.::. Day 83 .::.

Our place is 95% done! We're pending changing of some hinges and backsplash. Carpentry rectifications were completed today, still not perfect since laminate chips at the edges is still visible, drawers are not 100% flushed, holes are also visible and some drawers are still stiff.  Then again, I'm all ready to move on and look forward to cleaning up the place and make it comfortable.  I really do like how it looks like and feel comfortable being in it.



The touch-ups with crayon or paint is still visible.



While some is less visible.



The home looks like this from the entrance now.  =)



Kitchen with sink and hob/hood and working space.  I like this configuration as I'm always rushing to wash/cut vegetables or meat while my garlic sautés.  It really saves time for food preparation!



View from the service yard.



Common toilet.



Common toilet's rain shower and toilet bowl with my mosaic wall behind.



And my tiny MBR toilet.

After all the carpentry touch-ups, it'll finally be time for Mr K to touch-up on my painting and hand over keys! It has been a long 4 months, of which 3 months were taken for carpentry works and delays.  Such a horrible experience, and I really hope he gets what he deserves.

I really pity his other customers who has children or elderly in the household and are rushing to vacate their old place, forced to move into a half-renovated place with bad workmanship, chasing them to rectify and complete the works while staying in it.  Imagine all the dirt and dust and inconvenience it will cause them.  Meanwhile, they will only care about bringing in more customers and getting people to sign on the dotted line and pay deposit even when they can barely cope with everything. Communication within the company is non-existence and everything is wrongly or badly done. It irks me that they still profit from such work, while causing people so much anguish. There will still be people who do not do enough research, still be impressed by big showrooms and freebies and cheap internal laminates carpentry. I truly hope that all unethical business people who makes their money at the expense of peoples' anguish get what they deserve from the higher power above.

But as I told the husband, everything happens for a reason and everyone will get what they deserve.  The husband asked me if we deserved such carpentry work, and I told him, everything happens for a reason. I'm glad we got through this fine, and it might even have brought us closer.

It's still us, against the world.  Bring it on. =)

.::. Freedom .::.

Many people in the world are independent, but very few are free. Freedom implies great intelligence, does it not? To be free is to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by just wishing to be free; it comes into being only when you begin to understand your whole environment, the social, religious, parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you. But to understand the various influences - the influence of your parents, of your government, of society, of the culture to which you belong, of your beliefs, your gods and superstitions, of the tradition to which you conform unthinkingly - to understand all these and become free from them requires deep insight; but you generally give in to them because inwardly you are frightened. You are afraid of not having a good position in life; you are afraid of what your priest will say; you are afraid of not following tradition, of not doing the right thing. But freedom is really a state of mind in which there is no fear or compulsion, no urge to be secure. --- Jiddu Krishnamurti

I have no fear. No fear of death. No fear of God. No fear to conform or please anyone, not even god.

If I die tomorrow, I die a happy person who knows that I've lived my life to the fullest.

Be true to yourself and fair to others, follow fundamental principles like respect, integrity, kindness and leave the rest to nature.

.::. Day 78 .::.

An army of people came to my place to inspect my carpentry yesterday. At least they had slightly better attitude and were generally willing to rectify most of the issues. Luckily they did not tell me not to be so calculative, won't die.

1. The drawers dropping out or very stiff - they said they will grease the rollers and fix them.  Funny thing is that the carpenter actually claimed that perhaps the solid top people took out the drawers, that's why it was dropping out. BUT, my wardrobe drawers were also dropping out and I did not fix solid top in wardrobe.

2. The chips on edges of my bookshelf and many other pieces of carpentry- they say they will touch up with 'crayons'.  I'm not sure how they can do that and make it look good. Reason behind chips edges is that the laminate is textured, that's why it's difficult to cut it straight. Really? I use my paper cutter to cut textured paper thicker than laminates for scrapbooking and my paper still turns out straight..there are so many textured laminates in the market like rough or crocodile skin ones, cannot be all can't be cut straight right? Many of my edges including smooth laminate was done badly and had 'teeth marks' which they are infamous for.



3. The holes on the feature wall can't be explained, carpenter simply did not notice or think it's a problem. There's even visible scribblings in between the gaps - his signature? We've decided not to change the whole feature wall although wrong sized planks were used, since it may affect the partition and it's a lot of work. They will fix the holes and get rid of the scribblings. There's a whole row of holes!!



4. They will sand all edges of my plywood. I can't understand how they can fix such rough plywood up despite having me tell him to sand it before installation. Isn't it a lot harder to sand it after installation and having to reach to the ceiling? The plywood has holes and are really rough. Mr K's carpentry was absolutely smooth to the touch and the plywood layers were so beautiful while mine has uneven colors and holes in between the layers.  I suppose it's different grade of plywood?  Really disappointing.

