Chronicles of our Main Door

Our main door is now almost complete.  We have hired help to varnish the door and it looks beautiful!  This door has now become a conversation piece in the neighbourhood as well as contractors who have been moving in and out of the house.

Now all is left to do is to fix the glass at the side.  We wanted Nyonya glass but at the very last minute, BTW this is rather norm already coming from our Contractor, he said that Nyonya glass do not come in the size that we want.  He suggested that we go for normal glass and tint it! I am like "What the &%^*???"  Anyway so now we are sourcing for the glass on our own.

So we'll leave you now with the chronicles of how our main door became ...

The chosen Chenggal wood for the main door

Cutting the wood to the desired size

The Master and his hired help

The door frame and the door

The door frame being installed 

The locksmith installing the lock

The modified hinge for the main door

The main door and it's maker

The main door gets a coat of varnish

Updates on Main Door

LOL ... I know it's getting a little bit old, harping on the main door.  However I have to give you guys a little update on what's happening.  Well ..., we've made the frame and sent it to the new house.  When our contractor's carpenter wanted to lock it down, he found that the corners are not all that straight or aligned. 

If we were to leave it as it is, we would have a main door with a gap at the top and that the door will not lock properly.  Being that this was a main door, we did not want such scenarios.  So Hubby had to take this heavy frame down and re-do it, (it took 4 people to carry it out and lay it on the ground).  Dismantling the frame was no easy task.  He had to knock it out and cut the wood slightly to fit 90 degrees.

Knowing that the reward is that we've put our heart into making something for our HOME is priceless.

Hubby dismantling the door frame to rectify

Hubby knocking the wooden frame out to rectify

Cutting inches off the wooden frame with the machine (on loan from brother-in-law)

The little laser gadgets that tells if your frame is aligned

The wooden door frame that took 4 men carry

  
  

Renovation Progress - Patio & Room Doors

All our weekends have been dedicated to sanding down the patio and room doors.  We bought another 3 doors from a lumber yard in Klang.  Apparently these doors were from a KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu - Malaysian Railway) office.  It's solid, heavy and a unique in design.

The sanding down was done by machine while the edges had to be done by hand by sand paper.

The Patio doors were white on the outside and brown on the inside.
So we had to sand down both sides.

Two of the three room doors which we bought from the lumber yard.
Before and after the doors were sand down

A close up of the doors

Renovation Progress - Patio Door

If you've read our blog post here, we wanted to recycle and reuse the French doors at the existing house for our patio area which is also at the same location.  As usual, our Contractor had discourage us to reuse the door and advise us to buy new door, giving reason that it cannot be sand down to the original wood or that it would be expensive to re-varnish it.  

Because the doors are still in good condition and we felt that it adds character to the house.  And because hubby dearest was a DIY and handyman, he took the challenge.  

The French doors dismantled

Trying to remove the white paint to get the wood color

The wood is scratched when using the metal brush

So hubby uses a sander

Much better and faster

The difference between before and after sanding down

Because the glass edges could not be sand down using the machine, we tried using a paint remover

We applied the paint remover to the wood and waited for a while until it bubbled

But it was hard to remove the paint and it didn't come out 100%

Have to think of another solution on how to remove the paint

Renovation Progress : Main Door

The frame of the 'awesome' main door has finally been completed. Hubby's DIY and handyman skills were put to good use.  Credit must also be given to three experienced carpenters that we hired for the day.  These three men actually work for a teak furniture and their kind employer has allowed us to hire them on their off.

As for the main door itself, it has been partly been completed.  Now all that is left to do is fix the lock and varnish the door and frame.

Men @ Work

The completed main door and frame

The muscle men

Drilling is though work

The main door frame fitted into our new home

The floor is raised so that the main door frame can sit

The wood for the main door and frame

Wood for the main door

The almost completed main door ~ left to fix the lock and varnish

Sourcing Sourcing

Every weekend and holiday is now spent on sourcing for items and materials for the new renovated home.

We've been going to Klang, Puchong, Sg Buloh and even Kuala Selangor to source for wood, sanitaryware, kitchen cabinets, tiles and visiting exhibitions for decoration and renovation.

Here's what we need to source for the moment :

1. Roofing

2. Doors & Windows as well as their frames

3. Tiles for hall, dining, kitchen and bathroom

4. Sanitaryware - sinks, consoles, wcs, showerheads and bathroom accessories

5. Kitchen Cabinets

6. Hob, cooker, oven and microwave

7. Kitchen Sink

8. Lighting

I am having a headache already just thinking about this.

Recycle & Reuse~Part 2

A quick update on our Recycle & Reuse project. It looks like our Recycle & Reuse project for the new house will not be 100% materialized.

This is because, after removing some of the cabinets upstairs, on the landing area and at the dining area, it was found that it has been partly eaten by white ants! YIKES!!!

So now, it's left with the built-in cupboards for the walk-in wardrobe and the French doors and windows.

Out you GO!

And you too! You'll have to GO too!

Recycle & Reuse

This house has a wonderful set of French doors and windows. Therefore, we've decided to recycle and reuse some of these items. Things like built-in cupboards are a plenty and are still in good condition.

The French doors, which we will use again for the patio area. The previous owners painted the outside white and left the original wood color inside. We will be removing the white paint and keep the natural brown color.

The French doors from the outside

The White French door

The white paint is peeling off - showing off the beautiful natural color

The French windows at the back kitchen will now be brought to the front entrance

The built-in for the walk-in wardrobe

The cabinet for the study area

Even the swing was left behind. It's hard to find a swing like this now a days. It used to belong to the previous's owner's wife. So roughly we guess that this swing will be about 30 years old. I am planning to paint it RED! I wonder what K will say about this?

Can you imagine this swing in RED?