Hougang Maisonette - Original Conditions

Hi all,

i've been so busy with my son's 1st birthday party that I haven't gotten the time to post some photos of the original conditions of the Hougang Maisonette.
Bet you all are just waiting eagerly for her transformation yah? Well so do I!!!

I'm so excited about this place and its potential to becoming a gem.

less words and more pictures!

above: original utility room where the wall has been hacked by the previous owner, so we have to put back the walls for a pantry area for iron lady chef!

above: here's a look at the current kitchen entrance, this wall will go too as we are designing an open kitchen for her with an island

 Original condition of the kitchen tiles and cabinets. All are in quite a good condition.

The common bath room downstairs is quite dark as it doesn't have a window opening and it ventilates through the kitchen, the door opens from the kitchen area which iron lady chef wants to change.
Makes sense because it will be so troublesome while she is so busy in the kitchen and her guests need to go through the kitchen to get to the toilet.

So we going to change the door opening for her and hopefully we can 'borrow' some daylight from the kitchen area.

For the staircase, we are going to change the railing. At first we thought we could keep the glass and just remove the railing, upon reaching the place, then we realised that it was PINK in colour and it's not even glass!!! It's just an acrylic!!!

Because upstairs bedrooms and foyer area are tiles too, iron lady chef wants a more homely feel thus the need to change the tiles to either wood tiles or parquet. So we have to change the staircase flooring as well in order to match everything.

Dining area: As we having a low budget reno here, we wouldn't be having any built storage cabinetry here, we'll just have to make do with the current condition and propose for new furniture, lights and a new splash of paint to make it look new.

The mirror store door cabinets got to go because it's tinted and it looks like it has gone through a battlefield. The sliding doors beside the store will be removed too.

 kitchen wall facing stairs - to go as well!!!

 balcony wall tiles and blue paint and corrugated roof - go go go away!

Although i liked the light...hmm, not sure whether can i refurbish it in some way.

upstairs, we are not doing much to the both rooms except that both will be given a new splash of paint, ceiling fan and lights.
We will be re-doing the common bath, master bath and master room.

above: here you can see the pink acrylic panels of the staircase and the white small tiles on the floor. One of the bedroom is painted blue while the other is yellow green i think, not sure.
And i didn't take any photos of the master room!!! OMG. Need to take some more photos soon.

i must be too busy looking at the pipe works outside the master room.

Hougang Maisonette - Powder room

last but not least, the toilet on the lower floor where all her guest and friends and relatives, ah gong, ah ma will have access to. So we save the best for the last.

YAY.
she likes this one.

Hougang Maisonette - Bathroom designs

This week, we have done 4 different options for iron lady chef's bathrooms

1st option: MOSAIC
a very Mediterranean look, gives one a seabreeze feel, cool and balmy...hmm, i'm thinking of Greece now with her blue seas and white washed houses. sigh. i need a holiday. ok. i'm digressing here.

common bathroom

master bathroom

2nd Option: RETROLICIOUS
This is very much inspired by the old flats in Tiong Bahru. White bricks and retro wooden furniture. Use of small black and white tiles which resembles those small tiles which you find in peranakan homes.

common bathroom

master bathroom

3rd Option: Simple and fuss free
White and grey tiles to frame the entire toilet leaving only the vanity area where we play up the colours abit to give it an identity.
Iron lady chef can choose an accent tile for the vanity area, it doesn't have to be blue mosaic..below is just an illustration of the area and space which we are considering in this option.

common bathroom

master bathroom

4th Option - HOTELuxury
This is something which we really like because we travel quite often and besides the bed in the hotel room, the next thing i look for is the toilet and the shower area.

I LOVE LOVE hotels which uses limestone for their walls or vanity counters because they give it such a rich and warm texture, plus the huge basins and clean sparkling taps and rainshowers...ooommmm...makes me want to soak in the bath tub for a long long time.

anyway, back to our design, we are proposing something similar to limestone wall tiles and timber flooring, very similar to those you find in resort hotels...sigh, now i'm thinking of fluffy white towels and rich thick bathrobes, electronic glass weighing machines, scented soap and a brushing my teeth!

ok i know this all sounds pretty weird and "what has this got to do with design???"
actually it has everything to do with it.
because design is all about living and senses. that's how we do it.
if we can provoke, invigorate and inspire.

that is a good design.

common bathroom

master bathroom.

