Renovation Progress 5 : Children's Room & Kitchen

As mentioned in our Renovation Progress 3 blog post, the children's room has it's walls up and the walls are up for the bathroom as well. 

The walls are also up in the kitchen area.  One window and the back door.  However, we now feel that it's very dark once the walls in the kitchen area are up.  Hmm ... must think of another way of allowing light in.  Maybe paint the walls in bright colors, white kitchen cabinets and light tiles for the flooring.

Children's Room & Bathroom

The back walls as well as the walls to the bathroom are up

Kitchen

Walls are up BUT kitchen looks very dark

Renovation Progress 4 : Master Bedroom

The contractors have started to concentrate on the front portion of the upstairs, mainly the master bedroom.

The current setting of the master bedroom comes with a very large balcony.  As we are not a big fan of balconies, we've decided to extend the master bedroom all the way out.  Only leaving a small area for storing the air-condition compressors, with a window big enough to act as a door for servicing the air-conditions in the future.

Looking at the master bedroom now, it looks huge but I can imagine that after all the furnitures go in, it's going to look just nice.

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

Furniture Hunting : Report 4

I am a little embarrassed to blog about this but I just got to share!What was a trip to Grand Teak Furniture in Puchong to just drop off the railway slippers to replace the dining table legs ended up in ME making another purchase!I saw a beautiful console / buffet table that would fit perfectly at the dining area. Perfect for keeping place mats, coasters and even cutlery. I just got to have it the moment I laid eyes on it. I don't know if you ever had this feeling, it's like the moment you've laid eyes on something, it catches your eye and you know you've got to have it, it's yours!Well that is what happened to me! So let me introduce you to our latest teak buffet table that has joined our family!

The new console / buffet table

The view from the side ~ note the carved panel

The drawers ~ two carved flower drawersWe have asked them to make another drawer in the centre ~ don't want wasted space
The carved flower panel which will be made into a drawer

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.

Contractor Tantrums! Cheezeee!

A unhappy contractor is a unhappy house owner? Or it should be the other way around?

Anyway ... this blog post is about our contractor! Firstly, I must admit that his workmanship is good. We've checked out his projects before we appointed him. His pricing is reasonable and I find it funny that he has a quote "We are not the most expensive nor are we the cheapest, but ..." (it will be a different reason everytime we try to bargain with him), something like Phuah Chu Kang's "The best in Singapore, JB and some even say Batam" ...

Ok, ok, back to the story ... from the begining when we hire him, we forewarned him that we are kind of DIY people. We will source for our own, roofing, windows, doors, tiles, kitchen cabinets and even electrician. So imagine sometimes, when we consult him for ideas, he reluctantly or rather refuses to give! We actually do value his ideas and comments but he feels that we don't.

Just like yesterday, we've asked him to draw out for us our front facade, what he thinks would look like or what his ideas are. He refuse to draw and said that we know what we want therefore, he will not draw for us. Yikes!!! I mean, we are open to opinion and sometimes what we think is nice to us might not be practical and maybe he has a better idea!

So anyway, this blog post is dedicated to our contractor! Let's hope he opens up and see our point of view too!

Renovation Progress 3 : Back Area

Before I start, I just want to say that the contractors are working faster than I can blog.

So most of the renovation work has been concentrated on the back area of the house, that is the kitchen and the children's room on the 1st floor. The roof has also been partly torn apart and the Loft is also almost completed.

Children Room 1
Children's Room ~ as I blog about this, the walls for the bathroom is already up
Children Room 2

The back portion of the Loft. The Loft will consist of a library and TV area