我的家在320

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2009-01-14T02:57:00.005+08:00

Thank you for visiting my home blog. The house will forever be a 'work-in-progress'. This blog is only supposed to record the initial part of building up our house.

Our approach is practicality and keeping within a reasonable (read: tight) budget. What we lack in money, we compensate with creativity. We ended up with a (in our opinion), a personalized house that does not look like a reno magazine ripoff.

our LV ad ripoff shot

八月十五：搬新家

2008-09-16T01:43:00.003+08:00

八月十五 is Sept 14. We 'move' into the new house.

at the old house

reach the new house

boil the water

deploy the ong lai

And I sped to the airport to fetch Shuyi. We rushed back and reached 5 mins before the auspicious timeline of 3.30. Horay!

bed

2008-06-13T00:17:00.005+08:00

We finally got a bed! A solid teak wood bed with an intricate floral carvings. The carvings are pretty nice and the finishing is of a good matte lacquer. Not anything to scream and shout about but definitely meets our requirements for a good solid bed frame.

solid frame, no tail board, pass

shuyi like this oldish design more thus here we are...

Dining Table

2008-06-11T00:09:00.005+08:00

After searching high and low, we came out with 2 finalist.

1. Teak Land - kopitiam table

lai kopi siew tai!

A solid old school (kopitiam style) solid teak round table with a marble top. Like the fact that it is really retro looking, round and solid. Shuyi mention that it feels Pernankan.

2. Ikea - Jokkmokk (smlj name?!)

simple, uncluttered & god damn cheap

A simple country style solid pine wood dining table. Pine is not exactly the hardest of woods and the table did not pass the fingernail test (for scratch resistance) with flying colors. But priced at 1/5 the price of the teak table, we might be able to forgive it.

Sept 08: The kopi has landed. We specified that the chair's backrest be left without any carvings as they actually feel uncomfortable when you rest on them.

Paint

2008-06-07T15:34:00.008+08:00

With everything almost done up, we have to look at the painting of the house. To keep things simple, the walls will be all white except for a few walls where we decided to do additional painting.

1. balcony

A light green that looks very fresh to fit in with the birds and plants shuyi will be housing there. On the light green background, we might be looking at painting a complex bamboo design.

so relaxing...

2. shuyi's domain

A light yellowish hue as the base of our giraffe print. Shuyi loves giraffes and the print would be cute, quirky AND kinda fit with the laminate floor.

giraffes: ridiculous animals with silly skin

halfway done. watch out for the above empty space

3. bedroom

We are considering painting in black cow spots on one side of the wall which complements the black/white dressing table. Initially a zebra design comes to mind but it will be too complicated. We'll paint a cow's udder somewhere as well for the additional fun factor.

cows: good for everything

4. Living room

This is the center of attraction for an otherwise plain living room...

weelian&shuyi
SengKang's Finest

As usual, plans do not work out exactly as we would have wanted them to be. We finally decided on painting the guestroom with the Ben & Jerry design sans the cow and the clouds(to be added later).

clouds to be added in the future

The masterbedroom with one panel in Tiffany blue with the other 3 walls in cream.

Lights!

2008-03-10T21:54:00.010+08:00

Lighting for the house could well be the easiest of all the decisions we made. We simply hopped down to Balastier and went to a few shops to get a feel of the general pricing. Then we simply got everything in one shop. We did not get the best deal but we did not get ripped of either.

The uncle at the shop was a very proficient sales person. His assumption close was damn classic. We simply grabbed the most basic lightings and got it over with. We splurged on the fan though. It better be fucking good and last till the end of time. But honestly I've never heard of ceiling fans dying before.

Speaking of lights, I must get Shuyi one of these for her vanity top.

Some backstage old skool glamor for ya!

This is the wicket basket light that we are hanging in the balcony. We got it at $40 which, in my books, is not cheap for a light bulb in a wicket basket. But most shops along Balastier are selling these at $80-$100 a pop.

a steal?

Back in 2006 when Shuyi and I were in Venice on our tour, we frequently pass by this little push cart shop manned by this Pakistani man. We bugged him for discounts for days on end and on the last day of our trip, I finally managed to get the discount for the hanging lights shade that we decided that we shall use for our new house in the future.

Well, we finally got to assemble it.

Shuyi seems to like it...

woooo

arggghhhh

da queen in her domain

The shade will be used at Shuyi's little cosy area (ex study room). She decided to call it the AHU: Animal Holding Unit. It worries me.

Living room

2008-02-08T12:24:00.004+08:00

The living room is pretty decent sized. One good thing is that the shelter door is in the kitchen instead of in the living room like what I've seen in some units. That really would cramp the design style as you shouldn't place anything to obstruct the door leaving a good chunk of the living room empty. I've seen quite a lot of people spending money for feature walls to hide the door. I'm glad that I'm free of that concern.

I insisted, much to the protest of Shuyi, to tear down the study room wall to really widen up the living room as I don't see a need for the study. Tearing down the wall leaves us with a really nice squarish living room. We'll be covering up the area with laminate(in the pale pine shade) and that will be Shuyi's little area.

The wall has fallen!

