Renovating Our Humble Home

Hi everyone,

I’ve finally managed to find the time to sift through the gazillion photos of our recent renovation for the purpose of this blogpost.

The renovation phase was insanely exciting, to say the least. As I had mentioned before, we had a dateline (my SIL’s wedding). That means we only had a two month renovation period - to break down a patio, erect new walls and roof to build a completely new dining hall, expand the maid room, plus an outdoor gazebo constructed from scratch. Insane! Here are the two main reasons why we made the dateline (1) by having a dedicated and transparent renovation contractor, and (2) by being able to make quick nerve-wrecking decisions.

It wasn’t just about decisions on type of tiles… hhmmpphhh that was probably the simplest of the lot. But I’m talking about making tough and hard decisions on the layout, height of ceiling, interior paint, lighting placement, style of wainscoting, plaster ceiling plans... and the list goes on and on.

Thank god we had LDC Wijrah.

LDC Wijrah simplified most of the decisions for us by providing sound advice and proposed layouts for our consideration. Just after a week meeting them, they came back with two proposals for the dining hall including options for roofing, plaster ceiling and its corresponding lighting. With their advise, we made our choice within a day. As for the maid’s room expansion, while they were in the midst of hacking the walls, I requested for a last minute change. Within a few hours, they worked on a revised layout and a cost impact, which we authorized on the spot.

The next hurdle was siting the outdoor gazebo. After a long and hard debate (I love how they were not shy about turning down most of our suggestions. It helps to have an equally opinionated challenger, who is not only experienced, but is able to make you see the pros and cons of each outcome. I rather have constructive discussions than a contractor who is simply a yes-man to all my ideas…), we finally made the tough decision to chop down our pokok kemboja and sacrifice our favourite plot of lush green grass for the gazebo.

They were very accommodating too. Due to time constraints, they arranged for a live WhatsApp chat for purchasing light fixtures – where Hubby and I made real time choices through photos (supported by their recommendations) while they were physically at the shop! So thank you LDC Wijrah, for your dedication and passion in making our house beautiful.

Before I move on to the actual photos, allow me to show you the original house plan versus the layout proposed by LDC Wijrah. LDC Wijrah renovated our house when we first moved in to Cahaya SPK, hence here’s their layout of our house from post initial renovation. (Note that we didn’t proceed with the wood decking as per the picture, as Hubby was awfully fond of his grassy garden.)

Original layout.

And here’s the current layout of our house. The patio is now gone, and replaced by a completely new structure (our new dining hall). Also, LDC Wijrah proposed a double volume ceiling; therefore we had to agree to close up the two windows right on top of the new structure. The outdoor gazebo is now where Hubby’s favourite pokok lalang used to be. We even extended the wood decking from the maid’s room all the way to the gazebo – hence every morning, my maid wakes up to such a beautiful view from her bedroom window!

Post renovation layout.

If you've been following my blog previously, you're probably familiar with how my living hall and dining hall are separated by the patio. With this renovation, the living and dining hall is now connected and the space feels so open and airy. The double volume ceiling makes it feel even more spacious than before.

Right after LDC Wijrah was done with the renovations, Lentera Creative came in with the ID. Why hire an interior decorator? Well, Hubby and I have quite contrasting ideas about interior deco, and we don't trust ourselves in making bold (and expensive) decisions. So, we agreed to disagree on our views, and hire a professional instead. We told them what we liked (modern luxury, mirror furniture) and then they came to view the house. I also told them that they had to match our existing carpet, wainscoting walls (read about my DIY wainscoting adventures here) and the colour tone of the new chesterfield sofa we bought here. Other than that, they had the free reign of choosing everything (within our budget, of course).

Boy was I glad we decided to hire them. We were asked to leave the house for a couple of hours while they 'transformed' the house. Our jaws dropped when we returned later... They exceeded our expectations in so many ways!!! So much love for their work. I'll save my compliments for when we get to the photos below.

Anyway, for those of you still reading, here are the photos post renovation and interior decorations:

The view from the front door. Major love!

Moved our chandelier to the living hall to give it a grandeur feel.

These are our existing arm chairs which Lentera refurbished. I never knew purple would go so well with our Persian carpet! And that mirrored double drawers by Lentera is simply to die for. *drool*

The day bed on the left is also an existing piece of furniture. Lentera only refurbished the pillows to purple to match the arm chairs.

