Recycled and Reused Crate

There are a lot of projects on the internet for recycled crates and pallets.  So we decided to give it a try too. When I saw this crate, I fell in love with it!  I knew exactly it's purpose and where it would fit in our home. A shelf in our laundry area that could hold all our detergents for clothes, dishes and floors.

It was not in prefect condition, we had to change the base and make a few repairs but other than that, this was a pretty easy and fast project.

The condition of the crate when we first brought home.

Love the text at the side of the crate

Had to remove the foam from the box.

Had to remove the remnant of the foam by using a blade.

The crate had to be repaired here and there.

The broken piece.

A little nail and hammer did the job.

The broken based was removed.

Replacing the base with a thin plywood.

Our little laundry area.

It's up! We now have a laundry crate shelf!

The laundry crate shelf with a hook board at the bottom.

The laundry crate shelf now holds all the detergent.

A close up of the hook board.  It was priced at RM29.00 but
because it was missing a hook and the picture a bit torn,
I managed to get it for RM10.00 AND I suppose
it's a blessing in disguise as the 'missing' hook
is missing at the right place because of the plug point. 

Four Panel Doors

One of the features of this house that we liked very much was the four panel French doors.  The outside of these doors were painted white while the inside was painted brown.  As usual, our Contractor advised us to dispose of these doors, trying to convince us that we can't bring back the wood color, that if were to use them again, two of the doors had to be 'dead' doors meaning that it could not be opened.

It was a good thing that Hubby and myself were adamant.  For the past six months, all our weekends were spent sanding down the doors to wood grain.  We had to take the glass panels out, wipe them clean, buy new beading to fix them back and varnish the doors.  We even had to fix the grill ourselves, after ordering the grill from the grill contractors.  The sad part about these four panel French doors is that we had to fix grill, it sort of spoilt the beauty of the four panel French doors.

Here are the progress of our four panel French doors.

BEFORE : The four panel French door before the renovation

AFTER : The four panel French door after the renovation

The four panel French door after renovation, sand down to wood grain

Hired help varnishing the four panel French doors

The doors taken out and getting ready to sand down

The wood was sanded down to wood grain

Tried using paint remover to remove the white paint at  the beading area.
Not successful, so rather than waste time, we bought new beadings and fixed them.

A close up of the sanding down

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

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

Main Door

The construction of the house is coming up fast.  I've been so busy with other projects that I've neglected updates on our blog site.

We wanted a main door that stands out, not an ordinary door that every house has. We wanted a main door that made a statement, so, ... dear hubby decided to build his own door.  We have been sourcing for wood and we have an idea on how we want our front door to look like.  We have also been sourcing for wood for making two benches for our dining table also

So for two weeks or so we've been driving to some really 'ulu-ulu' places to look for good, cheap if not reasonable wood.  After going to point A and point B and going back and forth, we've bought our wood.

Now, once the door is up, we'll post some pictures.  In the meantime, we'll leave you with some photos on the 'birth' of our main door and most importantly wish us LUCK!

The railway slippers for the bench legs

What we think is Balau wood for making our bench  for the dining table

An idea of how we want our main door to look like

A carpenter's paradise - heaps of wood

The wood we bought for our main door

The workers cutting the wood for us

The cut wood