Home Sweet Home : The Peripherals of DIY (Part 2)

I have decided to take up this segment of DIY separately from those assignments that involve carpentry-related work.

To kick start part 2 of our DIY segment, let's start off with an interesting "appetizer", known as, De-Solv-it.

Adhesive stain remover : De-Solv-it (from Home-Fix stores)

De-Solv-it had been a great partner for all of us out there who had encountered stubborn adhesive stains on walls after peeling off stickers, old adhesive hooks, etc.

It is sold in Home-Fix stores and I purchased my first bottle of it from the Compasspoint branch.

The first location I've tried this chemical was on the white ceramic tiles which were directly above my kitchen sink.

After removing an old dirty soap dish from the wall, there were 2 round-shaped adhesive stains that could not be peeled off as they were stuck fast on the tiles.

The chemical is an oil-based fluid which had a very strong pungent smell.  As such, I've placed newspapers & kitchen towels just directly below the section where the chemical was going to be applied on.

After spraying on the chemical, I've set aside some time for it to work on these adhesive stains before cleaning it away with a piece of wet tissue paper.  Those old adhesive stains were being soften by the chemical & disintegrated gradually when I tried to scrap it off with a ball of wet tissue paper.

The outcome is that of spotless, clean & white ceramic tiles that were free of adhesive stains:

[photograph pending]

There was another stubborn adhesive stain which had hardened over the years after we took off an old hook which had been left on the wall by the previous owner.

The adhesive seemed to have hardened into something that was akin to brown-looking putty cement as shown in the photograph.

Prior to acquiring De-Solv-it from Home-fix stores, such horrible looking adhesive stains were a lost cause which had marred the clean-looking appearance of white ceramic tiles on the kitchen wall.

After the chemical works wonders for the first scenario, we've decided that it won't do any harm to try it out on this stubborn adhesive stain.

As the chemical causes wrinkles to my fingers during the first scenario & that it was tough to remove the pungent stench once it came into contact with my skin, I've decided to wear a pair of plastic gloves while spraying it on the stubborn adhesive stain.

The same procedure was then repeated & the white tile had been restored to its original state: spotless & clean-looking as shown in the photograph.

Corrugated Paper (from Favour International)

The first time I encountered corrugated paper was during the restoration of bedrooms for my flat at the following section of my blog:

http://barbettey.blogspot.com/2012/05/demolition-fabrication-of-walls-in.html

Thereafter, I cannot fail to swear by the importance & the use of corrugated paper in many DIY assignments, ranging from protecting my cute mini sliding doors (made by Han Fong Aluminium / http://barbettey.blogspot.com/2012/05/vanity-drawers-from-han-fong-aluminium.html) at the recess area below the windows during our DIY sessions on painting of walls, right up to using it to wrap up fragile items such as glass products & even metal wares prior to shipping.

I've known teenage customers from Favour International who bought the corrugated paper for the purpose of wrapping up their metal or stone sculptures or parts of the bicycle on the spot & shipping them out of Singapore after placing them into boxes.

These corrugated papers are sold in huge rolls & I've bought them from Favour International on & off when the need arises. e.g. covering my cute-looking sliding doors below the windows to prevent paint from spluttering onto them when we painted our flat.

For those of you who are interested in purchasing corrugated paper, please visit Favour International at the following website:

http://www.packeverything.com.sg/

Alternatively, you might want to drop by at their flagship store at:

302, Ubi Ave One

#01-29/33

Singapore 400302

This flagship store is also selling many cute stuff (pretty packaging, stickers, etc) which could go into dressing up your gifts or catering for parties & wedding favours too!

Water Dessicants (from Favour International)

I would also like to introduce sachets of water dessicants which are sold at Favour International.  These are very useful from my perspective because I've got plenty of uses for them.

