Of Brainstorming Ideas for Kitchen - Part 1

While brainstorming this, my husband keeps reminding me not to dwell myself too much on achieving what he-thinks-I-and-I-myself call My Dreamyyy Kitchen.

"A dream is a dream, dunya (the world) is a dream, what is most important is the Hereafter. If you think kitchen, sleep kitchen and bath kitchen, when do you think of Allah?"

Astagfirullah, his words at that time sliced me deep, and I was hurt. But he was right, and the truth always hurt. So, I want to remind myself that I CANNOT be obsess with the kitchen, even though I know I had been obsessing over them since forever...*cough* it even gone through several phases... *cough*

This obsession started during my final year of study in 2010 when I started to save images of kitchen inspiration into the lappy and harddisk for my personal collection. At that time, I love chalkboard paint and dreamt of blackboard-ing some of the walls or cabinet doors. For example; 

     

   

(note that as they were all saved into the harddisk, I lost the reference links)

I had that vision where I will scribble things and notes in the kitchen. Groceries shopping, recipes, to-do-lists, labeling, family schedules etc. But in practical world, specifically in my Asian world, kitchen is a whole lot more messy than I can imagine. It's oily and people don't do much stuff other than cooking and eating in the kitchen compared to the Westerners. I don't like my chalkboard wall/panel gets oily. And I specifically don't want chalk dust to be added to my cleaning task.

More importantly, I don't know how long will the jitz of having some 'blackboard' to write on will last. My experience of having a cheap blackboard in the kitchen only lasted a month.

April 2010 for the whole 2010. Did not bother to write-off and write on again =p

But still, chalkboard paint is so dreamyy =(

Then it came the white kitchen and solid wood counter top phase.

               

(note again that as they were all saved into the harddisk, I lost the reference links)

Ahh... so drooling.. White kitchen makes up and brightens a narrow and limited space. It will be a bit more work on the maintenance side, especially when our menu are mostly fried, curry and sambal. But white kitchen makes up and brightens a narrow and limited space. There, I said my love to white kitchen. I'm willing to work hard for an airy and bright space.

Until then.

Of Living (Sun)Room

Both my husband and I love this.

Source: Elledecor

High ceiling. Straw blinds. Concrete-cemented floor. Glass wall or perhaps open air ventilated room.

I wonder if this room will be too hot to handle in Malaysia's climate.

Of Serambi

I was inspired by this scene of a Korean drama "If In Love Like Them" a few weeks ago. I pointed this scene out to my husband and said I liked this architecture (well, it's not so much architecture - it's just how people create the space and use the space - it's architecture in some way). My husband said that I was fooled by the production team. The things I learnt from dramas or movies are not real.

"Mostly are make-ups. They do not depicts the real culture and lifestyle of the people." He used to live in Japan for 6 years and he saw them with his own eyes. Ookay... (-.-'). But they still might be doing what I thought they are doing. You didn't see everything (so do I!)  After all, culture and perceptions of culture are different for every person.

So, I'd like to keep the good interpretation of things I have with this scene.

Raised deck.. people congregate together.. one washing clothes.. one making kimchi.. one exercising.. sandals and shoes tucked under the deck.. woven mat spread on the deck.. sliding door opened for good ventilation..

If any Malays in Malaysia can recall, we also used to have serambi (deck) in our traditional Malay home. It's the place where people sit down in the afternoon, sipping coffee and munching kuih muih while chatting with the neighbours. I remember my father's grandparents' house where we used to live. The serambi was the forefront of the house, and anything forefront was considered formal so Boyot (or moyang - great grandparents) had a pangkin (big, elevated bench) constructed under the house. Everyday in the morning, after Zuhur or Asar, she would sit on the pangkin, doing stuff. Sometimes, we even ate lunch there. 

I couldn't remember much as I was only around 7 to 9 years old at the time.  

Serambi, or pangkin is considered a core point of a traditional home. The similarity I saw in traditional Malay house, Korean houses and Japanese houses depicts the culture of these locals. Visitors are sometimes entertained in this area, so it leaves the interior private to the family. Informally, it is used for doing house chores such as preparing meals.

In a scene of Ombak Rindu movie, the pangkin was made from old wooden bed frame. Such an old school, and a great way of recycling or redefining furniture.

