DIY Mini Showroom Part 4 - Bathroom

I wasn't sure whether to post the bathroom design first or the piano room design. Why? Well, I actually started with the piano room first but got fatigued and overwhelmed by the final touches, so I left it aside and started on the bathroom design and finished the latter… well, since both are now completed, it doesn’t really matter, right?

Righto! The bathroom design was hubby’s favourite. However, apart from admiring the bathtub, sink and toilet (all made from ceramic and don’t really need any further touch-ups, he basically left it alone. Oh yeah, I just recalled that he helped to ‘level’ the toilet with sticky tack. This is important as it was really quite senget, and as there is a 'drawer' just above it, an uneven gap would be quite glaring. So, thank you, hubby.

Overall, I liked the colour scheme of the bathroom. It is really soothing and I find the pieces are placed where they need to be, rather than just filling up space.

Now, I would really like to bring your attention to the mirror. It took me quite some time to cut out the oval shaped reflective paper as it always looked loop-sided, somehow. And the golden frame is actually just a piece of wire wrapped around the reflective paper (there is a piece of thick backing) and it is not easy. I also liked the decorations around the mirror. They are done with just a tweezer. Can you imagine it? Although, a long-nose pliers will do but I was too lazy to go hunt for it.

The 2nd key point will be the towels. I never realised that cloth that are usually so pliable would be so difficult to work with on a miniature scale. There always seem to be a corner that is sticking out somewhere. Haha, but never fear, the BFF, Ms UHU glue is always there to the rescue. I had to wedge the back up a bit so that it looks better from the front.

The cabinet is a bit challenging to do as the height of each shelf need to be trialled out first. Hence, need to do the decorations first, to ensure that they all fit it. But as this is the 3rd/4th design, it wasn't too difficult. Ya lar, after finishing 4 designs, can action a bit lar... hehehe

At the inner right corner, there is a tiny shelf with a towel rack. I actually made a mistake, as I was supposed to cut off a strip from the curtain material, but I used it all up for the curtain. So I've to improvised by using the other material. I feel that it turned out better this way, as it is a type of terry cloth, so better for a towel, right?

There is also a 'dead' tree deco right there, but semi hidden from view by the bathtub. This deco is very messy as the instructions say to glue the leaves/twigs first, then using the piece of twine, to start winding up the stick. I ended up with my fingers (pls note that it's in plural) having an intimate encounter with my BFF.

There is also a bucket like item hanging from the side of the cabinet. I must confess that I dunno what it is supposed to be. But it looks good right?

And this, I supposed is the laundry basket. The manufacturer miscalculated on the amount of twine required. If you have counted, there are 3 items that need this yellow twine. It just isn't enough, but I've got some leftover from the kitchen design that came in handy. I had been doing it the whole afternoon, and was a bit tired (need some excuses...) so when the twine just would not behave as I wanted to, I got a bit cranky. It was hubby to the rescue... he pointed it out that he made it to curve in a bit, so that the lid covers the basket properly. Alas, as I've been messing it up a bit, the twine is now covered with my BFF, and looked really untidy. So, I've to use some bits and pieces to decorate it.... and camouflage the untidy stuff. That's why there is no close up of the basket. hehehe, I've got editor's privilege.

Here's the window, and after I pasted it up, I realised that one can see the wallpaper behind it! Oh, my gosh, how can this be!!!! I can't let this oversight by the manufacturer ruin my whole bathroom right? So I inserted a piece of plain paper behind it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the improved version, so you just have to imagine it lar...

Lastly, we have to introduce the star of any decent bathroom that dared to call itself a bathroom...

Drumroll please....

Ta Da!!! THE BATHTUB

Although I didn't have to do much to it, there still is the tap and taps are no fun... it is made from 2 gold beads and a piece of metal wire, that you have to cut and shaped. The piece of clothe is a nice touch, but the sponge and soap is my own idea. The platform is a bit silly, as the mfg actually gave a piece of smooth Styrofoam (like those drinking cup material) Had a hard time trying to wrap the piece up with the printed paper and to form straight and sharp corners. Oh well, in the end it is not too bad but no 90 degrees angles.

PS. Please forgive the 'drama queen' tone in this post. My excuse is that it is late, and I've just watched the latest episode of Khuntoria.. OMG, they are just so a.do.ra.ble!!! Sis just refused to watch their segment b'cos she is just too jealous that Nichkhun loves Victoria. Hahaha, surprisingly she got infected by Bro, of all people to start watching WGM. But they just watch Jo-In couple, which are hilarious, I admit, but, Khuntoria is still my OTP.

