Friends are asking me how living in Singapore has influenced my art. Between unpacking, decorating the apartment, and traveling - I haven't had any time for art. I did send a friend a package, which was asian inspired.
I have lots if ideas in my head.....I just need time to create. But off to Bali today : )
Welcome to our Singapore apartment!
We are on the 2nd floor of a four-story building and are very lucky as we have an end unit. Each floor only has two apartment entrances, our neighbors across the hall and ours. Our neighbors have lived in Singapore for 10 years and are originally from Taiwan.
Please come in.....
Here is the floor plan of our apartment:
We are not completely finished decorating but everyone keeps asking for photos so we wanted to share what we have so far.
Our living room
All of the furniture in this room is ours, not the embassy's. It is the same furniture we had in Brussels, with the addition of the tv stand and the red chest. We do not have a balcony, although you can open the glass doors all the way and step out about 6 inches.
This red chest is a new purchase. It is from China and is 90 years old. The gold decorative paint has been retouched. We love it as is mixes with our contemporary furniture so well.
The first door next to the red chest is the master bedroom, then to the right the half bathroom, then the kitchen. There is one more door on this side not shown and that is the art room. Across from the art room is the guest room. The entire apartment is on one floor and there are beautiful marble floors throughout.
The view below looks into the dining room. The dining room table is three tall tables put together. We wanted to have the ability to move them around for a party or a happy hour. We purchased them here in Singapore.
This is our other fun piece of furniture we purchased here - an opium bed. Everyone's first question is - what the heck is an opium bed?
The Chinese daybed was nicknamed an opium bed during China's opium smoking period in the 1800's. Public "opium dens" were popular places to buy and use the drug.
While indulging, patrons would recline on these daybeds, thus they became known as opium beds. A cross between a sofa and a bed, they are practical as they can be used as a couch and as a twin-sized bed. This is a reproduction, not an antique. The tray in the middle can be removed.
Our master bedroom
This room is still a work in progress. I painted the back wall and side wall a light blue. All of our rooms have very pretty decorative crown moldings.
The curtains are too short and I want more color so I just ordered this swatch of fabric to see if it will match. What do you think?
We still need to hang the mirror and pictures. All of the furniture (except mattress) is embassy furniture. The wall at the foot of the bed is all closet space.
Our master bath is quite large with a tub and a separate shower. It was recently renovated with a new tub, shower, and tiles on the wall.
Our guest bedroom - all are welcome to stay!
It is an elephant-themed room. The chest and bookcase are embassy furniture and the day bed is ours.
Love my elephant border!
Our kitchen is a galley-style design. It was completely gutted and remodeled with new cabinets, marble counter tops, and appliances just before we moved in. It even has an air conditioner, which is rare for kitchens in Singapore.
The appliances are all top-notch. The oven has a rotisserie to cook chicken and we have a full sized refrigerator! This is a change from Europe where we had the tiny 1/2 refrigerator. And we have an ice-maker!
At the back of the kitchen is what they call the "yard". It is where we have our washer and dryer, a helper's room (Most everyone in Singapore has a live-in helper and this is their room) and a small bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower.
We do not have a live in. We use the helper's room as our storage room. It is our only storage area in the apartment.
And the bathroom we use to store our suitcases. Did I mention we have four bathrooms in this apartment? Three of them have showers only, the master has a tub and one has a toilet/sink. I am not going to clean 4 bathrooms! As you can see - the shower is the bathroom in this one.
We think this is so cool - a trash shoot. We drop ALL trash down the shoot. We NEVER have to take a bag out. Maybe this is common in apartments - but we had never seen it.
Our half-bath is shown below. It is also a nice size room.
And last but not least - the ART room! It is not complete yet. I know I have been saying this for weeks. It is very close! Wow - I said this for four years about the Brussels art room : )
Love the happy pink border I painted.
And the fun graphic curtains I made.
That's it - every room. We hoped you enjoyed the tour and remember....everyone is welcome to stop by and see it in person! Just let us know when you will be arriving!
texture tuesday: watercolors eDition
oh my
& scripted edges
& my texture from the botanical gardens x 4 - shown below
original image
I have told you before what a great cook the hubby is.
Today, for brunch, he made the best scrambled eggs
with croutons and baby asparagus.