In the past, I used to collect these miserable satchets of water dessicants which are found in boxes that came with newly bought shoes from boutiques.  And I might be as desperate enough to collect those clean ones that came with  packets of titbits. And I would be recycling these little bags of water dessicants when the need arises. :(

When I first stepped in to the flagship store for Favour International to buy corrugated paper, I was delighted to make a discovery of these mini packs of water dessicants.  :D

This is the first bottle of water dessicants that I bought from Favour International:It cost me $11.50 for 80 satchets of 5-grams water dessicants & I've already used up every single satchet over a month by distributing them among the number of shoes, bags & watches & accessories that I've had

In addition to placing them in my shoe boxes, I also have this habit of placing them in boxes containing my watches & accessories.  To prevent mould from setting in & attacking my handbags & shoes, I would swear by these small satchets of water dessicants.

Well if u were to ask me what this had got to do with DIY, it's too great a hassle to start off with another thread since I've already introduced corrugated paper under this thread.  Thus, I felt that it'll benefit the fashion-conscious women like ourselves to make such a discovery of buying these mini satchets of water dessicants.

"Tissue" paper (from Favour International)

Another of my favourites from Favour International are their colourful "tissue" papers which are used to lay the interior of my shoe boxes.

As a regular user of such a product, the white version functions mainly as a separator to a pair of shoes in the box or are rolled into a ball & stuffed into the interior of the shoe to retain its shape when not worn on.

To make the best use of the product, I've extended its mileage from shoe boxes, all the way to the interior of bags & even for sequined garments!

I've also had in possession a roll of purple coloured "tissue" paper which I had used for filling in the gaps in a box for 2 bottles of wines.  It's more like a buffer to prevent the 2 bottles of wines from crashing into each other & breaking before they were handed over as gifts to the receiver. 

I bought this sequined top from a pushcart store @ a mall in a heartland region.  The style is such that it was similar to that of singers performing on the stage during festive periods e.g. the 7th month ghost festival.

Anyways, I acquired it & realised that the rows of sequins could get entangled with one another if the blouse wasn't handled carefully.  And after assessing the quality of the blouse, I realised that it's likely to be made in china & that I'm paying slightly above $20 for the design & style.

Then the idea of using the white "tissue" paper which I acquired from Favour International @ Ubi occured to me. 

I was quick in fishing out a piece & layering it over the sequined surface before I started to fold the blouse into half, followed by quartering it by folding it again.  The sequined blouse is then ready for storage. :)

DIY-ing for our bathrooms

Since we are planning to move on to another new place within an indefinite time frame, both my hubby & myself had decided that we will be spending minimal money for our bathrooms.

As such, my hubby's potential for DIY-ing had been once again tapped & stretched. 

Cutting water (copper) pipes

The water heater had been installed by our regular electrician-cum-plumber.  However, my hubby had decided to relocate 2 sections of the water pipes that were running near the newly installed POTEX water closet.

He had recycled 2 sections of old copper pipes that were taken down after our plumber dismantled our 30-litre Ariston water heater that was mounted close to the toilet's ceiling.

And of course the length wasn't a perfect fit.  As such, my hubby took its shortening to task by borrowing a clamp-like cutter (from one of our inlaws) to trim it down to the desired length as shown in the photographs below.

The outcome was a pair of neatly cut copper pipes with some scuff marks as shown in the photograph

Relocating copper pipes

After the copper pipes were cut to a desired length, my hubby proceeded in connecting these 2 copper pipes & relocating them near the newly installer POTEX WC (water closet).  Please refer to the photograph below for the outcome.

Stainless steel nails (rust free) - from Home-Fix stores

It was then that he discovered that the nails that were used to hold sections of the bidget & its water tap were rusty (refer to attached photograph) after 2 weeks from the day of installation by our regular plumber.

Once again, my hubby ventured into one of the Home-fix stores & bought a packet of stainless steel nails.

While I was sceptical over those nails that he had bought from Home-fix stores, he had assured me that they were definitely rust-free becox he tested their authenticity using a piece of magnet & there was absolutely no attraction between the 2.  As such, he concluded that the problem of rusting would be solved once those rusty nails were replaced with the ones he had bought.

And true enough, it's already 6 months since he had those nails replaced & they were completely rust free (as shown in the photograph below)! 

Mending wall crevices with Putty Fillers

I almost forgot to mention that prior to any painting, we would check for any crevices in walls that were a result of holes that were created by drillers for mounting brackets & inserting wall plugs with nails.

