matchalatte
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Posts posted by matchalatte
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embarked on yet another DIY project. this is the service yard, and also my baking area! i painted this part of the wall a darker grey, i also needed something to hang my baking utensils, tart rings etc. was contemplating between a pegboard and this, decided on the latter since it was cheap (yes, daiso again!) and fuss free. i do like how it looks and im really happy with it. its missing a little something though, fairy lights perhaps? haha
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posting the current state of my kitchen, a year into moving in.
view from the service yard
my full height unit on the other side. notice i also did the contact paper thingy on my floor finally, the marble one from daiso. pretty sick of the generic white flooring HDB gave, plus the grouts became dirtier by the day so i refreshed up a little with this. i think its very pretty.
for the uninitiated, i went against the "conventional" and opted for laminate countertop. just an update to say that after a year of intensive cooking, baking & washing, its holding up super well, no stains, discoloration or whatsoever. honestly apart from not putting hot items directly on the laminate, i hardly gave it much care. it was also really cheap. so the bottomline is you dont need to go for solid surface, quartz, silestone or whatever.
im still also loving my cabinets alot though i wished there were more gold elements like gold handles! oh well!
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nick has extremely good subcons, especially the carpenter. im still so in love with my cabinets after a year haha.
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not sure if i've posted a pic of my living room at night. its my favorite space in the home, really dark, moody and just the way i like it!
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one of my favorite things to do is at home is hosting close girlfriends and having afternoon tea.
today i made raisin scones, orange chocolate chai & matcha green tea financiers.
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7 hours ago, squazee said:This looks great!
But i'm just wondering... will daiso contact paper be able to hold up to heavy use? If you need to mop your floor, or there is laundry dripping onto it, or grease stains that you need to wipe off in the kitchen, not sure if the contact paper will hold?
there are 2 types, the glossy one that is thicker and usually in marble/granite print. this woodgrained one is thinner, but still water & greaseproof. it scratches easily though, i was doing some gardening work at the yard and dragged a pot with soil, also had hangers dropped on the ground and both resulted in scratches/dents. if its just normal mopping i think it should be ok.
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11 hours ago, greenfingers said:Hello,
You home looks amazing!!!
I would like to ask for the taobao site you got the curved shower curtain rod from, if possible? Is it strong?
I love your pantry and am considering that option but I wonder where else can store nitty gritties like mops, vacuum cleaner, brooms, ironing board and such....how do you deal with these?
hi, thanks! here you go :
so far so good for the shower curtain rod, just have to be very gentle when pulling on the curtain.
i still keep the broom at the sides of the pantry, i also have a stepladder there. for my vacuum cleaner i put it beside my full height wardrobe. theres a gap there near the window. i dont own an ironing board, i also dont own a rice cooker so basically my lifestyle is quite "abnormal" haha. for mop, im using the magiclean wiper stick with a cloth attachment from daiso. thats my mop. when i mop the floor i simply fill my bathroom basin with water & floor detergent so that does away with the need for a pail as well. really need to do away with many things else theres no room for all these in a 3 room flat.
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as some of you may have already know, im a huge fan of DIY stuff. despite having moved in for so many months, im still trying find ways to beautify my home, on a budget of course. i've repainted my door frames to black because i didnt think the initial color (charcoal grey) was dark enough. and yesterday, i did this :
using woodgrain contact paper (remake sheet) from daiso to dress up my service yard. it was white tiles previously but this one looks so much better i love it! it has this outdoorsy feel that i like. probably cost me $5 for this project. i've also bought marble contact paper from taobao to redo my kitchen floor, will post a pic then!
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12 hours ago, Jason Wong said:This is so beautiful
thank you
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15 hours ago, Starrain said:Haha I stop being lazy and read your blog page by page and found the paint code and feel that my house should marry your house. They are quite soul mate u know.
Are those paint easy wash or???
hi girlie! i actually dont remember you haha. went to look at your profile and realized you dont have a blog? now im curious, you need to post some pics of your home! its rare to see folks who go for dark wall colors, my family still frown upon my paint decision lol
mine's nippon vinilex 5000. cheapest of the lot la.
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just realized i havent posted a photo of my island workstation + dining area so here it goes :
the island has been my best decision ever. not only is there more storage, i do my baking and product photo taking (for my carousell) there. it also doubles up as a coffee corner with my nespresso machine & capsules. using laminate countertop is also one of the best decisions, its cheap and really easy to maintain. no need to go for fancy schmancy ones like quartz, silestone or whatever.
another view overlooking my hacked dressing room & tv mounted on wall.