I'll make myself more observant while watching movies after this and collect more scenes which reminds me of my culture.

Of Melaka Part 4 - Villa Sentosa, Kampung Morten

The highlight of the Melaka trip for me was the visit to Villa Sentosa in Kampung Morten. It was the last destination we went, abruptly decided just before we drove back to KL. Situated next to the river, it was easily seen during our boat cruise, but was a bit tricky to find on land. 

The house, initially a living house was converted by its owner Tuan Haji Hashim bin Dato Demang Hj Abd Ghan into a living museum. When we went to visit, his son, whom I regret to make the effort to know his name, welcomed us into the house and made a little tour. 

I fell in love with the internal courtyard as soon as I entered the house. For a whole year of observing plans of traditional Malay house, the experience of actually stepping inside the space is beyond words. Flashes of memories how the traditional Malays use the internal courtyard to do their house chores such as washing and drying laundries, afternoon talks, socializing with their neighbours just coming inside my head non stop.

I vowed to myself that someday, my future home would like to have this traditional internal courtyard as part of the concept.

Entering the interior, many antiques await us to appreciate. 

Rumah Ibu - Mother of the House

Bride's room

Anjung

Serambi depan

Most of the stuffs are from personal collection, and personal memorabilia, such as the pictures of Tuan Haji Hashim himself, his wife and the whole siblings. Apparently, the son is still living in the house, and offering free tours during the day for the visitors. Living true to its name, Villa Sentosa is a living museum as one should expect, and not mundane and static like other museum.

Of Baituna Jannatuna

Baituna Jannatuna, as translated into Malay, Rumah kami, syurga kami, or English, "Our home, our haven".

It would be any couple's dream to start a family in their dream house. In Malaysia, to have a stand-alone house is tremendously expensive, especially in urban and even semi-urban areas. That's how we are left with link-house or more commonly known by the locals as terraced-house (even though like 98% of this house type are built on flat ground!), apartments, cluster houses, what else? Hmm.. 

Where we live now, is a moderate town. By moderate, I mean, no big hyper-supermarket (although one is underway and expected to be completed this year but we all know it will take longer than that) and cinema is two-hours drive away in either Kuala Lumpur or Kuantan. Despite all that, I was actually expecting this town to have a lot of stand-alone houses as the typical residential choices due to cheaper land. However, terraced houses are starting to rule.

I once inquired a price of one 4-bedroom bungalow (if it's a stand-alone house, then it is called bungalow, whereas, I pictured bungalow to be so much bigger, better and lavish than that!! nevermind). And to our surprise, it cost RM360K. 

Then, we thought, maybe we'll just buy some land and build the house ourselves. We don't mind something remote if that's where can afford to live, in fact we love a remote place. It gives us privacy, kampung-style. Okay, safety wise, I hope the land will have adjacent neighbours. It's creepy when it's only our family.

So, I continued my "Dream House" dream. And sketched some ideas and translated it into simple Sketchup model. We want it simple. I quite like open-space concept, and some traditional elements of the Malay house. I know my husband would like it to be minimal and small. My initial sketch was quite big, oooops. He loves secret spaces, and he prefers them underground! Well, basement does not sound bad, but with the tropical rain, flood whatsoever... I have to research on how to tackle that.

Then, I am also inspired by the modular-size space used in traditional Malay house. The Japanese also apply this method by their tatami mat. So, by having same space dimension, the construction can be simplified. Perhaps, cheaper?

I like our house to have many windows for better air-ventilation and exposure to nature. But more windows means extra cost on curtains. Another thing I learnt from the traditional Malay house is it's ability to expand concept for future modification. Like perhaps, start with one-bedroom first and add walls as the family grows or when the finance permits. This way, we can control how much space we actually need at particular time. 

There are so many possibilities. I am going to sketch more plans and find more inspiration. 

This also means, my sketchbook has been abandoned for weeks!

Of Postcards As Souvenirs

When I was studying, my friends and I each chose a theme of our souvenir collections. Y chose to collect spoon, M collects snow globes and fridge magnet while I chose to collect postcards and pins. Our reasons behind the theme was to be focused (and not mesmerized by everything in the souvenir shops - which of course we were, just not to buy everything that looks nice). 