And we would usually salvage the condition by using a putty filler as shown in the photograph below.

We "inherited" this item from one of the contractors whom we engage to get things done for our flat.  :)  Not much putty is left in the mini bucket but it would suffice for home owners who dabble with DIY projects like ourselves.

To keep the putty filler moist & useful, my hubby would add some water into the bucket & stir the mixture before he started using it for filling in crevices in walls.

Painting copper pipes - An undesirable, sticky chore!

Painting has always been viewed as an impossible chore for many of us & that includes myself.

After this sticky episode of messing around with paints, brushes & turpentine, my hubby felt that the painting of copper pipes were alot tougher than applying paint on walls.

As Nippon had always been our preferred choice of paints, we had chosen Nippon's Bodelac 9000 series in white.

The sequence for painting the pipes is as follows:

1) My hubby recycled mineral bottles in both 1-litre & 500 ml caliberation by chopping off the top half of their "anatomy".

2) The tin of Bodelac 9000 & started stiring up the contents until an even tone is achieved.

3) A conservative amount is poured out into a readily cut mineral bottle which will serve as a "container" that could be easily hand held while painting is on-going.

4) Thinner is then added into the "container" to dilute the paint so that it could be easily coated on the metal surface.  However, the mixture shouldn't be too diluted.  Otherwise, the paint wouldn't be able to adhere to the surface or you've got to paint over many layers & that might risk wrinkling.

And of course, prior to any painting, we've got to protect the rest of the fixtures & personal effects that are permanently installed inside bathrooms & toilets.

So here's a photograph of my "artwork" with newspapers!

I was too lazy to take any photographs of the painting process & had left my hubby to his own devices in the bathrooms.

Here are some photographs of the outcome.  ;)

For any accidental drips of paint that were spluttered on the floor or ceramic walls, my hubby had cleaned them away with a piece of rag dipped sparingly in turpentine.

Changing taps

My hubby replaced the taps in our bathrooms without my knowledge & I didn't get to know that he bought new taps until they had been used to replace the old ones which had been corroded beyond the ability for polishing.

The taps that he bought were stainless steel because they aren't attracted to magnets at all.

Not unlike all other genuine stainless steel products, it is prone to stains although it doesn't rust easily.

This is how the tap looks like after it has been used for the past 6 months or more.

Well for you guys out there who had top notch designer homes, such a design for a tap might not be anything impressive.  However, I have labelled it "designer-inspired" since the handle of the tap was perceived as unconventional by myself.

Laminating (sliding) Glass doors

Sand blasted glass doors are beautiful to look at & does add a touch of elegance to our homes.

However, I would discourage many home owners from installing sand blasted glass doors as they are very difficult to maintain & are prone to stains which aren't easily removed.  During such modern times, sandblasted glass doors are something of the past even though there are still interior designers who would still recommend them.

From my perspective as a home owner, we are the ones who will be saddled with any maintenance issues after the renovation / installation is completed.  The party who recommended & sold the idea or the product wouldn't be present to respond to any of such maintenance issues or allow us home owners to seek recourse over any problems that occured through practical usage.

In short, sand blasted glass doors or windows do not age well.

We have acquired sandblasted glass doors ourselves through another aluminium fabricator prior to getting to know Han Fong Aluminum.  It isn't difficult for you guys to imagine how we were nodding our heads away while the owners of Han Fong Aluminum told us what we wished we would have known earlier on about sandblasted glass. 

It is with deep regrets that we were acquianted to Han Fong Aluminum only after we got our bathroom (sliding) doors replaced with sandblasted glass doors.  :(

The most undesirable issue appeared after we realised that privacy became a big issue whenever anybody bathes in the common toilet which was located at the kitchen balcony.  The sandblasted glass doors weren't opaque but there was a certain percentage of translucency depending on the distance the user is standing from the door while bathing in the bathroom.

