One of them was the TV bench. I could not care less about that since I’m not even keen to have a TV at home. But Guan needs a TV and we saw something that both of us liked aaaaand… it was sold out We asked when would the restocks be available aaaaand… it would only arrive in September

I asked the staff if she could check the stocks at the Alexandra outlet and she informed me that both outlets don’t share stocks. So I made Guan call up the other outlet to find out that… they had stock! Two pieces left! I asked Guan, “What are the chances of those two pieces selling out before we get there?” He said we would never know and told me to hurry up shopping here so we could get over there.

We went on checking out items and penning the numbers down in my list so we could get them at the self-collection area. Several items were either not available or they no longer had the colours that I wanted After making a second call to the Alexandra outlet in regards to a limited edition chest of drawers (they had 59 pieces available!), we decided to get what was available at Tampines and to get the rest at Alexandra.

I had no idea the amount of boxes we would be piling up on that trolley of ours. I mean, I roughly knew the items that we were getting but seeing Guan pulling out more boxes and loading them onto the trolley just made it look like we were getting a LOT of wooden furnishings So much so that we needed a third trolley.

By then we had spent about five hours at IKEA and gobbled down some hot dogs and curry puffs *yums!*

We quickly made our way to Alexandra outlet and got the rest of the items on our list. Even though this is the smaller outlet, it carries the newest items and has more stock the the mega outlet! They still had the BRÅKIG plates! *squee!*

We finally made our way home at 10 p.m. and reached home to realise that… WE FORGOT TO BUY THE STOOLS! *facepalm*

Things left:

• to fix up IKEA stuff before attaching to walls
• to buy a wall fan, (random) towel rack, fridge, TV
• to buy other smaller electrical appliances that I won’t need until I move in or I can hope someone will gift it instead :p