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| Looks like a double storey house but it is actually single storey. We made it with high ceilings as our neighbouring houses are all double storeys. |
My experience of moving house was during my years in Pasir Mas, Kelantan. I moved house for six times in the five years there back in the eighties due to various reasons. Since I was single, it was quite easy as whatever we owned in this world could be fit in one car. Besides, the house was already there. The last time I moved out was when I got married and got my transfer from KL to AS. I still managed to pack everything into one car.
:-}) and moved into a house which my partner had bought.
Thus, I was not really prepared mentally and physically on moving out from one house to another house. After twenty-seven years of living in the old house, of course we had collected quite a lot of things and junk. This time we built our house. Dealing with the contractor who built our house was another headache. We had to make sure we were there everyday to check on them to make sure we got what we agreed upon in our agreement. The materials used, the build up itself, the brand of paint agreed upon, the quality of the work .... it was a hassle that more often than not left us so tired of disagreeing. The workers are Myanmars who were not quite adapt to our language. Their site and project managers were often not around and we had to call them for a meeting at the site. The six-month project was finally completed after eleven months.
When they did not deliver the house after a four month delay although the house was completed ninety percent - only the exterior of the house needed to be done - I decided to make a final decision. Ramadhan was coming in a month's time and moving out the things would take a couple of weeks. The furniture I had ordered and booked was due for delivery last month. Besides, the new tenant for the old house had already gotten married!!! Hence, they too needed a house. Syafiq was back for a week semester break and Zin came to help out. I booked a lorry from Rini's husband who did not charge anything but I paid the driver and helper who helped us to carry the heavy things and a token for the lorry.
It was exhausting. Once the decision was made to move in, my partner asked for the whole set of keys from the contractors. We washed the house ourselves and moved the things in slowly. The small ones were taken in bit by bit everyday. We set up each room slowly - the living room, the mini library, the kitchen, the loft and bedroom by bedroom. We managed to make the house looked like a home a few days before Ramadhan. Once Ramadhan set in, my activities for the holy month took precedent and settling the house was set aside.
It had never crossed our minds to look for another house. The idea was mooted by my partner who had withdrawn his EPF money and was mulling over what to invest it in. He talked about a new, bigger house but I was not too keen as I was a lazy housekeeper. Besides, most of the time, there were only two of us. When we put the idea out to the boys, Akmal said that maybe it was time for their own rooms as one day they would have their own partners to bring home. We started to look for a house since two years ago but there was always something not quite right. I refused a double storey house. I did not like the idea of rooms being upstairs and since these boys loved to hibernate in their rooms I would feel left out and isolated from them. If it was a single storey house, it would still create the feeling that everybody wass just a shout away. Everybody was just around and could gather easily by just knocking on their doors on the way to the kitchen. I used to live and grow up in a four level house.
Let me share with all of you the progress of the house ... from just a piece of abandoned land taking shape into a house ...
Since the house has high ceilings, we decided to build an open loft for the many nephews and nieces to have a place of their own when they visit. It is turned into the TV room.
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| The loft taking shape ... |
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| Cosy corner / tv room - a storage box, bean bags to just laze around |
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| An open room / alcove as a mini library, prayer room or just for reading. |
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| The kitchen - where we have our cosy meals and with a TV added, where I spent most of my time ;-)) |
Finally, we have settled in our new house. There are still a few loose ends to settle and still a lot of clearing up, the garden yet to be started, a few odds and ends from the old house to be taken and well ... as someone said, one will only be settled in three months. Well, here we will create new memories ...
