A Traditional Touch to a Modern Home in Bandar Baru Bangi

Our next project was further upgrading of a 20 year old double storey terrace house. After we had done their dining room and living room about 2 years ago, the couple came back to us to redo their kitchen, their bathrooms and especially to redo the facade of the house.

The objective was to continue the original concept or theme of the interior which we previously had proposed to resonate throughout. Since the couple's three children are now adults and had left home, it was time to further transform the house to a sanctuary that would be comfortable for retirement providing a beautiful yet peaceful environment to enjoy and to receive guests and grandchildren.

For the living room, the walls were originally pink. We were able to keep to the client's preferences by toning down the pink to a more brown hued color which looked pink but was actually not. Two shades gave the interior some character as well as provided the 'shadows' at the right places to make the room spacious whilst enabling the existing furniture to perfectly fit into the traditional concept that already existed. A polish of the old floor terrazo tiles to bring out its original beauty was the finishing touch.





The dining room was originally the kitchen with a window to the backyard. After converting the backyard into a kitchen, the existing window became the perfect opening for a 'bar-type' serving area; a great place to sit and chat with the 'cook' over coffee and snacks. It also serves as a serving area to the dining room. We chose dark floorboards to complement the existing dark coloured wood glass top dining table. For a modern, yet keeping to a traditional concept, we opted for white cabinetry for the new built-ins flanking the serving counter. The old side cabinets were repainted white to match.

Old furniture..., new floors...



Given a new lease in life...



The new serving counter to the dining room completed...



That was two years ago.

The couple wanted the concept to continue throughout, all the way out, in fact. The exterior was where we would need to focus on. The facade faded in comparison to the new extension the neighbour had constructed. The couple wanted to beautify their facade, but not 'overpower' their neighbours; in terms of view, structure and air flow.

Here's the original facade...



Here's what we proposed...

The sketch....




The 3-D computer rendered version...



The work...













Meanwhile... inside the kitchen...

This...



Became this...



And this...



Became this...



After two months of hard work; monitoring the details, the contractors, choosing the materials, buying the accessories, finally...







The joy of helping to create another lifestyle continues...

Creating a People-Friendly Kitchen

Kitchens are popularly known as the heart of a home. This is because it usually is the center of the home; where meals are prepared to nourish family members, thus giving life and energy to the family. It is also the place where the traditional homemaker spends most of the time. It used to be that stay-at-home moms would prepare wonderful and nourishing meals for the family, catering to many special moments like birthdays, and such. It would also be the place where cuts were healed with home remedies and tears were wiped away from growing children and where stories along with juicy gossip were shared with a hot cup of soothing tea at the kitchen table.

In today's home, the kitchen is merely for cooking when family members are able to get together during weekends or holidays. Kitchens are rarely the center of activity these days as family members are all involved in outside work, school or other activities. When the 'cook' of the family does use the kitchen, he or she usually is alone preparing the meals whilst the other family members are watching television or in their own private sanctuaries, i.e. their rooms.

It is therefore much more important for the kitchen to be connected to the other living areas in order to maintain contact with family members. What with the 'cook' also working full-time, making the kitchen a place for interaction will enable family members to connect with each other during the short moments at home, especially during the prepration of meals, which take a considerable amount of time in itself.

An island, a bar counter or an opening from the kitchen will allow the 'cook' to prepare meals and hold conversations with the rest of the family watching television nearby, yet hide the mess behind higher level counters.

Having a bench, or stools at an island table or counter allows family members or guests to chat with you while you cook. It also doubles up as convenient area for speedy meals, where you can have quick early morning breakfast and meet each other before departure to individual destinations. It can also be a place to catch-up with an after-school snack with younger children, or a place for them to do homework whilst still being supervised by the 'cook'.

A peninsular, or island type dining table, accessible to the kitchen makes an excellent area to get together to enjoy coffee or snacks whilst the main meal is being prepared...



An opening to the cooking area serves also as a counter where family members or guests can watch or sit and chat.

Living the Life at Seri Maya Condominiums

An exclusive and happening location for anyone who needs to be near Kuala Lumpur and yet accessible to the highways through the Duke or good old fashion Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak, that is when the traffic permits.

No matter, the condo is just the right hideaway from the hustle and bustle of the outside world and the fast pace of work. A great place to come home to at the end of a hard day's work.

That was the objective we were aiming for when we got the job to transform the premise from an ordinary looking living space to an exclusive and comfortable home for a busy gentleman.

Look at the previous cabinetry...




Unappealing, ordinary, and without character,...

We decided for a clean look with clean lines, choosing the colours of walnut, and dark wood for the cabinetry, blinds and floors. The walls to be off-white with a feature wall that would complement the surroundings and create a background for the 42" flat screen tv in the living room. The guest room would be the only room with some color to offset the no-nonsense of the rest of the living areas.

After the breaking down of some walls to create a bigger master bedroom and direct access to the bathrooms from the guest room, and access to the kitchen from the living room, we were ready for the floors.

Take a look at the transformation one on one...

The Kitchen:-

This...



was changed to this...



To make it larger, functional, modern and open, we broke down the existing wall that contained the existing kitchen.

To enable this to happen...















Making it also possible to add modern features such as these....







The Master Bedroom:-

Old wardrobe to new wardrobe







to having a completely large, new bedroom...




The Guest Room:-

The transformation...









The Living Room and Balcony (now an annex):-

What was just a normal living room with a normal balcony, is now an extended living space to relax, have friends over and enjoy the fresh air without compromising on privacy.







The final result; A place to call home...



If you would like a makeover or advise on how to change the look of your living space, give us a call at Faizah Zainal Lifestyle Design 017.372.1522.

Sunway Semenyih - Modest and a Place to Call Home

It all starts with an idea from the clients. Our job was to create it from a modest budget and make their dream come true. The idea was to create a homey, neat, inviting environment for a growing family. Also to make it a place to come home to, after a hard day's work and a great hangout to have friends over.

What we came up for the exterior:-

Progress.....

Resulting in this...

Now for the interior... Here's the idea...



What we started with...

And....





Finally, a nice garden...

And a nice home...