IKEA Or Not? #2
Took us another 4 trips to IKEA to finalise the things that we wanted to buy, and we even went all out to examine the quality. We did not just think twice or thrice, but 4 or 5 times!
If you want to buy from IKEA, you have to first determine what are the things that you’re willing to compromise and the things that you could not tolerate even the slightest creak of the furniture.
Sofa. Andrew and I wanted a sofa that has wider seat area. We both have long legs (sorry, I don’t mean to show off), and we both know how uncomfortable it is to sit on a shorter cushion sofa. Secondly, we both wanted a good back support, or at least comfortable. We’ve seen a lot of sofas with the back designed so low that it only supports your lower back, which will cause strain to your neck and upper back if you sit for a long time, like watching TV. Only IKEA has such a sofa that met our requirements and with a price tag that we could afford. We sat on this sofa so many times and to make sure that it is comfortable, and at least could last us 5 years. Geez… Can’t believe that we actually thought so much before buying a sofa! Got the three-seat-sofa below from IKEA, at RM1799 in black-grey fabric. It could actually seat 4 persons. We’ve heard enough from people that we could get a bigger and nicer one in other furniture shop with RM1800. Heck with it. We have tried this, and it’s comfortable, good enough.
Dining table. When it came to dining table, Andrew and I wanted a square/rectangular one and with the extendable function. Both of us came from a big family, we know better what it’s like when family members gather together and not having sufficient sitting place around the dining table, end up taking turns to have a meal. I’m more lucky than him as I never experienced that since dad has an extendable table back in hometown. Andrew felt the need to have one like that even more than me. We tested all the dining tables in IKEA, our tolerance level for creaking sound from the table is zero. We too make sure that the table is steady and solid enough that it won’t shake. NORDEN is the most stable one, but it is too costly. We went for BJURSTA, RM625 oak veneer and could seat up to 10 persons after extended. Pretty solid I must say, even my dad gave his thumb up. :)
Dining chairs. I saw this AGEN rattan chair selling at RM69 each and I told Andrew I MUST at least get one. He asked, “where to put?” “I don’t care, I love it and I just want one.” Hahahaha…… I love rattan stuff, love its natural colors and smell. :D We were in a headache of what kind of dining chairs to get to match with the table. I told Andrew we could then get 2 AGEN chairs and go to the furniture shop to get another 2 wooden chairs, mix and match. End up, he bought 4 AGEN chairs for dining, solved all the problems and headaches. LOL! We spent RM901 for the dining set. Compared with those from the furniture shops, I would say it is pretty reasonable and I get what I wanted. Dad said it is such a waste to use such a nice chair for dining! Hahahaha…… “You don’t sit and eat there for hours, why get such a nice chair?” Well, at least it could double up as a chair for the guests IF we have more guests in the house. :)
TV console/bench. To customise one, our contractor quoted us RM800 for a 8 feet long TV wall shelf. RM800! Forget it. We have seen some really cheap one in IKEA and we thought of buy one and DIY it a little bit. Then, we recalled we have bought the 51″ TV and those cheap ones may not be able to hold. We were lucky to spot this LACK TV bench from IKEA, RM249! The cheapest and solid we have ever found! And it looks classy too. :)
Workstation/Study desk. I love this BESTA BURS desk from IKEA so much, but the price is a killer! RM999 for a desk!!! I must be out of mind if I were to buy it. Then, Andrew and I settled with VIKA AMON that costs only RM219 and both of us could actually share the same desk since it is long. When we made our final trip to IKEA, we saw a white MELLTORP dining table selling at RM159. We tested it, nah, bad for dining purposes. Hey, we could use it for study desk! It’s wide enough and long enough! Hooray! If this could serve us a good 2 years, we’re happy enough.
