Seth Sara

In July 2008, we started our 1 month search of a house. During that time, we corresponded non stop with the HDB applying for both a waiver to purchase a flat as well as a waiver to get a HDB Home Loan. And in August we began our agonising 3 month wait for our resale flat. And during that time, we started sourcing and shopping for household appliances, furniture and necessities.

When God promised to give me a man of my dreams, I did not expect to receive a man of my heart as well. Throughout this experience, I realised how similar the Man and I are in our tastes and ideas. We got down to designing and creating a home of our dreams and it is a joyful task as we agree to much of the unconventional and unthinkable styles and ideas that we came up with. Well, of course, ALL of my ideas MUST be implemented and some of his gets compromised. But that’s besides the point right? :p

And thus on the 12th November 2008, we finally collected our keys and embarked on our exciting journey of instant home decor. Yup! Instant. We wasted no time. The day after key collection, we had the utilities running and our electrical wiring works began. By Day 4 paintwork started and completed the following day. During that time, we went on our major shopping spree at IKEA and made our purchases.

During the week, we did a major cleanup of the place as we awaited the delivery of our furniture. And when it arrived, we started our very own DIY installation works. We are both hands on people and we really enjoyed putting everything together. In fact, we fought to build them! And at the end of 2 weeks, we were so good at it we were seriously considering working for IKEA as their Installation Contractors!

By week 2 our grilles are up and at week 3 we had our kitchen appliances delivered and we had our cold drinks at last!! In the meantime, our lights and ceiling fans also arrived. On the day of installation, the guy was late and afraid that he’ll take too long to complete thus keeping me waiting for too long, I offered to screw in the fins while he installed the motor and such. The guy was so surprised that in his many years of installing fans, it was the first time an owner offered to help! He actually borrowed my phone and called his friend to buy 4D of my unit number because of that!! But alas, the uncle was $20 poorer because of me! :/

By the first week of December, our sofa was delivered. And then our customised wardrobe and platform bed. And lastly our dining table. And by the 13th December 2008, 1 month after key collection, we were all ready to move!! Record timing yeah?

Tah Dah!! And here’s our completed project!

Design Theme 1: As it was a resale flat, our kitchen was already done up in a Country Style theme. It being in very good condition, we decided to keep the furniture and bring the theme out into the living area so as to maintain the consistency as the living overlooks the kitchen. We were both agreeable to Country Style as we both love cosy and warm living areas. We had fun choosing our country looking furniture and window grilles as well as curtains to go with the scheme. But unlike the conventional Country Style, we chose red for our walls which was kinda overwhelming but radiates the warmth that we really loved. We’ve got many comments on the red walls so far and most of them were good. Heh!

The sofa fabric has a Victorian look to it, but it was more a practical choice for maintenance purposes. ;p We’ve got the Country look in terms of the sofa design with the skirting though. And not to mention comfort factor! Note our ‘obiang’ flora curtains! Many would scream at it I suppose, but we love it! Hah!! Oh, and of course, our flowery grilles too!

The living area is complete with the Tiffany Lamp on the side table, and of course the must-have IKEA Poang Chair. That is the throne for the man of the house. Something not exactly country but… oh well… if it makes my Man happy! =D

The kitchen marks my territory as Lady of the House! Oh! How I love my kitchen! It is here that meals are lovingly cooked and tummies filled! Don’t you just envy my hubby and son?

The dining area is of utmost importance as it’s where we enjoy our meals and host our guests. Well, as soon as I buck up enough courage to let others try my cooking. So far, only Seth and the Man are unfortunate enough to be my lab rats. Heh. We added a buffet to house the Expresso machine and the Man’s proud collection of liqueurs. The marble table isn’t exactly country style but well, we both had good memories of marble dining tables when we were growing up, and we can’t deprive Seth of them too right?

We had a little foyer at the entrance and we placed a bench there for Seth to sit on when he puts on his shoes. It was an impulse purchase as we were shopping for sofa when we saw the bench. Seth got really comfy in it, climbing up by himself and lying against the armrest to ’sleep’. It was a must-have when we saw that! My Grandma has this really old Singer sewing machine which was her dowry bought during WWII and it served as a great entrance piece. We’ve also got a stained glass pendant lamp which gave the entrance a welcoming glow.

Design Theme 2: We wanted a bright and sunny study. Conducive to stay awake at weird hours, like now. It has to serve as a guest room too and so we got a sofa bed to serve as a reading lounger on normal days. We had a huge bookshelf to house our collection of books too. Before this, I never knew we were such studious people! Heh, our shelves filled up in no time! Instead of the usual study desk, we had a bar height workstation installed. This serves well as a standing ‘pop-in-pop-out’ surfing station as well as keeps the mouse and keyboard out of Seth’s reach! Heh!

Design Theme 3: Seth’s room has to be the most fun and interesting place to be. How else then can we keep him occupied so he does not disturb us? Heh. However, due to the speedy rate kids grow nowadays, we wanted everything to be less permanent, so we can convert or change them as he grows. We pasted wall decals to up the fun factor and subdivided the room into a sleeping/changing area as well as a play area. Our pride of the room must be the ultra cute ceiling fan we paid a silly price for. We call that the sucker fan as it was really bought for it’s cute looks rather than functionality. Lucky for us, it managed to produce a decent wind speed and promises to be super steady with no shaky parts.

Design Theme 4: Our master bedroom, needless to say, has to be in my favourite sucker colors. The Man calls everything pink /purple and all things cute ‘Suckers’. I can’t disagree for I do find myself buying things for their beautiful colors more than their uses. :p To utilise the limited floor space, we chose to have a platform bed once again. This works well as we can now add another mattress next to our bed for Seth before he is ‘weaned’ into his own room. It will be impossible to fit a huge bed with another single bed and have enough walking space if we do not have a platform. I then have enough space leftover to incorporate another standing wardrobe to create a walk-in wardrobe space. Well, a walk-in wardrobe is every ladies’ dream right? I think the Man secretly loves it too though he would say it’s meant for me! The wardrobe serves well to hide our hilarious sleeping positions otherwise visible from the doorway too!

And so ends our Project DIY! But not before the Man installs the shower rose for our bathrooms! Now I can sing “Raindrops keep falling on my head” in the shower!