I love shopping for furniture and appliances, especially when we get good deals! A few weeks ago, we have already started looking around for potential furniture and appliances. Both of us discussed about the requirements that are the must-have, good-to-have, and outright-no. Such discussion makes it an easier process to nail down the exact model that we are eyeing on.
We have purchased a few big-ticket items thus far: dining table, television and refrigerator and more to come!
Dining table
This was our first purchase for the house. I was keen on a 6-seater solid wooden dining table and one day after lunch, we popped over to Park Mall to have a look around. It was then I realized that 1) there are many types of wood – teak, oak etc and 2) solid wooden table is expensive.
Initially we had our eyes on a 1.8m oak table (quoted ~S$1.6k) from White Woods. The price was attractive but we wanted to have cooling off period to avoid any impulsive purchase. That very weekend, we popped by Knocknock at IMM and we were highly recommended a recycled teak dining table. The table has a groovy texture to it, and the concept of recycled teak is refreshing to us. The shopkeeper demonstrated that water remains as bubbles on the surface which gives us sufficient time to deal with it (regular oiling is recommended to retain such feature). However, the non-early bird price that we were quoted was above our initial budget. If you purchase via the early bird scheme, the table will arrive 4 months later, but the sweet part of the deal is that you pay the price of a 1.6m dining table instead of a 1.8m one. But the 4 months waiting time and not having a dining table till September didn’t resonate well with me.
Hence, I was swayed towards the original oak table and went down to White Woods the 2nd time to enquire more about the maintenance aspect after some online reading. The shopkeeper was very patient at answering my questions and I discovered that oak needs to be oiled regularly every 6 months to minimize damage from water stains and it was this fact that discourages me on placing the deposit. As I continued to venture around the basement of Park Mall, I discovered that SY Living (parent company of Knocknock) carries the same recycled teak dining table model and could offer us a more attractive price due to some promotion of the month. Besides they have ready stocks and can hold delivery till end June. And he actually reassured me that if I am really worried about water spillage, I could consider adding a glass top on the table. And he also explained that teak is much more suitable for our tropical climate since teak comes from tropical countries while oak comes from temperate countries. Hence after much thought, one day after work, I went to place the deposit for the 1st purchase of our house – a 1.8m recycled teak dining table! And I have separately customized a glass table top to go along with it for easier maintenance. Which it pushes up my actual spending on the dining table, and leaves me grotesquely over-the-budget, I believe in the long-term value of the glass top in ensuring easier maintenance and longer lifespan of the teak table. To the many parties that we will host with this dining table!
Television
Both of us didn’t know much about televisions so we enlisted the help of my brother-in-law who is much more knowledgeable in this area. We told him about our budget and preferred size (~50″). He recommended us a few models, with and without 3D function. Initially, we believe that we didn’t need the 3D function since we probably will never use it. Then last Saturday, we popped over to Best Denki IMM when they had some promotion and was given the opportunity to try the 3D glasses for the first time. While it was cool, we both felt that it was a good-to-have feature in our TV. The promoter quoted us a very low price for the Panasonic 49″ 3D 4k TV and we were like why not. Just when we were about to pay for it at the cashier, he discovered he has made an error and feeling disappointed, we left for the day to think about our decision again. So from this, we learnt that when the price is too good to be true, it is probably not true. The next day, after much deliberation, we decided to take advantage of the ongoing promotion and went back again. And this is when we realized things happen for a reason. On that Sunday, Best Denki had some crazy promotion, a Panasonic 55″ 3D 4k TV was selling for S$1,688 (I just checked, the lowest online listing price is S$2.3k) and on top of that, it comes with S$150 groceries voucher. How awesome was that. It was an almost an instantaneous go-ahead for us! So a bigger tv, with 3D features, at such a low price – we definitely felt like a king and queen walking out of Best Denki!
Refrigerator
Shopping for a refrigerator was definitely one of the easiest for us. I had very specific requirements – no water dispenser function, and it must fit all my Wilton cake carriers and KitchenAid mixing bowl. With such specific requirements, it was almost immediately that we narrowed our option to the Samsung model RT53K6257BS and the cool-looking Black Inox colour was a bonus. Its current listing price is $1,499 but last Sunday, since Best Denki IMM had some promotion – and we managed to get it at a more attractive price (slightly below $1.4k) and comes with other freebies such as a 16″ standing fan (perfect for Bedroom 3) and $150 groceries voucher. It could be partly because we bought the TV as well so we had more negotiating power with the promoters. Can’t wait for this black beauty to stand proud and tall in our kitchen soon. Yes very soon.
Bargain hunting can be tiring yet so fun. And we are looking forward to hunt for more good deals for our washing machine and dryer this coming weekend at the Electrolux sale. Wish us luck!