Well, SKKS is also quite interesting, but not in this post.

DIY Mini Showroom Part 3 - Kitchen

Here's the story on how we ended up with the rest of the designs. After we completed the bedroom, Rachel was looking at the box, saying how much she liked the baby room design and could we pleeeeeeaaaase get that? Hubby was also talking that he liked the bathroom. So, we ended up at Dataran again and was told that the if we buy the rest of the designs, it will cost 'only' RM30 per design as opposed to RM36. Somehow, hubby was conned into paying for it.

Let's go back to the kitchen design. In this design, I've many favourite key points. Firstly, there is the centre piece, i.e. the table. The sandwich is the main focal point here, with its vibrant colours. Unfortunately, I've begin to be slightly heavy handed with the UHU glue, so you can see signs of its presence. Why?? b'cos I was tired of constantly repairing things in the bedroom design and wanted to glue it to death.

The 2 cups are soooo cute, and so is the vase of flowers. It is some kind of dried and dyed plant. As for the table, it is quite easy to make, just stick the cloth onto it and voila, a pretty table cloth. I've also to glue it to the sides to make the cloth 'flow' down. But again, a bit too much glue.

Since I've had some experience now, the chair was quite easy. Just glue and let it set. The seat cover is a nice touch, although you can't see it here.

This is the larder, or cupboard. I'm pretty proud of it, as I did it myself. The 2 tins are actually clear plastic tubes cut into size, with printed paper rolled up inside. The cake is provided, so don't have to do anything except to glue it down. On the 3rd shelf, you can see hubby's main contribution to this design, the tray of fruits. There is actually a pink straw tray under it, that was done by hubby. He failed at arranging the fruits, so it's mummy to the rescue!!!

The bottom shelf is just 2 metal pieces provided.

I added a piece of paper to the back of the cupboard, as they didn't provide that and it looks odd to see the wall behind it! Oh, yes, hubby also did the handle, nice?

Can you see the apron hanging on the door? That's my creation. The actual design shows it lying on top of one of the chairs, but I thought that it looks nicer hanging on the door. Oh, I also added the heart.

I also liked the inner left corner a lot... The saucepans hanging on the rod are actually paper pins. I'm very proud of the 2 mittens as the instruction manual didn't show what's at that corner and it was not visible in the photos on the box.

One of the big pots is actually a thimble with a press-stud as the cover. Bet you didn't know. As for the other pot, it was made from a piece of rolled-up cardboard, which was then covered with silver paper. The window here is just rounded match-sticks, with a picture behind it... no curtains!

The hob is just a piece of spongy material, with black felt for the burner and beads for the knob.

Some finer touches with the basket of fruits. The basket is also made from a piece of rolled-up cardboard, which was then covered with a piece of straw (or string) wound around it. UHU glue is used to ensure that the straw sticks, but things can turn pretty messy. This winding concept is quite common across the other designs. The handle is also made of the same material, albeit separated.

The kitchen cabinets are made from pieces of wood and matchsticks. As the quality is not consistent, I find myself laying out all the pieces and trying to find the 'best' looking pieces for the more visible surfaces. There is also a sink with golden taps.

Some pictures to brighten up the other wall.

Oh, I just realised that I didn't mention about the walls! This time there is a piece of wood running across all the walls, separating the wall into 2 horizontal portions. Usually, I'll fix up the floor and walls first, but this time, I have to finish at least 1 kitchen cabinet to gauge the height for the runner and the length of the wall papers, so that it all ends behind the runner.

There is also a shelf running across the back wall. That is also fixed after the larder is completed. All the tins on top of the shelf are also made from silicone tubes. My frustration with the tubing was how to cut it so that it is straight when I place it on the ends. Somehow, I'd the tendency to cut a bit slanted, so the 'tins' were 'senget'. So I had to trim a bit here and there so that they look more presentable. And that is why there aren't any close-ups!!

DIY Mini Showroom Part 2 - Bedroom

This was our 'trial' set and completed it with Hubby's assistance in 2 days flat.

I'm not going into details on how to make this stuff, but to just show the key points of each design.

