Love day

We kept the top Ah Yee wore during our tea ceremony. I thought it would be great if we can make an art piece out from it, in remembrance of her. Yong loved the idea and went on to design and build it.

Made it just in time for her birthday yesterday.

Happy birthday Ah Yee. We missed you so much. So much.

Art wall - Status: WIP

Been visiting Bras Basah Complex. Not only it is the home to TCM books I have taken an interests in lately, but also electronic guitars for Yong and most importantly craft supplies haven for the home decor projects we have very (VERY) slowly embarked on.

Here is the first project we are doing: filling up the big blank wall at dining area. Here is what our dining room was before:

Lotsa big blank walls ya?

And remember my Amelia Kay photos I bought from Etsy? We got hold of some really old frames, stripped them apart, some DIY matting (thanks to amazing Yong and his lovely 一双巧手 as he likes to call them) and wala.. they look as good as the new Ikea frames we got for Carrie Chau's series.

And for the loooongest time, my mum complained that she had to peer at the tiny door gift clock since we took our own sweet time (half a year to be exact!) in getting a proper wall clock. We finally got down buying one from Molecule that is not outrageously overpriced (well, in the end, we still felt it was as we stared in disgust at the "MADE IN CHINA" tag on the packaging).

It is still very much work in progress. Two more old frames to fill. We are thinking of using some wedding photos that are not the in your face kind of wedding photos so it fits in the theme or shop from Etsy.

We will see.

Photos time!

As you can see, alot to improve on but we are happy with whatever progress (and fun!) we have so far. Wish us luck in getting the two new photos!

Lazy sunday afternoon - peek at my new ottoman and wall decor

Was lazing around playing with the camera on Sunday trying to capture the lighting of the afternoon sun.

Well, not much success there but the picture took in both the new ottoman and wall hanging and thought I will post it up. I find the red ottoman clashes abit with the green cushion AND blue wall AND grey sofa. Yong thinks it is an interesting combi. What do you think?

The wall hanging is an old jigsaw puzzle I did years before. Painting of "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. Love the expressions on the lovers and the rich mix of the gold and earth tones. It goes with the high stool but I find it a tat too dull for the blue wall.

Swee boh?

Renovation Photos: Before and After

Everyone love some good before and after photos. Advertisers exploit them and I am definitely one of their target audience/victims.

When we started our renovation back in Sep, I had in mind to do an entry on the before and after of our home sweet home eventually. Inspired by this pair of incredibly creative couple Sherry and John in US.

So here goes, the transformation of our 12 years old estate:

Dining room -Then

Dining room - Now

Living room - Then

Living Room - Now

Kitchen - Then

Kitchen - Now

Common bathroom - Then

Common toilet - Now

Masterbedroom

Masterbedroom - Now (hee.. pardon the messy clothes stand)

Masterbedroom Bathroom - Then

Masterbedroom Bathroom - Now

With most of the hardcore reno all done, it will be all about the WEDDING now..

Had a slight panic attack yesterday when my colleague asked on my preparation. Eh.. what preparation?? ????

Call from Dang Bridal today for scheduling of the trial make up and 2nd fitting further add on the stress. I was still staring at Feb calendar when it dawned on me that Daphne on the other line was talking about Jan.

.....................................!!

Which is just 2 weeks later.

ARGHHHHHHH............

I just recovered from a skin allergy reaction and am in not the best condition to do trial make up.

And I am still skinny and soft which according to Kerri Walsh is a major no-no..

My back is still popping small acne as I type away..

Breath......

It is only photo shoot... and I am sure Thomas can photoshop away my blemishes.. a

Hee.. in my friend's word "just be yourself, it is afterall, just a wedding day"

Will keep it in mind. :)

Nearly completed home sweet home..

Update: Completed reno photos here 

We started reno back in the later part of September 09. There was some delay. Both contractor and us contributed to the 2 weeks delay. Henry told us pricing of aircon and electrical work just days before the scheduled time to start work on those. We did not agree to the pricing so had to spend time hunting around for other quotes.

