Urban Living - Inspiring Interior Design

Urban Living - Inspiring Interior Design

This unique design really caught my eye. The owner has cleverly maximise the space by crafting out a small study table on top of the bed, which is pretty unusual. Did you notice the "floating" stairs on your left? With embedded lights to light up the stairway? Notice how the lighting below the bed platform creates the similar "floating" atmosphere too?

The cement walls give off an "industrial" vibes which complements the steel overhanging structure nicely. The owner has opted for earthly fabric upholstery to add some warm to the room, otherwise the effect would have been very dull and cold.

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How to make Your Home Elderly Proof: Part 1 - Making Your Home User-friendly

 

How to make Your Home Elderly Proof:

Part 1 - Making Your Home User-friendly

Interior design is meant to increase the quality of our life. Thus planning for a renovation without considering the needs of the elderly members will be detrimental. Unfortunately, I have seen too many young couples who are too caught up with constructing their “dream” home that they have sadly sidelined the needs of their aged parents or grandparents.

In fact, I am very disheartened to see that so much emphasis is placed in the look and feel of the home design that they forgot that a home is ultimately where our loved ones live in. Don't these couple know that their aged family members have feelings and specific needs too? To me, it is ironic that a house is so stylishly and modernly furnished and yet, our loved ones faced difficulty living in it.

Why is making a home elderly proof so important?

In addition, these couple fail to realize is that by making their home elderly proof also means that their senior family members get to maintain their independence and this means a whole world to them. In fact, the elderly prided their autonomy very much and want to move around the house with minimal assistance.

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Renovation Lessons Learnt

I managed to talk to a few homeowners whose renovation project ended over a year ago. With them, I analysed and noted that these are some of the lessons which they have learnt.

Lesson #1: When To Save or to Splurge
Categorize things into "must-haves" and "can-do-withouts" to help you prioritize what you really to spend on and where you could afford to save a little. This will help you to stay within budget. For instance, installing a shower head is a must-have but getting an expensive fancy rain shower head is a can-do-without.

Lesson #2: Function over Form
Practicality over aesthetics; it's best to design something that is practical and useful over the long run. For example, having little or no cabinet seems a good idea to obtain that highly sought after minimalist look but many fail to realise that this look is usually unsustainable over the long run.

Lesson #3: Allow room for expansion!
Too many homeowners design their home based on "current" needs and lacked the foresight to allow their design accommodate for future needs. A good example will be designing a glass feature-wall that can only accommodate up till 42" flat screen Tv, any bigger will mean reconstructing that feature-wall again.

Lesson #4: Go Green!
Buying Eco-friendly household products DO save you a lot of money in the long run! Initial costs may be higher but it's worth the money considering the lower bills. :)

Lesson #5: Safety begins at Home!
Many interior designers forget to incorporate basic safety needs into their design. For instance, they usually propose glass cooking hobs (instead of stainless steel or aluminum ones) just because they look better. Most homeoweners are not aware that glass hobs are not recommended for extended and extensive cooking and might shatter due to the heat. Another common mistake is to recommend coooking hobs that are too big for the kitchen counter top. As a result, the cooking hob is situated too near the countertop edge and poses risks to both adult and small children.

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Home Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities. 

The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:
    Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

(Source: wiki)

Similar to workplace ergonomics, home ergonomics is the science and study of designing tools and furniture which are ideal for home occupants in order to optimize their well-being and overall performance.

Thus, here are a few ergonomic designs which you can consider:

• Ergonomic Chair (Aeron work stool wins Attendees' Choice Award from the National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition 2006)
• Ergonomic Sofa (How To Know If Your Sofa Is Ergonomic)
• Ergonomic Mattress and Pillow (Ergonomic Pillow: Memory foam, Body or Contour Pillows)
• Ergonomic Kitchen (Kitchen Work Triangle & Ergonomics Lighting for the Kitchen)
• Ergonomic Tools (Top Ergonomic Cooking Tools found on the market, The Ergonomic Knife, Garden Tools, mouse and keyboard)
• Ergonomic Storeroom 

Application of ergonomic should not stop once we leave our workplace. In fact, we should pay close attention to such so that we can improve our well-being and overall performance. :)

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Lighting Tips – The Art of Layered Lighting

Lighting Tips – The Art of Layered Lighting

What exactly is the art of layered lightening?

