of Kitchen (Reno)

Bored yet? Hi hi.. If you are, please go play somewhere else eh.

The reno is going on well. The backyard is walled up, leaving 2 slots for window and one for backdoor. Last week Tebby called up on roof color. Already? It excites me with this reno thingy going on but being excited and to actually take action deciding are two different thing meh. Another example. Kitchen. We are to decide the length of table run, which to date we haven't since we still don't have the idea as to where to place the fridge, the oven (yes, finally!) and whatnots. More like I still don't because Tebby leaves that to me. Poor me. It is foreseen that he will spend more time in the kitchen, better let him design eh? But wardobe - n'est touche pas, sil vous plait. Almari baju, leave that to me. Since it is foreseen I'll spend more time than he would in that later on he he.

credit to www.digaruk.com

*Cinta* Classic yet no frills. White, so 'suci' looking kitchen. Simple straight lines. But imagine the amount of kunyit, rempah, kicap that my kids adore......... maybe not. And all the tumis menumis......

credit to senihias.com

Or this. Black. I am on two extremes, yes I know it. Also *cinta* this one. Simple. The only thing ai tak setuju is kaler sinki tu. Er.. yellow? But then again, this is someone else's house :D Ai kenot setuju or tak setuju hihi.

This is, or rather was my backyard. Wet area. My 8yo 13kg washing machine which I cinta so much. And a sink. Sink will go. Washing machine will be placed somewhere else as this our kitchen area will be extended including here.

Progress 8 days later. Allready half walled-up. Earlier they dug 3 deep holes along the edge where my pagar used to be.

Where I used to dry my laundry. We installed an awning along this area for that purpose when we first moved in way back in June 2003 (yep, I am sentimental like that).

Progress 8 days later. Huge I tell you.. my window. 6 feet wide. That slot is going to be a bay-window.. been drooling for that for years! Bolehlah ai letak pokok bunga kat bay tu nanti and if I'm lucky they will last for few months hihi..

I don't know what the term is. Some kind of aluminium-ly looking sheet on the roof frame. A layer before installing the actually clay roofing. We picked dark brown.Tengok hujung sheet tu yang terlipat sikit tu? It irritates me just by looking at that, feels like climbing up and smoothen it ha ha.

From 8th September to date, dah banyak progression. The whole dapur dah walled up and floor cemented. Roof installed. I had meant to photograph bit-by-bit on the renovation but let's just say up to now, I have failed. Sampai rumah balik keje pun dah gelap :P

Ya Allah, permudahkanlah urusan kami.

of One Week Renovation

Until our renovation process is over, I am gonna bore you with it :D.

This, by any means is not written (and shall not be written) as showing off. Merely documenting for our keepsakes. If anyone asked (which I already received aplenty of them) if it's gonna be 'hebat', my answer would be, a house is just wall, roofs and beams. It is us who live in it that makes it hebat of not.

2nd September 2012 (Sunday), a day after we moved out. One day before surrendering our house key to contractor. Photo taken from sliding door, at left side, overlooking at what once I can call our garden. Pokok kemboja tu initially was just my height. Now, dah sampai ke tingkat atas tingginya. That, will have to go.And the wood deck and pergola. They will have to go too (sobs). I remember 5 years back masa we all buat garden tu. I was in 1st trimester with Adam. Tengah morning sickness yang teruk. Kids used to have tea kat deck tu.

Photo taken from right side, overlooking our gate, which once I scratched my car against. Current driveway can accomodate two cars front and back. After this, side by side. The building will be extended sampai ke rendered cement tu.This very porch also seen piece of ceiling jatuh hempap kereta kecil ku.. leaving a minor dent on the bumper.

My jiran is still undergoing renovation process. As seen, dia dah ada buat pagar so we'll just tiru his pagar on the other side. The goes my wooden fence but that saves almost 1/2 of cost for pagar.

Nampak tu siling yang berlubang? Dekat lampu tu? Itulah yang jatuh. Luckily it was my car. If it's Tebby's, dunno la. You know, men and their car.. they're romantically involved.

Main door currently kat tengah, we shall have it at the side later. And that pintu, as if tau-tau aje,.. dah rosak. Tak boleh bukak katup. For about 2 months we used the sliding door to get in and out.

