staticblue

Hi All, I am Leonard, AFOL from the Philippines. I just registered into this forum to say thank you for all the tips written in here. Like most others, I came out of my dark side too late, just enough to snag the GE before retirement. Before reading this thread, I can only dream of owning the Cafe Corner someday. After reading all the helpful posts here, I became inspired to start bricklinking Cafe Corner from scratch. and lo and behold, just 4 hours after reading all the posts, and placing my first order of parts... I have completed all my orders to a tune of around $460 USD (orders still in process). Most of the parts are new from sellers in the US, unless new items are not available. The only substitutions I made are: Black Door Frame 1 x 4 x 6 Type 1 changed to Type 2 White Panel 1 x 2 x 3 - Hollow Studs changed to the reinforced type White Window 2 x 4 x 3 Frame changed to the hollow studs type White Window 2 x 4 x 3 Pane changed to compatible window panes (modern) The rest of the more expensive parts, I bit the bullet and went ahead with the exact items (black front door, LBG side door, dark blue arches, dark red slopes, lbg turntables etc). I also went and purchased minifig parts. The medium blue one was crazy expensive. I did not use any tool or spreadsheets to compare and reduce costs. Just old fashioned multiple tabs in browser comparing items at checkout per store. Total of 15 orders. All in all, I estimate total cost around $500 including shipping to my freight forwarder in the US, and another +$100 USD to ship to the Philippines by air mail. Excited to do the build now and see it in person. Thanks again all for this resourceful thread.