My interest in aesthetics span from design to illustration, I have never been trained formally in art and wished that I had shown interest when I was a child, instead of music. My parents got me to take up piano lessons in primary school, when they found that I showed some interest in learning the instrument. My interest in music waned when I stopped taking formal lessons to focus on studying for my ‘O’ levels exams.
Art would have been a better choice, and would have more longevity for me to pursue in my adult years.
I discovered my interest in Home Interior when I got my first home in 2004, when there wasn’t Pinterest, and the Internet was at its early stages. So I referred to local Home Interior Magazines for ideas.
With this new home, I was thrilled to have an almost blank palette to plan for, and I spent time pouring through the photos of house interiors in Pinterest. I wasn’t keen in following trends or adopting specific styles, but creating a home that will have concepts that I love.
It wasn’t the easiest at the start to integrate what Hb preferred to so I was sure to get his brief for what he wanted.
His requirements were ;
1. Feature Wall in the living area with irregular rock-shaped tiles (this had been hard to find, as the popular choice for many home owners locally are white or red rectangular bricks)
2. Spa-like wall materials and colour scheme in the Toilets. (Personally a prefer a lighter shade for the toilets, but I didn’t want to have to scrub grout between the tiles over time).
3. Do avoid busy prints, Peranakan prints like that are a no-no as we don’t want retro concepts for the home. (I would specify this as no-retro-for-shared-areas, I would still add some retro decor in my craft room 😘)
4. I want a ‘man-cave’, with more dark wood features.
5. You can plan for a dog room if you want, right next to the kitchen (Hooray!)
While my requirements were;
1. Some Geometric shapes (I want monotones not coloured ones) in my flooring, segregating some areas from the main living area with clear black frame doors.
2. My dream kitchen with Marble and Wood and an Island, and pendant lights above the Island.
3. No spot lights in the home, I want cooler lighting options and ambient lights (through lamps) for warmer lighting
4. I want a craft and prayer area
Interestingly, hb and I did not put much thought into the design of our bedrooms or the boy’s bedroom, so we left it to Jack of Three-D-Conceptwerke to propose the ideas.
Since we only spend our sleeping hours in the bedroom, we wanted it simple but cosy. While flexibility is needed in the design of the boy’s room, to accommodate him growing into his Teenage years.
The new home currently looks like this, since the previous owner renovated a couple of years ago. She was renting it out for the last couple years and never stayed in it. We are planning to strip the current feature wall, polish the existing marble in the living area, change the windows (as the current ones are more than 30 years old!) And there will be plenty of re-furbishment needed to be done around the house!
Next Post : T-84 Days to moving in!
Other posts in this series; Selecting an Interior Designer
Hello Rachel, I love this marble kitchen decoration. It looks so beautiful. I also want cooler lighting and ambient lights for warmer lighting. I just loved your thoughts and blog. Thanks and keep sharing.