Featuring Our Scandinavian Home (A Tribute to IKEA)

We have yet to feature our house in the blog, even after we posted the design process here. That post was dated 2 years ago, so this post is really overdue! Nonetheless we knew we have to do it one day, but that ‘one day’ turns out to be an open invitation to be featured in IKEA’s Live magazine. I was so thrilled when I found out that we will be featured in their Singapore publication! So what is a better idea than to write a tribute post for my most beloved design brand (along side Kate Spade)…

(The tribute is at the last paragraph of this post, I find it too wordy, it might bored you to death! So if you are keen to know my view on IKEA and how it link to Rosette Designs & Co, please read until the last paragraph!

Enough of the big talk, now let the pictures talk.

Back to the house topic. We are very happy with our house. It may not be perfect or expensive-looking, but it is cozy. We are blessed with full length window on both side of the house, giving us a generous flow of natural lighting.

I love the idea of having a window from my studio to the living room, so I can still see what’s going on outside my four walls.

Thank God, I was used to styling for Rosette Designs & Co in my house. So styling comes so natural for me. In one day, I managed to tidy up our house and created characters for each rooms.

I love our black & white kitchen, and it is so IKEA’s look. I asked my interior designer to re-create the base structure of the cabinet using IKEA’s measurement and used their doors & storage system.

The blackboard wall is a last minute throw-in idea after seeing that it lacks accent. Thank God for a responsive ID! I like to add things as we go along. As you can see I am obsessed with Black & White. Not only for my clothes and accessories, this color scheme is a must for my house.

Since it is an IKEA’s magazine feature, we need to show IKEA’s stuff in every picture. That was effortless, since probably 70% of our furniture are from IKEA. The rest is by local designers, Grafunkt and King&King Wong. We also engaged an Interior Designer that owns a workshop so we can customized our furniture, like benches, white doors & window. We met around 10 over IDs and he was the first one we met. I still went back to him after searching for over a year, simply because of his can-do attitude and he is the owner & designer of his own firm.

This is where the magic happens! My studio and Rosette’s birthplace. As you can see, it looks like some corner in IKEA’s showroom, except that the color palette is only pink and blue, on top of the B&W. The picture has been instagrammed, so the color fades out. Just trying to see which one better. Don’t be fooled by the tidiness shown in the picture. It is a deliberate effort, in the name of style.

Hmm.. I think I’ve seen too many instagram pictures that everything needs vintage effects!

Which one better? The left one is more romantic ya..

Bedroom with Cole and Son’s wallpaper. I first saw it in the blogs and Martha Stewart Wedding featured them. So I have to get it!

The bag is from Editor’s Market, Cineleisure.

The hallway, one of the most prominent feature of our house, the stripes ceiling. I thought having a wallpapered ceiling is an awesome idea, and I was right! But it didn’t just happened. I literally photoshopped my hall’s picture with the graphics before deciding to put it on.

Parents, you all know it, once the baby is added to your family, nothing stays tidy without constant cleaning up. The appearance of baby stuff surely doesn’t fit to my idea of good design: style over substance. Who cares about style, when your baby is only attracted to those squeaky-primary colors-toys. But nonetheless, Savannah is *one of the best thing that happened to me (*being politically correct)

Here’s my tribute to IKEA:

IKEA is one of my design hero. I’m a BIG fan of IKEA. Not only for their friendly prices, but because of their design ideology. That good design belongs with the masses. You don’t have to be rich to have a designer house. Most of IKEA’s product are designed by a collaboration of product designers, good and talented ones. I love how they give credit to the designer by putting their name in the tag line. That gesture alone, can inspired a dream, that probably one day, your name will be there (if product design is your passion).

During my days in MTV (I worked as their sole broadcast designer for 4 years prior to Rosette Designs & Co) I learned about the word: massclusive. The definition is simply exclusivity for the masses. Products designed for mass-markets that are marketed as being premium or exclusive but really aren’t. It is so commonplace nowadays. Think Martin Margiela/Marni by H&M.

“We have decided once and for all to side with the many.”

That is Ingvar Kamprad’s philosophy written in the small tract of their ideology, reflected well in IKEA’s business model. For someone as rich as him (As of October 2012, Ingvar Kamprad is listed as the 5th Wealthiest person in the world, according the Bloomberg Billionares Index, with an estimated net worth of US $42.6 billion) to stay loyal to his ideology, really inspires me. So happens that Ingvar reported to step down today at the age of 87. Read the news here.

More often than not, when the business grows, the price also grow together. It is a common practice, especially in the service line, where we trade our time with money. Since the time is getting more valuable, the price need to escalate, eliminating the mass and welcoming the elite. The challenge is how to stay grounded with the mass and grow together with them. I know I’m getting too chim (Singlish for deep) I supposed to just feature my house, for goodness sake! Pardon me sometimes, I get too carried away talking about what’s in my heart.

This concept resonances with my dream for Rosette Designs & Co, where every couple or person deserves a well-designed and gorgeous party without spending a bomb. Of course, I’m not saying that my design is cheap, but at least you won’t fall off from your chair when you see the quotation. (I did once, when I saw the quotation of one wedding planner during my wedding preparation). It has to be balanced and profitable still.

So I’m aiming high and dreaming big, it’s free anyway!