Seriously I believe I could have done better. In regards to time management that is! If only I hadn’t procrastinate so much in hanging the pictures and changing the drapes etc. But in terms of funding, oh well… tak dapat lah makcik sendiri nak menolong coz no money means no money, takkan nak rompak bank pulak! LOL

Anyway, for the sake of reminiscence, let’s see what kind of changes we have made to the house.  Initially, the house that we bought from a Bai family was extremely basic, dull and cold. But nevertheless I fell in love with it and seduced forced Azman to clean up all his savings for the down-payment. Hehe!

The positive side of buying a basic house is I get to do what ever I want with it without having to face too much hassle of  dismantling yucky built-in furniture, removing ugly tiles etc and rebuilding them all over again… Oh I cannot imagine if this house came with those Mak-Mak Datin kinda flowery plaster ceiling.. I think I won’t wait for the workers kot…. Confirm aku panjat sendiri dinding and robohkan semua. Tak kira masa tu aku pakai kain atau seluar! LOL

Below is the south east corner of our living room. Before and after.

Notice the differences? The single fluorescent light has been replaced by chandelier in my favourite rustic style. The simplest box-like plaster ceiling framed the upper side of the walls but in the pic above the lights in that plaster ceiling was turned off. Instead of building a TV console, I took the simpler approach by using wallpaper. While most people would cover an entire wall with the wallpaper, I carefully matched the width with the plaster ceiling box above it and turned it as a highlight to the TV. That’s why I chose  a black design. I wanted damask motive but my curtain (yang dah roboh 5 kali Miki buat tu) was already in damask so tukar amik design cam lain lah.By the way, I also raised the curtain a couple of feet higher than how the previous owner did it. Made the ceiling seems higher.

The best thing about this part of the house is the fact that I managed to hide all the cables connected to the TV. A couple of months ago I went to the Royal Chulan yang konon-konon royal ittew… sekali kat bawah TV dia… haaa..amik ko wayar berselirat! Eww tak taste! If you can’t hide the cables, then forget wall-mounting, just put it on the TV cabinet.

In the future I want to change the 5 year old coffee table to something more tasteful.Now it fits a kopitiam la kan? This room also desperately need some flowers or potted plant. Now it’s kinda dull…

Below is the dining room and part of the dry kitchen.

The improvements that I did here is of course the flooring. The earlier floor tiles was pink and I changed it into the Illuminati style because yeahhhh dude…. I am soooooo into the Illuminati…*cuts a black goat and drink its blood*

I also removed the 5 feet tiles on the walls (I freaking hate that!) and simply painted the walls in the colors that I love the most- red and pink. I installed plaster ceiling and air-con.  I forbid any kitchen hutch in the area and I bought a dining set for 8 from Lorenzo. The chairs are white, I love it! The pendant light was RM169! I lagiiiiii love it!! The dry kitchen cabinet was initially wooden color and I hate it. I wish I could tear it down and change to new cabinets but it would cost a bomb. So takde duit buat cara takde duit, I simply painted it white. I changed the old school sink into a black and white bowl basin that match my Illuminati floor and changed the cabinet door handles to those that match the white scheme. I remember we had to buy 42 handles and it was quite expensive for handles. Darn it!

In the future I will dress the red wall with retro design ornaments/ posters/ paintings… Maybe add some standing lights..

Below is the other part of the wet kitchen.

The after photo above was taken after the renovation was done but we were yet to move in. I changed the kitchen backsplash to yellow glass mosaic (it’s the cheapest from Home Depot). Changed the pink tiled counter surface to glossy black, removed the window to the wet kitchen, extend the cabinet below it and installed kitchen hob and hood.

Gambar ni so tak siap, behind the stove I installed a mirror (like how vain can I be?) but it is extremely not practical. I never give a damn anyway cause most of my cooking is done in the wet kitchen. My favourite part of this room is the mixer tap (also can hardly be seen in the pic) yang sangat cool and make me feel like Nigella Lawson. Hehehe..

I didn’t change the window panes because we ran out of money! Hehehe… Now this part look a lot better then this after I placed my appliances, drapes, potted plant, cutlery etc on the counter.Maybe later I will take a better picture of this room.

