MONOGRAMS IN PLACE!

ILAIKA'S CUPBOARDS...

* these are the pretty knobs i referred to in my previous post ;)

HERITAGE FAN...

JAZZING UP SUBWAY TILES, VOLAKAS STYLE...

MONOGRAMS ARRIVED!

HANDMADE KNOBS...

* knobs are handmade by Rose and can be found at her online etsy store, DaRosa. she can customise the knobs to suit your preferences but these were listed just perfectly so i didn't change much.

THE PLAYROOM...

the new house was obviously designed to have the basement as a family living area with a spare room for a study or a guest room. however, since hubs and i have decided to utilise the whole basement for our individual quirks, we've decided to convert the top floor living space to ilaika's own playroom...

at our current house, her toys are everywhere - the living room, her room, our room and even on and under the dining table. so one thing's for certain - we both want a space where she could make as much mess as possible (because that's what kids do naturally well) yet one where she could easily learn how to keep and organise her toys. for this, lots of clear boxes are necessary for storage and easy access. and since children tend to break things and outgrow their toys and interests so quickly, i decided that this was one room that i wasn't going to spend on very much. ikea stuff will do ;p

i really love this tufted sofa...i could imagine ilaika dozing off after a day of play. oh ok, fine...i can imagine myself dozing off for afternoon naps!

THE DINING ROOM...

a month to go til our big move!

we've torn down the kitchen wall so there is no longer a wet and dry kitchen. instead, there will be a slightly larger square-ish one. the kitchen door will be a full height glass french door that opens up to the dining area.

my idea of separating the formal living room and the dining area was vetoed out by the darling hubs in the last minute; hence that space is now a large open plan living/dining area...which means the decor of the dining area has to somewhat complement that of the living room.

so here's how i imagine the dining room will look like...

...another polyvore masterpiece ;)

as expected, there's been a fair share of "domestic dispute" (amongst many others, hubby's veto above!) and sadly, there's been unexpected drama involving our contractor and interior designer. the utmost unprofessional attitude and lack of interest where the latter was concerned so am glad they're out of the picture now. that's the good news...

the bad news is having terminated their services so late in the day means i have to start from scratch. thank goodness i started planned from early this year so i do roughly know what i want and now i just have to source for all the necessary furnishing. not sure if i'll be any good at putting all of them together though. there's still tons to do and not much time left. oh well, on the bright side, i can spend this next month doing what i so love...shop-shop-shopping!

THE MASTER BEDROOM...

the moodboard for the master bedroom had to be less feminine and a little masculine but with hints of romance and yet still be in colours which were soothing. this, believe you me, was not an easy task!

here's what i came up with...

i still think it needs a little bit of tweaking but it'll do for now. i'm pretty sure we'll improve it as we go along...

THE WORKSHOP...

the hubs decided earlier on to use the basement as a studio-office-media room, some sort of a man cave that i've begun referring to as the bachelor pad he never had (minus the supermodels of course!)...so it was only fair that i convert the small guest room adjoining his into to my own girly space. not that i really need one but i reckon it'll be my sanctuary  cum workshop to read, blog, plan parties, scrapbook etc. 

ilaika's room aside, this was to be the only space in the house which i could do up in florals, pinks and pastels...

in one corner of the room, i'll have my desk with an ideas board which i'm going to attempt making once we move in. another corner will have a bench against the wall and a white-washed table for arts, craft and scrapbooking. at the other end of the room will be a book shelf and small lounge area with french doors that lead to a wooden outdoor patio.

surprisingly, the final moodboard above didn't have as many floral prints as i'd originally envisioned...but the pinks are definitely there ;) 

am not too sure what kind of decor this is called...perhaps something along the lines of shabby chic, romantic french parisian and bohemian chic...whatever it's called, i have a feeling this is going to be a really fun room to do up!