For a start, we have decided to install shower curtains but it didn't turn out as expected & the bathroom looked so cluttered & cramped after we installed a curtain rod comprising 2 rods which were joint at a perpendicular angle.  The horrible thing was that the section where the 2 rods were joined to form the 90 degree angle was too "heavy" without another bracket to support it.  As such, both rods were slanted downwards towards the area where they were held together with a joint.

In short, awful & messy was how I would describe the outcome of the idea when it was being translated into reality.  :(

My hubby couldn't wait to tear it down shortly after its installation.

We bought this assemble from IKEA but we sincerely hope that all readers wouldn't misconstrue that we are concluding that this item isn't good as we were using 2 sets of shower curtains which were relatively heavy & bulky for a small bathroom.

Finally, my hubby got chissed off with it & dismantled it over the weekends.  It's being dumped at a corner of our living room.

Then we have decided to settle on laminating the glass door on the non-sandblasted side which was facing away from the interior of the bathroom.

I was reluctant initially as I had the mentality that the opaque lamination is going to look old fashioned & downgrade the sand blasted glass door into something ugly & dated. We have seen many laminated products from heartland shops & didn't like what we saw.

Then, we have decided to move on to Home-fix stores & are pleasantly surprised by the variety of opaque laminates from their supplier whose known as Basic Necessities International. 

Their office is located at 13 Toa Payoh Lorong 8, #07-02 Braddell Tech, Singapore 319261 (Tel number : 6-251-9339).

Their products, including solar films could be viewed at www.basicdeco.com.sg.  If you require a certain customised dimension for these products, please contact Basic Necessities International directly as they would be able to assist you in such customised orders.

The outcome of our sandblasted glass doors with their opaque laminate is beautiful when seen in person as compared to what's shown here on the photograph attached below:



We didn't know the proper method of mounting the self-adhesive laminate onto the glass panel and had done so in a very unproductive manner, taking a total of I think more than 5 hours to complete the task.

Finally, when we got to speak to Basic Necessities, we realised that the professionals took a matter of minutes by spraying very diluted soapy water onto the medium & the self-adhesive laminate.

Laminating (sliding) doors using Formica

Since the pre-existing sliding door with a fibre glass panel had been serving us well as our storeroom's door, we have decided to retain it and give it a face lift by gluing on a sheet of formica over it. 

This photograph shows the "before" appearance of our existing old sliding door which is made up of a fibre glass panel that was encased in a bronze anodised aluminium frame.

Initially, we had contemplated getting a replacement door.  However, it served no purpose since the panel would be made of plain one-coloured PVC panels encased by aluminium frame.  Moreover, fibre glass material is a lot costlier and durable than the PVC panels that were commonly found in our local market now.



You could view from this photograph that our sliding door is in a great condition despite being installed more than 15 years ago.

We dropped by Jennings Laminates at Bllk 38 Defu Lane 10 #01-33 to browse through a few of their catelogues of formica and settled for a simple repetitive design of small flowers being embossed onto a matt surface in an off-white tone.  The small flower prints were supposed to stand out in a glossy tone on the matt surface of the formica.  This cost of this design was still affordable as compared to other designs that I would have preferred. 

Our original intention was to get one with a goldish tone.  However, we couldn't find any of it in Jennings' catelogues.  As such, we settled for a hopefully timeless design in off-white colour.

The one reservation Hubby Dearest had prior to pasting the formica over the panel of fibre glass was that it just might not stay on since he had the idea that the formica would only adhere to a rougher surface.  However, his fears was allayed because the outcome was much better than expected.

We have not peeled off the plastic sheet protecting the laminate yet until our aircon installation has settled in.  So for now, we have taken photographs of our newly laminated door as it is as shown below:

It looks boring like any other white glossy surfaced PVC panels which are commonly supplied by installers in aluminium works for now.

We are hoping that it'll look better after we have peeled off that plastic protective sheet.

A close-up photograph of how the design looks like with the plastic protective sheet still laminated onto the surface.

The repetitive floral design is supposedly embossed in high gloss but on a matt & slightly textured (rough) surface.

We are hoping that the formica last since it's off-white in colour & prone to stains.  As such, we are keeping the plastic protective sheet on the formica for as long as we could.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Disclaimer:

Kindly note that this thread is strictly for the purpose of sharing our DIY experiences as home owners and is definitely not an advertising platform or a medium for soliciting money making opportunities.

