New Furniture for the House

Our new furniture had arrived. Two mid-century inspired "winged" chair (that's how I call them as they looked like flying objects, it's otherwise more popularly known as the Shell Chair by Wegner, first made in 1949), four stools for the kitchen island, eight Wishbone chairs for the dining table, and a re-upholstered Louis chair for my dresser. These are all classic designs which I love.

Time to Unpack

I'm bulldozing into our new home. I figured that since it'll take me weeks just to unpack, it's better to start the process now than to wait till the T.O.P has been secured. I have been assured that T.O.P is just a formality at this stage, as the house has been constructed in full compliance with local building regulations. Inspection by the relevant authority has been scheduled for next Tuesday. Excitement is building up, I must admit. Movers were called in this morning to help with the relocation of things from the rented storage area. I've arranged for the newly purchased furniture to arrive in batches over the next few days. Lighting and fittings are almost done by now. Next will be the TVs and sound systems.

It took the electrician an entire day to fix this pendant light. There'll soon be two of them hanging from the ceiling of the master bedroom. They are the mid-century style "Supernova"-inspired lighting, inherited from our previous home.

Movers assembling the bed in our master bedroom, again inherited from our previous home.

I would have liked our main door to be slightly wider than this. The door handle as seen here is custom-made as there is no off-the-shelf handle of this height. Just a tad worried that it is a little chunky.

Pizza Boxes For Sale - SOLD OUT

While I was going through an intense pizza-making phase recently, I whimsically ordered 500 pizza boxes. It was one of those crazy moments in life. I now struggle to understand why I did it. The sight of them piling in one corner of Yan's home is causing endless irritation to me, and constantly reminding me of my indiscretion and lack of self-control. I hope there will be a buyer soon who'll scoop up all the boxes, and make good use of them. I did attempt to sell them on e-bay recently but to no avail. Not even a single viewing of my ad! Oh, how pathetic. I had to convince myself that perhaps e-bay just isn't the right medium for this kind of product. 

So, I am hoping, by the most remote possibility, someone will stumble upon this blog entry, who is a pizza-maker and who has been hunting high and low for no-print brown corrugated boxes suitable for 12-inch pizzas, to contact me. If you are that someone, please do drop me a comment here, and I will get in touch with you. I promise swift reply, sale of any quantity of your choice, free delivery in Singapore, and the best possible price that you can't resist!

Update (Feb 18): I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who had stepped forward to help. All 500 boxes have been snapped up within days of my blog entry here. 

Carpentry

With me constantly on the back of those contractors and sub-contractors, the project is now chugging along well on the revised completion schedule. If there's anything that I may have learned from this project, it is that I really need to take matters into my own hands. Take the bull by the horn, so to speak! It's tiresome, no doubt, but it's better than to face an indefinite timeline and live with lingering uncertainties. They promised pre-Christmas, but look what happened! I am now entertaining a post-CNY scenario. I could only imagine what the workers at site must have been murmuring and snickering behind me, "There she goes again, the de-facto project manager running amok!". [Sigh]

Carpentry and soft furnishing represent the bulk of the remaining 5% work. As we are taking on a warm minimalist theme, there's actually not much detailed carpentry work to be done. The house will look a little barren at first, but I'm sure as time goes by, it'll get cluttered up just like every other homes I know. The carpenters had been diligently working at our site in the last few days, and I am slowly seeing the parts coming together.

The TV in the kitchen is finally up.

They have miscalculated the complexity of cutting a hole in the middle of the bathroom mirror. This took them the entire day to finish, all 5 men!

Architect/interior designer explaining carpentry details to the carpenter, with the main contractor looking on.

These pictures are just teasers. Let's wait for the big reveal day, shall we?

Kuih Seri Muka

It has been some weeks since my last attempt at baking. I have been preoccupied with the house and other mundane things in life. But mostly, it's the house. I'm hoping that something exciting is going to happen soon, and that I could put my priorities back in the right places. For now, I'll just enjoy life a little.

I've been thinking a lot today about a memorable quote from the cartoon movie, Ratatuoille, that "Anyone can cook". There's some truth in it. Cooking is no rocket science. It just requires some passion and a heart. As simple as that, really. So when a friend posted pictures of some delectable Malay cakes on facebook called Kuih Seri Muka, I thought to myself, "Hey, I could do this". Indeed, it was a great and easy recipe. I modified it a little to suit my taste.

Glutinous Rice Layer

1. Soak 500gm of rice grains in water for up to an hour.

2. Mix 2 cups of coconut milk and a pinch of salt with the grains.

3. Steam the rice in an 8-inch square cake pan at low heat until it's cooked (takes approximately 30-45 mins)

4. Let it cool, and then press the cooked rice layer till it sets firmly into the cake pan. Set aside.

Pandan Layer

5. Prepare pandan extract. Cut 4-6 pandan leaves into small pieces, and add 1/4 cup water into a processor. Blend them thoroughly and then strain to get the pandan extract. 

6. In a separate bowl, add 2 cups of coconut milk, 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of castor sugar, 2 large eggs and the pandan extract. Mix well to form batter.

7. Strain the pandan batter to remove any crumbs. Pour batter over the glutinous rice layer.

8. Place the cake pan back into the steamer for another 20-25 minutes or until the batter is cooked. Remember to steam at low heat to ensure a smooth cake surface.

9. Cake is ready.

Becoming a Wedding Planner?

When I learnt from YS and Rachel that they have fixed a date for their marriage solemnization, I jumped at the opportunity to help out with the interior decorating work. A recession-case scenario makes the assignment more challenging, but it was interesting to see how one can stretch the dollar to produce the same dramatic effect. The planning didn't take long, as both of them were cool with most of my ideas, and they infused some of theirs along the way. The venue will be their 1200sqft home on the 22nd floor! The predominantly white interior of the apartment makes conceptualization of ideas somewhat easier. All in all, conceptualization and shopping took about 2 full days. We went to Arab Street and got an entire roll of organza (about 40 meters) which was just about enough fabric to drape the space. The rest of the materials were purchased from several DIY shops in town. Here's some pictures of the decorating process and you can judge for yourself if justice was done. I had fun doing it, and I hope you'll have fun looking at these pictures!

I went with the concept of a garden wedding within their living room. YS' lime green new rug came handy, as it provides an excellent backdrop. 

Next, I found these two large outdoor lanterns which were just perfect for the concept.

Part of the floral arrangement for the solemnization table.

The ring pillow

DIY candleholders, made from drinking glasses and recycled beads from curtains.
More candles

I purchased these flowers from a nursery nearby. They were chosen for their longer-lasting nature and in keeping close to the lavender-white theme.

Large floral arrangements for some drama in the room.

Room is ready for the event.

The Trees Have Arrived!

This is probably the most fun I've had in this entire project. I love trees. It took me a good few months to research on suitable trees and plants for our small and humble house. I finally settled with the zen garden concept, and carefully selected trees from nurseries nearby. My selection criteria were pretty simple; a clean minimalist look to compliment the house design, easy maintenance (relatively speaking), suitable for confined spaces, and most importantly, cost effective. Not too many, just some Thai bamboos to form a green blanket for the backyard, a 7-feet tall Frangipani, two 3-meters tall tropical trees with interesting layered effect for the front porch, and a 7-feet tall ficus bonsai next to the front door. It's still a month away from handover, but I've arranged for the trees to be planted now, as they need time to adjust to the new environment. I've been told to expect existing leaves to fall and be replaced by new-grown in the next few weeks. I rushed to take some pictures today before they become barren. Carpet grass will be put in once the trees have nicely settled into the new soil.