WE HAVE MOVED!! OFFICIALLY ON THE 25th Aug 2012 !! Woohooo!!
But renovation is still not completed. :)
Outstanding items:
1. kitchen cabinets
2. disastrous wardrobe
3. mirrors in bathroom and bedrooms
4. painting the gate, touch up silicons and floor tiles grouts
5. leaking garden tap & faulty sink trap
It's not a lot, but we're still not done yet.. :)
So here. 27th Aug 2012 to 2nd Sept 2012. Week 19.
Monday, first day going to work from dream house.. :) :) Reluctant to leave although house is in a mess with boxes, bags and suitcases everywhere. After work, we came back and just moved some boxes around to have more space. We only sleep at 1am.
Tuesday, after prayer service, while Joshua was working in living room, testing out on the air con because our master bedroom's has leaking problem, I was clearing out the boxes.. segregating the things we have. I put in books into our bookcase. Syiok. :D And Joshua will take small breaks in between putting his transformers to display as well. :) We slept again at 1am, I guess it's the new place, I don't mind staying up late at all! Haha.
Wednesday, this is what I woke up to. Because the temp curtain at bedside was not wide enough so I just put the new one from Ikea to cover all up to have complete privacy.
If you look properly, you will notice a gap of about 2 inchs between the 2 blinds at this big window. I still haven't found materials suitable to cover this gap up. I wish I had a collection of remnants..
Such an eye sore. Sigh. Please keep us in prayers that we will gain victory on this WAR-drobe.
The metal thing laying untidy on the floor was an old clothes rack. I set up to hang some clothes, it broke overnight.. I'm not good at assembling things. :( Maybe I didn't tighten it enough...
Moon room. Calling it moonroom because it's painted with Moonlight Sonata paint. This is where most of our clothes are, until we have our wardrobe... grrrr..
Joshua's work table is here temporary too, all waiting for wardrobe... because removal & installation will be dusty again so we minimise furnitures in master room first.
One small part of our dirty laundry. Waiting to buy washing machine. :)
At night, Joshua and I have big cleaning plans. Clean up kitchen. And create our dining area. :) He dislike this below picture because it proves that he need to start doing exercise... to reduce the middle area, haha. :P
I spent a lot of time filling up the grout lines... until my finger hurts.
I only target the upper landing because the quality was the worse.
We leave it to dry overnight.
Thursday night after work, I just use a dish washing scrub to smoothen the grout lines, sweep, vaccum and mop the floor. I touched up more areas that I missed out. After dinner, I repeated the same, scub, sweep, vaccum and mop. Then put the dining table in the middle. :) The table from the 1950s Ayer Tawar, Perak.
And the dining chairs. :) The 2 rotan chairs were old dining chairs from Muar. We had it since I was a small kid. The red chairs were from Muar office. According to my mum, they were used in our Tangkak branch. I love historical furnitures. :)
The table cloth from Muar. My favourite one but didn't now its a tad too small for this table. The lazy susan was from 73. Belonged to my cute grandma.
The rest of the house looks like this. A lot to clear, we plan to do it part by part.
Billy bookshelve. I hope it is big enough for me to put photo albums in. I haven't bring out all my photos from the boxes.
Friday, public holiday. We had some church things to do, Joshua need a hair cut, plus our house things, we basically rush from point A to point B and so on!
After Joshua's haircut in the late afternoon, we went to a hardware shop is USJ and bought a clothes drying rack for RM380. It's almost 5.30pm already, then Anne came to join us, we went to OnKing, the electrical shop. Picked our Panasonic fridge and LG washing machine. Anne also selected her Firenzi oven. We added warranty for the washing machine and paid total approx RM5k. It's on 12 months instalments now. :) Then Anne went back to hardware shop to lead the shop owner to our house, deliver our clothes rack. :)
Joshua and I went to USJ house, brought everything we have left there back to 71, of course including our TV.
When we reach home, Joshua decided that it is time for us to have area to watch tv and relax. But before unloading the things from the car, he need to assemble the TV bench. Can you see our new clothes drying rack just in front of the wooden door? :) Lighting was bad and so are my skill, sorry. :P
While he does that, I cleaned the floor, redo some very bad grout lines.. scrub, sweep, vaccum and mop. Not to forget, arranging the different boxes of things, segregating them by category and putting them at assigned corners.
After that, we unload everything from the car to this corner. These are not all yet, a lot more....
While clearing the drum room for space to store more junks, I wiped the mirror with Kleen, and took it out to dining hall. It's to be hanged on the wall but we're waiting for our contractor to help us.
Another pile of junk is near the entrance, next to the table against the wall. While they look and are in fact quite untidy, they have some kind of sequence, like 1 box have all the bathroom related things, 1 bag has all nail polise things, 1 box has all our bowls and cups, 2 full boxes of shoes.. etc etc.
