Curtains!

And I thought the kitchen cabinets were tough!

Curtains is another nightmare man.. now, do you think it is cheap to furnish the whole 3 storey house with curtains?

Firstly, you have to ask yourself.. do you want your curtains to look like the pieces of cloth you get at Kamdar or Globe Silk Store? If you do, then that is C H E A P. But it makes your house look like a prostitute den.

But if you want your house to look like those pictures in the interior design magazines (who doesn't), then you got to go to some curtain specialist like Baagus or SSF Curtains. KNN man, the sheer curtains there are damn nice but damn expensive. Some of the damn nice ones are like RM169 per square foot! So for fun, I sat down and did an estimate with Baagus, wah lao, my front door already, with the 3 panel sliding door, sheer day curtains and nice night curtains.. RM2400 for the entire 3 panel sliding door!

Then I calculated, for my whole house, and assuming some of the Roman Blinds I can buy the buy 1 get one free, and assuming I get a 25% discount on the custom made curtains.. RM10K for the whole house man!

I went to Macy to get the same quote.. cheaper.. but also quite teruk... RM7K.

Wah.. no joke man.

Kitchen!

The last few weeks I have been going around looking at options for kitchen cabinets.

I've seen them all! Signature Kitchen, Bofi, Lifestyle Kitchen, Rowenta, Kian Classics, EBAC, AINO.. all I tengok already.

Wah I tell you, there are so many permutations in selecting kitchen cabinets.

Firstly, there's the type of material to make your cabinets. Wood? Veneer? MDF? (I dono WTF it stands for), Acrylic? Chipboard? All got pros and cons.

Then there's the colors.

Then there's also the kitchen top! Local or Imported Top? With or without backsplash? Solid top or granite or marble or just hantam?

Then there are the optionals like
- Blum? (soft closing drawers)
- special side drawers
- special drawers for under the sink

Can go crazy man...

Renovations

Lately, besides work, I've also been very busy with my new house.

Yes, got the keys a while back.

I tell you, managing a new house is no joke. As you guys know, I got this feng shui fella to come in to scan the house a month ago. Thank god he basically said my place didn't have major flaws for me as the occupant so my renovations are quite minor. But got lah, some here and there, like move this door, close up this thing etc etc.

Engaging the feng shui fella is also one story.

Then after that, it is the next stage of employing an Interior Designer.

Wah lao, you say, so cheem one ah?

Of course la.. I figured I spent so much money buying that house I might as well spend some more lor and do it up nicely. If it was left to me, sure rojak and koyak rabak one.

Selecting an Interior Designer is also like vendor selection man. I got 2 ID fellas to come in and give me ideas and quotations. At the end of the day, the quotations all very different ballpark figures. They firstly charge for their design fee which is in between RM4K to RM8K... depending on how big your house is. But I think what was important was whether the ID fella got good ideas or not.

I had this one guy, he will drive all the way from Balakong to see me even if I change the meeting at the last minute. I liked his "baruah-ness" but aiyoo.. his fee like cock and his ideas are like some TAR college student man. I settled with this other dude who did up my cousin's house in Bukit Damansara. This guy was cheaper, a bit more lan si, but he got some good ideas.

Then once you settle on the designer, he will start sketching out some drawings from a birds eye view to confirm placement of furniture etc. Wah lao, you have to even take photos and measurements of your old furniture that you want to move into the new place man. Some of the old furniture the fella even say don't bother bringing over. "Clash with the theme", he says. Cheem!

Then the kitchen is another story man. You can get the ID fella do draw. But ideally, he will recommend that you go to a kitchen specialist to get better equipment and ideas. Specialist mah, he says! Kanina.. I was like thinking I just go to one fella and one stop shop.. basket.. now I have to run around like a dog.

So I'm now in kitchen designer selection mode. No joke man.. kitchen cabinets and tops itself is like one world of itself. I have so far seen Signature Kitchen (not bad) and Rowenta Kitchen (like cock). Wanna scout around Aino Kitchen and Kian Classic...

After the kitchen, there's the garden to landscape!

Weary

My god, has it been that long since I blogged?

Well, the end of March weekend was particularly long for me. I had to endure Friday, Saturday and Sunday with perhaps only 2 hours of sleep during those 3 days because of a crucial system cutover.

And by golly, I am no longer young. Once I got home, I slept and slept.. and when awake, I'm still tired! It has taken me almost a week before I can be at least "not so sleepy". Man, is it tiring!

And I have another cutover end April....