Project House: All done up - Pt. 1
We've moved into our new house a little over two months now.
After too many weeks of trawling through furniture stores, unpacking and organising all our belongings into some semblance of order, I would like to think our place is finally about done!
How about a little tour? :)
Living Room
We worked with our designer, Keith, from Ezra Architects to come up with a clean and minimalist theme for the main living area.
We utilised a lot of white with hints of grey accents to achieve an airy, un-fussy look for the house. All the built-in cabinets (TV-console, dining bench, shoe cabinet, kitchen counter) carry the same woody walnut print in small doses to unify the room.
A lot of thought went into the design/selection of every piece of furniture in the house. Not only did they have to suit the minimalist theme, I preferred if they did not have any sharp corners or edges (for the kids' sake), can be cleaned easily, have hidden storage or be able to hide clutter well and be able to accommodate small or large groups easily.
I was quite happy we managed to achieve most of the above with our choices.
We went with a leather sofa because I personally think fabric sofas are very hard to maintain. We settled on this one from Kuka because it has a good headrest (which can be lowered as well), the length and seat depth is just right and the arms are very thin so you have more seating room.
However, on hindsight, maybe choosing a white sofa with young kids in the house wasn't such a smart idea after all!
To save space in the dining area (and also to accommodate a bigger table), we got our contractor to build a long cushioned bench (with storage drawers, of course) against the wall for one side of the dining table.
We also managed to snag some interesting buys from BoConcept: an extendable 1.6m white oak dining table (which can be opened up to 2.4m for big gatherings) and a customisable coffee table with hidden storage compartments.
I agonised over the choice of dining chairs for a looooong time. I really loved these solid white oak ones from Air Division but they costed a pretty penny! We sat on it for months and one fine day when we decided to go have yet another look at them (I must have gone back at least 5 times in total to ogle the chairs!), they were on sale for HALF the price! We bought them without a second thought. The four chairs alone after the discount still cost about as much as our dining table ;)
We don't have a TV right now but I think we may in future. So for now, the TV console is temporarily filled with our books. The row of colourful book spines (not pictured, sorry) actually complements all the white really well.
But I think we will need to think about building a proper bookshelf (behind the sofa) soon.
I have also hung up some of my favourite family pics on the walls. I love how eye-catching the black frames look against the white and grey walls.
White leather sofa: Kuka (under Castilla)
Coffee table with storage: Bo Concept
Extendable Dining table: Bo Concept
Dining chairs: Air Division
Kitchen
The original kitchen was really small and cramped so we knocked down the wall separating the kitchen and laundry area to create an open-concept kitchen.
What I like about our kitchen:
1) Our little breakfast counter
2) Corian countertop and backsplash that is very easy to clean
3) Ariston induction stove-top which is also easy to clean and not to mention, safe to use
4) The soft-closing hinges, bi-fold lift system and special drawer compartments from Blum. (I would definitely recommend a visit to the Blum showroom if you are planning for a new house. Lots of geeky fun!)
And if you ask the husband, he will say:
5) His red Francis Francis coffee machine that he lugged all the way back from HK. Too bad I am not a coffee drinker! But otherwise, the retro-looking machine lends a nice splash of colour in the otherwise plain white kitchen.
We have yet to get proper counter stools for the breakfast counter (we are using too-low IKEA ones as stand-ins for now). It's so unbelievably hard to find non-adjustable stools of the right height! (I have my eye on the Heidi stool.)
What I don't like so much about the kitchen is the fact that it does not get a lot of natural light in the day. I think I am going to switch out the warm, yellow lights (too dim) for white ones soon.
Induction stove, oven, cooker hood, combined washer-dryer: Ariston (from Mayer)
Fridge: Mitsubishi Electric
Soft-closing hinges, bi-fold lift system and special drawer compartments: Blum
Coffee machine: Francis Francis
Porcelain plates, bowls, cups, etc: Luzerne (this is a great place to pick up everything at one go and for a very good price too!)
Outdoor Patio
It is really nice to have our own little outdoor space. To hang our laundry and have our clothes smell like sunshine (seriously), for Sean to play and run around or simply just to chill out.
The husband and I love sitting outdoors in the early mornings when it is very cool and quiet and just listen to the sound of crickets and birds :)
We built a small trellis for shade and installed iron wood decking which is very comfy to walk on barefoot.
To create storage space, we shifted the aircon compressors to one side and built a big outdoor storage box (it's the brown fenced up box in the picture). We put bulky stuff like our luggages and spare stools here. One thing we've discovered - you can never have too much storage space!
We also got someone to dig up the old garden (which was a bit waterlogged) and re-turf it with pearl grass. We are looking to buy some easy-to-maintain plants soon. Any suggestions?
Wooden decking: Evorich
Garden turfing: Far East Flora
Outdoor table and chairs: Ohmm
In particular, I should mention that we were very pleased with our contractor Jasmond from Vi-Style. His carpentry work is impeccable and he was also very good about keeping to our tight timelines (and letting us know in advance when there were any hiccups), updating us frequently via Whatsapp and followed up very responsibly with alterations and fixes after we moved in. Really made the reno process relatively painless for us! (Email me if you want his contact.)
I am just glad all the unpacking is done and everyone is happily settled in now :)
I will post pictures of our bedrooms next! Stay tuned for Part 2.