I am also not affliated to any companies or their products should they be mentioned in this thread.

Reader's discretion is therefore sought when viewing this thread.

For the ease of locating the products I have mentioned in my DIY projects here in this thread, I've included relevant contact details of the respective products or service providers.

Thank you for your kind understanding.

Home Sweet Home : The Peripherals of DIY (Part 1)

My hubby is an enthusiast for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) in almost every sense of the word when our home is involved.

(A tongue-in-cheek candid photo of my hubby)

Needless to say, his spouse (that's me!) might have overlooked the benefits of monetary savings as a result of DIY which is commonly practiced in western countries whereby 3rd party repairs weren't readily available in view of the unpredictable weather changes & other geographical issues e.g. having to drive 8 hours to reach one's destination, etc.

I could never fully appreciate his DIY abilities when I felt that contractors were readily available here in Singapore to carry out home-related assignments.  As such, you could easily imagine an eye-goggling moment for myself as a spouse when he told me that he wanted to install our chimney hood in the kitchen as he felt that it was a breeze!

Now that I have newly created this blog on our home, I would be publishing some back-dated DIY "assignments" which had been proudly accomplished by hubby dearest.  Some of these "assignments" were published earlier on in the Renotalk forum.  However, I have decided to migrate these write-ups to my blog since the links of some of these threads had been "lost" under my username in the forum.

We hope that you enjoyed reading them as much as my hubby did for his DIY works at home! :)

My Hubby's dangerous stunt with our BARANG BARANG wardrobe

Before our cement contractor, Ah Cheong restored both bedrooms to HDB's original condition, the centre of our 2-in-1 super large MBR (which was amalgamated to the common room) was saddled with a giant wardrobe that was bought from BARANG BARANG during their good old days in year 2000.
(please refer to the corresponding link for restoration works conducted to our bedrooms : http://barbettey.blogspot.com/2012/05/demolition-fabrication-of-walls-in.html)

This was a feat accomplished by my hubby becox it was a mammoth for a wardrobe even during such times - at 94"(W) x 86"(H) x 27"(D).  It is nothing like IKEA's lightweight, flimsy concept for a wardrobe.

I almost have to dial 995 for an ambulance when he was stuck below the cabinet frame when it landed directly on him after he commanded me to push it down with all my strength!!! *SOB*

And the quality and workmanship of those days were relatively impressive becox they were made to last for eons.  It was nothing like the IKEA quality that u see in their showrooms now becox our version from Barang Barang back in year 2000, had a very high threshold for heavy weights and pricing back then for such styles & quality were extremely expensive.

When it was first delivered to us by Barang Barang, the furniture establishment had to mobilise 1 installer and 2 assistants to get the item installed manually with powered drills in our then extra-large MBR (master bedroom).

The decision for us to restore both MBR and common room to their original layout built by HDB instead of its amalgamated state, meant that we were compelled to relocate this giant wardrobe.

My hubby had decided to take a risk in taking it apart on his own.  I had my reservations becox it was dangerous & it risk damaging my wardrobe. :(

I had also questioned how this is possible becox none of us had carpentry or installation experience.  That's apart from installing light-weight pine wood racks & perhaps some small-scale drawers from IKEA.

And I wished that I was able to take photos of him bringing down the giantic wardrobe but I didn't have any chances as my hands were required to help him out during the dismantling.

This was how his shorts looked like after he successfully dismantled the mammoth of a wardrobe:

We're affectionately nicknaming this giant wardrobe The MAMMOTH.

Here are photos of some components of The MAMMOTH after it had been taken apart by my hubby...

The 2 panels of wooden sliding doors:

The sandblasted glass panel (sliding door) which still looked beautiful without any stains even after 10 years:

The base and sides of the wardrobe:

This photo features the supposedly heavy-duty rollers of the sandblasted glass door of The Mammoth:

We discovered that the strip of dust-guard (not sure what it's known as but it's for keeping out lizards & whatever that would crawl in between the gaps) lining the sandblasted glass door is peeling off as the glue holding it there had hardened and disintegrated with age.

