Post-Reno update (after 4years....)

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends, readers and followers of this blog. Well, it has been a long while since I wrote. I got a comment to ask for an update of how it had been since we shifted with the renovation that we had done and if there is anything I would change or if there had been an update of any sort.

Well, all our built-ins had served us well and as much as we are glad we did what we did. There are little things that I could have done better. Then again I wouldn't have known any better without having the chance to try living with what I thought was the best, would I?

Oh before that, I shall just add that we finally agree to have aircon for the house, after going through super warm season a full 2years. Every time it is that super warm season we literally had all the fans out to cool us down and it is ridiculous really. So we decided to have one installed in the master bedroom and another in the living room. We decided to leave my mom's room and the activity room without first - but we may change our minds and decide to have it installed in them too just maybe next year. I think this is the only major change we did so far.

Let's get going with the kitchen & service yard first?

We are by far happy with what was done here. Having the refrigerator in our service yard was actually one of our best decision as all our kitchen cabinets are getting full now and yes, we obviously need to purge and get organized soon. The only thing that we wish we had thought about is the humidity in this area. I had put up a mini fan in my service yard because my laundry just don't seem to dry fast enough, we even added a standing fan to help speed the drying. 

We didn't get a dryer because it will limit the space we have to hang our laundry if we have a dryer stacked on our washing machine. A 2-in-1 washer + dryer didn't fancy us as it would mean trouble should it decides to just kapoot. We prefer a machine doing just 1 job. Also, because we cant dry our laundry outside because our dearest neighbour upstairs just love and enjoy giving us waterfalls on every rainy (or about to rain) days. It is humid and really warm in our kitchen also because we had to keep our windows shut unless we want to risk the waterfall getting into our service yard and destroy our fridge and laundry. So no thank you. Also, if I am only getting my house now, then I'd probably consider the drying rack thingy - sorry i forgot what it was called but it replaces the in-built drying rack given by the HDB with the one that has light and warmer? to help with the laundry drying. Please do comment if you know what I am referring to. If that is not within my budget then perhaps have a wall fan installed in the service yard or something so I can just have it help me.

My gaming area:

Husband added storage wall cabinets as he picked up cycling so those cabinets serves as storage for his cycling needs. It also act as a photo gallery as he decorate the cabinet doors with all our photos that we got at random. We added a fish tank + cabinet there as well, so it sort of became a calming corner for us all too. 

My living room:

No addition other than the aircon, but we changed the position of our sofas to open up some space visually. 

Activity room:

Bicycle standing rack added. 

Study table added.

Printer replaced.

If I could change anything :

the built-in tables height and position - current position limits my sewing. I should have gone for that island idea!

the build-in shelf/cupboard - I should have insisted they do the specific measurements I had - esp the depth and maybe ask for a magic cupboard that can have 2 layer of shelf with short depth so my fabric didn't get hidden and I don't need to take out the front layer to get to the one behind or worse, forgot the second layer existed. 

I guess this room would need a wall fan as well, a standing fan occupy too much space.

Mother's room:

We changed the layout and it looked spacious visually instantly.

Master bedroom:

Apart from the aircon, we changed M's wardrobe and its location.

We also changed our bed to a bunk bed so M gets more privacy and space when she wants them without compromising the limited floor space we have. 

The built-ins are great although we do occasionally wish we can move our chest of drawers - but i strongly believe it would have broken apart if it is not built in. 

Toilet:

We didn't do much for our toilets except installing mirror cabinet, heater and some shelving. All works well so far except the shower head.

If I could change anything:

I would install a rain shower head instead so there will be less handling and wear & tear to the shower head holder. 

I would also do a separate tap to on the shower and the one that goes down to our leg. It gets hard for my mother to handle that "switch". 

Storeroom:
We only had the shelving done and it was one of our best decision. It stayed and did what it was meant to do. 

That's all for an update. How about you? What would you have changed if you could rewind time and redesign your house renovation?

Till my next entry.

Wassalam,

Jun