Whew! I finally was able to purchase furniture sets and home appliances! I did prioritize my list on which ones come in first. I had to get the kitchen appliances first down to the least needed stuff.
The TV got the least, would you believe it? Lol! Well, I could probably be very well okay without the TV as long as I'm hooked online. I can't seem to live without my ever reliable laptop and Ipad! They are good companions!
Prepaid subscriptions are the ideal thing to do ;).
Speaking of defects, I think I and Craig spent many hassles dealing with various people that has been directly responsible with the house, including the project director who is based in Manila. I am not sure if these are called "minor" hassles or big ones, but either one is not a good thing ;(.
It was a good idea for me to go home and see how the house while it is being worked upon. There were many defects in the early stages of construction like cracks on the floor that appeared few months after the house was erected. We filed a complaint and the entire floor was redone. It would be a long story to tell some more of the minor defects as well so I might as well take the short cut, lol!
Anyway, I got a photo of the (old) door below that had a crack on it and there was a wide gap from the bottom of the floor to the bottom part of the door itself. It looked like the door was hanging. (See below photos.)
I requested our engineer to add extra charges for a re-installation of a new door, and I told him to get me a sturdy, high quality material that wasn't like the old one installed and worked upon as a "rush", low quality! So, here it is. They are installing the new door. They also installed a screen door as well, which can help cover the door from the direct heat of the sun. The painting was free of charge, yey! I wasn't able to get a good photo of the finished and completed door but you can see it on some of the photos taken at the front part later...
The house is somewhat ready...I am thinking of moving in for a few more days. Just a simple sleeping mattress will do for a while in the bedroom. The water and electric lines are in full function, so it shouldn't be a worry. The surroundings are still a mess. The photo below shows it. They are still working on the electrical post. Each house has one in front of it. That's good!
Today, they started installing our air-conditioning downstairs (living room area). It actually took them a while to connect everything because they had to drill the wall that leads to the outside. The drilling should suppose to be easy, but the wall was too tight with all the steels that support the wall itself. This was the time where I could really see how tough the wall is. At the back of my mind, I got a little bit worried that the drilling would create wall cracks. So far, there was none, and I hope it wouldn't have one later on.
Originally, the proposed walk-in closet was the master's bedroom, which has a direct access to the bathroom. But since we want to maximize the space, a walk-in closet would be the best idea. So, we got lots of cabinets in there with one attached to a big sliding mirror with locks. We can put more stuff in there aside from clothings. It got a lot of ooohs! and ahhhs! :). We liked the idea on how it was maximized. Kudos to our engineer and architect for this! Thanks guys!
In between two cabinets is a table which can either be a dresser table or just a study/reading/office table whichever the purpose maybe. In our case, we use the computer a lot, so it's a good place to hang out with our laptops too.
Above are the stairs that looked so bare ever!. So, we added some planks, (my choice of color) {wink}, changed the grills (both left and right), and the hand rails as well.
We made sure the stair planks are anti-slip to avoid accidents when feet or the stairs get wet.
Final Works...
Obviously as seen, the kitchen area is small. It's no big deal and we don't mind having a small space for a home because it's just the two of us. An ideal space for a couple, that is ;). It is just a matter of making it more lively and appealing. I am not good at architectural designs and the home interior aspects, but I guess my choice wouldn't be bad. I can't bug Craig, he already entrusted me to be responsible on how the design would be...after all, he said it would be "my kitchen". Whoa! I am not even fond of staying in the kitchen except when I eat, LOL!
So, the aim would be to install additional wall cabinets and more cabinet drawers. The original design of the cabinets were totally changed, from the entire covers and paints to adding some more cabinet drawers on the left side. (see above photo).
The Final Layout
The final work isn't bad, right? Notice that I also let them add a granite slab on the kitchen countertop and I had them add some wall tiles as well. I just find it better to add a darker color on it and around the sink area to avoid getting the work area too dirty more often ;).
The wall cabinets would be perfect for keeping other cooking stuff too.
There's one big improvement that was done on the ceiling downstairs...the construction of an outer ceiling which will be where the lights would be attached! In between the original and the outer ceiling is a space encased with stainless steels and also where the wires and cables would run through. Very clean and organized keeping, isn't it? {wink}
Another thing is, the construction of a new door connecting the master's bedroom to the proposed walk-in closet. There was actually an original door on the side of the walk-in closet, but we closed it, detached the door from it to be used on the new connecting door.
The final door installed going to the walk-in closet
As early as May this year, we already planned through our AIF (atty.-in-fact) representative to work with our hired engineer and architect to do the interior aspect of our house. Thank God for people who are there that are qualified to do the job!
We are sharing to you the proposed plan of our engineer and architect who will be working hand in hand ;).
Thanks guys!
So, our house is done! Like, a roof and 4 walls standing, you know, lol! But we still need to work on the interior aspect…like putting cabinets, water pipeline installation, floor tiling, etc… This is really one burden in the pocket as they would say, but it is our investment where we could be in it when hubby wants to stay longer in the Philippines. As we went further with our expenses, we actually decided to give up on this because of so many loopholes in their service (PARC REGENCY). But the thing was we paid more than the amount of the down payment required and they wouldn’t refund our money back!
Our house is now fully paid!…that’s the only thing we are glad of. The interior construction is our current focus right now, after which I can do the interior designing later or perhaps hire one depending on how I feel once I get to see the house myself. I still have to prepare myself talking to the people there, and I hope I won’t get any high blood pressure because every single step we would do for the house is always problematic! (haayzz, kalokah!)
So, the complete conclusion of the update would probably be when I get there and fix more things I need to do.
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