Bookcase. Being a bookworm, how could I not have a bookcase for my books? :P When I was doing my packing last week, I found out that I have 4 boxes of books and still have some outside the box. When the hell did I buy so many???? I told Andrew, seriously, one bookcase is not going to be enough. I fell in love with IKEA’s HEMNES bookcase. The grey-brown looks so classy and the quality is good. Of course lah, the price is GOOD too, RM799! Andrew is so not agreeing to it. :( Our budget for renovation over-ran, I told him my bookcases could wait. However, it was so nice of him to smuggle one BILLY bookcase for me. :) He loves the birch veneer and medium brown, but it’s RM245, RM76 more expensive than the white one. Every dime counts, we could only go for the white. Anyway, I’m happy with the white, matches the desk and wall color. :D A white study area.
Bed frame. We didn’t plan to buy any bed frame from IKEA. We don’t really trust its bed frame’s quality. Further more, most of their frames are in Queen size, there’s only a few selected designs available in King. Andrew’s father insisted to buy 2 single bed frames for the guest room. He got us 2 FJELLSE bed frames at RM139 each. It is of solid untreated wood, has natural wood color. I was pretty sceptical about its quality and was questioning Andrew why he allowed father-in-law to buy that. “He insisted.” Oh well…… When Andrew was assembling the bed frame, I was still doubting its quality. Shaking my head while looking at the thin legs, sighing when I saw the screws…… When everything was done, I was surprised with the slatted bed base. Wow… it is strong! Sister even went up and stood on it! The bed frame didn’t even move when I shook it! Surprise, surprise. When I laid down the mattress on it, my goodness, it makes such a fine and comfortable bed! So folks, you don’t judge a book by its cover, and now you don’t judge a bed frame by its look too. Again, do test and feel it before you make your decision.
Footstool. Saw this cheap footstool on IKEA website, SOLSTA PALLBO footstool at RM8.90! Grabbed one without thinking much. It could be used as a footstool or a stool. Quality? RM8.90, what do you expect? It comes with a cushion and cover! Pretty strong for RM8.90 price tag. Who says good things ain’t cheap and cheap things ain’t good?
Rattan lounger. Andrew’s father also got us this KARLSKRONA Lounger, RM399! I saw this when I went with Andrew, both of us love it so much. But we were thinking this could wait and we seriously do not want to splurge on other unnecessary stuff. His father, went with Andrew to get the rest of the stuff, saw it and told Andrew, “get this too! Nice!” Hahahahaha…… I was surprised that he appreciates rattan and having the same taste as us. :) The lounger does not just look good, it’s comfortable and pretty tough as well. It is now our favorite chair. :D The lamb skin I bought in Melbourne, match perfectly with the lounger! Happy with the investment back then, it isn’t expensive for a genuine lamb skin, cost us around RM150. It is better off to be on the lounger than the floor!
Rug/Carpet. We bought this HAMPEN rug 2 years ago after we bought the house. It was love at first sight for Andrew and he thought it was cheap. We remember the price back then was RM149, but now it is RM179. We planned to put it in the study area, but it is now in the living room. It’s very comfortable and definitely doesn’t look like some cheap rug that we’ve seen else where. However, the bits of the rug are coming off every now and then. It’s not some serious problem but it’s annoying especially when you see some green bits lying on your floor. It is too small for the living room, we may get a bigger one for the living room and move this to the study area later. Would I buy HAMPEN again? Yes, as long as the price is reasonable and the quality is of our acceptable level.
Bathroom mirrors. We were looking high and low for mirrors and shelves for the bathrooms. Nothing in IKEA caught our eyes. We gave up searching and thought we could get the mirror first and leave the shelf for later. On our last trip to IKEA, Andrew and I were delighted to see this FULLEN mirror with shelf, at RM49! We grabbed 2 sets, solved our problems once and for all! Not the best mirror and shelf, but it looks simple enough and less bulky for a small bathroom.
That’s all for now. There are still a few more that we may need to get from IKEA. The only concern we have right now is, too much of IKEA will make our home look too “familiar”. Imagine when your friends come to your house and say, “hey, I know this, it’s from IKEA! Oh, this one too! Hey, this is nice from IKEA!” -__-||| We are trying very hard to get those that you can’t recognize that they’re from IKEA from the first look.
IKEA is so deep into our life. You’re going to find at least one item in the house, that is from IKEA.
So, says who that IKEA no longer has good quality items? Look carefully, you can still find them.