A room should never be illuminated by one, sole ceiling fixture. This is because long shadows are casted and corners of the room may not be sufficiently lighted. Hence, various combination of lighting is recommended to achieve the best lighting effect for a room.

Thus, such a popular practice is known as “light layering”.

Like makeup, each lighting layer has to be is progressively applied to a room to achieve the desired effect. In fact, at least 2 layers of lighting is needed to properly light a room. So what are they?

Layer #1 – General Lighting

Commonly known as ambient lighting, general lighting should serve as a foundation for a properly light room due to its fairly uniform lighting. Chandeliers and flush-mounted ceiling fixtures usually fall into this category. The purpose of overall lighting is to provide enough light for us to proceed with general daily activities such as walking and finding our way around a room.

Layer #2 – Task Lighting

Task lighting provides direct illumination to aid us in performing certain tasks such as reading, putting on makeup and cooking. Study or desk lamp, recessed can lights, mini-pendants over the kitchen island, under-cabinet or under-counter kitchen lighting and powder room vanity lights are common types of task lighting.

Layer #3 - Accent Lighting
Accent lighting adds visual texture and interest to a room. Track lights, up-lights, down-lights, directional lights and flushed wall sconces fall under this category. The job of accent lighting is to spotlight a special object (such as artwork, architecture, sculptures), special features like textured wall or to strategically throw shadows to add visual interest, intrigue, depth, dimension and texture to an otherwise boring and plain room.

Layer # 4 – Decorative Lighting

Decorative lighting doesn’t provide much light as they are mainly for ornamental artistic purposes. These lightings are usually on the dim side and meant to accentuate the object itself. Examples of such lighting include deck stairs strip lights and special lights for water features.

Room by Room Guide Lighting Tips

Refer to this site for lighting tips for each individual room. :)

All images are copyrighted to the respective sites.

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iTunes App Store - Interior Design Resources

Here are some really amazing interior design related apps for iPhone/iPad users. :)

1. Houzz Interior Design Ideas

 " Called the "Wikipedia of interior and exterior design" by CNN, Houzz has the largest database of home design ideas on the net, with over 200,000 high resolution photos. Browse photos by style, room and location and save them to your virtual idea book — it's the equivalent of clipping design magazines to a scrapbook — making ideas easier to search, save, and share...."

2. Houzz Kids' Rooms

" .. Browse, save and share thousands of big, beautiful photos of inspiring kids’ spaces. Filter spaces by age group, and get information on the pros who designed them. Tap through guides to creating soothing nurseries, fun toddlers' rooms, flexible shared bedrooms, and spaces for bigger kids to teens...."

3. Interior Design Photo Collections

".. This app lets you view the whole spectrum of interiors, to elegant North American mansions to refreshing rooms with ornamental plants and beyond.These albums have many uses: helping design a new home or remodeling, examples for arranging rooms, studying design, for wild ideas and more. "

4. Home Design Interior Space Planning Tool 

"...lets the interior design professional, their clients—and do-it-yourselfers alike—plan, preview and carry out their design visions while staying organized and within budget..."

5. Interior Design Magazine

"Interior Design magazine is the essential resource for every design professional and enthusiast, on all projects, throughout the entire design process. Interior Design, the design authority, shapes design opinions, while providing boundless inspiration and vital information through compelling coverage of the most groundbreaking projects, products, and people in the industry."

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Creative Living - Transforming Your Walls Part 2

Ways to Spice up a Plain Wall

1) Fresh coat of Paint

One of the easiest way to spruce up a plain wall is to give it a fresh coat of paint. You can look for online tools to help you in visualizing and preview your place before you start painting. However, if you prefer to D.I.Y, you can refer to this post for some painting tips.

2) Artworks and Posters

If painting walls is too much of a hassle, you can consider hanging paintings or posters to give an instant makeover.

