Vignettes? How to make ordinary things look pretty

Tags

bag storage, blue hallway, box frame, organising, vignette

Vignette in interior design, insofar I can tell, refers to a pretty still shot. It is like the decorative corner of the room, the spot of flowers in the field; something that draws the eye in.

Please keep in mind that I am an amateur and while I may have grandiose delusions about my skills, my actual abilities may fall short.

One thing in creating a vignette is a mixture of texture and colours. In this case, I have displayed my clutch on drawer/shelf I painted. The square box creates a perfect frame for my item. However, there is still a lot of white space (more than 50%) and it just looks a little empty. As such, I dug around and found these two books of fairy tales. The cover art of “Antique Fairy Tales” ties in with the clutch through the gold edging, while the illustrations for both are whimsical and delicate.

Of course, there is much improvement to be made but I’m satisfied as of now, until I find something better. Besides there are more spaces for me to fill.

Look at the hallway now. The drawers make a perfect box frame for displaying items. I’m not sure how intentional this looks but the reason why my clutches and frame bag are outside is because there is no space to keep them in the room, without them getting crushed and buried.

1. Mix textures and colours and height for a vignette.
2. Box frames are good for display (and you can use old drawers as box frames)
3. A lack of space can force creative solutions. If you have no place to store it, display it!

Before and after: scalloped bookcase

Tags

arranging, bookshelves, organising, painting wooden shelves, vignette

Remember my furniture painting spree from before? Well, I “inherited” an old bookcase that has so much potential: solid wood with scalloped edging. However, it was old and the backing had started to peel off.

Dad stripped off the peeling bits and reattached the backing (with lots of tiny nails) and I sanded, primed and painted it, in the same way I did for the wooden shelves.

Doesn’t it look so refreshed with a shiny new coat of paint?

Well, there is how it looks like in action: doing its job holding up most of my books. Yes, I do double-layer – I place the older/ not so interesting books/ books that I intend to give away behind the books that I like more or just plain newer.

The trick to arranging bookshelves to be interesting (and also maximising its usage) is to not just places them in rows but to stack them as well. By breaking up the vertical lines with horizontal stacks, it breaks up the monotony and creates visual interest. Of course, scattering a collection of Garfield plushies is like scattering fairy dust – it just makes everything better.

Well, I guess it is pretty obvious from the contents of my bookcase what my major is, isn’t it?

Inside Interior: The Orange Thimble

Tags

art, cafe, indie, modern, orange thimble, tiong bahru, vintage

If The Orange Thimble is a girl, you will find that she is no ice queen, despite her pretty looks. Once you talk to her, you will find her approachable and ultimately very charming. The Orange Thimble gives me a feeling of home but nicer, more polished. It is welcoming; cosy and also elegant. It is bright but not attention-seeking. It gives off an old colonial feeling without an oppressive museum feel.

(Apologies for the lacklustre photos, I didn’t have my usual camera with me, except my iPhone 3GS, which is not known for good photos. I admit that the photos do not do this place justice.)

Perhaps it is because it is an old shophouse, complete with a backyard that gives the spacious feel. Perhaps it is the blend of art, old architecture, vintage and pretty that makes it so interesting.

The cafe is a warren of little spaces: the front where the counter is, along with the cake and pastry displays, the centre, the nook, the semi-courtyard and the courtyard.

Love the old windows. There is even a cracked pane in them. The art display can also been seen here: instead of mounting the frames, the frames are suspended with a track system. This increases the versatility as different frames can be hung without nailing a million holes into the wall.

The courtyard is just so bright and peaceful. I will imagine that it will be a nice place to hang out in the evening when the sun is down and the temperature cools a little.

The magazine display is a perfect DIY idea. Just collect some window grilles, spray paint them white if they are grungy and hang your magazines using bulldog clips and S-hooks.

An old-school canteen sign? Or perhaps it is from a kopitiam? I’m leaning towards canteen sign idea. What do you think?

Again, the old architecture shows itself in the air vents and the window grilles. I like how they use the windows and window grilles as dividers, separating the different areas.

A little crude but cute toilet sign.

Location: Blk 56, 01-68, Eng Hoon Street, Tiong Bahru

Space and galaxies

Tags

mural, old house

Does this house look familiar to you? Yes, I used to live here.

If you ever drive by this road, you will have seen it and will have asked yourself: who lives here? Well, now you know. I did. No, I didn’t paint it. It was painted by the owner before us, who wanted to use the house as a childcare centre.

Unfortunately, this iconic mural will no longer look like this anymore. I heard that the new owner will white-wash it away. While my heart sinks a little at this news, I’m not surprised because the paint has been peeling for a while.

An utter mess

Tags

staging room, unpacking

One challenge of moving from a big house to a small apartment with no time for renovations is the lack of storage space and the lack of time. We moved everything in the space of 2 days. Everything had to be boxed and carted over and once it come over, there was no time to put anything away before the next box came in.

Our “solution” was a designated box/staging room – the yet-to-be study room.