After too many weeks of trawling through furniture stores, unpacking and organising all our belongings into some semblance of order, I would like to think our place is finally about done!
How about a little tour? :)
Living Room
We worked with our designer, Keith, from Ezra Architects to come up with a clean and minimalist theme for the main living area.
We utilised a lot of white with hints of grey accents to achieve an airy, un-fussy look for the house. All the built-in cabinets (TV-console, dining bench, shoe cabinet, kitchen counter) carry the same woody walnut print in small doses to unify the room.
A lot of thought went into the design/selection of every piece of furniture in the house. Not only did they have to suit the minimalist theme, I preferred if they did not have any sharp corners or edges (for the kids' sake), can be cleaned easily, have hidden storage or be able to hide clutter well and be able to accommodate small or large groups easily.
I was quite happy we managed to achieve most of the above with our choices.
We went with a leather sofa because I personally think fabric sofas are very hard to maintain. We settled on this one from Kuka because it has a good headrest (which can be lowered as well), the length and seat depth is just right and the arms are very thin so you have more seating room.
However, on hindsight, maybe choosing a white sofa with young kids in the house wasn't such a smart idea after all!
To save space in the dining area (and also to accommodate a bigger table), we got our contractor to build a long cushioned bench (with storage drawers, of course) against the wall for one side of the dining table.
We also managed to snag some interesting buys from BoConcept: an extendable 1.6m white oak dining table (which can be opened up to 2.4m for big gatherings) and a customisable coffee table with hidden storage compartments.
I agonised over the choice of dining chairs for a looooong time. I really loved these solid white oak ones from Air Division but they costed a pretty penny! We sat on it for months and one fine day when we decided to go have yet another look at them (I must have gone back at least 5 times in total to ogle the chairs!), they were on sale for HALF the price! We bought them without a second thought. The four chairs alone after the discount still cost about as much as our dining table ;)
We don't have a TV right now but I think we may in future. So for now, the TV console is temporarily filled with our books. The row of colourful book spines (not pictured, sorry) actually complements all the white really well.
But I think we will need to think about building a proper bookshelf (behind the sofa) soon.
I have also hung up some of my favourite family pics on the walls. I love how eye-catching the black frames look against the white and grey walls.
White leather sofa: Kuka (under Castilla)
Coffee table with storage: Bo Concept
Extendable Dining table: Bo Concept
Dining chairs: Air Division
Kitchen
The original kitchen was really small and cramped so we knocked down the wall separating the kitchen and laundry area to create an open-concept kitchen.
What I like about our kitchen:
1) Our little breakfast counter
2) Corian countertop and backsplash that is very easy to clean
3) Ariston induction stove-top which is also easy to clean and not to mention, safe to use
4) The soft-closing hinges, bi-fold lift system and special drawer compartments from Blum. (I would definitely recommend a visit to the Blum showroom if you are planning for a new house. Lots of geeky fun!)
And if you ask the husband, he will say:
5) His red Francis Francis coffee machine that he lugged all the way back from HK. Too bad I am not a coffee drinker! But otherwise, the retro-looking machine lends a nice splash of colour in the otherwise plain white kitchen.
We have yet to get proper counter stools for the breakfast counter (we are using too-low IKEA ones as stand-ins for now). It's so unbelievably hard to find non-adjustable stools of the right height! (I have my eye on the Heidi stool.)
What I don't like so much about the kitchen is the fact that it does not get a lot of natural light in the day. I think I am going to switch out the warm, yellow lights (too dim) for white ones soon.
Induction stove, oven, cooker hood, combined washer-dryer: Ariston (from Mayer)
Fridge: Mitsubishi Electric
Soft-closing hinges, bi-fold lift system and special drawer compartments: Blum
Coffee machine: Francis Francis
Porcelain plates, bowls, cups, etc: Luzerne (this is a great place to pick up everything at one go and for a very good price too!)
Outdoor Patio
It is really nice to have our own little outdoor space. To hang our laundry and have our clothes smell like sunshine (seriously), for Sean to play and run around or simply just to chill out.
The husband and I love sitting outdoors in the early mornings when it is very cool and quiet and just listen to the sound of crickets and birds :)
We built a small trellis for shade and installed iron wood decking which is very comfy to walk on barefoot.
To create storage space, we shifted the aircon compressors to one side and built a big outdoor storage box (it's the brown fenced up box in the picture). We put bulky stuff like our luggages and spare stools here. One thing we've discovered - you can never have too much storage space!
We also got someone to dig up the old garden (which was a bit waterlogged) and re-turf it with pearl grass. We are looking to buy some easy-to-maintain plants soon. Any suggestions?
Wooden decking: Evorich
Garden turfing: Far East Flora
Outdoor table and chairs: Ohmm
In particular, I should mention that we were very pleased with our contractor Jasmond from Vi-Style. His carpentry work is impeccable and he was also very good about keeping to our tight timelines (and letting us know in advance when there were any hiccups), updating us frequently via Whatsapp and followed up very responsibly with alterations and fixes after we moved in. Really made the reno process relatively painless for us! (Email me if you want his contact.)
I am just glad all the unpacking is done and everyone is happily settled in now :)
I will post pictures of our bedrooms next! Stay tuned for Part 2.