Progress over the long holiday

27th December 2008

It has been a long holiday since Thursday, and like all my officemates at Brunei Shell, we'll only be back to work next Tuesday. Nevertheless, it has been very busy for my wife and I, getting fixtures for the completion stage of our new home. Here are the progress so far:

Firstly, tiling works continues. The workers were sent to a different building site during my recent long vacation in Brisbane, and came back to work their craftsmanship on Christmas. Some tile designs were quite intricate work, especially in the dining room. Thankfully, the Vietnamese workers are talented and managed to follow our imagination. Good thing we took the task of preparing the design on the computer and printed them out earlier. This really helps, especially with the language constraint between us and the workers!

Simple tile design in the formal living room, but the many curved wall still makes tiling works a little challenging! And look at the dollop of cement on each tile...! The workers were complaining that the 80 X 80 cm tiles were heavy.. hehehe...

The dining room is done. Believe it or not, it took three workers almost two days to finish this room alone. They say... lots of cutting!

Dry kitchen tiles, partly done by today afternoon.

Ohh, and we also finalised our choice of laminated timber flooring, which will be installed in the master bedroom and closet, the kids' bedrooms, play room, library, home theatre room and the guest bedroom. Since the areas cover more than 2000 square feet, we were able to get discounted price lesser than the contracted price.

Another progress is the construction of our driveway. It takes the workers roughly around three to four days for the initial preparation; levelling the ground, constructing side beams and barriers, laying down the metal frames and finally today, cementing began. For now, we'll leave it as it is, and we'll probably enhance the appearance some time in the future.

Amazingly, it seems that lots of works are being done all at once. Yesterday, workers had started pulling off the protective covers of the window frames, now revealing the beautiful white frames. We were told that the windows will be installed starting Monday, and we can't wait to see the result. It's quite unfortunate that our initial choice of Belgium imported golden glass was not available, but we managed to find a similar alternative, with the help of our architect. We'll have to wait and see...

And some minor detailing works...

It's now no longer scary to walk past the spiral staircase that the railing is completely installed. Even Syafi was happy.

Believe it or not, the whole house is painted by this worker alone, Addin. I'm really amazed! Now, almost all walls has been painted, inside and out, and the staircases area is next.

Good progress after 3 days

22 December 2008

After a few days, some progress has been achieved mainly finishing up the manhole at the back of the house. Apart from that, more areas has been painted, especially in the dry kitchen, prayer room and informal living room. The scaffolding at the front car port has been removed, revealing the spacious area even more. The main foyer is still filled up, and the workers suggested that they only remove it after installing the large chandelier. This is still an issue for my wife and I since the windows and doors haven't been installed!

As at yesterday, we have also finalised the design of the staircases railings. We exceeded the price covered in the contract, and have to add on around $2100 more. The installer explains to us that our design choice costs more per metre since we requested for golden decorative flowers and leaves on the wrought iron railings. So, a word of advice, go for a simpler design to get a lower price!

Anyway, enjoy these pictures for now:

Syafi extremely happy seeing the house for the first time after arriving in Brunei. He really likes his bedroom!

My in-laws visited the house last Friday.

The front car port all clear of scaffolding works. Can't wait to see the windows installed.

This picture was taken earlier on Friday at Payung Emas company. Now, the jacuzzi bath tub has been delivered to the site (below).

The feature wall in the master bedroom has been painted with my wife's paint choice.

Digging works at the back of the house.

Colourful, comforting and beautiful

19 December 2008

Finally, after three agonising weeks of wondering how our house looks like, my wife and I finally visited the site yesterday afternoon after work. The plan was to drop by straight after arrival at the airport last Wednesday, but the flight was delayed and by the time we landed, it was already after sunset.

Anyway, so far there are lots of progress with the construction works.. and what better way to say it than show you the latest pics! So, here goes...

The front car port. I'm glad that my wife likes my choice of ceiling lights.

The ceiling works at the main foyer. I can't wait to see our choice of large chandelier that will be the focal point of the area.

One of the air curtains, hidden in the ceiling. It will later be decorated with cornice at the sides.

Formal living room... Cornice done and painted. Perhaps you can see the space for our air-conditioners at the far side of the room.


As we were admiring the ceiling works, I was surprised to see that the spiral staircase at the dry kitchen leading to the first floor had been installed! I tried it out straight away!

And now, let's direct you to the first floor...

The library... Ceiling and wall has been painted.

Almost all bedrooms has been painted. Most rooms has its own feature walls, highlighted by a different shade of paint. It's quite colourful, especially the kids' bedrooms!
From the top: the green spare bedroom, pink for Safiya, brown for Syafi and yellow-orange for the playroom.

This is our master suite. I guess they are out of paint.. but at least the ceiling is done!

And finally, picture taken in the home theatre, through to the main bedroom (on the right), master bathroom and the walk-in-closet at the end.

Another new development is the balcony which is almost finished, except for the floor tiles that is yet to be finalised. We're hoping to be able to pick our choice of tile by this week so that the workers can start laying them down. This time, I think I'll let my wife decide, since most of the house tiles are my choices since my family was still in Brisbane that time. I used to take pictures of the tiles from the shop, sent them via email to my wife and she would recommend her choices based solely on those pics... hard work, right? Hehehe...

One delightful surprise... Apparently one very good friend of mine, Sateria Pahlawan, paid a visit to the house while I was away in Brisbane. Interestingly, my wife thinks that Sateria must have come prepared; he brought the right pen to write on our wall tiles without leaving any marks behind. I mean... who has a marker pen handy at all times? Hehehe... Anyway, thanks mate for the kind words!

In all, my wife and I are happy with the progress so far. More pictures coming soon!

8 December 2008

Today, Brunei celebrates Hari Raya Aidil Adha. Australia, on the other hand, will be celebrating it tomorrow. Nevertheless, whether today or tomorrow, we do wish the best to all family members and friends in Brunei, Australia, Malaysia, United Kingdom and to all Muslims all over the world.

Where have I been?

4 December 2008

Some of you may notice that it has been days since I updated the blog. The reason is mainly because I am currently in Brisbane helping out my wife and children pack up before going back to Brunei for good mid-December. Hehehe.. of course at the same time we also spend quality time going on vacations to some of Australia's interesting places to visit. Updates on this can be seen in our other [blog].

Putting that aside, here are pictures that I took before my trip to Brisbane last week. Basically, the workers were finishing up the balcony on the first floor, as well as more progress in ceiling works.

We now have a balcony! Thank you Mr. Lai for the design...

More ceiling works. Picture shows the cornice at the master walk-in closet being painted.

My wife designed this curved ceiling for the informal living. Glad to see it in real!

A mini dome at the prayer room

Ceiling at the master bedroom

Anyway, here in Brisbane, the search for fixtures and fittings for the house doesn't end. When shopping at IKEA a few days back, I finally found a wash basin (sink) for the children's playroom at the perfect size, just as I like it. The price is about $40 cheaper than a bigger one that I can find in Brunei, so my wife and I decided to make the purchase.

Alright then, that's it, and more updates will be posted as soon as we're back home in Brunei! Until then, enjoy this final month of the year, and hope everyone will have a great start in 2009!

Sincerely from us at
House of Syafi & Safiya