IKEA Or Not? #1
All the while, people have been telling me that IKEA’s stuffs are not meant to last, the quality isn’t worth all the price that you’re paying. IKEA furnitures only expect to last 1 to 2 years, if you’re expecting to change them 2 years later, IKEA would be a good choice.
I’ve been buying stuff from IKEA, even when I did not own a house. From my experience and observations, IKEA isn’t a bad choice and the quality isn’t as bad as some of them described.
Bought a LACK coffee table many, many years ago. The photo above shows that there’s another layer beneath the top, but mine doesn’t have that. I can’t remember the price back then, it is RM79 now. The quality? I used it as a computer desk, you can imagine how heavy the monitor was and of course, the table actually sagged a little in the middle. Kept the table in the box for a while when I moved to another rented place, took it out again 2 years back. Now, Andrew told me he noticed the surface has some bubbles, wonder if it’s the humidity in the house that caused it or what. This table lasts more than 5 years, to me is pretty good enough.
Bought this ANEBODA wardrobe a year or so after I bought the LACK coffee table above, but mine is in birch veneer, price remains the same as RM249. It was on a lower price for few years. Quality? Damn good! I had 3 stacks of folded clothes at the bottom, almost reaching half of the wardrobe. Yes, the bottom did sag a little with all those clothes in it, but no difficulty in closing and opening the doors. When I moved all of the clothes out last week, I was shocked to see that the bottom bounced back to its original state! The legs are not even slightly bent. The clothes rail is still as tough as new, only that the coated paint is coming off, but it is not bent even when I had so many clothes hanging on it. I’ve seen my mom and sister’s wardrobes (bought from furniture shop) with the clothes rail bent to “V” shape! I’m surprised IKEA has such a good quality for a budget item like this. It looks new too after 5 years, my dad saw it last week and asked if I have just bought this. :)
Bought a FREDRIK desk 3 years ago, also birch veneer. Couldn’t remember the price too, perhaps the same as current one, RM449, but now they do not have birch anymore. Was using it for laptop most of the times, a flat screen monitor occupied one of the table top corner and the books and other stuff occupied the shelves on top. Quality? Good! There is some wear and tear marks on the table top, but it is quite a steady workstation. I used to sit there every night doing my translation, other than the “sweat” marks I left behind, it still looks pretty new.
These 3 were the biggest investments I had from IKEA. When we wanted to buy a bed-frame and a chest drawers, we went to the furniture shop and we regretted the decision. The bed-frame wooden supporting strip broke when I sat too hard on it. The locks on the chest drawers are rusted. It ain’t cheap, cost me RM500 for that drawers.
Andrew and I went hunting for furnitures since months ago. We do not have the budget for some super-expensive-superb-quality furnitures, Lorenzo doesn’t have what we wanted, Rozel is way out of budget, we resorted to those conventional furniture shops. We got so disappointed with the quality and the prices. They would give you attractive discounts, in fact they have actually marked up the prices. The quality? For a RM1800 sofa, IKEA’s sofas are way, way, way better quality than them! Designs? I thought I was living in the 80′s when I saw the designs available. A dining table (with chairs) the furniture shop sells at RM1500, is worse than the BJURSTA dining table (RM625) and AGEN chair (RM69) from IKEA. We were deeply saddened by the fact that the quality in those shops has gone so bad. :(
We have been to IKEA many times. Every time we saw something, we wrote down the prices and materials and we tried to find it somewhere else with the similar quality. Sad to say, either the quality is better but price is super expensive, or the quality is worse but the price is the same with IKEA. We came to a point that enough is enough, we got so tired with the hunting and disappointments. IKEA that is.
Christmas 2011
Had a very busy and tiring Christmas this year. However, a happy one too. :)
Parents came all the way to help me with the moving-in stuff. Sister was here with her daughter too. It was great to have them around while moving in, the house was always full with people and never quiet. :) They went back last night, it was so quiet all of a sudden.
Andrew and I finally had time to really sit down on that cosy sofa and watch some TV. Ahhh…… Could finally slowly taking in the feel of our own home. It’s something new we felt, a HOME, that belongs to no one else but US.
