The "After" Shots of Our Renovation

FIRST & FOREMOST, A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL VISITORS OF MY BLOG.


I have been planning to put up some pics of the completed works of our new home, but was just waiting for the CD to arrive. My contractor managed to take some decent shots of the home, so it would only do justice to use them, rather than post up those taken from my mobile phone.


I do hope you enjoy these pics, as we love our new nest.



Wet Kitchen

Let's start from here. I prefer light wooden colors compared to dark wood. I choose this color as it compliments the original door colors of our home. I also choose to use in-built aluminium handles rather than have external handles. I feel, this way, it looks neater. The upper cabinets are white in spray paint finishing. The kitchen top is tiled and the back of the hood & hob is covered with tempered glass for easier maintenance. I have 2 compartments for the gas cylinders, which takes up the corner space, so its not wasted. It comes with a soft-close system as well and we installed an under-sink water filter, so to keep the sink top neat.


Dry Kitchen
The dry kitchen was suppose to be my baking area. But having chosen a white solid surface finishing as my kitchen top color, it requires more care and maintenance than I originally thought of. So now, its more of our breakfast area. Thank god for the grey top we choose for the external table top. It is the main area which is used a lot, and even if it scratches, its not noticeable. The 2 white shelves was bought from Ikea. Seems like its quite a good idea to have it there. Else, the wall might look quite plan right? I also had soft-close hinges installed and the semi-white/green tempered glass as backing. And 2 white bar-stools *wink*.



Living Room

We didnt do much to our living room, except the TV cabinet, lights and the sofa. We did have an extra lazy chair (the one in dark maroon) which was suppose to go down to the family room, but since we had some space, we just let it be there. One thing for sure, lights do play and IMPORTANT part in any deco. Our choice for downlights was cool white. And we like it a lot. Combined with pendant ceiling light, it looks quite "glamourous" .. hehehe.

Dining Room
Again, not much done here, except we had a "blank" frame made on the wall and painted it a different color, for us to hang up a piece of art that we bought. This helped emphasize the art quite well. On the other wall, we wall-papered it, and for this, I definately choose the wrong design. It looks really good when you are near the wall, but from a far, it is not too attractive. Hmmm ... feel like changing this to a different design.

Bryan's Play Area

We decided to convert our indoor courtyard garden into a play area for him. We removed all 3 sides of sliding door and tiled up the floor. We also covered the roof with polycarbonate roofing which brings in loads of bright sunshine! It can also be used for his homework area after school. And this is where we placed our X'Mas tree too. And perhaps our upcoming CNY deco. On one part of the wall, we built checkered cabinets. These cabinets come with push-open doors, providing us storage space for his toys. At this moment, he still does not realise that they are cabinets ... hahaha.



Bryan's Room

There was totally no renovation to this room. I just placed his Ikea bed in, and pasted some wall decals and put up a really colorful curtain and bedsheet to cheer it up. That's it.




Other Areas
Very simple wardrobe designs and an extremely simple book case and altar table suits us best.





I am really over and done with renovations. Those days, I will go through every corner of all print advertisements and see what's on bargain. These days, the moment I see some warehouse sales being advertised, I quickly flip it over! Kinda sick of it ... hahaha.


Just like 5 years ago, would visit every single bridal shop & photo studio exhibitions, but once we got married, we walk 10 miles away from it. Wuakakakaka.


Hope you enjoyed this post. If you wish to see some "before" pics, click here.

All in a days work

Last Friday and Saturday was such a busy day. The renovation contractors were working at our place in full force. They had to get it ready that weekend as we will be moving in this week.

There was such a huge buzz around the house. Just a word of thanks for all their hard work, just to ensure we, clients, have a comfy home as per our requirements.

Really cool contemporary lights

If you do have a contemporary look for your home and are looking out for some really cool looking lightings, you should visit Tsen Gallery @ Kota Damansara. I got to know about them by chance.

After visiting Homedec after Homedec, I just didnt see anything that I liked at regular exhibitors like Alfo & GDO. Or they were a bit over my budget. And since it was best we have all the lightings in place while the electrical contractors were still working on our new home, I decided to give one more try to look for another lighting shop. Googled and ended up with Tsen.

