Carpentry Work - My Sewing Room

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends, readers and followers of this blog. Alhamdulillah, another day to live, pray and submit to Allah's will.

Today I shall just walk with you through my journey to having my own sewing room. Well, okay, not exactly MY sewing room per se. It is actually shared, so technically it is OUR hobby room.

I negotiate to have diagonally half the room for my sewing needs and so here goes....

The Plan:

I had asked for Kenny, the carpenter assigned to Ah Heng- our contractor co-ordinator, to draw out what I have in mind, an L-shaped table, with an open shelf with whatever wall space I have left. 

He drew it all oh so naturally! 

He is so sweet to include drawer space and got my storage woos settled just like that.

I dunno if you could understand his drawing, but I definitely did. And I am so looking forward to this room! But I forgot about the cutting table cum island that I had always wanted, but it is okay.. I shall just scout later on.. No rush.. No rush..

I just had to draw my own visualization.. hehe.. Oh I miss art in school..

I actually had started asking for quotations for a fully customised extendable cutting table island with brakeable casterwheels. It cost from $750 to $1300.. Kindda obvious it wont be happening soon, I gotta suck it in and save up for it. I probably need my Babylock Englighten first. :p

The Progress:

Well, there wasn't much of a progress because things happened to quickly, so before we knew it, these are the only pictures we took of it.

The display shelves

 Honestly, I wished it has more of the exposed display shelves, but I shall live with this!

I like that there are so many storage space!

And this table.. Oh... I can fill lots of machines

Being the skeptical me, I start seeing it bend a little when the curtain guy stepped on it, and definitely see it sag a little when Mr Husband sat on it. SO, I am thinking of adding stands to help support its cantilever edges. Again, this is just my skeptical self, overthinking things. I mean c'mon, right? An average adult man weight between 60-80kg, my machines don't weight that much, probably just one third of that weight at most. So yeah.. Just me. So, to be safe, I shall put the heaviest ones on the drawer, the serger on the shelf side, and the other two evenly spaced. Okay, I am seriously feeling jelly because I am starting to imagine if the table collapse. It won't happen right?

Please tell me it won't.. PLEASE....

Anyways, if it looks a tiny bit less stable, I shall just convert it into study table, and just bring the outdoor pine table over to serge on those, I am really thinking how it will really stand the vibration, okay seriously, I am really overthinking this, and I really shouldn't.

I am really gonna ensure no adult step on that long table, alright. NO!

I guess this is it for my sewing activity space. I shall update again once I have all my machines and fabrics on board to show you the complete make-over, insyaAllah.

A happy sewist,
Jun

Wassalam

Are you ready to own your own flat?

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends, readers and followers of this blog. Today, I was asked, "Hey, you gonna get your keys soon, right? So are you ready?"

I stared blankly back at her and asked. "Ready for what?"

What preparations?

That is when it hits me, my own home soon.. What have I done? Nothing. Yup. Nothing like I am never going to shift. It was a strange phenomena to many young couples, or maybe only for those who never had to fight with other siblings for the morning bath and having to squeeze in a room to sleep and fight for privacy. Maybe. To be really honest, the only preparations my husband and I made was to save enough money, and nothing else.

What's the plan, really?

Minimalist. I seriously plan to do very minimal and just the most basic renovation needs and nothing else. I want my flat bare. So bare that even a robber would leave me some tips when he leaves. Heh.

I guess the reality of owning our own flat hasn't sink in, so we just decide to wait till we get the physical keys, get into our physical flat, and walk in it before we jump in the wagon and start doing everything that is necessary.

How do I feel?

The feeling is rather blank at the moment. Definitely very mixed. At one moment I feel like I couldn't wait, the next moment I don't feel anything at all. I feel a lot of fear instead of the supposedly burst of excitement of having my own place. Not sure why, maybe because my parents didn't chase me out (not like I want them to). Perhaps it was just my comfort zone. I have lived in Clementi for 23 long years, I am somewhat attached to it, the comfort of seeing your neighbours, the comfort of knowing the market at the back of your hand, the comfort of just being in a place so familiar to me.

