For a peace of mind {Review of Meridian Invisible Grille}

When we came to the new house for the first time, what caught my eye was the spacious and welcoming balcony. Yes, we are thrilled, and deeply thankful, that although our home doesn't have a storeroom (please tell me it's possible to survive without one and with three kids), it has a balcony for us to hang out, have fun and hopefully have picnics here or create our own mini garden.

While we have an awesome view of the pool, what worried me was that my kids might climb over the railing when I am not looking. It is easy for the husband to say that "No, let's not do window grille and keep the view untainted" but for a stay home mum who is with the kids 24/7/365, I knew I would never have a peace of mind if we did not install the grille.

I mean, what if something just happens when I had to go to the loo or if I was making dinner in the kitchen? What if an accident happened, an accident that I could have jolly well prevented? What if the least expected happens and you can only live your life to regret it? What if, what if, what if?

With only one pair of eyes to keep watch over three active kids, it is quite impossible to keep them all in sight at the same time for every second, therefore I need to be assured that they are, at the very least, somewhere safe in the house.

Anyway, this happened in our previous house when I was having a 5-minute toilet break. Yup, although the girls claimed that they don't climb railings and they don't do dangerous things, the fact was that they tried to play Superman with the baby and lifted him up when I was not around. My heart skipped a beat and I really couldn't imagine how it would be if we don't have any grille.

So, in wanting to preserve the view as much as we could, the natural choice was to go for invisible grills. We decided to work with Meridian Invisible Grille which would help us to take care of our grille, curtains and blinds (more about these in the next post). Having visited their roadshows, viewed their samples and gotten a feel of what they could offer, I was hoping that they could help to childproof my home and give me that peace of mind.

On the day of the installation, two of the workers (Ishak and Sana) arrived in the morning and got down to work promptly. It might not be complicated but installing these grilles was a tedious, laborious task that took more than half a day. They had to first measure the tracks, cut them up and then drill the nuts in at intervals.

The drilling was inevitably noisy and luckily, my kids were in the bedroom playing in the tent and they didn't complain in the least. I have to say that they have been gems throughout this renovation process and seeing how they had to follow me to and fro nearly everyday and endure all the loud noise, dust, dirt and boredom (all we had were toys, books and colouring materials), I was just very glad that we made it together.

I was quite impressed and relieved that the workers had brought a vacuum cleaner and thus they helped to clean up the dust as they were doing the drilling. I can't say it was thorough as I had to do a couple of rounds of cleaning after that but I was already very thankful that they had tried their best to minimise the mess.

One thing to take note is that because drilling has to be done along the metal tracks, there will be tiny metallic pieces flying around in the process and precaution should be taken if you have kids in the house. Don't let them go near the area and remember to clean up after.

Once the tracks were in place, the rest took place swiftly. It was easy to tell that Ishak and Sana were good partners from the way that they wound the grille wire as a team. One would be in charge of the top part while the other the bottom, and nut by nut they would wind the wire around each and in turn pass to the other person. I was amazed by how efficient they were because this took such a short time!

Checks were also done to make sure that the grille was tightly in place. A horizontal wire was set up in the middle for extra support but this was nicely tucked behind the top part of the railing. Once the grille was in place, the final part was covering up the tracks, spraying paint of matching colour onto the exposed nuts and applying silicon to ensure that the tracks were secured.

Here's a look at the short clip I did so you can better understand how it works.

I'm hoping I can have a peace of mind when I cook or shower, so this has to be done. After a whole day of drilling, hammering and fixing, our invisible grills are up! Here's a look at how it's done! P.S. We are very thrilled and thankful to have a balcony in the new house, till more pics and reno updates! #ahappymum #ahappymumhome #homerenovation #meridiancurtains #invisiblegrills #balcony #lifeofasahm #thekidsandisurvived #forapeaceofmind #thehubbydidntwantbutiinsisted

A video posted by Summer Goh 🌞 (@ahappymum) on Dec 15, 2016 at 4:02am PST

I've received queries on this and the fact is that you can also install invisible grille for bedrooms! We did so for all of our bedrooms although the windows won't be opened most of the time. So what they did was to do up a frame for the window in a matching colour, install the grille in a similar fashion, then install the entire frame onto the window.

Take a look at how the invisible grille look in our house now. The further away you are, the less prominent the grille becomes and I think we are very satisfied with how the invisible grille turned out. Not only did they give me that assurance I needed, the awesome view still remained awesome and this was a huge relief for us. Yes dear, you still have a beautiful view, so don't worry.

So we had an al fresco dinner last night and the kids were so happy since this was the first time we could do it in the comfort of our house. The kids were seated close to the railing and as you can expect, they were climbing up and down the chairs while this Mama had to walk to and fro to the kitchen to get the dishes, take a tablecloth, cut fruits for the baby, refill soup for the girls, take a second helping of rice, get a drink for anyone thirsty etc.

And you know what? Thanks to the invisible grille, I felt so much at ease knowing that the kids were all safe and sound. That peace of mind, it is just priceless.

Meridian Invisible Grille
349 Changi Road,Singapore 419817
Email:enquiries@meridiancurtains.com.sg
http://www.meridianinvisiblegrille.com.sg
For sales enquiry and consultation, contact Desmond at 96410010.

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This post is part of the "A Happy Home" series where I share all about our new Scandinavian-themed house, the renovation process and some tips and thoughts. Moving is never easy but it comes with an indescribable sense of joy in building up the house of your dreams. Remember, home is where the heart is and nothing is more important than being able to build memories with the people you love.



Disclosure: This is a partially sponsored collaboration between Meridian Curtains & Furnishings and A Happy Mum. We received a discounted price for the invisible grills in writing this review. All opinions are our own.