I choose a round chandelier light for our living room. It was affordable but of course, they were made from China crystals lah. But I must say, quality and design wise, China is coming with a bang! For a moment, I thought they were from Egypt or even Europe! Im sorry I dont have a good pics of it cos I dont own a DSLR mah ... see.

Glad to have made a purchase. One down and a few other stuff more to buy and that's it.

Safety Gate for Bryan

We hoped over to Babyland @ SS2 to check out some safety gates. Lindam's was going at RM50 off, so it only cost RM149.90 for a basic unit instead of the usual RM199.90. We had to add on an extension to make it up to 110cm in width cos my staircase is pretty wide.

If I really want to be extra safe, I need 4 sets of these cos I have stairs that are going both upstairs and downstairs.

We have also decided to add clear polycarbonate sheets to my staircase railings, so that my "hero" wont have any opportunity to put his foot on those railings and try to be super or spideyman!

He is in the "jumping" phase now. Jump from bed to the floor, jump from one chair to another, jump from first staircase to the next and all the way down to the last staircase. Jump even when walking. Meaning he does not walk step by step. He jumps step by step. *pening*

Electrical items making its way!

Woooo! My contractor has finally asked me to stand by all the electrical items for them to install. Meaning, things are finally rocking! So, with a happy heart, I shall call my favourite electrical outlet and inform my favourite salesman that he can start preparing my favourite items that I reserved many moons ago, and to arrange for immediate delivery :-

Gosh! Cant wait for the time to come where I can call my sofa supplier, my dining table supplier .. woooh! But this can only be done in another 3 weeks I guess.

We met till late last night, to discuss on final details of the carpentry, electrical, lighting and painting works. What I worry most is the color of my walls. I am not sure what to choose! The color selected looks great in the color chart but in actual, I am afraid it may differ. Differ up to what extend also hard to say :-(

Today I shall expect my rubble wall to be fully installed. We decided to cover up my open indoor courtyard with polycarbonate roofing, so sunlight can still come in and brighten our home but no rain ... yeah! Then we selected some natural stones to dress up the wall. We will add some spot lights on it. Hope it looks cool!

My Laundry Sink

Decided to get a laundry sink for my washing area. This will make life easier. Dont need to squat down and scrub my undies! And if needed, can just soak whatever that needs to be soaked in the basin area. At the bottom are cabinets to store my detergent, clorox, etc.

Cool eh.

No eye see!

Hello guys! I'm back to the blogging business .. hehehe.

Oh, i feel so left out with the outside world now. Feel like so much has happened while I have been busy settling into a new routine professionally.

I have also been busy shopping for my new home. I have everything in mind and have placed some orders, so as soon as the nest is ready for moving in, the big items will come in first.

My lil prince has been busy shopping with us as well ... but I think he got sick of it!

So no more shopping for furniture, electrical items, etc. for the new few weeks. But we will have to concentrate more on smaller items, like mirrors, frames, etc.

Will blog more regularly from now on .. so lets keep each other posted!

See ya soon!

Interior of the House

Just to share with you some proper interior pics of the house. It has got a 15' high ceiling on the living room, thus making it look so spacious and airy!

Our dining room is also quite spacious but it is shaped in an exact square, so I am really considering a square square dining table. Not a round or a rectangular one. Some say it will go out of fashion easily ... so we'll see.

The wet kitchen is not that spacious lar but more than enough for me. The dry kitchen nearby is also spacious enough for all that I have in mind.

Below: Indoor courtyard, wet kitchen, living room, dry kitchen
Below : MBR, 2nd BR & kids room
Below : MBR's sunken bath area.
Below : Staircases leading to various floors.
I thoroughly enjoyed the time I sat on the dirty tiled floor of my living room after the inspection cos I was dead tired. While I was just staring blankly at the empty unit, I was absorbing all the energy that was flowing freely around the bare house into my mind, body and soul .. and that feeling was so peaceful, calm, soothing and nice. I enjoyed that moment.

Proposed Kitchen Design

Do you like this? I love it but white is definitely a no-no for me since I dont intend to have a live-in maid to help me with house chores. However, the clean lines and simplicity does appeal to me.

Any words of advise from any of you on kitchen cabinets before I work out my final design with my contractor? Appreciate it - thanks!

April is here ... finally.

