Thomashlynshome #9 - Our black and white kitchen

There's just something about white spaces that draws my heart and eyes to. I love how it make the space looks bigger, cleaner and more calming. And when it comes to kitchen, there is no exception. When we view the showroom of our current house, I'm so glad that it comes with a white kitchen or rather an open concept kitchenette. It's our 2nd white open concept kitchen! 

Many said it would be difficult to maintain a white kitchen, but I find that it isn't any more difficult than any other colour actually. But having an open concept kitchen isn't something for everyone. It works fine for people like us who only do light cooking. I reckon we can use the oven for roasting instead of deep frying. Besides the oven, we also have an inbuilt mircowave. So, I would say our kitchen is rather small but equipped.

Thomashlynshome #8: Bringing safety to the Balcony with Legates Invisible Grilles

"Sometimes, you just need to step outside, get some fresh air, and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be."

 

It took our family a while to get used to living with ample outdoor spaces at home as we were new to having a balcony, what more a spacious balcony. We didn't know what to do with these outdoor spaces or how to style it. But now, we are enjoying the space as it brings us much tranquility. Hubby and I often find each other looking out into the green. It's pretty calming and rejuvenating.

Thomashlynshome #7: GoodAire's 5-in-1 air purifier - Air Revitalizer H1

How often do we take clean and fresh air for granted?

I would say, most of us don't even think about "air" until we smell tinge of pollution like smoke or haze.

 

Singapore experienced the worst haze in 2015 and it was such a nightmare. I remembered the house being hazy and stuffy as we had to close all the door and windows. I was worried about Emma getting sick. Thankfully, we didn't have to battle another haze period this year. Nevertheless, I like to be prepared for bad air days.

 

We have been using air sterilizers for the past few years. From time to time, we would take out our air sterilizer to clean the air in the house. Now, I glad to have another option and that's the Air Revitalizer H1 by GoodAire, a homegrown company seeking to protect families from poor air quality and mosquitoes (https://goodaire.com.sg).

Thomashlynshome #6 - How is it like for the girls to sleep together?

"I don't know how are the girls going to sleep together!", that's one of my worries I shared with many mothers before Avalyn popped out until a few weeks ago. To my surprise, almost all of them said it will be fine but I find it hard to believe it until I experienced it myself.

Hubby suggested to let Avalyn sleep in our room so that she won't disturb Emma but I don't think it is a good idea. We don't co-sleep and it will be tight to have another cot in our master bedroom. Besides, I didn't want Emma to be upset about or feel inequity in any way. So, I was clear that I want the girls to sleep together in their own room but I just didn't know how to and how it would be like.

Thomashlynshome #5 - The girls' bedroom and Nippon Paint Mozzieguard

Soft pink and dreamy!  That's what I wish the girls' room would to be!

I secretly hope that the soothing colour combination of pink, grey and white will help them sleep better!

 Following an awesome paintwork (link ) by Nippon Paint last year, we have became loyal and happy customers of Nippon Paint. This time, we engaged Nippon Paint to paint the entire house and the doors.

Thomashlynshome #4: Master bedroom's platform bed & Acorn Fantasia DC-356 Ceiling fan

And now, to my favourite corner of our house - the master bedroom!

Thomashlynshome #3: Comfort Design Furniture x Choosing the perfect sofa

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More on our living room!

 

With a grey and white theme in mind, we knew we had to get a new grey sofa. Our previous black sofa, though still functioning fine, would give a totally different feel. So, we passed the black sofa to my parents and went on to search for "the perfect one"!

 

So, what would be considered as "the perfect one" for us?

 

Thomashlynshome #2: Dressing up Living Room with The Curtain Expert

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After close to 4 weeks, we are finally settled down in our new house #thomashlynshome!

Thomashlynshome #1: Main Door - An Digital Lock and Schlage S-480 Digital Lock

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Welcome to #thomashlynshome!

I'm so excited to kick start our #thomashlynshome series and can't wait to walk you through different corners of our home. 

Here's our main door before installing the Schlage S-480 Digital Lock! 

When Hubby suggested to get a digital lock for our new house, I thought it wasn't necessary. I've been using keys and padlocks for the longest time and didn't thought of trying a digital lock. Even though I always have trouble finding my key in my handbag, I'm used to it. However, my life changed after having Schalge S-480 Digital lock. It really brought us lots of convenience!

With a toddler and a baby, getting out of the house takes more effort than before. On school/work days, things got more tedious. We leave home with 4 bags, sometimes 5. There are 2 bags for the girls, my handbag, pump bag and at times, Hubby's laptop bag. So it's really saves us time and effort without the need to search for keys, unlock and lock using keys. 

With just a gentle tap on the Schalge S-480 Digital Lock, we are ready to head out. 

Finally moved!

We've finally moved into our new place!

 

 

8 months of waiting, defect check and home renovation went by in a blink! Even though it didn't feel like it was every time I thought about home stuff then, things had indeed just zoomed by faster than I could even capture. We moved into parents-in-law's place as a family of 3 and now, we moved on to our new place with 4!

Keeping the house clean and safe with Magiclean's anti-bacterial cleaning range!

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After 36+ weeks of pregnancy and 4 weeks of confinement, I’m back to doing what most mummies hate most - household chores. However, it is now better with a little helper!

