The Kitchen Photo Project

We are looking for a picture for our kitchen. The main idea is to add a dash of red color to the kitchen for better feng shui. And also as kitchen deco, close-up photograph of some red vegetables or fruits would be an ideal subject for the picture. It's more personal if the photograph was self shot.

We were privileged to have a lot of help from YC from TwentyOne-Fifty Photography (see their wedding photography portfolio here / YC's personal portfolio here). He came over to the apartment on a Sunday and we attempted to shoot macro-photography of some strawberries and bell peppers.

YC contributed a lot in the lighting department. Without his light/soft box and his guidance with light play, the photos wouldn't have come out nice. Although I was doing most of the shooting, my 50mm prime lens proved to be inadequate for macro photography. The focal length was insufficient. Even with YC's macro extension attached to my lens, it was still hard to focus perfectly. Hence the session was a bit harder and time consuming because of the inadequacy in the lens department.

Strawberries were a lot of fun to shoot. Their rich vibrant color and textured skin provided a lot of details in the photographs. The outcome looked impressive, I couldn't believe that it was shot right on my kitchen cabinet top. We also made an attempt with some bell peppers.

Bell peppers were tricky. Despite having a rich color and nice shape, we could not capture the right feel. We even attempt using a different background, like shooting on a piece of my floor laminate. The wood texture looks nice so we tried shooting other subjects on it.

Out of the many shots taken, those that made the shortlist had to fulfill our criteria and have the right feel for our kitchen wall. After rounds of review and post-processing, we found our winning shot...

85% Complete

Our renovation is almost complete save for some minor area touch up.

Kitchen

The kitchen is our favorite. It turned out more spacious than we expected after the installation of cabinetry on both sides. The estimated width of the walkway is about 1.5 m and that is plenty of space. I think kitchen space like this is really rare in the public and private property market nowadays as space becomes a scarcity (probably with the exception of landed homes).

The top hung cabinets are laminated in gloss white for a clean look. The lower hung cabinets are topped with white solid surface top with matching white powder coated glass back-splash and metallic grey laminates. The look we are going for is clean, posh but durable and low maintenance.

Living and Dining Room

The living room is almost ready pending the brick wall. We love to have the brick wall but we are experiencing some hiccups in getting it. Instead of boring you with the full details, let's just say, it'll be delayed. Otherwise, the living room is ready to receive furniture.

Mirrors are nice. It makes the small dining room look bigger and brighter than it is.

Office/Study (Cabinet)

I love the effect where the wooden flooring runs directly into the wardrobe. When I first saw this kind of effect in Flamingo Valley show flat and I told myself I want this effect for my wardrobe. The small hole on the left side of the cabinet is for my small fish tank. =)

Bathrooms

Hell's Kitchen

Well, its not exactly Hell's Kitchen but the kitchen is sure messy as hell. This post show some photos updates on the progress of kitchen cabinets so far.

We opted to have kitchen cabinets on both sides of the kitchen. We want to have a lot of storage space to make up for the loss of the store room which came with the original layout. The metallic laminate for the lower cabinet was darker than we expected but it matched the tile color perfectly. More whites are coming in to subdue the greys such as the white powder coated back-splash and white solid surface kitchen top.

More updates to come for the kitchen, once all the stuff stored in the kitchen are used up at other parts of the apartment.

Yet Another Update (Oct 3rd 2011)

Window Grills being installed. The false ceiling and L-box looks better in white primer base paint. It looks like they are going to fix up the PLC down lights next.

A late addition to our plans, we decided to add a feature wall at the dining area. It is being fabricated as seen in the photo.

Kitchen lights are up. Stuff we have bought are sitting in the kitchen.

The master bedroom has a warm and bright look with our yellow base coat.

An Update (Oct 3rd 2011)

False Ceiling and L-Box

The L-box has gone up in the living room and the false ceiling has gone up in our dining room of our apartment recently.

We selected to go with L-box for the living room because we want a ceiling fan. This has more of a utility value because we don't want to have the air-con running most of the time to save on electricity cost. Having a ceiling fan, hopefully, won't affect the aesthetics of our apartment look much.

The false ceiling of the dining area unfortunately had to be lower than the L-box because it had to cover part of the original kitchen ceiling which was lower than the living room. Hopefully when the wall features of the living and dining room go up, they will draw attention away from the discrepancy in ceiling heights.

Kitchen

After the laying of electrical wires and running of water and gas pipes, we are now waiting in anticipation for the kitchen cabinets to come in. Now that we've bought the hob, hood, oven and kitchen sink, the carpenter has the exact measurements for the solid surface kitchen top cut outs. So we are happy to report that the kitchen cabinet fabrication is in good progress. =)

Bathrooms

We are quite impressed by what has been done to the toilets. Boxing up the exposed pipes really made a difference to the outlook. We have ordered 90% of the sanitary fittings so it's a matter of time that they are up.

Light installation is in progress and we are in anticipation that the painting is completed soon so that we have more colors in the photos for our next few updates.

Newly Bought

Here's a little update on our recent purchases.