More historical treasures. :) I specifically wanted these to be upstairs. Bias. :P Rotan chair that my dad used to sit on when he wears his leather black shoes. And those suit cases, needless to say, all purchased and used (especially the maroon one) by my daddy. :) The more people say these should go to museum the more I love them.
Sunday, after church I came home at 11am. I did more transformations to the living room. Brought over 1 extra chair for dining table from 73, and a small coffee table. Rearranged some of them and rest..........
Joshua came back at 5pm after a meeting, I made him do a mirror test for me. I want to know whether our wedding mirror is suitable for dining area. Looks quite good? My main objective for putting mirror there is so that it reflects some of the sunlight from the opposite windows. There's a beam near the entrance and this beam has blocked out some sunlight from entering the house, especially the dining table can get quite dark without lights on during the day. I hope the mirror can help a bit, we will see the actual result once we hang it up. :)
After the small test, we just enjoy the living room.. :)
At night, about 12am, before sleep, I decided to cover the gaps between the blinds. I already had idea to sew something out of the unused curtain tiebacks but haven't have time to do it. It's just simple sewing to combine the 2 checkered tiebacks, then because it is not long enough I cut a grey one into 2 and join on each end. I did a simple straight line sewing as finishing, then sew press studs on both ends, that is all. :D Now the gap is finally covered! yeay!
After this is good night.... zzzzzz................
But renovation is still not completed. :)
Outstanding items:
1. kitchen cabinets
2. disastrous wardrobe
3. mirrors in bathroom and bedrooms
4. painting the gate, touch up silicons and floor tiles grouts
5. leaking garden tap & faulty sink trap
It's not a lot, but we're still not done yet.. :)
So here. 27th Aug 2012 to 2nd Sept 2012. Week 19.
Tuesday, after prayer service, while Joshua was working in living room, testing out on the air con because our master bedroom's has leaking problem, I was clearing out the boxes.. segregating the things we have. I put in books into our bookcase. Syiok. :D And Joshua will take small breaks in between putting his transformers to display as well. :) We slept again at 1am, I guess it's the new place, I don't mind staying up late at all! Haha.
Wednesday, this is what I woke up to. Because the temp curtain at bedside was not wide enough so I just put the new one from Ikea to cover all up to have complete privacy.
Sky room. We call sky room because it's painted with skylight paint. More stuffs from Ikea waiting to be assembled by Joshua. :) 2 bedside tables, 1 work table and 1 gorm shelf for miscellanous things.
Thursday night after work, I just use a dish washing scrub to smoothen the grout lines, sweep, vaccum and mop the floor. I touched up more areas that I missed out. After dinner, I repeated the same, scub, sweep, vaccum and mop. Then put the dining table in the middle. :) The table from the 1950s Ayer Tawar, Perak.
Friday, public holiday. We had some church things to do, Joshua need a hair cut, plus our house things, we basically rush from point A to point B and so on!
After Joshua's haircut in the late afternoon, we went to a hardware shop is USJ and bought a clothes drying rack for RM380. It's almost 5.30pm already, then Anne came to join us, we went to OnKing, the electrical shop. Picked our Panasonic fridge and LG washing machine. Anne also selected her Firenzi oven. We added warranty for the washing machine and paid total approx RM5k. It's on 12 months instalments now. :) Then Anne went back to hardware shop to lead the shop owner to our house, deliver our clothes rack. :)
Joshua and I went to USJ house, brought everything we have left there back to 71, of course including our TV.
When we reach home, Joshua decided that it is time for us to have area to watch tv and relax. But before unloading the things from the car, he need to assemble the TV bench. Can you see our new clothes drying rack just in front of the wooden door? :) Lighting was bad and so are my skill, sorry. :P
After that, we unload everything from the car to this corner. These are not all yet, a lot more....
While clearing the drum room for space to store more junks, I wiped the mirror with Kleen, and took it out to dining hall. It's to be hanged on the wall but we're waiting for our contractor to help us.
