Furnish Not Finished

Thursday 4th September 2008

In Milan now, going home tomorrow..finally.

Not like I don't like The Chedi, I do! It's a gorgeous hotel (oh Italian minimalist chic!) and Milan is actually quite a lovely place. Not as historically decorated as Rome, of course, but it has a charm you can't deny. Add in possibility of running into Donatella Versace (her main home is in Milan) and you've got quite an itinerary! Oh and rumour has it, Prada/MiuMiu's factory outlet is somewhere around here. But the Prada fan that I am practiced restraint this time. Well....relatively speaking, that is. :P

But I'm glad to be going home...it's Ramadhan, after all. I love iftar sessions with friends and family, especially since now we are back and have all the time in the world to actually attend those arranged mini-events. Well, at least when I'm not on duty, that is.

Will be kissing homeground and TheLaki on Saturday morning, afterwhich I'll try to convince him to follow me to view a set of dining chairs that I've fallen in love with and, hopefully after that, will buy. It's not easy buying the perfect set of dining chairs, I tell you! We've had a dining table for the longest time now but it's only been accompanied by a leather bench so far. I'm not into complete dining table sets..you know, the kinds with matching chairs and sometimes with a matching sideboard in the same type and colour of wood/plastic/resin/name your material. With that in mind, I reveal to you now, the ardous journey we have embarked on just to find the perfect contraption to park your asses when you have dinner at our place.

I actually secretly like mismatching my furniture and it's funny I am this way with my interiors because this preferance is not reflected at all in my ensemble of clothes, bags and shoes. And it doesn't help that I'm SO into rainbow colours (think Paul Smith and Missoni stripes) and mixed-up visuals. Imagine that against a white backdrop! Quite, quite ravishing, I must say! Please read that last sentence in the best British accent you can muster, thanks!

Recent magazines have also shown things like completely different chairs around a dining table united by one colour of the exact same shade and intensity, chairs of the same design but in different colours and vintage-style chairs in lovely fabric around an off-beat table. All also I like.

But oh, these babies are quite the devil to find. And when we actually find them, something's just not right and that thing's usually the price. Heh. Doesn't anyone know the meaning of "a budget" anymore? And look at these beauties:-

Tell me...mana mau carik?! I'm willing to bet my last dollar the kedai mamak down the road won't have them in the storeroom. And the last time I checked, neither did them swanky furniture stores on this little red dot. And if by sheer chance they DO have these kind of things, the price tags would shoot me blind in the eye in a nanosecond.

Of course, if I'm the Queen of Genova, I'd simply be looking at purchasing a set of gorgeous gorgeous GORGEOUS Paul Smith and Missoni interiors which are, well, priced as designer items should be priced -outrageously. Then the journey would come to an end in a snap. But I'm not the Queen (yet?) so I won't be digging into any royal banks for furniture any time soon. So if we really have to go the designer-style look, then we're looking at sussing out designer alternatives. Not fakes, mind you...alternatives. But how can you find an alternative to this?

Ye-ye ajer nak carik alternative konon. Tsk tsk. I know, I'm impossible. As well as action terror. Lethal combination.

Or like a designer friend once told me -if you can't afford the chair, just get the cushion. I didn't get what he meant at that point, inwardly discounting his little arty-farty words of wisdom as creative wishwash. But I then read somewhere in an uppity home design magazine that, especially for fickle-minded people like me, main pieces of furniture should be of a neutral, unified colour so that the upholstery, the cushions and the fabrics can be of any texture and colour that follows my fancies.

Like a strobe light in my eye, it all became clear to me suddenly. I can get a set of nice sturdy chairs, in a nice solid neutral colour without much headache and I can meet my rainbow fever with colourful cushions (Paul Smith or not...no matter!) or with those chair covers (Missoni or not...lagi no matter!). And if the twain fail me, I know a nice little uncle somewhere in Joo Chiat who does furniture fabrics in any design you've got your designs on. He is also an excellent furniture "botox" specialist. Any deflated or saggy cushion, sofa or armchair will get a proper firming treatment from him and hence, a new life. Bouncy. I'd bet he would reupholster flattened bra paddings or your 80's shoulder pads if you asked him to.

We'll see how it goes, shall we? What will be bouncy and what will...bounce.

Anyway, at the rate we're going, looks like my designs on that Goyard bag has got to be put on a hold a little while longer now. And TheLaki's designs on a certain Monster (that is if he can EVER find one on sale in Singapore!).

However, contrary to what it might seem, it's not the Hari Raya deadline we're gunning for so don't hold thy breath for an open house from us (though we'd be glad to go to yours, thanks!). I know it's been nearly a year since we began doing up our house and I know it's baffling to many how come we're still not done yet but truth be told, we just like to do our things slowly, surely and yes, stress-lessly. And try as we might, stealthily. It's especially good for people like us who can't afford and don't like the local interior designers. Heh.

But we do like being creative with interiors ourselves although we are not good at it at all. We change our minds way too often....or at least, I change my mind and Azim obediently flexes his muscles (feewitt!!) for some heavylifting. Just last week we (i.e. TheLaki pushed while I pointed) moved the fridge across the kitchen three times just to get it to look right because we got bored of where it was standing.

So please don't laugh if you ever come to our house and find the fridge on the balcony, a lonely dining table with no chairs, Azim with overdeveloped arms and Phatt undergoing therapy from all that furniture moving.

And I? Am going to sleep now.