Hob and Hood

Did you guys manage to visit HomeDec over the weekend? We haven't been to one in yearsssss (our house is already completely furnished and there isn't space nor money for anything new)!

But we were desperate for a new hob and hood. Our two-burner Elba hob has been giving us flame problems for years - to the point that we've been depending only on one burner for as long as I can remember! Our Elba hood is a similar story too - the suction power just isn't enough to keep our goreng goreng smell from wafting out of the kitchen. Every time we have ayam penyek or sambal belacan for dinner, we would have to bear with the smell after effects, all night long! The hood is also a pain to clean, and judging from the amount of grease it collects - it doesn't do much of a good job.

Obviously we needed a new hob - one that would fit in the existing recess in our granite top, and a hood - one that is great at extracting and keeps my kitchen and house smell free!

We arrived at HomeDec bright and early; determined to make a choice and to get out of there before we made any additional damage. But of course, banyaknyaaaaa dugaan before finally arrived at the hob and hood section. Instead of starting from Hall 1 (where the hob/hood were) like everyone else, we got lost and started from Hall 5 instead! Adoiiiiii... Terus sangkut tengok swimming pool, artificial grass, wrought iron gates. Bla bla bla.

Anywayyyyy we finally arrived at the hobs and hoods. We crossed Elba (and Rubine) out of the list awal awal (although it was one of the cheapest in the lot), and narrowed it down to three which was within our budget - Livinox, Fagor and Brandt. (Kalau budget lebih I think the favourite brands are Fujioh, Teka and Electrolux.)

This is Elba. Their slanted hood (suction power 1400 m3/hr) was the most futuristic looking of all, and one of the cheapest too. Quite a turn off that the offered hob (the upper one) did not come with an auto cut-off flame system. I thought this should be standard by now!

This is Livinox (suction power 1200m3/hr). Note the German flag on the tag.

We then did our online research and crossed Livinox out. Why? Because the salesperson marketed it as being designed and made in German, even going as far as sticking a German flag on the price tag - whereas the Internet states that it was only designed jointly with a German-based company but assembled locally. Don't get me wrong - I have no issues with locally assembled products but I hate being misinformed!

Brandt on the other hand was very vocal about their local roots. They identified with their French background but were quick to point out their Singaporean roots. In the end it was a close horse race between Fagor and Brandt - same hood suction power but Fagor cheaper by ~RM200.

This is Fagor (suction power 1300 m3/hr). The sales person even offered us an additional RM100 off because it was nearly the end of the day.

This is Brandt (suction power 1300 m3/hr). They offered a free gift of either a set of knifes or a magic pan.

The Brand hob.

Finally we went with Brandt (their marketing won, hands down - we were given brownies and even a pack of cookies to take home)! As I type this, we're awaiting the delivery of our goods, so wish us luck with our new appliances!

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?

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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!

Final Week of Renovation!

I am literally having heart palpitations as I'm typing this. We're exactly a week from the date! Although the bulk of the renovations are done, but there are still so many minute tasks that have not been completed.

My renovation contractor is going full speed at trying to complete everything as soon as possible. I know they're trying really hard so kudos to them. It's great when you've developed such a personal relationship with the team - somehow you are reassured that your home is in good hands.

This afternoon the ID consultant will be coming to decorate and revamp the new living hall hence the house needs to be cleared out and cleaned by then. Tomorrow the gardener is coming to spruce up the garden, hence the great outdoors need to be cleared out by then as well. With all the work left to do, I don't know whether these datelines can be met. I guess we'll find out in a few hours. *sigh*

Anyway, I took some pictures of the empty house (I cleared as much as I could) yesterday, in preparation for the ID folks. Sharing them here with you!

The empty living room.

View from the front door. See how the patio is now the dining hall? Note that we explicitly told our renovation contractor to maintain our DIY wainscoting wall!

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New wainscoting wall from our renovation contractor. We also moved the hallway chandelier to this living hall.

Our dining hall. We moved our long chandelier from the attic to this dining hall.

Timber separator to demarcate the dining hall from the hallway.

I don't know whether I'll have the time to blog about the house post revamp, as I'll probably be pulling my hair out, freaking out about hosting guests at our home for my sister in law's wedding. But I promise to do so once the event is done and dusted. Wish me luck!

