housethingsgoing
A frog and a duck living in a 4rm resale flat
Saved some $$$ by NOT replacing these items in our 4RM resale flat :)
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Welcome to part 2 of the things we retained in our resale flat! This time we’re covering the items in our bathrooms and bedrooms - but don’t worry there’s still plenty of things to talk about: 
1. The switches We love the clicky atas-brand but we don’t love the prices - so we opted to retain all the existing switches and sockets in our house (aka the OG ones from HDB). They were a little bit paint stained (the previous owner loved painting, but wasn’t very good at masking-taping his switches) BUT they are free concealed switches after all so… we accepted them in all their damaged glory (IYKYK!) We did add on a few sockets and switches of our own though, and had those in white to match the original switches (although Duck would have loved to have some fancy steel grey clicky switches to match the vibe of the house…) 
2. The fan-lights We retained ALL three fans in our bedrooms from the original owner because they were still in good working condition (though not the best quality or the most aesthetic - but I just try not to look up HAHA). We also kept the household shelter light (because that’s like the least of our priorities in replacing lights) and a random row of track lights in the master bedroom. Again, the lights DID NOT MATCH the aesthetic, but when you have a limited budget, you have to focus on what’s within normal eye-level. Great news is that the fan-lights in our spare room and master bedroom are still working after 1+ years, BUT the study room fan met its demise about half a year after we moved in. We’ve since replaced the study fan with a much better one (from Mistral!) and Duck is on a slow conquest to replace the others as well. 
3. The aircons (and aircon trunking) We cannot actually verify this, BUT the previous owner told us that his aircons were new and in great working condition so we just retained the aircons in all three bedrooms - it was a great blessing to our budget because we know the prices of aircons these days is really no joke. Also we thought the trunking was alright (see how it’s been positioned to fit just under the beam) - not the most excellent but we’ve definitely seen worse so we kept the trunking untouched as well. The aircons definitely work (as promised) and we haven’t had much trouble with them so far, so it’s been great anddd…. We’ll just continue to keep our fingers crossed :) 
4. The window grilles We… have no idea why we retained these actually. Perhaps for a future cat? This is one of those things which we didn’t really have a strong opinion about and the thought of removing them just slipped our minds… until we moved in and realised that HEY we should have done something about those grilles. Duck always thought the grilles gave her prison vibes, so she decided to one day try and remove them herself - it was a successful mission but she also nearly killed herself in the process (the scar is still there!) and that was the end of Project Grille Removal. In the meantime, we try to live by pushing the grilles to one side so we get half an unblocked view of the scenery outside - better than nothing right? :) 
5. The toilet windows Yes we rehauled our entire toilet… except for the windows because that was where the budget ended. Honestly, the windows are working fine. I mean we wish our estate had the levered windows (which are so much easier to clean!) and not these ones with the window panes but, honestly, the toilet windows are the least of our concerns. We also thought of getting insect meshes, ventilation fans, etc but so far we haven’t had much trouble with smell or insects - we’ve had dangerous looking bees and hornets hovering near our service yard, but none have ever tried to enter via our toilet windows. 
So… that’s pretty much it for the items we retained in our resale flat! Ending it off with a picture of the lights we 'inherited' from the previous owners in our master bedroom - they are NOT centralised to the wardrobe, NOT aligned with the theme, but they do their best at keeping our wardrobe area lighted. But then again, our house isn't perfect - and we've never wanted it to be :') The main lesson we have for this post is really that you don’t always have to overhaul everything to get a ‘brand new’ home. If some things are still in good working condition (and they’re not a huge eyesore), then it might be worth just keeping them. After all, a lot of these things aren’t things we notice or constantly think about every day - I don’t stare deeply at the toilet windows and regret my decision, or feel sad that I don’t have Daikin aircons like all my friends because my "free" Midea aircons keep me cool all the same. AND IF THEY REALLY START TO BOTHER YOU after a few months of moving in, then it’s always not too late to think about changing them as well. After all, as we’d like to say, our house is always a work in progress - it’s something that will grow with us so we never say no to home improvements as long as we have salaries that can pay for them :)
26 June
