Industrial Loft Design

One of my readers approached me a couple of months ago to design her new old apartment! New because it'll be her new abode and old because it's a really old apartment! We are both equally excited about it.........we are hoping it'll be another drastic transformation (ala the AMK Horror House done by me a while back......which, by the way, is the one project that brought my services to her attention! Another big THANK YOU to Freshome is in order!!)

We are going fashion this apartment after one of my favourite styles......the New York industrial loft! Man, just saying it sends a nice tingle down my toes!

We'll be knocking down ALL the walls leaving it an empty shell...........when we are done, it's gonna have bare polished concrete flooring throughout the apartment, pristine white walls, unconventional light sources, minimal furniture and hopefully, some nice pop art pieces on the walls to bring it all alive! But we are bearing in mind that the client's a lady and we are gonna have to be really careful that the completed work is not too masculine and harsh.........It's a very small apartment but after we are done with it, it's gonna be able to hold plenty of wild parties!

Let's see some pictures for inspirations..............

This is the look we hope to achieve - nothing too sophisticated, industrial yet still comfortable & homely.......

scanned from Modern Interiors Designsource

Love the spartan feel but with occasional pops of colour......

scanned from Interiors By Color

An example of how industrial lofts can be feminine as well........

scanned from LOFTS Living & Working

this could be the feel for the sleeping quarters (love the curtain & the pendant light) ........

scanned from Metropolitan Home June 2009

Again, love the pops of colour here (the hanging light bulbs are interesting too) .......

picture from Desire To Inspire

I personally adore the Fortuny floor lamp by Mariano Fortuny and I think it would absolutely work in this apartment.........only thing is, how do I convince the client to invest in one?!!

picture from Desire To Inspire

An idea of how we could give the apartment an art gallery feel........

picture from Desire To Inspire

Now this apartment by Yun-Yi Interior Design Studio from Taiwan (read it here) really captured what I think the apartment can look like............

Watch this space for future updates!

Sorry.....I've Been Lazy............

Very very very sorry for kinda neglecting this blog ever since the birth of my son in January (it's been THAT long?!!) No excuses......I've been lazy.................

Actually, I have not been all that lazy because I've set up a Facebook business page and have been religiously updating that page with links and pictures and short updates........You may have noticed the big FACEBOOK badge on the upper left corner of this blog page.......well, click on it and it'll bring you to my Facebook page.......come join up as a fan and leave me a note!

But I realise I should not give up this blog because surprisingly, there are people who read it afterall! Yeah, I find that hard to believe too, seeing as how they are not very vocal about it! But every now and then, I've been getting emails from interested readers who need my services........

So I've decided today to start again..........begining with this entry to apologize for my tardiness......Please forgive me. Thank you for being patient and loyal.

I'll get right to it straight away and start with a brand new entry NOW!!!

A Prickly Seat!

The Sea-Urchin made by Oooms Studio with Dutch designer Rachel van Outvorst is truly a remarkable piece of work! Hand-made with 8000 pieces of cable-ties, this unique piece is sure to be a conversation starter in every home! 

Check out some other equally outstanding designs by this Design Studio at their website here!

INTRODUCIIIIIING......JOEL TAY!!!!!

Baby Joel's expected delivery date was on 8th January 2009 so my wife and I had decided that 2nd January 2009 (Friday) would be the last day of work for her if Joel's not out by then. She would start using her 4 months maternity leave from 5th January 2009.

On Friday morning, we talked to Joel, asking him to be a good boy & let Mommy finish her last day of work.

That night, she worked late to finish up most of the work, leaving work only at about 9.30pm. While having dinner, she commented on how especially tired she was that particular day.

After a shower later, my wife confided that she suspected that the waterbag has burst! She kept wanting to pee and the liquid that flows out seemed colourless and odourless. Not wanting to take any chances, we decided to head for the hospital immediately. Thank God we had packed our bag for the hospital a week ago!

Upon reaching the hospital a little past midnite, we were promptly ushered into the delivery ward where a nurse proceeded to inspect my wife. 

"Nope, the waterbag's still intact!" the nurse annouced. "But she's 1cm dilated!"

This is it! The process has begun!

The contraction started soon after. "Not particularly painful but quite uncomfortable!" she said. We bravely decided to forgo any pain relief for the moment.

For the entire night, neither of us caught any sleep! She because the contractions were keeping her awake and I because she was keeping me awake! 

The nurse came in every other 2 hours to check on her dilation but each time, we were told there hadn't been much change! By the morning, Dr Lee ordered an induction drip to hurry it along as there didn't seemed to be any progress after a full 8 hours! The contraction became more frequent after the induction and a little later, Dr Lee came by to burst the waterbag to hasten the process. By noon, she managed to dilate another 2cm. At this point, we decided to go for an epidural to manage the pain as Dr Lee predicted that it was gonna be a loooooong wait! We were very anxious about how painful the epidural procedure would be! All our fears proved unfounded as my wife declared that it was no more painful than a mosquitoe bite!

