Home Sweet Home : Curtain and Tinted Windows

Spent quite alot for this item as there are a lot of windows in dis end lot house...I have single panel window,2-panel window, 4-panel window, sliding door, window at the corner and outdoor blind at the back of the house...lets recap :

- after calculating the total bill, it was quite expensive, near to RM3000..so i decided to cut a few things...

- no new curtain for bedroom 2 and 3...will recycle the old one (may not fit nicely but as long as can cover the window, its fine with me)...

- sliding door and 4 panel window (in the living room) was supposed to have day and night curtain....i cancelled the day curtains (from lace material), will recycle the old one...proceed with the night curtains (the thick one dat blocks any light from entering the room, so at night people cannot see inside)..

- wanted to change from outdoor bamboo blind to simple venetian blind but couldnt make it...they already ordered the material...hihihi, they know i keep changing my mind to cut cost here and there...the blind itself cost me RM400...huhu..

- did roman blind for single panel window....couldnt decide at first whether to do simple curtain or roman blind...to go for cheaper or not...roman blinds are only expensive in the beginning due to the rods...

- i can actually ask help from both mums as they have the sewing machine and more time to sew the curtains...however, for the first time, its better to have professionals to do it so dat we can have nice measurements for future reference...

- tinted my master bedroom and bedroom 2 so dat we can change our clothes during the day without having to lower down the curtain...no extra money to tinted the whole house....

- all in all, it was an interesting experience...having to calculate what will fit our budget..arguing to get lower prices...the owner of the shop is a chinese but he spoke fluent malay so i was confused at first...he's from alor setar, so no wonder he can speak malay well....he loves to smile but quite stingy =P....his customer service is tip top...would recommend to anyone....

Home Sweet Home : Grill for security

And for beauty of the house....first choice would be using wrought iron for the whole house...we surveyed at two shops...one suggested us not to use wrought iron considering the current not-so-good economy....tot what a nice guy to prevent us from spending a lot of money....another one was recommended by my bro-in-law....his grill was from the shop, run by a pair of husband and wife...the husband does all the work, the wife takes care of accounting, basically money stuff....wat a good team work...the shop was a family business on the wife side...they are both good people, friendly and good customer service..would recommend to anyone...the husband is a very talkative too...

So we took the second contractor....A siamese husband and chinese wife...they really love to see Ariana but never offer to carry her....would always say 'sui oo sui, mcm cina'....sui stands for pretty in hokkien i think...another word i always hear is 'pet pet' which stands for white....i think or maybe i switched the meaning, dont quite remember...see, i dunno how to react when people complement my doter....i can juz smile...then say, 'tok dia cina..sbb tu la'....sometimes i'll hear people talk about her behind my back or from afar....there can be sometimes dat i dont entertain them, juz do my blank face n walk away...too much attention is also not good, can attract unwanted people, kidnapping cases etc...

Back to the grill, since my bro-in-law suggested dis contractor....we used his name to get some discounts...well, according to the lady, she's quite generous in lowing down some of the price...so, we end-up doing only wrought iron at the front of the house...the rest are just simple horizontal grill in brown colour....

The wrought iron has some flowers and leaves, so we requested the colour of the flower to be red and leaves to be green....after the grill was completed, we tot its a bit too much flowery, not a simple one...but after awhile, i think its just nice, not too much n not so simple...the total is actually quite expensive due to the number of windows dat we have...its a corner lot, so, there's additional window at the side of the house...dis makes me think everytime we pass by a house with a lot of windows, we would say 'huissyy, byknya tingkap, abih la grill kena wat byk, huhu'...luckily we didnt buy a bungalow....

Happy Iftar!!

It's 1.28pm and there's still nobody in the office...I'm still having trouble to upload photos into my posts...Damn, after a hectic working week, finally can relax a bit...not so many model builds...

I'm juz crapping here, blog hopping...crazing on online window shopping....