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6 hours ago, blueygirls said:wow! Looks amazing! I love the sofa.. so beautiful and stunning!
Do you have anything else in the MBR besides the bed, side tables and console+ tv?
thanks! nothing else in the MBR, its too small to put anything there. my full height wardrobe is in the hacked BR2.
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hello again guys! i've moved in to my new home for 7 months already, how time flies! still loving every bit of my home, and thought i should come back and post some pictures. these few months i've mainly been cocentrating on putting more lights either using fairy lights or table lamps.
star shaped fairy lights at my dressing area
fairylights at dressing room's window area. i adore these!
lights on my sofa. im surprised at how well these turn out. very glowy and pretty.
rose gold mirror side table from fortytwo.sg. i was worried about how it would look in my home, turned out really nice. nicer than i thought!
view from service yard overlooking the kitchen and bomb shelter turned dry pantry at the far end. the dry pantry is the best idea ever. not only do i get to keep the bomb shelter door opened at all times for better ventilation (i know its usually closed for most people), i store all my dried goods such as flour, sugar, coffee, tea etc in there. i had this idea initially of a bottom cabinet with 3 top shelves but the carpentry would cost a bomb for a U-shaped pantry, something like $4000 for a small space so i bought two brusali high cabinets from IKEA instead and only cost me less than $400.
kitchen details. im hooked on those gold stuff.
random decors around the house
on top of shoe cabinet
marble print oven mittens
my two pots of fiddle leaf fig are pretty healthy and happy now!
all my stuff are from taobao, and even till today i cant stop buying! so i've pretty much hosted my family, close friends and relatives. comments about my home range from "hotel", "club" to "showflat" lol.
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On 3/20/2018 at 8:21 PM, Elise QW said:Hi Matchalatte, yesyes, not from Skyline. I am from West Terra. I just collected the keys 2 weeks ago
thats great! welcome to BB! haha. i LOVE your toilet door frame, its really unique. i wished mine was like that so i wouldnt have to paint over. cant wait to see your home coming together!
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hello fellow bb resident! which part of BB are you at? mine's also 3 room (at skyline 2) but from your floorplan i dont think you're from skyline right?
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hi stranger, nice to see you around again lol. joking!
great you're posting again!! super adore your cutlery drawer. wished i had the luxury for that kinda space *sigh*
re : paint peeling - if that makes you feel better, its definitely the paint. you're using vinilex 5000 isnt it? its a latex paint so its kinda rubbery. once you have a chip or scratch, one whole piece can be peeled off. same goes for mine. good thing abt latex paint is the low odor and fast drying rate. brushes are also easier to clean, no need for turpentine. just rinse under running water lol
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On 11/22/2017 at 12:20 AM, bykaraanne said:Over the last 2 years, we changed the way we lived: fostered a new bun, changed the way my business worked, experienced the passing of one of our buns, fostered two more bunnies........ Also, as I cleaned the house each week, I got more and more aware of how I wanted the flow of the flat to be and how to maintain it.
Again, these pictures are taken with lousy iPhone 6 photos by a bad photographer, so bear with me!
2017 (TODAY):
LIVING ROOM
SERVICE YARD (also home to my two new foster bunnies)
KITCHEN
MASTER BATHROOM
MASTER BEDROOM
GUEST BATHROOM
OFFICE / FOSTER BUNNY ROOM
girl, your home looks amazing then and now! looks more lived in now but it looks super comfy! i like the idea of cookbooks on the kitchen shelf. do they get greasy since its so close to your cooker?
i also noticed you have a fiddle leaf fig plant! i reckon its real? i hope you have some tips for me. i bought 2 from IKEA and they were dropping leaves like mad the first few days i brought them home. now some of the bottom leaves are still turning brown gradually nearer to the stem. im watering them only once a week now and also misting the leaves often and they seem to be doing better. i did notice some white specks and im not sure whether they're just dust or spider mites/mealybugs. keeping my black thumbs crossed they will somehow survive. i read they will also freak out when moved around
they seem so hardy but quite finicky tbh.