In the future I will change the window to something cooler hehe

Last but not least is driest part of the kitchen.

This AFTER photo is also an old one. Now I have placed my pinggan mangkuk on the shelves so it doesn’t look this bare anymore.  There are some flowers here too now and magazines at the breakfast nook. Notice I have hidden the pipe and make my glass bowl basin look almost like it’s just an ornament? I like that very much. I changed the microwave with a built-in oven and most importantly, no more reddish wooden color and fugly tiles.

In the future? Well, maybe I will re-design my entire kitchen so that I can have a kitchen island smacked in the middle.

That’s enough for now, I will write about the bathrooms later and you’ll the drastic changes definitely.

I believe the house is not warm because of the red wall or yellow tiles but the people in it.  I love my retro old house to bits and the two other guys that I am sharing it with… This is my heaven!

Have a nice day everyone…

I am not saying that once we have the stools, Miki will ever be allowed to put one little destructive finger on the table, ok? You guys have to understand! Everything Miki touches will turn into ashes! Or debris! Or a piece of useless junk although it just costs you RM50 5 minutes ago!

My son has special powers! He is a devoted Team UmiZoomi!

Anyway, I saw these extremely svelte and sexy smooth velvet stool from atHome but one costs about RM300. Too much for me at this moment. Any ideas on rustic stools? Pls share!

Have a nice day!

Ps-please don’t ask me to go to IKEA or Houz Depot. I have been there a thousand times I wanna vomit blood.

Anyway that night was the first night that our family sleep over in the house and thanks to Nize and Bauk we got company. We have always wanted to have people staying with us in the house on the first night and although our family couldn’t make it our best friends did! thanks!

Miki was super annoying throughout the time that we were moving, he wanted to help carrying the huge wardrobe, he wanted to ride in the lorry and the funniest was the part that he got super–duper broken hearted when the guys moved our TV!

Miki wailed in despair “Kenapa ambik TV Miki……………………………!”

And later at the new house when Azman and Bauk carried the big screen badass up the stairs to the family room once again he bawled and slobbered hingus sampai basah baju mak dia… cis! “Jangan amikkk TV Miki punyaaaa…!!!”

Ok fine! Ko sayang sangat TV tu ye? Kalau sayang kenapa ko conteng dengan crayon haa??

The truth is he was extra excited having Nize and Bauk at home with us. But I have to apologize to Bauk atas perangai anakku yang kurang sopan ittew owwhhhh! Apparently once (or more times) when Bauk was laying down watching the World Cup, Miki jumped onto his tilam Vono tummy, gomoi him like a teddy bear, pinch his cheeks many-many times with his nails yang berbisa itu and sang “PIPI TEMBAM! PIPI TEMBAM! PIPI TEMBAM!”

Sorry Bauk! Next time, if u ever feel like smacking Miki please smack Nize instead ok? *muka bersalah*

Bauk and Azman (can’t be seen in photo) carrying my display cabinet upstairs while Nize pose ala-ala mandur…

The work of carrying stuff upstairs is a bit tricky because I have this  super long lampu bulat-bulat as the lights for my staircase so everyone had taken extra care not to bang the furniture in the glass ball and make Madam Diyana unhappy. You don’t like her she she is unhappy.

But all are lucky, praise God the moving process went well without any problem (except in handling Miki) and Madam was very happy! Yay!!

The house currently is still a huge mess. Clothes still piling in plastic bags waiting to be sorted into wardrobes and other stuff still in boxes. Floor still dusty despite being washed many times, and time is what we need to polish them. As for stuff, I need to go couch shopping, carpet shopping, more curtain shopping etc etc… The TV is still doing its thang on the cabinet, we are yet to mount it on the wall. The wallpaper (for feature walls) still not installed, dunno when I am gonna call the suppliers… yeah.. still a hundred more things to do… not including clearing the remaining stuff that we have in the old house. Sighhh…

But in the mean time, here are a couple of pics as requested my my friends…

That’s the reflection of me in the glossy black fan that we have in the kitchen. I love this fan. It is really cute! Seperti orang dalam kipas ittew kan???? (macam orang lidi jekk erk!) Yes my walls are colorful because I am a fan of perayaan cahaya remember? ayoyoooo…

Above photo is my dining room, viewed from living room. My friend Azliza said it’s nice just like a scene in the Movie Alice in Wonderland. AKU TAHU KO NAK KATA AKU KEPALA DONGGA MACAM THE RED QUEEN AZLIZA!!! AKU TAHU! AKU TAHU!!! AWAS KO AZLIZA!!!! AKU SENTAPZ!!