5. These holes at the underside of all wardrobe drawers - carpenter said that he thought that it was for our convenience so our hand can reach in to pull out drawers easily. Otherwise, the door of drawers has to be 10mm longer and eats into hanging space. He cut holes of all different sizes because it's underside and can't be seen, so he didn't think that it was a problem too.  Husband made him mend that hole back since changing anything now would result in many holes in the carpentry and changing the whole carpentry seem impossible. They will cut the semi-circle and mend it back, paste both top and bottom with laminate. I really suspect how they can cut exactly the odd-shaped semi-circles.



6. There's a thin strip of raw plywood under our kitchen sink since the tray was slightly smaller than carpentry. Thin strip of RAW PLYWOOD under my sink where there's most moisture!  :curse: They will laminate that thin strip to prevent any rotting.

There still many issues everywhere - we pasted 55 different post-it pads with defects.

Lastly, they insisted that there is no wide soft-closing in the entire market when the husband has found some online.  We're going to find out and see for ourselves.

My drawers are also so stiff when they claim 'it's the same as blum'. I've tried blum drawers and they definitely do not feel like mine.

Can only wait and see what they can do, but I'm really sick of these and want to get this over ASAP.  It's unbelievable how they can claim that they've good workmanship. Internal laminates at cheap prices yes, but with many holes and uneven edges and much more with many weeks of delay and more for rectification works. Moreover, we're using the best carpenter they have, and he's obviously pressurized to perform since we're relatives too. But still, just look at our carpentry.

.::. Faint .::.

Yesterday, I was supposed to wake up early to get a few more bulbs/T5 lights before going down to the home for light installations.  I woke up with a slight tummy ache and had diarrhea.  At one point, it was so painful that I squeezed my eyes shut and held on to my tummy.

The next thing I know, I was on the floor.

For a moment, I did not know what was happening.  I thought I was still sleeping in bed.  Then I started groaning, trying hard to regain consciousness and open my eyes.  I was on the toilet floor, and pain was radiating from everywhere.  Then it hit me what I have lost consciousness and fell from the toilet bowl.

It's ridiculous! I've no idea what happened and it's the first time I lost consciousness.  I have a huge bump on my forehead, my cheek is bruised, my nose bridge hurts (luckily didn't have a nose job) and my gums were bleeding (i was wearing retainers).

They are still hurting now, and my parents heard a loud bang downstairs, not knowing that I fell.  I might have fell and hit my head on the sink and god-knows-where.

It has never happened before. Perhaps it's the nightmares and stress I've been under lately. =(

And the most amazing thing was, the first thought I had when I regained consciousness was that I need to get up and go get lights!

I haven't seen a doctor, since it's quite pointless and they're going to give me painkillers.  Moreover, I am in between jobs and couldn't claim the medical fees!

So I lay down for awhile and went to the house for lights installations, meeting with neighbors and spent most of the day sweeping the house floor.  My parents were worried and accompanied me to the house and bought lights, had lunch together before leaving me at my place.

Honestly, I don't feel that bad, except from some giddiness lately.  And I've been exercising every week too.  Sometimes I think that I really need to slow down and stop doing so many things all the time.  I'm always rushing to somewhere, and I really hope to have some time to myself, laze around and do nothing.  Hopefully things will slow down once the house is ready.

No more fainting!  It's really scary and painful..!

.::. Day 76 .::.

We are almost there!! Our lights are up, and we're only left with plumbing and carpentry reifications.

I've so much pride in this space we have created from scratch, I feel so much love for it and it really feels like home.  It's like all my dreams came true.



Entrance view.



View from service yard.



The kitchen.



The corridor.



Common toilet.



Shoe cabinet with umbrella compartments and middle shelving for things like keys and letters.



Dining area where the table will be placed horizontally below the big spinning light.



Living area with my feature walls.



MBR down lights.



The MBR toilet.

Today is also the 8th month we're officially married. 92 months since we officially got together.

Happy Anniversary my dear.  To many more months of happiness together, in the home we created. =)

.::. Bangkok with the girls .::.

Spent the long weekend during National Day with the girls in Bangkok.  I can't believe that it's been 5 years since our last girls trip to Bangkok!



We had dinner here after arriving.



Trigger happy Jo.



With Chye and glorious food.



Had the room all to myself.



Early morning Pratunum Market.



Spent quite abit of money here.  The fabrics were so beautiful.  I'm going to learn how to sew.



The furniture shops at Ekamaii, Sukumvit.



Inside Tuba Line 2.  So pretty.



Mirrors.



I want a lounge chair!



MobxMobler and Y5.





Inside Hawaii Five O.



Us at Terminal 21.



Asiatique.



They sell furniture and quite abit of house stuff.



3 of us at JJ.



And the ever crowded JJ market.

It was a fun but tiring 3 days, and I'm suffering from Bangkok withdrawal symptoms.  The food was so good, I love Thai food.  Every random roadside store tastes great, and really cheap.

I bought cushion covers from Jim Thompson, plates and some home stuff from Asiatique and quite abit from JJ market.  JJ market and Asiatique is really good for home stuff and we barely shopped a section of JJ market!  I'm craving for more shopping, though I really couldn't lug back everything.  The girls lent me luggage space and helped me with my shopping along the way and shopped home stuff with me when they really have no interest in them. Thank you!