So now we are in the first week of Dec which I originally thought would have me and Yong sipping our cups of tea on the new sofa, watching the birds fly past our balcony.

My sofa is still under wrapped, protected from the layers of saw dust swirling around the house. There is no cup of tea in sight since my kitchen is still half done. My balcony door is still jammed stuck due to its decade old bearings and dust. And...what birds....

But but but.. we are progressing and nearing the last stage of reno so i do have some pix that can quite do as the "after" photos. So here goes nothing:

My living room had a fresh coat of paint in bluish grey or greyish blue depending on the lighting. We did a feature wall in Fiord Blue from Nippon Paint to give that pop of color against our light grey furniture club sofa. The green cushions which I regretted choosing almost immediately after, blended in well with the rest of the living room colors. This is the part of the house I am most pleased about.

More of that grey-blue paint in the dining area. Fresh coat of paint on the front door. And our Furniture club Dining set. They delivered the wrong size so i will upload the right set later.

We do not have any storeroom to keep our barangs barangs so Yong designed this storage cabinet in the dining area. I wanted a place to keep our shoes away from the dining table area so he incorporated the "shoes" cabinet together with the round theme he wanted for our carpentry. We are really pleased with the results. :)

We re-do our kitchen. Hacked the floor, tore down all the cabinets but left the wall tiles intact. We tiled the floor and overlay the wall tiles. Choose hanging kitchen cabinets so we can have lights installed beneath them. Everything is white cos choosing the colors for the living room took half our life away (we are not really good with visualizing colors) including the solid surface top and glass backing.

We also tailor made TV storage unit for our living room. Not really by choice as our layout of the living/dining area is kind of strange. We have to erect the TV stand in the middle of the two area so had to custom made the entire console. Again, after much sleepless nights poring over magazine tear outs and websites, Yong came up with this design to keep the woofers on the left and DVDs in the round round drawers and all other audio devices in the bottom shelves which will be covered by glass panels. Swee boh?

We tore down the original far east wardrobe in the masterbedroom and get Besglas which carried Alumix to install their signature pole system wardrobe. Again, the reason behind it is that we need more space to dump barangs in.

Will have more pix coming up when the work in the toilets are more of less done. 

Ups and downs of Renovation

This is Yong and my first hands on project. I expected shouting matches and screaming tantrums, which of cos comes from me, amidst the uphill task of redoing our place via *gasp* contractor. With no ID to templatize the whole process, we are left with magazine tearouts, scribbles, emails, hand gesturing (the non crude kind) in desperate moments to communicate our design whims to our dearest Main Con Henry.

I got his contact from Renotalk which we got lots of reno tips and not to mention contacts. SuperSimon kindly shared his reno process and his wonderful kitchen caught my eyes and after the flurry of emails, phonecalls, meet up and wham, my reno started.

Let me start off with the before photos first:
My main entrance which leads straight to the dining area

 

View from dining to living area. The door beneath the aircon leads to my kitchen:

My 12 years old kitchen:

Door from kitchen that leads to Yard area and toilet. Check out the huge aircon compressor hanging above:

Living room walkway to the bedrooms:

Busy looking Masterbedroom toilet:

Teeny weeny Masterbedroom:

Even more teeny weeny 2nd bedroom:

Common toilet in its 90s tiles glory:

And here you go, the 12 years old estate ready for some much needed rejuvenation.

Reno preview

Teaser of my upcoming entries. And it is all about the house.. All about the house.. *beam*

Thank god for design blogs!

Written August 26th 2009

I have been pre occupied with the house. Whenever I have some free time in the evening, or when inspiration strokes, I will pop by my new house by just walking over with a measuring tape. Bliss of staying near your parents.

Went through Renotalk religiously for tips and ideas and now settling for contractor instead of ID. ID are great but really expensive. Plus most of them are really contractor with template ideas. Those who are really designers are really beyond my budget.  Sigh.. guess it will really help if I get some lottery windfall now.

After weeks of researching around the internet, I developed a new obsession on design blogs. I consider myself quite an art idiot. Put me in Louve for an hour. Great! Put me in Louve for 3 hours.. I start wondering how many more penises I have to see. But interior design photography blew me away. Looking at those gorgeous photos calms me down and makes me really really happy.

