Opening A New Chapter Of Our Lives ... 2nd Home In 7 Years

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Patio Floor Tiling 3 tilers at work, all at once.

Wood-like Ceramic Tiles in the Patio Outside the Kitchen. BestView Glass Doors.

Floor tiles are levelled with tracks

The original water drainage hole is near the Patio Glass Doors. We asked for water drainage to be re-directed away from the house, and so this pipe was put in. This section is still waiting to be levelled with cement, before tiling can commence.

Patio Grouting

[Chunky Monkey 2]

3 Dec 07

The weather has been real kind, and alot were accomplished on Sat and today.

I arrived at the house to realise that I am short of one stairwell light, the glass casing of one light is broken, and I haven't bought enough sink and bath mixers. On top of that, the Somfy control switches for my motorised awnings have also gone missing. The awnings were installed about a month ago, and the installer had passed to me the switches for safe keeping! My guess is that they were chucked out by mistake. I cannot recall where I might have left them. I didn't want to waste time and energy harping on them, so I called the boss of the company and asked for replacements. I was hoping he would give new ones to me out of goodwill but he said the best he can do, is to sell them to me at cost. Sigh.

Here are some new photos ....

Living Room Ceiling Fan

56" Crestar with remote control. I asked for KDK but was advised that Crestar is more durable.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Kitchen - Kitchen Sink Area

It should take a few more days for the tiling of the kitchen walls and floor to be completed.

Picture of Kitchen door and window from inside the Kitchen

Picture of Kitchen door and window from the Patio

We have selected white glossy homogeneous tiles for the kitchen wall, because we want the tiles to recede into the background when the kitchen is all done up. The prominence of the kitchen is the design of the kitchen cabinets, and we don't wish to have coloured tiles to distract one's attention away from appreciating what DH and I have painstakingly planned for our open concept kitchen. Not much walls will be seen anyway when all the wall hung cabinets go up onto the wall. From our past experiences with our kitchens, we know there is no such thing as too much storage space.

The ceiling height of our kitchen is 2700 mm. Let's just say we are building all the way to the top

One of the workers filling up the gap above the window/door frame with cement. I kindly asked him to make sure he fills the gap properly. I don't wish for regular visits of lizards from the outside!

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Outdoor Wash Area

We experienced fatigue by the time we got to the planning for our maid's wash area. It would have been wonderful if we could use the entire Patio as entertainment space, but reality bites. We couldn't possibly make her squeeze her daily chores in an unthinkable corner of the house. So we have no choice but to sacrifice some space, and dedicate that to our maid's wash area.

This space is right behind the kitchen window and door.

We are building a concrete work top for our maid, and will install an aluminium cabinet under it, so she can store the buckets and cleaning brushes in there. And beside this, we will place a small, 2-door garden shed; where she can use it to store all the cleaning products. With these, there is no reason any wet stuff would be inside the house.

This is where the washing machine, dryer (one that we have had for years but never used) and spare refrigerator will go. We intend to keep one of our old fridges until it kaputs.

In the next couple of days, the workers will build up a concrete stand to support the huge slob sink we wish to have outside the house for handwashing of stuff.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Staircase - between Kitchen and Living Room

We decided on installing sliding doors to enclose the stairwell, so as to contain the cool air when we switch on our ceiling cassette aircons.

I am actually disappointed that it's taking a much longer time to get this set of doors installed than I'd originally expected. I can't help but wonder if the delay is due to the manufacture of the tempered glass which I want to have safety film on them?? Anyway, James from Doors' Plus recommended me to use hand-painted door & frames but that idea didn't sit well with me for days on end, and I finally bit the bullet and went ahead with spray-painted doors instead. I know that they are costly but I really do not like the roughness of freshly painted wooden doors >> I can see all the wood fibres as well as bristles that drop from new paint brushes.

Matching Pendant Lamps

I bought these matching pendant lamps at a warehouse sale. If memory serves me correctly, the RRP was S$68. I got it with a 60% discount. Probably the best buy in the whole house! LOL!

