Thread: Building our Retirement Home in Nan Province

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

In the afternoon we had an unexpected visit from two ladies who dropped off paint brochures and were seeking our colour choices.

BiP, mate, just a heads up (again) about choosing colours.

PAINT COLOUR is the last thing I'd choose.

As per below.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

1/ Develop a colour/texture palette.

2/ Start with the item of which there are the least choices. Usually the Curtains/drapes or the floor coverings.

3/ Leave the paint till last ... there are a gazillion paint colours.

Start with this ... https://www.dulux.com.au/ and experiment.
Greens ... https://www.dulux.com.au/colour/greens/popular ... *sigh*

Remember, colours will darken when used in large areas. What it looks like on a colour chart will look slightly darker when painted on a wall.

Grab a tile you like, some fabric and then match a wall colour.

IMHO, those multi coloured/patterned tiles so popular on Thai Flooring look

Hi Folks, I've just had a recurrence of pictures dropping out of the posts, the last seven to be exact. Have downsized them even further and reposted. Apologies for any inconvenience. Regards, -BiP.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

ring barking which in some cases is enough to kill a tree.

This is the old style girdling to let the tree die while standing. I wrote few months ago here about this as I have learned was a practice on the huge old teak trees some 100 years by English timber companies to get the teak not only die but also to dry while standing (when fell and let it dru while laying it would be not only infested by insect and fungi but stolen by local people.
Later (1-2 years) to come again and fell it, only so it was possible to float them by the river. Fresh teak (and most of the local hardwood) is too heavy to float.

Thanks Klondyke, here is hoping he has a short timeframe in mind, want to put a fence on the boundary around the end of the year. Regards, -BiP

Originally Posted by Klondyke

This is the old style girdling to let the tree die while standing. I wrote few months ago here about this as I have learned was a practice on the huge old teak trees some 100 years by English timber companies to get the teak not only die but also to dry while standing (when fell and let it dru while laying it would be not only infested by insect and fungi but stolen by local people.
Later (1-2 years) to come again and fell it, only so it was possible to float them by the river. Fresh teak (and most of the local hardwood) is too heavy to float.

Hi BiP,

You were talking about the kitchen and the kitchen guy earlier.. I may have missed it but.... whats the actual plan for the kitchen?

I mean - the layout, what goes where etc... or is he doing it and you are commenting?

I am asking because at the moment I am grappling with a final layout plan for my kitchen.

Not so easy if you are not a kitchen expert.

Hi TD, checkout posts 249 and 257-265. (Start around page 10 I think.) They show the design. I may be able to handle a question or two if you need more than they reveal but I'm no kitchen expert either. Slightly more proficient in the cooking department though.

The kitchen guy did a pre-manufacture inspection. He was confirming measurements for wall to wall, column width/intrusion, column to column and locations of the power supply for the oven, hob and basin water heater plus location of the water inlet and waste water disposal. All were good. He also confirmed the location of the three low windows we put in the east and north walls were okay and thankfully they were. He wants the floor tiles in before he does the installation. Next steps I think involve us paying more money and he will commission the manufacture and do the install when Mart our builder is okay with it. But I'm expecting it will be installed this month. We've already coordinated with HomePro in Phrae to deliver the refrigerator, electric oven, gas cooktop, hob and basin faucet at the start of the install. He also confirmed the location, shape and size of the hole required in the north wall for the hob exhaust.

Only other untidy points in the kitchen is I don't think either the kitchen installer nor Mart our builder have install of the hot water heater in their contract scope and we've not done anything about wall tiles in there.

Regards, - BiP

Originally Posted by Paragraphs

https://www.kitchenplanner.net/

Hi Paragraphs ... welcome to the board and congratulations on making your first post in the cultural heart^* of the TD







^* second only of course to the Farming Forum

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

Hi TD, checkout posts 249 and 257-265. (Start around page 10 I think.) They show the design. I may be able to handle a question or two if you need more than they reveal but I'm no kitchen expert either. Slightly more proficient in the cooking department though.

The kitchen guy did a pre-manufacture inspection. He was confirming measurements for wall to wall, column width/intrusion, column to column and locations of the power supply for the oven, hob and basin water heater plus location of the water inlet and waste water disposal. All were good. He also confirmed the location of the three low windows we put in the east and north walls were okay and thankfully they were. He wants the floor tiles in before he does the installation. Next steps I think involve us paying more money and he will commission the manufacture and do the install when Mart our builder is okay with it. But I'm expecting it will be installed this month. We've already coordinated with HomePro in Phrae to deliver the refrigerator, electric oven, gas cooktop, hob and basin faucet at the start of the install. He also confirmed the location, shape and size of the hole required in the north wall for the hob exhaust.

