Fit for a princess....

I'm a person who need projects...

Not like boring type of projects, but personal and creatives ones which makes me happy. It takes a lot of my time but somehow it doesn't leave me exhausted.

Currently, Lan and I are redecorating the second level of our house. When we first bought the place 6 years ago, we were on a very tight budget and only spent on necessity. The  downside of buying a corner house means we needed to shell out double on grills and window treatment, and with a toddler and twin babies we just wanted a livable space. Having a home straight outta Homes and Living magazine was not a priority (and mainly because we can't afford it haha)

Along the years, we've made tiny changes to our space. I'm pretty happy with how my first floor looks like at the moment. My next project is to set out a room for Iman and Ranya. Currently the twins are sharing a room with Ryan, since they're turning 6 and Ryan 8 soon, we don't think it is appropriate for the munchkins to share a room and I'm sure Ryan would be needing his privacy very soon . The room that are meant for the girls, have been acting as my walk in and some sort of a store room for the past 5 years. You can imagine the junks we've accumulated. 

During the Thaipusam weekend, I've managed to clear up my clothes and moved it into our newly decorated Masters Bedroom. I tell you, after 4 days of sifting and arranging clothes, I told myself I never wanna buy anything ever again. I HAVE SO MUCH JUNK. Like why do I ever need PVC leggings for? I wonder how long my new resolution gonna last, and all those". Your shopping cart misses you, please come back email" is not really helping. 

Anywayyyyyy.... It has been a slow process clearing up the room, I'm at about 60% done and now at that stage where I'm stuck trying to figure out should I throw away all the babies clothes, walker etc or should I keep them. So while trying to figure out my arah tuju kehidupan, I've been busy searching for ideas to decorate the twins room

My current Pinterest mood board. I'm attracted to this simple pastel decors which hopefully will last until the girls are a bit older. No overly princessy character theme rooms for my babies. I'm giving myself a 3 months timeline, hopefully we'll be able to finish this project before puasa. Wish me luck!!!

Off with the head....

Been dreaming over this colour palette for a few month.

Finally decided that it is to be the new wall color for the kids playroom

I wanted something girlie (coz technically it is more the twins playroom than Ryan)

but I did not want the traditional pink/purple combo... 

So last week, we went to the paint store to get this gorgeous mint paint called "Tinkerbell"

How fitting, huh?

Since it is just a tiny room, I left hubby to his own devices and decided to venture into a new project that I've been meaning to do as a part of the playroom deco:  Head Silhouette

 In my case I needed 3 20cmx20cm canvas to start which I spray painted white with spray paint.

Let them dry for a few hours and make sure that the newspaper did not stick to the wet paint 

(which totally happen to me :p) 

 There's several way to get the head silhouette

1. Draw the profile free hand & fill in the blanks with the colour of your choice. Traditionally silhouette are black in colour, but feel free to change it up (my chosen method of the day); or

2. Take a side profile pic of your child/ own head, blow it up and "trace" the profile on a piece of paper ; or

3. Print the profile off the internet and stick it on a canvas or for an easier and cleaner method put it in a frame :p

Once the silhouette are painted on the canvas, wait for it to dry and later spray the gloss paint on the canvas to get the shiny/gloss up effect. Depending on how efficient you are, the whole process would probably take  around 3 hours (taking into consideration the "drying period"). 

Lo and behold a head silhouette of my children : Iman, Ryan and Ranya. Anyway though the twins looked more grown up than Ryan, I'm very happy with my handiwork :)

Will post the picture of the completed playroom once I'm done with it. 

Toodles, have a great weekend everyone and happy trying...

The one on BH & AH

There was a period I shall call BH (before house) where around this time of the year I would be busy browsing on the internet for new handbags :p.Now I'm in a new era, a time which I shall refer to AH (after house) where I'm currently obsessed with anything and everything that have to do with interior designs.