That’s all the pics that I can share… hehehe…  Anyway just like any other home owner I am loving our new home, praise God the Almighty syukur Alhamdulillah that He gave a home, a shelter, a sanctuary for our family. Alhamdulillah…

Cakap French nampak? Buekkkk… vomit blood!

Although the house is already clean but my floors are still dull despite being mopped several times. I believe all my broken marble needs is a special kind of polishing mop. Right?

It is okay, fret not! Miki can do it for Mummy. WITH HIS HAIR! hahaha!

Haha! Just kidding! Miki was goofing around in the empty rooms, he ran about, hop about, guling-guling, golek-golek, tonggeng-tonggeng all over the place.

Miki o Miki, our tiny little boy, our huge gigantic source of joy and laughter… Mummy loves you Miki! 

We bought new hood, hod and oven last month from Houz Depot. They were having a great sale then and my purchase was berbaloi-baloi! Last week the hood and hob has been installed into place but the oven remained in the box. Yesterday I asked the contractor why is this compartment for the oven still empty and the answer was

“Kenapa mau letak washing machine di sini? Ini bukan washing machine kah? Saya ingat ini washing machine…”

*pengsan*

After I gained conciouseness, I proceed to gelak guling-guling on my beloved checkered flooring while they put the oven into place. Kontractor tu mesti rasa nak tampar je muka aku patblas kali sebab gelak cam nak mamps tapi sapa suruh dia kelakar baca O.V.E.N sebagai Washing Machine? weheheheheee

“Begini cara-cara memasukkan washing machine ke kitchen cabinet ye adik-adik!”

Ini pulak model iklan oven/mesin basuh sedang bergaya ala-ala Yusri KRY berselipar jepun.

Although there still a lot of things need to be taken care of, I am still very euphoric looking at the outcome of the renovations. Yeay! Happy Happy! I seriously cannot wait to start staying in this house despite having to go an extra mile in disciplining Miki. I can just imagine screaming all day and night…

MIKI, DON’T DRAW ON THE WALL! MIKI, WHERE ARE YOU….GET OUT OF THE CABINET! MIKI, DON’T WIPE YOUR HANDS ON MY CURTAINS! MIKI, GET OUT OF THE TUB, YOU CANNOT BATHE 5 TIMES A DAY! MIKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII………….

However, I am still very–very happy! I will cook more in my new kitchen, I promise! It’s gonna be great!

Aku dah terbayang-bayang nak masak sambil pose-pose Lady Gaga!

The renovation works at my house is not showing many signs of completion. Azman and I am stressed out but neither do I want to put the workers in pressure for it will also effect quality of work. See that guy on my roof? Itu bukan orang minyak ye? He is inspecting the roof tiles and trying to find any damage. Kang aku marah2 dia suruh cepat kang, terus dia terjun tiruk dari atas tu.. tak ke naya?

We sealed off 3 windows from this house and the works was done in April. I figured I wouldn’t need too many windows and it could save me some fundings on drapes and curtains. One window is at downstairs living room, another at family hall upstairs and the last is a very small one at master bedroom.

Here is two guys sealing the insignificant window from the garden with concrete.

Below photo is taken on 15 May. The worker is installing my glossy 2×2 black tiles as finishing for my counter top. His work is very neat.

On the same day this guys is working on the floor of the dining room. Looked kinda weird when he starts from the middle but he followed the floor plan that Azman drew and it turned out great. The design that I want had made it more tedious that regular work of lining up tiles on the floor because yeahhh that’s how I want it…

Painting job started a few days later. Here is another worker coloring my living room.

