These and there will be some more

I made a trip to IKEA yesterday with the intention of buying a few things for our living room.  Sadly, what I was looking for ran out of stock. Or probably ceased production (!!!). Bleah …

So guess what I bought instead?

Things for my. little. space.

And that is none other than my so-called gym room. I consider it mine because I use it the most!  Besides, The office corner (which is in a messy state as we speak) is his … so this is mine hehe…

My little space has undergone several transformation in the past 2 ++ years.

Gym Room in 2008

Gym Room in 2009 – After adding some colours (you can read my blog post on this here)

Gym Room in 2010 – Now it looks like this! The husband got rid of the sofa while I was in Mauritius. So glad he did because I didn’t like that sofa!

I do a lot in this small room … from working out to watching DVD concerts to blog surfing to chillaxing & enjoying a cuppa hot tea … I heart my little space :)

I only bought three things for this room.

1. Floor Lamp – I should have probably chosen a larger shade … Current one is green to add colours to the room.
2. KOMISK Triple Cushion (cover +cushion) – They had black, green and red. I chose the latter for a more cheerful and colourful feel.
3. HELLUM Carpet (140 x 200cm) which was on sale – I replaced our old one. I chose a dark colour (brown) again because of my cat’s fur. I <3 carpets!

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I’m off to chillaxing and enjoying the rest of my Sunday. Enjoy yours too. And the World Cup finale as well!!! I’m not following the World Cup at all and I’m not even sure that I’m gonna watch it tonight.

The bedroom is where I spend most of my time. Next is the kitchen… I love to maintain our small kitchen. It must always remain tidy and neat (if you want to know why, scroll down to the end of the post). I think I maintain it way more than our bedroom! The counter top near the hob always  remains clear and uncluttered. After I cook something I will always clean the hob immediately.

Before when we were still doing the kitchen …

And after … photos taken today. A little dark because I didn’t switch on the top lights. Natural light is the best right :)

This is the other side of our kitchen. I wish our kitchen was bigger. I would have loved an island kitchen! Guess where the dishwasher holder is hiding? Well it’s inside that cabinet on top :) I wanted to have the dishwasher holder directly above the sink, but with a window right above and in front of the sink, this wasn’t possible. I like to keep things behind closed doors. Again I try not to keep so many things on the counter top. Less is best.I like a minimalist look.

Can you spot my “Nigella Feast” book? hehe :) I have more cooking books but they are still in boxes.

If I could turn back time, I would have changed a couple of things to our current kitchen:

1. Get a granite or marble counter top instead of a solid surface counter top. I didn’t really know much about granite vs solid surface counter top a year ago but now I can tell that it’s important to get a granite one if you cook regularly!
2. There’s more to cabinetry than just good looks. A functional storage is very important. Get some pull outs — easy to reach for spices  or other cooking items. Make a customised pantry too.
3. Don’t get a white counter top if you plan to keep a lot of stuffs on the counter top. Despite not keeping a lot of things on mine, I still ended up with some yellow marks (thanks to a mango!!) which can’t be removed even with “Cif” cream! But it’s not very visible, so it’s still okay. If anyone knows how I can remove that stubborn yellow mark, please let me know :)
4. Don’t get glossy black cabinets if you can’t maintain them. Well I haven’t had any problems with mine so far. You just need to know how to open the doors without leaving fingerprints hehe.
5. Get cabinet downlights (below the top cabinets). The kitchen will look warmer  :)

I think that’s all I would have changed :) We moved in only a year ago, so maybe in a couple of more years the list will become longer! I will save that for my next kitchen hehe.

I use the “Oven Power” to clean the oven and to remove grease from sticky surfaces. The “Cif” really removes a lot of stubborn stains trust me. The “glass cleaner” is obviously for glass surfaces like my black glass backing, kitchen door and windows.

The reason why my kitchen must always remain tidy and neat …

Before we moved into our current house, I was renting an apartment which was vacant for more than 5 years and was already housing a LOT of cockroaches (especially the kitchen) prior to moving in. I had called the pest control but their sprays didn’t help as there were cockroach eggs hidden somewhere. Everyday for one year I would see one or two (and even more) dead cockroaches in the kitchen. It was very traumatizing! I never dared to keep anything inside the cabinets and the fridge was empty most of the time. Needless to say I was not cooking at all except for a few smoothies or some simple things using my portable electric cooker. If you have been following my old blog (which is not available anymore),  you must have seen couple of photos of those cockroaches! Click here to see one of those photos and another one when the pest control people came.

Here’s how I made that room a little bit more colourful. Adapted from About.Com

• Throw a Few Pillows Around. Done.
• Add a Bit of Mother Nature. Done. But it’s not always in there.
• Add a Whimsical Lamp. Soon.
• Reflecting Color. Done.
• Snuggle Up With a Throw. Done

From this bluish dull colour

To this more colourful one

From another angle, I added some mother nature. And yeah we still have the plastic on the stationary bike.

Although it’s not the best looking room around, I like it way more than before :) Doesn’t look so manly now hehehe. I will continue to find ways to improve it especially the other corner where the TV and cabinet are located.

Photo taken on another day

A couple of days ago our office corner was kinda messy — his books and papers were scattered on the table. So we got some storage boxes from Ikea and used them to keep our stuffs. It’s neater this way and saves us the trouble to look for our misplaced papers.

So this is our office space but most of the time I am using the laptop on the bed. He is the only one making use of the office desk. I don’t have a liking for desks. Well the picture frame is still empty (just got it too and haven’t had time to print something) … doh …

If you are an Ikea fan, check out this site to see what others are creatively doing with their Ikea buys.