Hi Justin, you have got a really nice home there. Can tell how much effort you have put into planning and designing it. Good as a reference for my home reno which is starting by end of the year.

May i know why there is a space on the left of your fridge? What is that for?

Hi lencent. There is a narrow storage shelf on the left of my fridge. This is just to ensure that the fridge perfectly covers the left window so it looks like there are only two windows originally instead of three windows. Unfortunately the storage shelf is a little narrow though.

Possibly can put in a pull out rack for condiments?

Can but mine will be individual pull out trays.

Cabinets progressing slowly but surely.



Progress of the kitchen cabinets; marble countertop supplier came to take measurements last Friday and they need about 1.5 weeks before starting installation



Kitchen hood installed; unfortunately we picked one with a beveled (not flat) top so there will be a visible gap between the hood and the cabinet once the doors are installed



We selected 3 marble slabs for the kitchen countertops over the weekend; each slab had minor "imperfections" but it is to be expected for natural stone



Cabinets + built-in workstation for Bedroom 2



Part of the walk-in wardrobe for the master bedroom; still deciding between aluminium and black powder coated sliding doors (+RM2000)



Frame installed for master bedroom toilet mirror; mirror will be installed early this week



Completed installation of toilet fittings; mixer backplate not 100% flush so have asked my contractor to rectify

This post has been edited by justintga: Nov 5 2018, 03:31 PM

Nice looking house you got there!

I have a couple of quick questions, where did you buy the marble slab? and how much does it cost per slab? do they have black marble slab?

I plan to do marble feature wall for living room and maybe for master bedroom.

I compared a few suppliers but went with Stoneace.

Great selection, decent price and good service. Sometimes installation cost is nearly equal to the slab cost so it is best you contact them directly. They have some very nice interesting black marble slabs too.

Total cost for Volakas marble (from Greece) countertops for my whole kitchen is about RM10k for reference.

Ahh Stoneace. It's already in my bookmark lol.

RM10k for marble kitchen counter-tops only is a tad expensive. I might have to stretch the budget a little if I'm using natural marble I guess. Another option I'm thinking is probably use Feruni ceramic marble collection or just simply use Formica marble laminate.

Is there any other parts of the house that you'll be using marble?
Look forward to seeing completion of your house. Keep updating!

Minor progress update:



Rain shower installed in the master bedroom toilet; may need to move the eyeball light (not pictured) away from the shower head as it is too close now and creates a weird looking reflection on the ceiling



Completed Bedroom 2 cabinets; pending final touches (handle installation & grouting edges)



Completed master bedroom feature wall and started assembling some furniture; so exciteddd!!!



Another angle

This post has been edited by justintga: Nov 7 2018, 02:18 PM

I will only be using marble as my kitchen countertop. Marble was about RM5k but the installation was about RM4k because my design is slightly complicated. Could be much cheaper for you if the marble is just used as a feature wall.

Found out that Unifi is not available for my area yet and the only fibre option we have is an unknown ISP called Freshtel. Had no choice but to sign up for a 60Mbps package on a 6 month contract @ RM98 per month.

Cabinet installation will recommence on Saturday and have booked the curtain installation to come in 2 weeks.

Till then, another small progress update:



Backlit master bedroom toilet mirror finally installed!



Shower screen for Bedroom 2 toilet; the master bedroom toilet already comes with a shower screen from the developer



Front panel for the kitchen island installed



Just another pic of the master bedroom with natural light

Spent some time assembling our IKEA furniture over the past few days in the areas where either there are no cabinets or the cabinets have been completed. Decent progress on that end. Hope to start proper cleaning of the house in a week or so before the curtains come in on the 24th of November 2018.



Cabinet installation has continued in the master bedroom. Unfortunately, the workers misaligned the panels on the top right section so the wood grain is not continuous between the two panels (offset vertically by about 2 inches). This was clearly down to a lack of supervision as there was no "sifu" present throughout the weekend. Again, disappointing performance by my cabinet contractor.

They have promised to rectify this though. Will continue to monitor their quality of works.

Hi Justin,

Beside submitting deposit of renovation to developer, any other authority permit required for your renovation ?

parking to learn more.
Great design !

Hi there. My renovation does not involve any extensions or structural work. Just plaster ceiling, some internal plumbing, cabinets, painting, etc. So no authority permits involved.

Very slow progress over the past week. Just some cabinet installation done in the master bedroom and the 2nd bedroom. Both are roughly about 90% complete with the exception of the sliding doors for the master bedroom walk-in wardrobe.

Only the study room bookshelf + toilet cabinets remaining. No pictures this time but will post some soon.

Freshtel came to pull their fibre cable last week. After connecting everything, the technician found that the fibre cable from the store room up to the living room (internal fibre cable) was damaged and had to be replaced. Have notified the developer who will come and perform the rectification on Tuesday. They will try and pull a new fibre cable through the existing conduit in the walls but if they are unsuccessful, some hacking may be required unfortunately.

Upcoming activities include marble countertop installation on Wednesday and Thursday plus installation of curtains and water filters on Saturday.

The fibre optic sub-contractor came in on Tuesday to fix the fibre issue we had. Luckily, the break in the cable was near the termination point in the store room so only minimal hacking was required. The damage was suspected to be termite related unfortunately so the developer has agreed to carry out some termite treatment.

Long overdue pictures!:



Hacking and reconnection of the fibre optic cable; the junction box had to be moved to a new position and the developer will need to come back and rectify the hacked wall another day



The misalignment of the grain of the master bedroom cabinet has been fixed and the walk-in wardrobe has been completed with the exception of the sliding doors (fabrication in progress)



Shelves and handles have been installed for the built-in cabinet in Bedroom 2



Finally started installation of the marble countertop today; very happy with the Volakas marble slab we picked for the island countertop and we hope that the rest of the slabs (for the main kitchen counter) are equally pretty!



Even the edging and the top are perfectly bookmatched with the marbling lining up perfectly!



Cutting the holes for the cooker and the granite sink; the doors covering the kitchen hood which were recently installed can be seen here too

Marble countertop installation should take up until tomorrow. Curtains and water filters will be installed on Saturday and the pending cabinet installations should hopefully be completed by the end of this week. This will be followed by some touch-up work after which we can start thorough cleaning and assembly of the remaining furniture.

Target to move in on the 1st of December 2018!


This post has been edited by justintga: Nov 21 2018, 03:34 PM

Hey Justin, been a while since I revisited this post. I must say you did an awesome job with your renovation!

Very impressed with the whole thing! Thanks a lot for updating!

hi nice house owner

would you mind to share the exact Philips casing and the MR16? RM30 for 1 complete set is cheap

This post has been edited by zemmien: Nov 27 2018, 01:19 PM

Hi thanks for your kind words

I purchased mine from E-Street. QBS 027 and Essential 4.5W LED MR16 100-240V 36D. You can negotiate with them for bulk pricing. Mine was less than RM30 per set as I bought 100 pcs.