Revamping Our Dining Hall

Our revamped dining hall.

Back when we were renovating the house and buying furniture to make our house into a home, the shopaholic in me always wanted new everything - new furniture, new wallpaper, new fixtures, new decorations... the list never ended. Thankfully, since opposites attract, Hubby is the more practical one in the relationship. His mantra is, if everything is new, then everything gets old at the same time. Waiting makes it more exciting, or so he says. By reusing our old furniture, we get to have mini projects to upgrade portions of the house to gradually phase those old furniture out. And by waiting, we would probably have more cash to splurge on furniture, rather than stretching our cash to buy new furniture all at the same time. Heh, I guess he did have a point.

So I waited. And finally that one fine day came along. After our last mini project of revamping our living hall, Hubby was ready to embark on our next project, which is to not only revamp our dining hall, but upgrade our flooring and dry kitchen walls as well! We went shopping for wooden flooring and tiles that very weekend. Excited mode lah katakan. But of course, despite having only those two items on the list, we walked out of the shop with more than that. Erm.. that usually happens when you bring a shopaholic like me on a shopping trip!

Yes, I don't know which side of the bed Hubby woke up to that morning, but he agreed to purchase my dream crystal drop chandelier. God knows how long I have been dreaming for it! Therefore when he said yes, I didn't ask much. Grab and pay - now that's my mantra. *grin*

Our ID Contractor putting the tiles on. Hubby and I spent close to an hour in the shop arguing about which tiles to choose. In the end we compromised - he got his dark coloured tiles, I got my bling bling! Look closely at the tiles to see the bling diamonds!

It was quite a complicated job to install the crystal drop chandelier. Mainly because they couldn't erect a ladder to access the spot between the staircases, and secondly because they couldn't remember where they hid the lighting point! Thankfully they could access the spot from the attic staircase, and managed to find the point after punching a few holes in my plaster ceiling.

Funny story - the chandelier looked so long in the shop that I actually asked them for a shorter drop. I must have misjudged the height of our house, because after installation, you could barely see the chandelier when standing at the side of the staircase on the ground floor! Hubby cracked up laughing when I told him I actually wanted the chandelier drop to fall all the way to the ground floor. Okayyyy fine... next project then! For now, I'll just enjoy the beauty of the chandelier from the door of my master bedroom! *ppffttt*

Reaching out from the attic staircase.

I still love it!

Patching the holes.

The view of the crystal drop chandelier from my master bedroom.

Our staircase wall now has pictures!

Hah no wonder lah Hubby cracked up laughing - look at where the drop ends. Nie jengah dari bawah tangga pun tak tentu nampak! *grin*

Meanwhile, this cheeky boy is also on a mission to help Daddy with a project of his own. Yup, painting the walls white! After being in this house for two years, Aiden has accumulated a commendable number of fingerprints and marks on the walls.

Having breakfast. Notice the dining table set is still the old one, but the flooring is new!

Cheap labour, anyone?

Handsome Aiden.

Being careful not to splatter any paint on the new wooden flooring.

This was probably one of our last few meals using the old dining table set.

Nasi dagang lauk ayam (as I always cook it) with acar, ketupat and rendang. Oh, my maid makes the most scrumptious daging dendeng ever. That's the one in the crystal square bowl on the left. *drool*

I remember buying this dining set while I was in Russia. Hubby was in the shop (in Malaysia), and I was on the phone with him, coaxing him to buy it to replace my Mum's dining set that we were using back then. I was especially happy with the chairs that I had picked, and I couldn't wait to get home to try them!

You have come a long way with us! Farewell table and chairs.

Now for the new dining table set. Hubby was leaning towards those natural cut wood slabs for the table. I didn't really mind - until I saw the price tag! I think it was at least 15k for just the slab, then you would have to add on the table base and chairs separately. Erm, thanks but no thanks. I on the other hand, didn't really fancy a conventional wooden table so finally we decided to settle for marble. Not those plain marble tables, but natural grained marble. And we found the perfect one in grey Italian marble, while we were walking around the HomeDec exhibition in KLCC. That was easy! Next came the arduous task of choosing the right chairs to match the table. Since the table was quite a complicated piece, we both felt that the chairs should be simple but tasty. It took us 3 trips to the shop to finalize our chairs! Then after finalizing the chairs, we had to wait an additional 3 months for delivery since the marble table was custom made to measure. Aarrgghhhh the agony!

Then finally, it arrived!

It took four men to haul and assemble the marble table.

An 8-seater to accommodate our growing family, and our love for entertaining people.

New grey curtains and grey blinds to match the dining table.

We moved the day bed to the dining area. Aiden loves that spot and would lie on the day bed while I bake in the dry kitchen.

Previously, every time my in-laws came over for dinner, two of his sisters would have to sit at the dry kitchen counter due to lack of chairs. Now that we have an 8-seater, everyone gets a seat, but since my SIL just got married, we're back to not having enough chairs for my new brother in law!

I simply love the natural grain of the marble.

By chance, the curl design of the chair we chose, matched the curl design of the day bed!

Flowers, on a matching marble side table.

My dry kitchen now has a TV! So now we get to watch TV while having dinner, or for some entertainment when I bake especially when frosting a cake during the wee hours of the night.

My baking corner.

My ever enterprising husband placed leftover tiles on the kitchen counter as a base for our knife block set and spice jars. Can you see the bling of the tiles?

I wonder what our next project would be! Hmmmm...