- Building a full-height cabinet at the service balcony, as well as a lower cabinet.
- More electrical points
- Replacing metal gate
- Removing the service balcony window and door
- Repainting the kitchen
- Changing kitchen and service balcony lights to LED ones
- Installing a wireless door bell
Read on to find out more in detail, haha.
I never found my kitchen to be too painfully small until last year when C1 went to P1. Since then, I only go over to the Low Clan's once a week instead of 4 weekdays a week. I have to cook more and my kitchen counter space is really painfully tight. Cooking is a pain until I invested in a Cuckoo, but I yearn for more counter space. As of now, I only have the area between the sink and the cooker hob to work on.
Finally decided to revamp the kitchen. Wanted to hack the wall that separated the kitchen and service balcony.
28 Sep 2019 (Sat) - Went to Hwa Li (located at JW market) to request for quotation. About $20K! Mr K was very patient and gave practical suggestions.
30 Sep 2019 (Mon) - Mr K popped by to look at our kitchen and suggested not to do such a big project; the cost does not justify the little increment in space. He suggested that we do custom cabinets at the service balcony instead and install extra power sockets. We will have a full height cabinet on one side and a lower tabletop cabinet on the other. The big water pipe will be concealed. This way, I can shift the oven from the kitchen counter top to the service balcony and have more counter space for food preparation. I will also have more storage space with the extra cabinets.
Current service balcony. Messy!
2 Oct 2019 (Wed) - Mr K and the electrician came in the evening to discuss where the extra power sockets should be placed. I decided to have one in the middle of the LVR so that next time, if I ever want to get a massage chair (lol), I will have a power source at that place!
Decided to change my kitchen ceiling light to LED light. Brighter.
This electrician uncle is very nice. His charges are super reasonable (in fact, cheap). Total of $300 to install 4 power sockets. He agreed to no extra charges for changing my kitchen ceiling light too!
Mr K and the carpenter came at night to take measurements. This is the drawing.
I also decided to remove the existing service balcony door and window panels. This way, I will be able to stretch my arm through the open window to reach for things when the new lower cabinet is up.
3 Oct 2019 (Thurs) - Went to Tradehub to shop for our kitchen ceiling light. Went to Lightings.com.sg. Decided to change the light in the service balcony as well to match the one in the kitchen. Paid $80 for this big 36W LED light and $55 for the small version.
As Mr K had arranged for work to start tomorrow, we spent the night shifting out the things at the service balcony. Also shifted out the things at the balcony as the electrician needs to install a socket in the LVR too. The drainage hole at the service balcony was so disgusting dirty, I didn't take a photo of it. Asked him to clean it up and now its sparkling clean!
4 Oct 2019 (Fri) - Workers arrived at 8am+ to dismantle the service balcony door and window panels.
Before:
After: Kitchen looks slightly bigger and brighter now!
When the workers left, I had nothing to do and decided to take a magic sponge and started cleaning parts of the kitchen walls that are dirty. Wiped over with a damp cloth. Also cleaned along the edges of the floor skirtings and edges of the walls where dust accumulates. Too free, I guess. I now have brighter looking walls and very clean floor edges, wahhahahaha!
Electrician uncle arrived at 9.30am. We shifted out the fridge as he needed to drill through the wall to tap on the power source there. Manx, the curb the fridge is on was soooooooo dirty! So dirty until I had to WA him and ask him how he cleaned the drainage hole which was dirtier, lol. Swept away the dirt with a small brush (so thankful I have a Daiso small dustpan with brush) and sprayed mould and mildew detergent on the area. I then used a wet cloth to clean a couple of rounds before it is sparkling clean. Being the cleanliness freak that I can be, I took the chance to clean the back and bottom edges of the fridge. Cleaned the cable too. I mean, how often do you get the chance to clean these parts right???
Before:
After:
As the electrician worked on the extension in the LVR, I started cleaning up the service balcony. Manx, it was so dirty and full of powder cement that resulted from drilling. Super thankful for my small Daiso dustpan and brush. Tried to sweep away as much as I can and poured water to wash the floor. Mopped it as dry as I can and let it air.
