Most of us use tiles for bathroom walls. The benefits are obvious- easy to clean, quite heat resistant, low maintenance, plenty of available choices out there. The downside is that mildew and fungus growth can develop in between tiles. Many countries in Europe and America are using tile-less method for bathroom walls these days such as - waterproof paint, waxed concrete and even glass painted on the underside and stuck against the walls.

Here’s another example of an alternative to tiles- solid surface- which I just found online. It’s really exciting and can prime up your bathroom in a very classy manner. It’s Swanstone’s Solid Surface for bathrooms. I’ve only known solid surface to be used prominently for kitchen countertops but using it for bathroom walls just makes perfect sense as the bathroom and kitchen are the two places in your home which you want to keep sterile and sanitary.

I’m not sure if we have it here in Malaysia yet but I’m certain that this is the next wave in bathroom wall fad- give or take several years for it to really grow on the folks here. Do let me know if any of you know a place who offers this solution.

Click here to view all of Swanstone’s offerings on solid surface for bathroom walls.

Sasha’s blog, Renovation Voyeur features a very detailed and interesting telling of how she transformed a drab looking 70msq apartment into a very modern abode. Lots of pictures from start to almost finish. Very interesting read. Having lots of pictures makes it read like a flip book.

Click here to read all about how she turns this…

into this… thus far.

I’ll definitely want to know how this story ends

Imagesource: Renovation Voyeur

I found some interesting wall decorations over at DeeplyMadlyLiving recently. The site’s design really is eye-candy and their offering, though mostly expensive, are extremely modern/chic/cool/contemporary. Plenty of nice accents for one’s home to be found here.

If you’ve seen movies made in the ’80s, you’ll see that a lot of wealthy homes usually boasts deer horns or the heads of stuffed animals on their walls. It isn’t exactly cool to say you hunted a deer/moose/whatever large animal and decided to let the world know how cruel you are to animals. It isn’t exactly fashionable anymore now is it? Is it? Check out the following two wall decoration pieces… a modern twist to horns on walls… funky…

I suppose for USD48, it’s not exactly expensive to own something quite unique and what would most definitely guarantee being a conversation piece. Do check out the other items on offer at DeeplyMadlyLiving.com. Simply love their site design. Things could be cheaper though.

Imagesource: DeeplyMadlyLiving

Found this on one of my fave sites, ThinkGeek- an LED blow on/off candle. How cool is that? You can simply blow out the candle to turn of the electronic source of light within it and strangely, to turn it on, you blow on it as well.

Statistic: 80% of household fires are caused by human negligence. Cigarettes, irons, kitchen appliances, and candles are amongst the more common root causes of household fires.

So really, this is an uber cool gadget to get your hands on if you’re really into candles and actually like lighting them (most people just buy them in various sizes, shapes, and colour and have them as decorative pieces- never lighting them, EVER. I’m one of these people).

The best thing about these LED candles are that they’re made of solid wax and the electronic light dances and flickers just like the common candle does. Each candle comes with the option of turning on a cool blue or fiery yellow flame. I guess they thought of people with mood swings when they designed this feature. The candle can emit light for 300 hrs on a single button battery! Psyched? Well, most important factor coming up- price. It goes from 11.99 to 14.99 USD. Considering how much some candles cost these days, this isn’t exactly overpriced like many of the other novel items around.

Head on over to ThinkGeek’s LED Candle page now for more details and if you’re sold to the idea, buy it.

If you’re not yet convinced that LED candles are the way of the future and wouldn’t mind risking a household fire. Here’s a link that might be helpful for you: Discovery Channel’s ‘How to Survive’ series- and this episode is aptly titled, ‘Escaping Fire’. Enjoy!

Imagesource: ThinkGeek

I was blown away by the awesome design of the Monolith Table by Gioia Meller Marcovicz. This brilliant stainless-steel hourglass structure looks like an opulent console table which would be marvellous to partition off any area in your home.

Lo and behold, simply amaze your guests when they come to dine by unfolding top of the Monolith to form an extended table top and simply pull out each of the 10 chairs neatly embedded in its sides and unfold them to become regular sized seats.

For more information: visit gioiadesign.com

There’s no word on pricing but I’m guessing that this would be out of the average joe’s pricerange.