On the other hand though, I was looking forward to being a CCK resident. I would be nearer to my elder sister, cousin, and some friends. I look forward to having the master room, I look forward to the dedicated hobby cum sewing room, I look forward to challenge my husband to a dance, I look forward to welcoming my very first guests to my very own home. I look forward to stripping my house naked as I wish. Hey! Naked as in stripping it off any decoratives, so it would be easier for me to clean.

Then I remembered, my parents would be living with me, and we cannot go without a sofa in the living room. Or maybe we can with two lazy chairs just for them.

Here's the rough plan.

As with many other plans, things will change to suit when it comes. So let's imagine and dream for some things to become a good reality ok? ;)

Until I get myself into my own home,
Jun

Wassalam

Babyproof my new home!

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends, readers and followers of this blog.

I hope all are well so far, as it is for me! This my friends, have been sitting in my draft post for almost a year, I think! So I better work on this and well share with you guys! Your input would be of great help too! Just leave a comment and allow me 3 days to read and approve ya!

Today we shall touch on baby proofing a home. I have been through baby proofing a house over 5 times. Usually much desired when baby has learnt to roll over right till they are walking all over, with curiosity getting into them every second.

Through all my experience, it being not my own house and it was not our own kid per se, we only did the real basics, like getting those drawer locks, the doorway gate, the corner cushions and such.

You can get those drawer locks at any baby store! And the ones I got are pretty good! 

However, as we age, and us getting our very own house pretty soon, the idea of baby proofing the house right from the start dwell on me. This is probably why I keep telling my husband I want a bare or minimalism concept for our house. I don't wish for some decoration glass cupboard or a pretty corner to place a vase of flowers or anything like that. All I want was everything basics, and that was that.

It only occurred to me about to baby proof our soon-to-be house right from the start even when I haven't conceived because it would be much easier when it calls for it. At least I wont be freaking out to find stuff to cover the sharp corners of everything and having to sell away anything and everything glass because baby is on the way. I guess I rather fuss now than fuss later along with a crying baby in my arms.

So I began to somewhat interview some of my friends, and start asking what they do, and what they would recommend for us to consider while renovating our soon-to-be flat. And here, we shall list it all for people like us who would like to baby proof their flat:

Round up all corners

One of the best tips! A lot of us forget about it and end up buying tonnes of corner cushions that doesn't really keep our worries away.

So ya, tell your contractor to round up all the corners, strictly no sharp corners in the house. This would apply to your new dining table, coffee table and chairs too! Look out for those corners. 

Leaking Gas?

Do I smell gas? Have you found a baby standing and reaching up to those gas knobs? I have! And so someone shared with me what her brilliant contractor did for her gas cooker. He added a switch to allow the gas to flow. If that switch is not turned on, the gas won't be let out to light up the stove. 

This is pretty much about the same with what I have at home, just that we don't have a switch, but it detects somehow that if there is no fire (ie. fire got blown off by wind or we accidentally turn the knob) the gas would automatically gets cut off.

Window Grilles

Yes as much as most BTOs now comes with grilled windows, many forget about the service yard, and aircon ledge windows, which doesn't come with any. Mishaps happen when you least expect them to. So better be safe than sorry.

Doorways/Alleyways

Yup, some of us may get driven away with larger doorways and larger alleyways if possible so you won't be hitting each other when two of you wish to enter the kitchen at the same time.. And then when baby comes, it is so hard to find a child gate lock that is wide enough. ;) Oooppsss..

Don't forget the toilet or wet area too! Make sure the floor mat/rug has an anti slip feature, you wouldn't want to fall head down, and definitely wouldn't want your baby to run and slip.

Feature wall?

Oh don't go overboard with wanting textures and such, because when baby comes, you won't want baby to scrap thru that wall or bang his/her head on it.

Furniture

Yup this is very much a part of your renovation plan. Furniture would complete the whole process, so what shall I look out for furniture?

As per our first point, the sharp corners. Eliminate the designs that has them.

Go away from furniture that are made of glass. You wouldn't want to imagine a baby banging something on the glass table and break it on an unlucky day.

Power Sockets

You know, our old house used to have most, if not all the power sockets, at an adult height, but the new house seemed to have lowered them to almost ground level. So be aware, parents of young kids, get those power socket covers and keep them grounded. I don't have much of a solution yet, so if you do, please let me know.

Keep taking down notes, and don't forget to share with me!

Have a great Friday everyone!

With love,
Jun

Wassalam