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.

Remember the toothbrush!

Tags

overnight bag, packing

The most important thing I learned from my house-moving experience is that it the little things that slip your mind. On the first night, all 5 of us forgot either to bring our toothbrushes or left it packed somewhere in the piles of boxes. Interestingly, there was toothpaste but no toothbrush.

On my part, I remembered my laptop but unthinkingly left in the closet of the staging room and thus, it got buried behind the mountain of boxes.

Things I will have done differently:

• Pack a proper overnight bag with all the essentials. Pretend that I am leaving for a weekend trip.
• Leave the bag in an open, accessible place. (Not somewhere that it will get buried when the furniture/boxes come in.)

What to pack:

1. Underwear (the more, the better, imo)
2. 1 set of clothing for home/sleep
3. 1 set of clothing for work/school
4. Travel toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, shower things, skincare)
5. Laptop and chargers for laptop/mobile/camera/etc

And of course the TOOL BAG (which we will talk about in the next post).

Colour makes the world go round

Tags

aquamarine office, aquamarine study, blue hallway, colours make me happy, nippon paint, paint, purple bedroom

Oh yay. See how much a splash of colour (yes, it is rather liberal splash) can make a place look so much happier and prettier.

Blue Charm in the hallway

Blue charm in the hallway. I love the variation of blue due to the shadows. At first, I wanted Cosmic Navy but my dad argued that it was too dark and so I chose Blue Charm which was a medium-shade saturated blue. It was already an uphill fight to get him to agree to anything other than white for the hallway. I’m glad of my choice. White will have looked too ordinary and shadowy. Instead of brightening, it will have emphasised the lack of light in the hallway.

Charming Lilac for the bedroom

For a while, I second-guessed my choice of purple for the bedroom. While I loved it for my bedroom (aka the girls room), I was wavering for the master bedroom. It seemed a little too childish and too romantic for the parents. A neutral may have been better? However, after moving in the furniture, it wasn’t as immature as I imagined. Instead, it acted as a more modern touch to the room. Plus, the colour fit in well with the rest of the house.

a tiny slice of the aquamarine study

I love love love the aquamarine in the study. I was initially afraid that it will be too bright or too harsh but the colour is just so perfect.

Initially, I wanted to DIY the painting and open up the kitchen. However, due to the lack of time, (we had to move out of our then-current place within 3 weeks of getting the keys to the new place), the kitchen renovation was scrapped and my labour was redirected into packing for the move.

We engaged a contractor to complete the painting, refinish the hardwood floors, do some minor removal of built-ins left by the previous owner, polish the toilet tiles/marble and overall cleaning. It was very reasonable: total cost was around 3800.

I will say that the contractor did a pretty good job though I wished that he used low/no-VOC paint rather than the default paint option. I had a horrible headache from all the off-gassing on the first day of the move.

(note: 9 days from the day of the move and the house still smells)

Paint used: (paint codes to come when I finally unearth my paint samples)

• Living room – Nippon Paint Urban Grey
• Hallway – Nippon Paint Blue Charm
• Doors – Nippon Paint Bodelac White
• Master bedroom – Nippon Paint Charming Lilac
• Bedroom – Nippon Paint Charming Lilac and Lilac White
• Ceilings – Nippon Paint Matex (white)

What I will have done differently:

• used the more expensive but less headache-inducing paint option: colour-match everything into Nippon Paint Odourless EasyWash or Odourless premium all-in-1 and Nippon Paint Aqua Bodelac

Inspiration: white offices with pops of colour

Tags

colour, modern, office, pop of colour, white, white and yellow

White offices/studies may sound plain but white with pops of colours totally make my day. They just look so fresh and modern. White allows colour to makes its statement and make bright colours stand out even more.

(via: Design*Sponge) I really love the wallpapered bookcases. White and yellow, in this case chartreuse, is one of my favourite colour combinations.

 (via Design*Sponge)

My thoughts:

• White needs colour (or texture but that is another story and a post for another time), otherwise it can be too stark and clinical
• White is unforgiving for dust and dirt – yes, you have to clean and declutter as well
• Bright colours and white makes GREAT friends.
• A white base allows other things to be the focus, i.e. an inspiration board or funky office chairs.

oh sad sad place, you will be loved

Tags

before renovation, blah, original house

Here’s a look at our new place when we finally received the keys. It does take ages to actually buy a property, approximately 2 months from the day you put down the option to the day you actually get the key. I got a feeling that all my friends are sick of me talking all about moving without actually having a place to move into.

the entryway

Well, here is the real deal. It does look kind of sad and dingy. I will even say unloved. There are some places of water damage from the rain, leak, etc.

entryway – step right in

the living room – down with that “mirror wall”. I do like the blue colour but nope, it will go too.

another angle of the room

look at that gorgeous night sky

the narrow hallway

and the first door leads to…. the bathroom

bedroom for me and my two sisters aka the girls room. Tight squeeze

1 closet for 3 girls?!

going into the final room of the house – yup only 3 rooms for 6 people. Go figure

the larger room which will be the study room

the closet in the “study” room – designated purpose: storing the brother’s stuff and other unknowns

entering the master bedroom

master bedroom – look at that strange built-in (yes we are removing it)

master bedroom – view of the outside

master bedroom – linking back to the hallway

and a look into the kitchen – it is right by the front door

Still there are some things to love like the gorgeous wooden flooring and the full-length windows. I have no fear of heights (at least in the context of safe solid floor and sturdy window frames) and I just love the view from the living room.

Inspiration: rich, bold blue walls

Tags

blue, colour, navy, turquoise, walls

For the longest time, I’ve been lusting after really richly-coloured, daring bold walls for my house. (Yes, I say it is mine but we all know that it really belongs to my parents.) In particular, I’m really into blue. Rich, saturated blue. Indigo, navy, turquoise, teal, robin-egg blue are my blues of choice.

(via: Apartment Therapy)

(via: Refinery29) The Tiffany room. Such a pretty jewel box effect.

(via: Apartment Therapy)

(via: Apartment Therapy)

(via: Apartment Therapy)

(via: Apartment Therapy)

(via: House of Turquoise)

My thoughts:

• I think navy blue goes really well with wood, especially wooden flooring.
• Turquoise or robin-egg blue creates a really pretty jewel box effect.
• Blue’s complementary colour is orange but yellow is a really good accent colour as well.
• Great light makes dark colours less scary or gloomy.