Progress, May 27, 2011

More stuff being stripped away... happy happy. This looks a lot better than when we first purchased it...

View from the inside out. Clear glass window being installed today! Finally, sunlight!

The fugly black tinted windows of the past... look like black holes. Framed by the ubiquitous uncoated aluminium.

The stairs... got 'raw feel' or not? These will be duly covered with grey tiles soon...

The countertop... looking like a beautiful sculpture now instead of a peachy 90s kitchenette.

The peachy irregular tiles have been greyed out :D :D 

Alternative angle. I have decided to keep the rather timeless square while tiles inside...

The cute lab sink 40x40 from Hanlim PJ :) Plus tap fittings from Premtex.

Detail of the black powder coated aluminium... still in its seal... ^_^

The countertop facing the window. The sinks will be replaced by a gas hob. Oil will travel out of the window lor... A industrial-style stainless steel sink will go next to this!

Bedroom... facing homes with black tinted windows... :(

The balcony has been rather beautifully straightened out. Small pink tiles to be hacked off! Why the previous owner like pink tiles / blue walls so much ah? So headache to strip it down to neutral colours again...

Walls will be of a crisply matt white in the near future!

House plan, April - May 2011

SHOPPING LIST: Porch

Granite pavers from Maxi Stone & Marketing www.maxistone.com.my

 

Lightbulb with reflective, anti-glare base. Some shops in PJ sell this for RM20+ each. This, coupled with old-skool fabric-wrapped cord please... ala Alexis BSC.

SHOPPING LIST

Ventilation blocks from Premier Building Material Sdn Bhd
www.premierbm.com

Air conditioning by Daikin

1.0 HP RM1,250; +- installation around RM180
1.5 HP RM1,550; +- installation around RM210


Taps by Premtex, from Koon Hoe

Sink by Johnson Suisse, from Han Lim Trading, Penchala. Tel:  03-7782 1222.
1) Wall-hung sink
2) Lab utility sink

Fantasy rendering...

Update - hacked skirting, new window frames, replumbing, stairs

Decided to pop into the house one evening with mama.

To my delight, all the ugly black-tinted windows have disappeared, leaving wonderful gaping holes in place... Soon the sliding doors with black framed clear glass will arrive... maybe after painting etc.

I have yet designed the pattern of the grille! But it would probably be of modernist, graphical lines, hopefully they will not charge me more than RM9 per square foot for designs more complicated than diamond diagonals... So many places in PJ have inspiring 50s-70s iron grilles with solid hearts. Will one day go for a recce... Mine would be painted black too.

Pictures of the progress:

 The workers have hacked away the skirting! Opting for industrial grade resin... perhaps in a neutral grey or a darker brown. Have yet to see the showroom for that.

 The whole house has been repiped with PVC...

 Bludgeoned walls in preparation for rectangular white tiles from White Horse Ceramics. The floor will be a homogenous grey slab also from the same company.

 New window frames have been installed! Black powder-coated aluminum. I would have wanted a matt surface but that apparently would cost a lot, etc...

 

 The concrete staircase with the wooden support.

 Thinking of having a minimalist rail against the wall as the only handle bar... The small living room space seems more airy without vertical steel lines all over the place...

Two lamp acquisitions

White glass ceiling lamp with red brim, purchased from Well Lite in SS2. Made in 70s Germany. Came together with an incredibly aged cardboard box which has a silkscreened "Spade" symbol. The uncle who sold me this was in his 60s-70s. After getting rid of all this stock, he says he wants to retire. and let the shop out.

 

Table lamp with a rectangular fabric shade and a stained rubber wood base from a typical auntie shop in Taman Bahagia. Probably old stock... the plastic protecting the shade was incredibly dusty/yellowed. As I ripped it off, I damaged the crumbly plastic lining inside the shade... poor thing. (notice the dent on the left side of the lamp).

Stairs being made

 New concrete stairs to replace the creaky old wooden ones...

Portland cement being mixed by one of the workers, to be poured into the stair molds.

Lagerstroemia speciosa

 Cemented ground with a square opening for soil.

A very neglected Lagerstroemia speciosa in front of the house. What's left is the serrated trunk with low branches that are sprouting rather vigorously. 

The tree has either been cut off because of its large size, or eaten by termites... (note the scary termite-victim bark...)

Should I uproot it and plant a new smaller tree? Or prune it so it may grow back to its pretty purple flowering potential?

Started

 

The irregular-shaped glass bricks have been re-plastered :D

The astro dish decorating the top is gone... the air conditioning condenser (?) will disappear.

(paying more for a copper tube to go out to the back of the house)...

Waiting for the horrible awning to go away.... maybe a zink roof ala rumah setinggan?

Renovations

Renovations has started May 15th. Two indonesian workers knocked down the ugly tiles... Finally.

Interior shots - Late 2010

 Unsightly living room with worn terrazzo.

 Unsightly stained tiles everywhere.

 Darkly tinted french doors with ubiquitous diamond shaped grills.

 Noisy irregular-shaped awning.

 Kitchen cleared out... again pink floors and a randomised placement of tile decals. 

'Sunny yellow' paint.

 Like a dungeon.

 Ugly squat toilet and more stained tiles.

 Tinted glass and aluminium windows not really working everywhere.

 The creaky wooden stairs.

 Blue upper level bathroom.

 Blue walls and pukey green ceramic floor...

 The space.

 :(

:( :(