Best Valentine's Gift - Renovation

Renovation certainly involves lots of planning and I can tell you, I can't do it without Eve! She's the in charge of our house renovation and honestly, she is very resourceful and intelligent! Her interest and thoughtfulness really will enhance the outlook of our house :)

 

We have met with a few Interior Designers, 3 in fact. And surprisingly, only 1 came back with the proposal. I wonder why the other two Interior Designers just didn't follow up with us. Anyway, we headed with the Rustics Interior Design Company.

 

Why renovate?

1. We need a larger room space for our living room. Hence, we have decided to remove the cupboard that faces the main door so as to increase the walking space once we enter the house. The wall will also be our command centre for our family! Eve is so excited about this space because it will organize the children's stuff, our letters and schedules!

Picture of half of the living room

2. To enhance the 'large' space of our living room, we have decided to place a full length mirror at the wall (where there are three slabs of wood). Hence the children can dance around in the house too!

3. Thank God for this renovation project as we managed to shift the piano into the playroom. That actually liberated extra space in the living room! It was previously beside the white board.

Picture of another half of the living room! So happy the piano is shifted!

4. We want a larger dining area for our house. Hence, the wall beside the sliding door is to be hacked down to create an additional space for our house!

Sliding door and the wall, which is to be hacked down.

We wanted to sell this fine door via Gumtree. However, no one will want the door as it's customised.

5. This is actually the main reason for the renovation - the Kitchen. This entire L shaped table will be demolished and be replaced with new acrylic top. The previous owner used wooden planks for the sink and cooking area, and after using for 4 years, it started to rot. That's why we need to seriously re-create a new cooking area for us!

 

Our cooking area, which will be removed. We managed to sell the fumehood via Gumtree at $80, the sink at $30!

6. There will be an entire painting of the whole house too. And previously, I have painted the playroom with yellow and blue. However, it's not so professionally done! Hence, now, the walls and doors will be given a fresh coat of paint too.


We cleared the stuff in our living room and kitchen, and it really looked like a show flat! So amazing and we even thought whether do we need to do the renovation the night before the actual hacking! Lol.

 

Packing

There are so many things to be shifted. And we used the master bedroom as the temporary make shift general room for these two weeks!

Our playroom has become an All in 1 room...

 

From bicycles to sofa, pots and plates to food stuffs, from detergents to children's toys! Everything is shifted into this room. My work area is also here too! Really feel like living in a one room flat for the first time! It's a great learning experience too.

 

It's cluttered but it's liveable. We all sleep in another bedroom.

Luckily our house didn't have much stuff and to think of it, during this spring cleaning, we realized that there are things that we aren't touching for months and even years. Hence we placed them in recycling plastic bags and some even gave to our neighbors.

For the piano, we hired movers to help us displace it from the living room to the playroom. And it cost $100. What great money to earn for mover company!

Just feel like we are living just like Anne Frank!

Renovation Day 1

The wall is hacked! So amazing that they can hack it so straight!

 

The hacker company is such experts in removing the installations! They can do it within half an hour! And the wall, we are just so amazed that easily, it's knocked down! And we can feel the extra space in our living room!

The living room is just so empty!

 

They also removed the white cupboard and totally amazed by the steadfast of their speed!

Me mopping the dusty floor. There were stains of rotting wood on the tiles too.

 

Oh well, the first day ended quite early and I just mopped the floor for awhile so as to remove the dust in the house. It's just so fast that the previous weeks of discussion with the Interior Designer, it's now the execution phase. It's actually all been Eve's dream to renovate and create our style of kitchen, and the house layout! And it's slowly a dream come true for us! It's honestly a great gift I give for her and for the family! So happy! More renovation updates!!

Children

Yes. It's certainly not easy for this part because firstly, the meals used to be prepared at my place, is now done by my MIL at her place. And for the lunch and dinner, we have to decide to eat out or to have it at my in-law's place.

I'm just so amazed that Josh and Kate understand that we are renovating and they stayed happily for the first day of renovation. For the second and third day, they stayed back in the same house as us, all playing in the same crowded playroom. They are just so versatile, and Josh even felt as if he is staying in a Hotel because of the small space constraint, with the dining, bathroom, bed, playing all in one room!

Wish us happy and successful renovation! Ha...