A Month of Dust

Hello peeps!

Sorry for the two week hiatus. Things have been crazy since I started my new role; moving my stuff (two floors down), sifting through documents to decide on what to keep and what to shred, writing my farewell note and having intro calls with my new team around the region. (I'm responsible for the Asia Pacific region and China, hence have to connect virtually with the rest of the team sitting outside of KL.) Even in my first week, i was given work commitments that involved me dashing to KLCC twice (plus some side Pokemon Go time for me too).

On the home-front, things have been equally chaotic. Renovation is going full on and the only two rooms usable in the house are the master bedroom and Aiden's room (which my maid is residing in temporarily). Everywhere else is either full of stored furniture, or covered in dust. It has been a bit over a month and we are still not done with the wet works!!! Aaarrrggghhh. Well, not completely the contractor's fault cos we kept adding VOs (variation orders) - from changing the orientation of the back door to increasing the height of our garden walls. Hopefully this week they get to lay the tiles, plaster and erect the new folding door frame, so that I can get moving with the curtains measurement.

Shopping wise, my list is a mile long. Unfortunately the list isn't filled with handbags or shoes, but rather pretty boring stuff. Electrical items, new upholstery for the wing chairs, laminates for the TV panel, wood paneling for wainscoting etc etc. Not to forget, the to do list is equally long as well and I'm getting nowhere with trimming it down. Everything from engaging a contractor to polish our solid surface to the trivial stuff such as buying a new lock for the door. *pulls hair out*

Anyway, here's a first glimpse of our renovation progress throughout the entire month. It is currently approximately two weeks away from completion, which gives us about a week to scramble around and get the house cleaned and prepped for Hubby's sister's wedding (yes, we have a dateline!!), in which our house will be the family headquarters.

On the left, the first photo I took as soon as I got home from offshore. They had removed the grass to make a slab (for wood decking). Then they started working on the structures.

Casting of the new dining hall structure.

Putting in the wood trusses and roof.

Since the new dining hall will have a high ceiling, they had to cover up our first floor windows so they can start erecting the roof from the mid span of the said windows.

Wooden trusses inside our dining hall.

We decided to make our maid's room bigger too. And as a last minute after thought, moved the back door as well. So glad we made that decision - it now looks as if she has her own pretty little cottage! *giggle*

Our garden walls are higher too! Now we can no longer main pass pass Ian over the fence. *chuckles* He has to walk to school instead!

Cheeky Ian. He just found his love for jumping; every time I say "Cheese", he think's its a cue for him to jump!

The old dining hall (soon to be new family hall) wall was bricked up and cemented. The TV panel will be moved to this wall. In order to save some cash, we decided to DIY the TV panel refurbishment - wait for the blogpost!

We also stripped the walls clean. There goes my prized brick wallpaper. Out with the old, in with the new. We're going full on with wainscoting!

That's it for now. Pray hard that the schedule doesn't slip any further... if not we'll be in deep s**t. (Sorry for the profanities; it is 247 am and I am still feeling the after effects of my unsuccessful Ash Blue Duck Battle just two hours earlier. Hopefully my PS scores one for me later today!)

Looking forward to the long weekend. Have a good one, girls! *smiles*

Random Ramblings

Happy Sunday peeps. As you can see, I've been spending my offshore leave catching up on backdated posts. So here's a brief update on what I've been up to during my time at home.

I mentioned our house renovation briefly in this post. And yessssss it is finally going full swing! They started just two days before I came home and in just a week and a bit, most of the wet works are done. If you don't know what we're up to, here's a brief recap. The plan is to break the patio to make a new dining hall, while the current dining hall will be turned into a family hall. Hence the TV in the living hall will be moved to the back, so the living hall becomes more 'formal', and guests can chat properly without being distracted by the kids watching Disney Channel!

