She has super long eyelashes, a feature reserved for far too few Chinese. But what I like most about her is her sweet nature and mild manner.

When she isn’t too tired, she’s very curious and would climb the table if her mummy allows. Her curiosity extends to people as well, and although she starts with a shy small voice, she’d be the one making the first move to talk to a new person in the house.

Its hard to met children who communicate as well as she does. I blame it on exposing kids to prolong use of iPhones and iPads at a very young age.

Penny comes from a humble home in Johor. She is the third child in a family of 4 children. By default, that makes her the recipient of hand-me-down clothes and toys.

At her age, Penny both talks and listens very well. Such a jewel. She may not have the best of everything, but this child has it better than most. She has a real childhood spent exploring with her 5-senses and not just the Internet.

I complain about limited space at the new condo, when all lil Penny’s got is a flat to house 6 of them. It made me rethink how I view what I have.

Oh, I should’ve mentioned this earlier- Penny is my cousin.

As I stepped through the store, a guy I recognize from my last visit greeted me, and I told him my USB cable wasn’t working and I’m here for a replacement. He remembered me and remarked, “Oh, you’ve just got your iPhone a few days back right?“, I was surprised and pleased he remembered me. He pressed a button on the screen and passed me a chit with a queue number.

On the chit was my number: 3111, and they were serving number: 3098. At the bottom of the chit reads, “Please be seated. You will be served shortly.“

Over an hour later, and after witnessing a few outburst from other customers who were frustrated with the long wait, it was finally my turn.

I went to the counter, passed the lady my queue chit and said very politely, “I’ve waited for over an hour, so I really expect you to have a solution for me.“

I told her my problem. She stepped away for a very brief moment and came back with the news, “I’m sorry ma’am, we are currently out of stock for this cable.“

…

I just lost it. I lost my cool. I raised my voice just short of yelling.

Stef: You mean I waited for over an hour to hear this? Don’t you have another solution for me? Do your other outlets have the stocks?

Digi: I’m sorry ma’am, I’ve checked but we don’t have it,

S: When I came in, I told the guy at the entrance exactly what I needed, and he didn’t bother to tell me that you guys were out of stock. You guys left me waiting for over an hour before telling me this?

D: I’m sorry ma’am, I think he wasn’t informed about our stocks.

S: And that isn’t my problem is it? That is perhaps something you guys should have looked into.

The assistant manager- Calvin, came over and stepped into the situation.

C: Ma’am, I’m sorry but we’ll have the stocks for you on Monday.

S: And would I have to queue for an hour again to try my luck?

C: If you come first thing in the morning there’s shouldn’t be a queue. Otherwise, it really depends on the crowd.

S: You must put me through the queue again? And would I be told that you’re out of stock again?

c: Yes, the queue depends on the crowd, but I’ll reserve a cable for you, so there will definitely be one when you come by on Monday. You can take my name down if it helps, I’m the assistant manager here.

S: I’m not here for your name, I came for a solution, and you couldn’t offer me one. You are bad at communicating within your team, and you’re bad at managing the queue, what are you good at?

Here’s the thing. The long wait was not because of a long queue. There really wasn’t many people. During my one-hour wait, they had served less than 10 people across their 4 or 5 open counters. The source of the problem was very likely because the Digi system was frequently crashing, causing the queue to crawl painfully slow.

I left my contact number with them, so they could contact me when the stocks are in. As I walked away, I felt relieved at the outburst. Shortly after, I met up with a friend and her parents, they cheered at the outburst and said I should be just as vocal more often. They reckoned that too often I have chosen not to “give people a piece of my mind”. And for a moment, I thought, “Yes, what I did was justified.“

Later, as I thought about it, I wasn’t proud of what I’ve done. I don’t think what I did was wrong. Digi thoroughly deserved it and was perhaps asking for it, but I should’ve known better on how to carry myself in such a situation. I should have chosen better.

On one of the days when I was talking to them (mom and Aunt K), I noticed lines on their face in places I had not noticed before. How long has it been there? Each line was ike a strike across the calendar, marking their age. At other times, I noticed how they have slowed whether physically or mentally. It’s not a sharp decline, but a noticeable one.

Seven years ago, I made the difficult decision of coming back to Malaysia. I was comfortable in Adelaide, so comfortable that coming back brought grunts of resentment. There was no doubt in my decision to come back, it was difficult but a decided call.

Once I’ve settled home, it became the most natural place to be. And over the years, I’ve learned to love my country more than I ever had before; I formed new friendships, deepened old ones and saw myself change as a person.