We'll be installing a simple ceiling fan too. As simple as possible, Shuyi insisted. Much like the ones in your classrooms from wayyyy back.

But something like this is kinda cute too huh.

The feature wall (the only one in the house) and the TV console is done up.

everything in Shanghai Banboo

We got our doorbell. No need to change battery. Ever!

hope we can hear it when we're inside though...

Standard furnishing protocol requires a coffee table. Now coffee tables are really interesting elements in home furnishing. It is like this little table that is not so significant in purpose and size but yet so very expensive (relatively). In fact, the coffee table is the center of gravity for the living room. It is always at the center of everything. Is that why it is priced as such?

I mean... you can get a freaking 2 seater wood and fabric sofa in Ikea for $200+. But the smallest coffee table you'll find amounts to that price. Looking around, you get quotations for small coffee tables ranging from $300 to $900. You crazy people. We could not find any that fits our budget and more importantly, our liking. So, for the longest time, we've been using this as a coffee table.

ghetto

The ikea cardboard box in which my chair came in. At one point, I was really thinking of modifying it to be a permanent fixture. You can spread putty cement on it and stick small mosaic tiles on it. But you must reinforce the interior, worry about the integrity of the cardboard etc. So it did not happen.

We wanted something simple and rustic but 'simple' & 'rustic' are in short supply locally. My initial idea was an old trunk, Something like this.

OK this is not so old. Kinda LV-ish but you get the idea.

Maybe like this? But this is like retrieved from sunken Spanish ship kinda material. So it is out of the question.

An old luggage perhaps? I did not try really hard but I was kinda surprised that I cannot find a vintage luggage bag at the Thief's Market.

so klassic

Anyway, this is what we end up getting.

wooden block. so simple.

Kitchen

2008-02-08T12:19:00.004+08:00

The kitchen will be quite simple for 2 reason: our no-frills theme and the shape of the kitchen. Our kitchen is pretty big but it's shape is a narrow rectangle. Thus there will be no room for the funky island counter top which is so in vogue these days. There will be non of those floating cabinets with light hidden underneath as well. It looks great no doubt but it does not make sense at all. I believe those who did them have been 'wacked' by their interior designer/contractor.

1st March - went to Balastier and settled all out bathroom/kitchen fittings. Got the bathtub, heaters, taps, basin etc. The lady which served us reminded me of the funny sales assistant in the watch shop in Bugis. A few years ago...

While me and Shuyi were choosing a watch in that shop... We were deciding between 2 to 3 watches. When the girl suddenly told us, 'I don't like the one with the red needle'.

Both of us found it funny, the way she put it. I mean sure you don't like the red needle of the watch. But we're buying right? It was quite funny and in the end, we respected her preference and went with the other one.

da goods

These are the goods waiting to be installed. Nothing extravagant.

Pretty much done up. Cabinet in latte oak with a white solid surface top. Pretty standard stuff.

simple, no frills

We finally got the oven: the same Arisston oven as my sis. Anyhow la. Hard to compare ovens...

Theme

2008-02-08T11:55:00.000+08:00

Like most couples, we are excited to do up our new home (lovenest as some act cute ppl would like to call it). While people go all the way and go with funky themes and spend a fortune in the process, we decided that themes are expensive. Sometimes not practical and hard to maintain as well. Thus, we will not be going for a specific theme. The general rule is to keep things easy, clean and uncluttered. We will also be cutting out the furniture (especially the customized ones) to minimize the cost. For example: getting a 2 seater sofa instead of the entire set as we won't want to furnish the house to house many people when they just come once in a blue moon. The general colour scheme is white and light pine: a bit like the scandinavian kinda mood.

Actually not really Scandinavian in terms of style. Just the colour scheme.

Bedroom

2008-02-08T11:08:00.002+08:00

Bedrooms these days... small. So here we are with the task of squeezing in a few components:

1. Queen size bed
2. Wardrobe
3. Shuyi's 'oil station'
4. My PC

Bed

We are looking for a no frills solid wood bed. Simple. No tail board though.

Wardrobe

Like most girls, Shuyi dream of having a walk in wardrobe. But as mentioned, the space constrain makes in IMPOSSIBLE to walk into anything. So maybe instead of 'walk in', we settle for an 'open concept' wardrobe can already. The stolmen system from Ikea is the cheapest option around and like it.

Mix and match, can extend to cover the full height of the room. But no doors. My concern is with the humidity coming from the toilet. Maybe we'll install a heavy curtain or something.

Oil station

A place for Shuyi to get her 20 layers of oil on her face. Her request: a simple tall table top and a wall mounted mirror. Maybe something like this.

Hope we can find something like this at some 2nd hand furniture place. A brand new piece would cost a bomb.

Decided on a floating vanity top design. To be done in bronze finish and fitted with white lights.

air con... please don't drip water

The 'oil station' is finally done up and Shuyi loved it.

yea. she loves it

I initially decided on a metallic bronze laminate for the dressing table but was informed that there will be additional costs which seems a tad over the top. So I ended up with this avant garde design (or so the catalog) calls it as I feel that the normal woodgrain ones are oh so boring.