The dining and living room looks so much like a home. Still need to put up some things, but they now have the look of a home. The study area is in a mess! BIG mess. We can only sort out all the mess when the kitchen and wardrobe are done. Thanks to the so-called designer that our kitchen and wardrobe are NOT done by now.
Went to Wan Yi’s wedding on the night of Christmas. Get to catch up with some friends. :) Wan Yi looks so gorgeous especially in her red gown! Sigh…… Even the youngest amongst us friends is married now. :)
A very different Christmas we had.
The Home
It is, slowly becoming a HOME. :) A home that we have been longing for.
Contractor told us the house is done. Andrew went to see the house, there’s some “hiccups” need to be fixed. From the photos that Andrew sent to me via Whatsapp, the house looks “empty”, but nice. When I saw it with my own eyes last night, with the lights and all, I couldn’t help but feel contented. Ahhhh…… The dim yellow light from the T5 is sweet, the plaster ceiling looks surprisingly nice, the ceiling lights in the study area look unexpectedly cool…… At last, a home. OUR home.
Nothing fancy, all we want is a comfortable home.
I don’t know why the yellow lights came out as green on my handphone (the bottom left photo). -__- I promise you better quality photos when everything is done.
Next, would come the furnishing. Sofa, tables, chairs, washing machine, curtains…… Another round of money-spending and head-cracking.
The House
Back from the trip, and was immediately busy with the house. Went to see the renovation works and paid another half of the payment to the contractor.
Andrew and I are happy with the renovation thus far. All nicely done, with good workmanship, nothing much that we could complain about. The plaster ceiling and cornices are all done, happy with the outcome. We know that we made a good decision to do the L-box plaster ceiling all the way to the dining hall when we saw how good it looks. No regrets.
Went for lights hunting in the afternoon. Finally got all of them. This weekend will have to fix all of them up and the electrical items. There’s still lots of work for me and Andrew.
Andrew is happy, that I could see. I’m glad that we made a right choice to go with the contractor.
The kitchen, is finally materialising.
The living and dining hall.
P.S.: Heard a sad news from the contractor. Another contractor, without the key to enter the house, trying to climb in to the house from the yard area fell to his death from 10th floor. :( Happened in another block, and he fell onto the balcony of the unit located on the 4th floor. T__T Why couldn’t he wait or get the key? Sigh……
Happy & Surprised
Andrew and I went to the new house, to take measurement of the windows for curtains. When we opened the door, we were shocked. It was only 2 days since we paid the deposit for renovation and there is still issues need to discuss further with the contractor, but the renovation work has started! Contractor told me he would bring in the materials on Tuesday, but I didn’t expect they would start renovating so soon. Now we have more confident in him seeing all this efficiency and not-wanting-to-waste-time attitude.
We were more surprised when we turned and saw the wall and door to the yard area were torn down. Gosh…… That was quick! It’s all gone. See the photo below. Now you see, now you don’t.
Happy to see that there’s finally some progress. But we couldn’t get the curtains. Ikea was so packed with HUMAN!!! The sale assistant was so busy and we got so impatient, decided to come back on a weekday. :( Never, ever, go Ikea on weekends or public holiday! ARGH!
There is Homedec this week in KLCC. Gosh, gotta go squeeze ourselves with the crowds again. T__T
Finally
Yes, made the decision, signed on the dotted line. Took us good 5 hours to decide on exactly what we wanted to do to the house!
Been struggling with the decisions for few weeks, money is the big issue here. At last, Andrew and I both thought, no more delaying and waiting. Waiting is wasting, Saturday, we just gotta made all the decisions on that day itself. Pity the contractor, he is nice to be patient enough with us and not rushing us to make decisions. We on the other hands, felt uneasy to always change our mind.
People have been telling us that we should look for cheaper renovation contractors, we have tried. Maybe not as hard, but what we got is more headaches and confusions. We are so fed up with the looking and thinking and we thought enough is enough. They’re more or less the same and yes, you could save a few hundreds out of it but the headaches and time you spent are also worth a few hundreds.