Lastly, SLAMAT BERBUKAK POSA....=)

Home Sweet Home : Wiring

This is a very interesting experience for me n hubby...i budgeted two thousand ringgit for wiring work....of coz the real cost exceeds the budget, but not too much due to reasons i'll story below....so the chronology goes :

- we surveyed for 2 contractors...we picked the one dat is not so cheap but becoz they have the experience of doing wiring work in new housing projects, and the good advise they offer....

- its a father-son business..initially hubby talked wit the father, 'dua kupang pon xmo kurang'....so, fine, we accepted the quotation after discussions...wanted to do auto-gate wiring, wired doorbell, audio surround system, exhaust fan, additional power points, astro wiring, streamyx, extra lightings....

- we cut down the auto-gate wiring as it was quite expensive....not gonna do the auto-gate yet, so dat one postponed...

- hubby said im the 'kedekut taik idung masin', wanting things with high quality but at cheap prices....i would bargain and bargain with people, pushing to their limit...sometimes it works, sometimes it just fails =P....the opposite with hubby, he wanted high quality n willing to spend extra so he would scold me saying if i want quality stuff, dont bargain dat much or they'll do 'cincai2' for us...so, i slowed down a bit on the bargaining...during finalization, we discussed with the son....before we left, being the stubborn me, i asked for 100++ringgit less...n he agreed! wow, really didnt expect dat...seriously with the father, he wont cut even 10ringgit....

- the son promised it will be a 3-4days job, not too difficult...all dat we asked for can be done...well, what he promised is not so true after all...

- it all started right from the first day of work...we werent there to supervise as we were in Alor Setar...so, we left the key with the son so dat they can start work on the Saturday....at about 9am++, hubby received a call from the wireman (the father n son only manage, they hired other people to do the job), angrily told hubby dat there's a beam blocking the wiring from the fusebox to the kitchen and bedroom 3...he suggested us to do plaster ceiling to conceal the wiring....'wahhh, mandai2 ja nk suh org wat tu, wat ni'....later, after a few phone calls here n there, we asked the wireman to do the wiring along the beam, dont hv to use the pvc pipe to contain the wiring...if they were to use the pvc pipe, they need to hack the beam which is not advisable as it might interfere with the house's structure...

- Sunday : not working....another day wasted...

- Monday : went to visit them during lunch time.....not there...called their boss, said the wireman was sick, not able to work....half day gone....

- Tuesday : not there oso...called their boss again, wireman was hospitalized...by dis time we were wondering...there are 2 wiremen, if one cannot come, another one should be able to continue working...but noooooooo, 'dua2 pon tarak mai'...'kembaq siam kot, xleh nk berpisah'....

- Wednesday : the first time we ever saw their faces....burning inside, but pretending to be cool on the outside...asked the wireman how's he doing, are they alright...in actual fact, not the wireman but his wife was hospitalized..so they continue working...said can be finished today....with less than 50% progress, of coz they didnt make it...some arguments about the exhaust fan (we were supposed to make a hole for them but the boss forgot to tell us, so they hv to make it)...arguments about wired doorbell (they were complaining about how difficult to do it, so cancelled, instead will use wireless one)...arguments about speaker wiring (need to extend the route as the beam was interfering, cancelled too)...arguments about some other things (boss forgot to mention to wireman)...

- Thursday : continue working..continue arguing oso...a few phone calls here n there...still not finish...they will resume next week to install the fans and lightings as well...aarrgghh!!!!

- Following Tuesday : install the fans and lightings and the power points....wanted to switch the colour of the plugs but 4-5 times more expensive than the normal ones, so hold on that first...we bought the fans and light separately....

- Wednesday : went to pay after being satisfied with the work done....of coz due to all the troubles of not making it on time, what we wanted cannot be done...arguements some more...so, the son gave us discounts...in fact, he didnt charge us for the fans and lights installation cost....pheewwwww, can save some more money....

