the ball is in motion

june is fast approaching. you know what that means, we need to get our act together re moving house. we are finally done dragging our feet. well actually, given a choice, we would like to drag our feet a bit more. but we've been given the ol' heave ho by the powers that be.

so, we just appointed the reno guy and we've gone to look for tiles for the floor. there is no turning back now. the ball is in motion.

stay tuned for the horror packing stories. followed closely by it's much anticipated sequel ... the unpacker! dun dun dunnnnnnnn!

cooking up a storm

designing the kitchen has been a total nightmare. it's a freaking shoe box! tiny as hell, which i guess is enuf for a chef like moi ... but still.

my current place has a kitchen with generous space. all my girlfriends can fit comfortably to cook me some grub; while i wait impatiently at the dining table preparing for my time honoured food-tasting role. i'll have you know that i'm damn good at food-tasting!

with the new kitchen, they'd probably have to take turns to cook. i'd have to wait hours for a 3-4 course meal as they try to negotiate the space. sigh ... lucky this is temporary. looking forward to 2015 when we start looking for a bigger place.

everything AND the kitchen sink

in the new flat, provision for the kitchen sink (ie the pipes etc) is made opposite the kitchen entrance, near a 2 panelled window. i thot it better to create the stove there so that when i cook (and i say WHEN i cook) the fumes will float out the window and not linger in the kitchen. in doing so, i'd relocate my sink perpendicular to the stove, for easy access. i thot what a splendid idea until i learnt that a stove directly facing the kitchen door can cause bad health. like we need that in our life!

i'm not a feng shui freak but i'm also not about to refute this ancient chinese system of aesthetics that has worked well for eons. i'm all for the flow of good ch'i. nothing wrong with being pre cautious, i am asian after all.

anyways, i've also learnt that the windowed outlook is positive for ch'i and conducive to happiness, especially if the window overlooks water!

so guess where i'm moving that sink! right next to the window, right where it was originally intended.

welcome to the house of fun

we've had our keys to our new place since october last year but have been so uninspired to move. it's the same size (per sq meter) as our current house but the layout is really less than desirable. lots of wasted space. the initial fire we had just fizzled as realisation set in.

since then we've had many ideas to pimp the house and make it our own. we thought of breaking walls, creating new rooms, building a 9' cupboard as a wall partition etc ... then we lost steam coz to do all these still didn't change the fact that the house is just too small.

so we called the powers that be and told them that the house we bought (in principal) 5 years ago really doesn't meet our needs now. we were only 2 adults and 3 kids then. now we are 2 adults, 4 kids and we are looking at employing a helper. the space is just not enough. we offered to buy/ trade for a bigger place. they offered to buy our place at a discount. we said eff that and have decided to stay put for 5 years (following their guidelines) then upgrade to a bigger pad later.

we are going to live in function and clever design rather than going all out to create a home. this interim playground will be bright and colourful and creative. we've decided to give the kids the master bedroom and to create a huge study area where the hall should be. we want communication to be the hive of activity. we're moving the tv into one of the rooms, away from the main.

we've got new spark to get this ball rolling. suddenly, we've found a focus and we are eager to get this done. we're targeting to move in June, in time for the holidays :)

nesting part 3

we'll be moving to our new house by the end of the year, so says the neighbourhood gossip. hubs and i (well more i than hubs) have been scoping for ideas. we know our design focus will be minimal furniture and clever storage. everything else is not important.

heres a peek at the floor plan of the new casa.
well this is how the builders have positioned it. we most prob will not go with the norm.

i for one think the kitchen is too big. so i'm really looking forward to scaling it down and opening up the area. we already have plans to break down a few walls and to change things up (you were right obsidian). we've learnt that only the bolded walls need to stand firm. the thinner ones can be broken which will help to open up the space a little. and you know, we are all about space.

hubs stumbled on this website recently freshome. amazing design ideas. mostly fresh too ... :) of cause many of these homes have a decadent amount of space *jealous* but the concepts make for good take-aways.