ECONOMICAL WAY OF DECORATING A HOUSE

Including its half-done kitchen left by its deceased first owner!

Have you ever thought of placing a dishwasher at 
this kind of 90 degrees corner,on the top of 
kitchen counter top and next to the dish basin?

Written by Miss Yellow

A decade ago, nobody wanted to buy my current house, and I heard it that it was vacant for 8 years by a big takau before my little family moved in.  
   Initially I got to dust the long vacant house like 5 times a day, I always wondered if any Kuching folks gossiped that my long vacant house got antu or not! Even if it got some before, but I think once my two noisy “monkeys” moving in with their virago-mom, the high decibels could close the access gaps of 11th dimension to our earthy realm!

   Soon my visitors saying they regretted they didn’t buy it, all because they hesitated to see the house which only got two bedrooms, in their midst of hesitating they also not realizing Kuching property in good areas were kept rising every year, my house now has most probably raised for a double since we first moved in 5 years ago.

Many poor housewives would understand what I am talking: After purchased a house, even you have the shell you won’t have an interior. I was left penniless to decorate my house by Mr. Money, but luckily I still carried my long distance career and business initially for a year before I sold them off. Sarcastically enough I once got such optimistic opinion planned to act my role as a full time happy housewife!

   Initially when I moved in the newly moved-in house, I only had a dustbin; it collected every kind of rubbish!! My friend from another city came to visit me at the same time she brought along a very wealthy businessman’s native wife, I could detect her snub when she couldn’t find a dustbin in the toilet, she didn’t realize not every housewife could afford many dustbins, when I visited her new mansion, I could tell money for her was never a problem, she even has more animal-toilets for her pets than my toilets!

   What she looked for was the spiritual peace of how to get to heaven, for me 4 letter foul words always could come out of my mouth in my daily frustrated encountering, the path for gold mine and heaven both look heavenly distance from my current life style!

   From my knowledge, only less than 5% of our Malaysian housewives don’t need to worry much about money to buy household accessories when they move in a new house!

Few things you have to bear in mind if you are not a filthy rich housewife but you have a small house that you plan to keep, always remember cozy feel of a house is above all, you make your guests felt welcomed and comfortable in your house, a house is NOT to show off to people of your filthy wealth and how big was your mansion, how nice and expensive your household accessories, your show off actually could make your inferior visitors felt of how insufficient and poor they were.

   A house is a place where your respective visitors would respect of your through decades of hard-earning collections but not within a few months time!

   A house is also a place, where friends could learn and benefits from an older and wiser host or hostess.

(1) You can afford to wait, even for 4 years like me. Don’t buy inferior furniture, think of hard wood furniture only. You collect the furniture in such a way a piece after another, perhaps only once every 4 months once, up to current date, my living room doesn’t have a sofa set yet!

(2) Don’t look for a modern style home, now is modern how about twenty years later? So think of classic or country style or unless it is a prize-winning architect-designed house. But if you can’t avoid, then be very imaginative and creative to decorate or renovate both its interior and exterior to suit and cater your current living styles, needs and standard.

(3) Learn to match your house, e.g. don’t mix a modern architectural design with country furniture and with elaborated classic style curtains with weird color.

(4) Unless you are super rich and have a big mansion, or else don’t need to waste your space and money for two wet and dry kitchens, this is Malaysia and if you are Chinese-Malaysians who love to cook, then design your outdoor yet “heavy rain-proof” Chinese-Malaysian style kitchen.

(5) Don’t mix family room with living room, for small house you can combine your family room as TV room, library and computer room or even guest room.
(6) Don’t waste your money to decorate children rooms with children theme, unless you are rich and free enough to keep changing theme with them along their growing stages, how about one day if they leave the house and go studying overseas?

(7) Have an enclosed (or partially) car port, where you can make it as an extra storage/tools room.

(8) Decorate your house with characteristic which is feasible and practical for your daily life style, interest and hobbies, but not copying your design here and there from interior design magazines, but where you can always gain tips and inspiration from.
(9) Master bedroom must have a walk-in toilet and shower, drawer, exhaust fan (optional), chest, bedside tables, table lamps, long mirror, wardrobe, standing lamps, fans and (opt. air-condition), blind (or thin curtain) and thick dark curtain, kartini bench, sofa (sleeping sofa, study desk, little table, TV and Video (Optional), mini bar (Optional: Only suggest it if your kitchen is on the ground floor). Use a single plan color bed sheet, quilt cover (silk is better than cotton and down) and pillow cases. Always decorate your bedroom cozier and “tastier” than a hotel room, or else don’t blame your husband and children who prefer hotel stay than at home!

(10) Buy only hardwood beds and good mattress like I would suggest Slumberland brand (You won’t regret, as it is affordable yet comfortable for your back, wait for its promotion)

(11) Buy some vintage/Persian rugs, runners and paintings for floor and wall decorating. I once came across a big mansion, it was decorated with all kinds of expensive accessories but dissappointedly I didn’t find any Persian rugs on the floor nor any painting on the wall!

http://artistarwenjellow.blogspot.com/

(12) Lastly, your walls need skirting!

(13) Don’t paint your house too dark, too colorful or too many themes!
(14) Garden needs rare fruit trees, rare flowers, rare herbs and rare vegetables in “rojak-style”.