The second reason is the price. For instance, Y chose spoon because generally the spoon costs her $3 - $4 each all over the country. Fridge magnets and snow globes are relatively cheap (around $2-$4) while postcards are super cheap (50cent - $1.50 according to sizes). Can you see I'm being thrifty here? With the same $3, my friend gets one spoon while I can get six 50cent postcards. 

The third reason is weight. While travelling, the luggage weight, especially our sling bag/handbag's weight is a big concern. Souvenirs should not be heavy to carry around. And fragile is a big NO to me. So, when I was considering collecting small glasses as souvenir, I always thought that it would be bulky, heavy and fragile in my luggage. Whereas, postcards are super thin and lightweight. When I had extra dollars in my purse, I sent myself a postcard from the place I traveled because I wanted to have the stamp and date-stamp. That too, sometimes solved I-don't-want-to-carry-these-around-in-my-bag-so-how problem. 

My other reason is its visual memoir of places I went. Generally, souvenirs would have something carved, written or stamped about the place, usually being the name of the town or city. To me, postcards show things I am unable to capture. For instance - during sunrise, celebration or past history. 

So, while looking around Central Market, I was stopped by the collection of postcards in Dan's Village. I bought this Traditional Malay Costume notecard (for RM1.50) because I am now obsessed with traditional Malay women. Don't you think it's a sweet coincidence because we went to KL to find myself a traditional Malay costume? 

And these small Glimpes of The Past postcards (RM0.30 each). I love this mixed media postcards for their colors and details. It is quite hard for me to continue my postcard collection during my local trips because not many places sell postcards of small hometown. So to find something less than a ringgit each made me overjoyed.  

Therefore, by being focused, I hope that my collection then can carry out a same display theme. Yes, I chose postcards because I want to do this. 

Postcard gallery in hue. Photo by Ali in A Bubble

Postcard nook. Photo from From The Right Bank

However, my five-year postcard collection up to June 2010 were only up to this, and I'd say it's not growing any larger than this. Can you see this hobby takes time - and money because to be able to collect postcard, I have to travel.

I have to start back my collection. Because I am not an avid traveler now, maybe I have to resort to an alternative option, which is either to join a postcard community, or buy bulk from e-bay and such. Hmmm

Of Hanging Garden

Someday, I will make this in my garden. When I have a garden, which I don't have one right now.

Hanging Garden Tutorial

Sketch#5 The Traditional Malay House

I have a fond towards the humble traditional Malay house because it is based on our socio-culture and it shapes our identity. The traditional Malay house also accommodates the Malay women needs in terms of privacy, safety and responsibilities. Where would we find a house that celebrates a woman by naming its important space rumah ibu (mother of the house)?

In my recent trip to Kelantan, I found several bungalow houses (made of bricks and concrete!) built on pillars which I think either imitating the traditional Malay house or improvising in order to tackle the problem of flooding season. Either one, it looked to me that deep down, people will resort to traditional and vernacular way to adapt themselves with the surrounding environment.

It is my ultimate dream to build a house based on the traditional Malay house concept, maintain it like our ancestors did, and over time, extend it according to my family's growing needs. InsyaAllah.

Postcard - Traditional Melaka house. Photo by: Joseph Jacobs

A little nice postcard I bought in Central Market recently while showing around Kuala Lumpur to my Sri Lankan supervisor during her transit back to New Zealand.


As shared in Emila's Sketchy Sunday

Of Curtains and Morning Sun

In my dream home, I would like to have white sheer curtains, lots of it so that sunrise, afternoon lights can find their way through the windows into the rooms, kitchen and living room. Then, I'd plant trees outside in the lawn so it will make another layer of visual shade, and good enough to cool down the house. 

I like my privacy in a good state.

Of Our First Desk

We should have bought a bigger table top, the one with the tracing glass, but it wouldn't fit in Biru. InsyaAllah, when we have rezeki, we'll get that one, so we would be able to work on his drawings together. I promised him that I would do the backgrounds, I hope I won't forget that.

Of Dream Kitchen

White kitchen, with many windows, and open shelves.

Of Timber House

My dream house is a timber house, timber shutters, with less furniture, and many air-ventilation. Conventional, I am. 

And many white sheer curtains.