btw i adore your ghost chairs! regret choosing eames for mine and now thinking of these plastic ghost stools haha
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1 hour ago, bykaraanne said:Kitchen picccccccssssss
island
anyway, my home is largely the same. Been contemplating changing to a 3 seater sofa but u know how tiny our 3R is, especially my orientation. I’m selling a bunch of stuff away tho.
haha ok! will try and take some pics of the island.
i think i did mention in your blog last time i feel you have a very good layout, because yours seem so much bigger than mine. my kitchen is just so ridiculously small i cant even
then again i realize now my living room is rather big for a 3R coz i have a 210cm sofa + a side table + chair + bookcase aligned on one side and it still seems ok. my mom told me she went to a relative's 3R BTO and there wasnt any space for a coffee table. but whats the point of a big living room when my kitchen is barely 2m long? hardly any space to move.
im also selling some of my old books and plates, on carousell haha. what are you selling away?
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5 hours ago, pandacel said:Thanks for the cushion links! Lol I have approached nick too and he also squatted at one corner of the house while his assistants took measurements. I guess it's just his style la. He was one of our final 2 choices but we picked another contractor in the end coz hubby prefers one that will handle the project alone.
There was a cabinet that I self designed. What really impressed me about nick was that he was able to draw up the 3d image of the cabinet using software while we were discussing and even improvised on my design. I'm hopeless at using those softwares lol.
woah he actually came down to take measurements and did up 3D drawings and you didnt use him in the end? he didnt mind? lol. all those measurements & stuff were done after i paid him a deposit. i think i wouldnt use him if i didnt pay him a deposit and he come and squat at my house haha. then again quite heng i went with him in the end because he does have very good subcons.
what does it mean that yr hubby wants someone to handle the project alone? initially nick didnt oversee my project personally, his assistant terence did. but he made alot of mistakes with instructions/measurements so nick took over.
you even designed yr own cabinet? applause! i wanna see leh, have this feeling your home looks spectacular! stop being shy already and do up a blog! lol
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my review of nick of renoguyz
finally the review of my chosen contractor! sorry to you guys who pm-ed me asking for my contractor's contact. i decided not to reveal who it was until the whole reno is over mainly because i wanted to be objective in my review and of course, the other selfish reason being hes very famous around here la, i didnt really want to "burden" him with more projects.
i think nick or renoguyz requires no introduction. obviously i read much about him and what his personality was like from the tons of people who met him - things about him being blunt & sarcastic but in the beginning it was more difficult dealing with him than i could imagine because we couldnt really see eye to eye in many things and we do not have the kind of "chemistry" that some people have with their contractor and ID. but that wasnt a major concern as its more important to be able to deliver than to be a good salesman. as you probably can tell, i do not like typical HDB cookie cutter ID style design with lots of built in carpentry and im very anal in some of my requirements so i feel that nick thinks im very troublesome. afterall who on earth would want all drawers for kitchen cabinets and who the helI still does laminate countertop nowadays? during the time we met at my place after key collection, he was just so unfriendly to the point of being scary. he just squatted at one corner looking very sullen while his assistant terence went around taking measurements. at that moment i wondered whether i chose the right person to take up my project. even hubby was appalled. but soon, i started to see the positive side of him.
i dont want to go into the nitty gritty details of the whole reno, but lets just say that no reno process is smooth sailing. there will be lots of miscommunication and mistakes along the way but the most important thing is the willingness and promptness to rectify. that was one good thing about nick. another plus point is he has seriously VERY GOOD subcons. all his people are absolutely amazingly skilled with very good workmanship. because of the control freak that i am, im not the kind to visit my unit once a week so i actually had the "honor" in meeting most of the subcons - hacker, tiler, painter, electrician, plumber and carpenter. the only two people i did not manage to meet were the service yard window guy and the parquet polishing guy but even them did an awesome job and i really have lots of respect for these people, including nick who manage to source for these people to work for him. i do not think its easy at all.
of course, another thing is nick is not profit driven so hes not the kind who will encourage you to do all sorts of things. in fact lots of times he would go like "dont do this la, so expensive, not good to use, you will regret one day". and since hes not profit driven at all, i actually HAD to beg to pay him a deposit and up til the end of everything i only paid him 50% and he only collected the balance 2 months after i moved in
so would i recommend? absolutely positively YES but (theres always a but) do not expect lots of hand holding meaning if you're expecting him to constantly update or whatsapp you the progress, sorry to say, there is none. for me at least there is none. many times i had to ask him for updates then he will do it. i also hardly see him around, maybe only 3 times throughout the 3 month reno period. he does not turn up to supervise everytime something is being done, preferring to arrange for things via phone. sometimes i feel like i have to update him on mistakes instead, which i dont really mind but i would actually prefer him to be more proactive. thats the problem with engaging someone famous i guess.
so overall no regrets at all! hes not the cheapest but his rates are reasonable. most importantly his subcons are good, because ultimately, workmanship still plays an important part.
