Love to indulge yourself in a longbath every so often? For mood- add music, dim lighting, some candles, perhaps even a glass of wine or champagne (bordering on overindulgence, i know!). For effect- bath bombs!

Bath bomb? What’s a bath bomb? Sounds ‘bahaya’ – I can only associate it with the toilet bombs during my high school days which the mischievious and daring would throw a firecracker down the toilet in one of the cubicles (remember ‘jupiter’ or ‘petik mancis’? yeap… those were the standard issue firecrackers for toilet bombs). I’m sure you can imagine the after effect of the explosion. Okay, I’ve digressed to grosser topics… bath bombs are certainly not high school grade toilet bombs. So what are they? Here’s what wikipedia has to say on defining bath bombs.

A bath bomb, one form of bath fizzie, is a bolus which, when placed in bath water, dissolves partly or completely and effervesces, also in some cases adding scent, color, and/or other properties or materials to the water

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_bomb

Bath bombs aren’t cheap if you buy them commercially and since I’m talking about them in a HowTo blog post… you guessed right… I’m going to provide you guides on how to create your own bath bombs or bath fizzles. In fact, I’ll provide you three different guides to achieve the same goal. Take your pick:

1. Here’s SoapyHollow’s guide to making bath bombs via Instructables. Click here for instructions

2. Here’s another guide on making bathboms via TeachSoap.com. Click here for instructions

3. Here’s the version from About.com. Click here for instructions

Personally I like SoapyHollow’s version more as it’s not as longwinded as About.com’s version but more detailed than the TeachSoap variety. You decide which guide suits you best to achieve super economical indulgence in a longbath after a long hard day’s work. Fire the candles and cue,,, music.

Mark your calendars for Perfect Livin’ 08 to be held in the KLCC Convention Centre from 7-10 August. Perfect Livin’ 08 is a home and lifestyle exhibition which will feature home and interior design concepts and products and I’m hoping that there will be great deals and steals for its visitors.

The organisers have split the expo into logical categories such as home appliances, furniture, kitchen solutions, garden, bath and others. As usual, there’ll be prizes and gifts to be won (I’m never one of them so I’m not fussed about this really). Here’s an added bonus- if you bank with CIMB, then you’ll be entitled to the privileges below:

Unfortunately, I won’t have a chance to visit this fair as my company’s annual trip is scheduled for that same weekend. A recap of the details of the fair:

Enquiries? Contact the organisers at 603 8075 7375

Image source: www.perfectlivin.com

How’sHouse is now a permanent feature on Estate123.com- one of Malaysia’s leading property portals. Estate123 is a unique property portal that boasts over 6,638 property listings currently, a price analysis tool as well as a user friendly online helpdesk feature called Nina. They currently have a presence in both Malaysia and Hong Kong and they segregate their properties by two major categories- commercial and residential. How’sHouse is featured on the residential section (you can toggle between commercial and residential mode in the top left of the Estate123 page)

The feature is called ‘Interior Design Ideas in Adrian’s Corner’. Adrian’s Corner?!?!? Wow, I get my own corner in one of the leading property portals? Smashing! You can find the link to my ‘corner’ on the left frame of the page. For now, it’s also displayed under the ‘What’s New‘ section at the very top of the page

So you’re probably wondering how a 2.5 mth old blog managed to get on Estate123.com? It’s simple really. The owners of the site approached me and told me that they liked what I was doing with HowsHouse.com and was interested to see how we could work out something to benefit our audiences. I then met them and truth be told, they are really nice down to earth folks so it was easy coming to an agreement where 2 articles a week from HowsHouse.com will be featured on Adrian’s Corner in Estate123.com.

One thing that I really like is that they’ve taken the initiative to help make our earth greener by pairing up with WWF Malaysia to get users to contribute any eco ideas. For each eco idea, Estate123 will contribute RM1 to WWF Malaysia. I know lots of you get on forums and post regularly. Why not channel some of that time to contributing your thoughts and ideas here? At least you know it’ll be worth something!

Head on to Estate123.com today.

Thought: perhaps it’s time HowsHouse.com got it’s own logo…

Image source: Estate123.com

During my undergrad and postgrad uni days in Brisbane, Australia, I stayed with several groups of friends in several locations around town. In the first 1.5 years, I moved around within Toowong and Indoroopilly- two suburbs infested with students as it’s geographically very close to the campus. However, in my final undergrad year and throughout the course of my postgrad studies, I lived in a place called Teneriffe, which was in the west side of Brisbane and quite a distance to campus but still accessible via the public river ferry or a 15 min drive.