Oh so good!
Happy weekend everyone!
I have not made any cards since we moved. A friend recently asked for a wedding card. I had several made, but I had purchased new postcards of wedding couples just before we left Belgium. I was anxious to use them so I created a handful of cards. I miss making cards! More incentive to get the room COMPLETE! So I can start creating.
Thursday came and went and the art room is not finished. But I do have a handful of new cards! : )
Taken at the Singapore orchid gardens - minutes before a HUGE rain storm came in. Have I mentioned that it rains everyday here? I keep telling myself....we are in the tropics! Altered using Kim's two new watercolor textures "oh my" and " i am".
The decorating of the art room is slowing coming along. Each time I carve out time to sort....I end up playing instead. I thought maybe if I shared a photo - it would force me to finish it. Absolute deadline....THIS THURSDAY!
Love the hot pink - it is so bright and happy. I thought all pink walls might be too much, so I just painted a wide border at the top. When I look at photos of studios in magazines and on-line - I love the all cream/white vintage ones. But when I have the chance to do this and I always pick a bright color.....chartreuse in Brussels now pink in Singapore. Guess I am just a color junkie!
Me!
This week our assignment over at Beyond Layers was to create a self-portrait. Sharing a self-portrait was not that hard for me, maybe because I have been posting photos of me and the hubby for years on the travel blog. I used Kim's texture "and then some".
This photo was taken on my new opium bed in my new "uniform".....shorts! Over the last 30 years, I have rarely worn shorts. Now I wear tham all the time - even to go out shopping! It is just so hot here. Below is a full photo of the opium bed - I love this new little nook in my apartment. It is hard to tell, but I painted the wall behind the bed taupe.
I decided to take a photo without make-up. Now this was a bit more "exposing" and challenging for me, especially a close-up. But here it is! I used Kim's textures "aurora" & "and then some".
I am really enjoying this year long class.
This weekend we went to a new area to look for antique furniture. As we were walking there, we came across this little shop called the Ho Tit Coffee Powder Factory.
In the front case were little jars of coffee beans with a sign that read: Over half a century of dealing in coffee wholesale and retail all welcome. We needed coffee so we popped in and asked if we could buy a small amount, a 1/2 kilo. The answer was yes, but what came next was totally unexpected.
They (owner and his daughter-in-law) invited us in for a tour. We walked to the back room where we had to take off our shoes and put on "slippers" to walk in the roasting area. Below is the owner next to the roasting machine - he has been in business for 60 years. He told us the machine is over 100 years old.
We learned that what we refer to as ground coffee, in Singapore they call it coffee powder. It was funny .... on the way home we took a taxi and as soon as we got in the car he asked if we had coffee powder. He thought it smelled really good.
They were so excited we were there and they wanted to share everything with us. They pulled out antique tools and had us pose with them. Below we are with the tools they used to sort the beans and spread them apart for drying.
Here is a very old weight they used to measure and carry the beans from the fields. It was a three-person job.
The daughter-in-law wanted me to be in the photos.
We can honestly say we have never had such fun purchasing coffee! We bought a Bali blend and it is delicious. The store is not that close to us, but after the special treatment we received, we would go out of our way to go back!
HoTit Coffee Powder Factory
402 Upper Paya Lebar Road - Singapore
A few weeks ago I posted about the pitaya or dragon fruit and featured the variety with the white center. This week, I bought the one that is a deep pink version which, is much sweeter. Isn't the inside color gorgeous?
The fruit vendor explained the way you tell them apart is by the shape. The exterior color is the same on both, but the one with the pink inside is much rounder than the white.
Here is the white one - you can see it is longer.
And what does one do when the color is so beautiful?
Color luggage tags! I took a chuck of the fruit and just swiped it across the luggage tags a few times. Then let it dry for an hour. These will be so fun to decorate!
Will post what I create later in the week.
Welcome to my blog! I live in Singapore with my sweet hubby D - I blog about what it is like living abroad, my mixed media art and jewelry, flea market finds, photography, food and travel. We travel often so you will get a peak into many countries around the world. I post several times a week. Enjoy your visit and please drop me a note!
You can see my art and articles in the following magazines:
Somerset Studio January/February 2012
Somerset Studio Gallery Summer 2011
