H and I have moved into our (not so new) place for almost 7 months now and it is about time I get down to a home tour else the next thing you know, we'll be listing this apartment up for sale hahaha. We have settled in and no longer as fascinated whenever we enter the front door but I am still very much in love with the simplicity and clean design. Timeless neutrals definitely go a long way!

As mentioned previously (here, here and here), the main colours we decided on were white and grey with touches of soft wood. Though I would love to have black, we omitted it as it might seem a little too harsh for the overall soft and cosy look that we are going for.

We use grey homogenous tiles with subtle swirls for the living area and kitchen since we have an open concept kitchen.

Curtains are in white, of course ;) We have unobstructed view from our living area and no nosy neighbours so we opted for curtains with a little bit of sheerness 'cause sunlight is still very much appreciated!

My ceiling fan is from Spin Fans and it is superrrrr pretty!!! I had a hard time searching for a ceiling fan that is
- white in colour
- plain looking
- at least 50" in diameter
- and doesn't come with a light in the centre

So, so glad I chanced upon Spin Fans. It comes with a DC motor which helps to save up to 80% electricity by the way! It operates very quietly and comes with 6 fan speed. We set it to the highest speed since our living area is rather spacious, and it is windy enough for the both of us.

If you're wondering, our living area is bright enough if we switch on both the track lights since half the bulbs are facing opposite directions.

The mantelpiece is almost like my Paris altar lol <3

Our view from the couch looks like this:

Yup, the photo frame is left on the floor because the frame is in black...and I'm still not sure if I wanna hang it up and where exactly to hang haha.

The shelf and clock are from HomesToLife! I recently replaced the plant with a terrarium (see previous photo) as that's more suitable for indoors, and it requires almost no care.

This wall is directly opposite the kitchen/island.

The sideboard was custom-made and the colour of the light wood matches our shoe cabinet.

The lamp on the left is purely for display purpose because I ordered it from Taobao and realised how useless it is after I switched it on. I can't tilt the lampshade any higher so it doesn't brighten the house in any way so ahhh, I just left it there to look pretty. At least it's contributing in another way hahaha.

My cute teardrop vase in pink is also from HomesToLife and the wall flowers are from Francfranc!

The kitchen is still a little bare 'cause to be honest, we only cook a maximum of 3 times a week...which isn't very frequent. Besides, there's only 2 of us, I don't see the need to have a crazy amount of cutleries/kitchen accessories. What we have currently is really sufficient to survive!

Moving on to our bedroom...

We used this (not too dirty looking) white vinyl to fit the theme. It adds a little more character and texture to the overall clean concept.

For our bedroom, we chose to have day and night curtains (with approximately 80% blackout effect). The ladder is purely for hanging towels haha and I got it from Taobao as well. Our bed frame is custom-made. Maybe I didn't look hard enough but simplicity (when it comes to interior design) seems to be dead in Singapore. Our bed (frame + mattress) is the most expensive item in the house so I intend to use them foreverrrrrr. I better like the design forevaaaa too 'cause I'll upholster the frame when we move lol.

Also, please ignore the un-glam state of my nightstand. Don't ask me why I have so many bottles of moisturiser hahaha. Most nights, I use 3-4 different types of lotion (for whitening, Bio-Oil, hand cream and fragrance free body cream), taking longer and longer to prep for bed each night lol. #mad

Favourite pillow cases!!

And opposite the bed, this is what it looks like:

Our standing fan is from Dyson and there are 10 fan speeds! I love the blade-less design.

Our feature wall facing the bed. Previously shared about the Nippon Paint we used in this entry. I talked a little awkward in this video I did with Nippon Paint but you can find out the exact colours I used for my Momento walls here.

There is a little corner beside the bathroom which was the perfect spot for my dresser. The standing lamp is from HomesToLife, laundry bag from Stockholm, stool from Hipvan, dresser was custom made and mirror from IKEA.

Our shoe wardrobe. And there's the entrance to our wardrobe on the left.

If you're wondering why you don't see any men's shoes, *ahem* that's because H's shoes are on the bottom 2 shelves which are not pictured, AND he has his own shoe cabinet at the entrance. #defensive hahaha

My shoes are arranged according to height 'cause each latch is adjustable. Also, if you put your shoes one side facing in and the other facing out, you'd be able to squeeze in more shoes in each row!

Contrary to popular belief, I did not just leave a small corner space for H to house his clothes. He occupies quite a significant area which he cannot even fill up. #verydefensive hahaha

We have roman blinds for the wardrobe (white) and guest room (dark grey). Our wardrobe was built from scratch and yay to having lots of storage! The cute stool I'm sitting on is from HomesToLife as well. Sometimes when I'm packing the wardrobe or using the full-length mirror, I prefer to sit down haha.