Good bye, our first home!

Last night, we dropped by our old house for the last time.

The house was empty but filled with so many precious memories. 

IKEA: Organising Toy Storage

IKEA's Democratic Design

This upcoming year, IKEA is all about "Democratic Design" - a philosophy that everyone should be able to own high quality and cutting edge and functional designs at affordable prices. If you look closer at its product, I'm sure it's not hard to identify which dimension(s) have been taken into serious consideration.

For this month, I'm taking up the challenge to discover and highlight the hidden dimension(s) over at Emma's IKEA toys corner! Some products have all 5 dimensions while the others have 2-3 dimensions. In this post, I will highlight just 1 dimension (though it has likely more than 1) for each product that we used!

IKEA: 5 simple ways to reduce food wastage at home

I never consider myself to be a wasteful person until I started to cook for Emma 2 years ago.

It all began with purees where I steamed, blended and froze the food item. After 3 weeks, I threw few cubes away as I think they aren't fresh enough and made new ones. Emma quickly moved on to porridge and later on soups and dishes. It's not longer a simple affair. Since I only cook for Emma and love variety, it was sometimes hard for me to use up all the ingredients before they turn bad. Once a while, I received criticism from Hubby about food wastage and I usually just brushed him off. I was really focused on providing a healthy and balanced meal for Emma as much as I could.

But, he was so right! For every item wasted, I didn't just waste the dollars and wastes. It actually leads to more waste - waste of the farmers' effort, extra carbon footprints and increase waste. From today, I hope to embrace my weakness, learn to be less wasteful and contribute towards the sustainability of the world.

 

Here's some ways to reduce food wastage and I hope to turn them into habits as a new mummy cook.

5 Reasons why I love Dyson V8 Fluffy | Cord Free Vacuum Cleaner Review

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As a working mum, it has always been a constant challenge to keep our house spanking clean and tidy. I engaged part time cleaner on weekends when we stayed in. 

For those busy weekends, I just had to squeeze in vacuuming during pocket of free time and complete the rest of the chores at night. When I failed to, I would sometimes head home during lunch time to vacuum and mop the floor if time permits. #beautyofworkingnearhome.

Then, my life changed after getting Dyson V8 Fluffy weeks ago. 

IKEA: Master bedroom Makeover - Grey, White & Minimalist

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Once a upon a time, we had a pretty decent sleeping chamber. Everything was sparkling white, clean, plain classy and very much in order when we first moved in 5 years ago.

Before

Today, our collections of stuff, mainly clothes and linens, grew while my dressing table shrank to a small makeup corner.

Before we realised, we were out of storage and clutter started creeping in slowly. Even after some packing, the drawers top still looked quite a mess. On some terrible days, I even had trouble finding a space to place new shopping buys at my side's drawer's top.

After

Following Emma's room revamp, I was determined to refurnish our masterbed room to be more pleasant and restful. We stayed true to our minimalist style and kept the clean lines & functionality that we always love.

MALM Chest of 6 drawers $169 | KARMSUND Table Mirror $19.90 | 

SONDRUM Frames $16.90 & $19.0 | ORDNING Kitchen Utensil Rack $7.90

BEKKESTUA Divan Bed and BJORNLOKA RUTA Quilt cover set $39.90 for a similar look

[Giveaway] Nippon Paint x Emma's pink room

I knew Emma would love a pink bedroom but I didn't expect her to love it so much! 

The amount of time she spent in her room tells everything. In the past, she hardly hang out in her bedroom when she was awake but now, we often find her chilling out on the bed, playing with her soft toy and admiring her pink wall.

IKEA Hack: 10 ways to DIY makeover IKEA LATT children's table set

I'm deeply amazed and inspired by the number of brilliant ideas to makeover IKEA LATT children's table set! As much I would love to try them all, I decided on a monochrome theme to match our living hall and used 3 main materials - paint, fabric and acrylic sheet. 

Click here for more photos and how-to.

The rest of the ideas are too inspiring not to be shared. So, be ready for a couple of 10-15 mins quick fix, many more patience testing craft work as well as an impressive skillful modification!

IKEA: Emma's LATT Children's Table Set DIY Makeover

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Being a big fan of IKEA, I'm stoked to be part of the 2016 IKEA Blogger Program. This program runs over 4 months and I'll be taking on one different task each month to create useful, interesting and fun home fix ideas. 

For this month, I need to do something crafty! Oh yay, my favourite!

LATT Children's Table Set Makeover

With Emma's room revamp well underway, I decided to update one of her IKEA pieces - the LATT children's table. It costs S$39.90 and is one of the cheapest children's table around.

We could have easily bought the white SUNDVICK or KRITTER table set last year but both would cost at least $100. Since I love doing DIY anyway, the crafty and thrifty me thought it would be better to do a DIY makeover instead.

Before

I happily spent a few nights cutting and wrapping up the table set with wall papers. It turned out lovely and totally matched the theme of our living hall.

But, there was one down side which Hubby frowned upon for the past 1 year. The corners where pieces of wallpaper met (forming right angles) created some pointed edges that lightly scratched us once a while. Thankfully, all were small scratches that recover quickly. 

After

Nippon Paint X Actual Paint Day

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Life is a great big canvas, throw all the paint on it you can! - Danny Kaye

Finally came the long awaited paint day!