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so, a pic of the bedroom! was hesitant to upload pics coz it wasnt really done (still isnt). looks pretty tame compared to the rest of the house! also cant seem to get a good angle coz the room is sooo small.
bedsheets are from taobao. i swear taobao has the nicest and cheapest sheets. the quality is really good and it probably cost like 10 bucks for a set of bedsheet, 2 pillow cases and a quilt cover.
the room is also really great to sleep in because its so dark lol. once you draw the curtains you're in complete darkness even during the day.
the other side of the bed where my tv console is. honestly not much space as you can see, just enough for walking.
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1 hour ago, kingandbin said:Hello @matchalatte! Happy New Year!
Logged on after a long time to find that your home is already complete. IT IS SO GORGEOUS!!! (must caps cause I rly wanna emphasize)
Can't be more happy for you. Your place has such character and good taste! Even IDs won't be able to do as good a job me thinks.
I showed your photos to my husband and couldn't stop going, "Can you believe this is a HDB! Looks like Pinterest pics leh". There's quite a bit of decor but everything looks in place. I've been struggling with picking out the right soft furnishings/extra chapalang stuff for my home cause it's starting to look a little cluttered imo. That's the issue with minimalist-type homes~
sweetie im soooo happy to see you around here again! missed you so much, most people seem to just "disappear" after their reno is complete.
yes i've moved in 2 months ago! got carried away with all the nice decor of the nordic homes on pinterest & instagram so i keep buying & decorating lol. thanks so much for your kind words, means alot to me coming from someone like you, you have one of the nicest homes around here.
i think minimalist homes can have a few decors too, i've seen some nice ones and in my opinion as long as they're not overbearing ie striking in color they can still look nice. a few plants would be good for a start, you can never go wrong with greenery! in fact i adore the "jungalow" style haha. then i would probably get a couple of furnishings like clock, cushions in white, cream or grey, posters with maybe black wordings against a white bg would be nice too. for me im totally big on decor so its easy for me to go overboard haha. better stop suggesting to you! are you still furnishing your home?
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16 hours ago, bykaraanne said:A lot of them live in the suburbs so defo less dust. I am quite type A clean freak so honestly I started minimalizing everything so I can keep things clean as much as possible. Haha. I clean everyday/week so the less things the better. Lol.
Now my angmoh chu dream is quite far already. Cleaning #1.
But yes maximalist houses v nice. Decor + throws + cushions
girl your home is fine the way it is! you should update with the current "state"! is it the same as when you first moved in? did you add/remove anything? i super love angmoh chu!!
haha i like to console myself that at least the ones i got are nice clutter aka decor. because during our parents/grandparents' days they didnt really have lots of storage so tons of ugly stuff like biscuit tins lie around on table tops and those are clutter as well lol. i dont have rice cooker nor hot water flask so i already have less things on the countertop. now i just need to focus on dusting all my decor haha
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1 hour ago, pandacel said:I like your cushion covers! Aiya why didn't I think of buying individually designed covers. Do you mind sharing the links?
thanks babe, what does individually designed covers mean? you mean you got yours in a set? here you go :
http://www.dwntme.com/h.ZZJhmw2
http://www.dwntme.com/h.ZZJfCUU
the grey furry one is from ikea.
A Baker's 3 room BTO @ Skyline II
in Reno t-Blog Chat - HDB BTO Interior Design and Renovation
Posted
thank you for your kind words! it really depends on a few factors. if its a new home i would suggest a built in oven. you can probably get one at around $500+. mine's also the most basic range. that way you dont have to put the oven on the washing machine and if you really do intend to bake more often in future it wont be a headache trying to find space to slot an oven in. for me the oven is indispensable because besides baking it can also be used as a dehydrator for making dried fruit or yogurt, roast chicken, i also use it to keep food warm while cooking other dishes when i have company over. but ultimately it depends on you!