Orchids in my living hall.

The sole reason why we hired Lentera in the first place... the curtains! I love the pleats and the drape of the material. Till now, none of the boys are allowed to unravel the pleats. Unless they want to hear Mummy screaming till Timbuktu! *chuckles*

If it was up to me, I would probably buy some crystal table lamps to match the mirrored furniture. But Amran of Lentera laughed and said no way. He bought these instead, macam lampu kat hotel (so he says). I have to admit, he's absolutely right! The table lamps look so grand, perched on top of matching mirrored side tables. 

The intricate stems of the orchid bouquet.

Lentera made my bargain chesterfield sofa, look like a million dollars! And who knew, that chevron pillows would look so polished in a modern luxurious living room? (See, that's why you hire an interior designer) *chuckles*

The view from behind our chesterfield sofa. Can you see the next highlight of the living hall?

Lentera chose this beautiful console, which compliments (instead of overshadows) our wainscoting. 

I love the matching mirror too. And who knew that leaves in bottles would look this good? *giggles*

The huge bouquet of flowers practically covered all off the mirror. It's slightly eccentric, but we love it!

Blooming flowers.

I was initially quite hesitant about adding a coffee table to our living hall (plus the fear of bursting our budget). But I'm so glad Amran talked us into it, because if not, the living hall would look so empty! And of course, it is functional too. Excellent for serving guests in a formal setting.

Purple armchairs, Persian carpet, chevron pillows, grey curtains, console, mirrored furniture, table lamps and wainscoting. No way in hell Hubby and I would have managed this on our own.

The view from our staircase. See how our living hall and dining hall are now connected to each other?

Wood paneling by LDC Wijrah, made from recycled wood. Demarcates the dining hall from the walkway heading to the back of the house.

LDC Wijrah also made a door leading out to our new outdoor gazebo, patio and garden. I'll save photos of our ourdoor gazebo for a separate post, ok?

'

Final photo for this post. *phewwwww*

Sorry for the overdose of photos, but there were so many things that I wanted to share with all of you. As always, thanks for reading, and pray hard that those photos of our outdoor gazebo, gets to see the light of the day. Stay tuned (I hope)! *grin* Meanwhile, take a look at how we revamped our family hall, DIY style - here!

Raya 2016 - Part 3!

We've been getting warnings of deteriorating weather offshore, hence we've been idling for a few days. Which of course, gives me some spare time to blog.

But before I start blogging on my offshore adventures, I simply must recap Part 3 (and later Part 4) of my Eid, which also marked the end of my Syawal onshore. Since I was given the bonus of an extra weekend home, I cramped as many open houses as possible on Saturday (Part 3, this post), while I had guests over all day long on Sunday (Part 4).

On Saturday, we had 5 invites to attend, and incidentally each and every one of it was in the Shah Alam area. It made commute very easy, and we didn't even have time to feel hungry. Everyone certainly fed us well that day.

Kicked off with breakfast at our insurance and unit trust agent's house. Good spread of freshly made roti bom, kuey teow and nasi lemak bungkus. Kenyang! But we still had to make space for 4 other houses!

My three boys matching in green.

After that, we headed to a small get together at Dayang's house. Of all the things she served us, the ikan bilis goreng became the main attraction of the day. Once we started snacking on those, we simply couldn't stop! Next, we all went to Yay's house in Denai Alam. I was already full by then, and I wasn't able to put anymore Raya themed food in my tummy, so I had yummy lasagna instead. Bajrangi Bhaijaan was on TV (have you watched that movie? I thought it was quite good) and as soon as the show ended we said our goodbyes and hastily left for the next house.

Of course, we managed to squeeze in a group photo together.

Missing another two!

From there, we headed to my in-laws place as they were having a small get together for family. They made laksa sarawak but frankly, I barely touched anything as I was already feeling so bloated with all the food I had consumed since morning. After that, we rushed home to get ready for the SPK neighborhood open house where I was in charge of the dessert table. Unfortunately it poured cats and dogs that night. So there I was all dressed up in my beautiful baju raya, only to then pair it with Crocs. Stylo eh?