We are now so over the budget, gotta put a few things delayed. The following few months would be the toughest months for us. With the Chinese New Year so near, we just do not know how we are going to go through it. Sigh…… All we can do is let’s see how things go.
Every inch you touch, that is going to be money spent.
Everything that you see, is our hard-earned money.
I feel like just use the MONEY to paste on the wall or use the MONEY to make it into a piece of furniture! Why not?!
Bloody developer, couldn’t do a better job and so we had to do what they couldn’t do. &^$@#*
Finally, I can now take my mind off the renovation part and wait to see the final “results”. Let’s hope everything go smoothly and no hiccups.
Ideas. At Work. #5
After seeing the house and everything is of physical and real now, Andrew and I are busy re-prioritizing and re-work on the ideas that we have previously.
Seeing that the tiles are of beige color, it is not possible to have a beech kitchen anymore. Don’t want to risk the cabinet looks like the extension of the floor up the wall. LOL!
If we were to choose wooden color, we have to choose it wisely. I always have a thing for white, and Andrew is very wary that the white will become yellowish few years down the road. Finally, we decided, black and white for the kitchen. It may look heavy and cause the place to appear less spacious, but that is the nicest color combination that we could think of to go with the tiles! If you have any better idea, do tell. We welcome your ideas.
This would be the dry kitchen. It would be rather small if we do not make use the yard area for wet kitchen.
Other than the kitchen, the living room is another problem. I love earthy tone, but with that beige color tiles, I do not want my home to look all brownish or yellowish or orangy anymore. Cold color tone is the only tone that would work now. We are thinking of black and white too, but too many black in the house… Err…… Perhaps some grey and white.
This one from Ikea, looks cool. :)
New Beginning
23rd September 2011, Friday, 3.10pm. Sunny.
At last, gotten the keys to our first house. How did we feel? It’s mixed feelings. We’ve waited too long, the excitement has kind of weaned off. The amount of money that we are going to spend, got us worried. However, we can’t wait to quickly get out from this rented place.
After seeing our unit, no doubt we were happy with the big space and all, but the disappointments came after one another. The open kitchen is small, both the bathrooms are extremely small, the workmanship is bad, there isn’t any skirting in between the wall and the floor and the tiles color and size and the ceiling heights are not what they told us (can’t do anything about it since the cunning developer didn’t mention it in the SPA).
The only thing that I am happy with is the yard area where I expected it to be smaller but now it is enough for me to turn it into a wet kitchen, solved my headache on the open kitchen concept. I am really upset with the small bathrooms. Sigh.
We are now cracking our heads on the renovations. With the limited dime, we have to think everything through and through. We have to get down to every details and decide what are the necessary and what are not. Cutting out the unnecessary, the amount is still considered quite a big sum for us.
It’s lucky to have a partner that thinks kitchen is the most important part. Andrew insisted to get the kitchen done no matter what, and the rest we could get them done slowly later. Phew.
It is not just the renovations, the fittings and furnishings as well. They could add up to a pretty big sum. Sigh.
The living hall.
2nd bedroom, that has a better view than the master bedroom!
The master bedroom, with that tiny window at the corner. Sigh.
I forgot to take a picture of the kitchen and the study area. Will update here when I go there again.
Ideas. At Work. #4
Living room or some may refer to it as living hall, is obviously the largest space in a house. It is also where you can actually get more creative in planning, renovating and decorating.
To me, living room is the first thing that I (or a guest) would see when I step into the house, it should give at least myself a feeling of “welcoming home”.
I am struggling with the color theme/choice for the living room. I’d love red/white combination, but knowing that white furniture would be rather difficult to maintain and you’ve gotta be careful all the time not to dirty it, is one big reason that got me thinking twice. I love the earth tone too, it would create so much of warmth and comfort that would make you feel so much at home! Both Andrew and I adore rattan chair too. However, when it collects dust, it’s gonna be a hell lot of work to clean it. Sigh. Home planning is not easy wey. There’s so much to think with so little of dime.
This is pretty simple and homey, but no creativity lor. :|
This one feels so comfortable!