3) Wall Decals

 

Wall decals are quick and efficient ways to brighten and make your walls more interesting! To put it in a layman's term, decorative vinyl stickers are designed to be applied to walls. There are a vast number of different styles and patterns available in all sorts of colors in the market. In fact, you may also request for customization at a small fee.

4) Useful and Practical ideas

 

Why not make full use of what a plain wall can offer by including shelves, decorative clothes, keys hangers and clocks. You may even want to convert your wall into a drawing board! :)

5) 3D Wall Art Panels

3D wall panel brings a dramatic impact to home design, instantly adding another dimension to the interiors. Environment friendly, and considerably cheaper than traditional carved wooden panels, they offer an inexpensive and yet impressive alternative. In fact, here are some articles which covers 3D wall panel from beds.sg and renotalk. You can get interior designers to do it for you or even D.I.Y yourself at a fraction of a price! :)

6) Graffiti aka Street Art

This is definitely not for the faint hearted...increasingly, more people are open to bringing street art into the home interior design. However, the difficult part is to find a skilled graffiti artist. Here is a post which covers on decorating your home with graffiti art. 

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living@HOME

 

Home-fix just launched their first issue of living@HOME. In case some of you are new to Home-fix, it is the leading D.I.Y retail chain in Singapore.

At only $1, living@HOME is definitely worth a read. The first issue covers articles ranging from useful  household appliances like vacuum cleaners, useful advices on how to make small spaces look bigger, and even teaches you how to overhaul your old furniture.

If you have yet to grab a copy, fret not. I will share some useful articles from that issue in my subsequent posts.

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Creative Living - Transforming Your Walls Part 1

Ways to Spice up a Plain Wall

  

 Turning your Plain Walls into Drawing Boards!

"IdeaPaint turns virtually anything you can paint into a dry-erase surface and may room into a hub of creativity and collaboration. You can use it @ home, school or work!"

So what exactly is this IdeaPaint about?

"It is the most flexible, durable and cost-effective dry-erase solution/paint which can be applied to any smooth surface (in this case I recommend walls) , outperforms and outlasts the leading dry-erase options and works better with all brands of dry-erase markers..."

A mouthful? Okie, in short you can transform any surface (walls, tables, doors, cabinets etc) into a drawing board for dry erase markets. 

So, it is pretty useful if you have creative children who are over-zealous about leaving their creations on walls, doors and cabinets...

For newly wed couples, you can consider using it for your study room. Or if you are working from home, you can use it  in your home office. :)

It is environmental friendly, safe and non-toxic! Just think of all the papers you save from using it (and headaches from cleaning those doodles). Big companies like Reebok and British Airways are using it in their offices.

The best part is that it doesn't come in boring colors like White! You can choose from Light Gray, White Sand, Off White, Light Beige, Gray, Orange, Light Green and Brand Blue!  :)

Read on to Creative Living - Transforming Your Walls Part 2.

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Concierge.bigcartel - of Animal Rubber Bands, Bookends, Rabbit Bag, Gum Hook and Tube Doorstops

Pardon the loooong title but this website carries a lot of interesting home living ideas. Although the stuffs they carry is a bit on the pricey end...the website is definately worth a second look. :)

Concierge.sg

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Directory of Shops: Curtains

I scouted around for list of curtain shops as I will usually compare the prices and know the kind of services they are offering prior making a trip down. :)



Online curtain shops:

1. http://www.curtainspecialist.com/



2. http://www.curtains.com.sg/



3. http://www.bchsin.com/home.asp



4. http://www.neowin.com.sg/

5. http://www.ecurtains.com.sg/


Contribution from Mervyn



6. http://www.curtainspecialists.com/


7. http://www.imagio.com.sg/


8. http://www.ozone-wide.com/



Others
Found a good website that list all the stores related to Carpet / Rugs / Curtains. :)
http://shops.st701.com/shops/home/72
http://www.belgiocarpet.com/

Here is another similar website with eVouchers too! http://www.myhome.com.sg/HomeImprovement/Curtains/Content/shtml/curtains.shtml

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