When I look back on all those years, I am so glad I came home. I never thought dad would leave us so soon, but since he did, I appreciate my time in Malaysia even more. All those additional years I got to spend with him, each day counts.

I don’t know how many years more I would get with mom and Aunt K, or whether I would beat them home; and even if I don’t, I can’t be sure I would spend all of my remaining days and years by their side. Even so, I thank God for bringing me home seven-years ago.

The picture above was on the front of the card. Inside, it reads…

I think I’d be satisfied with just one :).

So kewt kan?

Dear God, I bought this card for you. I don’t know where to address it to, so I’m placing it here. ;) heheee….

I’m also slowly learning to source things that would help maximise the very little space we have.

This is our ceiling-mounted clothes hanger. It has a maximum length of 8-feet per bar, but mine is only 6-feet, because our dry yard is really that small! :P

Ceiling mounted clothes hanger.

Each bar can be manually lowered. There was the option of an electronically operated model that came with UV light on the ceiling as well.

I like old-school manual winding instead. Looks like this…

The control is mounted on the wall.

Melon flowers :)

These vines have been twirling behind some of my flower pots. When I pulled them out this morning, I was super happy to see the small happy yellow flowers!

They’re all looking dainty, sweet and a bit hairy to the touch. My memory is a bit fuzzy and I can’t remember if these are honeydew or rock melon. Oh well, as long as the fruit is sweet right?

I’ve also learned from growing loofahs, that I’d prefer my vine-plants to be potted so they don’t grow out of hand so easily. So my melon plant is potted and it crawls all over. :P

Can you see the start of a fruit at the bottom of the flower?

Happy mornings begin like this.

Anyways, these pictures may (not) make much sense to some of you, especially if you’ve not seen the floor plan before this.

The corridor to the two bedrooms.

The door on the left leads to my room, and the door in front (at the end of the corridor) leads to the guest room.

Wen’s got a unit in the same block, and in his unit, that room at the end of the corridor would be his.

The wardrobe, mini bookshelf and desk is in. :)

Door on the left leads to the toilet, on the right is back out the corridor.

Here’s what I’ve done to that room at the end of the corridor, which is also our guest room/ home office.

1) I’ve moved the door frame of this room to the corridor. It was initially just slightly further down from the door to my room, and on the same wall. The corridor was dark and narrow, and I wanted to “enlarge” the last room. I got the effect I was looking for.

2) I’ve re-tiled a section of the floor tiles because our developer did a poor job at it- the floor was uneven and a pool of water would gather around the W/C. We tried to get the developer to redo it, but they said any pool that does not exceed 3mm is okay. sigh. Oh well, I’ve learned how to use money to solve problems and save time.

3) Referring to the first picture, the door would open to a full-height bookshelf with clear glass doors. It doesn’t stop there. I want to stick wallpaper at the back of the bookshelves to achieve this effect…

This wallpaper is really nice, but it works best if I have a large shelf, so it doesn’t look like a lot of pattern squashed into a small area. Also works better if the items displayed on the shelf are in a monochromatic tone (like what they’ve done in the picture), so they don’t add confusion to the complexity of the background. So I think la.

Seeing that I would be displaying books of different cover colours and sizes, I would like something simple like the one pictured above. I reckon it would work better if my background is plain and simple. But of course, I would stay very far away from colours like that! :P

That aside, big bro says the colour of my varnish is odd.

This is the console in natural evening light. It was about 6pm.

A close-up shot under natural evening/day-light.

Maybe its a tinge on the redwood kind of colour. Hmm… Do you think it looks strange?

This is so cute! I want to make them one day and line them across my new red sofa.

Taken from here.

On a personal level, I’ve learned that, 1) I would prefer not to go through it again (but I know I would have to), 2) how to choose “not to be nice“, and not feel sorry for the contractor who has been nice all along, 3) shopping for furnishing and fittings is not all fun (especially when you have a full time job), 4) how to use money to solve problems and save time, and 5) to be happy with very little, because the more extensive the renovation work, the more I dread it as time drags by (at one point, I even resented the whole project).

All that aside, I’ve also learned bits and pieces about designing and renovating a place, specifically a small place. The new place is a condo that is over 1,700 sqft. Some people reckon that is a big space, while others (like me) would find this a really small place to live in. You see, I’ve always lived on a landed property, specifically a corner lot that would have substantial land area for us to rear chickens and let weeds grow, although the weeds wasn’t part of the plan. I also enjoy spending quiet moments at home or having friends over to just chill in the house. So I do spend a lot of time at home and the space I have means a lot. To place me in a high-rise (2-blocks of 15 floors each- is that high?) with over 1,700 sqft and no land is a little bit suffocating (to say the very least).

