Monday, August 27, 2012

More (messy) photos updates

To make something pretty, I guess you have to go through many ugly stages and processes.

After the floor hacking and removal of wires, its the erection of walls.

  

This is the greatest embarrassment. During the tiles selection stage, contractor recommended these for toilet and bathroom. I double confirmed with him that 30cm by 80cm tiles will look fine for a small space and he assured that they will look good. Two color choices also recommended by him.

 

When I first saw these, that night, I lost sleep and the following morning I called the contractor for an estimate to remove the tiles and change to smaller tiles. He went down to take a look and said they looked fine and especially easy to clean. In case lighting was bad when I went in the evening, I asked my mum to go down in day time to take a second look, and in the end I decided to just leave it. I showed a colleague who asked about house warming this picture and he suggested to lock up the toilet when guests visit!

Personally, I feel the following tiles look better. I found these at Rice Fields only after I have selected most of the tiles. After the earlier post on tiles selection, I had second thoughts of my living room floor tiles choice and couldn't resist going to Rice Fields.



Would take more photos when I manage to go down during day time.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

What grout color should I use?


white? light grey? or dark grey for something dramatic?

on a side note, I like this look, dark grout with subway tiles.

image from Apartment Therapy

Unfortunately, my bathroom will look nothing near to this. Will post more photos of my house soon.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Sofa

Its been 3 weeks since the reno started but progress is really slow. The house is still in an ugly state, raw cement, sand piled up, dust and dirt every where...

Hence, I rather talk about something nicer. Some time ago, I posted here a selection of sofa seats I like. When it comes to really hunting for one to put in my own house, strangely I sought for something rather different. Not that I couldn't find a replica chesterfield with a suitable depth, some how, this design has lost its appeal. Too much leather, and too heavy a look.

The Poeten sofa remains my top favourite, but price wise, its just way out and I believe not available in Singapore. How did something originally designed by Finn Juhl for his personal use became such an expensive item?

The closest style I could find and of reasonable pricing, are the sofas from Room of Woods. But some of the seats aren't quite comfortable for me.


Talking about Room of Woods, I'm going to slowly save some money for an armchair from them. These look so retro and cute!


 photos from Room of Woods

Back to the topic on sofa, you might have guessed by now that mid century post modern is my latest favourite theme. I like the piece below, found in a cafe in Taiwan. 

photo from here

I saw a similar piece at Second Charm and instantly fall in love with it.

photo from Second Charm

Again budget is an issue. Though second hand, its quite pricey (at least to me). But I guess its paying for the tedious restoration work and also getting something vintage...

Then I found this at Oddyssey for only $400 original condition! Doesn't this look familiar? Its almost like the sofa we grew up with. My mum's place still has something similar, but with a bit more frills and carvings. This piece just need a change of cover and some restoration work to cover up some scratches. Not sure if it could look as good as new for a reasonable restoration cost or I could live with some blemishes though. But the simple curves of the frame, matt black finishing... So lovely. (Try to imagine it in a different fabric.) 

photo from Oddyssey

After much consideration and popping by various shops, in the end, I chose a piece I saw earlier at Air. Surprised? Guess I took the easy way out as I do have a few more pieces to restore and not quite sure if I could cope.

picture from Air Furniture

This is quite different, but also a style I like and the depth is just right. Hope I don't regret on the choice of fabric. Took quite some time to decide between dark grey and cherry brown. In the end I settled for cherry brown...


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

House update - 31st July 2012

I think the pattern on the right would look nice on cabinet doors, while something equivalent but less colorful would make nice floor tiles for kitchen.

I think these are more peranakan?

I'm inclined to a mix of post modern mid century style, scandinavia and retro style, but when it comes to materials selection, I couldn't really find something along that line and fit my budget at the same time.

What've I actually selected.



I've focused on neutral tones, to the extend of risking being conservative and boring. But I think my greatest nightmare would be to end up with a contemporary style.

If I do not have a budget issue, I would love to get my tiles from Rice. Click here for some nostagic materials.

House update- 1 August 2012

After an amazingly long search, which lasted for 3 years, I settled for an old 3 room flat, which was rather different from what I initially was looking for. Its very old, almost 40 years old, on low floor but a corner unit and is a bit more spacious than units of that age. Hope I don't regret.

Some shots of before renovation.

 from living room

I actually liked the terrazo retro flooring, except that its in rather bad condition.

one of the bedrooms

the ultimate color combination

The kitchen walls are half covered with these blue tiles. Although I like retro stuff, this is really too much.

Now that the search is over, its a series of headache, thinking of layout, selecting contractor, what renovation to be done within limited budget... The thought that things will be simpler if I get a new unit kept crossing my mind.

The renovation officially started 2 days ago, and this is how it looks like on day 3 morning.

War zone