Since it is a bedroom design, the key feature would of course be a bed. Hubby helped a lot with this design, making most of the furniture. Well, what did I do? The wallpaper, cornice and the lace on the walls as well as those that had to do with cloth.

For the bed, the pillows and quilt were a bit tricky, as the satin cloth are very slippery and I had to hand sew it inside out. As I do not sew on a regular basis, my stitches were not very even and upon turning it inside-out, noticed the visible stitches and had to do corrections. (Note: Some parts of the design, including those yet to be posted, I didn't really follow exactly as shown on the box. So, can you spot the differences?)

The satin cloth is surprisingly stiff, so I actually used quite a bit of UHU glue on the quilt as it wouldn't follow the contour of the bed.

There is a chest of drawers next to the bed, which again was mostly done by hubby with Rachel helping to stick on the printed papers. I like the way the manufacturer put in effort into the details like pearls for knobs and the knick knacks. Lamp is also done by hubby, but all others by moi!

I really have to give credit to hubby for making these cute bedroom slippers from 4 rectangular pieces. Of course, Rachel was giving lots of 'advise' on how to shape them! On the other hand, after completing this, Hubby developed 'fatigue syndrome' and was not so 'active' for the other designs. Well, any help is better than none, I'd say.

In the other corner of the bedroom is the vanity table. The mirror is surprisingly reflective as I found my image in one of the other pictures (not shown, hehehe, so don't go looking for it)

Here's a close-up of the vanity table. I really like how different types of beads are used to look like perfume bottles and jewellery box. Yes, that 'box' is actually made out of 4 separate beads. Pretty, isn't it?

If we have a vanity, we can't do without the stool, right?

Honestly, I had a hard time with this little stool. Well, I was being greedy and wanted the cushion to be puffier, so I used quite a bit of stuffing. Unfortunately, the satin didn't agree with me and was being quite stubborn about it. I had to wrestle it down with my best friend, the UHU glue. It's only after I won the battle that I realised that I didn't cut the cloth into a circular shape, so now the underneath is a bit untidy and uneven. The manufacturer realised this would happen, so provided a piece of lace to wrap around it, hiding the mess.

The uneven surface under the seat caused the 3 little legs to be crooked. This is the best angle that I can use to make it look more presentable, even though the ends of the wrap-around lace is visible.

Finally, we come to the window. I feel that this is one of my best effort to date. This says a lot as I've done 3 other designs.

I really liked the different layers of this window. Firstly there is the frame, made from 7 pieces of wood, then comes the gauze, the curtains and last, the lace. As I mentioned earlier, the satin is quite slippery and stiff. I couldn't form the pleats properly. I had to sew a thread through the top and pulled it tighter to make pleats. I then glued both ends down and slowly tackle the rest. Once again, my best friend, UHU glue came to my rescue, but it got a bit messy. Thank goodness for the piece of lace to camouflage the undesirable bits. Oh yeah, the curtain ties are very tedious, as initially, I only managed to make a bow on one of the curtains. It took many tries, using the tweezers to finally make both to look presentable. Enjoy it while it last as I gave up doing it for the other curtains in the other designs.

Lastly, a note to keep any unused odds and ends as it may come in handy, which I found out in the bathroom design.

Ok, this is reaaaallly the last comment!!! Do not allow kids to play with it. It is not robust (haiya, what do you expect? It's low cost and UHU glued). So, unless you relish to see all the effort goes down the drain, wrap it up and put it somewhere safe, where no football can reach.

DIY Mini show rooms - part 1

A couple of months back, when we were at Dataran, we came across a small shop near the flat escalator (dunno what is the correct name) near the Carrefour side. It sells DIY handicrafts, mainly paint-by-number set, DIY minature show rooms etc.

I bought one smallish paint-by-number set and one DIY mini show rooms that Rachel chose. This particular set comes in a total of 6 designs. Each design is basically a 'room' with 3 walls and a floor. There are items that you need to make to fill it up. Rachel chose the bedroom design. The final product is quite small, approx 15cm x 15cm x 17cm. This is an approximate as I'm too lazy to measure it right now. May come back to edit.

Each box contains an instruction manual. Unfortunately, it is all in Chinese!!! which I don't understand, but no fear, as long as you recognise some rudimentary characters for colour, paper, cloth, wood etc, it is still manageable. If you don't, you can easily refer to any online Chinese-English dictionary, and work things out. At least, the dimensions are in Roman numerals. If all fails, refer to the picture on the box to figure out where it all fits. And trust me, the pictures help a lot.

