the tipping point
i drink tea. during my travels in vietnam, cambodia and thailand, i bought loose tea leaves sold in street markets to bring back home. i’m not a big tea drinker but occasional cravings for a warm infused herbal tea make me brew these leaves after a hearty meal or as an alternative to coffee.
interestingly, over the christmas holiday, i came across a teacup being sold on the internet- in uncommon goods. it’s called the Magisso Teacup from finland. this new red dot awarded product was designed by Laura Bougdanos and Vesa Jääskö.
elegant and clean design makes enjoying tea nice and simple. the triangle bottom and inbuilt and removable strainer, it is easy to adjust the strength of tea depending on your taste without making a mess. this is an effortless way to enjoy a perfect cup of tea.
i want one and is available in pure black or snow white from uncommon goods for $22.00.
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Tags: design, Finland, food, innovation, Magisso Teacup, organization, Tea, Teacup
lost in space
Lost in Space
The thing about living in a small and limited space is that each and every inch of what you have counts. Everything is cramped and it requires sheer talent and skill to make the space work. It must be a designer’s nightmare to put the furniture pieces of the right form and function and yet make it all work together. More often than not, if you want both form and function, be prepared to spend. But this may not always be the case.
Dish Stackers
When it comes to the kitchen cupboard space, I’ve recently found a solution to maximize the unused part of the cupboard by putting a storage shelf rack. Now instead of stacking items on top of one another, creating another partition provides better usage of space. Since it’s not stacked, I don’t have to remove items from the cupboard just to get something that’s at the very bottom of the pile. Dish stackers are available in various sizes in Make Room.
The kitchen counter that I have is less than a meter in length. A portion of it occupies the stove, the utensils and the knives and the rest would be shared as working space to prepare food for cooking and area to dry washed dishes. While I’ve been longing to find a dish rack that will work with the space that I had, I kept in mind that it has to be all of the following:
- for it to have a pleasing form
- not bulky but can work with the narrow limited work space
- collapsible or something that requires easy assembly or it could be tucked and stored away when not in use
Umbra Sink Rack Red
Recently, I found the Umbra – Sink Rack. Notably it has a nice design form and it works well with my limited space. Best of all, I have the option to put it in the sink giving me more work space.
Umbra Sink Rack Red specifications:
Material: Moulded plastic
Dimensions: 28cm x 30cm x 4cm
Designer: Mauricio Alfonso
Going to the living slash dining slash bedroom area, this actively occupies majority of my entire space. While I don’t have a lot of shoes, I needed a place to store them using the least possible area. I recently fixed this after I bought a shoe rack from my recent trip in Hong Kong. Since I visited the IKEA store there, I bravely purchased the red Trones 3-piece cabinet and shamelessly flew it back home. It was all worth the trouble as it proved to be one of the things now in my house that I treasure the most. It has a sleek design and all can be stacked or side by side. It’s a flexible shallow-depth cabinet that is very much ideal for limited spaces.
IKEA Trones Shoe Rack
Trones specifications:
Width: 51 cm
Depth: 18 cm
Height: 39 cm
Package quantity: 3 pack
Designer: Richard Clack
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Tags: 2012, apartment talks, Hong Kong, IKEA, january, organization, Trones, Umbra
Merry Holidays!
My Little Christmas Tree
Same as last year, I’m reusing my wire Christmas tree and sit it on a red plate right next to my table lamp. It isn’t much but it brings the holiday spirit into my house.
And with this, it suddenly feels a lot like Christmas! Merry holidays, everyone!
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Tags: 2011, christmas, December, everyday talkies, holidays
air conditioning
air conditioning installation
One thing about my apartment aside from not having a view is that it lacks good ventilation. The building’s configuration does it not allow ample sunlight but there’s no continuous airflow. It tends to get really hot and humid in the summer months. What some of my neighbors do is that they pull up the curtains, open the window and leave the door slightly open to build that steady stream of flowing air. I don’t like this idea because I can hear outside noise and I lose my privacy by pulling up my curtains. Though it had a provision for airconditioning, I didn’t know I really needed one up until I really felt the intense heat of summer. Amidst the fact that there are still more important things to buy and knowing that having air conditioning would have a huge dent on my utility bills, I still went on and got one.
