east end: the carpentry is in

Last Saturday was a Happy Day at the east end.

I overslept and had to grab a cab down after waiting in the sweltering heat for 20 minutes. But it was worth the expense because this was what I saw when I stepped into my front door:

!(imgcenter) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3364926127_713def818f.jpg!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/3364926127/

The shoe cabinet and the door concealing the ugly bomb shelter are up! The doors of the shoe cabinet are not up yet; apparently the carpenter had made a mistake in the measurements. But otherwise, it was all good.

Here’s the design of the laminate that we had chosen up close:

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I’m quite chuffed because when we first discussed the idea of having the shoe cabinet located right next to the door, we were all clueless. We had no tearsheets nor did we have any drawings. But our carpenter did a great job. He took all the measurements, came up with some suggestions and we went with the flow. It turned out better than what I had imagined. But it looks a tad too small though – I probably need to trim my shoe collection a little.

The other view of the shoe cabinet:

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The little rectangular hole you see under the shelves is for the light switches. They were originally right next to the door but have since been repositioned due to the shoe cabinet.

The installation of our shoe cabinet also meant that the other bits of carpentery are up. I walked into the master bedroom and what was once that, is now this:

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The vanity table on the left was based loosely on an Ikea chest of drawers while the mirror was thought up by Mr Thick. He had wanted a theatre style mirror with light bulbs but we decided that it would be a tad too OTT. In the end, we settled for four spotlights.

And last but not least, the laminates for the bay windows have been installed. They all look really lovely! When we first selected them, all we had for reference were tiny little cubes not more than 2cm by 2cm in size. It can be quite hard to imagine them as large pieces of patterns. Here’s the one that’s in the master bedroom and study:

!(imgcenter) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3364925293_83b8105381.jpg!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/3364925293/

It looks light grey but it’s actually black with grey damask motifs. Again, ignore the ugly feet. I haven’t been diligent in the moisturizing department so the feetses look shriveled and wrinkly.

MY and her hubby were in the area so I managed to pop into her outfit for a quick peep. Their resort-themed digs was full of dark timber and the feature wall looks way cool (but as her hubby said, it will be hell to clean. To which she replied, “Yeah but you are doing the cleaning.” I like her attitude). Theirs is definitely more elaborately designed than our humble east end.

According to Mr Thick, all the lights in the house have been installed, but for one defective down light. He’s off from work today so he will be doing the errands. The washer, dryer and oven have been delivered too but because the works at the yard are not completed, we can’t set them up properly.

The next items on our list: a kitchen trolley, our Eames-inspired dining chairs from Lush-Lush and the acrylic coffee table from Muji.

It’s going to be awesome!