I am glad to have the opportunity to do my first post for the month of April 2009.

Since last year, I have been waiting for this month to arrive. As you may already know, my new house is ready but I am just waiting for the handover. Although it is far from being due, I have high expectations from this developer, whom I know has got excellent reputation and track records for completing homes in very high quality and known for early handovers, hence my expectations for handover this month.

On one hand, it is so exciting to know that you can have your very own home soon. On the other, I know it will have to start with lots of headache and purse-ache before it turns into your dreamhome. For me, dreamhome need not be utmost expensive. As long as it is comfortable to you and the your family, that is a dream home to us.

Everyday, I would log on to the property forum to check on feedback from the other owners to see and discuss on how we can make this place a better and safer home for us. There has been a tremendous increase in crime especially home robbery, car theft and even kidnap cases. Although my new home is in a G&G environment, it will not be an excuse for us to be complacent and assume it is safe. After all, guards are human. CCTVs are made by human. And humans err.

HomeDec will be at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre again come 30 April. It will be my last time there to see if there are any good buys in a non-favourable economic condition ... but having been there for the past 2 HomeDec exhibition, I dont have high expectations. All I can say is do your homework well and you can be rewarded. Dont believe it when they say its a "special exhibition price" cos I know for sure, you can get it cheaper after the exhibition, at least for 70% of the items there. Otherwise, they are just getting rid of old models, if you dont mind.

Now, its time for me to sum up my budget before the ringgit actually starts flowing out.

Dining Table @ Haus

I think I found the dining table that fits my dining room. It was kinda like a love -hate relationship at first but after I saw this particular table, I just had some feeling for it. I kinda felt like it just fits in well.

Dining tables over here are usually round or rectangular. But recently the trend has been square tables. When I first spotted them around the furniture malls, my first impression was ... they looked like mahjong table! I didnt like the concept.

We visited Haus at both their outlets in Puchong and Damansara Mutiara. They now have a much larger showroom at Tropicana Mall.


As an alternative, we also spotted this rectangular table. This will be our 2nd choice.

Both the dining tables are made from MDF (medium density fibreboard) material and not chipboard of ABS material, so its quite sturdy and solid. Of course, if you compare it to solid wood (like teak) its nothing great.

From what I have observed, they would usually have a 40% discount during their sale time to clear existing stock and colors and once cleared, they would bring in new stock and some new colors but hey, how different can colors of dining tables be, right? So I really dont mind "old stock".

Do you believe in Feng Shui? All I know is the smoother the surface, the faster your "fortune" or "luck" will slip off! So most fengshui masters would actually recommend wood-based dining tables. And the dining table is one big element that matters in our life. Err .. me not fengshui believer or master .. just reading up for fun here & there *smile*.

Signature Kitchen's Showroom @ Ara Damansara

We are not totally sure if we can afford an interior design company to take care of all our renovation needs. Nevertheless, we did go around town to check out some kitchen cabinet companies just to see what is the latest trends and what kind of costings they are offering.










Signature Kitchen is pretty known for its kitchen cabinets and now, even wardrobe as well. They are also well known for its pretty expensive prices and not-so-good after-sales service. We have a friend who had a hard time calling them back to do some minor touch-up work.






But our intention is to check them out and see what they have to offer. No harm right?



I was kinda surprised to find a pretty comprehensive collection of kitchen ideas available there. Of course having $$$ makes all the difference and I enjoyed browing around their show kitchens.






They offered to do up a mock design for my kitchen (for free) and I gladly gave them my layout plan for my kitchen (which is always in my weekend bag cos only on Sats I have some time to scout around for stuff needed for the house).

A week later, the kitchen planner came out with a design for my proposed kitchen. When it comes to designers, its difficult to find a good balance of designing vs practicality. Designers want to showcase their talent in designing but not really taking into consideration whether it works in the real world.

First impression, of course looks really nice. But when you think deeper and look closely, there are many things which may not work for my needs. White? Looks good but not practical. Open concept? Hmm .. very modern but might not work for me either. Costs? First quote does not sound scary .. only about Rm20k for both wet & dry kitchen ... but beware .. lots of things not included in the quote!

Look's like I got a lot of thinking and searching to do these coming few weeks.