Still keeping to the subject of renovations, I spent my first weekend at dry land hunting for new furniture. I think age has finally caught up to me; I find myself admiring mirror furniture and chesterfield sofas. I went to check out SSF for mirror coffee tables and consoles... Nearly pengsan looking at the price. On the other hand, we were driving to Denai Alam to order curtains when we saw a signage pointing to a furniture warehouse sale. I went there with zero expectations and zero intentions (siap boleh main Pokemon Go lagi when we arrived). Pandang everything sebelah mata until my eyes landed on the one and only piece worth staring at. It was a suede chesterfield sofa. Hubby joked with the shopkeeper, "Nie kalau jual RM600 saya beli". I gelak gelak jer. Well guess what?? Since we started at such a low price (we were joking, seriously!), he sold it to us for 1K. We bought it on the spot! (Lepas tuh sekarang pening kepala mana nak campak our old sofa uurrghhhh!!!)

Sneak preview of our sofa. Wait for the official reveal later!

Even Ian is holding a four digit price tag!

Wannabe Avatars!

I took advantage of my offshore leave to fulfill some blogging expectations. I was at Malaysiakini early this week. To get there I had to drive by several factories, but when I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Malaysiakini office. A homely office with unfinished walls, quirky graffiti/sketches and a laid back ambience. Will you be reading about me in Malaysiakini anytime soon? All good things I hope! After the meeting my blog manager brought me for a damn fine banana leaf lunch at Kana Nasi Kandar. Blew my calorie count that day!

No, I'm not about to become a politician.

After more than two weeks at sea, everything looks too good to resist!

Hubby (and I) are bitten by the Pokemon Go craze. Despite my vehement attempts at deflecting the urge, I succumbed to the temptation and joined Aiden in his quest for Pikachu. Hubby's friends pulak memang gila main the game so he jumped on the bandwagon as well. I find myself driving out of the way just to get to Pokestops, and driving slowlyyyyyy (which is so unlike me) to hatch eggs. A few days ago, I actually called hubby up and the first thing I said was, "Yang! Kenape I tak boleh amik anymore balls? Dia kata the bag is full!" Hahahahahahahaha after he explained how to unload the bag baru we laughed about our conversation. And just yesterday we were soft banned because Hubby and I turned on the game on two different devices at two different locations. Berpeluh jugak when we couldn't collect balls from our usual Pokestops. In the end I calmed myself down, shut down the game and went grocery shopping. By the time I was done, it was working again. Phewww!!!

We actually turned the game into a family affair! We went to eCurve, sat down between two Pokestops (Johnny Rockets), turned on a magic egg and evolved a week's worth of Pokemon candy!

Aiden's 'calculations' for Pokemon evolutions.

Ian started potty training on Thursday. Since all our furniture and carpets were in storage for the renovation, it was a perfect time to try. (Clean ups are way easier on bare floors!) So far so good, sometimes he says "pee pee" and we rush him to the toilet. Other times he'll say "pee pee" while watching his pee streaming down his legs. *gasp* I hope he gets the hang of it soon!!!!

Still on Ian, he has somehow cultivated the habit of putting his fingers in his mouth. Every time I caution him, "Ian, finger out!", he'll calmly take it out but then fiddle his fingers near his chin as if he did nothing wrong. Macam macam perangai! Also, since Hubby started allowing him to sleep on our bed while I was away, we're having a tough time kicking him out again!!! He would bawl his eyes out in sorrow, and he would insist on holding hands - him on the mattress on the floor while hubby or me on our bed. Lenguh tangan weih! And then in the middle of the night, he would climb onto our bed, then at Subuh, Aiden pulak joins him. (Aiden memang penakut that way!)

Development wise, he's very chatty. Lovessssss watching us play Pokemon Go (poyeayonnnn), knows to answer his name and age, knows most alphabets and numbers, anddddddd stopped going to school. Yup! Since my maid came back, he refused to step foot at school again. I don't feel like forcing him (he's not even 3 yet!) so I guess I'll be doing the whole "first day of school" drama with Ian again next year.

My cheeky poyeayonnnn posing with his Pichu (Pikachu).

Aiden got some of his exam results. So far he has scored all As in his core subjects, and awaiting the last paper, Bahasa Malaysia. However, his Pendidikan Islam results were not good. If speaking Malay was a huge hurdle for my boy, imagine having to decipher jawi too. *sigh* Butttttt I have to give him credit for the below. Since jawi is written from right to left, he decided that his name and class had to be written that way too. Talk about thinking out of the box!! *chuckles*

Must give him points for creativity!

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Pray that we survive through this thick layer of dust surrounding the house, courtesy of the renovation!

Have a good week ahead!