Progress Report (Part 12)

Almost all renovation projects will inevitably face delay. At the end of the day, we accept this fact and the question turns to "for how long" will this delay be?

It is now 2 weeks since Mr Contractor promised the 3 week deadline; which leaves us with only one week to go for works to be completed. We were skeptics at the 3 week deadline, not because it isn't possible (anything is possible) but more so that this isn't a big enough job for Mr Contractor to pour in all his resources.

With a slight hiccup with tile supplies from MML last week (MML was scheduled only to deliver in September - which was really not acceptable so Mr and Mrs Kong kicked up a huge fuss), that will probably be Mr Contractor's most convenient excuse.

On the bright side, the tilers did work today. Mr Contractor was bright and early. Mr Carpenter has started to take our kitchen cabinets a little more seriously after we told him that we are moving in on the 30th of August, and we should have all our kitchen white goods ordered by the end of the week!

Colour Me Wrong (Part 11)

How difficult is it to get the colours of a small double storey terrace house wrong? Especially after the house owners have specified their choice of colours IN WRITING, ON A SHEET OF PAPER?

Well, apparently quite easily for Mr Contractor.

As the "Paint Team", three Indonesian men were sent over to paint our house. They have been working quite swiftly, preparing the walls of our house for the final layer of paint. They have been working hard, no doubt, though the house is not that large to begin with. However, (and yet again) Mr Contractor had failed to give proper instructions as to what our instructions meant, and our Indonesian friends mixed up the colours for Bedroom 2 and Bedroom 3.

Mr Contractor has since instructed Indonesian friends to correct the mistake but we suspect we have not seen the last of this category of mistakes. For 3 days later, we walked into a yellow house, coloured yellow on the inside!!

At the very least this project is "interesting".

Bedroom 2 in the wrong colour.

Visitor to new house

A very cute one decided to pay a visit to our construction site. She seemed to enjoy herself in the little corners she found. If the current owners of this cute one is not careful, they might find her "no longer living with them" after the construction site is completed. We would keep an eye on her if we were them.

Kong's Newly Tiled Kitchen (Part 10)

For once in the period of this renovation project, we have been so pleased with what we see. This is one occasion where we did not have to call Mr Contractor up immediately to complain about some work he did or did not do. We had happy thoughts of Mr Contractor on this day.

We are happy with the tiles we chose for the kitchen, and Mr Contractor has finally, after much cajoling, completed the kitchen tiles (for Mr Carpenter to measure for the kitchen cabinets). Fingers crossed, everything goes well in this space and the rest of the house from now on.

Mr and Mrs Kong's blue mosaic wall

special switches for special fingers

Blue mosaic wall ... again!

Despair (Part 9)

10.25 am in the morning and there is no one working at our construction site.

3 weeks he says!?

Nearly There (Part 8)

What would you do if your contractor told you he will finish renovations in 3 weeks. Would you -

a) run out and buy your furnishings?
b) give another 3 months from his expected completion date?
c) believe it when you see it.

At the moment, we are not sure what to think. It is coming along fine, and with such a small space as we have, there is really not a lot to be done though there are jobs that need doing (if you get my drift). So, the tiles are going up, and the marble floor is perhaps 70% done.

As an answer to the earlier question perhaps (c)!

It is Mellow Yellow (Part 7)

Mr and Mrs Kong selected the ever cheerful "Sunflower White" from the Dulux Weathershield catalogue, as the exterior colour of their house. In the sunshine, it is a light yellow, which, we hope gives a cheerful welcome to visitors.

Today's Progress (Part 6)

Not a lot happening today since Mr Contractor has said he won't be able to do much else without the tiles. We did however notice that he has, yet again, forgotten a design detail earlier discussed and agreed. Our toilet downstairs was to spot 3 glass blocks above the door to let some light in but the section now has been plastered and painted over WITHOUT the glass blocks!

Surprise surprise.