A glimpse of my new home

We purchased this property a year ago. Since then, there has been countless ideas of how we both wanna make this our dream home. We had all kinds of brilliant ideas ...but as usual, we try to stick to something that is workable in both our bank account vs practical use of things.

Progress wise, I think we should be able to receive our keys in Apr or so. To me, that is just round the corner!

Front view of the property (actual unit).


Many say that a practical budget for a home renovation is 30% of the purchase price, meaning if your home is Rm300,000, then a budget of Rm90,000 would suffice for your renovation plans. I surely do hope that this amount includes all furnitures and fitting as well cos 30% to me sound quite a big sum!

Having done a budget for our home, our renovation budget would be only 20% of our purchase price ... and bear in mind, the only thing we have currently that can be re-used in our new home is our wardrobe, dressing table and our bed ...hahaha! We have detailed it into a room-by-room budget (in excel sheet okay, dont play play) and I think we have to be very very careful in keeping to our budget as it is a pretty tight one.

Below is the view from the entrance of the unit looking into living area, courtyard garden area, dining area and staircases leading to upper & lower floors. (Pics taken 2 mths back).


View from the 1st floor looking down into our living hall & sliding door area. You can also see the porch area (which is not tiled yet).


Master bedroom's (below) flooring done.


















Our sunken bath area half done in the master bedroom. The sunken bath is large enough to be converted into a jacuzzi but we will skip that idea for now due to limited $$$. Moreover, dont have the luxury of time to soak in one :-(

What I really liked about this purchase is we were entitled to 3 units of air-conditioner, water heater, auto-gate system as well as the home alarm system. I do not know if those given complimentary would be suffice for our use but even if not, we only need to fork out a small sum to top them up for a better spec-ed system. So saved quite a bit there already.

We also saved up our credit-card points and after ALL THESE YEARS we plan to redeem quite a number of electrical items such as a food processor, a tower fan, and quite a few more .. can't remember, but I already circled them in the redemption book for hubby to submit soonest as they take a month or 2 for these items to be sent over. Moreover, not all items that we want might be in stock .. so let's see how this goes.

Certainly cant wait for the letter to arrive .. letter meaning asking us to go over to collect our keys lor .... so exciting. It's even more exciting than planning for my then wedding!

Best Deal for Fotile Hood & Hob

If you are looking for a Fotile hood & hob, I can tell you where to get the best price! There are the top distributors & wholesalers for Fotile in Malaysia! They supply a lot to smaller electrical shops, renovation contractors, housing developers, interior design companies, etc in Malaysia and therefore, they are able to get good prices from Fotile Malaysia. Try JF Electrical in Subang (near Devil's Crab).

It was by chance that I knew about them. Remember the Ariston oven that I got for a freaking cheap price during their Carnival Sale last month? Well, it is the same distributor. Just trying my luck, I asked the salesman if they carried other brands in their store and he told me yes, they have a variety of brands for ovens, hoods & hobs. I was delighted to know they also carried Rinnai, Pacific, Teka, etc in addition to Fotile.

I visited them on a Sat morning and was a wee bit disappointed when I located the outlet. They are just a tiny outlet with no customers inside. Only a few lorry transporters walking in & out carrying some items out of the shop. I walked in and met the lady boss who was kind enough to show me the range that she carried. I enjoyed her hospitality and frank comments as well as they attractive prices. After all the Q&A between us, I finally decided on these two models.

Hood = D5BH
Hob = FA6B (latest model)

I chose this particular hood because I like the tempered glass finishing that gives the hood a more modern look. Although this design has been around for quite some time, it fits my needs for my new home in terms of looks & usage. It has a suction power of 900m3/h which I think is more than enough for normal cooking at home. Moreover, the higher the suction power, the louder the noise is.

My initial preference for the hob was the 5-nozzle burner that gives a much higher and more even fire all round. But it is much expensive. For the model that I chose, it has a 4-nozzle burner, the fire was pretty hot very quickly. This because the fire level in this particular model has been raised and is very close to your pot or pans, thus warming it up much faster, resulting is shorter cooking time using up less gas.

Another feature I like about it is that the fire is "adjustable". Normally when gas is running low, the color of the fire is yellow. This adjustable feature allows you to utilise the little gas left in the tank as efficiently as possible and turning it into blue flames once again until you totally run out of gas in the tank.

