The other day, I was conceptualising my dream house in my head while walking alone. I love interior design and visualizing finally having my own nest so it was a great distraction from the mundane act of walking and waiting!
Firstly, the dream house that I conceptualised is a HDB flat. Let's hope that it won't be THE Dream House. We have much bigger hopes! Also, I didn't consult this fully with John hahaha so it's just my one-sided thinking.
So, as a starting point, I imagine that we would get a flat that is 3-room. A flat is an investment and hopefully we'll see our first children being born in it so, although I used to LOVE the idea of small cosy studio apartments, practicality won. ... Doesn't it always?
(John is the opposite though, his dream house is those super luxurious penthouse with some crazy design that only oil sheiks can afford. Must have rugs underneath feet at all time and classical chill music playing 24/7. Easy to tell who is the dreamer among us. Haha)
To make my conceptualizing easier, I labelled my rooms. And even this part took a bit of tweaking in my head, going back and forth and deciding where I wanted things to be. But that's the boring part so let's go into it!!!
The first room I wanted to design was the study. I spend so much of my time in front of a computer, or reading, so I claimed the study's design for myself first! Good thing for me, John is not like that at all. He doesn't even own a functional computer now, good job John! ALL OF THE STUDY FOR ME!
For my study, I want it to be conducive, yet warm. I'm thinking along the lines of Muji, or Atomi. or Ethnicraft. Preferably, it should be the room with the most light, because I really love the feel & look of natural sunlight on a light woody theme.
This will be some dream elements of my study...!
Muji's reclining sofa - SO GOOD for watching movies/tv shows.
Atomi is yet another Japanese design / lifestyle / furniture shop. Their shop is just 2 units away from my company's retail shop so each time I go down from my office to get some supplies, I will pass by Atomi and I will look into the shop with dramatic loving eyes... They have such a gorgeous range!
Ethnicraft is a furniture shop that was featured by naiise.com, which is a site that I've absolutely fallen head over heels with. I just love great designs!
Even though John is not the most tech-savvy person, he loves to lounge and play games on his iPad & phone so if we happen to have some spare cash, a daybed or a hammock chair will be great! Wow my study is getting cramped - Okay we'll put a hammock chair in the living room and forget the daybed.
Some examples of light wood + sunlight that I've plucked from Pinterest. They're not studies per se, but please visualise the elements from above into these colour schemes below!
OH I MISSED OUT MY BOOKSHELF! Haven't really seen anything that I've fallen in love with but I don't think I'll be picky with the shelf. It's the books, not the shelf...... #actprofound
After having so much fun with the study, I felt bad for John so I was like, okay, you can have the living room. So I don't have much input here because I honestly don't spend a minute in my own living room now. Haha! I suspect that he's going to go for black, a lot of glass, just a classic modern/sleek look, so I only have one input: concrete walls!
I saw a picture on a friend's insta - he was looking for ideas for his new home and he mentioned concrete. When you just hear the word concrete, it's hard to imagine it to be homey. But after I searched through Pinterest, I just went overboard! It's just the CSHH kind of awesome. Get ready for the slew of AWESOME interior ideas involving concrete.
I love how it makes everything looks industrial but yet sophisticated.
When I saw the last two I just had to gasp!!!! The integration with nature literally took my breath away. But it's okay, since they aren't feasible in a dingy HDB flat, I'll have to be patient and reserve the idea when I have my third home (too optimistic? Or naive?? maybe in JB?).
I'm not someone who loves to cook so I have no specific idea on how I want my kitchen. I think I will spend the least time here. John says he wants a very nice fridge... And just building on that idea, if we are going to spend a bomb on a fridge, why not on a vintage-looking SMEG? I just did a simple google on SMEG fridges and these are what I got:
Gorgeous! Just gorgeous! The first picture is a little too babyish/pastel/girly for me, but the rest of them is just love!
I also really fancy Muji-style cutlery but they are a little bit on the expensive side so it's not a must. Not picky about kitchen stuff. Cheap but awesome ikea kitchen knickknacks will do just fine!
I think the bedroom should be a place of recuperation only and John agrees!! We'll definitely have heavy curtains to cut out light, and very warm lighting. I like old retro-style, vintage furniture, so this could be my space to do that.
Actually, cot-like beds. Confession: I really envy babies who can sleep in a cosy confined cot! (I wonder what does that say about my personality...)
Whenever I go to IKEA I never skip the kids section because I liked imagining having a kid's bed. Either a little white wood bedframe that is *just-a-bit* too small or those bunk beds with a study below. It's so awesome!