Come 1 January 2013, it would mean that I've (we) officially moved into our crib for 2 years. However, in terms of house deco I would have to say that it is not "there" yet. The process of turning the place just the way I want it is a slow, sometimes painful (esp on my wallet) process.Renovations and furniture don't come cheap. So we need to really save up before we can start on any project. Even DIY is very challenging since we have our hands full with the little kiddies. Nonetheless, I am determined to make it work.

Malaysians by way of my observation prefers clean, matchy-matchy, hotel like, uniformed type of designs. I have yet to encounter any quirky houses with mismatch furniture and vintagey feel to it. I am currently inspired by several designs mags and blogs (from over the sea ;p ) The houses are rarely adorn with expensive furniture but for some reason it just looks so comfy and inviting. It also has character. You come in the house and you can instantly say "ohhhh this screams si so and so".

At the moment I feel that my pad is missing that little "je ne sais quoi", so I'm on a mission to change that :) When we first moved in everything was new (i.e. paint jobs, tiling etc) so we didn't feel like we needed to do a lot of stuff at that moment (the limited $$$ contributed to that decision too). 

Now that we have settled down and gotten to know the house better (like real) I feel like I'm in a better place to make deco decision (i.e. what kind of space the family needs rather than what we THINK we needed). Anyway we've just completed the tiling for the front porch so I'm a happy camper (at least for the moment), I'm happy enough to move on to my next project(s)...

List of Home Improvement Projects for 2013 :)

Ever since Sex & The City, I've always wanted a walk in closet for myself :p

The extra room upstairs is meant to be the twins bedroom but for the next few years until they are old enough to sleep on their own, I'm turning it into my walk in closet (haha) and prayer room 

(sejuk hati baca kan? *wek*)

Currently, I've divided the room into 2 sections using a rail and some light curtains. 

I'm still stuck over storage at the moment (yes, 3 clothes racks is still not enough) but a new chest drawer, some paint job, carpeting and wall hangings should be able to pull the room together. 

The playroom downstairs is also work in progress.

Some changes needed to be made especially now that the twins are older.

Nothing major but I'm so in love with some of the new designs of wallpapers by La.Mex

I'm also eyeing a bigger table for them to use in terms of snacks and colouring

(now semua nak rebut so I need 2-3 of everything for my own peace of mind)

I don't think wallpaper in a bathroom in Malaysia is the way to go but I do love the idea of those brighly coloured walls. Awesome pussom :)

 

Lovely living room designs. Comfortable, bright and homey

I'm trying to emulate some of the decor ideas by injecting splashes of colors and trinkets

but I've yet to find a "theme" that I can commit so this project is in my KIV file :p 

The master bedroom is not on the list because I'm currently sharing it with the 3 lil kiddies and with the 2 extra cots and kids stuff in the room I don't have much room for "stuff" if you get what I mean. I do want a new bed though. The old bed dragged from our old crib in Shah Alam don't seem to cut it anymore. Nak new king size bed boleh?

Yes this long winded post is courtesy of boredom since 2/3 of the office is gone for annual dinner. 

I decided to give it a miss this year because I'm lazy and I don't feel like socializing haha.

Nak balik nak balik nak balik...

A Change in Scenery...

Say hello to my new blog design...

It is a bit monochromatic but it fits my end of the year mood, do not mistaken it to symbolize "moodiness and depression" though :p The design is an inspiration from my current obsession with interior designing magazines and blogs.

I was looking for some "head silhouette" art for my house deco. A very cute and cheap way to decorate a room. All you need is a printer and some frames and wallaaa... quirky cuteness overload :)

 
As I was "cutting and pasting" the silhouettes in "Paint", I find the combo of our "family heads" looks real cute on screen so I decided to make it into my blog header. Oh well it may change tomorrow since I get bored easily but it makes for a nice change to brightened up my otherwise deary Monday...

Have an awesome week ahead peeps.. Me wanna go collect my latest online purchase *ooppss*

My Secret Garden :)

When it come to our house, my husband's pride and joy would be the 1ksqf garden. That is "his territory" as he's responsible with the planting, watering and taking care of the garden. Anyway, this year we're making the garden as our "couple project", a DIY project for us to tackle together (bonding mahh...)

