Our New Home

After searching for a landed property to rent around Bangsar and Sri Hartamas areas, we finally found a house that felt like home the moment we entered inside to view it. The house is in Medan Damansara - a double-storey-linked terrace house. The family occupied this house for more than 20 years. They decided to rent it out after the kids moved out; the landlady was relating how bored she feels staying alone in the house when the husband goes for work trips - so they decided to move into a condo. The exact opposite of what we are doing ;) Moved out of our condo to stay in a landed property with some greneries.

Initially we were reluctant to rent the house since we felt that it's quite big for just the two of us. We asked the agent to give us some time to think over it. And finally, we decided to rent this house because:

• it truly felt like home;
• the house faces the forest - with beautiful view and the sounds of the birds and insects - a total contrast to the hustle-bustle-city-centre where we lived earlier; 
• the house comes in fully furnished, so moving in was not that big a hassle; and
• it's just a 10 minutes drive away from Alfred's office - so no more stuck-in-traffic-jam stress!

We are happy with the choice we made. This will be our love nest for the time to come and the home where our baby will grow :)

Last Day at Idaman Residence

Today, is the key-hand-over day. The cleaner came in the morning to do the final cleaning and the place looked spic-and-span and beautiful. I can't believe we are leaving our first home where we stayed for 1 year 3 months. But, it's time to move on. 

The amenities that we enjoyed during our stay there which we will definitely be missing alot:

1. The KLCC park. We love going for a walk there early in the morning.

2. The pool.

3. A stone's throw away from Suria KLCC. We always enjoy the convenience of not having to be trapped in the traffic to go out for dinner or catch a movie. We will take a short walk to Suria KLCC and dine in the foodcourt at Level 2; and hop over to TGV to catch a movie. It was darn convenient - all in a stone's throw away. A walk to Pavillion only takes about 10 minutes. Pudu is so nearby. Convenience. 

Things that we will not be missing:
1. The noise from the construction sites near our condo.
2. The cooped-up-with-no-garden-view feeling.
3. Not being able to keep a dog.

I took this pictures just before the tenant dropped by to collect the keys.

The living room:

The kitchen:

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom:

The guest bedroom and bathroom:

Us:

Bye bye Idaman Residence. Thanks for giving us shelter and comfort throughout our stay there.

Pack-up

Alfred took leave today to settle all the remaining stuffs. The lorry and the movers arrived around 9.30 a.m. and they helped to transport all the boxes to John's sister's place in Melawati. It was very kind of John to let us store our boxes there for the meantime. All in all, we had about 17 boxes to be stored there; a working table; two working chairs; and a iron-rod display shelf. 

The dining set arrived around 5 p.m. And after that, we went to Wangsa Maju and Sri Hartamas to look for a house to rent and to survey the neighborhood there. Had dinner at Ikea restaurant - I really enjoyed the tomatoe pasta - delicious!

Packing Day

Today is a day dedicated to packing - boxes and boxes of stuffs - it seemed neverending. I thought we didn't have much stuff to pack since we are leaving behind most of the furniture. But, once we start packing, more and more things appear. Alfred has already started packing last Friday - all my files and books - which took up lots of space. 

Today, we were packing and sealing the box; packing and sealing; after about 6 hours, we were almost 3/4 done. Then, we headed to Courts Mammoth to purhase the dining set. We found a nice piece which matched the motive on the curtain that we chose - and the dining set was on sale. After that, we headed to Bianco at Damansara for a late lunch. It was a long and tiring day - but we managed to get most of the things packed. Packing is one of the things I dreaded when it comes to moving out; but we don't have much time to even think about it - but to just do it!

Moving out

Today I was lamenting to Alfred on how I wish we could find a nice landed house with a nice cute garden. Although staying right smack in the middle of the city centre has its advantages, I never liked being cooped up in a condominium. It was not in our original plan to stay at the Idaman Residence condo unit; Alfred purchased the condo unit mainly for investment purpose - either sell it when there's a good price for it or rent it out.

We've been trying to find for a tenant for quite some time now. But I have to admit we were not actively looking to rent our place out since day-by-day we grew comfortable in the place and we've made it our home. It took us lots of effort and time in getting the condo unit furnished - from lighting and other fixtures, to the other soft furnishings to make the place a comfy home. But we both knew that we've always wanted to live in a landed home with a garden.