Before:
After: The loose cables on the left are to be fixed after carpentry. See the 2 new sockets on the right? I can use my air-fryer there next time when the cabinets are up, yay!
The electrician completed his job around 11.30am and I began to clean up the mess in the kids' room and the balcony. He had tapped on the power source from the kids' room so that the extension can be shorter and less visible as compared to tapping on other electrical points in the LVR. Sooooo much dust and powder cement.
I was so busy until I had no time to meet Nancy for lunch and quickly ordered Deliveroo. Didn't think much and ordered 3 packets of chicken rice, lol.
Spent the next 2.5 hours cleaning up the remaining mess and vacuuming and mopping the entire house. Changed my pail of water 3 times, lol. Finally completed the cleaning at 2.10pm. Super tired! I looked at my box of chicken rice and had no appetite, haha. Ate less than half. Quickly showered and Nancy came to pick us up to go JP. Too tired to drive. Badly needed a cup of kopi!
5 Oct 2019 (Sat) - Bought a new cordless vacuum cleaner today at Mi Store!
6 Oct 2019 (Sun) - A pretty fruitful day. Decided to change our metal gate and went to choose a design after church. Settled on a wrought iron gate. As our current Durolock cannot be used on the new gate, we have to buy a new one.
Went to Selfix in the evening to take a look and I am glad I didn't buy, cos I remember our Durolock came in a set of two. I was right. Back at home, I found the other set sitting nicely in the box, wahahahahaha! Who would have thought that 12 years after buying the set, this second lock finally gets to see the light of day, wahhahahahaha! Now all we need is a bracket ($16.90), no need to spend another $76.70 on a new Durolock, yay!
Collected our ceiling lights for kitchen and service balcony today. Looking forward to a brighter kitchen!
Asked him to clean the big pipe in the service balcony today so that the dust won't dirty the new cabinets when they are up, haha. Wah, now shiny clean!
As I looked at the shiny pipe in the service balcony, I can't help but feel the pipe in the toilet looked disgusting, haha. Begged him to clean it too, whahahahaa! See the thick layer of dust accumulated over the years?
Before:
.
After:
16 Oct 2019 - Today is the big day of our home improvement project!
The carpenter and gang arrived at 11am and started installing our new cabinets.
Metal works people came at 2pm to dismantle our existing metal gate. Installed the new wrought iron gate.
Before:
After:
The electrician came after that to change our kitchen and service balcony lights. Soooooo happy with our new LED lights, super bright and pretty (shimmery)! Also transferred the existing kitchen light to the common toilet, so now the common toilet is also very bright, wahhahahahaa! He finished installing sockets at the new cabinets and thereafter, carpenter and gang did the final touch up.
17 Oct 2019 (Thurs) - Shifted the oven over to the back today! Also filled my new cabinets with things from the front that I use very infrequently.
Very happy cos now I have so much more counter space with the oven shifted to the back!
So thankful our Durolock came in a set of two, cos the one on our old metal gate could not be removed! A new Durolock for the new gate cost $76.70, so I was super happy when I found the other Durolock in the store room, whhahahahaha~! Who would have thought that it would see the light of day 12 years later, whahahahhaa! Bought a Durolock brand bracket and we fitted it onto the new gate at night.
25 Oct 2019 (Fri) - Finally the last part of our home improvement project - repainting the kitchen!
Didn't plan on this initially, but our self touch-up was really ugly. The same brand and colour code of paint looked really ugly against the old one. It was really an eyesore that I couldn't stand, so we got someone to repaint our kitchen.
Before: Fresh touch up on the top left stood out starkly against the existing paint. Yes, they are the same colour code!
After: Nice and clean look now, so happy, wahahahhahaa!
Changed our door bell as well after living with a spoilt one for so many years. Wireless door bell. $12. Works like a charm, whahahahaha!
