House Renovation: Vendors Details (Part I)

I know you guys have been waiting for this post, right? I promised to share with you the details of my vendors once the house if completed and Alhamdulillah, the house is finally ready within 5 weeks. Now, I am happy to share these info with you for your future reference. Any price given to us by the vendors is based on mutual agreement and understanding. Please contact the vendors themselves for further discussion regarding price and quotation yeah.

Contractors
We didn't hire those professional contractors. Since we're working on a tight budget, we decided to just hire a group of freelance Indonesian workers. We have seen their previous works and were satisfied with the outcome, thus agreed to hire them to do the house after seeing that they have the most appropriate rates around. The total cost for our renovation is 38k including raw materials, paint job and some simple wiring. But be sure to prepare a written contract for both parties before you hire them. That's their requirement. Do contact Shukri at 016-2865089 for further discussion.

Kitchen Cabinet
Since we have a rather cute kitchen area, a simple and clean cabinet is my top priority. We finally stumbled upon Wira Kitchen and hired them to do the kitchen cabinet. They have several branches and we ordered our cabinets from their outlet in Puchong. Located in Puchong Jaya, right opposite IOI Mall, just above Berry's Bakery. Of course, they have several designs to choose from and what I like about Wira Kitchen is that, they'll print out an outplan of your desired kitchen with the potential price even if you just pop by to ask for quotation. The size of our kitchen cabinet is roughly around 5 1/2 ft, priced at 3k including kitchen sink, drying rack, knobs and installation. Do contact Kelvin at 010-22066780 for further discussion.

Stove
We decided to not have the built-in stove for our kitchen cabinet because it just adds up to the cost. What we did was we source for a separate stove to match our cabinet. Luckily, we found a Zanussi stove in a perfect white color to go with the white kitchen cabinet at a very affordable price. The stove comes with an electric oven (yeay, now I can start baking!) and is priced at RM1599 plus free delivery. Bought this at Ideal Electrical in Shah Alam. Do contact them at 03-55482122 for directions.

Tiles
We didn't have much time to look around for the cheapest supplier in town so we just dropped by to the nearest outlet possible, located at Jalan Puchong. Merely 3 minutes by car from our house. Hahaha. We bought a heapful of tiles for the kitchen area, bathroom/toilet and porch area. They have a selection of choice according to your budget. Please contact LS Marble & Tiles at 03-80753199 for directions.

Arm Chairs
I've received feedback and questions from readers (ceh, macam la ramai sangat yang baca blog aku ni!) regarding my two purple arm chairs. I bought them on December last year, while we're still in the midst of planning for the house. I just thought, hey why don't we buy these first while we have the cash. They were purchased at House of Khatulistiwa at Avenue@Puchong Furniture Mall, located further up from Puchong Utama. Priced at 1.7k for both chairs, including free delivery. You can change the fabric, they have several choice of colors. Please contact Faysal at 013-4121394 for more information.

I shall write more about my other vendors for lightings, bathroom accessories and furniture in the next post. For the time being, just bear with these yeah. Time for blogging is very restricted now since I've started working. :( Any questions, just give me a hello and I will try to reply you as soon as possible. Cheerios!

Wedding Finds in Petaling Street

The holiday was spent with me and Johan trying to find wedding items. It's four months left to the wedding and luckily, all the major things have been taken cared of.

We went to Petaling Street on one hot and sunny afternoon. Thinking that it's going to be a marathon from Petaling Street to Jln. TAR to PJ State. But we were so exhausted in the middle of Jln. TAR and decided to go to PJ next time. What's in PJ? Well, there's an art shop selling easels in various size and design at an affordable price range. I'll let you guys know the drill once I buy the easels from them yeah?

Okay, let's move on to the initial story. The reason we went to Petaling Street was to buy paper lanterns and decorations for my reception. I happen to know from an anonymous that there's a shop selling paper lanterns so cheap you feel like crying! Hahaha! So that afternoon, we just went there and were looking at the map by the roadside, felt like tourists, asked some directions from the locals and tried to find the shop. It is hidden, you must have missed it if you're not aware of the surroundings.

What did we bought?

• 13 (16-inch) plain paper lanterns in red, white and pink.
• 4 (14-inch) flower-cut paper lanterns in black.
• 2 kipas bulu (for bersanding).
• 70pcs white organza pouch.

Total damage? RM150!!!!

Omgggggggg!!!!! So cheap yes I feel like crying because money is so tight right now so anything cheap will make me drool. Haha!