So my hubby had applied a thin layer of Kangaroo brand glue which is also commonly used by carpenters for sticking formica boards onto wooden furnitures.

The glue quality seems to be pretty good becox the dust guard had a sturdy hold onto the metal frame & thus far, it hadn't peeled off yet:

To illustrate how good the quality of The Mammoth is even though it is 10 years old, these photos show the 4 drawers which are lined with glass panels on the front:

The installation process wasn't as terrible & scary as the dismantling of The Mammoth. 

However, it wasn't a breeze as well becox it wasn't as straight forward as we thought it was.

After my hubby set the base down onto its new location i.e. in the existing common room where the storeroom door opens from within, we realised that it was odd that the top of the cabinet couldn't be aligned to the vertical panels that formed the frame of The Mammoth.

This is the photo of the top of The Mammoth where you can see that there are metal screws sitting on it.  My hubby had explained to me that those metal screws served as the male components which will hold the vertical panels together to form most of the wooden cabinets frames.

Anyways, during this process of dismantling & assembling, we were both so stressed up becox The Mammoth was so bulky and heavy and this was indeed my hubby's first attempt in doing such stuff.

I started nagging at him becox I didn't agree to a DIY stunt in the first place.  And it was a terrible relief when he managed to crawl out from under THE MAMMOTH after it was "timber-fallen" when he told me to push it down.

I felt that he should have hired a professional instead.  So during his stunts, it was also a session of shouting matches between the 2 of us.

Eventually, he sent me down on an errand of buying tea for him.  And when I returned from the trip, I was surprised to see that he managed to rectify the alignment of The MAMMOTH's frame.

So here comes the photos of the installation process...

My hubby's attempt in realigning the vertical panels flanking both sides of the frame:

Managing to get the alignment rectified:

There were "roofing" gaps seen between the boards on the back of the frame and its rooftop as shown in the photos below:

But this was easily solved when my hubby adjusted the boards in sliding them upwards and nailing them in place with tiny nails - they looked really fine in dimension.

Here comes the HERO's photos while he nailed them in place:

And there comes the railings for clothes, which were indeed made of very very high quality stainless steel.  Not only were there no rust spots after 10 years in a bedroom that is frequently airconditioned & with a toilet, it was able to withstand the weight of all my clothes which were bursting out of THE MAMMOTH:

My hubby installing the sliding doors:

The wooden paneled doors had to be adjusted on both sides using allen keys to that the drawers at the centre compartment could be drawn out easily without crashing into the metal frame of the sandblasted glass door.

But while he was at it, he shoo-ed me out of the bedroom as my nagging & fussing was too much of a bad distraction.  So no chance for taking any snapshots of it.

At last, the finished product:  THE MAMMOTH reinstated at its new location!

And the accents of THE MAMMOTH at its new location, including Crabtree & Evelyn's drawer liners which had a thick waxy layer on the reverse side, which would last for a very very long time without disintegrating:

IKEA's MALLA series of boxes and storage systems with compartments for storing away some of my towels, pillow cases, accessories, etc:

And finally, my clothings, bags, hair care products, etc

To pen-off in conclusion of this stressful episode of relocating such heavy furnishings, we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the first & last time of attempting such dangerous stunts.

Here are extra shots of him dismantling & putting away our super-King sized bedframe measuring at 190cm x 200cm.  It was our matrimonial bed which we bought from Barang Barang in year 2000 when we first got married.

It was made of solid wood and is so sturdy & heavy that we had to use a DIY trolley to wheel its headboard into the same bedroom which is currently housing THE MAMMOTH.

Both of us were itching to replace the bedframe when we visited furniture retailers but there was simply no chances becox it's still doing well even after 10 years.  It looked brandnew without any scratches, scuffmarks.  No cracks at all even though my flat is subjected to the hot afternoon sun.

Post-mortem comments:

Jux some mushy remarks over here...

My hubby chided me for calling him a silly old man, ambitious freak, smart aleck, etc when he had difficulties in dismantling & reassembling THE MAMMOTH ...