Pictures by Vivien Tan for Scene.sg, and me (the uglier looking ones lol).

Home Renovations: Part 2

Hello guys! Sorry I haven't been updating much. Ever since we got back from our holiday, we have been busy with the new place. We brought most of the small, loose items over whenever we popped by and sigh, it's looking so cozy nowww. And it smells so wonderful because I brought home this "White Powder" diffuser from Seoul and I love it so much!! My favourite scents are the light, musky and powdery kind (strong ones give me a headache) so you can imagine how thrilled I was to have chanced upon it. I believe once we are settled down, the place will exude more warmth and will feel more "complete".

Anyway, it seems like we are set to move in this weekend!
*pops champagne*
*throws confetti*

Thing is, I am not done packing hahaha.

The household shelter of shoeboxes you previously saw on my Dayre post? Yup, my mum and I cleared/tidied it, threw away almost 100 shoeboxes and now, I am bringing around 50 pairs of shoes over to the new place with me hehe.

I will spare you the mess that is my bedroom and living room because my belongings are littered all over the house...and show you work-in-progress pictures from where I previously stopped (you can read Part 1 here)!

Cement screed for the kitchen was completed and ready for Nippon Paint to give the walls a fresh coat of paint!

We added a partition and kinda "extended" the wall for a full height shoe cabinet just outside the walk-in wardrobe as there isn't any where else we can fit it since our entrance way is a little narrow.

Of course, we are using Nippon Paint for the walls in the house! It is the first brand that comes to mind whenever we require paint and I love the fact that we experienced almost no paint odour during and after painting. It's the ideal interior wall paint for people sensitive or allergic to paint odour, and suitable for most homes!

I have never thought much about paint before this because I just assumed we would paint all the walls white (haha). But after a chit-chat session with the professionals from Nippon Paint and my interior designer, we decided to play around with colours a little. And that was when I realised I don't have to limit myself to having 4 walls in one room painted the same shade and even if the walls are not in white, my theme will still remain.

For the guest room, we used 5037 (Ash Grey). I love the "barely there" hue, giving the room a clean and sophisticated ambience.

We opted for the walk-in wardrobe to come without the backing so this shade of grey in 1112 (Smoky) matches the grey shelves perfectly!

As for our bedroom, we decided to be a little adventurous and chose the Momento Special Effects paint. This grey is only the base coat. I'll keep you in suspense for a little longer and will show you the completed work after we have moved in and dressed the wall! ;)

As for the white walls/ceilings in the house, we chose 1199 (Sail White). It is not stark white, comes with a hint of cream so it looks more warm and homely.

Our delivery for the lightings we bought off Taobao! Yes, Taobao. For the entire house. Track lights and tracks, standing lamp, everything. And the total amount + shipping was only $1100-$1200. We saw similar designs in Balestier that would've cost us at least $400 for one. So I am quite proud we managed to save quite a bit and they all work fine! Please don't ask me which sellers I bought from as it was also my first time purchasing from each of them so I believe you can just buy from any one of them. A little tip - you won't be able to buy the lights from Taobao direct so do engage a freight forwarder!

Our almost completed kitchen! I lurvvvveee the quartz top! *heart-eye emoji* If you are interested, the grey is in 5037 (Ash Grey), same shade used in our guest room.

And this is the completed shoe cabinet!

That's all I have for today. I will come back with pictures of the clean, empty house soon! :)

Home Renovations: Part 1

Hello! I'm back with home renovations update! You can read my last post on getting the keys to our home coupled with pictures of a house tour here.

With the Lunar New Year festivities, our interior designer and the workers halted works for 3 full weeks. H and I were previously advised that our entire renovation process will take approximately 8-10 weeks but with the CNY break, it's gonna take around 3 months odd. Not a problem for us as long as we can move in by April!

A week after works started, a lot seems to be done:

1. The electrical wiring was fixed

2. Hacking works completed

3. Air-con trunking was up 

4. Tiles for the flooring were delivered

With the kitchen wall out of the way,  the living area looks so much more spacious and bright! Very excited to see the kitchen island come to life!

Just a couple of hours and the wiring was done. It was pretty straightforward for our unit since we are not gonna have false ceiling and the likes.

Spot the pineapple ;p

What followed after was:

1. Making good the edges of walls that were hacked off 

2. Laying of floor tiles for the kitchen and living room 

3. Overlaying tiles in the master bathroom 

4. Cement screeding for the kitchen walls + overlaying subway tiles on the main kitchen wall 

We did not request for the full wall to be tiled so the excess will be removed. You can read more on it here.