Only other untidy points in the kitchen is I don't think either the kitchen installer nor Mart our builder have install of the hot water heater in their contract scope and we've not done anything about wall tiles in there.

Regards, - BiP

Lol I must be going 'kitchen-blind' or something!

I have read this thread a couple of times yet, honestly i don't remember seeing those great plan drawings!!!

lol thanks for the reminder. note to self... wake up!!

Its all really looking great, BTW...

Originally Posted by Paragraphs

https://www.kitchenplanner.net/

Welcome and good 1st post!!

Are you building too?

If so... tell the tale here!

We got three updated images of the kitchen from our HomePro Phrae based kitchen supplier/installer yesterday evening following his onsite inspection. No surprises with the exception that he cannot get the rotating storage rack in the corner cupboard. Think he is a couple of centimeters short and has limitations meaning he cannot take it out of other cabinets to increase the corner unit size. Not a big issue although I do recall the wife was quite impressed with the feature when viewing the display kitchens in HomePro.

Second new kitchen image.

Third new kitchen image.

In addition to helping make sure we have everything covered for building our home, my Thai wife has been accumulating fruit trees to plant on our land in January once we move in and get the bulk of the land tidied up. She has purchased a small number of exotic fruit trees, got some from her family home near Nakhon Pathom but the majority she has planted from seed since we arrived in Nan in late May. I've calculated we can plant 28 between the house and the road and maybe another 12 on the north side of the house. I'm reluctant to plant anything on the north side that will grow to block or impede the valley and mountain views from the level 2 covered deck. I'm prepared to give up the level 1 views. As you can see from the photos below we have way too many trees/seedlings at the moment so she will have some hard decisions to make. I'm confident we can plant one of every variety however there are some trees like papaya, avocados and mangoes where I'd like to have a number of trees.

A roll call of what she has includes orange, lime, kaffir lime, papaya, avocado, green and yellow mangoes, date palms, coconuts, durian, cherimoya, jackfruit, jujube, longan, lychee, mangosteen, Thai passionfruit, rambutan, sala, santol, plango, wampee and rambeh.

The coconut and date palms.

I'm coming across as Mr Negative, but I'm just practical.

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

...my Thai wife ... but the majority she has planted from seed

^ 'planted from seed' gives patchy fruiting results. Good Luck.

---

Originally Posted by BoganInParasite

I've calculated we can plant 28 between the house and the road and maybe another 12 on the north side of the house.

Be mindfull of planting fruit trees to close to areas of major human movement (the house) ... ANTS

^ David, All great points. I was going to say something along those lines.

Ants LOVE fruit trees, especially Mod Dang. They like to roll up the big leaves and they are relentless. The other is Mod Khan. Those little bastards pack a punch when they bite and go every where. They love building colonies under cement near any fruit tree.

As a comment on kitchens, while I know we are all different folks, it seems that us westerners types grew up with kitchens in the house, I know I sure did. So of course when we built our house here I laid out a beauty western style kitchen. Wife accepted it as it looked nice. We used it about 1 month and that was it. We built a kitchen off the main house. We moved all the appliances to the outdoor kitchen. Honestly if your wife cooks a lot of Thai food the house will become wall to wall smells and I am telling you from experience that no overhead hood will hold up with true Thai cooking with an open wok and big pots of soups/stews etc. It will become clogged and not functional.


That said though, not all was lost, I use the main house kitchen area for my cocktail bar and ended up with a lot of really nice wood cabinets to hold glasses, mixer tumblers and of course my liquor. I also have a huge fridge with a door ice maker..... The freezer holds my Ice Cream and I keep a few beer mugs there as well.

Hi BiP,

A lot of trees!!

I too have in the past grown date palms from seed, in fact we have a couple that are now pretty tall but... as David said... some seed grown plants can be patchy and this is especially true for date palms.

You might get a great tree but it will not produce anything!

To guarantee fruit, you need to get date 'pups'... the off-shoots from the tree itself. These are copies of the parent so will be identical.

For dates, you will need male and female trees otherwise, again ...no dates.

I am now... 'cough cough' bringing 10 pups with me to LoS - 2 males and 8 female trees to reside in TD towers.