new home

Well, hello again. It's been a fun and crazy couple of weeks since my last post. For starters, we moved! After two wonderful years in a modest one bedroom apartment, D and I have decided to move on to a two bedroom. It was a difficult decision as we were in-love with the one bedroom we had. But the two bedroom was bright and airy, and well, the outdoor rooftop space was too damn hard to resist. As soon as I saw it, I was sold. D, on the other hand, was more cautious. But in the end, we just had to get it. And now, we're happy as two clams could ever be.

It's weird to have rooms. We've gotten so used to our teeny tiny apartment that it was strange to wander around the space, trying to find out where the other person could be. And we can't talk without being in the same room anymore. We'd gotten away with that in our old place. But now, we can't carry on with conversations from one room to the next. Don't get me wrong. The new place is not huge. It just... has rooms.

It's a work in progress right now. We have to buy a new couch, re-upholster the old one, buy plants for the outdoor space, put up art on the walls, get nice comfy chairs for the desk at the office (aka second bedroom), and yada, yada, yada. The list goes on.

Anyhoo, here's bits and pieces of the new place.

The Second Look: We first saw the apartment on a Saturday. We went back the next day, and we just knew we had to get it.

 Moving Day 1: The new place is in the same complex. We just moved from one building to another. But it was a lot of work. Countless elevator trips, loading and unloading. It took a whole weekend to move everything. And to think, we didn't have much!

 The View: Another perk of the new place? A lovely view of Bangkok! 

One night, we even got to watch fireworks over the river from our bedroom balcony.

First Purchase: The day we gave a verbal yes to the landlord, I got this chalkboard wall decal for the new place. It now holds daily reminders and sweet messages from the hubby.

I'll post more pics of the new place as we go along.

small is cool

Apartment Therapy's Smallest Coolest Contest is here again, and I can't get enough of the small cool homes that are being featured. It's amazing how a little bit of imagination and creativity can transform a teeny tiny space to something that feels spacious and cozy. Living in a teeny tiny space myself, 68 square meters to be exact, I am inspired to make the most out of our small space. So much so that I told D that I will forgo shopping for shoes this month and opt to buy stuff for the house instead. We are in dire need of storage space, and I am in awe at what these small cool homeowners have done to tackle this issue.

Hokayyy... on to my faves.

 Laura's sophisticated studio.

Jay's small scale renovation.

Christine's Sausalito skylights.

Steve's Sydney sun.

Pretty awesome, huh? See more small cool awesomeness here.

[Photos from Apartment Therapy]

a case for shoes

D thinks I have a shoe problem. But really my problem is shoe storage space. I need a shoe closet. Like Pink Kitten's humongous shoe closet.

glamourai home

I like peeking into other people's homes. I don't know why but somehow I always find myself looking too intently at the apartment across our balcony or stop in my tracks and try to sneak a peek when I see an apartment door open on our floor. That's why I'm always thrilled to check out sneak peeks at Design*Sponge or house tours at Apartment Therapy.

This week, I caught a glimpse of the home of one of the bloggers I follow. Kelly Framel's home, also known in the interwebz as The Glamourai, was featured in Apartment Therapy. Needless to say, her apartment is just as glamorous and infinitely interesting as her.

Her home has a stark black and white motif with gold accents. I don't usually consider black, white and gold as colors that would be cozy but she has made it work.

 I love the black and white frames resting on the floor.

I want a wall of mirrors too.

I had workspace envy when I saw this.

See more here.

[Photos from Apartment Therapy]

new walls

A couple of weeks ago, our apartment finally got repainted. It was in dire need of a paint job and so I couldn't be happier to get rid of the stains on the wall.

Our living room and kitchen got a fresh new coat of Vanilla Ice while our bedroom walls got slathered with a cozy mocha hue called Magnolia.

But with the new paint job, we had to say goodbye to our Fresh Blue colored accent walls. Truth be told, I kinda miss it.

polaroid display

 

Just one of the details I love in the home of Jason Roskey and Maggie Goudsmit. Maggie likes to keep photos within reach. I think this is a brilliant way to display your favorite polaroids.

See more of this beautiful home here.

[Photo from Design*Sponge]

color block

It's really hard not to notice that cleverly displaced color block. I personally love the idea. Makes the room all the more interesting, don't you think?

I noticed they did that in Kate Spade's Pop Up shop too.

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quirky seating

 front

back

I think this would look perfect in our future house. So fun, so quirky, so us!


[Photos from Rococo]

the new black

I love how people are more and more embracing black. Instead of being overpowering, it highlights the other colors (and textures!) in the room.


[Photos from Apartment Therapy]

let the sunshine in

 

I love how the massive windows in Annette Joseph's home are doing wonders in bringing in light into the loggia. I could live in rooms like these. 

And don't even get me started on the facade of her home. See more of this gorgeous home.

[Photos from Design*Sponge]

pretty plates

Oh lookie! More pretty plates! These beauties are from Far4, particularly from their "if you talk to them..." collection. I want!

Amber and her jellyfish

Chloe and her snail

Frances and her fish at a tea party

[Photos from Far4 via style/SWOON]

a proper kitchen

We don't have a proper kitchen in our apartment. And by proper I mean, a kitchen spacious enough for more than two people to move around in and enough counter space to use. This pretty much sums up a kitchen I would like to have.

[Photo from Apartment Therapy]

james ward designs

These James Ward hand painted plates are too cute.

More here.

[Photos from Jimbob Art]

chalkboard wall

I'm still obsessed with chalkboard walls! I have yet to paint that wall in our kitchen with chalkboard paint. But I haven't had any time to do so.

One of these days, perhaps.

[Photo from Ruche]

mismatched plates

Aren't these mismatched plates lovely? I think it's one of the brilliant details in this sweet Oregon wedding. Such a great idea to collect these before the wedding and then use them at home after the wedding!


[Photo from Green Wedding Shoes]

grill and baguettes

Our 9-month old BBQ grill is turning rusty which made me think of getting a new one. Now I'm contemplating on getting BBQ Bruce. It's perfect for people who do not have the luxury of backyards and will otherwise have to do with balconies... like us!

Spotted via Curbly

And while we're on the topic of nifty household stuff, I want one of these hand carved wood baguette boards too. Because, well, we sure love baguettes!

Spotted via Apartment Therapy

behind beck

 ...is where you'll find more storage. 

An excellent thrift store find! I wonder if I can find one with Bjork on it...

[Photo from Re-Nest]

shoes on the wall

Shoes are really meant to be displayed - hanging on the wall on beautiful painted molding, no less. Definitely a DIY project that every girl can and should do.


[Photo from Apartment Therapy]

spices on the wall

I love how Lauren Nelson displayed her spices - on a magnetic stainless steel board she mounted on the wall. What a cool idea!

[Photo from Design*Sponge]

what a door

When I moved in with D, I was adamant about sprucing up the place - got rid of a lot of stuff, rearranged existing furniture, got new furniture, and painted accent walls. Mind you, I'm not done yet. I still want to paint one of the walls in our kitchen lime green and paint another with chalkboard paint. I also wanted to paint our front door bright yellow. D is hesitant, especially with regard to the front door.

What's so wrong about a bright colored front door?

Photo from Living Etc.

Photo from Curlin Reed Sullivan

Photo from Apartment Therapy

Photo from Design*Sponge