A peek at the living area tiles.

I love how the bathroom wall tiles turned out! Not so much for the floor though... But it's okay, I will live with it and stop nitpicking.

The workers are resuming work again on Wednesday and we are just left with the bedrooms' flooring, boxing up of the pipes in the kitchen and sealing one of the (door) holes at bedroom 2. After that, Nippon Paint will be giving the place a fresh and beautiful coat of paint. When the carpentry works for the kitchen and walk-in wardrobe are completed, we should be able to move in shortly after! H and I are so excited! I guess we really have to complete our furniture shopping soon? We still couldn't make up our mind on which sofa to get (it's down to 2! Actually, it has always been between that 2 choices lol).

Our shopping list for the new place looks something like this now:
- Sofa
- Coffee table
- Dining chair x4
- A small shoe cabinet for the entrance
- Carpet x3
- Kitchen runner
- Mirror x5
- Bedframe
- Nightstand x2
- Dressing table + stool
- Ceiling fan
- Curtains
- Doors
- A beautiful chest for the living area

We have bought all the other big items, just waiting for a confirmation on the delivery date now. The nitty gritty items can wait till we've moved in, I guess?

Which brings me to a totally related note - I'll be at the Lucky Plaza flea this Saturday (7 March) with Meiting from 1pm to sell all the clothes I won't be bringing with me to our new home. So you can expect lots of treasures (I couldn't bear to part with previously) going at low prices. $5 to $15! See you there!! :)

Getting The Keys To Our First Home!

HOLA! It's only January but life has been exciting thus far! I've been blessed with amazing opportunities and also have been creating opportunities for myself. So all's excellent! :D Just a few days into 2015, H and I received news that we would be collecting the keys to our home mid this month and we were exhilarated because we waited 3 years for this!

A little background story before I continue - H and I applied for a BTO (Build-To-Order) HDB flat 2 years into our relationship because well, we felt ready to settle down and also, it only costs $10 to apply for one (LOL). But one thing I was very firm on before we paid the deposit and through the dating period was that - we will not allow ourselves to be tied down to this relationship because of this HDB flat. Which means that if we should (unfortunately) decide to go our separate ways, we will. And this flat application or the 5% deposit we paid with our CPF should never be any of the reasons to stop us from separating.

Why a HDB?
I was still flying with SQ then and we went to view show flats of DBSS (Design, Build and Sell Scheme) and EC (Executive Condominiums) and almost decided on applying for one of them... And then I started thinking waaaay ahead like, what if I stop flying (which I did)? Will we still be able to live as comfortably as today (that day)? And what if we have a child? All the numbers were clicking furiously in my head and I want to live comfortably. not having to worry about making ends meet or push myself to build a career on ground which I don't enjoy just to pay for the house. After some discussion with H, we decided to buy a BTO instead, at half the price of what a DBSS/EC would cost.

And today, I am extremely happy we made that choice because H's CPF contribution alone is enough to pay for the monthly instalment, and we will always have a roof above our heads. Thank you Universe! Our goal in 5 years is either to make the move into a private property or be the owners of a second property. We all need something to motivate us, yes? This is one of it.

So anyway, back to keys collection day! After our lunch at HDB Hub (please try the rojak and muah chee at the food court), we went to get our queue number!

Oh yes, I went there earlier for lunch but H reached even earlier so he went to pay for the fire insurance which costs a grand total of... $6.60. For 5 years. Super good deal omg hahaha.

It was also that day we realised that we have to pay Town Council a monthly fee of $65.60 (with immediate effect). That's WHEN I knew who's paying the workers who clear the trash and wash the grounds. All these twenty odd years of my life, my parents never told me. It's like, BAM, I'm finally a grown up with all these financial responsibilities.

Sorry for the digression. So the signing of the many sheets of documents inclusive of the waiting time took us around 1.5 hour and then we can finally head over to our new place to roll pineapple hahaha!

Here we are at our first home! :D

We opted out of everything we could possibly opt out from so our house was bare with no floor, no doors because I was 100% certain I wouldn't like anything provided by the developer as I'm quite particular about the design so it is best to start with a plain canvas!

View from the entrance

Living room

Bedrooms

BR3 is gonna be a guest bedroom

BR2 is gonna house our walk-in wardrobe!

Master bedroom

Both toilets come fully furnished

Kitchen and service yard!

There'll be some hacking of walls to be done (permit approved yay!) and overlaying of tiles because I don't like them glossy haha.

Will share more when we've made progress with the house renovation! ;)