The front, photo taken last Saturday, around a week after work commenced. Nothing much eh? Majority is taking place at backyard actually. We already have tiang, beams and even dinding dapur at the back. (and yet I am updating rumah belah depan ha ha) And atap too, already pasang. Eventually we opted for dark brown clay roof. That shall match our open-carcass porch later InsyaAllah.

The mess kat our porch now. They've dug 2 holes right and left for new tiang. Exactly why we moved out of the house. I can't imagine my jiran staying in with all these happening in their porch area.... tabah betul they ols. Seriously, I can't imagine myself nak sapu habuk, mop lantai.. everyday!

See that boy marching in? On right side? Tak dapat main pasir pantai, pasir rumah pun jadikkkk!! Sampai kena sound dengan Pakcik baju oren tu baru dia stop. Pakcik tu is like Site Manager la. He's over 70 already actually. Before 8.00am dah sampai buat kerja.

We pray to Allah that it's going to be as planned without major hiccup and InsyaAllah by new year 2013 we'll move in back. This is something we've been wanting to do for years, and now, having sorted things out financially and logistically, work has commenced 3rd September 2012.

of Relocating

We have fully moved to house next door last Saturday. The house is identical to ours. Placement of rooms, bathrooms and whatnots are the same. Except they have larger kitchen. We basically just 'cut' and 'paste' our things into the house. First morning in the rented house - I woke up disorientated not knowing where I was and wondering big time where my wardrobe was!

Sounds easy peasy huh? 

Well, not quite.
Actually it was not!! 

It was a back-breaking, muscle straining, head aching experience. And no 11.5ft wardrobe like I used to have (used to have because today they tore it down.. sobs) No water-heater (brrrrr!!!). And the hobs are faulty too. But anyway, the fact that it's just house next door, alhamdulillah. We have actually relocated our kitchen-things on Friday but did our cooking in our house.

Minyak mana?
Oh.. dah pindah rumah sebelah.
*ambik minyak masak*
Teh mana?
Oh, kat rak.
Rak rumah sebelah.
*ambik teh*

:P

Astro guy came on Friday for relocation. Called them up via 1-300-82-3838 on Tuesday. Wednesday no one called me up to fix an appointment. By Thursday noon I was fed-up enough that I have them a return call. Only to be given a contact number for me to call to fix an appointment. Not the kind of service I expect from Astro. I gave them a bit of lecture and told them there was no way for me to call up their technician. And by 5.00pm I got my appointment date and time. Call center blamed technician. Technician blamed Call Center. Yada yada yada. Actually what happened in between was not my problem. Well, it was in a way. But to pass your customer around is not something you should do, Astro.

Astro guy, Lip is doing his thing on our roof. Relocated to roof next door. Lucky thing wiring already got so just connect to the dish. Relocation FOC - for beyond. Anywhere in Malaysia tapi let them do 100%. Jangan usik decorder, wire, and dish tu.

Oh ya, Lip came an hour late :P

of Sorting Out (toys)

Toys!

We're moving out this coming weekends. Renting house next door for the next 3 or 4 months while our house undergoing major renovation. Not wanting to punggah unwanted things to house next door and later back into our (renovated - insyaAllah) house, spring cleaning it is then.

We do it bit by bit and last weekend, I decided it was a day for the boys' toys.

I never had this much toys when I was little! Thing is, their interest and choice of toys sync with ones of En Tebby so you know la what happen kan. Support yang mantap - morally and financially he he. When Kakak was young, her toy-phase was much shorter before she switched into books. By primary she was done with Barbie and whatnots. She still has spots for soft toys now but not as much as the boys with robots, superheroes et cetera. Iman still buys at 8yo, whatmore Adam whom is 4yo. Anddddd you should see the father's collection of comics.. er... better put - graphic novels. Boys, they never grow up.............

Adam was supervising the process. Making sure we keep what he wants to keep and we throw what he doesn't want. Although I must admit we secretly threw away some of the things he wanted to keep :D Why la want to simpan Doodle Pro that you can't anymore doodle on? Right? (I must find excuse to keep Kakak's baby-gym tho ha ha.. because nobody will want to lie down practicing motor skills anymore while salivating at the hung toys right?)

