Home Reno - Week 16

It's starting to take shape ^_^

Contrast of Cubes

That's what Andy Rahman Architect called this residential project. I've been a fan of their work for some time, but I must say that this particular project is definitely my favorite. I wouldn't design it any other way if it were up to me.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :)

See more of them HERE.

My First Book! "Inspirasi Goodie Bag"

Almost forgot to write about this here :D
It all began some time ago, when fellow crafter Dini from Capung Mungil asked me to join her in writing her next craft book (yes, many of her books have been published). I gladly say yes, though not sure what to do :p Thank you again Dini, this is a new worthy experience for me :)

Already published, you can find "Inspirasi Goodie Bag" in bookstores near you early next month. If you want to get it now, you can also order here ;) Just drop a comment and your e-mail below. 

Almost Glamping

What is Glamping anyway? Well, it's short for Glamorous Camping - camping but glamorous :D That's not exactly what we did, but pretty close in some way.

We spent the last days of 2011 in Kiara Payung camping ground near Bandung, West Java. Hubby and his offroad community had this family camp gathering. So there I was tagging along, reluctantly. You see, I don't really dig the idea of spending the night outdoors (to me, a tent is no way close to the term 'indoor'). While hubby is an outdoorsy type, usually he went camping with his friends or took the boys with him.

So until the end of last year, camping considered as a boys' days out activity.

Knowing his wife, hubby had prepared some stuff prior to our family camping. And I couldn't complain :)

Here's the living room of our tent with storage room at the back.

This is the master bedroom with pillows from Myurbey.

The kids' bedroom.. with Angry Birds Plushie from Cemprut.

The front terrace with a day bed, taken from the living room.

Al fresco dining 24/7.

And yes, I actually enjoyed the trip, though the public washroom was not up to standard. It's a new way to start the new year :)

 

inaku New Product: Key Wallet

Happy New Year!
I've prepared some new things for inaku, here's the first batch.. key wallets!

Jadul Village

After visiting the craft bazaar - as hubby couldn't stand the traffic jam in Bandung on weekend - we went to Sapu Lidi Restaurant for a late lunch, and spend the rest of the weekend at Jadul Village Resort in Lembang.

I will share here about the latter. The name Jadul itself is short for JAman DUlu, freely translated into old times. Actually I wasn't expect too much at first, since it looked rather bland from the parking area. But how I was wrong. Upon entering the open lobby, there greeted me various antique ethnic decor. The lobby itself is a Joglo house, so are all the villas there which all adapted Java vernacular architecture.

We stayed in Gebyok Villa, and was very pleased with the ethnic feel combined with modern vanities.

The open air bath was a feast for the senses!

As I explore more of the premises I became even more overwhelmed with the intricate details. There are many elements that are being reused, like old wooden train track which used for pathways and old doors for the powder rooms. They give strong eclectic characters with a rustic feel.


Overall, I can say that staying in Jadul Village was a very pleasant experience.. now if only they could do something to the parking area so it doesn't look bland.

more from my sewing room

Actually there's not much left to see in this small room.. but hey one can only try to make it look and function better.
So, here at the day bed side I put some wall decal for that punch to the plain white wall and a string to hang my finished products. And that's about it.. for now :D 

Cocomomo bags giveaway!

Hooray.. It's Cocomomo bags giveaway! 
Click HERE

inaku Versatile Collection

Introducing the Versatile Scarf.

Please click here to see the complete collection.

INACRAFT 2011

A couple of days ago I found time to visit Inacraft 2011, the 13th Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair which held in Jakarta Convention Center.


Besides getting overwhelmed with all the pretty stuff there, I'm so happy to finally met lovely Puri from ideku handmade for the first time. 

Too bad teh Lia from Calyx couldn't come to the fair, though you can find her work there. I also visit Amesh from dreamesh and friends' booth but didn't meet them personally.. hopefully I can see them in other occasions :)


For you who happen to be in Jakarta right now, you still have the chance to visit them since the fair is on until Sunday, 24 April. Have fun!  

it's coming together....

....slooooowly.