When I visited Homedec 08, I also eyed a Fotile hood & hob combination there and that dealer refused to budge even a single dollar, telling me that the retail price was "specially" formulated for a "special" event like Homedec! Ya sure! Specially expensive! From then on Homedec is for me to do research and see the latest products and "test water" to see how far they can offer me discounts! I never never buy electrical items from exhibitions!

Ariston Carnival Sale

All along I have been eyeing an Electrolux built-in oven. So when I missed their year-end sale a couple of weeks back, I was pretty sad. Their new units at normal retail prices is beyond my budget, so I started shopping around for a Fagor or a Rinnai instead.

Electrolux ovens retail at about RM3,500 and above. Whereas for a Fagor or a Rinnai, you may be able to get a new unit at the range of Rm2,200. With some discounts and bargaining, it is pretty easy to get one at RM1,800 as well. Never did I try even going close to a Ariston.

I saw the notice for Ariston Carnival Sale in the local newspapers and decided not to go at first. But last Saturday, we happen to have an appointment with a kitchen cabinet designer at Kota Damansara and then it striked my mind that Ariston's head office is at the same area as well! I did not have any hope of purchasing anything there or even think there would be any units left of the built-in ovens but I was in for a pleasant surprise!

I managed to spot 2 units of display units being offered at 40% discount! Ariston normally retails at more than Rm4,000 each and with nearly half the price, even a display unit looks exciting to me! Just to try my luck, I started to bargain for a better price and guess what - I ended up with almost a 50% discount and for a BRAND NEW MODEL & BRAND NEW UNIT! Gosh! I was jumping up & down inside my heart but dare not show the salesman lah that I was behaving like a monkey hahahaha.













Multifunction 8 Chefs OvenFunctions :

• Fast Cooking,
• Gratin,
• Grill,
• Multilevel,
• Pastries,
• Pizza,
• Rising,
• TraditionalEnergy Class: A
• Net Capacity : 58 Litres
• No Of Glass Door: 3
• LayerCooking Programme: Electronic Start/End Of CookingControl
• Type: Knob Control,
• Lighting: Yes
• Cleaning: Catalytic Type,
• Colour : Stainless Steel
• Air Flow Cooling System

Ariston provides a tutorial class for buyers on how to use the complete function of the unit at the comfort of your own home. They also guarantee a 1-day express service for repairs. And if the unit cannot be repaired on site and needs to be taken back to the factory, a temporary unit will be provided for free. Do you think I made the right choice?

Fun Kiddy Beds

I have recently started my pre-renovation window shopping, getting geared towards my upcoming home renovation!

I am still at the sourcing, shortlisting and budgeting stage but nevertheless, never too early to window shop to see whats trendy & new in the market right?



I spotted this very cool toddler bed and suggested to hubby to get one of these for my lil monster. This would be one of those "nice to have" things but thinking twice, I think it would not be suitable for him after all, cos my lil fella rolls all over the bed, does 360 degree turns several times a night, so before you know it, he might fall & land on the floor! Better be save than sorry yeah ...

Window Shopping - Refrigerator

Its year-end time and the Mega Sale has begun. So its time for me to decide on which particular model I wish to purchase and start hunting down the best price.

As this is my first time buying ANY household items, I, of course, did some research. And oh boy, the choices out there a mind-boggling! Top mount or bottom mount freezers, side-by-side freezers, french door refrigerators, single door ones --- haiz ... so confusing!

Many have recommended me Panasonic, Toshiba. Mitsubishi and Sharp. But I like Hitachi - its wide and the space inside is BIG! Nothing fancy but just a simple BIG fridge .. hehehe.

And electricity is darn expensive these days, so I am also looking for an energy-saving model. So need to look out for their "Energy Star"ratings.

More tips on energy-saving from FOMCA:

• Refrigerator coils must be vacuumed at least twice a year to keep the compressor running efficiently.
• 30% of cooled air will escape every time the refrigerator door is opened. The same rule goes for oven.
• Do not overload the refrigerator or freezer, cold air needs to circulate freely to keep food at the proper temperature.
• Place the refrigerator right so that it can automatically swing and shut the door. This will prevent wastage of energy if the door is left open.
• Refrigerator door seal must be checked. Place a One Ringgit bill and close the door. If you can pull the bill, you need to replace the gasket.