They sell various types of lantern. The biggest paper lantern ever is cheap too, selling at RM19.90. Sooooo huge!!! They do have the famous kipas bulu but in limited colors tho, maybe kehabisan stok? When I was there, they only have it in red, white, orange and yellow. I thought of buying black and red fan but after some discussion with Johan, we settled for the white fan. Senang nak guna for other function later. Yes, you can unwrap it and check if there are any defects before you commit to buy the fans. They don't mind. I buat macam itu kedai I sendiri je, try itu ini without even asking them. Haha!

Kipas bulu sold at RM8.90 per piece. Fluffy and pretty!

Black flower-cut lantern at RM8.90 per piece. Cheap!

The shop owner, an old Chinese lady is very helpful. Do look out for her. And her Cambodian (i think!) assistant too, who cannot speak Malay and doesn't understand BM much. Hehe.

The location?

It's in Jalan Panggong. If you're coming from the market area in Petaling Street, walk just a bit further up to your right. Keep your eyes open and you'll see a McD signage across the road and there's a signage to Jalan Panggong. Enter the alley and walk straight up until you reach a row of shoplots. The shop is located next to a restaurant. From the outside you could see lanterns hanging inside the shop, you're at the right place then.

Or if you're still clueless, just ask any taxi drivers yang dok melepak tepi jalan tu. They'll help you. Owh I love Malaysians!

Happy hunting!

My Nikah Attire

As some of you might already know, I bought my nikah attire online. Heck, I literally bought most of my wedding stuffs online. Haha! My nikah attire is actually a jubah and was tailored to measure, without any extra charges. Yeay! I should be thankful for that.

After 3-week upon ordering, I received the jubah as what I have expected. Simple and flowy. Pretty, nonetheless, considering how cheap it was when I paid the bill.

Then I sent it over to Zaza for beadings around the hemline and neckline after I realized the jubah needs some blings to spice it up. There were dramas actually. I am fussy, I admit that. The first time I collect it from her and paid the amount, I complained so much. And I sent it back to her for alterations and specifically told her I wanted more blings compared to what she previously sewn on.

When it was time for me to collect the jubah for the second time, I felt so devastated. Again. It's not like what I have imagined. With the amount of money I paid to her, I think I should get a lot more than what I have gotten for the jubah. There were extra charges, obviously, because of my certain demands. And I still haven't pay her the extra charges because I felt cheated. But my mom said the beadings are okay, I can go for more blings on the tudung later on.

Ok. I am obviously very fussy because I cannot relate to whatever my mom said.

The beadings on the jubah.

One week later, I  took out the jubah from the closet and have a look again. I felt like the jubah is missing something, but I finally come to my senses and think that what Zaza did for the beadings are not too bad after all. I should be thankful to her because she spent her time sewing and re-do the beads and coping with my ultimatum. Haha! Sure, I am not 100% satisfied with her work, but what can I do? Things have been done and there's nothing much I can do because I can't just think of any way to ammend it. So just let it be. I couldn't care much now because at the end of the day, what matters most is that the ceremony went well. Baju itu tidak penting. It's just a part of the event.

Vendors

I'm on leave today. So I spent most of my daytime googling for vendors and giving them a call. Let's start with videographer. I've contacted Avicenna Studio, Dina Wedding and Telaga Pictures. All of them have reasonable rate and package. I need to discuss further with my dad, buat muka kesian sikit for sponsor. Harap-harap berjaya.

Next, scouting for entertainment. You know I want a traditional performance for my reception. I wanted zapin. It'll be just awesome if I managed to get kids as dancers. I have this thing for kids who dance for zapin. My Johorian side would be proud. Hehehe. And yes, I finally got a very reasonable quotation for my request. As usual, mail me for more info.

Phewww! It's 8 months left. Times flew by so fast! But seeing that my checklist are half-completed, I felt so relieved. Boleh la rilek jap pasni. This coming 14th February would be the anniversary of our engagement. I'll post an entry for that, seeing that you ladies never saw my engagement pictures.

On the other hand, I'm jealous that Johan snatched Nik Erwan Roseli to do his entourage's attire. I nak jugak! Tu la Elly. Siapa suruh tempah baju awal sangat!

My fave from his collection! For nikah would be awesome added with some blings on waistline and hemline.


Nak menangis tahap gaban terasa seperti nak buat baju baru. Elly, please calm down. Don't simply waste your money.