We had no more energy to organise the last pile of junk taken from USJ house, we just handpicked the TV to be placed in the heart of the living room. :)
Before we go to bed, almost 2am... we stared at this for a good few minutes... just totally in love with our half completed living room. :)
Saturday, the alarm crew and electrician came at 10am and 11am respectively. We initially didn't want to instal the alarm system this soon, but reading the news on papers about break ins, we decided to go with it asap. They initially did an ugly work on the walls connecting the alarm wires to the nearest power point available. I didn't like the look and forced Joshua to call the electrician Ah Long who didn't come. Ah Long then said that he provided a wire at the ceiling for alarm! Thank God I was stubborn about it! So the alarm guy had to remove the plastic he nailed on the wall which was to hide wires in, leaving small holes on the wall. :( Need touching up. Anyway, while doing those, Joshua and I assembled the last Ikea table and the gorm shelf. We borrowed tools from the alarm guy which sped up the process. Hehe. We bought them all 100 Plus as a thank you. :D
We had looooong discussions with electrician (Ah Long's worker who's a malay) about our timer lights. Timer lights cannot be switched on anytime we want, there are certain lights we want it flexible, so there're a lot of discussions on the possibilities etc etc.. I was very put off by it because I blamed Joshua for not thinking through properly during installation because now we have to spend another RM120 on additional timer & the one previously done has to be disconnected, in other words wasted. :( I took out a lot of old lights from the 1950s which was stored in 73's storeroom, thinking maybe we can use for the backyard awning area.. but something was missing in the lights that we cannot use it. :( I picked my favourite and put in the bookshelf, using it as display. The rest will go back to the storeroom. Electricians then proceed to instal 2 new fluorescent lights at the back and 1 decorative light at the staircase.
Joshua also found out that our back garden tap was leaking.... called Ah Hoong, he's out of town for fishing outing, so he sent his brother. The brother helped us fix the leaking problem, we took the opportunity to complain about untidy grout lines in the bathrooms and asking his advice about storing gas tanks outside the house. He went out to buy needed materials and started repairing the untidy grouts in bathrooms, wall screwed the gas pipe from stove to awning area. Of course he drilled the wall so that the pipe can go through.. I helped to touch up on the paint. I also went out to ss14 to buy new sink trap because the one at master bathroom had a little damage during installation. Bad news was the new sink trap I bought was not of correct measurement! We quickly returned to the hardware shop and thank God the owner refunded my money. We took the damaged sink trap all the way back to the original shop in Jalan 222, and the shop owner told us it is only ugly looking but can still be used, encouraging us not to change it, but to accept it..... so we're not going to spend money to buy new one, just stick to this. When you come to my house for a visit, be rest assured I will not encourage you to wash hands in my master bathroom... :D
It's quite a crazy day, while the workers drill anything, I will be there to sweep whenever I can. Especially after they left at about 5pm, it's crazy cleaning time for us. Bedrooms all the way to living room and kitchen. Joshua wants to move in our rotan sofa from 73, so we cleaned the floors, cleared the boxes, moved bedroom related things to upstairs..
While I move things around, I instructed Joshua to bring the sofas from 73. Sweet Anne helped. :) The rotan sofas are finally in! :D Beautiful!
Half way through the process at about 8.30pm, our fridge and washing machine finally arrived! They are an hour late.
Joshua had already wiped the area where fridge will be placed at, so they carry the fridge in first. Next is washing machine, I vaccumed the place and swept as clean as I can, and then they install the washing machine. YEAY! Joshua immediately put clothes to wash.
Ke poh Anne blocking the fridge, I wanted to take picture of the fridge. :S
Anne got her oven too and immediately Joshua helped to carry it to her kitchen at 73. She has prepared her materials for baking much earlier @.@ After the transporters left, we finished up the living room! :D
Then hanged our clean clothes on our new clothes drying rack and went over to 73 to eat cookies! :D Anne was still baking when we're there. It's 12am...... crazy right...
Finally at 1.30pm, Joshua armed our alarm for the first time, and then we go to sleep........
We had looooong discussions with electrician (Ah Long's worker who's a malay) about our timer lights. Timer lights cannot be switched on anytime we want, there are certain lights we want it flexible, so there're a lot of discussions on the possibilities etc etc.. I was very put off by it because I blamed Joshua for not thinking through properly during installation because now we have to spend another RM120 on additional timer & the one previously done has to be disconnected, in other words wasted. :( I took out a lot of old lights from the 1950s which was stored in 73's storeroom, thinking maybe we can use for the backyard awning area.. but something was missing in the lights that we cannot use it. :( I picked my favourite and put in the bookshelf, using it as display. The rest will go back to the storeroom. Electricians then proceed to instal 2 new fluorescent lights at the back and 1 decorative light at the staircase.
This decorative light was purchased in Muar in 2006 when we were renovating Muar house. Wanted to put this light in my mum's bedroom but somehow that didn't happen and I told my mum I want this light. :P She gave me, hehehe.... thank you mummy. :D The light look extra beautiful in these pictures so don't be fooled by iphone. Haha.. It is yellow light, not warm white, picture is deceiving.