I opted to stay away from where the students dwell simply because I wanted to experience life outside of the student bubble environment. It also meant that I probably wouldn’t have my car smashed up by drunk students throwing a shopping trolley against my car in the night time, again. We found the perfect apartment in the upmarket area of Teneriffe, around the corner from New Farm- the artsy and colourful part of Brisbane- called Dakota South Apartments. My housemates- Lance Wee and Owen Crowe- and I immediately took a liking to the place the moment we saw it.

It was a 1933 pre-war building which was used as a wool store back in the early days (due to its location right beside the river), turned into a modern contemporary apartment with it’s heritage facade maintained. Being a wool store, each floor had very high ceilings, adding grandeur to each unit. The rent was AUD350 per week for a 2-bedroom apartment (it’s now AUD460 per week). Mind you, AUD350 a week wasn’t cheap for a 2 bedroom. For the same price, you could get a 4 bedroom unit at Toowong, Taringa, or Indoroopilly; a large Queenslander (wooden house) in St. Lucia (campustown) itself.

Owen agreed to take the living hall, paying the least amongst us whilst Lance wanted the masterbedroom and I took the other room, paying AUD120 a week, which was 20 bucks more than my previous place. A good deal I’d say.

Here are some pictures from seqrents.com.au to justify why paying 20 more was well worth it.

The facade of the building has been untouched since 1933. Even the signage at the top of the building was not removed. It only says ‘Dakota South’ at the entrance doors. This place gave me the feeling of living in a New York loft.

The foyer area. What I liked about the place is the whole minimalist theme to it. Simple wall art, a bright orange stretched ottoman and a metal flower stand does the trick.

The corridors to the units- plain simple glass and metal bannisters, more wall art. Simply love the wooden beams which were preserved from the woolstore days. The units, internally, have these running through them as well. Rustic.

The pool. It’s really narrow and the carpark is right opposite it, separated only by a low concrete wall. Perhaps that’s why the picture of the pool was taken widthwise.

The gym. Nothing fancy, just the run-of-the-mill equipment for basic fitness exercises.

The riverside just across the apartment. Love the wide pathways intended for cyclists and pedestrians. I used to like walking here in the evenings just to unwind and enjoy the calmness of the river.

Picture of an empty 2 bedroom unit- just like ours before we moved in. Actually, ours looked pretty much like this even after we moved in. We only placed a dining table and four chairs in the hallway.. and oh yeah, Owen’s mattress and his portable wardrobe closer to the window. We played a lot of football in this place. It felt better than most of the futsal turf courts here because each unit was laid with wool carpets. This also meant that any damage to the carpets would cost us dearer.

The units had no balconies because they did not want to deface the facade. They’ve even maintained the brick walls on the inside of the apartment. For me, this felt a bit like the unit in the TV series, Friends, where Ross and co. would climb out the window to their yard where they’d spy on ‘ugly naked guy’. We didn’t have a yard beyond the window but we had a solid roof that stretched about 10 feet out (we were on the 2nd floor and the 1st floor units had the luxury of a private covered garden area). Lance and I would often climb out the window just to lepak.

End of part 1

Image source: seqrents.com.au

Freshome published an article featuring ‘the Hive’, an interesting shelf with hexagonal compartments with alveoli motifs for the shelf backing. The Hive is created by Mostapha El Oulhani. Read more about the article from Freshome here.

It so happened that when I was at G.D.O Kota Damansara last weekend, I came across something pretty similar. It was a modular shelving system consisting of individual hexagonal compartments which could be stacked and arranged in various configurations just like ‘the Hive’. However, the version at G.D.O does not have a shelf backing. Each hexagon compartment retails for RM399 and comes in a choice of two solid colours- dark oak or white.

RM399 per compartment is pretty pricey but it would be great for those of you who are renting and would like to partition your living area from your dining but can’t put up any permanent partitions or dry walls. In fact, I’d say it’d look better than most permanent partitions if you fill up the compartments with decorative ornaments. The reason why this would serve as a great partition is because it does not fully block out/divide the living area from the dining as you can still see through to the other side, hence maintaining higher spatial perception within your unit. Filling up the shelves with your decorative ornaments also add character and ’soul’ to your home.

Even if you don’t intend to use it as a partition, it’s still a great looking shelf to own. At least we have the option of getting something similar to ‘the Hive’ here in Malaysia thanks to G.D.O.

Imagesource: www.freshome.com

Yes, you heard right. I said Twig.

The Twig bench and cube by PINCH is really a homogeneous product. It can either be used as a bench or a great looking coffee table. Wood strip/chips/circles are gaining popularity as components for modern contemporary furniture.

Click here to view the details of PINCH’s Twig bench and cube.

The twig table is also featured in The Style Files amongst other uses for wood in furnishing a modern home (including birch wallpaper!). Click here to view the article from TheStyleFiles. I admire the simplicity in the design of the Twig bench and cube, along with the fact that it uses a good old natural resource, wood, to create a contemporary piece of home furniture. The very next day after the initial post, TheStyleFiles shared a most useful article with DIY instructions on how to create something very similar to PINCH’s variety by remodeling any old table.