However, this concept has given me a great idea for a study table- one which has a flat back, and a contoured front if you like and instead of making chairs to fit the entire hollow of the table, make perhaps 2 chairs (half of the table length) and then two more consoles which double as shelves instead. Not going to be easy to describe to your carpenter but I’m certain he/she will be able to do it. Stick with geometrical shapes and it’ll save you some money as they’re easier for woodworkers to create. Brilliant for homes without a dedicated room to turn into a study.

Imagesource: gioiadesign

Remember my post on the unique hanging fishbowl? No? Click here to read it.

In my most recent trip to Bangkok, to my surprise, I saw the hanging fishbowl being sold at the Chatuchak market! It starts off at approx RM70 but I’m definitely certain you can bargain for it to at least RM50 (the more perseverance and patience, the less you end up paying).

Chatuchak market is one HUGE market selling everything from the usual market stuff such as clothes, food, fruits to homeware, livestock, exotic animals, books, military equipment. It’s so well frequented by locals and foreigners that there’s a section for freight services- to send your purchases back home to you, anywhere in the world (for a fee of course).

To find the hanging fishbowl, look for a little store called the ‘In House Shop’ situated in section 3.

Just when you thought that casette tapes had no use in the world, along comes Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s countryman, Patrick Schuur, with the cassette tape closet. Patrick used 918 casette tapes and screwed them all to the wooden frame of his storage device to create a colourful, quirky, contemporary piece of furniture that is pretty darn unique I must say.

For more information, click here to go to Patrick’s site- Creativebarn.

This is a really creative way of sprucing up an old cabinet or storage device with something that’s- from a technological standpoint- old too. Go crazy and have fun plastering your casette tapes over the doors of your old cabinets! The word that comes to mind right now- retrofitting.

You know, this just gave me an inspiration to brighten up my dull grey electrical console/box in the house. I always thought i’d find an art print, cut it to size and glue it on and around the lifeless casing of electrical console (yes, the artist will be utterly disgusted that i desecrate his artwork this way… I wasn’t planning to buy an expensive print for this exercise anyway). But thanks to Patrick’s idea, I might just retrofit my electrical console with casettes now… tee hee.

Oooh, it’s getting ever so close to Christmas now where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, a time of gift-giving and receiving, and we marvel at the innocence of little children who get overexcited at the very mention of Santa Claus.

This year, IKEA will countdown the days till Christmas, starting from 1st December by introducing two products each day at promotional prices. Here’s the brochure for more details:

Click on the image above or here to view all products that will be on offer.

11% sure is a dismal rate. This translates to only every one in ten person you know who would actually make the initiative to give a gift. Let’s make sure the percentage is raised this year- the more you give, the more you will receive.

I am absolutely certain that one of you reading this right now is thinking ‘does giving a gift to myself put me in the 11 percentile group?’

Come on…. get real- go out there an buy someone a gift and spread some Christmas cheer.

To fellow How’sHouse readers. It’s been a while since my last post and I do apologize for not posting as regularly as before. A lot has happened since my Bangkok trip two weeks ago - work: moving from an energy-sapping project onto a new engagement; life: the passing on of a dear relative; family: the current situation in Bangkok where my wife is currently stranded.

So do be patient, the posts will come flowing again very soon… hopefully by middle of the coming week where I foresee some opportunity for me to do my blogging after work hours again.

In my previous post, siam discovery centre, I mentioned getting gelgems from the Loft. So what exactly are they? Here’s the official description from gelgems.com itself:

Colorful, fun and reusable, GelGems® are a dynamic new way to express yourself and decorate your surroundings. Flowers, fish, stars and dozens of other shapes stick to your windows, mirrors, computer monitor or drinking glasses - any non-porous surface. Don’t stick GelGems® on drywall, wood, painted surfaces, plastic, fabric or other porous surfaces – they will leave oily marks. Send a message to your neighbors, add a splash of color, or create a detailed mosaic. Then, when you feel the creative itch again, take down your design and start again

In short, wall decals for mirrors and glass. They’re usually more on the ‘cute’ side and is especially great to have to brighten up your children’s rooms.

Here are some applications of gelgems in action:

Click here for more variations of gelgems applications.

Anybody know where to get these locally here in Malaysia? If so, do share with everybody here on How’sHouse! I’m sure lots of parents of little children would be keen to get these creative adhesives for their homes.