Designer’s Advice: Nautical Living in Asia

Designer’s Advice: Nautical Living in Asia

The Nautical design concept, also known as coastal or cottage décor, is about creating a beachfront home atmosphere so relaxing you forget that you’re living in a modern concrete jungle.

As the name implies, this design concept is based on the nautical themes. Think navy blue stripes on pristine white, soft beige and stone gray, or sand coloured foundation and seafaring equipment as decorative features. You can almost reimagine the traffic noises outside as the sounds of waves crashing against the shore.

Anchors, nets, refurbished boats, seashells, and paintings of aquatic life are all the “must haves” but use them in moderation. The trick to stylish nautical design is not in turning your home into a boatman’s cabin; instead, opt to have a central design element around one or two of these items to focus on. For storage, you can’t go wrong with a distressed wooden “treasure chest” or wicker basket in your living room. For a bolder touch, throw in one or two contrasting colors – such as a bright red throw pillow or a yellow vase.

If you want to push the design boundaries towards a more local flavour, you could consider a kelong cum resort concept instead of the usual New England beach house look that defines traditional Nautical concept.

Material wise, you can still utilise unfinished wood for tables or chairs, combined with white linen upholstery for your lounge seats and sofas. Your options for decorative accents would contain vintage 7-Up bottles, jute ropes, sampan rowing oar, and pre-70s navigational map of the region that shows Singapore in its pre land reclamation state.

Personality Series – Home Design for The Artist

Personality Series – Home Design for The Artist

Writing an advice on interior design for the artists must be the boldest attempt in this series. Artists by their very nature defy templates and stereotypes; bold, unique individuals, with a high threshold for things that the common folks consider ‘crazy’. The irony is that this thirst of uniqueness is also the unifying trait that defines the living space of an artist.

Eclectic Touch
If anyone can pull off a patchwork of different colours and themes, it would be you. The chronic rebel of style and taste, you are going to want to splash a touch of victorian to your modern living design, or even juxtaposing Warhol with an industrial look. Some artists shy from colours altogether seeing the world in a contrast of black and white and chrome. An artist who revels in eccentricity might sound like a stereotype, but the true artist knows better. We are not being different for the sake of being different. We just happen to find inspiration and beauty in the unorthodox.

Freedom of Space
It’s the sacred shrine where your best works are conceived. It could be a small stool in the cluttered corner of the room or even in the confines of the bathroom, an artist needs a space to connect with his or her muse. The freedom of space is critical for all creative individuals but unlike other design philosophies, the freedom of space is something an artist discovers organically over time.

Signature Style / Source of Inspiration
The devil is in the details, as they say. An artist will inadvertently leave clues of his personality around the home – a painter with pieces of his idol’s works on the wall, a fashion designer with a walk-in wardrobe as the centrepiece of the bedroom, a writer surrounded by books of his favourite authors. Whichever field you are in, your home will be an extension of your craft. Identifying your signature early during the home design phase will give your interior designer a better sense of imbuing your personality into the home.

Image Credit: Header PictureArtiste’s House

Personality Series: 4 Modern Condo Interior Design Singapore Tips for Workaholics

Personality Series: 4 Modern Condo Interior Design Singapore Tips for Workaholics

Are you a self-professed workaholic? If you are, there are high chances you are either an overworked employee or entrepreneur. Modern society has made it increasingly crucial for us to keep up with the fast pace of work. No matter which category of a workaholic you identify with, your home will usually double up as your designated work area — albeit a usually messy one. At M3 Studio, our Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore solutions can help you to create a more conducive home office, thus increasing your productivity.

Read on for our 4 Modern Condo Interior Design tips on what you should consider when designing your dream home office.

Lighting

Modern Condo Interior Design for home workspaces often involve looking more in-depth into your lighting choices. Optimal lighting has been proven to have a significant positive impact on the brain’s ability to process information, and can come from both indirect (e.g. natural light) and direct (e.g. table lamps) sources. Yellow, fluorescent lights are great for illuminating entire room, but white lighting from sources such as halogen bulbs can aid in performing more detailed tasks (e.g. drawing and sketching detailed outlines) more effectively.

Did you know that your computer is a light source too? You should also take into the levels of light and glare that your computer screen emits, and where it may cast any shadows.

Colours

  1. Colours are another important aspect to consider in Modern Condo Interior Design for home workspaces. Colours can profoundly hinder or accelerate productivity; there is a fine line to tread here. For example, hues of red or orange can help stimulate your creative juices, but too much red can have a reverse effect and make you see, well, red. It can evoke increased levels of stress and anxiety. However, your M3 Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore consultant can help you with selecting a thoughtfully considered red palette for locations in your home where you would spend the most creative and brain energy and time ruminating over important thoughts. This can be your home office, or even balcony! Likewise, a calming blue palette cdan be used in locations like your bedroom where you unwind from a busy day.

