random

chairs.

as of today i still have no dining chairs. i use my dove gray vanity chair in my living room as a stand-in. but it's proving to be an increased hassle, esp now O comes over at least twice a week and the idea of having a homecooked dinner is becoming more and more appealing. i'm quite frankly tired of eating out and waiting for food.. while usually we head for restaurants that do not require waiting, just the environment around is stressful and last thing we need is more added crap after our long days.

so i was at pricerite today and i saw these cheap dining stackable chairs:


cheap, white, stackable. my family's chairs won't be stackable... but much nicer. hm.

i broke my bodum

my beautiful francfranc x bodum died because of my stupidity, along with four of my water glasses. in simple terms i was too busy trying to yank the trash out of my trash can and subsequently, i slammed my head against my dish rack.

i'm here to report francfranc is not carrying new ones :(

i did find other things i want there though!

I think the white one will be great for my bedroom/living room during the winter months.


this will be great for magazine storage + extra seating + wine glass stool.

yes i live here

time sure flies. i've been paying mortgage and living in this little shoebox for 3 months now. wow.

so let's see how far my flat degenerated:

kitchen: a lot more dishes. on my second tin of earl gray now. i'm aware i'm out of paper towels.


my room:

a housewarming gift from Anthony. he first bought me a cushion but his dad used it, so he bought me this very sexy lamp instead.


these stuffed animals have sentimental value for me. i brought them back from toronto. i still didn't have a chance to get replacement curtains for the broken doors yet.

instead of hanging my laundry in my kitchen, i hang them in my bathroom instead.


my den/living area... still missing dining chairs, so i moved my vanity chair here

i sit on my coach instead of my chair of course when I watch tv :)

imperfect beauty

Marge mailed me a housewarming gift fron the T.dot. but when it arrived in HK, it shattered into pieces. the poor candle holder became millions of pieces of green glass, save for 1 panel:


i am using it as a coaster now at work :)

my space inspires what i wear

i swear!

because bigger is better

HSBC had a welcome offer for the tv. i bought this 40" HD-ready TV for a bit less than $9000. for the same amount of money i can buy a 32" TV in the stores.

but bigger is better, right?

islamic architecture never looked so good on HD terrestrial TV.

the only problem is i must keep this box for 7 days.

tough task for a small flat like mine.

before the typhoon

since we have a level 8 typhoon situation right now as we type, tomorrow will be a much-welcomed day-off. three hours prior, i finally dragged my bum to Ikea and Francfranc, both 5 minutes away from my office (i know i'm lazy).

i've been eating out or eating no-cook foods since i've moved in. it wasn't until last week, after about two weeks of a lot of pub grub and alcoholic beverages, that my body is starting to complain.

my apartment came with some pre-installed Grundtal rails from Ikea, and when i saw this in the store, i picked it up:

when I got it home, i found in horror:

this:

must be attached to this:

with a screwdriver.

so i guess my countertop would have to suffer for a bit longer with my drying dishes.

i bought other stuff as well, my favourite though is this:

i love my books

I can properly showcase them now :) I am still unpacking a lot of them.


the shelves were designed to match my shoe cabinet. one of them was broken upon delivery and must be returned. i plan to put the DVD machines and shinanegans on that broken shelf.


after receiving my vanity mirror the first thought that crossed my head was "wow, now i can do makeup on my vanity! first time in .... 4 years!"

"this must be photoshopped"

it reminds me of the silver lining in life's circumstances.

housewarming numéro un

they love my alessi hand vac, i don't blame them


we christened the flat with champagne, courtesy of SETI's Todd Miller :)

other spaces i exist in

i figured i should post a picture of my desk at work, since i spend a lot of time there when i am not in and out of meetings.

we're pretty industrial-chic in the office design department. our floor tiles are sheet metal, literally.

we're bursting at the seams though, we may move soon.

don't have to treasure-hunt no more

special delivery today:


now i can find my shoes without digging through bags. (un)fortunately, the shoe cabinet's movable boards are a bit too low in my opinion, my sky-high heels have problems and have to adjust the shelves a bit.

i finally have a chair in my shoebox as well:


i love the button detail:

busy.

