Bathroom Tiles

For the bathroom tiles, it took many tile shops from the streets of Binondo, to different home depots and tile centers before we ended up on the official distributor of Mariwasa Tiles in Pasig, Rey Marketing Inc. (Thanks to Sir Bong!) Luckily, they also have a branch right here in Sucat. It was easier to mix and match designs because of the variety of choices. Plus they offer good discounts even when you pay using your credit card. It was fun picking the colors, matching the upper wall and lower wall designs with listels in between. Not to forget, another matching pattern for the floor. Obviously, the pastel blue colored bathroom was my idea, it was called the Linea series.


For our bathroom, we got the brown-themed tiles, the Twill series. Does this reflect maturity? Somebody thought it would so he chose these.

Did I mention we are so fortunate that I have a sister who lent us a nice big pick-up to load and transport all the tiles?

This week, Mike the tile-man expert, started the installation of the tiles on the second floor bathrooms. He almost put the wrong listel on the other bathroom. Good thing I noticed just in the nick of time. And so, we are happy of the outcome.

Soon to come, the Pearl series for the ground floor bathroom.

Going UP or DOWN

To be able to go from one floor to another, you’ll need a flight of steps that compose the stairs. This week, both our stairs were made and installed.

The first one is the main staircase to the ground and second floor. Roger the foreman started with the measurements putting the nylon thread layout, with adjustments for the height consideration. Then, deformed bars were framed with the wood support underneath. They poured cement and let it dry and after two days, it was done!



The second stairs is indeed installed. This is our stairs to the second floor and the attic. We decided that it was better to have an attic stairs that is made already. It might consume too much time and energy with the complex mechanism, plus, the parts. However, finding an attic ladder wasn’t that easy. We rarely saw displays in hardwares and even specialty ladder shops. There were some but it was expensive, range is from Php35K all the way to up Php65K. We browsed through the web and found a number of makers outside the Philippines but the shipping charges will cost as well.

And so, one day, almost out-of-hope, we just tried our luck, walked into the store and then, we found it: the attic ladder with good quality and the most reasonable price, a little over Php10K. MC Home Depot is the only hardware store who sells Louisville Ladder attic stairs, out of the many home depots that we’ve searched on. After a few weeks, when we were ready for the purchase, the display and stock were bought already. So, we just ordered and we got our unit the following weekend. And with Cocoy’s expertise on the installation, now, it is part of our house.

Painted Walls

Fencing at the back is almost finished. One could imagine the backyard space that would be allotted for “inuman sessions.” Still debating though, if it will be completely concrete or if it will be more of a garden, with grass. Fencing on the other lot has also started. Mama and Papa approved of this so that the both properties will be secured, as one. Thus, we have more space for parking… and parties.

It is workweek fifteen already, almost four months since we've started. We're running out of funds once again, so I am hoping the bank would release the next set. For the finishing.

Based on our visitors last weekend, the house looked bigger with the painted walls, inside and out. This is just the base paint though. But the color, eventhough it's just white, gave life to the house. Ikoy said, “Ganda, bahay nuni.” Then later on, changed his mind and owned the house, “Bahay Ikoy, ganda!”, with a smirk on his face. He is looking forward to spending sleepover weekends there soon. Could he be more excited than I am?

Two Floors

Two floors were finished today. The first one isn’t really “our” floor, but the street floor—the road. It has been a while since they’ve started the excavation and finally, they have poured cement on our side of the street.
The second one is my-long-awaited-for—flooring on the ground floor.

ALL-except-TWO

All the windows are installed. Except two. The first one is the big window located on the kitchen. Why? Because the dimensions are too big and we couldn’t return it to the supplier. Roger the Foreman, will be the one to do the adjustments. The second one is a small bathroom window. No reason why, maybe it’s just the one beside the big kitchen window.

ROOFed!

The roof is a basic part of a house. Because this will be your guard from the heat of the sun during day time, and this will keep you warm during night time.

We got a lot of quotes from different agents and we chose the cheapest. Supplier is MBA Steel. We decided to go for the simple rib-type long-span panels, and added a little for the stainless gutters and two layers of insulation. After a few days, it was installed. Thanks to Alex.

The Captain

One fine day with the family. It was Chawo's game but their team had a new captain.





















With his own Dark Angel's unform.
















We were just there to watch.















And eat.














Ready.. set.. hut!














Papa watching from afar.






















Very tired.






















And slept.