My favorite of them all. :)
It is very likely am gonna get that sofa. The seat is deep/wide enough for long-legged persons like Andrew and I. LOL!
Ooohhh… Black & white. Too “heavy” to me.
Gosh! Books! Shelves! I’m a bookworm, and this looks heaven to me! Considering this for the study corner. :D
It’s amazing to see how sometimes different contrast of colors could look so nice together. The wooden coffee table, earth color rug and the orange sofa are woven together so well and the maroon-grey armchair sort of add a splash of live to it.
I have seen how a coffee table take up the space of a living room, adults bump on the edges and children bumping onto the corners, having not enough of sitting space when more guests pour in, difficulty of moving it during cleaning time or sometimes, it serves no purpose at all. I’ve told Andrew from the very beginning, too much drama a coffee table could give, no coffee table in the house in the future. One side table, yes, but not a coffee table. When I saw a footstool with storage at Ikea, I was jumping with joy. Not that I was buying it at that point of time. Hahaha. At least I know there is something that I could use as a footstool, storage and coffee table! Three in one.
See that rattan chest in the centre? How nice if I could have that too. I’m such a sucker when it comes to rattan. LOL.
Guess what, Andrew fell in love with this ↓ when he first saw it! Love at first sight! He said he is so getting it for the house. I wonder where is he going to put it???????? He claims that not many would have or dare to have this in the living room, we would be so uniquely different from others. Bla… bla… bla……
I seriously don’t think this would go well with the rattan. There goes my at-least-one-rattan-in-the-house plan. :(
Other than the furnitures, there’s the lightings and paintings to think about. Argh! Now you know where my creativity goes to and the reason of lack of updating here on the blog. -__-
*Photos courtesy of Ikea and Martha Stewart.
Ideas. At Work. #3
Kitchen! I would love to have a spacious and well-organised kitchen. I’ve seen my mom and mom-in-law suffering in such a small kitchen, I told myself I would at least want a simple but comfortable kitchen.
I’m a very simple and modern person. Those European or English style kitchen may look all glamor and fantastic, but I do not like them. To me, they’re too complicated for a small lady like me. Hahahaha…… I do not fancy those dark timber kitchen, they look too heavy to me, I’ll feel suffocating in it. LOL. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit here. :P
Since the kitchen in the new house is of open concept, I thought I could have more ideas, but that is so wrong. Open concept meaning oily smoke will be flying all over the places! *Faints* That will leave your sofa, furnitures, carpets, curtains, all smell like they’ve just been cooked. :( Now I’m struggling with the design and all that. With a very inflexible budget, I am seriously struggling.
Not a bad idea, but don’t like the color of beech.
Love the wall cabinet, but it’s clear glass, you gotta make sure the stuff inside is always tidy! Sien lor……
This is something I like. So sleek and clean and simple! No fuss.
Very likely I’ll do something like this. (Got this photo from Golden Carpentry)
Somehow, I like metal/steel sink/counter top. However, looks very “cold” and overly hotel-ish.
Okay, back to work now. :|
Home-To-Be
Some diversion from the Japan news.
My house, said to be completed by June this year. I’ve been waiting so long and now I feel like I’m a giraffe. Pretty much in a dilemma now. I need more time to get more money, but I want to have my own home so desperately.
The progress is very slow ever since Chinese New Year, guess the developer has channeled some of its manpower to the project right beside this block. I don’t see people working at night as it is always pitch dark now at night when the lights used to lit up the whole place. The paint is on, the rooftop is completed and they’re now working on the ground level.
Taken on 13.03.2011 (Overcast morning)
Taken on 24.02.2011 (Hazy morning)
Taken on 26.12.2010 (Clear sunny day)
Taken on 24.11.2010 (Hazy morning)
Been hunting for furnitures for the past one week. I felt like crying looking at those prices…… It is so depressing to know that everything is so expensive now and we have to compromise on the quality just because we have limited dime to spend. I was exhausted, not because of the constant walking and hunting, but mentally due to constantly adjusting our budget and expectations. Sigh. Andrew often said, “the quality is not good, man”. And I often reminded him that, “with this kind of price tag, what do you expect then?”
