My Home, My Refuge

Our Christmas Tree for the Festive Season

This Santa Claus hanging on the top of the tree was placed by Ashley at the first Christmas we celebrated at our home... and every subsequent year, it's been hung this way.





Fred brought back this beautiful mistletoe last year.
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I can think of so many descriptions of home. Home is where the heart is. There's no better place than home. Home is where we take refuge - from external pressures & demands, where we get to spend time with our dear ones. Home is shelter from the sunshine & the rain, literally & metaphorically. Home is where we experience the warmth of our family. Where we learn to give and forgive, to decide day by day that we won't take our loved ones for granted, that we tell them we love them, even if we know that they know in their hearts. That we show them we love them by our acts of service, even if these are just mundane, routine chores.

One of our favourite paintings hang on the living area wall - we saw this painting at

Holland Village & immediately fell in love with it.

Fred, who's chief designer of our home, took into account everything - from the distance between sofa and console, to height of console relative to eye level when lounging... trust an engineer who has a great eye for details.

Home means the above & much more than I can express. Over the years, home has taken on a more significant meaning. Maybe Fred and I - we are just 'homely' people. Each time we plan for a major celebration - birthdays, anniversaries and sorts - we surf the net, read reviews & ponder over where we should go. And inevitably, we just end up saying to each other - let's just do it at home. And we typically derive the greatest pleasure whipping up a decent meal for 2 people, sometimes even for our extended family. And we just soak in the ambience of our little apartment, complete with the music, the lighting, the temperature, just the way we like it. And we end the evening with a DVD movie, in the complete comfort & privacy of our home.

The neutral tones in our bedroom give it a soothing and soft look

The rose petal paintings were painstakingly drawn by Fred & we totally love them!

My wedding portrait, just at the entrance to the master bathroom; another painting above the console that invokes a relaxed mood
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So as the years go by, I become less and less excitable over dining at classy restaurants (for the matter of fact, even chilling out for drinks). Occasionally, the unique ambience or exotic menu lures me but truly, there's still no place as comfortable and as welcoming as my home.

Our most frequent guest in this second bedroom is my mother-in-law. So we just kept the decor simple.

Our study area

One of my favourite hangout area!