Malaysian Converts Her 70-Year-Old House into a Cozy Modern Abode—All By Herself

By DIY, we usually mean buying a new potted plant and hanging up some string lights, but she takes it to the next level by doing plumbing and demolishing on her own. Imagine how satisfying it must be to have guests over and say: Yes, I demolished, rebuilt, and painted that!

The Segamat native took the leap to move to the Netherlands after her husband received an offer to work for a Dutch oil and gas company.

After paying steep prices on rent in Rotterdam for a year, they realised they could afford mortgage with the same amount of rental they had been paying.

After looking at seven different houses, they came across a 1950s double-storey corner unit that they fell in love with immediately. Upon realising the cost of refurbishing the toilet alone would cost around €4,800 (approximately RM22,000), she decided to take on her home renovation into her own hands to save some cash.

Pramela has impressively freelanced in the filming and commercial field for more than 10 years, working on films and TV shows such as Netflix’s Marco Polo and Crazy Rich Asians.

But to focus fully on their home renovations, she’s currently taking a break from her career and a look at her Instagram page of her wielding power tools will tell you why it’s a full-time job although her husband helps out occasionally.

Firstly, she spent a several months prior to moving into their home doing extensive research, watching various YouTube and Instagram tutorials from American housewives such as @comestayawhile, @eyeinthedetail, and @neverskipbrunch.

She also gained knowledge on hardware and power tools besides working on their budget. She learned step by step on how to wield heavy machinery such as any sawing machines jigsaw, circular saw, miter saw, and more. Talk about girl power!

She also purchased necessary power tools and basic sawing machines from affordable mega hardware stores in the Netherlands.

Pramela believes that styling a house doesn’t have to be expensive. Some ways that she saved money was by thinking out of the box, creating bespoke looks with DIY, upcycling second hand finds from flea markets, purchasing outlet products and strictly only shopping only during mega promotions.

Because she took on renovations herself, they managed to save €6,900 (approximately RM32,000)! They spent only €900 (approximately RM4,000) instead of the €7,800 (approximately RM36,000) contractors quoted them on their toilet and home office.

Her focus was to create a cozy neutral space that was simultaneously functional and organised. She was also inspired by a few styles such as western vintage farmhouse, Marrakesh, Japandi and Scandavian.

She even pays careful details to the texture and finish of the paint, mostly opting for neutral shades and pastel palettes. Her favourite paint to work with is Lime Wash chalk paint, which although requires some patience to work with in several thin coats using crisscross techniques with a block brush, creates a gorgeous perfectly imperfect texture and finish.

She transformed the tacky black and white tiles in her washroom to an aesthetically pleasing space.

Putting small touches to her laundry space makes doing laundry more fun.

The refurbished office and washroom looks good for only €900 right?

This has got us thinking which part of our house we should renovate next!

Check out her Instagram page here. If you want to show off your own home DIY projects, email us at [email protected]