The kids' temporary bedroom (yes, it's temporary since the boys definitely need more space.. they grow so fast!) is almost done. Still insufficient storage, but we're progressing for sure.

Although we could barely walk through the living room since it's still full with piles of boxes, I'm definitely in a better mood now :)

Tempur

Tempur is the name of a village at the hillside of Gunung Muria (Mount Muria), not too far from the city of Jepara. It boasts one of the most beautiful natural view I've ever seen!

I had fun playing with fresh cool water in it's mountain river :)

Eid Mubarak!

Taqabbalallâhu minnâ wa minkum
May Allah accept from us and you (our fasts and deeds)

I had a chance to visit the Great Demak Mosque (Masjid Agung Demak) on the way to my husband's hometown. It is one of the historical and oldest mosques in Indonesia, you could feel its rich culture.

Since it's forbidden to take pictures inside the mosque, I could only take some snapshots of the exterior.

a small music corner

The table in my living room has finally changed into a music corner, a place to put the traditional musical instruments that we've collected from our trips to some different parts of Indonesia.

There we have a set of eight pitches Angklung (and currently we have one more pitch from this event), two Suling (bamboo flutes), a small bamboo xylophone and a Djembe (traditional drum).

The colorful throw on the sofa is the handwoven fabric I got from Lombok. I like how the overall look of the room turned out, it has an ethnic twist on the previous modern look, giving it a laid back and cozy feel. Sometimes I and hubby have our acoustic jam sessions there, mostly I'm on guitar and he's on drum. It's kinda therapeutic, very much like sewing :D

Enchanting Indonesia 2010

Last night I and hubby went to the opening of Enchanting Indonesia 4, an event of promoting Indonesia craft and tourism in Singapore.

We each got a batik tote bag filled with Indonesian goodies! From food spices to tourism brochures - giving me a view for next week's menu and next holiday destination.

The opening ceremony was full of traditional and fusion music, dances and fashion shows. Too bad I forgot to bring my camera so I can't share the festive pictures here now. My favourite part is the 'Angklung Interactive Show', where all the audience were given different pitches of angklung to play together as per instruction from the musician on stage. We played numerous songs from Burung Kakak Tua (folk song from Maluku, Indonesia) to Elvis Presley's (forgot the song title). We even get to keep the angklung we played! Ours is number 7 or 'ti', the seventh scale tone.

Ofcourse it wont be a great event without the food and craft bazaar. There are many booths represent many provinces of Indonesia, each with their own distinctive art and culture.

I couldn't resist to buy some of the goodies, like this white tote bag with embroidery of Ondel Ondel from Betawi (natives of Jakarta, Indonesia).

And a beautiful stone and silver pendant from Reny Feby Jewelry.

I drooled over the beautiful traditional textiles like Batik, Ikat and Songket but had to refrain my self since I already have a heap of fabrics that are still untouched. Yet I found some Indonesian Batik which not from Java origin, like this Batik Tabir from Riau. The motives and methods used to make the Batik Tabir Riau is different from the Batik of Java, yet each motive also has a certain meaning like shown below.

The event is still on until tonight, 4 July 2010. So for you who's reading this and happen to be in Singapore, spare your time to visit and experience a piece of Enchanting Indonesia.

What I got..

...from Jepara, Indonesia.
Tenun Troso (handwoven fabric). The pattern is pretty and not so loud, just the way I like it and the color is summery. I'm thinking of making a dress out of it, but most probably I'll use it as a throw. It's always hard for me to remake an already gorgeous piece of fabric into other forms.


The tenun Troso below comes with golden thread, as you can see they look shiny and sparkle beautifully.





...from Lombok, Indonesia.
Beautiful colorful handwoven textiles - I already put one of them in my living room for a throw. It accentuates our black sofa nicely.


Do you know that Lombok is one of the best sources in the world for saltwater pearls? So it's only natural if I bought a pearl pendant there. Yet due to my preference in big pendants (and the budget limitation, lol) I chose the blister pearl, a half-sphere pearl that attached to the shell as it's formed.



What's more, the pendant's reversible too!