Love the flowers from the caterers. Definitely drew the attention away from those two balang tutup merah. *giggles*

Due to the rain, everyone had to cramp underneath the tents. The vendors (apam balik, char kuey teow, coconut shake) were also shielding from the rain under their small umbrellas. Seats were limited, the ground was muddy, but the food was good! Despite the rain we still managed to pose for decent pictures.

Wearing Matase Sutera.

Lovely neighbours.

Kudos to the Cahaya SPK Welfare Committee for making it happen.

Okay, stay tuned for Part 4!

Iftar Weekend with the SPK and BBGS Girls!

It was certainly a crazy weekend... we had to squeeze two major buka puasa events that same week!

As always, Hubby doesn't like to go out for iftar. He's willing to make an exception somewhat for the first half of Ramadhan; but the last ten days are a big no-no for him. That, plus the dateline of my helper leaving for her Raya holidays... meant that we had to squeeze iftar with both equally important groups, on the same weekend!

On Friday night, the SPK gang came over. Pot luck style as usual. Out of the six, one is always the designated cook. She is so good at cooking and efficient in the kitchen, that she usually ends up making the main dish. The rest supplements it with whatever we can. So that day we had ikan patin masak tempoyak, pucuk tempoyak, ikan talapia sambal, sup tulang (made using that famous Noxxa), ayam goreng, daging hitam, sayur campur... and for moreh, meehoon goreng, satay and murtabak!

Superb dessert line too - cucur udang, buah melaka (some people call it onde-onde), karipap, tepung pelita (Aiden's favourite), keropok (for Ian) and last but not least, I ordered an orange cake with chia seeds. Chia seeds are now all the rage for losing weight, so that night we used that rationale to justify our cake frenzy session!

Extensive spread.

Dessert area... oh my calories! And that's 10 cups of rice for six families. 

The men enjoying their food after solat maghrib. The ladies... lepas azan dah terus makan!

Moreh time!

Cheeky group photo.

After the group photoshoot, we moved to the garden for our yearly tradition. We've been writing messages using sparklers since we became friends in 2011, making this our 5th Eid together. In 2014, we realized that we had to start including the year within the message, so that we could keep track of the photos. So here's a compilation of our sparkler shots since 2012 till now. (Read about our past iftars here and here.)

From bottom to top, 2012 till 2016.

Here are the full shots from this year's attempt:

The full 2016 shot.

That's not PM but rather DM6 - the number signifies the number of ladies in the gang.

This one is a new one - one of the daddies eagerly joined in for the 'underline' at the bottom.

The next day was all about the BBGS ladies. Last year it was held at my house, but this year we decided to beralih angin to Dayang's house. Out of the 7, only 5 were able to make it. Since I was in charge of dessert (they were hoping that I would make pavlova), I took the lazy way out and bought cucur udang instead. #soontobemaidless #malasnakkecahrumah

Aiden was given a huge privilege that night. Since he was the only child fasting that day, he was allowed to sit at the big table with the other adults. I've said this once but I'll say this again - I am really impressed by his dedication at fasting. Hubby and I never expected for him to be able to fast full day, everyday, to date. He has exceeded our expectations!

Kesian Aiden gigit jari tunggu waktu berbuka.

All of us smiling after a full meal of nasi arab.

Then we moved on to desserts!

Meanwhile, the kids were busy in the toy area. Ian seems to really enjoy cooking! #realmencancook

Oh my, two anak dara flanking Aiden!

Ian finally came out to join the fun.

My BBGS girls have started adopting the tradition too!

Here's our shot for 2016. (Dayang, how come you can't even make a straight number 1???) *giggles*

Confident enough to hold it on his own!

While Hubby was taking shots of Ian holding his own sparklers, I was always just by Ian's side to ensure that he didn't touch the fire... or anything of that sort. Of course nothing happened while we were being vigilant. Just a few minutes later while the gang were doing our sparkler messages... as soon as the sparklers died out, I immediately walked to Hubby to review the shot, andddddd guess what happened.... Ian came up to me and grasped the end of my sparkler, in an attempt to take it. Although the fire had died out, it was still hot! He immediately let go and started crying. I was shocked... but thankfully nothing serious - only a slightly reddish mark on his palm. *sigh* Hard lesson learnt - always throw away your sparklers before reviewing the shot!

Last photo for the night.

As if one camera wasn't enough!

Thank you SPK and BBGS ladies, for a wonderful iftar together. You know who you are! *smiles*