I'm so thankful to have these great girlfriends who has been with me the past 13 years.  We've evolved from teenagers to the adults we are now, and went through all the stages in life together.

Meanwhile, we also bought my bridesmaid skirts and his best man's bow ties!  Also managed to get some accessories for wedding and a tuxedo for Chinook the daschund.

Can't wait for the next girls trip when Ju's back.

.::. Day 74 .::.

My home look like this now. Carpentry is 95% completed.  But I'm really not happy with the rough edges of the plywood.  It should have been sanded till it's really smooth before being lacquered.  It's really rough to the touch now. No news of solid top installation one week after measurements. Rectifications for carpentry defects unknown, but it's quite difficult unless they dismantle everything to redo. I can't take any more chasing and dealing with these people anymore.  Even if they are willing to redo, who knows how long more they will take and we can't guarantee it will be better.



The full-height shoe cabinet.  I'm only going to put shoes at the bottom shelves since it's bad fengshui.





MBR make-up area closed to hide mirror.



And my super efficient contractor has already came down to paint the whole place when I told him that carpentry is finishing.  He also helped me to paint my yellowish light white, it's so shiny now.  My room doors are now white while bomb shelter is a blackboard now!

People will be coming down to install lights and my haiku fan tomorrow!

.::. Height of shoe cabinet & Fengshui .::.

A neighbour came to visit my place and pointed out that it was very bad fengshui to have a full-height shoe-cabinet. To be specific, it's bad fenshui to place shoes above your head. I honestly had no clue, which got me to do some searches in regards to this. I'm not particularly very superstitious, but I suppose when it comes to Fengshui, it's better to avoid outright negative things for the home!

Did a quick search and realized that shoes represent bad energy!

In summary:
- Shoe cabinets should not be black or red.
- Shoes should preferably only be placed up to 1/3 of the house's height, and up to 2/3 of the house's height.
- Shoe cabinets should be closed, so that bad energy can be kept inside.
- Shoes should face head-in, otherwise bad energy will be directed at you whenever you open the cabinet door.
- Shoe cabinets should be on the left of your door and near the entrance as the right side is considered auspicious.
- Avoid placing the shoe cabinet outside the house as it blocks good energy from coming in.
- It's best to have 5 tiers for the shoe cabinet as it represents the five elements.
- Wooden rectangle shoe cabinets are suitable for everyone.
- Do not place a mirror facing a door, including shoe cabinets with reflective surfaces.

Some links:
http://pinkytoky.hub...ct-on-feng-shui
http://vj0516.blogspot.hk/ 

.::. Day 71 - 73 .::.

Carpentry was delivered on Monday, and the carpenter worked on it the past 2 days.  He's a PRC, working with a bangala (he calls him that).  It's funny seeing them work together because the carpenter kept speaking to him in chinese, expecting to understand.  It's apparent that he's quite frustrated about it, and even asked him to use his brain repeatedly - which he obviously do not understand!





My favorite piece of carpentry!  I love the study room already.  A table and lounge chair will do wonders.





Feature wall which I find weird-looking.  For one, the planks were too narrow and gaps too wide.  Then, the border of the box was supposed to be wooden plywood instead of white.  Lastly, the wall doesn't go all the way up.



Common toilet vanity.



Master bedroom vanity.





Guest/Kids room wardrobe.







MBR make-up area that I've specially customized for myself!



Shoe cabinet door.  The planks are wider, and was what I wanted!

Went down again today, but they weren't working today!!

And we found lots of defects, workmanship ain't that good.



The gaps were supposed to be sanded and varnished but does not seem to be so.  Wood shavings are still visible.



There are holes on the wood in between the gaps, visible!



All my wardrobe drawers have such weird holes on the underside, to make it easier to open the drawers.  All of them are of different sizes and shapes, perhaps because it can't be seen most of the time.



My shoe cabinet back was not supposed to have backing due to the power boxes.  Yet he made the backing and end up ripping it apart.



Can see all the staples! I guess he's not going to mend back the holes before installing since it is at the back and unseen.



Worst part is my book shelves edges.  They look quite bad.





All not joined properly!

*sigh.  Shall leave it to the husband to settle.  I can almost hear them telling me that these are small issues, won't die, don't be so calculative.

Solid top measurements were taken ONE WHOLE WEEK AFTER kitchen carpentry was ready.  So we wasted one week there.  Carpenter says it takes 3 days after measurements for installation.  It's been 3 full days, but we've no news about it at all.  Husband hasn't had the time to chase, and if his uncle does not chase sub-contractor/supplier, they're sure to take their own sweet time and schedule other jobs who chase them first right?  Without solid top, we can't do plumbing and the house has no proper water.

I've arrange for delivery and installation of lights and my haiku fan on Friday, so they'd better finish up carpentry by tomorrow.  I don't even dare think of rectifications, it's going to take many more weeks of chasing and I'm not sure both of us are up to that.

Alas, it's been 73 days since we started renovation.

Our renovation is going to take more than 4 months, more than a third of a year.