desk dilemma

Hey there, it's been so long since I last wrote! More than 3 weeks, I think. Life has been rather hectic for the past few weeks with family weddings, a huge launch that my department had to prepare for (yes, I have a 9 to 6 job. I wish my job was just decorating and blogging all day, but that will have to wait for now).

Anyways... now that life has gone back to normal again, I thought I'd just catch up with a short post of what's on my mind right now.

I'm supposed to be decorating my brother's room and he has this desk in there that looks like this.

I have been contemplating on painting this little desk - but what colour?

I'm really liking the blues on these wood pieces...

via Polish & Patina

I really like the worn look of the two chests flanking the door. I'm seeing this worn chalky blue almost everywhere...

via Roses and Rust

A Swedish chest of drawers is stained in blue. Isn't it pretty?

via Desde My Ventana

The bright chalky blue of the buffet table stands out in this neutral dining area.

Tim Clarke

And I adore the blue cabinet in the photo above.

Or maybe we should paint it chalky white like this Swedish desk in the photo below?

a Swedish white desk from Tone on Tone

Any ideas?

Have a great weekend!

our house!

I've got a huge project ahead of me. We have just got the keys to our new house!

Gulp!

Photo taken from iPhone. Sorry for the poor quality.

My husband and I thought we had another 8 months ahead of us, but seems like the developer has exceeded our expectations.

We're going to miss living so close to the city! But I am excited to start with the renovation of this house so that I can decorate it afterwards!

This will be our second renovating experience so I am already anticipating the stress and headaches to come. Though our first experience was a pretty smooth one, there were some bumps here and there that we've learnt from. 


Do share with me your renovation tips! I love hearing from you! Perhaps on how to keep your cool when things don't turn out the way you wanted it to? :-) 

I will be sharing more updates of this particular project on this blog!

Project update 2!

I think this project deserves an update. I’ve been rather busy to actually go out and start purchasing, but I’ve used this time to gather inspiration and decide on what would be suited best for the room. Click here for the last update, and here for a photo of the room in it’s current state (it's the last photo in the post).

I’ve also taken the measurements down in order to get started on looking for affordable wardrobes and stuff.

Can someone please recommend me a good measuring tape? This is already the second one where the tape would not roll back in. :-/

Because the room is rather small, we're going to go for a wardrobe that is not too deep - 30cm max. Also, we don't want the doors to bang into the ceiling fan when it's opened. 

As for curtains, we've chosen Ikea's Wilma and Lenda curtains as they're a great price and look good, too.

For the accessories, I was thinking of painting the desk in the room black. Here's the photo of it.

There’s also a funky bookshelf – still haven't decided on how to revamp this one.

I also have an idea for artwork. We visited a second hand shop all the way in Bangi and found some great encyclopedias and maps. I was thinking of using the illustrations in some of the books and framing them.

Here are some cute map ideas I found on Houzz that I thought I'd share:

eclectic artwork design by Etsy

traditional artwork design by Etsy

eclectic accessories and decor design by Urban Outfitters

Image source from Country Living

We can either look for frames at Ikea, or get some cheap ones at a second hand shop at Petaling Jaya called Cash Converters. As for other accessories, I was thinking of visiting the flea market that I heard about at Amcorp Mall. Have been procrastinating on going there for ages!

I can't wait to get to work on this room soon! Have a great weekend!

We're done!

For those who have been following my blog, you would know that I had appointed myself as my sister's room decorator.

After many weeks of struggling to find spare weekends, the room is finally finished! To see the before pictures, click here.

Let me begin by saying that I had a great time decorating this room and my sister is a great "client" with great taste. The completed project is more of a collaboration of ideas and shopping trips between me and her.

Let's scroll down to the photos!

This is the actual view of the room when you enter from the door.

A lot of the items in the room are either bought from Ikea or revamped old furniture. The white bookshelf you see in the photo above was previously grey with black trim. I asked my sister to paint it white using the extra paint that was used to paint the door.

The blue is a Nippon paint called 'Shy Sky'. I'm glad it turned out the shade we wanted it to - a cool, blue-grey.

This is what you see when you enter the room.

The challenge we faced was finding a place for the huge desk with the computer and it's hideous wires. My sister spends a lot of her time on the computer (yes, you do, sis. Don't deny it), so the option of having it any where else but her bedroom was a no-no.

After making multiple rearrangements of the bed, desk and the bookshelf, we decided that this was the best layout.

The wicker in the room - the chair at the desk and the baskets on the bookshelf - help to add texture to the room which mainly consists of clean lines.

The blank space of wall above the bookshelf would look great if we had a mirror to hang. But that will need to wait for now as we have already exceeded the initial budget.

Finally, a new lamp! The butterflies in the pretty frame are actually confetti from the Coldplay concert my sister went to in Singapore.

The wardrobe - I wanted a simple neutral colour so that it would not overwhelm the room.

If you notice, the ceilings have been lowered. They are no longer slanted. The previous high ceilings resulted in poor air circulation - lowering them down helps to cool the room better. The main reason the makeover took so long was because we needed to replaster the ceilings for the whole second floor of my mother's house. Now the second floor is cool and comfortable!
 
Some small details on the desk.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos of the completed room! As for me, I'm happy that my sister is happy.

Now I'm looking for my next makeover project, and I've got my sight set on this room:

Have a wonderful day!