When I embarked on this project, the main goal is to create space where there is little. It’s all going to be an illusion. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, and I’ve learned from them.

I’m not an expert at this, but these are some pointers I’ve learned on how to work on a small space. I am writing it down because I am quite sure I would need to remember this for my next project.

1) White is magic. I keep my walls white across most parts of the house. Here in Malaysia, contractors would paint the walls in the colour of your choice, and wouldn’t ask you about the ceiling, because he will assume you’re like all his other clients who don’t care about the ceiling and would be happy with a standard shade of white in a cheap paint. Don’t let it happen to you! I find that keeping your walls and ceiling in the exact same paint colour blurs the “line” between the ceiling and the wall, so the whole room looks like it stretches further than it actually does. It’s an amazing bluff.

2) Colour: Warm versus Cool. Warm colours are like shades of red, yellow, orange. They make a place cosy and snuggly and also SMALLer. Warm colours are generally stronger. When you walk into a room with a mix of colours, your eyes would tend to notice the objects in warm colours first because they appear closer and bigger. Cool colours like blue and green, are colours that “fall back” to make a space bigger and airy. My sofa is in a strong shade of red. It has not arrived yet, but I realised that if I had it in blue, I would have a larger living room instead. You will find that the same applies to wall colours too.

3) Coordinating colours. I still have a lot to learn with this one, but with the little I’ve learned, I noticed that contrasting colours breaks a space. If I were to coordinate my furnishing in a monochromatic colour, it would create a more soothing effect. The easiest way to know whether you’re straying too far away from your colour theme is to use a colour chart. The further away the colours are from each other, the greater the contrast. And while contrast can be used beautifully, it’s a tricky thing to play with, so just be careful. :)

4) Curtains. I find white-based colours in a light fabric works best at creating space. But I’m a utilitarian, and white and light don’t work best in my home, because it’s hard to maintain and light fabric don’t hold very well with prolonged use. So I’ve gone for plain neutrals in 100% cotton. They feel like the kind of fabric you’d have used to make slacks with, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. :)

5) Reflective surfaces. Glass and mirrors allows more light into a space, and a brighter space always looks bigger than a dark, dimly lit place. Big space is always good, to me. :P

Some of the choices I’ve made in the new place does not adhere to the pointers I’ve written, and that was pretty much how I learned, through bad calls (as well as the good ones). It’s a learning experience, and I can afford to make a few mistakes.

Most of all, I’ve learned not to be so hard on myself. Most things don’t matter that much, really. :)

Men came in to install the bar/ kitchen counter.

This is the second piece they have brought through this house. The first piece was cut inaccurately, and this second piece…

Oh dear.

…broke during installation. The dread on the men’s face were apparent. With this recent “break“, I (with the help of Chel- big brother’s girlfriend) have instructed a change of colour for the replacement piece they’re fabricating. A misfortune for one, an opportunity for another.

As we’re nearing the final stages of our renovation, I’ve been having much more frequent “talks” with the contractor. Most of it about finalising certain finishings, and of course the inevitable insistence of having some mistakes rectified.

I find detailed and regular inspections are good. It’s during these visits that I would spot problems and have them rectified. Some owners prefer to leave this part until they move in, but I find this works better for me. I am expecting to need some slight repairs and touch-ups even after I move in.

With the need for repair/ rectifications, comes intense conversations with the contractor. I’m glad though that I’ve engaged someone who is can be reasoned with and able to manage his cool.

Patterns are meant to match. He had to redo some of the tiles that didn't match.

He argued that it’s at a small discrete part of the wall, and it doesn’t affect the functionality of the tile. To me, the whole point of getting 3D patterned tiles and paying the extra for it, is much like buying a wallpaper. It’s for the aesthetics, and it should match from one piece (or roll for wallpapers) to another. Basics.

Tiles are hacked out.

He cut the tiles too high up to install the shower glass. This change came after a rather intense conversation.

When the shower door opens, it would scrape the floor tiles, so he had to redo some parts of the floor.

To solve this, he had to rework some of the floor tiles. My caution to him for taking this course of action is to make sure that when I wash this floor, I won’t see a puddle of water there.

Changing a tile that was installed slightly unevenly by the side of the tub.

Yes, I was being petty about this. I think installing tiles evenly/flat should be obvious to anyone who works in that industry, or perhaps I just have high expectations.

There are other slips here and there, but nothing too major. Overall, I’m still pleased with how this new place is coming up.

I for one am really looking forward to the end of this work-in-progess. :)