After throwing away, every each is sorted out according to categories - superheroes, matchbox cars, trucks, transformers, wild life, blocks, beads, play-dough thingy. Tiny miny things were put into zip-lock bags. Everything went in respective box. Puas hati.

Supervisor, with the toys. From 11 boxes to 9. Phew. 2 boxes less. Jadi lahhh kan. 8 boxes were moved to house next door the next day. Leaving just one, filled with their latest interest - Hero Factory.

Malam tu, Supervisor boy cried out loud wanting Optimus Prime (which is at house next door already). And I found a bag of toys hung kat sebelah dalam pintu bilik and some more hung at sebelah luar pintu tersebut. I felt like crying out loud as well ha ha! Haihhh!! Looks like we have 10 boxes now!

Snail-ing Progress..

Yes!! We are renovating. But we are not progressing as fast as we should be and as much as we want. Anyway, we already have 2 quotations in hand. One is RM30k cheaper than the other. Let's name this as Contractor A. Overall lump sum quotations. Should I be worried? But no ID (interior design) la. Contractor B, quotes RM30k more than Contractor A (ha ha.. apa punya statement belit nih?) Has ID works. Contractor B did my neighbour's house and I must say, awesome result! Kalau lalu depan tu mesti nak toleh tengok. Simple but well coordianted. Pendek kata - cantik! We haven't decided yet. Have to put other things into (financial) perspective. We will need cabinets for kitchen, racks for my walk-in closet (yess!), wardrobes for the kids room, kitchen appliances, sanitary-wares. Need to spend wisely. Kang rumah siap renovate, tengok dinding aje pasal dah takde kemampuan nak beli furniture and whatnots.

Anyway, I just got to know benda ni namanya ialah 'tong roro'. It is stated in Contractor B's quotation that I have to google up images sebab pelik nau bunyinya. Every renovating house kena ada benda ni. Ye lah, mana nak humban dinding, tiang, bingkai tingkap, pintu yang dah demolish tu kan. Silap gaya boleh perang dengan jiran.

Pegi kedai ni last month. Dekat Taman Dutamas. Near our house. Bawah khemah ni ada jual bath-tub and jacuzzi. Bilik air kami sempit, bubuh jacuzzi sebijik, dah kena gosok gigi kat luar hihi.

Love at first sight. Simple, clean cut. Saiz pun sesuai nak letak kat area meja makan. Ada gobok bawah tu. I foresee if we were to buy this, haruslah gobok tu jadi kediaman sang ultraman and transformers si Adam.

Gobok kaler lain pulak. A little bigger. Tak berkenan sangat with the color tho I like shape sinki tu.

Ni harga sinki gobok hitam. RM580. Harga sinki gobok putih pulak RM950. Eloklah kalau tak kenan, jimat RM370 :D

We'll redo totally one bathroom. Still ding-dong nak simpan sinki sama toilet bowl sedia ada or beli baru. Tapi tiles gerenti la kena tukar kan sbb dah alih bathroom. Bilik air bawah will be re-tiled because we'll hack down a wall untuk alih pintu. 2nd bathroom, kalu bajet ada baru boleh mekap2 sikit.

Barisan taps dengan harga yang menggegar jiwa. Abeh tu kalau seketul dah beratus-ratus.. nak beli pulak berketul-ketul. *pingsan*. Sila tengok kedai lain.

Cantik kan. Lebih kurang macam sinki kat rumah now. Kalau gitu, baik re-use aje sinki sedia ada kan?

This one ai cinta! 2 bowls. Tengah tu buleh letak sabun dengan span basuh pinggan. Takpun tempat toskan ikan lepas basuh :D :D

Kepala paip - bak kata kita nih. Boleh pilih nak curve ke or straight. Nak yang flexi neck ke atau yang 'stiff' neck. Suami ai suka yang boleh tarik-tarik tu.. ala yang macam kat dapo kedai makan selalu tu.

But the truth is, apa pun tak beli lagi tho it lapsed sebulan dari gambar ni diambik. Wish us luck!