designing a showroom vs building a home

long before PP and i got our keys, we were already planning what we wanted in our house. PP's criteria was simple: he just needed a toothbrush and a bed -_- i, on the other hand, am alittle more complicated :) 

nonetheless, we were sure that a house was after all, a place to live in. yes, the houses we see on interior design magazines look so pristine, but eventually, we fell into a pattern where decisions were based more on what we needed and less on how it would look. of course, if it fulfilled both that would definitely be a bonus! :)

hence, we took time to consider each portion of the house and what function we wanted them to have. 

living room + study area

what's your living room like? in singapore, im pretty certain 9 out of 10 houses would have the television as the central focus in the living room. hence the popular concept of feature walls, with sofas adjusted such that they face the television. we were not avid TV fans, and a living room should after all, be for living. this would be the place where we chat, relax after a meal, read, and fellowship. our living room therefore does not have a television or a feature wall. it does, however, have a desk space for an iMac which is versatile and serves the functions we require. any storage is always good :) so we tucked a full length cabinet at the corner, for things such as paper, cartridges, chargers, wires and random everyday things that we want to keep hidden, and yet access easily. 

since the living room would probably be the place we spend our days, it was best if the space was bigger. in truth, it was tiny! we decided to knock down one wall, to open up the space, and combine the living with the study. we wanted the space to be as open, clean and as "airy" as possible. some tips i picked up along the way: 

1) align the bulky furniture, like cupboards, shelves and tables along the sides of the walls. walls were very precious when we were doing our space planning. it was like fitting a jigsaw, to see what ought to be placed against the wall and what did not. 

2) buy low-lying furniture (sofa, coffee table, beds...) 

3) put the tall and bulky furniture (like full length cabinets etc) in corners so they don't interrupt the visual space. 

4) think before hand what kind of wires need to be concealed! for us, we forgot entirely about the internet modem and all the wires, which do a fantastic job at cluttering up the space. thank God we found appropriate furniture to conceal them eventually!

5) choose warm colours, both for the walls and the furniture. they really do wonders in opening up the space!

the open space would be lovely to welcome visitors and for baby E to run around next time :) it would hopefully also be a place for schooling, learning and crafting - how convenient that the bomb shelter was right there and by painting the door with chalkboard paint, it could serve as a magnetic doodle board! we got the paint from art friend at bouna vista. this and this are the popular brands and you can usually also find them at home-fix or diy stores. we asked the painter if there was need to sandpaper the door to smoothen the surface and he said no. cant give any feedback on how it is yet though, yet to use it :)

the brick walls (increasingly common nowadays, but still a feature we love) were immaculately put up by our contractor, Mr L. He has an eye for detail and any wet works and tiling done by him is excellent. he completed the wet works within a few days, beyond our expected timeline. the bricks (purchased by him for our behalf) are from Craftstone and we chose the lightest shade (Austin). all we had to do was select from a catalogue and he did the rest. he did recommend for us to go to the showroom to take a look but since we were sure we wanted the lightest shade, our decision making was easy. 

dining area 

meal times, i read in this book (which btw is a good book about motherhood!), are precious times to spend as a family, to communicate and to promote fellowship. it was definitely a tradition we wanted to keep. we decided to maximise the space by building a settee against the wall (ah, hidden storage). in future if there were gatherings, the table could be moved away for more space. it was long enough to seat more people at the dining area if necessary, and at the same time, accommodated a pull out tray for our printer.  (see photo below) sadly, though this was really nifty, we realised we forgot to consider how the dining table would block the opening of the cabinet, making it tough to access the printer :( well, we shall have to make adjustments in future! here are some more printer storage ideas :)

at first, i was really keen on this dining table (seen at star living) - so affordable, scandinavian and chic! yet, it seemed rather small. the pricing was really attractive, and had the exact feel we wanted! but since dining together was a priority in our family, a larger dining space would be better. 

thank God for a fabulous brother who gamely agreed to customise an IKEA table for us. the outcome was fantastic! another post on that later :) 

bedroom 

the less clutter in these places, the better. an ideal bedroom in our opinion should consist only of the wardrobe and the bed. as i took time to think, i realised it would be nice to read there too. when i was young, i used to adore reading so much that i would hide books under my pillows and in the nooks of my bed, and whip out the books to read in semi-darkness. haha! we therefore set aside a space which could ideally, be the future reading corner for baby E, and had some built-in top hung bookshelves in our room :) 

there is a long corridor leading into our room, and the best way to maximise the space was to build bookshelves on top. inspiration from here! 

of course, there were many more practical decisions we had to make. although grills were ugly, they were necessary. cost was also something we always had to keep in mind :)

now, looking back, we are especially thankful and pleased. this is our home, a unique home built to suit our needs, based on our lifestyle. even if we engage the best designer who uses the best materials, he will never be able to build this home for us, for it is, at the end of the day, constituted by our family. this is where we will spend our days worshipping God and seeking to please Him even in everyday routines. after living here for almost a month, PP and i feel very blessed to have a place we can call home! of course, with a home comes vacuuming, mopping, cleaning, wiping etc..... but that is part of the blessing as well :p 

tots on parenting #1

"...it is important to look at the big picture. Anytime we take on an important job, it is helpful if we have a vision for the end result. If you are building a home, you may not be able to see with your eyes what the final product will be, but you can, by faith so to speak, know what you are shooting for. The house plans lay out the complete design, and as each wall goes up, it should follow this master plan. Because mothering is very similar, a mother needs to see her daily tasks in the light of the whole design. Each day's work is significant, for it is contributing toward the long-term plan.....Though it may not seem like much got accomplished in a single day, all those nails in the walls do add up. " - (Praise Her in the Gates, Nancy Wilson)