It is common knowledge that both of us don't share much of the same interest other than the kids :p Gardening is just something that we both enjoy doing (among other things haha) I don't really like the getting dirt under my nails part (I confined my activities to watering and trimming plants) but gardening brings back fond childhood memories and reminded me a lot of my late Wan. I remembered how Amir and myself use to "help" her tend her garden, getting hose down with water and picking flowers and fruits to play masak-masak *smile*

My main objective is just that, to create a space where my children can run around making their own beautiful memories together *insyallah* Earlier this year, we commissioned for the contractor to build us a gazebo like structure to house Ryan's playhouse (yes mengada ;p)

Garden view 1 year after moving in : 

As you can see the surrounding area is pretty bare :p

Lan managed to plant some palm trees outside the house, lilies and this purple morning glory like flowers.

 We bought close to 10 types of plants from the nursery and several big tempayan looking vases

 After a week of studying landscaping magazines and websites we decided that we (hubby haha) will dig a small pathway from the balcony to the gazebo using square granite stones and river stones.

A picture of my handsome gardener at work :p

 The result :) now we have flowers planted around the perimeter of the garden and a small herb (kitchen) garden for edible plants at the end of the house.

Last weekend, the kiddies having fun in their mini pool :) can't wait when Iman and Ranya starts walking, then the real fun begins...

Making a Home...

The one thing that takes up a lot of my time and attention other than my children is my house. I love my house and I love the process of turning my house into a HOME :)

Buying a new house straight from the developer means you're literally buying an empty space. The good news is you have a 100% say on the designs and most fixtures in the house. The bad side? Obviously is the COST. For a young couple such as Lan and myself who've only started working for 5-6 years, the cost to beautify our crib do put a huge hole in our pockets. Renovations and furniture does not come cheap so instead of doing everything in one go, our reno plans are done in stages in accordance to the affordability factor of the moment :)

For example before we moved in the house, the only additional renovation we did was to add in tiles to the living room, secured house grills and kitchen cabinets. Over time we managed to add in the wallpapers, installed new gates and commissioned for a small gazebo to be build for Ryan's playhouse (this was more of Atuk's project rather than mummy and daddy's :p). Last week we extended the laundry area by putting additional grills for additional security. What I really want to do next is to tile the whole porch area. Hopefully I'll have enough $$$ saved by the end of the year to do so ;p ( I guess I should stop shopping and start saving instead haha)

As for interior designs the only completed room at home is Ryan's room and the kiddies playroom downstairs. Funnily enough the first room that I furnished when we moved in was Ryan's. I didn't even bother buying anything new for my bedroom, just hauled all my old furniture from our Shah Alam home (Your babies will always comes first when you become a mother ;p) Heheh I even went furniture shopping for Iman and Ranya's room during pantang. I remembered dragging Lan and Ryan around Klang to find the perfect wardrobe for the girls.

Anyways now that the kiddies room are done and dealt with, I'm moving on to the living room. I'm currently dreaming and drooling over these console table :) Solid wood in the darkest shade of brown *yummy*

 Simple classic designs

which I plan to decorate with bright coloured ornament, lamps and vases 

Anyway, I went browsing in Ikea yesterday and I saw this gorgeous outdoor plant shelves. I WANT IT so bad. Gorgeous kan? I can imagine lining up colourful geraniums on it... *saya suka saya suka*
Hubby thinks I should look around first before buying it *maybe -__-*
Should I? oh well I can wait a few more weeks, I guess...

Have a great weekend ahead everyone *muackz*

One Roaring Nursery...

Feels just like yesterday when I was planning Ryan's nursery and now it is time to set up a room for the twins :)

We're still in planning stages, but we've (or mainly ME) started with preparing the budget/researching themes and scouting for furniture/decorations. However, this time around we're going on a smaller scale because we've realised after going all out in decorating Ryan's room, that the babies won't be spending much time in their own room for the next few years :p

I think I spend more time in Ryan's room than he does (haha) he sleeps with us and he prefer his play area downstairs than going up to his room. So in the name of practicality we've decided to transform the guest room downstairs into a "mini nursery".

