Necessary buys for our home

Since we have confirmed on engaging Steven by J.S. F-u-rnitures as our Contractor, we started buying the necessary items for our home.

We jotted down the items to be bought required solely for the renovation and what can be bought much later after renovation is completed. We needed to segregate our spending by stages, because kita taklah kaya mana kan.

Items needed for renovation:
- Bidet Spray
- Ceiling fan with light
- Cooker hob
- Cooker hood
- Faucet/Mixer
- Kitchen faucet
- Kitchen sink
- Instant heater
- Lighting
- Sanitary fittings
- Wash Basin

Approximate spending: $4.1k

Items that can be bought/installed after renovation:
- Airconditioner
- Boltless Rack
- Grille + Window for the Service Yard

Approximate spending: $4k

So, you see. It totals up to about $8.1k. Where to get that sum of money eh? Dengan renovation cost lagi. 

But not all hopes are lost. Haha. We made a trip down to the stretch of shop houses at Jalan Besar Road to take a look. Our agenda for that particular day was more to surveying the prices for lighting. Shops after shops we went in. Until 1 particular shop where we realise that it has almost everything we needed. Lol.

We ended up buying everything we stated above in that shop except for the ceiling fan with light because we already bought those from a different shop at Sembawang last year before we even receive the keys to our home (nasib baik dapat rumah. kalau tak, terpaksa forego deposit kipas tu lol).

From a $4.1k budget we had, we spent about $2.5k in total. Just nice of what we have actually. Hahahha. The shop owner was very nice to give us some discounts on the items as we bought quite a bulk from them. Anyway, we didn't even have $4.1k to start with. Kesian eh. Lol.

Although there are much more beautiful design/function I wish we could have bought - because gatal nak "rumah idaman" - but I'll make do with what we have, even if the designs are not what I have in mind lol. Asalkan function sudah.

Maybe next time lah eh when we have more rezeki or when the current items have eventually passed their "old age" due to wear and tear. Haha.

To get the renovation process started, hehe, I'll let you in with a peek of our computerized drawings by Steven.

KITCHEN AREA:

ENTRANCE OF KITCHEN/DINING AREA:

AN OVERALL VIEW: 

Taklah selawa ID punya with rendering of the visuals and the likes haha, but jadilah eh. And yes, we decided to hack the kitchen entrance and make the kitchen entrance bigger instead of having it a closed kitchen because we liked it to look more spacious. The kitchen by itself is really small - I feel a tad claustrophobic when I walk in it! #ngadengade Sure, the smell of food cooking will travel, but I'll usually balas with nice scented boiled lemon and cinnamon after cooking is done. So I hope that will help with that problem? Heh. 

Alright, more updates to come :)

Welcoming July

Time flies and we are already at the second half of 2017! Say whatttt!

Ended my first Ramadhan with being able to fast for a full 30 days (Alhamdulillah), but not doing so much this year as compared to my previous years. :( I don't know if caring for a baby plus carrying one in me is a valid "reason", but hais, I am sure I could do better.

Nonetheless, Ramadhan this year is already over and I could only do'a that I'll be able to meet the next Ramadhan... Aamiin.

Few quick updates!

RENOVATION:
We are almost halfway through our renovation progress.
- Hacking of our kitchen was done on the first few days of renovation
- Then we had to choose our toilet floor tiles again because the one Steven showed us from Hafary is out of stock
- Doors installed, and painted
- Delivery of the items we bought (Note: Gonna blog about our buying process, insya'Allah!)
- Toilet floor tiles have been overlaid once we confirmed our new tiles
- Our kitchen entrance have been touched up after the hacking
- Installation of our instant heaters has been done

Upcoming week:
- Installation of our kitchen cabinet

To do:
Pass the second payment to Steven

PREGNANCY:
We are at our 17 weeks 4 days today. Alhamdulillah.

The first very very mild movement/shifting I felt was exactly on the 17th week, around the same time as when I first felt Adriaan's movement. But Adriaan's one was more prominent in a sense I could actually see the bulge forming. This time, I could only feel the subtle movements internally.

The next appointment will be on the 19th July where you'll turn 20 weeks insya'Allah. We will also get to know your gender.