In your home office, we know that you’re going to want to amp up your productivity. How about a beautiful palette of muted green shades? There’s a reason why the presence of plants and greenery in the work area have been proven to increase productivity! If you have other ideas, or prefer a more vibrant colour, speak to M3 Studio’s Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore consultants for their professional advice on how we can work to best suit your preferences.

Work Area
Where do you want your work space to be located? Workaholics enjoy working from home because they are not subjected to the confines of a cubicle and can work anywhere, depending on where they are the most productive. Think about the best location in your home for your designated work space. Is that in front of your favourite window in the living room flooded with natural light? Not only should you think about where to designate your working space, but also whether it has the space you need. If you film big production shoots on the side, would you want your working space to be your studio as well? Other than that, do ensure that you also have strong Internet access across all your devices in your work space and power supply, free from any noise and other distractions.

Finally, Your Chill Out Corner!

  1. Workaholics rejoice at the thought of a home workspace. They can work at their own pace in the comfort of their own home. The downside? It can be hard for to draw the distinction between work and home. No matter how understanding or tolerant your home partner may be of your workaholic lifestyle, you need work-life balance to avoid getting burnt out. This is where you need to find your chill-out corner— a place where you can disconnect. Our Modern Condo Interior Design in Singaporetip is to choose a location that is away from your workspace, and consider designing it a way that makes it stand out in stark contrast against your other work areas. May we suggest a mini wine chiller too? That way, you can reward yourself with a glass or two after you’re done with work.This is definitely not aModern Condo Interior Designtip for the books, but a chill out corner where you can enjoy a tipple or two after finishing up your work any day is universally enjoyed by every one!

If you don’t identify as a workaholic, that’s okay! Check out the rest of our Personality Series to find something that hits a little closer to your home.

Personality Series: 3 Simple Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore Tips for the Tech-Savvy Guy

Personality Series: 3 Simple Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore Tips for the Tech-Savvy Guy

Fancy having a smart home like Tony Stark?

With smart home systems advancing at a rapid rate, it’s now easier than ever to step into your favourite Ironman’s (iron) shoes. Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore is increasingly incorporating smart home systems into their interior architectural design blueprint. What used to be the exorbitantly priced toys of the wealthy is now made accessible to all.

However, a modern tech-savvy home is not just about the gadgets. Tech-savvy homeowners need to consider floor plans, building materials and everything else that goes into the design and development of every other home.

Read on for our 3 simple Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore tips for the tech-savvy home owner.

Placement of Space

The placement of space is crucial in Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore when catering to tech-savvy geeks and their fine tastes. It is pushed further out into the spotlight when planning something particularly exciting, such as a well-equipped home cinema!

Exciting, right?

However, when you’re planning exciting big things like building your own home cinema, the screen space you have available to you determines the screen size and type of projector that you should use. The recommended screen size for 16×9” for the ideal home cinematic experience. However, the true-blue cinematic experience lies in the quality of the sound. This means that you will need to take into careful consideration where to place the speakers. In order to ensure optimum sound quality, position your main speakers behind your movie television screen and above the ground.

Your M3 Studio Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore consultant will be able to sound off with you on your preferences and offer only the best advice on how your movie television screen can be seamlessly integrated into your home room’s overall theme.

Acoustics

Let’s end off this list of tips with the bang that it deserves. Have you given more about the overall acoustic setup of your entire tech-savvy home? When planning Modern Condo Interior Designfor our tech-savvy customers, we take into consideration the position of their gadgets in their home, and the impact that it can have on the quality of the acoustics in every corner of their home. From the floor to the ceiling, every aspect of a room has an effect on how sound smoothly reverbrates. This can have a profound impact and make or break your experience, particularly in a home cinema!  To reduce reflective noise, you should consider concealing hard, exposed surfaces with curtains and carpets.

Ready to begin your journey towards designing a Tony Stark-approved home? Please consult your M3 Studio Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore consultant for their professional advice. They’ll be able to connect you with the relevant home gadgets and tech vendors where needed.

Wiring & Storage Solutions

Gadgets form the backbone of any tech-savvy geek’s home. Wiring and storage solutions, however, form the backbone of these gadgets.
With rapid advancements in technology and the proliferation of the latest buzzword — Internet of Things (IoT) —Modern Condo Interior Design is easily incorporating more scores of cool gadgets that are adorning more homes and changing more lifestyles. The gadgets are not just fancy; they provide quick solutions to everyday problems. The basic must-haves are motion detection, IP cameras and remote appliance controls. Power supply and connectivity would be your biggest design concern. Home automations with controls over lights, air conditioning and curtains all at a click of the button from your mobile device would also be great for the tech-savvy home.