- Bedside Table -
Our slow search has definitely paid off as we finally found the perfect bedside table at Lifestorey. Not only is it compact enough to fit into the tight space we have in our master bedroom, it meets our functional needs and best of all aesthetic desires.

Componibili by Kartell
3 modular elements round tower in white to match our 22" high king size bed.

- Coffee Table -
Our main criteria for the coffee table was that it should give the living room an open airy feel. And we figured the best way to achieve that was to get a clear coffee table that is streamline & functional. And we found just the right piece at Comfort Design.

Clear Coffee Table
(Inspired by Umbra's Magino Coffee Table)
A strikingly simple and functional piece with integrated magazine rack made of clear acrylic.

- Red Sculpture -
We chanced upon this art gallery while we were shopping for sanitary hardware along Jalan Besar. A red sculpture that was placed at the entrance of the gallery caught our eye and we walked in and the rest was history. I thought the sculpture looked like a coral, our ID thought it looked like a leaf, and my Mum thought it looked like a cactus. What do you make out of it? :)

Red Sculpture
To add a hint of colour in our otherwise neutral living hall.

- Hood . Hob . Oven -
Our requirements for hood and hob were:
a) both hood and hob should be streamline
b) stainless steel hob for safety reasons cos the oven will be placed below
c) ease to clean
d) cast iron supports
We had initially wanted to get domino hobs from Electrolux. But eventually changed our minds cos Electrolux domino hobs don't come with cast iron supports.

Tecno Slim Line Hood (Square).TH968T


Tecno Built-in Hob.TA863TR

Bosch Built-in Oven.HBN331E2J

A Simple Plan

Spatial planning for our crib turned out to be more difficult than we expected. It was the first hurdle of beginning renovation.

It is an art that requires careful balancing of functionality, aesthetics, budget and practicality. Working within the limited space of 721 square feet and structural constraints of beams and pipes, we sought to revamp the layout of our apartment into living spaces that are functional and modern.

For instance, our idea of a modern functional master-bathroom should at least house a bidet, wash basin and a shower cubicle to provide convenience and privacy. Our main headache here was the space constraint. It took some imagination, gut feeling and heavy duty spatial planning to achieve what we want.

The extent of spatial planning was also something that we had to grapple with. In the early stages, several interior designers we spoke to proposed major spatial rearrangement which entailed, hacking down entire rooms and recreating them in other parts of the apartment. The proposed ideas were fresh and unique but feels not quite adequately practical nor budget friendly. Sometimes we got the feeling that the IDs were trying to get their designs into the next issue of "Home and Decor" at our expenses.

Finally, we arrived to a conclusion based on what we need. We need to retain the structure of the original layout as much as possible. There is a possibility of renting out the place after the 5 years Minimum Occupation Period as stipulated by the HDB. A two bedroom apartment is easier to rent out that a one bedroom.

So instead of totally revamping the layout, we applied minimum creativity touches, specifically in the kitchen, master-bedroom and master-bathroom, to bring in a balance of aesthetics and practicality. Focus was more on renovating the basic fundamentals of electrical wiring, pipes, tiles and windows for a modern and practical feel. For instance, unsightly pipes were made invisible by covering them up.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our simple plan. =)

Living and Dining: No major revamp. Dining area was enlarged by pushing back the kitchen divider.


Kitchen: Kitchen can be sealed by sliding door. Food preparation counter is beside fridge. Cooking hob is opposite counter, washing area is beside the stove for convenience as it is usually the last step of the process. A tall cabinet is to be erected beside the washing area to cater for storage needs.


Office: Currently blank. A built-in cabinet will be erected beside the entrance for storage needs.


Master-bedroom: Storeroom is collapsed to make way for walk-in wardrobe. Wardrobe will extend into the bedroom. Master-bathroom will also extend into the bedroom to provide more space for what we need. We reckon that bedroom is for rest so only minimum space is required. Any additional space has been utilized for more useful purposes.

Work In Progress!

As renovation progresses, our apartment is fast metamorphosing from a dingy old flat to a brand new apartment with modern finishes. The new windows did a great job with natural lighting and ventilation control. Plastering the walls helped to alleviate wall and ceiling imperfections. New tiles made the floor looks up to date.

At present, the apartment still looks drab and grey but it's nothing that a fresh coat of paint and electrical lighting cannot fix.

Work in progress: the tiler and contractor's work stuff are still strewn all over the place. Walls and ceiling had been made smooth via plastering of ultra hard compound. 

The dividing wall between the living room and the kitchen had been pushed back to make both places more optimally functional. The stiffener (protruding beam across the living room ceiling) marks where the divider wall used to be and it will be covered up by the false ceiling. 

The new windows serves to throw more light into the kitchen and make the space appear bigger and they also better ventilate the apartment.

The apartment really looks "industrial" with grey tiles and grey walls. Me like ;)

No more dingy kitchen toilet!

The future office. Nothing much done except wall/ceiling plastering and installation of new windows.

The master-bedroom work in progress, the master bathroom had been extended out.

The future walk-in-wardrobe

We had lots of showflat inspiration and a contractor who's a "toilet specialist", the toilet better turn out good! =P