(15) If affordable always buy a few dehumidifier and ionizer for your house, turn them on especially when you are absented from the house for a long term or during rainy days.

(16) Try to use neutral color theme for your house, don’t ask a man or a boy to stay in a little pinky house.

(17) Don’t abuse yourself as a modern days housewife; buy a dish dryer for daily use and a dishwasher for after party or feast. When I requested my husband for a dishwasher few years ago, he asked me, “Do you open a Chinese restaurant?” and my “China-woman mom” would ask me, “Why so lazy?” Few Chinaman-husbands would help their wives to wash dirty dishes, they also wouldn’t buy dishwasher for you, so I buy it with my own money, because I have not work for more than 4 years now, situation forced and trained into a bargainer, I searched through the whole city and was lucky enough to run into a showroom unit with 50% discount.

(18) Don’t build a wooden kitchen, unless you use hard wood, you always can consider stainless steel and aluminum kitchen. I waited for more than 4 years paying from my own pocket to renovate my kitchen (which was half done by previous owner when I moved in the house).

Be very flexible especially you have limited budget, it was my hard earned money, e.g. I won’t change the 20 over years gas stove and hood left by the previous owner, I didn’t demolished the whole kitchen counter top just because the previous owner half-done kitchen counter top was built lower than standard height, resulted in no dishwasher could fit in. For that reasons I read over many articles from professional chefs and gone through thousands of kitchen photos to look for the best place to fit in my dishwasher in my ultra-small kitchen and to decide a very personalized kitchen for myself, especially I have so many kitchen utensils.

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/kitchen.commercial.htm

A NEW YEAR GIFT FOR MYSELF WAS TO FIX UP THE UNDONE KITCHEN FROM MY OWN HARD SAVING IN A STRICT BUDGET!

Since day one I moved into this house, for years I used induction stove, thus more than three Kenwood induction stoves were damaged within the 4 years, recently I bought a Empress induction stove from Cosway and a Morgan Halogen stove from Chin Hup Hing, just in case when gas runs out, or when I need to cook Chinese foods I can use them, for more than 4 years I used to cook outside the kitchen porch counter top, initially I couldn't use this kitchen and its stove, until a gas compartment was constructed right outside the kitchen during  year end of 2012. Remember you must use a safe lock for your gas tank, buy the Italian brand safe lock which cost something like RM80+, I bought it from Chin Hup Hing 082: 331848

I put cooking pots, woks and pans at the top tier counter where I can see all and within the reach of my height.

The lower tiers are made up of tempered glass, my kitchen contractor told me it's his first case in Kuching.

I didn' t change my 20 years old stove and hood left by the deceased owner, thus I can only do western cooking in this kitchen.

Beside the stove the expensive microwave oven was a gift from my old classmate Au Au and his wife, and after having it for more than 2 years I only learned how to use it partially and found it was excellent to "bake-steam" a successful Christmas turkey! Just recently I bought a conventional fujihome oven which cost a thousand ringgit less than it, but I left it outside the kitchen porch, as I don't want a heat "infested" kitchen when I bake!

My stainless steel kitchen, aluminium shoes shelve, counter shelves and oven cabinet shelve was done by:

CH Kitchen (S) Sdn Bhd,

Lot 54, No 99, Grd flr,

Jln Sekama, Kuching. 

email: chkitchen300@hotmail.,com 

HP: 0168866090    (Mr. Ling)

My stainless steel kitchen was drawn by CH kitchen designer Ms. Wong

This big jermuda fruit tree chopboard is my island (cost RM40) with bileng hardwood legs (Cost RM100+),  it was made by a Taiwan trained chef from Sarikei, the Ikea ladder stood next to it is within my reach to climb up top tier counter top to collect some big pots!

 T

 Ever thought of placing the dishwasher next to the washing basins and in the 90 degrees corner? I never found one in the kitchen design magazine!

See the thin curtain? I have them as the mosquitoes netting all over the windows in the house, and cost me less than RM300 (fabric cost less than RM100, elastic wire and seintress cost barely RM100+) for the whole house 13 big, small, long and short windows! It already lasted for more than 4 years now! Could be washed easier than the conventional window netting!

I am very happy with my own idea, first I didn't need to demolish the countertop (with original stainless steel fringe) which is lower than standard kitchen counter top height, secondly the most useless corner in the kitchen now is occupied by it without a space being wasted in this case. Thirdly, my dish basin is next to it, I can drain my dirty plates before loading them to dishwasher for washing. Fourthly, it is next to the cutlery drawer. Lastly, I don't need to bend my back and neither need to raise my head up when loading and unloading my dirty or cleaned dishes!

 My cutlery set tray drawer, CH Kitchen Mr. Ling tried to find one fitted into the stainless steel drawer exactly and I also like the color he chose for it.

These were my older accessories collected one after another since many years back from an oil town, the regular teak wood console table I bought it in Kuching from Casa Reka, but I converted it, see those pans I hanged under it? Inside the drawer I store those aluminium, plastic foils and other extra accessories. See the dish dryer on its counter top, when I didn't have many plates, I hand washed and dried those plates in there.

If you have an ultra small kitchen, be brave like me, think of something different from stereo type design and ideas! You won't regret! I think if I am not a jobless $ tai tai, I wouldn't have moved my brain in a hard way to save money and get the most out of the money I spent on!