THE FORMAL LIVING ROOM...

i've spent the last few months endlessly googling for ideas for our new house and going through magazine after magazine for decor inspiration. oddly enough, i haven't come across a single picture of a formal living room that really appealed to me. i've seen bits and pieces of items that i've liked but never really the whole picture. i'm really running out of time as we have to move by end of october so i put together a sort of moodboard using polyvore...took a lil bit of time to find some items but check this out...i love it ;)

CONVERSATIONS WITH ILAIKA...re: leaving the tv on...

ilaika : mummy, you keep telling me to switch off the tv when i'm not watching it...why is your tv on?

me : oh i just stepped out of my room to get my cup of coffee...

ilaika : weeeeelllll, i just got up to poo and I switched off my tv!

me : oh, SOR-REEEEE....(with a silent ARRRGHHHH!!)

THE PERFECT KITCHEN...still loving white...

here's another white kitchen i really love, designed by Molly Frey and featured in Traditional Home. 

the almost purely white kitchen looks so inviting, spacious and airy, and is brought to life with accents of soft colour from the flowers, dishes, vases and most importantly, food.

i love the symmetrical mirrored french doors, the gray tiled backsplash and the stainless steel one in the centre, and the open shelves with dishes for easy accessibility. it's the kind of kitchen that's the hub of the home and one where friends could hang about in whilst helping out with setting the table ;)

CONVERSATIONS WITH ILAIKA...in the car park...

cinomonyet sees the reserved lot with the wheelchair symbol and asks, "what's this picture for?" to which i answered, "it's a special parking lot just for people with wheelchairs, like your great grandmother."

she gives me a puzzled look and says, "oh but what if someone comes by and steals the wheelchair...??"

THE PERFECT KITCHEN...

and so the search has begun ;)

one would have thought with all the baking i've done, i'd already have an idea of what my perfect kitchen would look like. ironically, i don't. well, i kinda do but the more i look online and the more interior decor magazines i read, the more i'm undecided. there are SOOO many different looks, appliances, finishes, styles etc out there and it's just too difficult to choose just one look!

after all my research, i have however decided that the ultra-modern and super minimalist looks are just too sterile for my taste. i admire them and i'd oooh and aahhh over them but they're just not homely enough. they're the kind of spaces where i'd be afraid to touch anything for fear that i'd mess it up.

i've also decided that i'd like a kitchen with white cabinets, touches of black and bits of gray. 

surprisingly, the kitchen design that appealed to me the most was one by ikea. boring, you might say? but wait...have a look before you judge and you might just share the same sentiments as me...

i love the cleanliness of the white wooden cabinets in contrast to the black countertops and dark wooden floorboards, the fully utilised open shelving against the whitewashed brick wall and the organised yet purposeful mess captured in these pictures. oh and i absolutely adore the industrial vintage feel of the pendant lights and the stainless steel trolley.

from all the cakes and bowl of icing on the island counters, i'm guessing that this kitchen was designed with a baker in mind. isn't it just perfect? now, if only i can squeeze all these lovely elements into my new kitchen, which i reckon is about half the size of this one....sigh...i love it, i love it ;)

THE SIMPLEST OF ARRANGEMENTS...

a few months ago, we helped out with the flower arrangements for my cousin's engagement party. i never thought arranging flowers would be so simple but it really was!

all we did were put together a bunch of pretty flowers, tied them together with a ribbon and chucked them in a plain glass vase filled with white pebbles and water....and ta-daaaa....

aren't these simply beautiful? my favourite and the simplest of the arrangements however, were the leftovers...

surprisingly, the flowers we chose lasted a week after the party, before they started to wilt. here's a sweet tip...add sugar to the water; sugar not only makes the flowers bloom gorgeously, it also keeps them fresh longer. sweet water for sweet flowers...who'd have made the connection eh?

now i know how simple it is, i'm inspired to have fresh flowers in the house all the time!