... i like the one Ringgit tip *smile* ... go back and try tonight on my existing fridge. Can you pull yours?

HomeDec 08 - Results

Visited HomeDec 08 last Saturday and then headed for mom's place to make some konnyaku jelly. Yeah, did not cry .. hahaha... tell you why.

My main "target" was to get some good deals for my hoob, hob & oven combi for my new home. But before even going to this exhibition, I made several visits to some stores to find out more about the current prices and their latest store promotions. So at least, when I am at the exhibition, I know if they are indeed offering a real good deal.

And guess what! From the so-called "special exhibition prices" offered, I realised that I can easily get better deals on an ordinary day from a few of the electrical outlets in town. So hey! Who are you kidding with all your "special exhibition prices" huh???? I was indeed glad that I did some "homework" instead of rushing blindly to this exhibition.

What we did purchase on that day was a water filteration system. We bought the Kinetico system that has an auto back-wash (that means we dont have to do anything, it automatically does the back-wash when the system detects clogging). Moreover, this is a US made product and comes with a 10 year warranty! We only had to place a 30% deposit and only upon installation, we pay up the balance. So, one down, many more decisions to make *headache*.

Our other objective was to get some interior designer contacts. Wow .. these so called designers do make good money! Hardly one or two is willing to give a free advise for broad interior design consultancy. The rest straight way wanted to charge RM1,000 fee or even more! Sigh. So what we did was, we gave them a copy of our home's layout plan (which I prepared several sets in advance .. hehehe) and asked them if they are willing to provide free initial consultancy on interior design as we are not willing to fork out RM1,000 for something we have totally no idea! So if they can come up with something which we feel is the "look & feel" of what we like, then we will proceed further. Smart eh ... well, times are bad, so have to make sure we dont spend wastefully .. and times are bad, sure they need to attract customers too ... best of both worlds!

So hopefully, a week or two after the exhibition, those designers will have some time to work on my floor layout plan and call us in for a free preview!

HomeDec 08

After my bitter lesson last weekend, I shall now try my luck at the upcoming HomeDec 08. This is an exhibition that features more than 200 exhibitors, showing off their goods and services related to home improvement, home renovation, interior design, etc.

I visited the same exhibition in May earlier this year but of course, it was way too early for me to place a deposit for anything. Moreover, I did not know what I wanted or needed. So I merely window shopped and took a stroll around to see what was on offer and who are the exhibitors.

For this year-end exhibition, I think I know what to expect from it. I will concentrate more on looking out for a hood, hob & oven combination, as well as scout for some lighting & furniture contacts. I will never be able to get the same price as the warehouse sale I visited, but hopefully, its still a good deal.

HomeDec 08 will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 13-16 November 2008. Exhibition hours are 10am - 8pm.

Electrolux Warehouse Sale

I just dont have the mood to blog about this warehouse sale *sob*sob*. Cos all the built-in ovens were sold waaaaaaaay before I arrived!!!! Urrg!!!!

It was a one day sale on 8 Nov at their office in Shah Alam (on the right just after Batu 3 toll) from 9am-5pm. I never thought that soooo many people would jump for the built-in ovens so I reached there around 2pm only (after going about some usual Sat morning errands).

When I reached there, I ignored all their cheap juicers, vacuum cleaners & the rest and concentrated on locating the ovens! Ovens! But I could not sight a single one! Then I asked a lady (wearing the Electrolux t/shirt) .. excuse me .. do you have any built-in ovens on sale? And she replied ... aiyoh, built-in ovens ah ... you must come very early about 8am .. although we start at 9am .. cos they are our best selling items .. so everybody will come and grab it !

My heart instantaneously shrank and I could feel the pain physically. Yes. Its true. It was indeed painful. I felt soooo sad. Almost devastating. My face was long & heavy. It was even more painful when I saw the last unit getting packed for delivery and the price was ... only RM1,500. I could not believe my eyes.

I just put down my head and walked out to the lift lobby. I really had no further mood to look out for other bargains any more. Hubby was busy checking out the rest of the stuff .. and he did not realise that his wife was almost at the verge of tearing ...yes .. i cried when I reached the car. It was THAT painful.