2 birds with 1 stone!

After 2 long days of work this weekend (and a multitude of body aches and pain lol), I'm happy to announce that we are almost completely insect-proof and cat-safe now (minus the kitchen and bathroom). :D

Spent both days diy-ing insect screens I got off Qoo10 for the living room, foyer and bedroom (5 sets of windows in all) with the help of a very kind friend. They look great, if I may say so myself. :3 Such a great sense of achievement right there, heh heh. Hello wide open windows (with new/oiled hinges), goodbye insects! 

Living Room

Foyer

Bedroom

Terrible backlight in the photos cuz it was early evening by the time we were done, but true to what you see, they're almost close to invisible so I think it's pretty darn cool. Can't stop admiring them!  ♥

Update [04/08/15] : ID was over at our place last night checking out the glass work from last week and planning the final bits for partitioning work. He actually thought I paid someone to install my insect screens! Wahaha. Needless to say, he's well impressed with my mad diy skillz. :P

The fixed glass panels for the kitchen half-walls have also been installed this week, so that should be the end for glass works I believe. They also changed out the rubber tubing on my bathroom glass door to swing both ways just as I requested, yay!

Partition folks coming in next week according to the ID and then it's probably time to arrange for the painters to come back for touch-ups. Also pending the return of our bathroom cabinet mirror doors, which were taken out to fix the visible glue defects at the edges. Hope they can do something about that!

Final stretch of the home run...

Ole parquet, dear parquet, how I love you so!

Dropped by our place this afternoon (Saturday) to check out the parquet work and also secretly keep an eye on the glass installers to make sure they don't scratch up our revarnished floor when putting up the sliding glass doors for the kitchen.

Opted for a matte (low-gloss) varnish. Absolutely adore our brand new (looking) floor! ♥ Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike gloss in furnishings? Haha. If I have (sorry) I felt the urge to reiterate. :P 2 tiles replaced, some skirting added to the external left wall (partition) of the storage cabinet (left image below) and a bit of it removed from the external right wall of the kitchen (right image below). Pictures taken before the work was done.

 

The 2 large sliding panels and tracks are also up, but the smaller fixed panels have to be brought back to the workshop cuz they were too big apparently. I didn't realise the glass doors were so heavy until they asked me to try it lol. No wonder I paid a pretty penny for it - 10mm glass is pretty solid stuff. Didn't bother with pictures since it's not completed yet.

The partition guys were supposed to be in on Monday but are now on hold until the glass guys get their work done. And the painters can't come in for retouching until the partition guys finish their part... Domino (delay) effect lol. Good thing our move is planned for late September. :P

Aluminium guys due in this coming week to service the windows (and door) hinges!

Oh WC WC, where shalt thou sit?

Was over at our new place in the afternoon to meet the plumbers. After much discussion with the friendly, young plumber (Malaysian Chinese who looks to be in his 20s), we agreed to install only the following:

1) Toilet bowl (WC)

2) Bidet valve - position based on his recommendation - slightly above WC seat height

3) Bidet spray - position based on his recommendation - same height as WC tank

4) Instant water heater - position based on my mark-up - slightly below standard height (to make up for my height, or lack thereof)

5) 2-way tap - position based on my mark-up - but he recommended that we move it slightly outwards from the wall for ease of repair / maintenance in the future 

The basin will wait till after carpentry is done since I prefer to have it aligned exactly to the mirror cabinet above it. Likewise with the toilet accessories (toilet roll holder, robe hook). Plus I'm still missing a line of hooks for the bathroom door to replace the ugly, existing one left behind by the ex-owners, which is already missing 3 out of 6 hooks. :P

The bathroom door that bashed my right toe in, has also gone back up again in the connecting doorway to our bedroom. With both bathroom doors in place, we finally have complete privacy once again in our bathroom lol. 

Also done today - bathroom glass panel, bathroom swing door and glass for the cut-out wall in our kitchen.

Doesn't feel much different from when it was an open air cut-out. Phew! Need to stay in the house a little longer to be able to know whether it'll be stuffy though. Didn't managed to get shots of the bathroom cuz the plumbers were already in there by the time I got there, so I didn't want to get in their way.

Finally went thru my VO (variation order) today and my total renovation shortfall is about 10k. :( Stressed out about where to find 10k. Grow on trees? Fall from the sky? Kill myself and fulfill it from my life insurance payout? (Not sure if it applies for suicide, haha.)

In feline news, Bailey had her monthly shower tonight and she is definitely not a happy kitty. Just look at her grumpy face, half-mast ears and still damp fur. I'm a horrid mummy for laughing at her now lol. As usual, she ran away to hide the minute she realised it was bathing time - I had to drag her out (whining and all) from under the bed, after I've closed off all but one of her escape routes. And then she complained the entire time, throughout her shower. 5 years of monthly showers later and still, she hates it. Poor darling...

Bedtime for (wet) Bailey & Mummy...zzz... Goodnight!