Entryway Ledge and Mirror

B completed and installed the Entryway Ledge and Mirror the other day. I'm happy to finally have something in this place because the electric box was really starting to annoy me.

Above is a photo of what it looked like before the installation or you can read my previous post here. I came up with the idea to create a white laminate door above the mirror to access the electric box. My design was one door so there wouldn't be any seams down the center of the white. But B thought one door would be too heavy and would sag. His solution, two cabinet doors. I think it looks fine given the awkwardness of what we were working around. Also, he had to make the cabinet and mirror six inches out from the wall in order to fit over the electric box which I originally thought was too deep. But after installation, I really like that the mirror and cabinets sit out that far from the wall it makes the mirror more stylish and contemporary.

Sculpture Bases Completed

B has completed the two white Sculpture Bases for the empty spaces in the Entryway and upstairs (mentioned before here). I've placed a couple of my middle-eastern Silver pieces on the bases for now, and will keep an eye out for some larger vases or sculptures to place on them. We think they look great!

The Entryway on the main floor and upstairs near the stairs have two empty spaces. I guess you could put closets here and close the space off, but there were spotlights in the ceilings of these spaces when we moved in.

Upstairs empty space

At first we were thinking of adding glass shelves in the spaces similar to these photos.

But after the kitchen was done, we felt like we had so many shelves that we thought we should do something else.

So we have decided to add some sculpture bases to the space to add sculptures or vases. Something like the photo above only in white.

Here is another version. B is going to make them for us. He is very busy, so I don't know when they will be finished.

White Stones Under the Stairway

We Recently bought 11 bags of these medium size white pebbles for the space under the Stairway in the entryway (we had tested smaller grey asian pebbles shown here).

I like the larger size pebbles and the white looks pretty nice and neutral. I was planning to make (or have B make) a piece of wood to paint white that could be inserted at the front to 'hold back' the pebbles and make them look enclosed. But R likes the way they are loose on the floor. He thinks they are more stylish this way. I'm not sure, but will leave it as is for now and see over time.

Electric Boxes

There are two electric boxes in the house, one in the entryway and one on the second floor off on the side of the family room. Both locations are out in the open. The entryway is especially problematic because it hangs directly above where we plan to put a big entry mirror. So how to hide these ugly boxes in a way that we can still easily get at them (because with lots of storms the surge protectors go off once in awhile).

When were were living in the rental apartment the electric box was covered in a white laminate box which didn't look as bad as the boxes in our place. The painters told us they couldn't be painted so we will have B build simple white boxes around them with doors (no handles). It's the only thing we can think of to make them less noticeable.

Inspiration for Under Stairway

So after we finished painting the Entryway, my mind immediately started thinking about the useless space under the stairway (okay I was thinking about this before painting too). I don't know who designed this house, but they could have done a better job with the layout in places. The entryway near the stairs is a good example. The space is totally wasted. You can't really put furniture in there because of the angle or hang art. You wouldn't want to close it up as a closet either. So what to do?

Awhile ago, I saw a photo online of a staircase with Asian pebbles near it and thought this might be an option. So I researched online and was initally thinking about adding some plants in the space too. But it doesn't get that much natural light there and plants would require upkeep. Since we are going for contemporary minimalist, and since we are in Asia, R and I thought why not put some asian pebbles in the space? Just simply the stones.

So I get my box of unused pebbles leftover from the landscape design stage (the pebbles I placed in the photo above are not the same darker blueish grey we used outside the house. These are a lighter grey). But after putting them down, R thinks that the pebbles look too small and I think they look too much like the pebbles we have outside the house. I'm going to go to the Rock Garden in Seremban sometime soon and see what else they have. I'd like to get the entryway moving along.

Inspiration photos I found:

Painting Complete

The painting and clean up of the upstairs 'Family Room' (as they call it around here), Stairs and Entry way is finally complete! I think it looks great and is ready for some furniture, now if we could only find the right items. The Ikea mattress cushions that I saw with the grey covering turned out to not be a good idea. The grey part was not a permanent fabric but kind of a temporary cheap fabric cover that would get ruined pretty quick. So for now we have to find other cushions that will work or resort to sofas/chairs. The search is on....

More Painting

For the past couple days the painters were here sanding and priming the walls in the Family Room, Stairway area, and Entryway to make the walls smoother. What a mess, but we put up plastic in the living room doorway and the kitchen doorway to cut down on the dust which was really bad last time they sanded the living room and dining room. The walls in these areas were painted a light 'gardenia' green. Almost white but with a light green tint. It was ok, but the walls were a bit uneven in places so we decided to paint the rooms Nippon 145 White in Spotless. We had used a cheaper non-washable paint Nippon paint in the living room and dining room and it just isn't performing as well as our Home office or Kitchen which are Spotless White. So we decided to use the better paint especially for the stairs walls which gets dirty faster. Here in Malaysia the Geckos create a dropping that gets on the walls and it needs to be washed off. No matter how hard you try to make your place gecko-free, they manage to get in anyway and there is always some of the brown hard droppings around the windows and floors. This sounds gross and it is, but after being here for awhile, it is just part of living in Malaysia that you have to deal with. Well, having washable paint on the walls does help cleaning it.

The photo above is while the painters are painting the sealer on the walls before the coats of paint.

Image of the completed ceiling in the stairs area.

Entryway with sealer coat.