The little things

Of all the blogs I maintain, this has been least written... it is typical of me, to be weaken by passion. I cannot start... because I feel that whatever I do it is not good enough... but then again, i have to start somewhere.

This entry is about the little things that make my house me:

the floor
The first thing that attracted me to the house was the flooring. It was mosaic... the kind that was the trend in 60s and 70s. I saw the floor amidst the junk and i knew that this was it. I can still remember how my agent told me to contain my pleasure and passion for it so that we would not be in a weak bargaining point. So when I got the house, I maintained the flooring... repaired the missing parts... it is still my favourite aspect of the house!

the chandelier
I knew that I had to have a chandelier.. the iron sought.. not the glittery Chinabeng sort that is so common. I wanted the old look... So I searched... and I could not find. I spoke to a shop which had a catalogue of the chandeliers I wanted. They quoted $12k at least.... I was disheartened! Then I searched the internet...and was crazy enough to gamble on buying a chandelier which was a quarter the price that the shop quoted.

The chandelierr came but in flat packaging... and I had no idea where to start. The instructions were dismal. I was lucky to be going out with a guy who had as one of his qualification, engineering. He could decipher the assembly from the almost nothing instructions. Within 3 hours we had the skeletal chandelier up...

The weekend after, the electrician came. My ceiling was a slant one... hanging a light was doubly hard, but it was done. An hour later, we had the crystal hanging ceremony... I guess this must be how decorating a Christmas tree felt like...

I put the final crystal... and the chandelier was lighted up...

the sunken bath

I decided to take a smaller room and an even smaller study for my room, wardrobe and bathroom (the master bedroom was going to be the room for my parents). The little study was divided into my wardrobe and my bathroom (okay a took a little square corner from the master bedroom's bathroom... yes I reconfigured the house!). The little study had a sliding door, which I wanted to save... which meant that I could only have a sunken bath... anything else would be aesthetically ugly. But my another engineer friend was dead sure that the water system was too shallow for me to be able to dig for a sunken bath and the width etc would not fit. He said he knew because he had done many houses. I insisted because I had a gut feeling... and I bought a bath tub anyway...decided to splurge a little and got a jacuzzi actually. They had no choice but to dig... partly to prove me wrong... only to find out that I was right. And as I have sat many times in my sunken bath, I cannot help but feel what a great investment... and how glad I was to have insisted... trust that little voice.

Basic Facts

My house is in the most Eastern part of Singapore. It is at a historical part of Singapore. It was once by the beach but the wonders of reclamation has changed the sea into an airport runway.

The house was built in 1960s. I am the third owner. I got it in late 2004 and moved in July 2005. It was my labour of love. I took about 8 months to do up the house and I did only the basic. In order not to take any renovation loan (the interest rates for this kind of loan were horribly high), I did the renovation little by little, making sure that the major jobs were timed so I could pay with the extra money I got from my bonus.

It is a one storey semi-detach house with an L-shaped garden. I have a little herb garden, plants from my kampung days. I am still hoping to plant olive, fig and date... they are more difficult to come by but I am in no hurry.

At the beginning - Love at first sight

I cannot describe it any other way... it was meant to be, my house and I.

In the early part of this decade, when property prices were going down in Singapore, I decided that I could possibly afford a house - give my parents a little garden to walk around in and go back to our kampung roots. I made a few offers but each time I was out-bidded. Broken hearted, I decided to use my savings for my studies in NY instead.

I depleted my savings but my employers were nice enough to give me half of my pay while I studied... so I had some money left when I came back and I decided to look for houses again. This time, with less money, my attempts were limited to houses on auctions.

It was by coincidence that my friend SW mentioned Changi and how she thought it would be cool to live there... I always valued SW's opinion... so I decided to give Changi a try when I saw an advertisement for a house on auction.

I got lost when I went for the appointment (even though I drove past the house I was suppose to see). I came to a dead end, infront of this old abandon house with an old "for sale" sign. I joked to my friend that I would like the house..., she took the telephone number down. We found the house on auction but I hated it. My friend managed to get me an appointment to see the old abandon house two weeks later.

Two weeks later, when I saw the house, I felt an instant attraction to the house when I saw the mosaic tiles - it was original from 1960s. I could not hide my attraction... my friend/agent told me it was the wrong move.

I then asked my trusted civil engineer friend, Ka, to view the house. We also got the original house plans. Ka is as mad as I am in a lot of ways, he told me to go for it.

I saw the house again two or three times...I knew I was hooked. I decided to take my family - sisters and parents. But I did not think I could afford it.

None of my family liked it... my dad, who is usually on my side, said no. My mom, was afraid of the termites which were festering.... but she supported me when she was brought to a neighbour's house and saw the potential for the house. My sisters thought i was crazy.

I begged and pleaded... I assured my parents I could afford it, I only wanted their blessings... My dad finally said that he would not stop me. So I guess I got my parents' blessings and that was the most important thing to give me courage to go on... get over the other barrier of not being able to afford it.

As it turned out, my sheer determination, my unusual taste and the termites infesting the house were the reasons that allowed me to afford the house. The termites were my bargaining point.... I made an offer... and I guess I was the only crazy one to make the offer for an abandon house and the owners decided to sell it to me.

Looking back now, I cannot understand how I had the courage to insist on getting the house... how I could see beyond the zinc fencing, the long overgrown, the dirty interior... the ugly facade. Ka played a large part, he assured me that he would be there for me.

all about the house

under construction