ymjp100

McNair?

It's really easy! Especially if you have a picasa account or something like that. hope to see you start a reno t-blog some time soon!

Hi thehouseofrns, sorry for the late reply. I shall pm you. Please check your inbox soon. cheers

Hi iPineapple, I will PM you.

We thought Amy Sol makes wonderful images but found the illustrations by Audrey Kawasaki are more appealing/alluring. Dan McCarthy has been on my radar for a few years. I especially like those with silhouettes of trees, power-lines at night. Where did you get his prints from? Are they original prints? The prices at Ittibaa are quite reasonable for its quality. Prices vary according to type of frame and size.

At home, we both like our Audrey Kawasaki prints so no trouble with hanging them at home. Although there are people who may raise an eyebrow, or two, after seeing paintings of scantily clad women looking lost and forlorn. We started collecting in 2007 and have built up quite a fair amount of her prints. There are another two more prints not framed and we will take our time to do those. It's actually quite lucrative to collect her prints, if the prices on ebay.com are to be believed. For example, we have her Mizuame print, it's going for USD499. The pieces for her prints you see being exchanged on ebay is frankly quite ridiculous. The frames and framing are done by Ittibaa. Funny you should mention "She Who Dares"....there is a piece on ebay that is priced to sell at USD1499.99.

Hello Twinkie, Thank you for your compliments. We are scratching our heads about the music......what music? Hahaha! I thought I had only mentioned about making the Kings of Convenience as the official soundtrack to our house to the owners of the emrenoblog.wordpress.com We are glad we had inspired you a little. But always remember to make the home yours, and it's never too early to start looking around for more inspirations and design ideas.

Please check your inbox.

Hello hello! The sofa is 2.6m, inclusive of the armrest portions on either side. The middle "seat" portion is about 2m. It was brought up in three separate pieces and put together in the living room. The guys who delivered the sofa didn't have much problems. I am not sure about the lift, but staying on the 2nd floor helps. Thank you for the compliment. We were inspired by the unit, the greenery outside and many of the beautiful homes in this forum. Hope you manage to get your dream sofa. We got ours customised at Lush by the way. Happy New Year and Huat Ar!

More of Audrey Kawasaki prints. These two were put up in the dining area. The one on the right is "Saying Goodbye". A close up of the frame. It was originally in bronze but we had it sprayed with matt white to match the home. This one on the left wall is "Hyakki Yakou" or 百鬼夜行 Night Parade (inspired by Hyakki Yako scroll). A close up of the frame. This frame underwent the same treatment of being sprayed matt white. We thought the more elaborate of the two frames actually worked very well after the "white wash" treatment. The frame-maker told us that in order to get the frame (with all the ornate features) white, he actually had to build up the white paint very thinly. We kinda like the little flaws in the frame.

The above is so kitschy but I thought it is a good way to answer the question of how we kept things away from sight in the kitchen. The animated gif could do with another 2-3 photos to better present the transition though. The ubiquitous rice-cooker is stowed away in this sliding shelf hidden behind a top-hinged pocket door. There is enough space for a boiler (or a hot water dispenser in future) as well. The air-fryer and Nespresso machine were after-thoughts. Otherwise, we definitely would have thought up something to keep the counter-top clutter-free.

Having the washing machine and dryer within a closet set up in the living room seems to be acceptable. I just not sure about how the piping is run to drain the water.

Wah, new place = investment, to stay or addicted to interior decorating? For us, we are not intending to move out.

You're welcome. It was deliberate not to have shower facilities in the downstairs toilet. This meant we could push the washing machine into the toilet, out of sight. Moreover, the washing machine didn't seem to fit in the overall look of the kitchen, which is typical of most apartments. I have a friend who placed his washing machine and dryer in a closet built between the kitchen and dining area. I guess there is no fixed place for washing machines...

No probs. Phase 2? At the moment we are still adding finishing touches here and there. Nothing major. Just minor stuff like framing up the prints, adding a curtain (in progress) and making it more "homely". Phase 2 sounds scary. Most probably not in the next 4 years. How about yours?