Your Ayah and Nyai is guessing girl whereas I still have no clue. I kindaaaa have a feeling it's a boy though from the shape of my tummy. But Ayah said it looks different this time round. Don't cheat my feelings leh. Hahaha. Show your true shape please!

Well, we will see lah eh. Like I once told Ayah, it doesn't quite matter girl or boy this time. All I know is if we plan to have a third one insya'Allah, to be much more careful in the family planning department (not because I don't believe in rezeki and qadar Allah), but I need the time to recuperate especially since my recent Prolapse episode.

To-do: More kegels!

ADRIAAN:
Few updates pertaining to this son of mine haha.

- He is no longer "butt-heavy" and "lazy" to use his leg muscles to stand. He has shown keen interest to start walking. Good progress but no rush though! I would prefer him to take his own sweet time and crawl longer.
- He has his sleep regression episodes. *cries* It comes and goes. There are weeks where he'll sleep through the night so SO peacefully. But there are nights where he'll be jolted awake either by his own version of nightmare or just wanna play and not sleep. Pfft.
- I've started giving him 2 meals per day, one in the afternoon for lunch and one in the evening at 6pm. There'll be 2 different purée flavours for his meals. He'll be turning 1 years old about 4 months' time and I need to get him used to more food. Time is running out and I've yet to explore more food options for him. He's still "stuck" at some 4-6 months' old food range. :/ I've yet to start him on Baby-led weaning (BLW) because 1, we don't have a high chair for him to sit on it quietly and explore. 2, my husband HATES mess, in CAPS, Bold, Italics, Underline kinda seriousness of hatred. Hahaha. But I hope to explore when his Ayah is not around, with fruits that are more soft like bananas (can you try bananas again, Adriaan?), Avocados or dragon fruit? Insya'Allah.

To-do: Buy more fruit and vegetables, and maybe try starting him on fish and meat?

Alright, that's it for the updates this time round.
Note: This is just a skeleton of a proper update espesh on my renovation progress. Will do a more proper one with visuals. Hehe!

A new beginning: Renovation of our Humble Abode

So since we have successfully received our house keys back in late December, we have been procrastinating our renovation. We put it on hold because we were too occupied with mending to Adriaan and learning the ropes of becoming new parents. And uhhh... we just didn't know how and where to start. Lol.

Come April, both of us decided to get things moving by deciding on how we should renovate the house according to the decent budget we have. Remember we used up our savings meant for the renovation to pay for the shortfall to HDB? Haa...haaa...haaaaa....

Did a Powerpoint slide document by attaching our floor plan and include pictures from the net that inspired us (or mostly me lah eh - because I design, Mr. J approve/reject).

Disclaimer: Pardon the disorganization of the pictures with improper pixels and such because we were rushing through it. :p

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Our floor plan:

Our suggested floor plan - construction:

 

LIVING ROOM INSPIRATION

Design of L-Box: 

Suggested width of L-Box:

DINING AREA / KITCHEN AREA INSPIRATION

 

(Credit: 9 Creation)

The other side of the kitchen:

(Credit: 9 Creation)

Marble-like backsplash:

(Credit: Instagram of Cortese Architects)

MBR & COMMON TOILETS

Overlay of floor tiles:

(Credit: www.theblockshop.com.au)

Wash-basin & marble-like table top:

(Credit: http://www.contemporist.com/)

Bi-fold door louvres design for toilets:

BEDROOM DOORS

Classic doors:

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With the Powerpoint "proposal" ready, we dropped an email to 3 companies (Contractors) and only 1 replied. Hahaha! That makes things easier for us, I guess? We didn't really go shopping for other contractors after the reply because... malas? :/ Besides, I think they did a great job with Deeyanah's house.

Steven gave us a quotation and we went through it, taking out some parts of the quotation and letting him know that we do not require them. He didn't insist that we should have them included, which was nice. Of course, we should really know what we want.

We managed to bring the quotation cost down by $3k which I think is not too bad?

At the same time, we had the BSC to rectify the minor defects and then we are good to go :)

Renovation progress will be discussed at the next entry, Insya'Allah... :)