As we are also painting our roof, they need to clean up the roof tiles from fungus and dirt. He is using that high pressure water spray thingy. Azman took this picture from below our mango tree from the side of the house. This tree has never borne any fruit for ten years.

I like the above picture because it shows three men working in three different rooms at the same time. From right, one is painting walls of the stairway. In the middle another man working on the tiles of the bathroom and last, the skinny electrician is installing my black crystal pendant lights.  This is my master bedroom. I want to get a very dark atmosphere for this room. Still thinking of the color of the walls. Sigh…

I am very busy at the moment. But very excited as well. Happy Monday everyone!

Our contractor Yanto is also a bit on the blurry side but that’s just because he is kinda afraid of me. Not that I am fierce, well I may be a little like Sasha Fierce (buekk vomit blood), it is the things that I want for the house that is kinda eccentric and Yanto cannot and dare not proceed with the simplest work without getting my approval.

Everyday we would go to check out the works at the house and I would take the photos, so I guess why not paste them here. It would be nice to read about this again next time when Miki has torn down the house using his toy backhoe we were old and grey (touch wood). See part 1 here.

19 April 2010

We came to the house to find debris ankle high in the dining room. All the dreary white tiles with blue reddish flowers has been removed from the wall. Same went for a few parts of dry kitchen – all tiles down on the floor. As for my wet kitchen, I am not gonna do anything to it because it will only serve as wet kitchen and laundry room only.

Here is Miki standing on the horribly dusty debris.

Here is Azman posing-posing poyo. Takkan la nak clearkan batu-batu pakai penyapu nilon. Agak-agaklaa poser pun.. heheh..

20 April 2010

The next day we found the huge trash trunk whatchamacallit at the porch with all the tiles and concretes in it.

Inside there were some construction tools that Miki loved so much to play with. Must be giving him a Handy Manny feeling I guess.

We went to the dining room and all the debris have poof! Gone! See the room so neat and DEAD!! They have removed the wall and flooring tiles from my dining room like TOTALLY! Cool! But the dust in this house was also killing us like TOTALLY! I cannot imagine living IN a house that is going through renovations. Must be like living in a nightmare.

Backsplash tiles still intact. We’ll see what’s in store the next day.

21 April 2010

On 21st, more construction stuff have been taken to the house.

Below is plaster plates for my plaster ceiling I believe.

The guess bathroom is in the process of tearing down. Yucks! Geli giler tengok gambar ni!!

Apart from the bathroom, they have also finished all the removal of tiles in the kitchen floor and kitchen walls. In my dry kitchen we have two parts of cabinets, one is fully made of wood on the west wall and another on the south has a concrete base cabinets. The workers had also finished removing all the tiles from this concrete counter top.

Yay! So there goes some progressive works that have been done. This is our old age, old fashion humble house. Gonna be our home sweet home nevertheless…

But the problem is, the baby you are naming is yours and not theirs. It is you who are going to poop in that bathroom, burn some toast in that kitchen and not them.

Therefore peeps, the key to happiness in house renovation is to bloody ignore everyone else and follow your heart! Weee~~

Bathroom tiles for downstairs/guest bathroom

I guess my guest bathroom is not for the faint-hearted.  Any of my friends who has history of angin ahmar tidak digalakkan tumpang berak kat umah aku. Nanti masuk toilet tergezut terus stroke sebelah badan. Jadi  kenapakah namanya Guest Bathroom? Kerana bagi yang diarrhea mmg ok, sebab lepas terkejut terus sembelit sampai bulan lapan.

The contractor promised to complete our house renovation works within 2 weeks. In condition that I have to slap my own face 5 times and MAKE UP MY MIND ALREADY!! My blood pressure must have sky rocketed while I was brainstorming  on my bathrooms design and now I am not only getting my b.p up high; I am also getting Azman mengucap dua kalimah syahadah tengok aku duk pilih warna cat pulak.

Making choices that involve a lot of money can be so confusing. And yet so exciting! I cannot wait! 2 weeks more…