In the midst of the gloomy moments...

2oth November 2008

It has been quite a while since my last update. My family has been in sadness ever since my wife's grandfather was admitted to hospital and was affirmed to be having a lung infection and pneumonia. After a week, he finally succumbed and passed away peacefully last Tuesday. It is fortunate that my parents-in-law decided to fly back home last week on Thursday after receiving the bad news. On the sad side though, my poor kids are now feeling abandoned and homesick, especially Syafi who according to my wife has always been begging to fly back to Brunei, and even school does not seem to interest him anymore. It must be lonely for my wife and kids in the three bedrooms house. I really hope that Syafi will be brave for a little while longer until my trip to Brisbane next week.

Anyway, despite the sadness, the house looks better with the new developments, mainly the ceiling works. Lighting fixtures have been installed in some parts of the rooms as well as the balcony on the first floor. Now, we're in the process of finalising the internal paint colours.

Enough said, enjoy these pictures:

(Top and above) Ceiling works in the formal living room

Dining room

Wet kitchen

Pictures showing the installed downlights in one of the bedrooms

Some of the outer wall lights that will light up our balcony on the first floor

Cement and Ceiling work in progress

10th November 2008

The pictures below were taken this afternoon when I visited the house. So far, there are still a lot of work to be done for the ceiling but the cement work inside the house is almost complete accept for the major cement work outside the house i.e. the balcony at the back and the side of the house and also the manhole and driveway.

From the right side of the house

The playroom at the 1st floor

The floor at the main reception was smoothen and cemented

From the dry kitchen

The top landing area of the double stair case

From the top view

The ceiling at the playroom's bathroom

Safiya's bathroom

The kid's bathroom at the back of the house

The ceiling in the study area

The Master suite walk in closet

From the Informal Living

Additional gypsum board had been delivered to the site

Cement work on Sunday...

9th November 2008

This afternoon, I went to the site to deliver the uplight casing to the workers. As I was sitting in the house around 3pm, I noticed that the environment around this area was so calm and quiet. The workers also commented to me that the surrounding area in this vicinity was indeed very peaceful as the main road is quite a distance away from house.

The house taken from one of the main road from the Sengkurong Clinic

The workers completed the decorative beam for one of the planter

They also cemented the top part of the beam for the air curtain

Two of the workers levelling the floor at the reception foyer before it is cemented

Initial stage in cemented the main entrance

Mr. Misbah working on the decorative beam for the planter at the left side of the house

The steel pipe for the water pump electric wire

Disable access at the back of the house. My wife insist of having this..just in case...

From another angle

One of the planter at the bask of the house

One of the workers preparing to cement the top part of the beam in the Formal Living for the air curtain

Mr. Addin smoothen the wall before painting the for interior wall

One of the uplight hole had been cemented

Air Con vs Air Curtain vs Ceiling Cornice...

8th November 2008

Just before noon, I went to the Land Transport department for my new car registration number. And then I managed to meet with Mr. Lai to get some advice regarding the choice of wall paint for the interior wall and also to get follow ups regarding the window, balcony design, wall cabinets, air con versus the ceiling cornice, air curtain and electrical application. After the meeting, I went to Gadong to look for some air curtain at Little Bean but I didn't buy any. Then I rushed to the post office at the old airport to get my birthday present from Brisbane.

Before rushing back to the site, I dropped by at TAIB bank at Kiulap and browsed to one of the electrical shop near the bank where I managed to get some air curtain at a very decent price as I bought at least 3 of the 4 feet long air curtain for the Formal Living and Informal living entrance. I also managed to get 7 pieces of the ceiling speaker at this shop plus a free Mistral exhaust fan for the maid's bathroom.

While at the site, I had an appointment with the air con man Mr. Baru, to discuss the air con position with the ceiling man Mr. Luis.

The whole overview of the house

Mr. Baru from Bee Seng Mitsubishi air con marking the air con position at the wall for Mr. Luis. The final decision for the air con position in the Master Living Hall was to fabricate a box frame for both of the aircons in this room. The decision to hack the wall and re-work the copper piping was a bit riskier as it could result in leaks in the future. The other air con position in the Informal Living, Dining Hall and dry kithchen, the decision was to put the cornices around these air con without fabricating the box frame. While the other air con position in the guest bedroom and prayer room are save as the size of the air cons are a bit smaller than the other 5 air cons at the ground floors.

Mr. Luis watching deligently as Mr. Baru measured the size of the aircon on the wall while the ceiling worker was busy installing the ceiling frame in the Formal Living

Soon later the air curtain installation workers were at the site to deliver the air curtains and to try out the space in the box frame. The air curtain could not be installed at the moment as some further work has yet to be done by Mr. Misbah for putting some cement above the ceiling and wall painting in this area before the air curtain frame could be fixed in this area.

The cornices in Safiya's bedroom had been installed

From another angle

The cornices in the playroom

The entrance to the playroom

The ceiling frame in the Formal Living Hall

The workers cementing the drain at the back of the house

Mr. Kukuh, one of the electrician hacking the wall outside for the electrical cable

Mr. Ah Chong, the other electrcian trying out the exhaust fan in the maid's bathroom with perfect fit

Removing the uplight PVC cover for Misbah to cement it in place in the floor

Special Birthday Present from Brisbane...

8th November 2008

This afternoon I went to the post office at the old airport to collect the small packet that was sent to me from Brisbane. As I opened the packet, I was surprised to receive a voice recordable postcard with Syafi's voice wishing me happy birthday!

Thank You very much to Mummy Syafi & Safiya for the present. This is one of the best present for Daddy's birthday this year.

Ambuyat for lunch at Beverly Hills of Kuala Belait...

7th November 2008 (Miscellaneous Post)

Five days ago, my colleague Mdm Hajah Hamidah invited a hand full us at the office for an "Ambuyat" lunch at her house. The house was situated at one of the most exclusive area in the Belait district, Pandan 7 as it was once known as the Beverly Hills of Kuala Belait due to the elegance and beautiful design and huge houses built in these area. I still remember years ago when this area was under development and some of the houses were under construction, we would cruise in this area for hours to look for inspiration and idea for the house design.

The P.I family's mansion...stunning view...

An impressive high ceiling deco with a balcony from the Master bedroom looking down in the living room

The living room from another angle

The menu for lunch. Everything that we could ask for were well served on the dining table from chicken curry to "pucuk ubi" or tapioca shoot eaten with sambal, varieties of seafood, etc and most importantly "Ambuyat"

The gents were sitting on a separate table from the ladies in the dining room

Thank you to Mdm Hajah Hamidah and husband (P.I) for your hospitality and for the delicious lunch.