Project KU KU(Partial Completion)

It has been quite sometime since I updated about the Project KU KU status. It has been busy times for both Amy and I as we sort out the stuff that we need to purchase and also works on the house before we could even think of shifting in. Majority of the renovation works were carried out by our ID/contractor and we only visited the house once a week which is on Friday most of the time.

After 3 months, lots of money spent, lots of time used and lots of coffee drunk, Project KU KU is at partial completeness. Although major renovations have been completed, keys handed back to us and the last payment made. However there are a couple more stuff that needs to be done before we can consider it fully completed. Things such as water filter and the grass for our lawn and all that which we are waiting till more funds comes in.

Before we started project KU KU, I had in mind to do a before and after shot of the house to see if the effort and money we put into this project is well worth it. So lets begin with the downstairs floor. The obvious place to start is of course the living room.

The first shot above is looking in from the front of the house and the second shot is from the dining area looking out towards the front of the house. Nothing much has changed other then a coat of paint and maybe the plaster ceiling. The best thing about this area is the red feature wall which we have purposely chosen to paint red so that it stands out.

Looking to the side of the living room space, there is the staircase area. Again nothing much has changed other then a coat of paint on the walls. Looking on the opposite side, there is also not much changes other then a coat of paint and some new switches

 The major area that has changed is the dry kitchen and wet kitchen area.

We have installed the dry kitchen cabinets and keeping to the bold stance, we also have chosen red for the cabinets. We decided that it would stand out from the black top that we have. On the right side of the current dry kitchen, we also decided to create a peninsular to separate the dining room from the dry kitchen. This will also serve as an excellent bar for drinks.We also moved the left wall back about 2 feet and you can see the if you look at the after picture there is a bit of a corner on the left hand side of the picture which was not there before.

Next we go into the wet kitchen which basically cost the bulk of the money as the entire area has been changed around.

If you look at the picture on the left, the door and the box like room used to be the downstairs toilet. However it was kinda in the way of the wet kitchen. So we decided which till today we think it is still the best decision we have made which is to demolish the entire toilet and shift it away. What was left is our wet kitchen. If you see on the picture on the right you will see there is a "pillar" on the far end wall, that is where the old toilet started.

The shot above is a shot from the other side of the new wet kitchen. As you can see the window which used to be there is no more there as the wall was brought back 2 feet behind. Our ID/Contractor also suggested we should move the toilet wall back 2 feet as the room was too big for a toilet and it would be great to put a washing machine. So we did it and it was again a good decision. 

This is what became of the spare room at the back. It was too small to be a room and way too big to be a store room. So we decided to change it into the bathroom. Right beside the bathroom is also the guest room. We changed it to a study room but it ain't got any furniture to make it look like a study as yet.

Nothing special other then the windows has shrunk dramatically and we made a mistake there. Since we didn't have much money, we decided to reuse one of the exterior windows which we were not using anymore. However because of that that window you see in the above picture opens up to the dry kitchen and can be dangerous to people walking by. Unfortunately it cost way too much to replace and so we have to live with what we got. We did however paint the entire room yellow.

Now heading upstairs we got first of course the staircase.

We had grand ideas for this staircase as we wanted our house to look really modern with aluminium hand rails and glass. However, in the end the budget didn't allow for it and we had to settle with the original handrails and grills. It did get a new coat of paint and also the floor was re-polished. We did however change the light too....

This light was actually sold as an exterior light. However I thought it would be cool to be put at our staircase because it not only shines downwards but it also shines upwards. Amy was against this initially and after we bought it, I was kinda nervous about it as well. However after it went in and it was turned on, it look pretty cool.

Just as you reach the top of the staircase, you will see the family hall. We didn't do much to the upstairs floor except for the master bed room area. Majority of the rooms were just repainted and the floor re-polished. However we picked some bold colors for the rooms. Again after picking the colors, we were pretty nervous that the colors will be too crazy. However, I think it turned out pretty ok.

Family Hall

Blue Room

Green Room

The colors are actually starting to grown on us. We loved the green room once we saw it. However the blue room needed a bit getting used to since it was such a bold and bright color. The master bedroom didn't have much changes as well other then a coat of paint.

We did however put in a new wardrobe...

It was the most affordable one we could find without breaking the budget. The people who came to install the wardrobe was pretty good as well. They didn't scratch anything or dent anything at all. They were very meticulous about the doors on top and ensured both close properly and were aligned. We were pretty impressed by the installers I have to say.

Now another major part that was renovated was our master bedroom toilet. It cost a bomb as well because of all the fixtures and tiles.

We got a good deal on the solid top that you see there as it didn't cost any more then a normal solid top. The wide mirror you see was also a bonus as we got a taller one for absolutely no added cost. It even comes with lights...

Again this entire bathroom was designed by my ID/Contractor and the only thing we were involved in was the washing bowl which we bought and the shower fixtures. I think he has done a great and fantastic job and if you need a highly reliable and design oriented contractor, please let me know. Oh yea ignore the idiot taking the picture. He kinds spoilt the picture but no choice, no tripod. Haha.

From the inside of the house we go to the outside of the house. Majority of the outside of the house hasn't changed other then a re-coat of paint.

The only major change you can see in the pictures above is we change the tiles on the apron from white to black and that is about it. There was one other change again courtesy if our ID/contractor.

We are loving that new window by the way. If you want to see how it looks like from the inside, head back up to the picture of the dry kitchen.

It has been a long, painful and cash draining experience. However, we have done it and I would have never been able to do it without the help and support from Amy. She sometimes was the counter balance to my heavy handed purchasing brain. Hehe. I am glad that it is over and I am very happy with what we got. We still have a few things to do but at least it won't cost a bomb. Hehe.