But if it's gonna be my marriage home, I don't think a queen-size cot will look cute anymore. Nonetheless I've found some really cosy ideas:
The last one is my favourite! If you go on pinterest and search Reading Nooks, you'll see plently of cosy ideas like these ones that I picked - just holes in the wall made of bed. AHH! Just thinking about it gives me the calm, lounge-y, can-doze-off feeling. I have no idea how anyone can read inside one of these.
It kinda reminds me of those ancient beds from those Period Dramas:
Like this LOLLLLL but really when I watched these shows in the past I frequently thought to myself that they have such awesome beds - drape down the curtains and it is privacy and cosiness all around.
One room will be dedicated to our clothes! My OCD mind just hates it that clothes are all over the place, as it is at home now. I have to walk to go to my mum's rooms to put her clothes, and then walk to my room to put my clothes, and then the rooms are rather far away from the kitchen where it's washed and hanged and because of this I always procrastinate and sometimes I feel like clothes are ruining my (home) life. After procrastinating on whichever step of the laundry process, I will definitely misplace clothes and it gets me so frustrated to search the whole house for it!
I miss having my own little space. While I was in Denmark for those 5 months of exchange, I could decorate my little Scandinavian room with free postcards and maps and cheap things from Tiger. It's different from doing that in my own home now. There is just so much junk to be cleared! As an exchange student my room was a blank slate and it made it minimalistic and easy to clean. And my room didn't look particularly polished, but I guess, something about executing personal creativity in your little private space just felt so satisfying.
For people living in places other than Asia, they probably live on their own even before they turn 20. Even in Japan, many fresh graduates pack their bags and leave homes to go to bigger cities for work. But in Singapore, our land space is small and our housing rules are rather complicated. As a city we are huge but as a country our tiny size means there is literally no way to run, especially given the sky-high prices of property. So, many Singaporeans stay with their parents until they get married. I foresee that will be my future as well. :'(
John and I are thinking of getting a flat but not so soon. Haha. We're still pondering over our options, and both of us literally just started working for barely 3 months so we definitely don't have enough CPF to cushion a mortgage. I still have some future plans like JET which makes my future a little uncertain so we're holding it off for now.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this LONG post that took so long to write. BUT IT WAS FUN! More motivation for me to earn lotsa money to build my own nest!
Firstly, the dream house that I conceptualised is a HDB flat. Let's hope that it won't be THE Dream House. We have much bigger hopes! Also, I didn't consult this fully with John hahaha so it's just my one-sided thinking.
So, as a starting point, I imagine that we would get a flat that is 3-room. A flat is an investment and hopefully we'll see our first children being born in it so, although I used to LOVE the idea of small cosy studio apartments, practicality won. ... Doesn't it always?
(John is the opposite though, his dream house is those super luxurious penthouse with some crazy design that only oil sheiks can afford. Must have rugs underneath feet at all time and classical chill music playing 24/7. Easy to tell who is the dreamer among us. Haha)
1) LIVING ROOM 2) STUDY 3) WALK-IN WARDROBE 4) BEDROOM 5) KITCHEN
To make my conceptualizing easier, I labelled my rooms. And even this part took a bit of tweaking in my head, going back and forth and deciding where I wanted things to be. But that's the boring part so let's go into it!!!
STUDY
The first room I wanted to design was the study. I spend so much of my time in front of a computer, or reading, so I claimed the study's design for myself first! Good thing for me, John is not like that at all. He doesn't even own a functional computer now, good job John! ALL OF THE STUDY FOR ME!
For my study, I want it to be conducive, yet warm. I'm thinking along the lines of Muji, or Atomi. or Ethnicraft. Preferably, it should be the room with the most light, because I really love the feel & look of natural sunlight on a light woody theme.
Muji's reclining sofa - SO GOOD for watching movies/tv shows.
Atomi is yet another Japanese design / lifestyle / furniture shop. Their shop is just 2 units away from my company's retail shop so each time I go down from my office to get some supplies, I will pass by Atomi and I will look into the shop with dramatic loving eyes... They have such a gorgeous range!
Ethnicraft is a furniture shop that was featured by naiise.com, which is a site that I've absolutely fallen head over heels with. I just love great designs!
It would be cool if we can double up the study as a movie room. A little projector screen, a blank wall, a comfy rug under the feet and a coffee table for all the popcorn and junk food!
Some examples of light wood + sunlight that I've plucked from Pinterest. They're not studies per se, but please visualise the elements from above into these colour schemes below!
OH I MISSED OUT MY BOOKSHELF! Haven't really seen anything that I've fallen in love with but I don't think I'll be picky with the shelf. It's the books, not the shelf...... #actprofound
LIVING ROOM
After having so much fun with the study, I felt bad for John so I was like, okay, you can have the living room. So I don't have much input here because I honestly don't spend a minute in my own living room now. Haha! I suspect that he's going to go for black, a lot of glass, just a classic modern/sleek look, so I only have one input: concrete walls!
