DIY Ikea Kitchen Cabinet

I admit. I was so ambitious. Who will ever thought of doing your own kitchen cabinet? I did..

This cabinet was for my apartment which I am renting out the rooms to tenants. So cost optimisation was very important to maximise the positive cashflow.


I requested a quotation from local cabinet maker. They quoted me around RM2k for a base cabinet length of 1.6m. This was for the cheapest finishes available. And the finishes looked like crap. I do not know how to explain the crap "thing", but obviously it looked cheap. And I don't think RM2k is cheap.

So I started to look for other alternative. DIY. Beware, not all DIY projects are cheaper. Some will cost you more.

This was not totally DIY from the scratch. It was a combination of assembling IKEA products and  I gave a study from IKEA catalogue and pricing the cost. Make sure you take correct measurement so you can play around how many cabinets and type of cabinet you want to opt. These induvidual cabinets come with multiple length.

Length of the base cabinet was 2.1m, with single sink and a number of drawer (drawer is expensive, mind you). No wall cabinet or whatsoever. And total cost is RM1.7k + effort + time + existing wood stain + existing tools = satisfaction.

Here is the before photo. Look how small the area is. But for single ladies who are renting there, I personally don't think they will cook everyday, and this space is just nice for them.

 View Facing the Door Leads to External Utility Area

 View Facing the Other Side (see the IKEA boxes there)

There is no on-going work photo. It took couple of days to assemble IKEA cabinets because my husband and I were lazy..haha

Then I went to a timber supplier at Sg Buloh industrial area to check the price for timber plank for the counter top. IKEA is also has multiple choices (price starts at RM195), but each of them with the length of 1.8m, which means I need to buy 2 units and it would be super expensive + waste. So I bought the top from the supplier (2cm thick - IKEA is 3cm thick) with the price of RM135 + remaining timber for next project :).

I asked the factory to cut it for me because it is wider than my cabinet (they charge RM5 for it). However the sink hole was done by my husband. They won't do for you. You need to use vertical saw or something and to be careful at the rounded corner.

He sanded the surface. I lightly stained the timber with this material using old cloth. Then sanded again. I did not want it to be dark, if you prefer darker tone you may stained multiple times but remember to sand every layer.


I lightly stained (2nd layer) the surface, sanded and finished it with polyurethane product to received some protection against water or stain and it was slightly gloss. My husband assembled the counter top, sink and sealed the gap. It looks dark in the below photo, but it is actually not.

  Sink Hole was Properly Cut

  Staining and Finishing Process

Oh by the way, I also prepared the small planks in white paint to cover the base cabinet leg and side between cabinet and wall. Prep with primer, sanded, painted 3 layers with sanded in between. I will show you in the pictures where are these small planks.

 

  White Planks Before Final Coat and Seal

And this is the best part in this entry. The final product!! Everybody loves this part in any DIY entry.

   With Ikea White Blind, the Ugly See-thru Grill

DIY Fabric Blind

Close Up of Ikea Cabinet Door

DIY Shelf

  After Photo

DIY Baby Blanket & Headband

I have been working on a baby blanket since last April. It is a crochet blanket using Afgan hook. It was my first attempt to work on crochet. Fuh..It was so time consuming & requiring a lot of motivation drive to complete the project.


The dimension is about 90x100 cm and I used simple stripe pattern. I planned the pattern in Excel worksheet to choose right color combination.

The blanket is also with initial of 'S', which refers to the baby name, Skye. I am half regret with the decision to put in the initial, because it was so irritating to tie the knot each time I changed the yarn color.

So this is the end product, it took me nearly 5 months to complete.

Then I came out with an idea to make a matching baby head band. This was easy peasy project. Definately much more easier  & faster than the blanket itself. I sew pearl beads to compliment the flower finish.

 Headband with Flower Embelishment

 Adjustable Length (few options of button hole)

Both End of the Headband

Both Blanket and Headband were Properly Wrapped

 

And this is the baby Skye and her mom. Both are equally beautiful.

Prosedur membeli rumah part III

hi all,

please be sure you have read prosedur membeli rumah Part I and  prosedur membeli rumah Part II to understand the very early steps to your dream house.

harus saya ingatkan di sini, please TRACK every meetings, emails, phone calls, payment yang anda buat dengan lawyer anda dan juga bank anda. ini penting sebab jika prosedur ini ambil masa lebih dari tempoh maksimum (rasanya 6 bulan-check dengan lawyer anda), anda akan dikenakan interest daripada pihak vendor. so tracking ini amat penting untuk anda fight dan tentukan pihak mana yang bertanggungjawab melengahkan kerja. sama ada lawyer anda lambat submit ke pejabat tanah etc, atau bank lambat process agreement atau anda sendiri lambat  dapatkan loan/bayar s&p. sama ada subsale unit atau beli direct dr developer, pastikan anda track.

stage ini anda harus sign agreement dengan bank. tebal kemain and every page kena initial. read carefully before sign.

at this stage anda boleh la withdraw EPF punya saving account no 2. Sangat cepat. 2 weeks je duit da masuk dlm account. boleh la pakai untuk reno ke pasang grill ke.

then anda jugak kena prepare stamping fee (tax) tu. lebih kurang 2 bulan lepas anda bayar 10% deposit tu. macam kes saya, saya pakai duit EPF tu utk bayar stamping ke. sebab rumah lebih dr RM350k makanya mmg takde diskaun 50% first home tu. stamping aje RM8k homaiii..

the rest follow up dengan lawyer anda lah status tukar nama (memorandum of transfer bagai). kes saya sangat cepat, tup tup lawyer call kata bank dah release 89% loan kepada vendor. maka kami sediakan cek remaining 1% harga rumah then ambil kunci dr lawyer.

Legally after 3 days full payment (100%), anda dah boleh ambil kunci. Kalau vendor masih tak bg kunci, sila check dgn lawyer anda. mungkin lawyer yg lupa bg kunci kpd anda. dan kalau memang vendor yg tak bagi kunci, anda boleh caj interest rate kat dia pulak-->tanya laweyer brapa kos per day.

sekian..happy house hunting!!