Living room - TV

2008-02-07T22:43:00.002+08:00

The TV should be framed by a feature wall of sorts. With a console from one wall to the other. The color theme of the living room will be white and light pine wood color. The floating console would house a CPU which will be connected to the TV. The CPU will be wirelessly linked and can be used to surf net, watch movies, play MP3 etc. This way the CPU will replace the DVD player and radio, keeping the console area very clean and uncluttered.

The widened area from the study room can be laminated to become a cosy area with tatami mats and bean bags.

The area near the kitchen door will house the dining table. Don't know what the table would look like though.

We should be getting a Sumsung LCD tv and frame it with a feature wall.
40" seems like a good enough size. This one has PC input as well. Very important!

Being low on budget, we settled for a 32" LCD TV from Samsung for the living room. It is an older model that came free with the 40" one we got for our current home. Well, we'll just have to sit closer to the TV. It does come with PC input: good enough.

Bathroom

2008-01-27T17:04:00.003+08:00

Shuyi longed for a tub so that she can soak in and sleep in (she likes to sleep everywhere). Who am I to say no? But her mention of having little ducks swimming in the tub kinda worries me...

Anyway, due to the incredibly small bathroom that we have, this is the one we settled with.

I have to really cram myself in there. Argh..

balcony

2007-10-12T09:03:00.002+08:00

Long before anything has been decided, the balcony has already been decided upon. There will be a bird cage. A 'bird cage' is an understatement. While girls dream of walk-in closet, mine demands a walk in bird sanctuary. So here's the idea:

We cordon off a section of the balcony. In it, there will be a huge pot. In that pot, we plant a tree.

Yes. A freakin' tree.

Then we section off levels of the tree to form cages, HDB style. I have no idea how we're gonna do it. If we don't want a pot that is too high, we must find a type of tree which is small in size and do not have spreading roots. I'll leave Shuyi to settle that. But one concern I have is noise. I must find a way to seal off the incessant chirping!

Another side of the balcony will be used to plant some herbs and spices. We'll look for a huge flat pot for that purpose.

Oct08

the cage has landed

The 'giraffe's neck' is also done.

Living room - Sofa

2007-10-12T08:34:00.004+08:00

The study room is really cramping our style. It MUST go! We'll knock down the wall of the study room (I don't wanna study!) to widen the living room for mo flo. I had an idea for a big centerpiece for the living room and Shuyi loved it because I had her in mind when I suggested it.

A big ass opium bed. 罗汉床 they call it

Something of this design but with less Chinese carvings. We liked the design but do not specifically want a too Chinese theme to the house. A fabric cushion is out due to maintenance issues.

Another option would be the classic leather sofa. There are many nice leather sofa designs out there. But those really nice ones cost a bomb and I have my doubts as to their durability.

Simple and classy

Met with violent objections for the opium bed from the folks. Couldn't care less. Still don't really like the leather design.

Teak balinese design? A tad overused and out of place. This ain't easy.

Alright. Final decision: a chesterfield sofa. A single 2 seater in the living room. Love it.

Looks expensive though...

Casa Italy is having a sale and we rushed down to AMK only to her the useless auntie repeat 'I donch know' 3 times in a row. We headed down to the Katong branch and saw what we were looking for...

This one is pretty good looking but the buttons are pushed in a tad too much. Very exaggerated. Makes me feel that they are trying too hard to replicate that look. The workmanship is not up to standard. Being a low back sofa makes it look nicer but from the comfort point of view, it is definitely not the best. Fail.

Now this one is a lot more comphy. But the lumbar support makes it look strange. Fail

This one is very comfy but there isn't much of a looker. Fail.

This is not easy.

Final decision... a cross between a chesterfield & a simple contemporary sofa. This is it! I normally walk into a shop, look at the sofa and be out of the shop in 5 minutes. The sofas in the market is really lacking in style. But this one really caught my eye in an instant. The wooden base really did it.

the wooden under chassis is a sweet touch

Full leather, simple & understated design with a high enough back rest for comfort without compromising on style. What we are deciding is the color: red for it to stand out or light brown to fit into the color scheme.

After serious consideration, we decided that although the above sofa is by far the best looking and quality sofa we've seen, we must be practical. With babies (my sis and potentially mine) in our home for the next few years, expensive leather sofas will depreciate exponentially. We decided to go with this:

So simple and minimalist & yet amazingly hard to find elsewhere

or this:

tad striking but oh so versatile

Simple, and very cheap with washable covers. Couldn't decide on the sofa covers. White definitely looks better but black is a lot more versatile.

We got a 2 seater instead of a 3 to make space for this:

Also, having 2nd thoughts bout the cover. Cloth or leather? A search on the net reveals that the leather is top-grain leather which is the best kind of leather money can buy. So leather it is. Look out for sofas in Ikea that says split leather... total rip off.

collect keys

2007-09-18T00:26:00.000+08:00

18 Sept 07 we set off early in the morning to collect our keys from HDB with Xuan Xuan.

Silly hair Xuan Xuan

Us at HDB

Signing the papers
At the void deck
Look at the ong lai!
huat goh, ong lai & orleng