So, I was telling Alfred on the phone today that it's high time that we seriously look to rent out the place and move into a nice-cozy-home-with-a-garden and keep a dog. But, I didn't expect things to fall in place this quickly! Soon after the conversation today, Alfred made few calls to real estate agents and found an expat looking for a place to stay near KLCC area. The guy was immediately free to come and have a look at our place and he liked our place - and they negotiated the rental - and before I knew it, both parties agreed on the terms and conditions. The tenant was keen to grab the opportunity to rent the place since we offered a much lower rental rate compared to the going market rate for a fully furnished unit. We decided not to be greedy and to be realistic instead. The rental agreement is for 1-year. And the tenant wants to move in immediately. Wow, it's all happening too fast. We requested for a week to pack up our belongings and agreed to hand over the keys next Wednesday evening, 9th June.

Although, initially we both experienced a separation-syndrome after realizing that we will be moving out soon, -all the oh-i-am-gonna-miss-this-and-that- but we know that this is what we wanted and now it's time to act on it when the opportunity presents itself.

Wardrobe

We've got the walk-in wardrobe installed last Thursday. It's awesome! So many shelf space and it's so neat-looking! Although the space for the walk-in wardrobe is pretty small, the height makes up for the small space. So, we have enough room just to walk-in the closet. One thing that I am allergic to is CLUTTER. So, looking at the 12-feet high walk-in closet, I am contented at the thought of things being stored away neatly and compartmentalized.

Other things installed: bathroom cabinet, the wood-paneling at the living area, curtain railings, one full-length mirror at the doorway, and horizontal full-length mirror for the master bathroom. We got a carpenter to do all these work, so it was pretty reasonable.

The Surprise

Last month, I sighted a 40-inch HD T.V. sitting neatly on a rack in the living room the moment I entered our apartment. No wonder he has been acting suspiciously for the past few days. One thing is that he is not good at surprising me – every time he intends to do just that, he will end up opening his big mouth and spoiling the surprise – and most of the times, he will tell me “I have a surprise for you – just wait and see lah” - which technically ceases to be a surprise anymore.

And guess who watches the TV more frequently – it’s Mr. Alf, of course, hehe.

My New Love

The moment I saw him, I knew that very instant that we were made for each other. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I felt butterflies in my stomach and tounge-tied. I knew that I've got to take him back home - for I couldn't imagine my life without him. All these years, after much searching, I've found my soul-mate, alas!

I can't begin to describe my feelings for my new love...

My new mixer - Kenwood Chef mixer. It's HIM because it looks masculine - and he is going to make a woman's life easier :)

Home deco - progress

Over the weeks, we've added few more things to our new home:
- a red-hot sofa set
- two full-length mirrors
- an office chair for me, and
- a leg-rest for Mr. Alf.

We had been going around looking for a nice chic-designed sofa for the living room and didn't quite find the one we liked. Finally, we went back to Ikea and bought it there (I particularly wasn't planning to get sofa set from Ikea because I thought it was a little boring for my taste). But upon spotting a bright red fabric sofa set, we knew that's what we wanted. The red sofa is the highlight - so red that I thought it had spruced up our living space more than we imagined - thus, that'd be the center-piece for the living room. Now, the curtain has got to have a subdued effect to 'mellow' the red-hot-ness.

A couple of days back, John told us that he could see the red sofa from the road, haha. High time to get curtains!

A sneak view of the penthouse in Idaman Residence

Yesterday, we climbed the staircase from the 18th floor to the 34th floor of the condominium to have a 'sneak' view of the unsold penthouse units and also just for the fun of it. The units were all locked - so, we went to the top most floor of the penthouse - the garden area (which was not locked) - a 3-floor penthouse (there are 4 units) overlooking various parts of KL - it is so cool. But I can't imagine living there - I'd prefer to live on a landed property with lots of space and garden. My dream - is to live in a ranch - with lots of sheep, horses, cows, and dogs running around - or live on an island in a house overlooking the sea - listening to the sound of the waves crashing - how cool is that!

Penthouse garden

View from the penthouse garden

The 'Semi-Naked' Unit - Idaman Residence

Most of the shopping is done at Ikea - too lazy to go around furniture shops. Was just so tired and overwhelmed with cleaning and furnishing our new home. I cleaned the place for I-don't -know-how-many-trillionth-times (okay, I am exaggerating) - or at least it felt like that - my whole body is aching from the washing, scrubbing, sweeping, moping, and sweeping and moping, on and on. The electricians came in to fix all the lights on Thursday- and there again the dusts and mess to clean up - as soon as I got down from the bus from Melaka, I was thinking about the list of things to clean. I think I am turning into an obsessive-compulsive person when it comes to clean home and orderliness.

