Home improvement

So nothing much is happening (including wedding planning) except for work and shopping for our new home on Saturdays. It's going really slowly because Saturday is the only day we both are free to do stuff together. There really isn't a whole lot of things to do since this house is at a pretty livable state but its making it cosy that requires some effort. And to make it cosy, we need to spend money. Before spending money, we need to research and decide for the best option to go for. And that's the time-consuming, hair-pulling part. 

But of course there are also some no-brainer decisions like decorating the living space with a few stalks of flowers.

Just a nice vase and a few stalks of flowers can really change the way a space looks. Even when they're only buds.

And even prettier when they blossom.

One thing I've learned from this is to get rid of all the extra leaves on the stalk. I didn't realise this was necessary until I was at a cafe once and they had the exact same flower except theirs looked really neat, there weren't too many leaves on the stalk crowding the vase. Lenny said the leaves need to be removed so that there wouldn't be too many leaves and flowers fighting for the water. If one doesn't get enough, it will not survive. Which probably explains why some of the leaves turned yellow and wilted.

So yesterday the moment we got this new bunch of flowers, I removed all the extra leaves before placing them in the vase.

Looks much better! But this is one is a different species, the leaves damn a lot! So definitely need to clean it up a bit otherwise it'll be really ugly.

One of the tougher decisions we've had to make was a dishwasher. Previously in the place we leased, the dishwasher was included. Back in Malaysia I have never used one in my life. When I came here I was skeptical. I didn't think it will clean efficiently but after using it for 2 years, we became quite dependent on it. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. My thoughts on it eventually changed and I actually find it useful and much more efficient than hand-washing so we decided we will get one for our new home since the seller didn't include one.

We didn't quite have a specific brand in mind but we knew we wanted a freestanding one, a cutlery tray not basket, a straightforward control panel (no need too many fancy buttons). Took us about 2-3 weeks when we decided we will go with Miele, for piece of mind. Also because the sales assistant was nice to us. It makes a huge difference, the selling technique. 

We were at Harvey Norman and were comparing between a Miele and Bosch. The Bosch one was more expensive and we were tending towards the Miele. The SA kept promoting the Bosch one and refused to explain more about the Miele dishwasher. That's a turn off seriously, he should provide the information when a customer requests for it. Not only try to sell the expensive one so he can make more commission out of it.

At the other place (where we ended up purchasing from), Jim, the SA was really helpful and knowledgeable. And he didn't try to sell us the more expensive machine, he said in his opinion the lower end Miele is good enough. Anything expensive is unnecessary unless you are living in a million dollar house and you have too much money to spare. At the end of the day, it washes your dishes the end. And that's it, we were sold.

This is not exactly a home improvement item but timber floors are so hard on the feet! It looks nice but when it's cold, it really kills my feet. Got this cute bedroom slippers from Peter Alexander. Really comfortable! Matches my pajamas some more.

Came home one day, checked our letter box and found this:

It's from our neighbour, super kind can?? And this isn't the first time he's being kind. 

Ok let me explain how garbage collection works here. Basically when you live in a property (not apartment), you have to buy a bin from the suburb's council, and it's the large, dark green kind. So on specific days, you need to have your bin ready on the street side before the truck comes. Once they empty the garbage, you can then bring your bin and keep it inside your house; for us, we keep it inside our garage.

So one particular day it was the garbage collection day and we have dragged our bin out to the street side the night before. On the next afternoon I came home to the bin sitting right outside our garage  door instead of the street side. I thought it must have been Wk who pulled it in before he left for work and didn't have time to keep it in the garage. I left it there because I was lazy lol. When Wk came home and saw the bin by the garage door he said "Wah so nice ah help me pull the bin in". Ok before I continue, the reason he said I'm nice was because we all know Ee Von NEVER touches the bin unless she really has to (eg. bin is overflowing with garbage). 

Obviously, Wk wasn't the one who brought our bin in. And it wasn't me so we guessed it must have been our neighbour, there wouldn't have been anyone else! It's a really kind gesture because we had a general and a recycle bin (2 bins in total), so he would have had to go back and forth to bring both bins in, and not forgetting he has his own bin to mind as well. It's definitely not a convenient thing to do as you can see. And of course, we did return this gesture. 

And this guy let me tell you, is fated to live next to us man. One day we were at an auction on another property in a nearby suburb that we had intentions on bidding. He was there! We didn't bid on the property because we knew that we could not afford it when it went past a certain price. He bid, but obviously lost it to someone else. 

And then one day when we were here in this property's inspection, we saw him! We immediately recognised him because at the end of that auction it was between him and this other girl. And we thought oh crap, this guy has quite a high limit (we know from his bidding in the other property) if he's interested in the same unit as us, we will lose it to him. Can only hope that he's not interested in the one we want.