I didn’t want to spend any more so I decided that I do the installation on my own. The gaping hole was too huge so I sawed a portion of a piece of plywood to cover the gap from the air conditioning unit itself and the hole in the wall. I also had to build a wooden plank for it to rest on during installation and to anchor it securely on the ledge of the apartment. A whole Saturday afternoon was how much it took to have it done. Now, I have restful nights sleeping leaving my cares away even if its hot or humid outside. All I know is that I have a piece of comfort right in my own apartment.
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Tags: 2011, airconditioning, apartment, apartment talks, diy, september
a room without a view
a room without a view
Looking out at my window, this is what I see– a blank wall and the window opposite to my apartment. It’s okay though, the color scheme is nice. I like it.
Being in an inner apartment unit, you face the opposite inner apartment unit as well. At least I still get a good amount of sunlight and I get wireless internet signal.
Now I want a plant. A cactus plant perhaps?
Filed under: apartment talks, everyday talkies | 4 Comments
Tags: 2010, apartment, apartment talks, april, everyday talkies, view, window
earth hour 2010
Earth Hour 2010
I did my share of earth hour even if there was a power outage in the apartment from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
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Tags: 2010, earth hour, earth hour 2010, march
hello, weekend
Today is the start of the weekend. 
I’m happy for the two days that I don’t have to be at work.
I wish everyone a great weekend and to those who are already on vacation all the way through lent, have a good one.
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Tags: 2010, march, weekend
floored
A well-maintained wood parquet floored apartment is a good thing
I am having floor issues. The wood parquet flooring of my apartment badly needs sanding and varnishing.
To my dismay the broker seems to be ignoring my calls and texts to follow-up on the work that needs to be done. So much for being a responsible broker liasing between the lessee and the lessor. These people are difficult to deal with.
On the other hand, two months from moving in, my 5-year old inflatable bed seem to be showing signs that it’s gonna retire soon. Everyday I wake up with my back flat on the floor. And every night I have to inflate the thing before going to sleep. I’ve gotten tired finding the air leaks and the holes on this bed. It’s time I seriously consider getting a real bed.
For the floors, I think of square carpet tiles to cover the floor area of the living space. Then buy a foam mattress and leave it on the floor for a minimalist slash zennish-like look. I’m still thinking how to go about this– the color scheme and how much it would cost all in all.
I hope I don’t break the bank for this.
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Tags: 2010, apartment, diy, floor, flooring, home, march
burn, baby burn!
failed suicide attempt?
I didn’t cut myself. Well at least not yet.
tabletop ironing board
A few nights ago I was pressing clothes for work using this tabletop ironing board that I bought recently. The ironing board is cheap, the cheapest of the bunch that was being sold at the nearby mall. Since I am out of space, I thought of something that can be easily folded and stored away. That’s how I ended up getting this contraption; little did I know I would be in for a surprise using it.
I am not an expert on clothes ironing. In fact I suck at doing this chore. While rotating the back area of my shirt at the rounded edge of the board, with the flatiron standing upright at the other end, my wrist came into contact with its edge. That’s how I got my nasty burn. Ouch! 
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Tags: 2010, burn, chores, everyday talkies, february, flatiron, ironing board
a world of plastics
photo image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/zamm/
Back at our home, my mom had a thing for keeping almost every refuse that others can easily throw away. She’d rather keep them in our laundry area cupboard until she could think of what to do with them. I’d see balls of grocery plastic and paper bags, plastic cups, utensils and take-out food containers. The rate that she collects them is exponentially faster than the rate of disposing them.
Here in the apartment, with the three weeks that I’ve been here, I’m starting to gather a lot of grocery plastic bags and they are starting to take space under my kitchen sink. I contemplate on throwing single used sturdy grocery bags when I can still have use for them somehow and somewhere. Same goes with those microwavable take-out food containers that can be reused. I just don’t have the heart to throw them away knowing that I’ll have possible use for them in the future.
I am indeed my mother’s son.
Filed under: everyday talkies | 1 Comment
Tags: 2010, everyday talkies, family, february, garbage, platics, recycle, refuse, reuse
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