When you're expecting twins, the first thing you have to consider is mobility. I guess carting 2 babies up and down during the day for naps/nappy change is not as practical as it is with a singleton. The room is near to the kitchen (for feeding), toilet (for nappy change/baths) living room (for mummy and daddy to watch TV when babies taking their nap :p) and near but does not in any way encroached on Abang Ryan's play/nap area (thou shall not DISRUPT the little prince routine in any way : babies or no babies :p )

We have not discovered the babies gender yet, but I'm leaning heavily towards a "Safari" theme nursery for the following reasons :-

We already have animal theme rockers + mobile + art deco

It is gender neutral - boys + girls can relate to animals and Ryan would be able to enjoy it even if his sibling turn out to be girls

One of the easiest theme to pull off

Some of my fave designs

I'm in love with this Twins Decal : which you can easily print and frame yourself :)

White furnitures. What's not to Love love love...

I love the colour combination of green + yellow, green + pink, Green+ cream

It is to early to decide, and I would probably change my mind but me kinda like the idea for the moment :)

Our Hijrah...

Update 1- Awal Muharram Project

We’ve moved out from our Shah Alam house into our new crib last Tuesday. There’s crazy amount of cleaning to do and I have no idea how I’m going to complete it all by January 1st. Besides some drama with the movers (thank god for my brother in law who totally saved the day) everything went well.

Lan and I hosted our first “family gathering” with my family and in-laws. It was an impromptu “picnic lunch” when my mum in law decided to come over with loads of yummy treats and then my mum came with more food she cooked from home so we ended up with quite a spread. Carted off cutleries from my mum’s place (pathetic cause most of my dishware are all still in boxes) and had lunch on the floor. It was fun to have everyone together though.

I’m telling you the expenses to set up the house is CRAZY (hence the capital letters) and here I’m talking absolute essential stuff. Money is flowing out like water. However, I see it as an investment as it is for long term used. As of now we’ve managed to install our grills, kitchen cabinet, tiles to the living room, build an extended back wall/ cement ½ of car porch, main bathroom sliding door and air conditioner. More home improvement work to be done gradually :p

Update 2- Mini Shopaholic Inspiration of the Day

I think I shall stop buying clothes (we’ll see how long I can abstain).Seeing all the outfits that I have to cart from Shah Alam makes me feel guilty. Some of the clothes still have tags and never worn. There are some purchases that was highly questionable like a PVC legging and neon green dress (what was I thinking mode).

I think I shall throw the ones that are not wearable, donate the decent clothes to the charity box near my house and probably sell off some. If you’re nice to me I may let you raid my closet for clothes, scarves, bags and shoes that I don’t want anymore.

My sisters in law had a field day after I gave them a paper bag full of Roxy, Converse, kiddy handbags and sling bags that I have out grown. Serious rasa sayang nak bagi (dasar manusia memang tamak haha) but I figured letting them go unused is just wasteful.

I shall learn to mix and match my available clothes better, reorganize my closet and come up with loads of new outfits instead of buying clothes just because. In honour of the New Year I shall strive to be less wastefull and be more prudent with my spending :)

Update 3- 3 Muharram 1432
According to the Islamic Calendar, my little prince turns one today. I remembered how I was hoping that his birthday fall on Awal Muharram: p but Ryan has different plans for me. Making us wait for 45 hours before he decided to grace us with his presence. Darling let me tell you this: The wait was worth every single contraction, pain, sweat, blood etc. You’re worth it. I hope you will grow up into a soleh, highly intelligent, handsome, considerate, understanding, responsible and happy young man. Mummy and daddy will always pray for your well being.

Happy Birthday Muhammad Ryan Daniel. I love you very very much. I’ll bring you out later for a small celebration (provided that your father agrees) and we will celebrate again with Atuk & Nenek on your “other” birthday this 20/12/2010 ok

I'm looking forward to....

Furnishing and decorating Ryan's room :)

It's 60% done thanks to darling husband

Decorating other parts of the house, most importantly my shoe closet
(haha gotto love my priority)

Ryan's upcoming birthday... Next month woohoo...
Can't wait darling....