All this time, the contraction and the baby's heartbeat was being monitored via a couple of instrument strapped to my wife's tummy. Through the graphs that these two monitors showed, we were able to track the contraction frequency and the baby's heartbeat. 

By 3.30pm, we were all getting really worried and my wife was really tired of the constant contractions! Dr Lee said that the baby was beginning to show signs of stress as the heartbeat had dropped a couple of times. Not wanting to take any chances, we decided to proceed with an emergency c-section. Kinda disapointed because we had been trying so hard to have a natural delivery! The worst part was that in an emergency c-section, the father's presence was not allowed in the operation theatre! Bummers!!!

As my anxious wife was being wheeled into the operation theatre, I could only pace up and down the waiting area nervously. Kinda like what you often see in the TV! To take my mind off, I called my sister and parents on the phone. 

After roughly 35 minutes, a nurse pushed a clear bucket out and called out my wife's name! Joel is here! I hurried over for my first peek at my son. He had the most expressive and alert eyes! At less than 10 minutes old Joel was already turning his head about and surveying his surronding! I touched my son lightly on his tiny shouldered and whispered to him, "Hi Joel! Daddy's here! Welcome to your new world!" It was really hard to fight back my tears!

I followed the nurse as she pushed the baby to the nursery room to warm up the baby (kinda like leftover food! Ha!) before proceeding back to the operation theatre as my wife was still in there! It was the strangest feeling! You want to celebrate the birth of your son but until you can be assured that your wife is safe, you still have to remain sombre!

Before long, my lovely wife was being wheeled out too! She was shivering quite badly. I was told that it was an after-effect from the epidural and that she would be okay soon.

Finally, I could start rejoicing the BIRTH OF OUR SON!!!

So everyone, put your hands together to welcome my firstborn, Joel Tay Ee Yang born on 3rd January 2009! He's still a RAT BABY!!!

Proud Mommy with her preciousssssss......

Our 1st Family Portrait!

Joel in his own cot.............

Drifting off to dreamland.......

Our PRECIOUS SON, JOEL!!

The Waiting Game...........

We are anxiously standing at the threshold of Baby Joel's full term. Come tomorrow, it'll be the 39th week. I'm already having dreams of his birth! A few times I awoke from the dreams at 5am and had not been able to go back to sleep thinking about how our lives will be forever altered soon.....

I had asked our Gynae Dr Lee to take a guess on the delivery date and his calculated prediction is that it'll be about a week prior to the Expected Delivery Date (8th Jan 2009) which means right about New Year day! Which means it could be today! PANIC!!!!!! 

JUSTIN IMBERLAKE - DICK IN THE BOX

BWAHAHAA!!

Chanced upon this side-splitting Justin Timberlake music video by the GENIUSES at Saturday Night Live.....Man! I havn't had such a good laugh for ages! Everyone's gotta take a look! Caution: Not so appropriate for the innocent and pure-hearted though.......

And the most hilarious verses has gotta be the bridge......"One : Cut a hole in the box; Two : put your junk in the box; Three : make her open the box!" PRICELESS!!!

Tell me what you think!

Sneak Peak of Joel Tay!!

Last Friday we went for a sneak preview.....only this was a special sneak preview and you don't watch it at the cinema! Instead, we watch it on a small screen in a radiologist's clinic!

YES!! We went to have a sneak preview of OUR SON!! We had heard that you can have a 3D scan done when the baby's old enough in Mummy's tummy. Apparently, the images produced are quite clear and you could see very clearly how the baby looks like before he's even born! We actually scheduled the scan too late because 3D scans are usually done before the feotus reaches 29 weeks because otherwise, the limited space in the womb makes it difficult to get clear shots. Joel was already 31 weeks old in the womb. But we decided to try anyway.

As expected, the radiologist had a hard time manipulating her apparatus to get a clear view of Joel! It didn't help that he was sleeping in an awkward position facing down! The radiologist suggested that my wife shift a few positions lying on her side so that Joel will shift his position as well. It had limited success......we have a sleepy boy!

But we managed to get some pretty good shots anyhow. Kudos to the radiologist! At some point, Joel even picked his NOSE! And then he YAWNED! Ha Ha Ha! That was surreal! 

From the shot below, our son seems to have quite a prominent nose too! 

See his teeny tiny hand and fingers!

Sigh.....Daddy & Mummy can't wait to have you in our arms Joel! It's gonna be WONDERFUL!!!