I saw a picture on a friend's insta - he was looking for ideas for his new home and he mentioned concrete. When you just hear the word concrete, it's hard to imagine it to be homey. But after I searched through Pinterest, I just went overboard! It's just the CSHH kind of awesome. Get ready for the slew of AWESOME interior ideas involving concrete.
I love how it makes everything looks industrial but yet sophisticated.
When I saw the last two I just had to gasp!!!! The integration with nature literally took my breath away. But it's okay, since they aren't feasible in a dingy HDB flat, I'll have to be patient and reserve the idea when I have my third home (too optimistic? Or naive?? maybe in JB?).
KITCHEN
I'm not someone who loves to cook so I have no specific idea on how I want my kitchen. I think I will spend the least time here. John says he wants a very nice fridge... And just building on that idea, if we are going to spend a bomb on a fridge, why not on a vintage-looking SMEG? I just did a simple google on SMEG fridges and these are what I got:
I also really fancy Muji-style cutlery but they are a little bit on the expensive side so it's not a must. Not picky about kitchen stuff. Cheap but awesome ikea kitchen knickknacks will do just fine!
BEDROOM
I think the bedroom should be a place of recuperation only and John agrees!! We'll definitely have heavy curtains to cut out light, and very warm lighting. I like old retro-style, vintage furniture, so this could be my space to do that.
Actually, cot-like beds. Confession: I really envy babies who can sleep in a cosy confined cot! (I wonder what does that say about my personality...)
Whenever I go to IKEA I never skip the kids section because I liked imagining having a kid's bed. Either a little white wood bedframe that is *just-a-bit* too small or those bunk beds with a study below. It's so awesome!
But if it's gonna be my marriage home, I don't think a queen-size cot will look cute anymore. Nonetheless I've found some really cosy ideas:
The last one is my favourite! If you go on pinterest and search Reading Nooks, you'll see plently of cosy ideas like these ones that I picked - just holes in the wall made of bed. AHH! Just thinking about it gives me the calm, lounge-y, can-doze-off feeling. I have no idea how anyone can read inside one of these.
It kinda reminds me of those ancient beds from those Period Dramas:
Like this LOLLLLL but really when I watched these shows in the past I frequently thought to myself that they have such awesome beds - drape down the curtains and it is privacy and cosiness all around.
WALK IN WARDROBE
One room will be dedicated to our clothes! My OCD mind just hates it that clothes are all over the place, as it is at home now. I have to walk to go to my mum's rooms to put her clothes, and then walk to my room to put my clothes, and then the rooms are rather far away from the kitchen where it's washed and hanged and because of this I always procrastinate and sometimes I feel like clothes are ruining my (home) life. After procrastinating on whichever step of the laundry process, I will definitely misplace clothes and it gets me so frustrated to search the whole house for it!
These are awesome!!! Laundry + ironing + folding space + wardrobe. You know how, when it's time to dress up, girls have to try on a lot of clothes and the whole room just ends up as a warzone? If I can have my way I definitely wouldn't want the wardrobe to be in my bedroom as per the conventional way. It's such a mess! ALL CLOTHES should be contained in one room, which is dedicated to clothes... As long as it is clothes - in the walk-in wardrobe/laundry room it goes!
Huge-ass full-length mirror, an awesome vintage dresser to keep all the little things... It'll not only help to organize easier but it's also such an indulgence!
Maybe this isn't practical when our kids grow bigger since they'll want their own room and wardrobe space BUT WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT that's not in 20 years.
Hahahaha I get so carried away sometimes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I miss having my own little space. While I was in Denmark for those 5 months of exchange, I could decorate my little Scandinavian room with free postcards and maps and cheap things from Tiger. It's different from doing that in my own home now. There is just so much junk to be cleared! As an exchange student my room was a blank slate and it made it minimalistic and easy to clean. And my room didn't look particularly polished, but I guess, something about executing personal creativity in your little private space just felt so satisfying.
For people living in places other than Asia, they probably live on their own even before they turn 20. Even in Japan, many fresh graduates pack their bags and leave homes to go to bigger cities for work. But in Singapore, our land space is small and our housing rules are rather complicated. As a city we are huge but as a country our tiny size means there is literally no way to run, especially given the sky-high prices of property. So, many Singaporeans stay with their parents until they get married. I foresee that will be my future as well. :'(
John and I are thinking of getting a flat but not so soon. Haha. We're still pondering over our options, and both of us literally just started working for barely 3 months so we definitely don't have enough CPF to cushion a mortgage. I still have some future plans like JET which makes my future a little uncertain so we're holding it off for now.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this LONG post that took so long to write. BUT IT WAS FUN! More motivation for me to earn lotsa money to build my own nest!