Sneak Preview of upcoming awesomeness...

SC's Annual Dinner this Friday : Masquerade Party
I still haven't decided on my dress yet.. oh well 2 more days...
I want a new dress... naturally Lan said "NO"
We'll see....


Anyway will be on exam leave starting from tomorrow... Need to study for my FINAL PAPER!!! Insyallah everything will be fine :)

Have a great day & week everyone....

A Gift Without A Bow...

November is fast approaching and that would mean December is nearing...

December would mean the end of the year and the beginning of 2011...
December would also be the month to celebrate Ryan's first birthday...

I promise myself that I would not go "crazy" since he'll be to young to remember. I'm just planning a small gathering between family members and close family friends. Some cakes and balloons and party packs for his kindy friends and we'll be all set :)

Anyway, I'm planning on an early birthday gift for Ryan. I'm planning to start decorating his room. Yes darling you'll have your own room to store your clothes and toys and a place for you to play in :) Finally, huh? Technically it is not much of a present since that room was always intended for his use. However, think off all the effort that mummy and daddy is going to put in decorating you room... Our love and dedication sure beats that new model of monster truck *haha* You're one lucky boy *alhamdullilah*

Like most part of the house, the paintings and shelving etc will be DIY :) To those people who assume that I'll be putting Lan for all the "hard job", please-lah you're looking at one independent lady who painted her whole room and 1/3 of her parent's house ALONE!!! I have no qualms with doing messy stuff but if other people choose to do it for me, by all means they are welcome to do so ;p

Anyway back to Ryan's room, I'm looking at various designs ideas and trying to put together a simple no fuss concept. Someone suggested an Elmo theme room, with Elmo murals and red and white walls. It's a great idea but I rather go for a not so obvious theme. Thinkerbout it in a few months time his interest might change and I might end up with an Elmo/Transformers/Ben10 walls in 5 years time. Not a pretty sight, right?

A collection of some of my favourite design...

Under the sea concept

Love the idea of putting Ryan's initial on the wall but it will be a bit tricky if his siblings is planning to share the room later on :p Well can always keep on adding initials...

My favourite design...

Clean and simple

Another lovely design...

What do you think???

20102010

The date 20102010 is truly a joyous and special date to the Azlan household for two reasons

Occasion 1: Ryan turn 10 months old :)

He is such a happy baby... I love how he'll always greet me with sweetest smile on his face whenever I come home. He's also developed this little thing where he'll make you greet him FIRST when you come in the door.

I conducted an experiment last Tuesday where I decided to give Lan a hug first instead of picking him up and boy was Ryan pissed :p terus terkedek2 turn around, crawled to my direction and hugged my legs and started whimpering... and he did his hysterical "I'm going to cry" laugh so you better pay attention to me. Funny!!!

Ryan with his enabler No1: "sayang nenek..sayang nenek" hahah that is my mum's tag line everytime they are together :p

Enabler No 2: Geram so manja with his atuk... everywhere atuk goes nak ikut je... He'll go to my dad, tap my dad's legs and suruh atuk pangku while finishing he's milk. Then he'll turn around give Lan and I the cheekiest smile as if to say "haha mummy what can you do about it?"

Milestones :

1. Can now says mama, dada, tata and babble incoherently
2. Stand on his own with support of furniture or other people
3. No teeth but gums are swollen. Soon?
4. Will wave when you say bye bye and when he's in da mood will say "tata" - his first word used in the right context :p
5. Understand the word "NO" but won't necessary listen :p
6. Everytime Azan is on the TV : he will stay rooted to his current spot and will keep quiet and made the "shhh" sound (i.e. please hormat azan and don't talk) sometimes he will mimicked the one finger to the mouth gesture - Anakku The Imam Muda/Baby (insyallah)
7. Have started to brush his own teeth with assistant of course
8. Knows where his toys are and the function of each one :)
9. Will cry when you take his "toys" away. Harder to distract when his mind is set on something (favourite victim my Blackberry)
10. Will automatically scamper in panic everytime he sees me wearing tudung or dressing up in nice clothes, if dah nampak mummy dia pakai makeup will directly stand at the bed railing, wave his hand frantically and make loads of noise until someone picks him up. Kaki jalan ni...