Thankfully on the day of auction, he did not bid on ours (but another asshole did hmmmph!). He was more interested in the other one which he got in the end.

Win-win :D Seriously it's so crazy, who would have thought someone you saw in an auction will end up becoming your neighbour?

Ok back to next home improvement item. We bought a bin for our kitchen! And it's no surprise it's not an ordinary bin otherwise it wouldn't deserve a blog post.

Maggie calls this the 'royal bin'. Here's a video to show why:

How can anyone not like this bin?!?

I super hate bins with lids that spring up when you step on the pedal, and slams down when you release it. The springing and slamming action pushes air out and it disgusts me, feels like bacteria will be catapulted into my face wtf. Ughh. Noisy some more.

Whoever designed this is a fucking genius lol.

And just look at it, which part of it looks like a bin? None. That's the whole point, bins are disgusting inside so it should look as cool as possible on the outside so people cannot tell it's full of shit inside wtf hahahah.

Found this huge Asian Grocer near our place called Asian Grocer WTF HAHAHAHA what a good name! Stocked up on some Asian staples and junk. Super ring!!! Gosh I miss that stuff.

Ok time to go to work.

Our first auction

In Malaysia when I hear the word 'auction' for a property, what automatically comes to my mind is the property owner somehow either went bankrupt, or went to jail, or is a criminal on the run, and that's why the bank is putting the property on auction so someone else can buy it and continue paying the bank money.

In Melbourne (or Victoria or possibly the rest of the world, anyone, enlighten me?), that is really not the case. A seller can choose to sell his property either through a private sale or an auction aka public sale. 

We've been looking for a property for about 3 months and have been to a number of auctions just to see how it's done, of course only being there as a spectator and having no intentions to bid at all. The one time we had the intention to bid, the bidding went over our expectations right from the start and needless to say wasn't a property that we could afford, so we only stood and watch and didn't bother to try.


I've heard stories and even seen it on the realestate.com.au website where properties on auction were passed in. This means the auction failed and the property did not get sold usually because either the reserved price was not achieved or no one showed up or nobody bid. But for us, maybe we just have exceptionally good taste *ahem* that every single auction we've been to, is a successful one. 100% clearance. 

We've been to auctions with 10 people and probably 2-3 bidding. We've also been to auction with 30 people and 5-6 bidding. 

Here's our experience on one particular day and also our first time ever placing a bid on a property in an auction.

That morning, we went to the place and there was already a crowd. There were 2 brand-new units for sale, we were interested in unit #2 because we preferred the layout. Also because it's single storey and the other one is double, technically single-storey would be sold at a cheaper price too so that's a plus for us.

We asked the agent which one will be going for auction first and the agent said possible #1. So we thought that would be perfect, it sort of gives us a head start of what the price is going to be like when it's #2 turn.  So we calmly waited... and was looking forward to see what's going to happen when everything begins.

Previously we have already set our limit, let's just say it's X. While waiting around, I don't know what made me do it, I told Wk we should increase our limit by $10k making it Y. He thought about it for a while, and reluctantly agreed. 

Then the auctioneer arrived and greeted everyone and started his speech introducing himself. People gathered around him and there were about 3 real estate agents scattered among the crowd, making sure every bid gets the attention of the auctioneer. 

He then announced that he will start the auction with unit #2 first. 

My heart skipped a beat. What?! Wk and I looked at each other, baffled.

The auctioneer, Arthur continued stating the rules and conditions of an auction, as required by the law before starting an auction. We listened carefully again just to make sure we didn't hear it wrongly and again he said unit #2. My mind went completely blank. I didn't expect it to happen so soon. And before we knew it, the bidding started.

It started off pretty slow, at increments of $10k. Slowly but surely it went higher and higher. Then it came to a point where the bidding stopped. That's when Wk stepped out to ask if we have reached the reserved price. An agent nearby immediately approached him and asked if he would like to place a bid. Wk asked again if it has reached the reserved price and the agent said he'll know only if he places a bid as it's confidential. At the same time while they're talking about this, all eyes were on us because Arthur was waiting to see if we were bidding. Wk shook his head and the bidding continued.

And then it stopped again at a price that is lower than X (our initial limit), and Arthur was saying "Going once, going twice..." and the floor was silent. This time Wk looked at me, and we knew it's the time to do it. We told the agent our number and it went to the floor immediately. Of course, SOMEONE has to top us. Let's just call him John.

