Skip to main content

PROJECT GROWING UP - RETHINKING THE BASICS

Rethinking the Basics

The figures are already beginning to look threatening. It is now about 25% above our initial budget and we have not even factored in the Architect's professional fees, soft furnishings and my dream kitchen...

Time to ditch my initial wish list and start all over again. 

Part of the joy of being involved in yet another project is that it gives me a whole new purpose and focus, lifting me out of the predictability of everyday mundaneness. Books have begun flying off the shelves from the libraries - I can borrow up to 20 books at one go  ( for those who are interested in the math - it's 4 x 2 for me, as a Passion Card member, plus 4 x every other member of the Sim household )

One of the gems I happened to stumble upon is this book - compulsory reading for every potential home rebuilder, also known as " What Architects do not normally tell you."

Here are some excerpts which should translate into dollars saved.

Hallmarks of the Simple House

"Regardless of style and setting, the simple home can simplify its owners' lives by offering the right amount of space in a functional arrangement. The following qualities are found in most simple homes:
- The floor plan and form are straightforward
- Its style, be it modern or traditional, is timeless.
- Interiors are functional, human-scaled, uncomplicated,light filled, and open.
- Rooms serve more than one function
- The design expresses a beauty in practicality
- Siting and room layouts offer excellent natural light and ventilation
- Details and finishes tend to be simple and unadorned
- Storage is well located and often built in to minimize free standing furniture."

That, effectively, puts most of what I was trying to communicate with the Architect, but not in the most coherent of terms. Or, was it what Mr Y was subtly hinting at....

In another excerpt from this illuminating book, it quotes philosopher Gaston Bachelard from his book " The Poetics of Space"...
" The home is a place that shelters dreaming." " He meant that the homes that nurture us are not fortresses of exclusion, but rather clearings in a busy world that help us to dream new ideas and to be creative in our own way. That's the greatest gift of the simple home. It's not the style or "design" , but how we end up living and growing there that matters. A home is simply beautiful not so much for how it first appears, but for what the people who live there can become."

I can now recall Mr Y saying that a house is "organic", and is meant to evolve over time. So this is what he was trying to convey to me in "architect speak" earlier, with the minimalist style applied to words. 

On this journey, I am beginning to evolve as well, by discarding old mindsets, and discovering a new way of "seeing", of "envisioning", of reduction of non-essentials to the fundamentals. 

From the start, when we moved into this house, fresh air and sunshine were certainly not freely available. This is the bane of a short intermediate terrace surrounded by taller neighbours. Our bedroom windows were perpetually shut out with blinds to preserve privacy, and the dark interior was  supplemented with all forms of artificial lighting.

Yes, there is nothing we want more now, starting from a clean slate, than fresh air from good cross ventilation, natural light, and to be able to look out of our windows for a decent view.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Perspectives

  So What If The Day Started Badly This morning, as I was reversing my car out of the porch for a dental appointment, I drove right into a van who just happened to park in front of the house across the road, right at the very instant. The knee jerk instinct was to feel sorry and angry with myself at the same time. I said a little prayer for comfort and that the rest of the day would turn out better, with small mercies along the way. I also texted G, telling him what happened and that I was a little shaken by the incident, trivial as it was. The text came back " No worries". It was all the comfort I needed - no judgment, no reproof, just a quiet understanding and acceptance. The Rest Of the Day Got the tooth fixed, had my comfort food for lunch, left car with dented bumper with mechanic, took a bus to Ang Mo Kio library to while away the time. Along the way, discovered my favorite Yong Tau Foo franchise had moved to the food centre here, much nearer home, and also picked up a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Teemo ( first posted on thebarefootfoodie.org on 7 Apr 2021 )

  Teemo APRIL 7, 2021 MY FURRY KIDS Teemo came into our lives on 9 March 2021 . His fosterer told us he is about 3 months old so this lucky boy will have two dates to celebrate – an “agak-agak’ birthday on 9 Dec 2020 and his adoption day in March. But first, here’s a long preface to where we got to be where we are. Don;t be fooled by my coyness I’ve always loved animals but since G developed allergies to cats and dogs, we stopped having them for goodness knows how long a deprivation dry spell. Things changed one day when a runaway or abandoned hamster found its way into our house. We took Hammie in and just as suddenly as he came, he became listless one day, developed a wet tail ( a fatal syndrome in hamsters ) and died. I was very upset and felt the loss deeply. G wanted to get me another hamster but since their lifespan is only 2 years, we decided to get bunnies instead. That was how Miu Miu ( the Brown ) and Prada ( the Black ) joined the family. Surprise, surprise, G is not all...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gnomes, Locks and Other Distractions – Wroclaw Part 1 ( first posted on thebarefootfoodie.org on 18 Oct 2016 )

  Gnomes, Locks and Other Distractions – Wroclaw Part 1 OCTOBER 18, 2016 BAREFOOT TRAVELS ,  EUROPE Wroclaw ( pronounced  rots wahv )   is a picturesque city in Poland known for its beautiful market square and many delightful pockets of quaint features. It is spanned by more than 100 bridges, and floats ethereally perched as a city on water. That aside, the real draw for us was the  legion of little people with larger than life personalities that add to the lure of this magical place – the gnomes ( or  krasnale  , in local parlance ) It started with a protest against the authoritarian regime by dissidents who cleverly used these whimsical figurines to register their discontent. How could the police make an arrest with something so nonsensical? And so it grew, until it acquired a cult status of its own in 2001 when the country became a democratic state, and an official statue of a gnome was erected on the city’s main street. It did not stop th...
Post a Comment
Read more