Reno Diary - Carpentry

Carpentry works usually take up the bulk of renovation costs, as they consist of cabinets and measured by per foot run. So, the more carpentry you have, the more you have to pay. We had a hard time choosing for materials due to the theme, but still, glad that everything worked out :) thanks for the wonderful inputs by the designers - and I had a dabble in conceptualizing and designing all the items, so pretty proud of my  handiwork :)

Installation of cupboards

Measurements are provided to the carpenters beforehand, so they could start work first. They transported the finished products (part by part) to the house to assemble.

 

We had 2 teams of carpenters working on our house. They were pretty efficient and took only 1 day to assemble all the pieces together. We left after awhile, for them to continue their work.

 

We came back at night to check out the progress. 

Shoes cabinet! One of my fave part of the house, for it immediately reflects the theme :)

   

Kitchen cabinets. Holes were cut for placing kitchen hob and sink.

 

Small island that was constructed. 

 

The bomb shelter that is cleverly concealed behind the door. 

TV console & WIW (uncompleted)   

Fixture of solid surface & kitchen accessories

Kitchen & bathroom accessories arrived on the same day.

 

Kitchen sink & hob being fixed before they installed solid surface. We chose a solid surface that's light in colour, to match the kitchen tiles.

Leecher filling in his details for the warranty for our hob & hood. The small island sure came in useful!

Cornices on cabinets

We added cornices on top of the cabinets, to keep to our theme :) They really made a difference to the whole look! 

Completed Look

 The doors are ready to be installed onto the cupboards & we selected different knobs for different cabinets.

  Once the carpentry is completed, the whole renovation journey is almost 80% completed :) And start packing the bags for moving over!

Mani & Pedi

Blogging from my hotel room @ JW Marriott KL. They seemed to have revamped the place from my last stay, but what is disappointing is there's no free WIFI connection & you still have to pay for internet connection. Guess I won't be staying at this hotel in the near future, unless they improvise on their facilities. A quick post before I hit the bed ~ It has been a long time since I did my nails. So when a wedding invitation came along, I reckoned that this was the perfect chance of pampering the nails :)

All set for a fresh coat of colours.

The essentials for pedi! They did a great job in removing dead skin cells and my feet felt baby smooth after that.

Chosen glittery purple this time round, to match the purple toga dress that I've chosen to wear for the wedding.

Quick, dry dry dry!

This macho angmoh walked in for a mani&pedi session! How cool is that? I have to admit that I did steal a few glances at him, lol!

All set and ready to go! Love the bling :)

Off to meet up with Leecher, who happened to be out with his friends, to have dinner together. Proudly showed him my nails and ...... he groaned! For that would meant a week of not-doing-laundry, lol :)

Reno Diary - Wetworks & Painting

This month has been extremely busy! My to-do list is filling up fast and needed to get the new website sorted out soon before the next launch. Packing my bags for a short trip to KL with the boss, but boss will be coming back earlier than me :( why why why? Changed the banner of the blog over the weekend, heehee! Anyway, before I jet off, here's a continuation of Reno Diary - this time round, focusing on wet works - where tiles will be laid and shower kerb to be constructed.

Sand in the house

 The sight that greeted us when we opened the door.

Tiles are from Hafary - one of the leading tile suppliers in Singapore. We went to Hafary's shop on our own, selected the tiles and requested for the sample piece. Then, we passed the sample piece to our designers and asked them to negotiate for a better price :)

I was reminded of my childhood days, where we used to build sandcastles with our shoves, spades and pails. It's a pity that nowadays we seldom see playgrounds with sand pits anymore :( Think the last remaining few can be found in Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh. 

The workers have also touched up on the areas that were hacked away. Leecher was pleased at their efficiency and Papa-in-Law helping us to monitor their progress on days when we were not around. 

  Progress after 1 week

 

For new home owners (esp BTO projects), you can only overlay on the existing kitchen/bathroom tiles. For flats that are over X years (can't rem the exact figure, but it should be 5 years and above), you can choose to hack the existing tiles and replace it with new ones. So, to save costs (every single step in home renovation needs money!), we decided to stick to the tiles that was provided by HDB. Tiles have to be purchased from HDB if bases for kitchen cabinets, washing machine and fridge are constructed.  

Base for washing machine in the service yard. 

Shower kerb raised for shower screen, in the master bedroom. I kinda like the grey colour scheme, as it was easier to maintain. You can't really tell if its dirty or not :p

Splash of Colours :)

Our designers gave us up to a selection of 5 colours to be used for the whole house. As I already know what type of colour combination is ideal for the house, we bargained for better paint quality in exchange for less colours used :) Colours will determine the mood for the house, so all along, I was pretty much in favour for pastel colours.

  

Blue chosen for the living room, which represents peace and tranquility :) 

 

 Purple for all 3 bedrooms :) I'm so glad Leecher let me paint our bedroom purple for he was worried it would be weird for him to stay in a purple room, heehee! The shade turned out pretty well.

Living room pastel blue against bedroom pastel purple :)

PicPrints - Leecher

A snapshot of Leecher :)

PicPrints - Celebrations

A toast, in my fave Riseling, with a bottle of H2O for the sister who had a hangover :)

CNY with Sis & Bro

Touched down on Saturday from the trip and it was close to 2am before I hit the comfy bed and finally switched on the TV, after 4 days of non-TV in BKK. Sunday was such a nice day to sleep in, for it was raining for almost the whole day. I had to literally drag myself out of bed and put the laundry into the washer, unpacked my bags and get down to work. Before (even more) stuff starts to pile up, here's another backdated entry :)

CNY with the brothers & sisters gang! A trip into JB to the korean restaurant that they went while we were in Bali for pre-honeymoon. They whatsapp us the pictures and I was drooling! Filled with envy at the spread that they had!

 Jang Won BBQ Korean restaurant located in JB is located along the coastline of the ex-customs. You can choose to have alfresco dining or indoors.

 The drink that got all the girls hooked! 

 

Close to 17 side dishes, all refillable. I love the pancakes the most, followed by pumpkin.

 

    

 I think we ordered Set C or Set D, which comes with supply of pork, chicken, beef and lamb. They will have a helper onsite to help you with the BBQ, cut it for you when its done. Thumbs up for service!

 Seafood pancake as side dish. We were famished when we arrived for being stuck in the jam for close to 2 hours.

  

Ended the meal with maggi mee, tofu and sausage :) yum yum yum! 

   

 

 

Happy faces after a satisfying meal! 

Jang Won Restaurant

K1-211 2nd Floor, Block C,
Komplexs Perniagaan Stuland Laut,
80300 Johor Bahru, JOhor
Tel 07-226 6820