And eventually I saluted him as a HERO after his stunt was successful...

He shook his head in disbelief and commented at how fickle women could be with their men.  And even snorted like a lizard would with the tsk! tsk! tsk! sound...

That was funny...  kekekekeke :D

DIY with Formica

We had a row of swing door cabinets sitting on a common cabinet base and because of space constraints in view of our flat layout, my hubby had decided to separate these 3 cabinets.  Meaning that they could be used as stand-alones instead of being co-joined as a 3-in-1 cabinet.

It did occur to us that we should be getting a carpenter to do the job.  However, after checking through the costs of assigning such jobs to a carpenter, it seemed to be pretty expensive.  The reason being that every contractor would expect to earn a minimum sum that is deemed acceptable in beefing up one's profit margin when conducting a business.

And because we didn't know of any reliable carpenters, my hubby whose a self-proclaimed DIY expert, decided to take matters into his own hands.  i.e.  to fabricate individual base for ALL 3 cabinets.

My usual response was to worry.  

In such an instance, I got worried with stability issues pertaining to the cabinets.  Afterall, I didn't believe that a layman like himself could accomplish such a job of creating a cabinet base.  My hubby was badly harassed by my incessant questioning of his "prowess" to accomplish the assignment.

And as usual, he emerged the winner when I gave in to his demands to DIY those 3 sets of cabinet base.  He promised me that if he failed to create those cabinet "leggings", he would then let me call in a professional carpenter to do the job.

Outcome:  

It was a jaw-dropping moment for me.  He succeeded in creating those 3 sets of cabinet base.  Much to my surprise... 

How we started off...

We went down to LIAN KIM YONG CONSTRUCTION PTE LTD @ 37 Defu Lane 10 #01-75 (TEL: 62877467) to purchase nyatoh wood beadings.

All the wood beadings in the shop are extremely long.  Unless we had our own long vehicle to transport them back home, it was impossible to even bring it up into the car due to its length.

As such, we had tried to persuade the lady & guy at Lian Kim Yong Construction to saw them up into the require sizing for fabricating our cabinet base.  However, both of then told us that they do not provide such services to their customers.

The lady told us that she could provide us with a huge saw & 2 plastic stools so that we could cut up the nyatoh beadings on our own.  My hubby sweat it out over 15 minutes and the nyatoh beadings were finally cut down to the required lengths.  There were quite a number of workers from neighbouring workshops who stared on as they walked past LIAN KIM YONG while my hubby slogged through the arduous process.   

The lady (sorry cannot recall her name) was kind enough to pass me tissue papers, which I used to dab the sweat off my hubby's face. :P  She also assured us that we could pay her according to the number of nyatoh beadings my hubby had cut down with her saw.

After we paid the bill, she stacked the shortened nyatoh beadings & wrapped them in plastic films which had been commonly used for packaging purposes or protecting furnitures during transportation.

By the time we boarded the bus with the mini stack of nyatoh beadings, I mux make this mushy comment that my hubby had been proclaimed a real HERO to saw them up to precision & so neatly without much jagged edges.

Postscript:  I wished that I had taken some photographs of the process of sawing up those nyatoh beadings.  However, the purchase of those beadings were impromptu.  As such, I didn't bring along my camera so no photographs could be taken of my hubby going through that process of trimming down those huge lengths of nyatoh beadings.

Putting things together...

A power drill & assortment of tools are required.

A longer length of nyatoh beading was placed against 2 other shorter lengths of nyatoh beadings; and held against the kitchen wall prior to drilling as shown in the photograph below:

My hubby did some measurement with a ruler and using a pencil, he marked a line onto the longer length of nyatoh beading so that he could use that as a basis for drilling.

Holes were then created by the power driller as shown in the photograph below:

Nails were then driven into the newly created holes to hold the nyatoh beadings together:

If u guys were to ask me if the fabrication process was a breeze, the answer is an absolute NO.

My hubby had detected that one of the shorter nyatoh beading was significantly shorter than its counterparts.  He improvised this shortfall in length by using electrical trunking left over by our electrician during relocation of power points.