Muji Model house - Muji has morphed into some Ikea-target-walmart kind of monster coporation. And their latest product is “Concept house”. They have created many “model houses” across Japan which includes the contruction of the entire house as well as the furnishing, houseware, furniture, fittings, etc. In other words, you buy the package, packed your suitcase and move in. Can’t get enough of the Muji style of home décor. Just can’t stop drooling over them.

Apartment Therapy - I dismissed this website previously as I was confused by the daily updated articles that includes DIY tips, and all kind of news. Impatient me did not like that and skipped the website, only to come back to it after exhausting the other website sources. Realised that I just need to click on “house tours” and Bingo! Here lies the archive. Not really applicable to Singapore flats but refreshing to see different style other than Singaporean all time favourite “modern comtemporary”. We are such homogenous society that after looking through local designer houses portfolio I concluded that all Singaporean likes to transform their kitchen to resemble their dream Ferarri Red Sportscar, likes shiny black and red complicated TV unit, likes chandliers so much I see them in bedrooms, kitchen, dining and even toilets… And being Singaporean, I have opted for *drumroll* - Modern comtemporary. Ha!

Home-Designing - Haven for cheapo home owners who does not want to buy useless expensive designer home décor books. Categorized home concept across different rooms, i.e. you can click on kitchen designs, and choose if you want to see scandinavian kitchen, red kitchen, yellow kitchen, French kitchen, country kitchen, blah blah.. Many of the designs are 3D drawings which means they are some imaginary wish concepts, not pratical but who cares..

Desire to Inspire - I heart heART HEART this blog. Look at it yourself and nuff said! I am going through desiretoinspire blogroll (other design blogs they dig) and adding on to my RSS feed list fanatically as I write.

Young House Love- Kou Tou to the two most hands on homeowners in US. They DIYed the transformation/renovation of their house and their before-after photos are AMAZING. How they do it?? Lovely blog. Fresh writings. Wonderful DIY tips. Thumbs up!

There are many more but the above are the cream of the crops. I have to read them everyday if not I will feel ..... incomplete? Hope you like them too!

First home

Written August 10, 2009

Tomorrow is THE day. As written on the contract which was signed 3 months ago. We will recieve the keys to our very first home. Our very first matrimony home. Our love nest. Our own pig sty. Our cocoon. Our space. Totally over-brimming with joy and anticipation.

Still remember the days of insomnia after the signage. It happened too fast. Saw it one weekend. And after the next, we signed the contract. Only viewed the unit 2-3 times. After much calculations, numerous frantic calls with Auntie, days of thinking through, we just decided upon it. And oh boy, am I glad that i did so now. A quick look at website shows that my house was one of the few miserable transactions in May 09. But that turned out to be the turnaround month for Singapore property market this year. And the market sky-rocketed thereafter and till now, the property market shows no sign of slowing down... Can only say..HENG ah... :P


And I have never slept better ever since I drop by at the website.

I had tortured myself for the past few months with thoughts that it was a hasty bad decision. I love the house. Without a doubt. But the AIA/HSBC financial planner in me could not stop doing the sums. Over and over and over and over again for the few moments before I sleep everynight. My years in Financial planning gave me a lot of "greatest fear in my life". Greatest fear in signing a mortgage. Which also leads to my greatest fear in losing the freedom to choose the career I want to be in. Which also leads to my greatest fear in not able to lead/change the lifestyle as I please.

Well, 3 months is more than enough for me to acknowledge the fact that since I am already in shit, must as well learn to live with it. (=__=)"

Today is the last day of the long weekend. Spent the last 3 days in Yong's place brainstorming for Reno ideas.

ID or contractor?

Japanese Zen or contemporary?

Open kitchen or closed one?

so many decisions to make. So headache. But the good kind. So we are kind of "enjoying" the headaches now.

Hmm.. maybe I will start a reno blog.

Meeting Mr Chang the raved fengshui shi from Renotalk forum. Hope he is good. Will update after appt next sat. Can't wait. :)