All in all, would we recommend dis contractor? their workmanship is not bad but their time management and attitude is certainly untolerable....dont think so...maybe just our bad luck, wrong timing for his wife to be sick....maybe we didnt discuss properly with the boss on what can be done, what is not advisable by looking at the house....my advise, bring ur wireman to the house so dat he can give comments in case some of the things cant be done, example : the location of the beam....

Home Sweet Home : Construction work/Painting/Piping

So, i'll start writing about our first house...searched and bought together-gether with my hubby =)....

First work to be done is of course repairing the house...leaking roofs, add some cement at the porch and at the back of the house...we hired an indonesian contractor to get the work done...at first, we were not too sure how's the quality would be....but now, after everything has finished...we can affirmly introduce him to somebody else....

I've mentioned in my previous post dat there is one uninvited guest in the house....it's actually a problem of BATS!! the house was in very terrible condition becoz of these bats...there were some holes in the roof and ceiling (due to a storm dat hits Kulim last year), so, the bats were able to get into the house for shelter....unfortunately, some of them couldn't find the way out so there were a lot of bat's death in the house.....hence, the solution was to cover the holes in the roof, clean all the dead bats, the 'sisa buangan' in the ceiling...and voila, u get a new house....

The contractor also did some piping work and painting the walls....initially, to save some of the cost, we planned to paint the walls by ourselves....as the renovation goes by, hubby asked them to finish painting the whole house....although it means extra money, it would save us some time and energy which both we dont hv if we plan to move b4 ramadhan...also, there's an additional little girl to take care =)...

Sneak peeks of the after work :

Happy Ramadhan!!

Hubby, myself and little girl would like to wish all a happy Ramadhan!!

p/s : today's first 'sahur' is a success as little girl is in a very deep sleep...=)

Officially moved out!!

Date : 8/8/2010
Day : Sunday
Event : Moved to new house

On last Sunday we officially moved to the new house (not so new, 5 years left vacant)...Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah Almighty, at the age of 25 years old, I currently own a car, half of the house, a husband and one child....A lot had happened within these few days....by alot i mean ALOT!!

Let's recap :

- Thursday night, 9.30pm : my water meter was stolen...leaving a water fountain, shooting into the sky...huhu, 200ringgit gone....hubby brought his family to visit the house earlier dat evening...they left the house at around 7.30pm...so there's a window of only 2 hours....sigh, 'xde rezeki'....my neighbours suspected it was non-muslim, from maybe another nearby residential area as they've seen these people lingering at the playground in front of my house at nights, sometimes dating, sometimes just 'lepaking'...also, there's a surau (an active one) right in front of the house, a muslim would know dat around 9-9.30pm, people are still praying, so, there are people around...nevertheless, they managed to run away wit only one leg of the meter, didnt hv time to take the other one as people were emerging from the surau, after isyak....'hikmahnya: habih kenai satu taman mai dok tany pasaipa air dok memancut..smpikan cita org minyak pon kluaq =P'..we waited until 1am, what a memory..

- Friday morning, 9am : hubby went to the police station to lodge a police report on the stolen water meter..if i went along, it would be my first experience....

- Saturday morning, 9am : locked outside the house....we were going out to hv breakfast when the lorry driver called asking for directions to the house...then we realized we didnt bring the right keys out...sooo many keys, with soo many locks...sigh, had to break the door knob...

- Saturday morning, 11am : i lost my camera for awhile....suspected a bangladeshi had taken it but luckily he returned upon hearing my brother-in-law wanted to report to the police...of coz not directly return it, put an act of trying to find the camera in boxes scattered around the house...we already tot he had ran away...

- Sunday afternoon, 2pm : my beloved citra had its first accident...scratched against the gate....aarrgghhh, another few hundreds gone....luckily the owner himself did it =P...cant blame him though, we've had a few rough weeks....

think dats it....will update if i remember more...luckily we had help from both families to take care of Ariana....in-laws on Saturday and my mom on Sunday...kudos to all of them...

p/s : to anybody reading dis, jemput2 la datang rumah baru ye....walopon rumah xkemas sepenuhnya lagi, jgn segan jgn malu....=D