"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Prov 14: 1

It has been on my mind to record all these lessons learnt from books/thoughts/sharings from others... to remind myself, as well as to share them with others :) 

The daily routines of mothering can become mundane indeed... and for me personally, i do dread mundane. While I do not like changes and find comfort in routines, sometimes I do dread going through the same thing and doing it over and over again. yes, it can be wonderful, amazing to witness the development of Baby E, his smiles, his funny gestures. however, there comes certain days where I do wonder where I am headed and if there is any end state in what I am doing. 

I pray that the end state will be of Ezra, being presented to God, as a faithful servant of Him, loving God and doing the law of God as shared here. May everything I do as a mother, whether big or small, be used by God to lead this little one to this end state. While Ezra may be still young, he is indeed picking up every word and response we give. Yesterday as I was griping to PP about something, I realised his eyes focused on me, picking up every word, every murmuring tone that came out. oh, if he was more sensible, what a terrible influence I would have been! 

sometimes I wonder what I can DO exactly to teach him. must I preach? recite verses? nag and repeat? It has dawned on me while reflecting (as I type), that perhaps the best way to teach is by example. May our examples as fathers and mothers be pleasing in the eyes of God!

christmas 2012 - part 2

many others, in return, blessed us with their gestures of love! it was heart-warming to see the effort put in by others to show they love us very much indeed :) these are just a FEW snippets of what we received :)

   

sweet and meaningful hand-made gifts... 

hand-written and heart-felt notes :)

books, which we can never have enough of, and can never finish reading!

a personal poem, composed just for us!

and a cryptic acronym which we took eons to figure out! *face-palm* 

SGNA - Super Good Neighbour Award?!

hahaha!

christmas 2012 - part 1

sometime has passed since christmas last year, but we would still like to record this down since our christmas projects are pretty much a tradition. see here and here.

when working on these projects, PP and i are forced to reflect on our relationships (with those we give gifts to), write a note of thanks and encouragement to them (while saying a simple prayer), and work on something together! It is always a very blessed process. here is what we did last year :) a set of 4 postcards for various occasions, so our friends can use them to bless others in the coming year..

after drawing the illustrations, we scanned them in and editted them by adding the relevant verses.

"congratulations!" - for happy occasions such as weddings or good news

"thank you!" - to thank anyone who has been a blessing

"keep growing" - to encourage a fellow brethren to keep persevering in our walk with God

"praying for you" - for anyone who is struggling or going through a trial

 We believed that in the coming 365 days, there would surely be an opportunity to write each card to anyone who needed a word of encouragement. 

Our inspiration actually came when we were packing for the moving of house. I was going through (and smiling endlessly) the little notes written by many many people to us. some people, we have already forgotten. reading what they have written reminded me of them! some notes, were heart-felt and reading them once more warmed our hearts. i am so glad we kept all these! when i feel down, I am very sure going through the many boxes of letters and notes will surely lift my spirits because all these people were once used by God...to make the effort to pick up a pen and thoughtfully pen down something for us!

we used washi tape to attach the postcards to the envelopes before sealing them by wrapping a slip of kraft paper around them. 

after writing our messages to them at the back, we bound everything with twine.

we really enjoyed working on these. While we cant buy expensive gifts or work on specific gifts for specific people, this is the next best option. doing these also teaches us how to cooperate with one another and brainstorm on what is the best way to do certain things. I strongly believe that it is through these projects that PP and i learn how to work with one another and build on each others' strengths and weaknesses. next time, baby E will be part of these projects! that would be excellent family time! exciting :)

p.s. (edit) since there are a few enquiries, the postcards are available for sale if you are interested :) all designs, concepts and illustrations are original. more details here.

a new day

how often do we wake up each day feeling joyful, purposing in our hearts to rejoice because God has given us a new day? 

i confess, being nothing like a morning person, i wake up each morning probably "mournfully" and groggy as i drag my feet to wash up and begin a new day. 

with the coming of baby E, i have been forced to become otherwise! it seems like my boy is a morning early-bird, who blabbers and chatters away as he lies next to his sleepy mama. this morning, as i talked to him, i was thinking of what song i should sing to him and this song came to mind. every day that the Lord gives to us is precious and we ought to rejoice in it, and strive to live abundantly :) i am also especially thankful for each new day that God gives to Ezra, but it is not of our own efforts that he is sustained. 

God does not just give us a new day for us to trudge through, or barely survive it. neither does he give it to us to wear us out. With every new day He provides, He also gives the strength and grace, just sufficient and enough for what we need. may we press on, to live each day for him, rejoicing and being glad in it!