John and us went back and forth, first with increments of $5k, and then down to $2.5k. A man in suit was standing beside John and we guessed he's probably a mortgage broker or someone who's in this industry giving John his best advice in this auction. Then John tried to hit us back with a sudden $5k thinking we would back off? Thing is when he did that the number hasn't even reached X, close but not there. Obviously we went ahead with bidding but of course not repeating his crazy stunt there, we kept it slow and steady and went by $2.5k.

It went on and quite quickly, the number became X+$5k, and this was John's bid. In other words, another $5k and we would have reached our limit, and if John is bidding anything beyond that, we would have to give up already, but it hasn't gone to that stage yet! Wk then turned to me and said "I don't want it already, what do you think?"

I was a little angry inside and I asked him why he doesn't want it anymore, he couldn't give me an answer. We haven't even reached our limit and I was so hopeful to get the house and now he's giving up? I knew when I set the new limit he had this mindset that it wouldn't go anything close to it because he thinks anything at that price is slightly overpriced, I know him. But the fact is we are here and that's what's happening. 

At the same time, Arthur is still doing his thing, yelling and yelling for a higher bid from us while we are having our own talk at the corner and everyone is looking at us.

STRESS MAXIMUS OK.

Wk looked at me and I said let's do it, we decided to go with another $2.5k and at this point I told him, if anything goes on top of this, that's it, we're out. I looked at John, Arthur asked him if he would like to raise the bid, John shook his head. Arthur called out for any other bids and nobody said a thing. He and the other agents then went inside the unit to discuss with the vendor. 2 minutes later Arthur came back and announced that the price has reached the market/reserve and they will sell to the highest bidder (or us) at that point.

Let me tell you this: that particular moment right there is the MOST WTFBBQZOMG intense moment ever. Arthur called out going once, going twice... I couldn't look at anyone, not even Wk. I stared intently into the sky wtf. I could hear nothing but my own imaginative white noise and heartbeat. And then I heard the word "SOLD", and people started clapping their hands.

And that was it. Everything went by so quickly like a gush of wind. 

WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME.


(Neninenipupu to John wtf)


It happened in no more than 20 minutes. Possibly 15 minutes. SO DAMN CRAY ZEE. At the end of it my stomach was having a party, my heart was beating so hard it felt like my chest would explode anytime. At the same time all the agents came and shook our hands omg so annoying lol. I really wanted a moment of my own just to digest what happened but there were all these annoying people in our faces and very quickly, we were escorted into one of the units to sign our contracts.


That's the thing with auctions: there is no cooling off period, no subject to conditions. You win the bid, you sign the contract and pay the deposit and pray hard that your loan gets approved and you are getting a good property.


So this happened a month ago. I didn't want to talk about it until settlement happens and everything is official, you know, until the house's title officially belongs to Wk and I, ANYTHING can happen and we wouldn't let anything jinx it.


If you've read up until here, COME I CLAP FOR YOU! Thank you for taking the time to read my long-ass story! Now here is your rewards, pictures of our brand new first home!


These are from the real estate website since their pictures nicer. Furniture not included.

This is how the outside looks like. It's a single storey, subdivided unit. 2 bed and 2 bathrooms, plus 1 study. Open living, kitchen and dining. That's our garage right beside it.

There's a small amount of land/backyard. We both kinda hated the concrete floor, in future we hope to change it to timber decking. (Furniture not included)

Master bathroom - it's actually a lot more spacious than what this picture shows. Angle problem maybe.

The 2nd bathroom.

The kitchen. Cabinet, stone bench top, stove, glass splashback, oven and sink included. 

The house is now fully furnished as we reuse all our old (ugly ahem) furniture but there are a few more things that we need to get to get it to a 100% livable stage. We mainly need roller blinds and curtains installed, right now all our windows are there for the world to see into our house! Feels so exposed, like we're naked. Also need to get a motor for the garage door so we can turn it into an automatic door.


It's been 10 days now since we've moved in and surprisingly, I cannot be happier with it. I say surprisingly because initially I didn't think I love this house. We got it because it's within our budget and location wise it's acceptable eventhough we both know it's not perfect in our eyes. We had our eyes on a few properties before this but completely missed out because we simply couldn't afford them and it's been very demotivating. So when we got to this house we were like, yeah. It's alright, let's just go for it.


You know how after trying hard for a while to get something but in vain, you sort of get tired and lower your expectations just so that you can get something in the end? Like, 'better than nothing' kind of attitude? Yup that was our mentality.


When we moved in, slowly I fell more and more in love with it! I guess the main reason is because apart from it being a lot more spacious than before, I know at the end of the day it belongs to us and we can do whatever we want with it. And also slowly noticing how certain parts of the house are well planned/done, making living in it such a comfortable experience. Of course it has it's flaws but I think its the journey to fixing the flaws that makes living in your first home exciting!


Ok this post is getting way too long. Till next time!