Maximising our Kitchen

It had been a real tough previous week with couple of school assignments and military events earlier and we did not have the time to update this area. But now that they are submitted and over, we are back! Given that most BTO's kitchen are rather small, we would have to find ways to maximise our space within. One was having the portable kitchen cabinet which provides us more counter space, and the other way was to use the vertical space.

The black racks from IKEA caught our eyes and we purchased a few of them to have them installed on our kitchen walls. Many thanks to my cousin's husband for helping us get them up nicely. We initially ran into a small problem where the back of the tiles were hollow and there were no cement for the nail to be secured onto. It was also untraceable as we did try to knock on every tiles when we first gotten the house but this did not show any signs of defects. The only work around was to get a longer screw to drill to all the way to the back. Let's hope the tiles is strong enough and does not crack over time.

Hanging the boards, and having a basket for our condiments allow us to have more counter space to prepare the food. Plus the blackness of the rack blend in with our kitchen theme so it look really complete and pretty.

In the end, we also changed the rack that were previously at our sink. Funny how that did not even last a week. However, we will install that in another place, probably the service yard but we shall see.

Our complete kitchen look. Loving it!

Doing it ourselves as a learning opportunity

Retrieved from http://statusmind.com/

Through this renovation, there were many opportunities where we decided to use our own hands to get things right instead of relying entirely on our ID. Changing of bathroom tap, fixing up our oven because it was crooked, and siliconing our skirting are just some examples of which we had done it ourselves. Of course if our ID had made them perfect in the first place, we would not have to get down to that, but we like to see it as learning opportunities for us. Beside, now is the best time to try it ourselves because if things get damaged, at least there is an ID who has contractors to fix them up. Could you imagine the cost and trouble of finding a tiler next time to come and fix ONE tile because the drilling cracked it?

And this is the hubby installing the rack to hang our stuffs. It may not seem like anything but we were quite worried that the tiles may crack from the drilling. Apparently it seems that the tiles were stronger than it seem. Hubby's dad came over to demonstrate how to drill the tiles and we fixed up the rack. There is still one more rack to be installed on the other side of the kitchen but have not bought it yet. Finger crossed for that because it will be done entirely by the hubby next time!

The finished product. Space is always a constrain in BTO because of the small area, so we must make use of all the spaces that are available, including vertical space. This way, it enables us to have more space for preparing the foods.

Bought a mini fan for our living room too. Now we are able to save money from not relying on our aircon, and also the hassle of bringing our Dyson fan around so that we have wind wherever we are.

So far it's working well. Even our tissue paper box is licking its tongue in delight!

Frosted Glass - Now you see me not

Would like to present to you our frosted film glass door. This was not a frosted glass door because our ID highlighted that the glass door would have water stains eventually, and it would be costly and troublesome to change one. Instead, this way enable us to change just the film itself when we reckon it's time. For comparison, a glass door cost about $800 while the film cost $4psf, adding up to slightly less than $100. Definitely a good point to note if intending to stay long at the house.

The glass door would definitely have a gap between the door and the frame to cater for the turning radius. Depending on the position of the sanitary fitting or shower area inside, this gap may be more exposing than you wanted. Hence, a rubber seal is recommended to block out any prying eyes. However, do note that there are different type of seals and ensure you get the right fitting one. The original one we had were too big, and it caused the door to vibrate vigorously when opening. Fearing that it cause unnecessary stress on the glass door, and it's just waiting for a breaking accident to happen, we found another one which fitted much better.

And here's a fun fact which we did not noticed prior to the renovation. The door handles and lock on glass door are usually removable using the allen keys. There are actually alot of things that requires the allen keys, such as our taobao chairs and tables. In the beginning, we thought that the frosted film would have to be cut to fit around the handles and lock. #justsharing

Got a cheap doorbell for our house too because there were too many contractors that tried to ring the unarmed doorbell and ended up having to call me to open the door, despite me being in the house. We are going to get another more sophisticated doorbell soon so this is just a temporary one for the time being. Ding Dong!

Our store room racks has arrived too. At 11pm. Our appointment was between 6pm and 9pm, but there were no news from them until we had to call them at 9pm asking for their whereabouts. They said they were caught in a jam earlier so things slided but they would arrived at 10pm, which they did not, nor did they inform us again, and we have to ring them up again. This time, telling us that the previous client had a messy store room and hence delayed. It was only at 11pm, FIVE hours after my appointment timing, which they arrived.

In short, their price was not exactly a steal, nor their quality something to raved about, nor did they compensate any kind for being 2 hours late, nor did they took the initiative to inform us about being late, nor were they professional in time keeping, nor did they keep their words and therefore, i would not recommend this S**** R****Z company.