HELLOOOO...ANYBODY THERE?

surprise surprise, look who's back? ;p

well, i didn't go anywhere, really. i've just been bogged down with all sorts. not that it's a valid excuse but it's scary how life just passes by and before one knows it, it's been five months since the last blog post! honestly, if you were to ask me what i've been up too, i wouldn't even know how to respond and that's the scary part because i haven't been up to much and yet i have. does that make any sense whatsoever? sigh...let me attempt to fill you in...if you're still up for reading my blog...

having recently left the pr world of kl's hospitality industry, izreen is now on a soul searching mission to uncover her life purpose and rediscover her passions. 

and that's how the fancy-schmancy official statement would have read if there ever was one! as mentioned here and here, i finally took the plunge and tendered my resignation. it's been five months since my last day of work and i've loved every minute of it. the honest truth is i've just been going with the flow; taking in one day at a time, enjoying the simple pleasures of my life as it is right now. when i say simple, i really mean simple ie school runs, long lunches, mindless reading, afternoon naps, week day shopping etc etc etc ;)

before i resigned however, i did promise to spend the first few months of unemployment figuring out what was next for me. i vowed to work out a proper business plan to make sure i was headed in the right direction as at that time, mel and i were just taking in any order that came along, whether it was for parties, cookies, cupcakes, party packs and so on. but alas, things don't always go as planned. in my defense, i did a wee bit of research here and there but before i had made any real progress, zain & i made an even bigger commitment...we bought our very first property! 

and so we agreed that from now until we make the big move, my main focus was to be our brand new home. as excited as i was to take up a new project, it was with a heavy heart that i decided to stop taking orders for both parties and baking. it just wasn't fair to commit to others when i myself was uncertain of my direction in life. of course, being in between a half packed-up home and an empty one, wasn't exactly the most conducive and convenient environment to work in ;O 

ironically, the moment i announce to the universe that i'm taking a break, i get enquiries every other day! i sincerely do apologise to every single person who's request and orders i've had to turn down but really, it is for the best given the circumstances...

so now, i have two to three months to design, renovate, decorate and move...daunting! but oh so exciting ;)

i'll keep you posted on our house project as we go along and i'll also bring this blog up to date with the last few parties we organised. so do stick around...i promise you i will...

{fluff and stuff} presents : ALICE IN WONDERLAND

yes, this post is waaaaaaaaaaay over due! the party was back in august 2010 and you might recall a sneak peek, as posted here. drawing inspiration from the movie as well as from the links mentioned in a much earlier alice feature, we came up with a whimsical theme, playing with the colours orange, turquoise and fuschia.

the party was for tunku alana's 25th birthday and the original "order" was for an alice themed dessert buffet. however, dear alana loved the moodboard we presented and so with much glee, we ended up decorating the whole venue!

here are some pics we snapped amidst the chaos...

- registration at the entrance - 

- the tables - 

   

- the dessert buffet -

   

   





   

- the bar counter -



   

credits: 1. the party took place at the pink sage diner, which i've mentioned before here. 2. we baked all the desserts ourselves except for the birthday cake and macarons. we already had a design in mind for the cake but we had a dessert buffet for a wedding of 600 pax to set up just hours prior to the alice party. with the mad hatter rush we knew we were in for, the cake was the last thing we wanted to take a risk with. hence, we commissioned satira diana to execute the cake-making for us. 3. as for the gorgeous macarons, we just haven't gotten round to mastering this particular art of baking, so we ordered them from whisk ;)

the overall night was named "alana in wonderland" and of course, we labelled the tags eat me and drink me. just for laughs, the biscuits were labelled bite me and the lollipops, lick me! we got a lil carried away, bought extra props and flowers for decor and most likely spent more than our budget...did i also mention we were mad hatters setting up two events back to back? yes, it was most definitely a mad day for us but it was oh so worth it!

MR MEN & LITTLE MISS...

amongst my favourite books whilst growing up was the mr men and little miss series...

i loved how the cute characters were so well illustrated based on their names and i always fancied myself being little miss sunshine ;)

of course, many would differ and probably say i was little miss chatterbox, more than anything else! but...i digress. the whole point of this post was to share pics of the bollipops we made for a friend's son and daughter. we matched the artwork to make them look like the cover of the story books...they turned out super cute!

square bollipops for all the mr men...

   

 and rounds ones for the little misses...

 

happy belated birthday, mr rayyan and little miss ranya!