We have on 2 previous occasions reminded him of this. To remind him a third time is pure waste of energy.

Wonder what his latest excuse is.

On another front, the electrician's guys are fixing socket points today. We will have to go shopping for lights soon.

Tiles: More Decisions to be Made (Part 5)

Today, Mr Kong, Mrs Kong and Mr Contractor made it to MML (Malayan Mosaic - www.mymml.com/createDesign/index.html) to make a final decision on our tiles. Sadly Mr and Mrs Kong were in a rush, and forgot to bring a camera so we have no photos to post here.

The process of choosing tiles is a little painful and yet exciting at the same time. There are many considerations to be made, including surface texture and finish. In total, it has taken Mr Kong 4 trips and Mrs Kong 3 trips to narrow down which tiles we want. We can confidently say that we have made the decision we want to make. As to the final results, well, we will just have to wait and see.

Expected delivery of our tiles is in 1 week, with one batch of tiles (for the master bathroom) to be made 3 weeks later. Fingers crossed everything will go as planned, as Mr Contractor has already forewarned us of his forced idleness, pending arrival of the tiles. He seems to blame us for this, but really, Mrs Kong had informed him of our choice about a month ago - so plenty of time for him to get his act together.

Just another one of the joys of working with contractors!

House Renovations Plans .. finally (Part 4)

Renovation works have slowed, ever since we demanded plans from our contractor. "Demanded" is the word because it would not have been otherwise done.

We are well aware that contractors do not, as a general rule, draw plans. In fact, speaking to all friends currently renovating at the moment, it is really unheard of. However, if you had heard our contractor's "sell" and brag about how he will draw us plans, we thinks you would agree too.... make the man draw the plans.

Moreover, we hope, with plans, he will actually remember what he is suppose to do in each room/ at each part of the house. He keeps forgetting "the plan"!!

This was a typical conversation between Mrs Kong and our contractor before Mrs Kong gave up and handed over the reigns to Mr Kong:

Mrs Kong: Mr Contractor, at what height will the plaster ceiling be for the upstairs rooms and in the kitchen?

Mr Contractor: at the original height. I will make sure that the walls are sand down and white washed first before putting the final layer of paint. Don't worry, we will do a good job. There will be 2 layers of water proofing on the bathroom floor, we use this because the bathroom is a little porous. We don;t want it leaking do we? It will be more problems for me! This is really a perfect sized home for you. Not too big. Just nice, good space (etc etc blah blah) ... yes I have done a lot of work and have loads of experience with these things. ....

Mrs Kong: Good.

One week later, the plaster ceiling is not at its original height as promised. Mrs Kong argues with Contractor. Contractor seems to have forgotten promise, because there were no plans!!

Renovations Continue (Part 2)

The renovations continue. The Electrician and his two Indo guys have been in to rewire the entire house. In addition, the ever talented electrician has been working on our very problematic automatic gate, which just won't close and open at the right angle.


Finally on this fateful date, our Electrician turned up with a guarantee that the gate will work. Here in the pic, you can see one of his Indo guys building a gate stopper, to allow the gate to shut at the right position.

An electrician's work is not that easy afterall!

old water pipes

Loot found under one of the old beds on site - we were hoping to find money of course, so this was a little disappointing.

Electrician's guy embedding a wire, for a socket point.

House Renovations

front door - what a site

On the 1st of June, several foreign men (from as far as north China) stepped into our house to break it down. The much anticipated house renovations started a month ago!

They came with huge hammers, and saws, to break 2 walls to start with. There is quite a lot to do, from moving a toilet, to installing new flooring and windows. To friends and family eagerly awaiting the completion and future enjoyment of soon to be cosy home, take a close look at these before photos ... won't look like this when you come visit! We will be posting more photos to come

damp patches on wall

dining room - remember those tiles?

more of dining room and kitchen

wall dividing dining room and kitchen
(mummy's antique mirror before it was removed)

Sally Yeh at Genting

For his recent birthday, Mr Kong received tickets to attend the Sally Yeh Concert at the Arena of the stars, Genting Highlands. It was a fun night out, having had dinner first, at a local restaurant on the way up to Genting.