Saw something that we really like in Rozel, but goodness, we would then have to give up so many other things for that 3-seater leather sofa in Rozel. That’s not going to happen. Stepped out from Rozel, feeling even more depressed!
Saw a reasonable priced 3-seater fabric sofa in Ikea, but almost everyone has been telling me Ikea’s products are bad quality. Saw another similar one about the same price in Lorenzo, but people are telling me Lorenzo is expensive too and not worth the price. ARGH! I don’t know LAH! So everyone everything also not good quality and not worth it LAH……
Sigh…… The hunt continues…… Depression is coming real soon. :(
Ideas. At Work. #2
Bedroom, is the most private space in a house. No? To me, it is. I am not a person who likes to show people how my bedroom looks like. It ain’t because it’s messy, it’s just that I somehow feel that it is my private little space where I do not feel comfortable showing it to the public.
Well, I’m sharing here the bedroom photos that inspiring me, not my bedroom-to-be. So, no harm. Hehe. :D
Since I love reading, a bookshelf in the bedroom definitely draws my attention. And I love this white-green combination.
The earthy color! So comfortable! But you gotta have good lighting for this color, otherwise I think the room will look pretty dull. Love the decorative ideas. :)
Pretty!
It looks clean, but somehow I do not like the colors.
Didn’t know that blue and brown could go this well together.
So soothing and comfortable……
Okay, stop day-dreaming. Back to work. :)
Ideas. At Work.
Our company’s value, fit the whole situation right now. :)
Been killing my eyesight with all the home decorations photos, surfing hundreds of websites on the world wide web, spending hours in bookshop browsing through all the interior design magazines, idling away fantasizing my dream home…… My mind is working around the clock for the soon-to-be-completed home. Even the upcoming OZ trip seems so unimportant.
However, everything is just a sudden spark of idea or some random photos I’ve got from the internet. No actual quotation or whatsoever has been sought, because I do not have the actual measurements yet. At this juncture, all we could do is find out what exactly we want to do and how we should do it.
Have a brief talk with Andrew last night, with our current financial capacity, I foresee we would be buying a lot of DIY stuffs from Ikea, which could save us some renovation costs. Sigh…… Just the thought of the sum of the renovation cost already freaks me out a lot. Home appliances and furnishings are not yet taken into account! Geez……
Anyway, let’s put those S-Eleven sign aside. I am curious and interested in this bathroom design. If you so happened to know how to do those tiles, please please please let me know. I’m not sure if the multi-color stripes on the tiles were sprayed on or it is a colored tile by itself. If it’s originally colored tiles, the colors can’t be matching so perfectly from one to another.
I adore simplicity and chic design. Sophisticated and elegant decorations are nice too, but I don’t think I can afford that for now.
Love the color combinations and the difference of tiles used in the photo below. Sometimes you don’t need everything to be in perfect match to look perfect. :) However, if you have a small bathroom, you may want to keep to only one material and colour as that would make the bathroom appear to be larger, visually. :)
The new house comes with a complete set of bathroom sink. Guess we won’t be changing it. Sigh. I’ve always loved square sinks, they look so “clean”. Hahaha.
My dream bathroom! Looks so clean!
Okay, enough of daydreaming.
Went to Ikea yesterday, couldn’t find any good bathroom accessories. Argh! I foresee the DIY is going to be a painful one. :(
Almost
3 months has passed since I last took a photo of it, Block B is now near to completion.
Loan disbursement has already hit 50%. Soon, just hope the developer could get the CF as planned, then we shall be getting that golden key, to our golden nest. LOL. It ain’t golden literally. :)
Construction is still going on, hectically. The progress kind of slowed down during the Ramadhan month, but it is all at full force again. Now they’re painting the exterior. Ahh…… Finally. However, the developer’s signature color isn’t all that stunning! Looks so childish! Gosh…… For your knowledge, this developer has all its development painted in yellow tone. I guess it’s their lucky color.