One lamp each at opposite ends of the Living Room

[renoGirl 1]

Did you "moved" your photos to another folder in the photobucket album after u upload them? I couldnt see any pictures from the past few posts.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Did you "moved" your photos to another folder in the photobucket album after u upload them? I couldnt see any pictures from the past few posts.

No I haven't moved my photos. Can you see them now?

[Chunky Monkey 2]

4 Dec 07

The Dorma glass door guys delivered the tempered glass today. Installation is not until Thursday morning, because the tilers are tiling the floor. And because I will be having a Dorma floor lock, the floor must be tiled before this lock can be installed.

The tilers started tiling the kitchen floor today. I am guessing that the floor would have been fully tiled by now. One final site measurement, and the factory can go full steam ahead to make my kitchen cabinets.

I realised today that I am short of a few sink/shower/bath mixers and called Hoe Kee to deliver my additional order tomorrow. They are so familiar with me, that they are willing to take a phone order.

I was very pleased to learn that Fascina will be installing our new uPVC windows and doors this Thursday. This comes as a real surprise as I was only expecting installation to be done next week!

Can't wait for more progress.

[renoGirl 1]

No I haven't moved my photos. Can you see them now?

yups. big and clear.

Me too. I cant wait for more progress. My reno progress is getting freaking slow until I lost the motivation to T-blog.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

6 Dec 07

I so wish to go and supervise the installation of the uPVC doors and windows. But figured that since my main contractor is already there, I can escape from all the dust and the potential installation challenges. I am thinking between the site supervisor from Fascina and my main contractor, they should be experienced enough to sort out everything. I just want to see the finished job tomorrow!

[Chunky Monkey 2]

8 Dec 07

The factory delivered all the carcasses for my kitchen today. They filled the entire kitchen floor space, with literally no walking space left. Come Monday, the installers will arrive and fix up all the cabinets. I suspect the cabinet doors will be on Tuesday, since my designer told me that they will require 2 days for the installation. I can't wait!

And on Monday, the electrician will also fix up the DB and fix all the leftover lights in the basement. I think the aircon ceiling cassettes will also be installed on Monday. So I can expect to all of workers moving about that day.

Oh, I was told by Fascina that when one of their workers was hacking my cement screeded floor to install one glass panel, they accidentally burst a copper water pipe. As a result, installation for that panel stalled and they had to come back on another day to install it, after the plumber fixes up the pipe.

Once my uPVC windows and doors are all fixed up, I will then call Metalworld to come down for a final measurement, to make my grilles and mosquito screens. Yup! Mozzie screens. I have them in my current home and I cannot live without them. Not only do they keep mozzies out, but also all sorts of creepy crawlies and other flies.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Here are some photos;-

Dorma Telescopic Frameless Sliding Glass Doors with one Fixed Glass Panel (temperered and with safety film). We decided to add the safety film because this is a high traffic area, and we have 2 very young children. Should the glass break, the film will still hold the broken glass pieces together, and not rain on them. Tempered glass will not cut them but the sheer weight of broken glass is enough to bruise these little people. So we are not taking any chances.

Doors closed

Doors opened

Door handle

Floor Locks

[yoongf 11]

Planning for a 1200L walk in fridge? That's a huge fridge base.

[phoenix 0]

your glass doors look lovely!

i'm still contemplating on if having clear glass doors is a good idea. i've heard so many people actually having problems with their guests bumping and walking straight into these doors.. until they had to put up some kind of patterned stickers on them.

really like your wood-like tiles too! hmm.. lets see if my budget allows for this 'luxury'.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Planning for a 1200L walk in fridge? That's a huge fridge base.

Oooo! How come you're so sharp?! That's a compliment.

I'm going to have 2 Fisher & Paykal fridges; one left hand opening and one right hand opening. Pseudo pigeon pair. I was initially thinking of one freezer and one refrigerator. But in reality, I need more refrigerator space. So opted for 2 of the same fridges but with 2 different openings.