And this was how it looked like after he had trimmed off a strip of the electrical trunking, inserted it in place before he did the necessary to hold the beadings & that little strip of trunking in place:

I thought that he was very creative & smart in improvising the nyatoh cabinet base using electrical trunking!  

After the completion of each cabinet base, my hubby took measurements along different sections of the finished product.

He told me that this was his idea of quality control to ensure that there wasn't any irregularity in terms of sizing across each individual cabinet base.  Otherwise, there would be stability issues when each cabinet sat wobbly onto its base.

This photograph shows how the cabinet base would look like after the different lengths of nyatoh beadings had been placed together:

"Dressing up" the nyatoh cabinet base...

After the nyatoh cabinet base has been fabricated as shown in the photograph below, formica would be pasted along the sides facing out.

We managed to purchase formica of the same print from JENNINGS at Defu Lane (their block is directly opposite LIAN KIM YONG).  But lugging huge roles of formica was challenging becox JENNINGS do not provide delivery & we were on our own after we paid up for the formica.

The staff simply rolled up the wide sheets of formica that we bought from them by tying raffia string.  The formica were rolled up such that they had wide diameters.  We requested that they repack it such that the formica was coiled up tightly into a slimmer roll.  That would facilitate carrying it up any vehicle.

However, we were told that in doing so, the formica would crack & break off by the time we reach home.

Fortunately, a cab that ran into our path looked huge enough to accomodate both my hubby & myself, with that huge roll of formica being placed on our laps.  In view of its weight, I earned myself 2 huge bruises, 1 on each fleshy lap! :(

Unwanted newspapers were then placed onto our floor tiles & after careful measurements, my hubby cut up strips of formica using a huge pen-knife & a metal ruler.

And becox we didn't have cutters used by the professionals in the carpentry industry, my hubby improvised the smoothening of rough or fraying edges of the formica by using a metal filer as shown in the photograph below:

Apart from the nytaoh wood beadings, I would also like to mention that we bought adhesive for pasting formica from LIAN KIM YONG.

Although Jennings recommended the Tiger brand adhesive glue, we only required a small tin of the product.  As such, we bought the kangaroo brand adhesive which came in a smaller calibration.

The photograph below shows the tin of kangaroo brand adhesive from LIAN KIM YONG:

A thin layer of adhesive is applied onto the exterior surface of the newly constructed cabinet base and left to "cure" partially prior to mounting any formica on it.

In our case, we use an unwanted wooden spatula which came with our bodyshop products eons ago.  A ice cream stick could be used as well or any other gadgets so long as u could butter up the area with a thin layer of adhesive.

While we waited for the thin adhesive film on the cabinet base to "cure", my hubby started applying thin layers of adhesive onto the reverse side of the newly cut formica strips as shown in the photograph below:

The photograph below shows strips of formica with adhesive applied to it and according to my hubby, he claimed that the adhesive works best after time to give for it to partially "cure" before attaching the formica to the nyatoh cabinet base.

U will also notice that the photograph shows one of the cabinet sitting on a larger existing cabinet base.  We will be taking separating these 3 cabinets by taking them off the base & placing each on its own newly created base so that each could be placed in different bedrooms.

When the adhesived sides of the formica strips & the nyatoh cabinet base are almost "cured", the adhesived surface at sticky to touch like how a piece of scotchtape would feel when you touch the sticky side of it.

The formica strips are carefully mounted onto the adhesived sides of the nyatoh cabinet base as shown in the photograph below.

I had tried to illustrate how the formica is mounted by labelling the photograph with yellow arrows.  One end of the formica strip with a numerical digit 1 on the yellow arrow is held on one end of the nyatoh cabinet base & pasted onto it at my hubby's extreme right hand side.  Then, he would gradually bring the formica down to the nyatoh adhesived surface, working from the right hand side all the way to the left (see yellow arrow labelled numerical digit 2).

Once the formica is mounted onto the nyatoh surface in a satisfactory position, my hubby then secured it by rubbing his palms along the nyatoh cabinet base as shown in the photograph below:

Outcome photographed:

[photographs on finished product & having cabinets mounted on individually - pending]