I am a home decor novice and it’s my first attempt. I have plenty of appreciation for those who do home styling talent and a good eye. This was our Macau apartment where we finally settled in and bought all our own furnitures. My style is I suppose what you call eclectic, a mish mash of places we’ve lived and my love for colour – kind of a clash of Scandinavian minimalism and Chinese maximalism.
Without multiple conference calls a day, I could get more work done, emails went quiet and FINALLY I got round to doing all the housekeeping and decorating I wanted to do since we moved in four months ago to our unfurnished apartment. Chef works alot, so I took on the project to furnish and put the place together.
Lots of random knick knacks and not one particular style – which kind of defines us because we’re nomadic and I have a penchant of buying too many knick knacks and hoarding them. But after reading KonMarie’s book TWICE, I have to say that my junk clutter was halved. All my fiction books were donated to the Taipa library.
I think it probably happens to everyone, as I get older my purchase decisions are on how much and how to ship carpets, lamps and large furniture items instead of cheap souvenirs. Gone are my backpacking days.
When I backpacked India and I asked my mother if I could get her anything, she told me to look for nice carpets and textiles and I was thinking how crazy is that request – why would I go shopping for a carpet and then go through all the trouble to ship it back to her in Singapore?? But now, I only see perfect reason – and missed opportunities if I didn’t do it!
In short, I am becoming more and more like my mother.
The good thing about Macau’s flower market is that we can buy fresh eucalyptus any day, a luxury I am thankful for. The shoe cabinet is a custom made cinnamon wood sourced from China, I found a carpenter wood man who is friendly and efficient.
Ikea does so many wonderful things – like that rug and our sofa. The only pain is that we have to go all the way to Hong Kong and I had to stagger buying trips because there are items they simply won’t ship (frames, glass items etc) and you’d have to lug them back via ferry as a human camel. Not fun.
Lots of pieces from my friend’s store in Singapore Arete Culture – my little inspiration haven. Table tray, wooden book storage, cushion covers all from her shop.
Finally found a home for my Majorelle bleu lamps I bought in the medina in Marrakech. At one point in time, we were about to buy a place there and just move!
My late grandmother’s “kwa” wedding dress as centre piece. Completely handmade, hand embroidered with gold threads. Tall chairs also custom made in Zhong Shan. Same wood man who made my 2m dining table set.
home decor inspirations
Chicken coop lamp from Arete culture which has often times been a dinner conversation starter. :)
Lots of bits and pieces China sourced. If you live in Macau, there’s actually a Taobao concierge that helps you with your purchase if you don’t read Mandarin. I like customising things, so Taobao isn’t always an answer to what I am looking for because our style is… well mad eclectic.. which makes it home. :) And I do regular Shenzhen, Guangzhou runs too for fun which is such a huge resource of all sorts of things!
I have been asked so many times to help with Taobao orders, but it’s really a full time project manager job to manage your goods from purchase to delivery and it’s high stress, so best to engage the professionals. Don’t be cheap, they only take a small percentage cut and you’re supporting a local business. ;)
So, what do you think? Yay or Nay for the apartment? For us, it’s cosy enough to call home.
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