At least we are happy that there is some progress - the lights are all fixed - it looks so much better now. We had a list of priority things to buy according to our budget. We got some kitchen-counter top stools from Ikea and a pair of reading chairs - it is so comfy. During the weekend, we spent almost all our time in Ikea and also on cleaning. We got a pretty cool working table - a peanut-shaped-red-color table - quite mod - and also a working chair. We also managed to get a good deal on Ikea bed and mattress - we spend a total of RM 800++ inclusive of a bed-side table - we bought it immediately since we thought it was a good bargain.

Now, I will just dream of a Thai massage to soothe my body aches ;)

Kitchen

Living room

Master bedroom

Moving in

Day 1 (Thursday) : Got the key and we were brought on a tour around the condo - went to Tesco to buy all the cleaning stuffs - went to Jusco at night and bought an electric kettle and few pillows - applied for Jusco card - stayed a night at his parent's place.

Day 2 (Friday): Washed and cleaned the unit - nearly freaked out when we saw the marble floor was discolored when we washed it with the normal floor cleaner - after a while, we realised it was the dirt - went to Gas Malaysia to submit gas application form (the form was not accepted due to the waiting-for-approval-from-the-developer-stage) - had dinner with Alfred's family to celebrate his parent's wedding anniversary.

Day 3 (Saturday): Went to Jusco to get miscellaneous items and the marble floor cleaner - went to a lighthing shop and bought 10 sets of downlights - called over the electrician to quote the price for fixing all the lightings and fans - at night, went to Low Yat Plaza to get the Celcom broadband package (I was so happy - finally I can surf whenever and wherever I want) - bought a pair of jeans - ate Chinese food for dinner.

Day 4 (Sunday): Brainstormed on the lightings outlay and design (with occasional disagreements) - went to Ikea to get the lightings - had lunch at his parent's place - went over to Uncle Bala and Aunty Veni's house and had dinner with them.

Day 5 (Monday): The contractors dropped by in the morning to repair the master bedroom aircon unit which was leaking - went to Ikea again to get the Basisk pendant lights which was out-of-stock on Sunday - had lunch with Alred's good friend, Tat Mun and his wife at Marche's , 1 Utama- received a call from the contractor saying that they've fixed the leak in the air con and also the water heater - we were so elated that they didn't have to hack the wall for the repair work - watched Marley and Me at KLCC (which is just 10 mins walk from our condo) - had dinner at Chilli's - I enjoyed my salad to the max.

Tuesday: I took a bus back to Melaka.

I told Alfred that we should take one step at a time and not be stressed out- after all, this is the experience that we should cherish every step of the way. - will post the pictures of the vacant unit soon.

Idaman Residence

Last Thursday, we finally got the key to our apartment - after months and months of waiting. We were anticipating the day to tour around the apartment and finally the day arrived :) The Idaman Residence - located in KLCC, City Centre - is going to be our new home. The unit comes equipped with refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, waste disposal machine, air-con units, and water heater. I love the balcony - it's huge. Love the master bathroom as well. The kitchen cabinet installed is in pure white - simple and nice.

And the best part of it was that we were the first person to move in to wash and clean our unit. We brought in some lamps to 'camp' in the apartment just for the sake of it. The contractors and the management guys were smitten by our excitement and enthusiasm, hehe. They exclaimed 'Wah, going to move in already ah? How? No light and furnitures!" We just casually said "Oh, that's okay, we brought in some table lamps".

After camping-in there, we understood why they were all surprised at our moving-in-right-now-act. There were still some last-minute QC work and minor repair work to be don- the condo was not fully ready for occupancy - we learned it the hard way, haha, after the attempt of staying over there for a couple of nights. First day - the water suddenly stopped in the middle of showering - and I was standing there stark naked with shampoo on my hair and foam on my body. And I waited and waited - and it all turned out hilarious as I laughed out loud - had to use the drinking water to wash myself. And then we got stuck at the unit floor because the lift was not working - and we were on the 18th floor! The Murphy's law started executing itself. A string of funny events - to reminiscence and laugh at in the future.