For those who don't know who Sally Yeh is, this is the wikipedia entry on her (Mrs Kong was not the cluest) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Yeh

notice the row in front and behind mrs Kong looking very bored...

Great songs, albeit cantopop, though the crowd was a little luke warm. Sally tried her very best to get the crowd a little more enthusiastic, but Malaysian uncles and aunties are Malaysian uncles and aunties. They would pay RM300+ for the best seats in the house but have their arms folded across their chests!


Mr and Mrs Kong tried their very best to inject a little more excitement to the event by cheering Sally on (see pic above). Inspite of our best efforts, Sally missed our row of audiences when she came by to greet us common folk. We went away without a pic of Mr Kong shaking hands with Sally Yeh. Unlike some lucky cousins of ours who got to go back stage (we heard :P).

Obsession with food

An Uncle (who I shall not name today), recently commented he thought a little less of his life now as all he thinks about is food, cooking and food. This made me wonder about my own circumstance somewhat because this is precisely the turn my life has taken in the past 12 months.

All I can think about these days is what I will cook, bake or eat. Needless to say I am happiest either holding a rubber cooking spatula in my hand or surfing the net for cook books/ books on cakes. I spend most of my money on cook books, and look forward to the days when I will have my own kitchen again - to cook and bake up a storm!

Is it really so bad then to be obsessed with food?

The happiest people I know love their food. People who love their food also seem happy to me. The loveliest people I have known either love cooking or feeding their loved ones.
Good food brings people together; great conversations and ideas are exchanged over fantastic meals!

Personally, I am pleased I have found this new obsession. Everyone else around me will just have to get fat eating what I plan to cook and bake!

Mrs Kong

Cake Decorating Class

Black Forest with only 3 cherries as the rest of the class got to the cherries first before Mrs Kong could get down to decorating her cake.

Pictures from Mrs Kong's Cake Decorating Class. Results produced under the strict eye of teacher. Mrs Kong prefers less "oriental" cakes (a little too fine!!) but I suppose one can't a expect a Delia Smith class from a Taiwanese trained teacher!

Still yummy. :)

Misty Northampton

Our last few weeks in Northampton, in the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year. Very soon, these images will be a world away from the life we will be living.


St Giles Street, Mrs Kong's daily walking route to the postoffice during the eBay days...


And the bakery where Mr Kong gets his favourite granary loaf.

Scandinavian Winter Night in Northampton

It is - 4 degrees celsius outside.

Glad to be inside!

Oat Rounds

Amidst these very busy days, Mrs Kong has managed these very simple but delicious Oat Rounds, of Mary Berry's of course. For once, the whole process was completed without any major glitches, maybe because it is a very simple and fast recipe afterall.


Named "the first cousins of the digestive biscuit" these were both delicious as well as healthy at the same time. The oaty taste of these biscuits were wonderful though if they were to be made again in this kitchen, Mrs Kong would probably use less sugar to ensure that the oaty taste isn't masked by the sweetness! Probably the only error in Mary Berry's recipe... a little too much sugar.

Nevertheless a delicious crunchy bite.

Perfect for morning coffee or afternoon tea!!

More errands and removers

Today, Mrs Kong spoke to the removers who move for the Queen!

He even managed to produce a picture of their fleet of cars, parked in front of Buckingham Palace. hmmm.

Krispy Kremes

Mr Kong has been wondering for a while now, about the hype surrounding Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Everyone raves about them, so when Mrs Kong went to Birmigham last week to meet a friend, her task was set out - to bring back a box of Krispy Kremes.

They did not last long of course.

for two people!!

And then we got more again on Saturday. I suppose we can confirm that they were good!