Joshua also found out that our back garden tap was leaking.... called Ah Hoong, he's out of town for fishing outing, so he sent his brother. The brother helped us fix the leaking problem, we took the opportunity to complain about untidy grout lines in the bathrooms and asking his advice about storing gas tanks outside the house. He went out to buy needed materials and started repairing the untidy grouts in bathrooms, wall screwed the gas pipe from stove to awning area. Of course he drilled the wall so that the pipe can go through.. I helped to touch up on the paint. I also went out to ss14 to buy new sink trap because the one at master bathroom had a little damage during installation. Bad news was the new sink trap I bought was not of correct measurement! We quickly returned to the hardware shop and thank God the owner refunded my money. We took the damaged sink trap all the way back to the original shop in Jalan 222, and the shop owner told us it is only ugly looking but can still be used, encouraging us not to change it, but to accept it..... so we're not going to spend money to buy new one, just stick to this. When you come to my house for a visit, be rest assured I will not encourage you to wash hands in my master bathroom... :D
It's quite a crazy day, while the workers drill anything, I will be there to sweep whenever I can. Especially after they left at about 5pm, it's crazy cleaning time for us. Bedrooms all the way to living room and kitchen. Joshua wants to move in our rotan sofa from 73, so we cleaned the floors, cleared the boxes, moved bedroom related things to upstairs..
Then hanged our clean clothes on our new clothes drying rack and went over to 73 to eat cookies! :D Anne was still baking when we're there. It's 12am...... crazy right...
Finally at 1.30pm, Joshua armed our alarm for the first time, and then we go to sleep........
Sunday, after church I came home at 11am. I did more transformations to the living room. Brought over 1 extra chair for dining table from 73, and a small coffee table. Rearranged some of them and rest..........
Joshua came back at 5pm after a meeting, I made him do a mirror test for me. I want to know whether our wedding mirror is suitable for dining area. Looks quite good? My main objective for putting mirror there is so that it reflects some of the sunlight from the opposite windows. There's a beam near the entrance and this beam has blocked out some sunlight from entering the house, especially the dining table can get quite dark without lights on during the day. I hope the mirror can help a bit, we will see the actual result once we hang it up. :)
And I went to collect our 1st batch of clean laundry in 71. Yeay! We love the new rack too!
At night, about 12am, before sleep, I decided to cover the gaps between the blinds. I already had idea to sew something out of the unused curtain tiebacks but haven't have time to do it. It's just simple sewing to combine the 2 checkered tiebacks, then because it is not long enough I cut a grey one into 2 and join on each end. I did a simple straight line sewing as finishing, then sew press studs on both ends, that is all. :D Now the gap is finally covered! yeay!
This doesn't look that neat from outside because tiebacks does not have parallel lines.. but I care less about looking good on the outside, internal is more important! :P
Staying in a house that's in transformation everyday is although tiring, but fun and satisfying. :) I enjoy playing "Spot the Difference" games with Joshua, haha.... I've been so committed about making it more and more like home that I sleep at 1am or 2am every night, which before this rarely happens. Even to the extent that I forgot to charge my handphone before I sleep, because once I reach my bed, completely unconscious. Next day, by noon phone's battery will be flat and I had no time to think about charging it. Friends have to call Joshua's phone to get me and I only managed to reply sms & whatsapp messages late at night, when I remember to charge it before I sleep. :)
During this phase, I also couldn't be bothered about what I wear everyday... I used to do wardrobe planning everyday, thinking which piece of clothing is suitable for today's activity etc. While my clothes are so messy, I will wear whatever I can see! I've worn thick black t-shirt cleaning up the house, feeling like a volcano inside, sweat dripping down from forehead and went into my eyes.. I've worn my "handle with care" MNG pants climbing up and down the ladder, crawling on the floor filling the grouts, wiping off dirt, squating numerous time to do paint touch ups.. until the crotch part sew lines loosen and I only realised it at night when I finally took it off. :( The pants was not designed for such heavy duty but my brain was too focused... Have to find time to sew it back one of these days... Also, we used to separate machine and hand wash laundry, but now it's all in one pile, Joshua innocently put my bras into washing machine!! :( We all know bras are too delicate to be machine washed... I had to calm myself down and just accept it. Thank God it's just 3 bras, not 6, not 9.. haha..
During this phase, I also couldn't be bothered about what I wear everyday... I used to do wardrobe planning everyday, thinking which piece of clothing is suitable for today's activity etc. While my clothes are so messy, I will wear whatever I can see! I've worn thick black t-shirt cleaning up the house, feeling like a volcano inside, sweat dripping down from forehead and went into my eyes.. I've worn my "handle with care" MNG pants climbing up and down the ladder, crawling on the floor filling the grouts, wiping off dirt, squating numerous time to do paint touch ups.. until the crotch part sew lines loosen and I only realised it at night when I finally took it off. :( The pants was not designed for such heavy duty but my brain was too focused... Have to find time to sew it back one of these days... Also, we used to separate machine and hand wash laundry, but now it's all in one pile, Joshua innocently put my bras into washing machine!! :( We all know bras are too delicate to be machine washed... I had to calm myself down and just accept it. Thank God it's just 3 bras, not 6, not 9.. haha..
No comments:
Post a Comment