Hougang Maisonette - more renders of the new place!

meeting iron lady chef today and we have some more renders to show her for her living, dining, kitchen although we did some the last time we met her.

today's meeting was to discuss more on her master room layout as well as the rest of the 3 toilets - powder room and 2 bathrooms upstairs.

The overall place will have a woody look to give it a warm cozy feel yet still light and refreshing. Plus the scandi look is pretty hip nowadays which i reckon a style that will never go wrong as that's how the Scandinavians have been living yah?

so more wood, more whites, more light please!


ps: next post will feature more about her bathrooms.

Hougang Maisonette - Surprise Feast!

iron lady chef made this huge tupperware of stingray prawn curry for us!!!

so sweet of her!

*slurps*

DIY - Moppe Project - Finished Look!

Dear all!

I've finally finished my DIY vintage drawer from an IKEA moppe. This will come in nifty for keeping all my crafty items plus hubs has his own little drawers too.

And I'm pretty pleased with my accomplished look!

here are some of the details:
I've printed some coloured paper and used my own handwriting for "his" and "hers"

here's a closer look at the edges of the drawers where i've sand down to give it a worn out look, so that it will appear to look old. 

And i bought a cherry wood varnish from HomeFix for a new coat of paint.

click here for previous post on DIY process.

How I celebrated my XX birthday - Part 3 the cake that was made from 5 slices.

Jane's wedding

Hougang Maisonette - Open Kitchen

Hey peeps,

have you ever wondered how did the origins of an open kitchen came about?
Was it because back in the old days, during winter everyone will hurdle around a fire to keep themselves warm and cook a pot of hot stew that made an open kitchen?

here's what i found on wikipedia ...
sometimes while designing...i find it useful to understand how, why and where did that thing or item originated from.

The re-integration of the kitchen and the living area went hand in hand with a change in the perception of cooking: increasingly, cooking was seen as a creative and sometimes social act instead of work... Many families also appreciated the trend towards open kitchens, as it made it easier for the parents to supervise the children while cooking and clear up spills. The enhanced status of cooking also made the kitchen a prestige object for showing off one's wealth or cooking professionalism.


Another reason for the trend back to open kitchens is changes in how food is prepared. Whereas prior to the 1950s most cooking started out with raw ingredients and a meal had to be prepared from scratch, the advent of frozen meals and pre-prepared convenience food changed the cooking habits of many people, who consequently used the kitchen less and less. For others, who followed the "cooking as a social act" trend, the open kitchen had the advantage that they could be with their guests while cooking, and for the "creative cooks" it might even become a stage for their cooking performance. The "Trophy Kitchen" is highly equipped with very expensive and sophisticated appliances which are used primarily to impress visitors and to project social status, rather than for actual cooking.

so moral of the story - must design the open kitchen really WOW. function + form together!!!

click here to view the whole documentation on kitchen from wikipedia

Reno@Yishun - rethinking bedroom spaces

it's studies like this that gets me thinking of school again.

Reno@Yishun - more thoughts on Living and Dining

here are some of our thoughts on the 4 room Yishun flat.
it's a BTO which has finished its superstructure according to the home owners, now leaving the architecture - meaning windows, tiles doors and the rest of the finishes.

Hougang Maisonette - Master bedroom revamp!

after i started "toning" the Yishun Master room layout, I was so addicted to the Marimekko print that I wanted to do the same style for the Hougang Maisonette master room layout too!

so here's how it turned out.
I think it looks better now with all the texture - wood grains and flower patterns.

Not that I'm advocating for this Finnish print but it looks so pretty on plans!
I hope someday i will own the bedsheets, but for now i shall be contented with my wall print and curtain.

xoxo
velle

DIY - Moppe Project

here's my latest DIY project - Moppe drawers from IKEA.
I'm not going to say what I'm up to at the moment until it's all done. So frightful! I hope it will turn out the way that I want.

stay tune folks!

xoxo
velle

Stirling HDB Terrace - New Sheets

YEAH! I love new sheets!

This month's from IKEA.