Bottles on Display

Do you collect things?

While I never intended to collect certain things in the first place, but eventually now I end up (infact it's not ended yet) with piles of home design books and magazines.. and dozens of childrens books as well. Yet, I'm sure my case here is a common thing for many people.

But what if you collect things that are.. well, a bit unordinary?

Like my friend who happens to be a product designer is a collector of coke bottles. Yup, the same coke bottles that you usually throw in a garbage or recycle bin after you finished the carbonated drink. Ofcourse my dear friend always say that his collection is classic, it's the historic evolution of the coke bottle design. Yeah..

Anyway, he ones asked about ways to store his bottle collections. So here you go.

Conservatively, you can keep the bottles in wine bottle racks or shelves.

Creatively, you can display all of them instead, forming a room divider wall that even suits a small space since the transparent characteristic of the glass bottle material still lets light through so the divided rooms wont become claustrophobic.


pics from misterimportant.com

Then if you want to display only a few and keep the rest deep in the storage, you can always enhance the lime light on your display by adding some quirky accessories like this one below.

pic from revivehome.com

Stairway to....

I couldn't help to laugh out loud when I saw this comic strip from Wiley Miller. I always read his Non Sequitur strip in the local paper.

Back to the above strip, I can really relate to it in terms of "why the stairs have no handrails?"

As you may already know or observe, with the modern minimalist style in the rage, there are sooo many stairs designed with no handrails. I myself am an avid lover of everything that's clean cut, streamlined, uncluttered - in other word, yes, I also like the modern minimalist look.

But one should re-think again about what comes first.. Form or Function.

Having preschoolers of my own while craving for that sleek modern look is definitely look like a mere dream for now.

So I think I have to wait til the time I can have these beautiful stairs in my house..

Pics from Stair Porn

Caps Organizing

A friend of mine once asked me about how to organize her husband's collection of caps (baseball's, not bottle's). So I did some searching, and found some cap organizers like this one below, but unfortunately it needs international shipping to reach here.



After some time not knowing where to find the pretty much same item here in Singapore, I remember about this one from IKEA.


It's the Komplement Door Hanger . As the name indicates, this thing can be hung on the wardrobe's door to add more storage space. Basically it's an easy to move adjustable strap with 5 hooks on it.



For this special purpose of caps organizing, you can get creative by adding more hooks between the existing 5 hooks, so you can have even more space for storing those growing collection of caps.

Visit Indonesia 2008

So maybe I'm a bit late to post this, but better late than never, right..

I Love Indonesia, besides of it being my home country, it's also the ultimate tropical leisure travel destination, which you can choose from varieties range from luxury spa resort hotels to humble homestays for backpackers, from breathtaking high mountains to beautiful sunny beaches, from serene retreats to hip clubs.

Yes, lately there are happenings there that I'm not proud of, but I'm sure all of Indonesian people have put their best effort to do better in the future, and therefore there's absolutely no reason for not include Indonesia as your holiday travel destination.

This year, in 2008, Indonesian celebrate 100 years of National Awakening, also 63 years of Independence. And I'm happy to see that the moment is not wasted.

Here's the nice logo of Visit Indonesia 2008.


You can see the logo concept here.

What's Your Home Design IQ?

pic's from Fine Living

I'm sure we all are always drawn to beautiful homes. Regardless its size, whether it's huge or extra small, a well designed home is definitely looking great as well as comfortable to live in.

But do you ever wonder HOW to pull a look like that?

Say you see a room that you like, you like it so much you want to put the same look on your room too. But HOW?

If that's the case, there's no harm in taking the Fine Living IQ: Home Design Test here.

Not only you'll get to measure your home design knowledge in a fun way, you also can pick up some hints and new knowledge along the way.

Oh by the way, I scored 10 outta 10 *no cheating* :)

Martha Stewart: Batik IS of Indonesian Origin

First thing first: I'm not a die hard fan of Martha Stewart.

There's a good reason why I'm featuring her name here now, which is correlated with Indonesian BATIK.

You see, lately in my hometown (Indonesia, Java island to be exact) there's a growing trend of using Batik as everyday fashion and home decor. Whereas Batik used to be occasionally worn only, usually for formal events.

Here are some examples of the nowadays trendy casual n chic Batik fashion from my friend's boutique.

I'm not sure when exactly the trend's started, but I assume it's probably because of a recent case where a neighbouring country claimed Batik as of its origin.

I completely understand about culture influences, not to mention between neighboring countries. Yet I (and my fellow Indonesians) can be rest assured, because despite overwhelming odds of Batik being claimed by another country, Batik is already world-wide famous for being an original Javanese (Indonesian) tradition.

To make my self clear, you can take a peek at this short article from Martha Stewart, also this longer one from Wikipedia.

Small Decorating

So you are living in a small space.

So am I.

So your guest bedroom is a small multifunctional room, or even doubles as a storage room. Or maybe it's your own bedroom which fit as described.

Fret not, because you can still make it as welcoming as any boutiqe hotel room with just a little effort of decorating.

Here I'm using my ol bedside table (or you can use your dressing table or any small table available), with some scented candles, vase, faux flowers and potpourri. I just simply arrange the flowers in the vase with some potpourri in it. From this basic arrangement I can make a few decoration with quite a different flair.


This first one is simple yet fresh, neutral but not dull. It reminds me of a sunny morning breeze :)



The second has more dramatic effect, just by lighting the candles ( I LLove how candle light makes a room) and throw a sheer fabric for the tablecloth. Very suitable for that romantic night you want to create ;)

Handmade Pillow Covers

We have some red pillows that came with our black couch. Though I kinda like how the red stands out from the black, but the pillows weren't exactly our favourite because of their covers which made from the same material as the couch, which is a not-so-soft faux leather.

So those pillows have been sitting there neglected for quite some time, until I finally decided to make them some new covers (and at last found some good use for the Ikea fabric leftovers I got from the as-is department).

Here is the picture of the pillows before.

And here are pictures of the now-so-comfy pillows with their new covers. The hand sewn new covers, if I may add. It's not that I'm so obsessed with hand sewing, but it just that I haven't been able to commit my self to a certain sewing machine brand yet :D

New Gloss On The Blocks

I always thought that glass blocks are so yesterday. They reminded me of the 80's, and sorry to say, not in a good way.

BUT this picture sure can make me think over again.. and I'm thinking to convert now.


Pic's from My Home Ideas


I'm amazed on how such a gorgeous shower room is made of such a lame material!.. Well OK, glass blocks are NOT lame afterall.


I should remember again that glass blocks are great for bringing plenty of natural light into a room while still keeping the room private.


And I should also remember that any drab can be fab if it's well designed!

Time Reflection

This number is Reflective Clock from Peleg Design.

Basically it's a clock with reflective surface, where the half-number shapes are mirrored to create the shape of whole numbers.

Talking about creative..

Howdy..

If you want to impress your guest by displaying an unique - out of this world - coat stand, then you definitely should consider this one.


It's Catching The Wild from Stolen Wood, would fit in any cowboy's hallway perfectly.

IKEA 2009 Catalogue

Yay! It's finally here!..

And it's.. pink..!?

Actually since earlier this month you can browse the IKEA 2009 catalague online, but for me nothing beats the enjoyment of flipping the pages of the hardcopy one :)

So you can imagine how I reacted when I opened my mailbox this morning and saw that copy I've been waiting for :D

The catalogues' theme is "Plan Your Home Around The Way You Live", a really user (buyer?) friendly tagline as usual.

Anyway, here's some of my favourite pics from the catalogue.