Brilliant, isn’t it? Click here to view the full article from TheStyleFiles. However, the instructions are in Dutch but I’m certain it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how it’s done from the pictures above.

Doing this the DIY way will save you:

• £1,250 for the Twig bench OR
• £695 for the Twig cube

Sure is worth the trouble, isn’t it?

This Fish Bubble Wall Aquarium from Seven Seas Aquarium sure makes me want to have fishes at home. As with many great innovations, they’re usually designed with simplicity in mind and this wall hanging aquarium truly fits the bill. It would definitely be a great addition to any home. Why hang a piece of art (imitating life) when you can hang life itself up on the wall!

Did some research and here are some sites selling the bowl:

Seven Seas Aquarium sells them in 2 different sizes- the 3.6l version retails for USD24.95; the 6.7l version retails for USD29.95

Petgadgets retails the hanging fish bowl for USD21.95

Collections ETC retails the bowl for USD9.99 but it’s currently sold out

I’m not sure if this bowl is available anywhere locally yet but I’m definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for it. What a great way to display your aquarium. In fact, I’m going to head over to the pet store across from where I live, Petsmore Inc., this evening. Tata.

By chance, when passing Dunia Perabot (situated near Desa Petaling, by the Seremban Melaka highway) whilst on my way to a company event yesterday, I glanced upon a sign at Red Apple’s window display which read…

SALE 18-21 July

Yes, that’s right.. Red Apple’s having a SALE. Seems pretty low profile to me. I did a simple Google search and they don’t even have a localised site, hence no word on the Sale.

I then proceeded to call them to find out more. Apparently the sale is only applicable to their Sungai Besi branch (not their Balakong or Puchong branches). The guy on the other end of the line claimed that this was their branch’s annual sale. He also confirmed that they did not have a local internet presence.

For more information, you can call them directly at 603 9059 2339.

Where’s this branch located? It’s situated at Dunia Perabot, off the Seremban Melaka highway (very close to Desa Petaling). Click here for the location map.

A brief about the company from their China website:

Established in Hong Kong in 1981, Red Apple Furniture Co., Ltd. moved its production base to Shenzhen in 1987. With over 250,000 square meters plant area and 2500 employees, Red Apple is now a professional manufacturer of contemporary furniture and mattresses, integrating research, design, marketing and services. Over the past 20-plus years, Red Apple has invested extensively in introducing new technologies and equipment from Germany , Italy , the United States and Switzerland , forming a highly accurate, efficient and modernized production line. Red Apple aims at bringing high-grade furniture to more families and has now won wide recognition among consumers.” To find out more, click here to go directly to Red Apple’s site

So How’sHouse readers, I guess you’re one of the privileged few to know about this low profile sale. If you’re intending to get furniture for the home, it may be worthwhile to check out this sale.

Whilst still being hung up on the coolness of wall decals (see my previous post on Wall Decals here), I found this on my favourite DIY site, instructables.com. This instructable by Code128 teaches you how to ‘etch’ designs onto the underside of your glass table. It’s a great DIY project if you still aren’t sold to splashing some cash to buy decals and sticking them on the your table.

Click here to view the instructable

Whichever method suits you, I’d just like to say that decals sure are a great great way to add life not just to walls and mirrors. Stretch your imagination and extend the possibilities of applying decals on all sorts of items in the house. Here are some of the household items I can think of off the top of my head where decals can be applied

• the electric box, you know that ugly grey box that sticks out from the wall near the entrance to most homes? liven it up
• your microwave oven door
• windows
• tv cabinet, shoe rack, wardrobe doors- get contrasting colours
• plastic chairs
• your laptop/computer/game console/subwoofer
• washing machine, dryer to brighten up a bland laundry area/yard

Get creative today!

The 1-Line Spice Rack by DESU Design is a clever product- simple and functional. I especially fancy the little provision in the rack for your balsamic vinegar or olive oil bottle and I feel that it is this feature that truly accentuates the spice rack’s design.

Buying this rack will set you back USD199, which includes the stainless steel rack and 15 mini bottles (spices not included). A hefty price no doubt, but this spice rack sure would look elegant in any kitchen.

However, with a little creativity and some basic DIY skills, you could also create your very own spice rack. Instead of stainless steel, use wood, because it is readily available in your local hardware stores (some of them may even cut wood to size based on your request) and for the other obvious reason- cost.

With a little DIY skill, you could have a minimalist spice rack/shelf in your kitchen. Great for small kitchens too. For jars, you can always get them from IKEA for a couple of dollars each.

photos from Desu Design’s site