I was praying so hard that there won’t be any future high-rise opposite our unit, guess I didn’t pray enough. There is some construction going on opposite our unit! I guess it would be another condominium of smaller density. Argh! I just hope that it would be further a bit from our unit. Imagine seeing the construction mess from your balcony, dust and dirt flying all over and the noise pollution. Fingers crossed that the new development would not block our view and the air flow. :(
Knowing that I need to start survey for some DIY ideas and pricing, but I just don’t know where to start. It really beats me. Sigh…… Golden nest is bound to be empty nest. LOL.
I am so tired today, had a hard and bad day at work. Feel so sleepy now and I dozed off several times while writing this post. Good night people. I need to hit the sack early tonight.
Half Way
I don’t usually start my blog post with a photo. Today is just one of those days that I feel like to. :)
Time zooms past like a rocket. In fact, there is no word that could best describe how fast time passes. Last year September, if you have read it, I briefly blogged about my home that I’ve been so wanting to move in. The positive reason is I could finally have a home here in KL that I could call my own. The negative push is, I could then finally get out of this hell hole and say bye-bye-no-see to those monkeys that I am living with NOW. If you have rented a place with someone that totally does not know how to do house chores, you would be able to understand my frustration all too well.
Everyday, I could see my future home, being built. It is just opposite where I stay right now. Bought the unit about 2 years ago, before my wedding. It was a tough time back then, having to spend for the wedding and the down-payment for the house. It wasn’t easy, but am glad that we bought it. The price now, shot up to RM280,000 for the same unit. For the new phase (Phase 4), it costs RM320,000 at least for a same 1313 square-foot unit. We bought it at RM253,000, with 2 car-park bays.
The unit that we bought, is called LakeCity Condominium Phase 3, by Platinum Victory Development. This one has more than 700 units. I don’t like it at all, too high density. But well, what could we do. Our decision to have 2 car-park bays was a good one. We know what it’s like to have to look for an empty car park when you reach home, we didn’t enjoy it, especially when it was raining cats and dogs! There is going to be a shopping complex right beside the condominium, and a private hospital is on its way too just across the street. The place is going to get busier! I can already foresee the traffic would be bad by then. :(
Our unit is of 1313 square-foot, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1 study room. We may not want to do so much of renovations in the house, most of the things we now decide to go DIY. Hope we won’t be exhausting ourselves later doing all the DIY. LOL! We just hope that by going DIY, we could save some money and not spend so much.
The photo above, on the right hand side is Block B, where our unit will be. Block B is more than 50% completed. But look at Block A on the left hand side, gosh…… Still a long way to go. :( I wish that they could complete it before end of this year. Although I need time to gather some money for the renovations, but I just couldn’t stand staying in this rented place anymore. I have had enough of their irresponsibility and bad habits.
Pray hard that it completes before the year ends. The developer is very well-known for its early completion reputation, let’s just hope it could make wonders again.
My Home. My Hope.
My home, another 1 year and 3 months, I can then finally get the key. The key to my new hope. :) The key to open another whole new world, the door to another whole new sight.
I have never have my own place that I can call home, except the one in my hometown. That is my root that I know I’ll come running to whenever it calls for me. A home here where I work and live, I have never had it before. I have a place to live now, but this is not home. This 9-by-9 foot of hole, is just a shelter. I rest, sleep and relax in here. It does offer me some warmth at times. But I’ve never felt the belonging here.
I am so full of hope now that I’ll be getting my new home. I am so worried that something may happen and it will all disappear. Or it will come later than I expect it to be. Seeing it going up and up (yes, I can see it from where I stay now), that does give me some security.
Day by day, month by month, I am becoming more and more impatient. On the other hand, I wish the time could pass slowly so that I could have enough time to save for it. I do not wish to have a luxury home, of course everyone wants the best-furnished house if financial permits, I want a homey home. I just want some place that feels like home, a place that welcomes me home at the end of a long hard day. A place where I can dance my silly dance moves like nobody’s watching. Hahaha. I’m getting all excited just by the thought of it.
I can’t wait to get my hands dirty, get my brain busy and get myself tired in decorating and furnishing my home. Yes, my home. All the hard work and sweat will be worthy. To be able to build my own home, how sweet does that sound! Fabulous! :D
Ashley
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