Occasion 2: We got our house keys :)

*Alhamdullilah* Was my first thought. Second was happiness and relieve. Only god knows the kind of hardship we've got to go through before managing to secure our crib. I admit that the stress do sometimes take a toil on my sanity but I always believe that good things don't come easy (more on this on next post) so bring it on!!

The first person that I have to thank is my parents, they really tried to make the transition easy for Lan and I. They assisted us in every way possible way: moral, emotional and financial support. I'm so lucky to have them as parents and of course not forgetting my in-laws who was equally supportive.

It's going to be a long and tough journey ahead but I look forward to building our home together with Lan and Ryan... Wish us luck *insyallah*

Just the Two of Us :)

@ the Loaf Empire

Ryan looking tortured with Maksu Yanni

Handsome boy :)

Ryan with his Paul the Octopus :)

Hey guys, I got a new ride :)

R E S P E C T

I don’t know how all those single mothers do it. Especially those who had no help (family or maids)

Lan wasn’t around on Friday to Sunday attending some course. When he told me I was panicking a bit as I can’t imagine taking care of Ryan PLUS sending him to Gymboree and doing house chores. On top of all this I wasn’t feeling well and was a bit down due to some “mishap” concerning a certain gadget that shall not be mentioned here so as to incriminate me later (lawyer talk :p)

I guess, you got to do what you got to do, the weekend went without a hitch (or nothing major) and I managed to spend quality mummy baby time with Ryan.

Saturday

I went to Gymboree bright and early with Ryan. Persuaded my mum and dad to come along so that they can help take care of Ryan in the car while I drive. Went to my aunties house for lunch and had “rendang itik” and other yummy Nogori Sembilan food. I made croquet for tea, my first venture succeeded, it was yummy and my mum and dad loved it. I think I’ll make more soon. Later my cousin Nurul, Anis and Yanni spend the night at my place. Urrgghh taking care of Anis & Yanni is a bigger challenge than taking of Ryan… *sigh* but Ryan and I had fun with the aunties watching movies.

Sunday

Busy busy busy, up bright and early. Feed, bath and make sure Ryan take his nap before finishing house chores. My parents and I brought Nurul to Empire for lunch at the Loaf. We went to Toys R Us to get Ryan his Elmo but it wasn’t there (managed to get him one in Plaza Damas just now. So I’m happy :) )Later we send Nurul back to hostel in UiTM and went home. Went out again to Tesco for groceries, where my mum bought her grandson a table/chair. I was like “mummy, he can’t even sit properly yet” *geram* Took turns taking care of baby with my dad that night as my mum had to go for her “mengaji class” . Once we put him to sleep, more chores waiting and finally went to bed at 12.30pm where I was awoken by Lan who just got back.

Who said being a mum is easy?

Anyway I think I showered Ryan with even more attention than usual this weekend as I felt guilty for spending less time with him as classes already started. By the time I come back from class on Monday and Wednesday night he’s usually asleep. I try not to feel too bad as I know; I’m only doing this for him and our family. But that does not make it less painful *whatever*

Home Sweet Home

We managed to make an appointment with the developer to check for flaws and defects on Thursday. The list of defects and pictures have been sent and approved by the developers and the home improvement work starts today. We’ll have to install grills by the end of this month/August so we need to go grill hunting this week. Vacant possession probably takes place in October and then the real headache will begin. I’m over the moon though. I’m already making decoration plans. We’re taking things slow and I’ve develop a 5 stage renovation/ decoration phase to be spread out for the next 2 years or so for budget purposed.Despite it all I’m so excited… a house for our family. *alhamdullilah* thanks for making our dreams come true…

Out new crib come October *insyallah*

Ryan's Proposed Room ???

The master bedroom :)

That is all the update for today... will blog soon. Take care everyone....