Project 612CPD7879

Seeking the Olde on the Little Red Dot

a friend posted a web link to her friend's new cafe some time last year and i was delighted to find out that the cafe also sells refurbished furniture - the mid-century kind that i love so much.

check out the gorgeous dresser and chair! heart the sexxy pencil legs.

to satisfy my curiosity, andrew and i popped by ReStore (124 Tanjong Pagar Road) last week, and indulged in some really yummy waffles (while i oogled the sexy furniture). sad to know that a pair of chairs i was eyeing was already sold - i would have grabbed them otherwise!

anyway. as much as i want to, i should not buy furniture now. (of course, if they are dirt cheap and unique, resistance is futile!) but it doesn't stop me from listing all the places i can hunt vintage furniture down in tiny Singapore. after all, hdb tells me that my flat will most likely be completed by june! :)

so, here's a list of places i've heard of, googled up or visited previously, and would visit when a&e get the keys to 612cpd7879:

VINTAGE FURNITURE

• David Antiques
  215 Rangoon Road S218456
  t: 6291 8227
• Hock Siong & Co
  *used items from hotels and service apartments in singapore
  hocksiong.com.sg
  153 Kampong Ampat Junjie Industrial Building #01-03 S386326
  t: 6281 8338
• Journey East
  *restored art deco and retro wood furniture
  www.journeyeast.com
  315 Outram Road #03-02 Tan Boon Liat Building S169074
  t: 6473 1693
• Junkies Corner
  94 Jalan Senang S418467
  m: 9791 2607 (charlie/joseph teo)
• Like That One
  *vintage furnishings
  www.likethatone.com
  2 Bt Batok Street 24 Skytech #01-02 S659480
  t: 6560 9168
• Lorgan's
  *funky 50s retro store
  www.lorgans.com
  100E Pasir Panjang Road #01-03 Century Warehouse S118521
  t: 6272 4988
  m: 9455 0133
• ReStore Living
  www.restoreliving.blogspot.com
  124 Tanjong Pagar Road S088533
  t: 6222 3510
• Second Charm
  www.charm2nd.blogspot.com
  Blk 19 Kallang Avenue #04-157 Mapletree Industrial Building S339410
  t: 9628 9171
  m: 6294 2919
• Stewarts
  *chinese art deco
  www.stew-arts.com.sg
  268 Upper Bukit Timah Road #02-10 Indigo Block S588210
  t: 6468 4886
  m: 9627 0644
• The Heritage Shop
  93 Jalan Sultan #01-01 S198997
  t: 6223 7982
• Tong Mern Sern Antiques Arts & Crafts
  *antique shop with eccentric owner
  51 Craig Road S089689
  t: 6734 0761

NON-FURNITURE VINTAGE STUFF

• C.K. Collection
  *musty shop full of bric-a-brac, especially vintage fans
  586 Serangoon Road, 218200
  t: 6293 2301‎
• Odds 'N' Collectables
  *singapore's portabello market, all crammed in a shop
  oddsandcollectables.com
  128 Telok Ayer Road S068597
  t: 6323 0043
  m: 9662 4461
• Past Image
  5 Coleman Street #03-08 Excelsior Shopping Centre S179805
  t: 63393985
• The Attic
  Far East Shopping Mall #04-146

let me know if you have more places to add to this list, will you?

Vintage Print

Totally smitten by H&M's latest Home collection. Here are my favourites:

_{Lovely cushion covers}

Am loving the vintage logo and typeface used on this bath mat too:

Now, why isn't H&M in Singapore yet?

Gimme Pug Love

Pugs are the most adorable creatures ever.

Awwwwww...

Pug on an Eames chair. How cool is that?

This week, Andrew and I chanced on a pair of pug bookends at Borders, and decided to purchase them as soon as we set eyes on them.

We got a pair in white. And now I'm thinking of getting another pair. In black. So that I can have them in black and white, like this.

Sigh. Can't resist bringing the cute stuff home. It's already so hard to find space to stuff all the buys meant for 612CPD7879 . But resistance is futile ;)

Over the past two years, I have amassed other useless but cute things ...

_{Clockwise from top left: Black Muji chalkboard nesting dolls from Japan; Fred Matryoshka Measuring Cups; Smiggles Owl Money Box from Down Under; and a set of China-made Russian dolls from Harbin.}

I seem to have something for Russian dolls ya? Can't decide whether I like the Muji or the Fred dolls more. The set I have from China (a gift from my parents' travels) has strange Europe-inspired Chinese painting scenes on the dolls' tummies. The robin-blue owl is my prized possession; I pestered dear Leng to lug it all the way from Melbourne for me. 

