Gather here: Living and dining in the same space
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- Rustic Chic
- HDB (BTO)
- ~900 sqft
- 3 br
- Couple Living
Welcome back to our high-rise cottage in breezy Dakota. If you've missed our earlier housewarming post, you may wish to find your way day so you're less lost. :) Our home is largely inspired by a vintage zakka/eclectic aesthetic that's more popular in Japan and Taiwan. It allows us to incorporate vintage homeware, which we love, across eras, though we do have a preference for things that are more organic and woody. The heart of our home—any home, in fact—is in the centre of our apartment. We decided to combine the functions of living and dining in the same space. It was certainly a challenge for the design companies we had first reached out to, as many struggled with trying to line up a decent-sized dining table (S wanted something rustic and large enough to cut fabric on, iykyk) beside a comfortable sofa. There was also the issue of whether we wanted a TV, and if yes, where should it go? 
This layout wasn't even the first one that our chosen designer had settled on at first. It was originally rotated 90-degrees, with the built-in storage sofa lining the windows, and the longer side of the dining table facing out. The TV was supposed to go to one side of the wall, which would have made watching it a literal pain in the neck. K had a brain wave to get the sofa to line the right wall instead, and the other parts gradually fell into place as our designer reworked the layout. The teak cabinet from Rooma, a very early purchase, was discovered to be too tall to go into our entryway as planned, so it was a happy surprise to find out that it could slotted into the left corner of this space instead. In many of the real-life old homes we've visited, windows are often adorned by good old fabric curtains. So we went with sage green half-length linen curtains for that rustic charm. These ones were sourced from a Etsy store in Latvia, which produces linen textiles. 
When morning light hits our wood window frames, it casts its silhouette upon the back wall. Framing it are genuine rain tree wood planks that're part of the rustic wall feature that simulate a cottage's exposed framework in the walls. Side note: We chose this wood as there's a large rain tree just outside our window, preserved from before our BTO estate was built. 
The design of most modern switches would look out of place on our walls, so we were glad to have found these switches that are tactile, while adding more wood and warm metal accents around the house. 
In place of a full-sized TV console, we went with a hanging cabinet that we modified to be able to hide our Samsung Frame TV's accompanying box hub. Made of light-toned pine, S used water-based wood stain so that the cabinet's a warmer chestnut tone. 
A zakka home isn't one without an assortment of beloved knick-knacks. The top of our teak cabinet is where we chose to have a rotating display of them, from candles, to inspiring magazines, and foraged finds across seasons from our travels. During our visit to Germany's Black Forest, K picked up a mechanical cuckoo clock, and it's little wooden bird's fluting calls help mark time in our home. We hope that you've found pleasure in the tour around the cosiest space in our home. Until the next post!
- 7 October 2023
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