The things in the boxes are separated into different bags and labelled accordingly as per the instruction manual. If you enjoy fixing up IKEA furniture, you'll like this too.

Most of the things that is provided are simple items, falling into these categories

* wood parts (match-stick sized sticks and flat pieces)

* cloth (can be of any material i.e. gauze, cotton, felt, and strips of lace, ribbons)

* paper (cardboard, printed paper)

* accessories (beads of many shapes and sizes, metal wires, strings, stuffing, pins, fake plants etc)

Then it is basic glueing and fixing things up. It is a wonder how they designed the layout, paying attention to details. It is also surprising how ordinary things like pins, beads can be turned into perfume bottles, toiletries, cans, pots etc.

However, I need to point out that the work can be quite tedious. I'll expand on it further when we get to the Piano Room. The quality only so-so, but the outcome can be surprisingly beautiful, especially when viewed from a distance.

As all the items are only fixed using UHU glue, it is not meant to be play-able, only for display only... Strictly See, No Touch !

This post is just an introduction to the latest hobby that I picked up. To date, I've completed 4 sets, and will post them up...... when I post them up. How did I ended up with so many sets? That will be explained later.... chiao

Safari sticker deco

I bought this sticker at MITC during the HOMEDEX last month. It is much cheaper than the other place at EON Bandaraya Melaka. It is only RM5! but the down side is limited choices. Pretty isn't it? There is another one, but it does not come out nice as the sticker is in pink and light pink, and the wall I stuck it on is beige, so there is not much contrast. I'll post it later, if I ever do...

Details






PS. I'm reaallly fed up with blogger... when I post pictures, only 'weird' picture details i.e. program language shows up.. so I can't see the effect before posting...

Unicorn

Here's another of the 'buy & paint' pictures. Hint : It looks better if you're standing 4 feet away.

Nice??



This is the previous piece. I outlined it in black and it looked much better....



There another piece in the cupboard which Rachel is bugging me to paint... hehehe let's see when I'll stop procrastinating.

Cupcakes, anyone?

Last month, as I was browsing through MPH, a book/set on cupcakes caught my eye. As I've been toying with the idea of taking up baking, cupcakes looks like an easier beginning. At least if it turns out to be a disaster, I won't have much to throw away or look for many victims to eat it.

To put my one week leave to good use, I tried out the recipe and surprisingly, it is very easy to make. Honestly, this is my very first attempt at baking. I've never baked any cakes before, other than helping mummy prepare pineapple tarts for CNY.

How does this look? Good?

These are actually chocolate chip almond cupcakes. The best to date (the worst was lemon cupcakes... blehhh)

Pics courtesy of bro

Initially, when I was using that lousy balance, things turned out slightly too sweet as the measurement is really out of tolerance. But measuring cups did the trick! They really taste good, and I'm not the one saying that.

Now, my headache is bro is nagging on a weekly basis to make more cupcakes for him. I need to get a simple, easy to use oven so that I don't have to lug everything over to Mum's place just to bake.

I tried to ice the cupcakes with simple icing sugar paste, but it doesn't turned up well. But Darling insist and that's the only way she'll eat it.

What flavour should I bake next? Coffee, chocolate? Maybe I'll try baking a real cake next.

Actually, to tell the truth, I don't really like to eat cakes. I just like to bake, so it is good that there are ready 'victims'. If I run out of family members, office mates, beware!

Knick-knack box

Aren't these boxes pretty? Made from old greeting cards, those square ones. Previously, I don't know how to make the lids to be narrower than the bottom box. So, it was a bit difficult to open it. Finally, managed to figure it out... 3 were made last year and 2 just this week. Looks the same, right?

Dainty Sky

Look at how dainty Sky is. Somehow, it reminds me of those European ladies in their walking dresses with parasols in their hands and teeny weeny hats on their heads.

Pretty, if I may say so myself >.<

PS. If you don't get it, the dog is called Sky. Sometimes, it is a boy dog, sometimes it is a girl dog, depending on Rachel's mood. There is another called Sandy, but she don't go too well with pink...

EDIT : Rachel says that Sandy insists on taking a picture with the flower too..

Now this flower is for a certain achi-ponek girl up north. There are many more, bigger ones made using wool yarn. But I didn't take pictures of those. Maybe I'll do it one of these days....