Now, this is the real reason why I didn’t want to post any photos of the study room. Such an utter mess. Of course, I had to unearth my laptop from this massive pile-up.

Of course, all the mess spilled over to the living/dining room (which is the largest space in the house.

And thus, we slowly unpacked from this room.

Umbrellas in vases?

Tags

trend, umbrella, vases

I’ve noticed something interesting in my neighbourhood (more precisely, on the common level). Perhaps, it is a trend?

Vases as umbrella stands.

Somehow it reminds me of elephant stumps. Though, I do like the lace print vase.

Take a break

Tags

relax, water

(have a Kit-Kat) Kidding. I always remember that tagline for Kit-Kat. I guess this is what they call successful marketing.

That said, there is always a tendency to rush unpacking. You want to settle down (fix up your nest) and so you throw yourself into the chaos and flurry of unpacking. Either that or hunker down and just make do with the mess as you hurry on with work/school/the rest of your life.

I’m the sort who need to know where is everything (at least the general area). While I’m not precisely neat, I do have to have a sense of order (although my table is always in a state of organised chaos). Unpacking stresses me out, especially when there is a lack of space to store things away. Yet, I want to get it done as soon as possible.

In times like this, I need to remind myself to take a break. We moved to a condominium and it is time to enjoy the facilities and explore a little.

Step into the water and let it soothe your worries a while for just a little moment.

One step at a time.

Tags

kitchen, priorities, unpacking

At one (ok, many) points during the move/renovation/packing/unpacking, I just felt so overwhelmed. Moving to a new environment is upsetting enough without dealing with all the nitty gritty of moving and unpacking.

For us, the one thing that changed greatly is our diet. For weeks, we had been eating hawker food (yes, I do know that is common fare for most Singaporeans), and we just miss having home-cooked food. I’ve been spoiled by the fact that my mum cooks almost everyday. Naturally, first room that is restored to rights first is the kitchen (aside from the beds in the bedroom).

Thankfully (or is it unfortunately), we didn’t renovate the kitchen. The good side is that the kitchen is the easiest part of the house to unpack and tidy up for daily use. Much thanks to the existence of built-in kitchen cabinets; the other rooms are not so lucky in terms of storage space. The not-so-good part is that I’m always thinking: “if only we hacked this wall, the kitchen will be so much brighter”, “if only we made space for a built-in oven”, etc. Still, I’m grateful that everything works, the kitchen layout is pretty decent and that I get to eat mum’s cooking again.

The one thing about unpacking is do it slowly, bit by bit, otherwise it is just too overwhelming to see 20+ (more or less depending on how old you are) years of your life piled up in front of you.

Unpack according to your priorities. Yes, it is kitchen first for us. It can be the wardrobe for the clotheshorse, shoes for the shoe fiend, tech equipment for the geek, and so forth.

Power up my life

Tags

electrical, extension power strips, power points

Aside from tools , you can’t imagine how often I needed (and still need) an extension plug when we moved over.

• Furniture blocking the electrical point? Extension power strip to the rescue.
• Too short cable for the fan? Extension plug.
• Not enough power points in the room? Extension power strip.
• Extension for the power drill? Extension plug.
• Power points for TV, DVD recorder, laptop, wireless phone, speakers, Xbox? Extension power strip.

The thing is our lives are so wired now that we need many more electrical points than before. A house that is built 10-20 years ago cannot possibly anticipate and meet our power needs now. Another point is that the previous owner of the house has different power needs from yours, so unless you are doing a total renovation (that includes rewiring the house), you need to have some extension power strips at hand when moving.

The previous owner of our current place is a single lady. One person versus the 5/6 people living in the same house. Her needs are vastly different from ours. Naturally, the house reflects this as well. There is quite a bit of work before the house adapts to us and we to it.

Every handy(wo)man needs a Tool Bag

Tags

moving, packing, powertools, screwdriver, tool bag, unpacking

Yesterday’s post is about the overnight bag and today is about the tool bag. One needs some essential tools when it comes to moving and unpacking.

However, before I go on, it has come to my attention that I have been overgeneralising. My moving situation is probably totally different from yours. You may only have 2 suitcases to move, or 3 entire households. I have 6 people’s belongings accumulated over 8 years in a house that is triple the size of our new place and only 5 people packing because the brother is studying overseas. Some amount of hoarding behaviour is inevitable when space is plentiful. Yes, decluttering is of utmost importance.

If you swap out the power tool for a manual screwdriver, you can keep it all in your pocket

Things I found myself looking for again and again during the move:

1. Marker (to label the boxes)
2. Pencil (for non-permanent marking, such as on walls)
3. Scissors/Cutter (to remove the packing wrap; very handy to have on your person)
4. Measuring Tape (this one is ALWAYS being called for)
5. Screwdriver (you never know when you need to remove or attach a door)
6. Cordless drill/screwdriver (when manual is just too tiring)
7. Packing Tape/Masking Tape (for patching up boxes, defining spaces)

Oh yes, don’t do what I did and leave them out to be buried somewhere. Keep them accessible and easily at hand.

Another very practical thing to have is extension plugs.