new gig = brain drain everyday. it's nice to come back to my own sanctuary after exhaustive left/right brain burns.


so this is around my headboard. what do you make of it? it's ugly like hell.

wardrobe malfunction.

a while back i posted about my fugly closet. it's hideous, but it was custom-built for my wall, and for the most part it is quite new still and has a lot of drawers for organization. i stuck with it (i kept the matching bed as well).

well, after i moved in i discovered just how poorly the thing was constructed. due to cheap materials, the boards warp instantaneously. the doors were hard to slide.

then this happened on sunday:


the door fell off the rails and almost crushed my toe!


sigh.

more stuff

i mounted my rnd clock, it looks quite neat against my very classic sofa/not so classic wall-colour.

my dining table arrived as well! the fold-out leaf opens to the back side so i can sit more people :)


it has its wood grains exposed:


über-sexy

why i hunt for bargains.

if i can buy something for $5 why pay $10?

of course, i only do it when i have time. while time is often against me, i do score great bargains then use the saved money on nicer stuff.

this leaf pot-table-protection-thingy is $10. i love $10 shops.

i bought all three at the as-is section of ikea for $40


i bought the laundry basket for $10 so i can splurge on these items:
Francfranc x Bodum coffee bodum
Francfranc x Bodum pepper mill
alessi Anna G wine bottle opener

and of course


she was lugged back to hk from toronto, yeap.

my old vanity and my new dining table are arriving tomorrow, can't wait!

"you'll eat phad thai all the time?" - G

i bought these dishes at a designer shop the other day. according to G, a lot of Thai restaurants use them. ah well. they were fairly inexpensive, the plates were $6 each, the salad bowls $13.5/$15 a pop. the two bowls i borrowed from my aunt are from Ikea.

fanny mentioned about my sponges, yes i have super cute sponges!

don't be fooled by the cute bird, she's powerful.

i'm cheap, and i rarely use chopsticks. so when my aunt gave me these wedding favours tonight:


i took birdie for a spin and scrubbed off their name and dates.

rewired

PCC-dub rewired my broadband today. the modem i used died, so they gave me a new one.

here's a view of my little kitchen :)


i can't afford to reno the kitchen, so i placed plants there instead. i splurged on some francfranc x bodum items, an alessi Anna G wine opener and matched them with some colourful sponges/towels. i will head to shanghai street tomorrow to see if i can find replacement door knobs.

starbucking

shoebox without internet, lack of dining surface and having a week off between jobs mean ritual coffee and breakfast at the Starbucks.... 15 bloody minutes away.

the problem with living in an older district is the lack of hot spots... if i drag my labtop to a congee place and hook up wi-fi with those PCCW telephone booths i'm sure they will kick me out in five minutes flat. those ladies in aprons mean business, man.

as my parting gift, my colleague remembered i loved this clock at Homeless ... and bought it for me! i am trained as a designer and anal-retentitive typographer. so it looks like i have to go buy me some blu-tac.

aside from new purchases, i LOVE old stuff. i've been "borrowing" stuff from my family:


so, cute. i use it as a step-stool to reach my ridiculously high closet rails.

this came with the apartment, it's the receiver to open the gates downstairs for visitors:


like, 1985!! look at the straight lines! the brown and beige! i made my friend wrap the whole thing with five million coats of tape before we painted to make sure it is as pristine as possible.

a week internet-deprived.

i'm writing this at a Starbucks around my old office. the disadvantage of living in an older neighbourhood in Hong Kong is the lack of hot spots. pcc-dub will install my stuff back next tuesday so until then, i will be drinking a lot of Starbucks.

living in my new space, as sparse as it is right now, is amazing. my rooster looks amazing on my walls:


here's a view of my couch and blue blue/yellow walls:


yes, i love love love love love love wooden floors. my Mormon-rejected couch works amazing with the floors.

i hate my ceiling light though, so i don't turn it on at all. it reminds me of Bart Simpson:


so my solution is simple: leave it off permanently until i find a better replacement. ignorance is bliss.

i was at ikea and i looked at a few replacements:


but now i look more and more at it, it will be too matchy-matchy with my rooster. need to hunt for better alternatives soon.