Day_47: Bar Counter Shennanigans

Let's start with some good news first lah. The parquet flooring looks fabulous now, after varnishing. Yes, still a little mismatched, but its not so bad.



Now on to that **** bar counter...

As you can see, stage 1 of the concrete work went according to plan. I was thinking this is all going quite well. I laid out the wood where I wanted the 1 inch recess to fall.




When I came back to the house after work:

DUDE! I thought my design was to go straight across the bowl of the sink, not to curve around it. The contractor obviously took his own creative licence or something. Grrr... smells like a rectification job to me.

Anyway, here's a view looking in to the kitchen with the bar counter in place.


Over and out. For now.

Built-in Wardrobe

Just some work-in-progress pictures to keep you all excited lah.
Note this happened before the parquet refinishing, but I didn't post this up yet.

All the components for the wardrobe.


Aligned with laser.



The wardrobe carcass in place.

Day_46: Bar Counter [UPDATE]

This here's the source of much of my stress: the bar counter that fell through the cracks. Quite literally.
While it was great to finally get work on this started, it wasn't all smooth sailing.

When I got there first thing in the morning, the contractor (different one from the main contractor) had already hacked the wall in the wrong place. This is despite my drawing on the floor the exact plan for the kitchen. The hacking on the right is the wrong one.


I laid the cornerstones exactly how I wanted them.


Later on in the day at lunchtime, there's progress. The wooden formwork is built. But they had marked the hole for the sink in the wrong place. Why does this sound familiar? Lucky I caught the mistake before any real damage was done.

View from the rear of the bar counter.


View from the front. The extra brickwall jutting out on the right is for knee-room when seated.


The hole to seat the sink in. Positioned CORRECTLY.


 

As of now they've poured the concrete into the form already. Hope it turns out according to expectations when I go there in the morning. Stay tuned.

Day_46: Re-graining Parquet [UPDATE]

As promised, here are the pics of the day, although by now the day's kinda over.

Parquet flooring in the master bedroom before:
The condition is crummy, after being trodden on and abused by construction workers.

The patch where the old master bathroom used to be.
Before and after


The patch where the old balcony used to be
Before and after.



You may notice the parquet doesn't exactly match, but that's apparently because modern parquet doesn't come in the size that vintage parquet used to come in. Modern one is slightly bigger.

A sudden feeling...

Being very stressed today with the house and all, and after many questions about whether or not we will be able to move in on time for the big day on Nov 14, I have this to say to all my readers:

You gotta love old school rock man. It's definitely the shiznit.

Day_46: Concrete Bar Counter / Re-graining Parquet

It's finally begun, the construction of the concrete bar counter which forms the 'chassis' of our dry kitchen.

The parquet on the staircase and the whole first floor is also being re-grained, which means the end is in sight!

Keep tuning in, there will be pics to follow later in the day.

Another Hurdle Cleared

Come to think of it, my bar counter design does look like a hurdle doesn't it?
Got an alternative costing at RM2400 for the same job, which is like RM2k cheaper than what my other contractor quoted for, so I guess it's a go-ahead.
No time to argue about this anymore, the house must be finished.
Crisis averted... for now.

Another Hitch...

After dousing the fire from the earlier miscommunication between our kitchen designer and contractor, I thought all would proceed as planned... till now.

Just got a call from contractor regarding building the concrete tabletop to my design spec. You can read more about it in a previous post. Here's the sketch I did when our house reno project first started some months ago:

And this is a plan drawing which I quickly cooked up to help understand it better.

The cost to build that is a whopping RM4k+ apparently because the design is very complex. Kadavalei.

This really throws a spanner in the works, and I've to find a way to solve this very quickly because time is running short.

Day_40: Dotting the i's crossing the t's

 Front foyer area levelled with concrete, and sliding door frame and rails are installed.


After all the levelling of the interior, it was decided that the house is too high up, so we added a step platform at the front entrance.


Outdoor kitchen has been completed, and the backwards sink rectified. Looks beaut now.



The living hall/indoor kitchen area in one coat of maxilite.
From the new extended living hall, looking towards the kitchen


From the kitchen looking out towards the hall


Tiles are on in the downstairs common bathroom


And finally, all the hard work above means one thing:
It's time to do more shopping!

Who Goes There

As the house reno draws near to completion (it's now in paint) and before I put up my next post, I'd like to know who's been poking in and out of my blog.

After all, you don't go visit people's (virtual) house without introducing yourself to the host right. And there've been over 2300 clicks in here since the blog started.

So hurl me a brick in the shoutbox on the right. Say hi, or whatever you wanna say.

Cheers guys, and thanks for following!

Day_36: This and that

This is the view of light passing thru the bathroom into the stairwell

This is the new living area floor nicely levelled and cemented smooth

This is the front door frame going up.

Aiyoh, Kadavalei

What's wrong with this picture?

Answer: The kitchen sink is on backwards. Kadavalei. At least that's been  
rectified to my satisfaction and looks very nice now.


What's wrong with this picture? (Hint: That's my dry kitchen)


Answer: There is no bar counter. Kadavalei. There was a major 
miscommunication between myself, contractor, and kitchen designer. 
The reno was all going too well until this point. 
The house is about done, and now there's quite a major bit of 
construction still outstanding. 
I hope this can be sorted out pronto. Aiyoh, kadavalei.

Day_35 : Outdoor Wet Kitchen

There's gotta be something more fun than watching concrete dry...


Like having the sink and tiles put in


Jolly good.

Day_35 : Master Bathroom

I've obviously been swamped since I last updated this blog, with the new job and all the wedding preparations. Yes, that's what the deadline in the countdown box is for.

Now, lets check out the bathroom progress, shall we? The fiancee's obviously impatient as she checks it out at ninja speed.



Anyway, in the days that have passed, our master bath has gone from this:



To this:


Had the walls made groovy for the plumbing to go thru


The front bricked up, and a new window created


Stairwell side sealed up, new window created


Door frame in


Walls receive cement render, which absorbs the light making it kinda dark inside.
That's the rear window of the bathroom, which allows some light to pass thru to the stairwell.


And the front window, main source of natural light.


Light points done


With the tiles on. Front side.


Rear side


View thru the door, very much brighter now