Monday, May 16, 2011

We Have Expanded a.k.a. Rumahku Syurgaku! (Part 1)

Rumahku Syurgaku series | Part 1 | Part 2 |

I've always thought that a 3-bedded condo of 1,300sqft was a little small for our growing family of 5 (+1 campur Bibik Parmi). Considering the space that the kids need to grow, amount of stuff/junk that we have accumulated all these years and my need to have the dedicated place for each thing that we own, we have decided that we simply needed more room. I was getting rather demotivated by the state of "tongkang pecah"-ness of our home. Howlah nak jadi Rumahku Syurgaku, liddis? :(

Despite loving the location we're at, finding more space (= landed property) in the Bangsar area was pretty darn expensive. So, we searched other towns as well, termasuklah Petaling Jaya, Kelana Jaya, Bandar Kinrara, Alam Impian, Shah Alam, Bukit Jelutong etc. Various types of properties, at so many locations. Semuanya mahal and/or jauh.

*Iklan kejap - Mengapa property mahal sangat kat Malaysia ni? Bordering gila, okeh!*

Anyhoots, at the back of our minds, the ideal solution to our predicament would be if the owner to the next door condo unit would sell off her house to us. As theirs is the exact mirror -image of our current abode, our space would have doubled whilst maintaing our current location. No need to uproot the entire family. Perfect!

However, since there are only 4-units of houses per floor, the only adjoining unit to ours belonged to a lady (let's call her Lina - *bukan nama sebenar*) who is currently staying in Dubai (*bukan tempat sebenar*) with her family. She only comes over, probably 3 times a year to check on the house. She doesn't even rent the house out. She only gets her friend to house-sit it once in a while.

Here we are, sambil mencari rumah yang lebih besar, sambil berangan-angan dan berdoa that somehow, Lina would sell her house to us.

To keep the story short, by a stroke of fate and sheer luck, we managed to convince her to sell the unit to us. And after a long long wait for DBKL to sort the change of title deed, we finally got the keys to the condo sometime back in June / July last year. Yeay!!! Alhamdulillah.....

Serious! Macam tak percaya kan? Ini buktinya!

The living room and balcony.

Kitchen and dry area.

Some of the rooms and restrooms.

So, selesai most of the renovation works in the new unit , we brought the walls down (just a little bit je, the opening is around 6ft or so) on the 29th December 2010. Kami siap dok Double Tree, wak masa diorang tebuk lubang ni. :)

We officially have a front entrance and a back door now. Woot!

Status terkini:
Kami dah selesai meng-renovate rumah sebelah and it is now classified as a Work In Progress. The old condo unit will also be touched-up (a.k.a. Phase 2 renovation) once I have figured out where everything goes. The main mantra is NOT TO BUY ANYTHING NEW unless we are SO DAMN CERTAIN about it. Have to figure out whether we want to keep the stuff, where would it be in the new house flow and sorting the giveaways should we need to. Ni lah kerja saya setiap weekend selama beberapa bulan ni. Mengemasnya tak habis-habis.

Insya Allah, I'll share the after pictures section-by-section. I'm so excited. Ngee.. *bak kata @MarlizaRadzi*

-dillz blogging out-

15 comments:

Jelita78 said...

omg!!!
best giller!!!
congrats!!
it's like finallyyyy u get your dream home without the massive moving out!
ohhhh seronoknyaaaa!!
my mom in law is wishing the same thing, wanting the next unit of her apartment, tapi apakan daya.. sigh..
well, congrats again to u dillz!!
definitely your luck!

NORA ANSHAR said...

i'm chanting... "housewarming! housewarming! housewarming" hehehhe...

you're right on properties being mega expensive now. it's like 1 mil is the new 100k!! terduduk everytime aku pi tengok rumah. last2, enjoy the ID in the showhouse je la and wishing that i could do mine just like theirs *big sigh*

dillazag said...

Jelita,
Seronok beyond belief, yang. However, the renovating and kemas-ing had been a pretty looong journey for us too. Now that one unit is done, the mengemas portion ni rasa macam tak habis-habis. I've been at it since Chinese New Year, I think. Wish I could take a week off and settle everything in one go. But, the back can't take it. Sakit siuts. Aku dah tua agaknya. hihihihihihihihi... maka, slow and steady, lah. Asal habis, kan?

dillazag said...

Noresh,
I would love to be chanting the same. hahahahahaha.
Most likely aku ajak sebelum Phase 2 aka renovation of old unit bermula. Kira WIP je la ye? :)

BTW, diorang ni semua beli rumah dengan apa, ek? Last I heard, gaji kita takde pun naik mencanak-canak sampai berpuluh ribu sebulan. Menambahkan hutang yang we can not afford betul la.. *sheesh*

KS said...

yayyyyy!!! niceeeee... nak makan free sambil cuci mata tgk rumah baru :P :P

Along said...

fulamak..dah macam mansion dah ni. KLS pun kalah...hahahaha. Buat housewarming jangan x jemput hah...setakat tunjuk gambar kat sini tak main..hehehe...

dillazag said...

KS,
Wajib datang bawak buah tangan, ok? Tak kira la WP ke, or any other bahan air tangan awak. Tak kira tau. (Aci tak bawak masa Raya?)

Along,
Actually, 2,600sqft on one floor does feel a little spacious. Walaupun in actual fact, biliknya cenonet sahaja. I love the fact that everything has it's designated place. Tunggukan reveal satu bilik per satu! Woot!!!

Sambil tunjuk rumah, harus makan-makan kan? Buat potluck je la huh??*tuan rumah pemalas*

Amy said...

Yes, yes potluck senang. *tetiba* Hahah aku berangan nak gi rumah kau dgn cik ros, walaupun bukan masa housewarming. Sure lawa bilik bebudak tuh..

The Momster said...

Can't wait to see ALL the works done!! :)

dillazag said...

Amy,
Confirm pot luck. Berapa sessi aku nak kena buat ni? *perasan fofular* hihihihihihi
Bilik belah2 sana saya tak renovate lagi. Setakat letak where the things should be. My battle now is to identify things to keep, give away and throw. Insya Allah, Renovasi Fasa 2 will finalize it all. :)

Momster,
Bila lah tu agaknya? I macam "No Comment" je. hihihihihihihihi

KS said...

Boleh bawak masa raya tapi utk 6 org makan je laaa.. :p

dillazag said...

KS,
Asal ada. I'll take whatevr that you've got. hihihihihihi *desperado*

Yan said...

woohooo!!! im sooo excited too! well done sis!!! also, gla ur BAAAAACK with more n more updates ;)

Amy said...

Uih nak throw tu bagi saya pun takpe kak :P

dillazag said...

Yan,
Hey there babe! I've been updated with the progress of your little one, too. :) Glad to see you are all faring well there.
What can I say, I missed blogging too much. :) It's good to be back.

Amy,
RUmah hang tak penuh penuh lagi ke???? hahahahhaha
Bila korang nak terjah rumah aku nih? Cik Rossss????