Renovation Day 5

Cornices in the living room fixed

Renovation Day 4

Tiles on the work top fixed.


The small "divider" in Toilet 1 fixed.


The small "divider" in Toilet 2 fixed

Renovation Day 3

Wall tiles in the kitchen completed


The small "divider" in the Toilet 1 was removed as it was blocking the door.


The small "divider" in the Toilet 2 was removed as well.


All the wiring in the house completed and the holes were patched up.

Renovation Day 2

The wall tiles on the kitchen was 70% completed


Work top in the kitchen


New floor tiles in Toilet 1


New floor tiles 1n Toilet 2

Renovation Day 1

Renovation work started on 02.04.2009.
This is how the house looks like after Day 1.

Living + dining hall

Master bedroom

Second room

Dry kitchen

Wet kitchen

Dry + wet kitchen

Toilet 1

Our Humble Little Home

We have finally decided to move in to our new home after discussing and considering the bad economy crisis that had hit us badly...well at least for that 1 week that I worried. Refer here.
Renovation work started on 02-04-2009 between 7am - 12noon as mum said it was an auspicious day to start renovation work which did not clash with the Chinese zodiacs of Rooster (LKC) and Dog (me!).
Before the renovation work started, the pre-renovation tasks were not as simple. So many preparations to do. Looking for contractor was the very first thing to do and bargaining on the price was one of the most tedious part. One has to be smart in getting as much information as possible from the contractor, especially on the tiles if you're having big renovation in the kitchen.
Next up was the cooking hod and hob. We are planning to install the cooking hob on the kiten work top and hence it has to be ready before the renovation work starts. There are so many brands to choose, from Electrolux to Pacifica to Elba to Rinnai to some China brands. We were so lucky that there is a shop at Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara was having a big promotion on 2 weeks ago. We managed to get quite a good deal of the set of cooking hod and hob from Rubine for less than RM1.5k with free installation and free hose and cap.
As there is a Lorenzo furniture shop next to the shop we got the cooking hod and hob, we stopped by there JUST to have a look. Never thought we would afford to buy anything from Lorenzo since it's famous for the expensive furniture. I would say we were lucky too to find a sofa set from Lorenzo that is not too big (yours truly's house is only 900 sqt ft) and is still within our budget of less than RM2k.
Next thing in line was the tiles for the kitchen and toilets. They are so many sizes to choose. After selecting the size of the tiles, next thing is to decide on the colour and the surface. OMG, it was so difficult to make the decision.
Here is how the house looked like before the renovation work started:-

The living + dining hall

Master Bedroom

Second room

Third room

Dry kitchen

Wet kitchen

Toilet 1

Toilet 2

Night view from second room

Night view from master bedroom

I can feel it now

I can now feel the economy crisis. It's scary and I feel kinda regret now for the action that I took 2 weeks ago. It happened too fast, just within a week everything changed.
We have just collected the keys to our new home a moment ago. We're not excited about it at all. The agent brought us to a unit which her husband helped on the renovation. The renovation was simple and nice. We like it very much and plan to follow the design as well. The whole renovation cost was around RM10K, with kitchen cabinet + new tiles + wiring, which is a very good deal indeed. The moment we stepped out from the unit, we started to think about the money.
Do we want to renovate and move in to the house now? We'll need to prepare at RM1.5K for the house installment, maintenance fees and the utilities bills. All these were in our plan when we paid for the deposit of the house. But the economy crisis changed everything. We're now thinking of renting out the house first. At least someone could help us on paying the house installment. Sigh...what can we do now?
It's scary how things changed in the last few days...

Dear Santa

*Updated* Checklist

*Updated on 14-10-2008*

1. Deposit paid
   
2. Home loan application submitted. Pending for approval now. Next thing is to choose the best home loan plan. Chosen Standard Chartered Mortgage One home loan. Non-zero moving cost (aka no free legal fee) and the rate we obtained is the best rate so far...BLR-2.3% throughout. My sis told me that there's a rumor that the BLR is going to drop...lets pray hard hard...hehehe!!
   
3. Legal fees quotations obtained. Chosen the law firm in Kelana Square. Going to the law firm tomorrow to discuss with the lawyer on the next course of action. Good news! The house owner would like to acquire the service from our lawyer as well, which means shorter time to prepare and get the S&P signed. And this leads to faster processing and obtaining the keys...yeah!
   
4. EPF submission -- not done.
5. Follow up tasks like signing S&P and only God knows whatelse -- not done.
   
6. Keys to the new home -- not obtained.
   
7. Furniture checklist done. Budget for furniture done. So far the furniture that we've been eyeing on are still within our budget. Hopefully there will be discount on these items when the actual time comes.
8. Electronics checklist done. Budget for electronic stuff done. Still within our budget too. Hopefully we may get better electronic stuff with the budgeted money in the time to come. Hopefully more electronic brands coming out with the inverter air-cond. Right now, I guess only Panasonic and Hitachi are selling it and the price of this inverter air-cond is so much more expensive than the normal air-cond. Lets pray to have more followers ya!
   
9. Kitchen cabinets quotation obtained. But still seeking for more quotations from different designers. Please provide me the contact details if you know any designers. Thanks.
   
10. Renovation budget -- not done. Contractor cum interior designer cum wiring man required. Please provide me the contact details too if you happen to know any. Thanks
11. More to add-on...