I have a lot more stuff stashed away somewhere. Such as a banker's lamp, a retro electric clock (a gift from my dad-in-law!) and two sets of retro dial phones. Surely, it will feel like Boxing Day when I start to move my stuff to the new place next year.

And you know what, I'm not exactly sure how all these things will come together... But I know it'll be exciting. Can't wait!

Bathroom Bling

_{From meganhobson.com}

It has been an ongoing joke how ridiculous our bathrooms will look ...  We plan to have a chandelier in each bathroom. (Or at least in the one ensuite our room.)

The usual response to our perhaps bizarre desire goes like "why do you need a chandelier in the toilet?" or "wouldn't your head bang into the chandelier?".

It's true HDB flats' ceiling aren't exactly high or the bathrooms large. In fact, my bathroom may only have space for a small shower area. Then again, chandeliers are not always humongous in size.

A chandelier adds sparkle and a little bit of glamour to an often neglected space such as the bathroom. For a room as important as the bathroom, its use is often utilitarian and the decor blah. I say, give it some love!

_{Clockwise from top left: interiordesign.com, arhzine.com, arhzine.com, and cococozy.com}

And this, in my opinion, takes the cake. 

It's a chandelier rain shower head! Form plus function - so clever! Read about it here.

But it must cost a bomb. I'll rather invest the cash on home/kitchen appliances. So I guess I'll settle for something close to these:

In fact, Andrew and I spotted similar styles at Laura Ashley recently (about $200+ each), like the one below. Very tempting, but we'll probably hunt for more affordable options at Sungei and Balestier areas.

If I really can't afford one at the end of the day, I could always give this a go!

_{From oddee.com}

A neckache is guaranteed should I ever take on this project!

Concrete Plans

The keys to 612CPD7879 is not even ready for collection and here I am, dreaming how the place would look like and how I would do it up.

One thing I'm quite sure we would do (with Andrew's blessings, of course) is to adopt cement flooring for our living room. I've always loved the industrial look and feel of it, including the cracks and holes. It doesn't have to be perfect. I'll take the cement floors in the corridor if I could! In my personal opinion, most new HDB flats lack character, perhaps blinded by the incessant need for everything to look perfect.

In fact, I would love to make my flat unHDB-like. Alas, I can't alter the size of the windows nor replace the (new and ugly) existing tiles that comes with the flat. But I digress.

The industrial look is cold and not exactly welcoming for the living room I have in mind. But with a few rugs and bursts of colour, it should look inviting! Just check out the idea board above! Pictures are taken from (clockwise from top left): design*sponge, design*sponge, Home & Decor, The Design Practice.

For the rooms, we will most likely go for wood laminate flooring. I love parquet, but it is too costly and require quite a bit of maintainance. Not my idea of fuss-less floor. There are also many many options for laminates. Here are some shades and styles I love:

Pictures (clockwise from top left) are from: Gareth Hackett, pergo.com, Biləv İnşaat, krono-original.com, and pergo.com.

I heart the rustic panelled laminate from Krono Original. It has a warm appeal and pairs well with mid-century and contemporary furniture. Love the clean lines created by the laminate's v-shaped grooves. Simply gorgeous.

I <3 This

So loving this right now. Simple and elegant framed paper hearts by sarahandbendrix on etsy.

I can imagine making this for the new home, and as gifts for friends.

Excited. Excuse me while I go grab some Ikea frames ;)

DIY Taxidermy: No Animals Harmed

Don't ask why I need a deer/antelope head in my home. But hey, this is a cool tutorial.

This is one of those tutorials I want to embark on but have no idea whether I will have any patience to see it through. So ... I'll just link it to my blog for now. Until 612CPD7879 is ready!

DIY: Dry Brush Painting

Gorgeous work from Design*Sponge.

I am tempted to try this on the Ikea Muddus laminated table I've recently inherited from office, courtesy of LY. Trouble is mine is BRIGHT yellow. Had initially wanted to just paint it plain white, but it makes more sense to buy a brand new one ($69) from the Alexandra store.

So, I might as well try something more daring. Need to decide on colour and style, but first I need to know how I can prime the table top (made of particleboard, melamine foil and ABS plastic) for paint.

This particular post on How to Paint Laminate Wood Cabinets seem promising. And here's another, although the former seems like a more thorough walkthrough.

The steel legs (with pigmented epoxy and polyester powder coating) look easy enough. They just need a good sanding down.