Alrighty. Just two more pics of the kitchen and should be it. View from kitchen towards dining area. It's normally not so tidy. Alternate view from kitchen towards dining area. That's it then.

Kitchen pics are here...finally. The kitchen is a little neater following two consecutive weekends of hosting gatherings. In fact, the place is cleaner as we begin a new season of house parties until Christmas. Here goes: View of kitchen from dining room. We have put up three prints from plastique monkey and guests would be able to see them once they enter the house. The two suar wood stools are holding up very well. Usefulfor sitting down when we put on our shoes. Close up of the same view. The title of each print (from left to right) is "I Didn't Do It", "New Heartbeat" and "I Can Wait". Somewhere in the middle of the photo is a stool with fold-away steps. Very useful when we are trying to get to hard to reach high placed. View of kitchen from stairwell. This is how it looks like. A very open "open concept" kitchen. The counter is great for placing food and grub for guests when they come over. It's like a buffet table. At the bottom right, there is a plug for electrical hotplate/induction cooker. Along the side on the left, it's a column of switches for kitchen, foyer, stairwell, dining area....children are attracted to them. View from kitchen towards downstairs toilet. The good thing about living on a low floor is the readily available green foliage. On the right is the stool, laundry basket and toilet door. Washing machine is in this toilet. On the left is a bit of the fridge followed by a cabinet that hides the rubbish chute and water pipes. View of kitchen from downstairs toilet. Obviously it can be neater but then I will procrastinate and end up not posting any pics of the kitchen... The fridge door is a mess of receipts from some of the nicer restaurants we been to recently, photos/postcards of place we have been recently and a few (necessary) fridge magnets. It's even got a pair of clogs and the beans (red and green) from our wedding last year! If you are thinking that the amount of green stuff in the pictures shouldn't be a coincidence - BINGO!

Alright, I have gotten some kitchen pics finally. But those are night time shots. Let me get a few done in daylight first before deciding which ones to post. In the meantime, these are two of our Audrey Kawasaki prints. These two prints are placed outside the common toilet on level 2. This one on the left is titled "Two Sisters". A close up of the frame. The bigger one, on the right is titled "She Who Dares". This is a close up of the frame. We are loving the frames!

Hi porcupine12trade, sorry it took so long to reply. Here are our thoughts: Our balcony is not "covered", although the definition of a balcony is that it is "roofless" but that's another story altogether. Anyway, we thought it was "cleaner" in that dust does not collect as readily as the cement screed flooring we had. Previously, we had our upstairs neighbour's flowers and leaves dropping into our balcony floor. We still have that but because it is artificial turf, it is harder to sweep away. So we need a vacuum cleaner or to pick it up with our hands. Cleaning wise, we vacuum it now and then. Sometimes we will also spray it with water. It's generally low maintenance. We have no regrets having the turf installed.

Ok, we need to clean the house up by this weekend because we are hosting a "hen party". So that would be a good time to take some pics. More hosting in the coming weeks: primary school friends and teachers, secondary school friends, colleagues and that should take us to Dec.....before Christmas. I've also taken my Audrey Kawasaki prints for framing. Those should be up by mid-Nov. So more pics then. Sorry for the repeated delays!

Nice!!! Your place is drool-worthy. Moving into an EM for the first time is a lifestyle change. My wife and I have become home-bound.

good luck with the search!!

That's right. Not intending to move out anytime soon. The EM has so much to love and the space affords room for creativity. Wonderful....

Hello mummymantras. Thank you for the compliments. The flooring is laminate. The brand is Pergo. If we can remember correctly, the laminate was suppose to replicate the look of cherry wood. Laminate has so far been good for us. It does sound a little hollow when stepped on but the ease of maintenance and low cost more than make up for it.

We haven't gotten round to taking pictures of the kitchen but here's the comparison of the amount of daylight with curtains and without. This is what the stairwell looks with maximum natural light. And this is what it looks like with minimum natural light. Should not have used "Auto ISO" setting....the difference is not as apparent here.