Our Home Renovation Journey - Key Collection and Door Opening Ceremony!

The day that we have been waiting for is finally here.. KEY COLLECTION!! 🏠

Our appointment was at 10:15am. We arrived earlier at Toa Payoh HDB Hub to have breakfast at Macdonalds before going to take our queue number. 


Dad and grandma arrived while we were waiting for our queue number to be called. When our number was called, we went to the counter to sign all relevant papers, decide on the loan amount, the number of years, the percentage deduction for each person, pay our first conservancy charges, etc.. 

AND FINALLY..... WE WERE PRESENTED WITH OUR KEYS TO OUR HOME!!! 😍😍


At that moment there were too many things to take in, it didnt feel surreal yet. We went to level 2 of HDB HUB to open our SP account for the utilities. Once that was settled, we headed straight to our new home to open the doors! 😁

There were so many contractors camping at the void deck of our block.. I guess it was only when we entered the compound and saw our block that it occured to us that we finally own a home of our own. 😆 A place that is really ours, a place that we will start a family. 😍 As we walk down the corridor to our unit, we were super excited and somehow mixed with emotions. 

 Here's the happy owner of the house, jingling the keys away as we walk down the corridor towards our home. 😂 We could see our service yard and kitchen from the corridor (on the right). Strange design by HDB. 😩 Probably have to install blinds in the service yard too.

The door opening squad for the day! hehe. So thankful to have grandma and dad with us. We were all so excited standing in front of the door. My heart was beating super fast as I turned the keys to open the gate and door. As I was opening the door, we were all saying auspicious words loudly such as 幸福美满，甜甜蜜蜜，幸福平安，身体健康，永远幸福快乐, 好事连连来，发大财！Grandma was beside me and she was busy saying 幸福美满，早生贵子，多子多孙 in both mandarin and cantonese. Can see what matters most to her. 😂 Dad just stood behind saying HUAT ARH repeatedly because he didnt know what we were saying. 

Once the door was opened, grandma stood at the door entrance and rolled 5 oranges into our house in different directions while we said 黄金满地，黄金滚滚来! Mandarin oranges in cantonese means gold. Next, hubby gave his best bowling shot and rolled the pineapple into the middle of our living room while shouting HUAT ARH!! Rolling of the pineapple into the house symbolizes ushering in the luck, wealth and prosperity. 



After rolling the pineapple, we finally took our first step into our new home!! Just could not believe the sight before my eyes, though its bare and empty for now but finally we are going to have a place of our own! 😍 Really cant wait for renovation to start and to see our new home come together. 


We picked up all the oranges and the pineapple and placed them in the middle of the living room together with a bunch of bananas. Grandma then went around the house to scatter a mixture of 百合 (Lily Bulb)，莲子 (Lotus seed), peanuts, green beans, red beans and soy beans. Lily bulbs symbolizes 百年好合 (long lasting harmonious union) and lotus seeds symbolizes 莲子莲孙 (to have several children in sucession). The other beans also means to have many offspring. 😊

To be honest, walking around, the house really looks quite small as compared to looking at the floor plan. Oh well.. 

We did a brief inspection around the house and noticed some minor defects that include: 
  1. Small scratches on some door handles and the peep hole 
  2. Paint chipping off on window handles 
  3. Rusty door handle of the bomb shelter 
  4. Uneven laminate on the master bedroom door 
  5. Laminate of the master bathroom door already came off
  6. Chipped off laminate on the DB box door 
As our ID came over to do some measurements and we were supposed to head to Hafary at TradeHub 21 to re-choose some tiles, we decided to submit the defects list to the BSC office another day. 


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