From the floor plans, your M3 Studio Modern Condo Interior Design in Singapore consultant will be able to advise you on possible blind spots and power point considerations. With so many gadgets of different shapes and sizes, your home should inculcate loads of storage facilities such as cabinets, hidden drawers etc etc while still having decent access to all these gadgets. Nobody loves clutter! We know many tech-savvy guys who prefer sleek and minimal designs over clutter of any kind.

All storage solutions should also have a glass door encasing them so that any infra-red devices will still be able to activate even when the doors are closed.

(This article is written in collaboration with Eugene Tay of the Alpha Mind)

Personality Series : Home Design for The Wide-Eye Traveller

Personality Series : Home Design for The Wide-Eye Traveller

Nothing says wanderlust like having a collection of knick-knacks acquired from your travels. They form almost a story on their own and a great time capsule for your memories. Besides the decorative features that will most certainly adorn your shelves and walls, we want you to have a practical home design that is an extension of who you are.

Wall Feature

You would post pictures of your travels and leave thought-provoking notes on your Facebook wall, why not have that for real on your living room wall? Paint a giant world map and overlay that with photos from the countries you have visited. It’s the perfect conversation starter when you have guests over.

Go for Eclectic Design

Flea markets around the world are the best place to get a cheap, unique purchase that looks absolutely stunning on its own, but then you wonder where it is going to fit in your modern Scandinavian home. The trick is: go eclectic. It’s an organic design that can’t be replicated. Just like your traveling experiences.

Juxtaposition of Colours

If anyone can pull off utter disregard of conventional colour palates, it would the wide-eyed traveler. Bold colours interspersed with earthly tones create a sense of wild abandonment and adventure.

Thematic Rooms

From the rustic calmness of a Balinese resort to the hustle and bustle of New York City, a traveler has been there; done that. How about giving each room a thematic makeover and bring a piece of the world into your home?

Open Display Cabinets and Wall Mount Shelves

This last tip should be obvious but it bears mentioning. Treasures turn to junk when they are packed away in boxes. If space is a constraint, consider breaking down walls and use open display cabinets as partition modules. Wall mount selves are also a great way to save space too and it doubles up as design feature.

Next we look at the Personality Based Design: Workaholic

(This article is written in collaboration with Eugene Tay, founder of The Alpha Mind)

Is Your Home a Reflection of Your Personality?

Is Your Home a Reflection of Your Personality?

Is Your Home a Reflection of Your Personality?

It is said that a person’s home is an extension of who he is, so it stands to reason that you can learn much about a person’s personality from the way his house is designed.

This article will give you the basic tips to starting a great conversation with the host the next time you’re invited (or dragged) to a house warming party or baby shower. Instead of standing in the corner typing away on your phone, look out for these signs.

Lots of storage and clean lines

If you the home is well kept with ample storage spaces, and even possibly multi-function furniture that doubles up as a hidden storage, you know you have a very organized person on your hands and he or she will enjoy conversations that are factual and systematic.

Multi-Functional Furniture

Extendable dining table, transformable coffee table, or a rotating TV wall even. Everything in this home has multiple uses. These folks favour function over form and are more interested in usage rather than the look. Forgo the small talk and dive deep into something substantial.

Photographs

You walk into a room and it looks like Facebook – photos line the walls, maybe an inspirational poster of two, and the desk has an old photo of when the homeowner was half her size. These folks value memories and relationships. Ask them about their lives. Feel free to bring up topics that were a hit a decade ago. The nostalgia never gets old.

Funky Designs

A patched-work refurbished sofa in a corner and an enlarged reprint of the 1939 comic cover of Batman’s first appearance encased in a customized frame hanging on the opposite wall. This type of homeowner values his or her personal identity and enjoys a conversation involving creative ideas or conspiracy theories. The best way to get into a conversation with such a homeowner is to ask about a story surrounding an interesting piece that stands out. There’s probably a story behind it that would make for great conversation.

High Tech Home

You can feel the ground vibrating with the latest 15.1 audio surround sound system before you even step into the house. The state of the art curved screen television is probably connected to a DIY super computer that has the capability of running octo-quad processors. There’s only two of such system in the world – One is owned by the CIA and you’re looking at the other. It should be clear by now that the homeowner is interested in the latest toys. A good topic would be to ask the homeowner for his opinion on two competitive tech trends and be marveled by the geekery!

Which type of homeowner are you? Let me know in the comment below. If you have been contemplating about giving your home a makeover, come talk to us. We would love to help you design a home that yells out “This is who I am; this is my home!”

Coming up in this series of Personality Based Design, we will be looking at the various character archetypes and the designs that suit them.

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