More useful stairs

Thought I'd add some more interesting ways of using the stair area.

 freshome.com

 interiordesign-center.com

 mimicharmante.blogspot.com

 thebirdspapaya.com

 thisarchitecture.com

 

thisarchitecture.com

 

yournestdesign.blogspot.com

 

toxel.com

 

wineclubsworldwide.com

 

beneathmyheart.net

Clever ways to use the space in and around your stairs

In a previous post I collected photos of beautiful staircases. But the space under, over, in or on the stairs can also be used for other purposes such as storage, an office, a vanity room, a cloak room, an art gallery, a prayer room, an entryway, a play area, a library or whatever else you can come up with. Check out these clever uses of stairs.

How would you use your stairs?
Shobha.

  {1} Basement pantry

  {2} Home office, from freshome.com

  {3} Library, from sliceoflifedesign.com

  {4} Library, from measuringtape.tumblr.com

  {5} Photo gallery, from Best Pins Ever! by Cherelle Gellert

  {6} Cloak room and reading nook, from daisypinkcupcake.blogspot.com

  {7} Display, from freshome.com

  {8} Another beautiful reading nook, from wanelo.com

  {9} Bar, from chictip.com

{10} Storage, from Home Design Ideas by Monique Summers via deriba.co.uk.

{11} One more cloakroom, from chictip.com

The Versatility of Ladders

Now ladders seem to be incredibly useful objects. People have come up with a variety of uses for them apart from their original purpose for being. I love their ingenuity. From clothes rack, to bookshelves, to bedside tables, to magazine or newspaper stands, to a vertical garden, even a Xmas tree! The possibilities seem endless!

If you have an old ladder hanging around taking up space, think of giving it new life and repurposing it and tell us how you would use your ladder.

Shobha.

{1} A towel rack, from americanfolklife.blogspot.com

{2} Great way to display clothes at the store, from ffffound.com

{3} Love this one! From detailsandmore.tumblr.com

{4} Save up space in your kitchen by hanging your pots and pans! From funkybeardecor.com

{5} How unique! From Stefanie Haining's Isnpiration page on Pinterest 

{6, 7} How about an entire pantry of ladders? From inspirationforhome.blogspot.com

{8} So many clever ideas on this ladder! From ashbeedesign.com

{9}A shoe rack... When it comes to shoes we will always find a way! From inspirationforhome.blogspot.com

On My Night Stand

I love my night stand. It is simple and slick. It looks great with the light on and fits all the things I might need at night. This Ikea Rexbo shelving unit is ideal when you have very little space for a bedside table.

I fell in love with it the very first time I laid eyes on it. But as cautious as I am with infatuations, I took my time to decide whether I really needed it. Finally, when I could no longer keep away from it I found they had stopped shipping these units to Singapore. Imagine my disappointment. Fortunately, as luck would have it I had to go to Germany to visit a friend and what do I find at Ikea in Munich? Well, my friend gifted it to me and I was more than thrilled to have it even if it meant lugging it through airports till I got home!

Here I keep my books on the top shelf {1}, I have photos of loved ones, my Ikea Knubbig table lamp, water, my reading glasses, a moisturizer and others. 

Flowers are a must for a flower lover like me. I like waking up and looking at flowers and greenery. Here I used a baby food jar {3} which looks adorable with these little ball flowers. Does anyone know what these flowers are called {5}? 

Something I find very useful is reusing the bottles of Esprit drink as water bottles for the night {4}. They hold the equivalent of a glass of water. They are compact and look nice (just remember to remove the label). I usually keep a bottle on each side of the bed and for each overnight staying guest.

And finally, for someone with a baby like me, I keep a box with a thermometer, extra batteries for the thermometer, baby paracetamol and a couple of syringes to administer the medicine.

What do you keep on your night stand?

Shobha.

References:

Esprit Drink

Rexbo shelving unit

Knubbig table lamp with cherry blossoms in frosted white glass

May Day Flowers

I just saw an article on Apartment Therapy about May Day gift baskets in the US. I know May Day is over but flowers are perennial in the magic they bring to a home or to oneself. So why not gift your neighbours, your friends and your family with beautiful and simple flower arrangements. Using your old jars of jam and recycling those ribbons that came with gifts you received is a also a good way to clear the clutter, clean up your space and recycle your goods. And you get to see a smile on someone you love. 

What do you think of bringing May Day celebrations to the rest of the world? Picnics, gifts baskets, floral-themed decor...

Shobha. 

{1} How simple and pretty, from 24.media.tumblr.com 

{2} Originally from Artsy Craft Projects by Val Pederson via Martha Armitstead

{3} From callmehats.tumblr.com

{4} Why not use a can as a vase! From skiptomylou.org

{5} From decor8.com

{6} You can find instructions on how to make this paper cone at lillyella.blogspot.sg

{7} How about making use of that ice cream container to reproduce this arrangement from flowers-online.com.au?

Keep life simple, uncluttered, organized and fresh!

I have lived most of my life confined to my bedroom or sharing a house with others or in small studio apartments. With time and all the travel that I have done I had accumulated a lot of things, not to mention all the books I read. My father decided he wasn't going to carry any of my stuff around after he sold our home, so he got rid of it all. It has been 10 years and I am still recovering from it. 

With the space constraints I've endured (and it really sucks to live in small spaces - on the other hand, it means less cleaning!) I realized that my space needed to be maximized in order to keep the stuff that was really important to me. I also wanted to make everything easily accessible to me at all times.

 So I have been learning through my experiences as well as those of others how to keep it simple, uncluttered, organized and fresh. Now that my physical space has been taken care of, it is time to do the same with my personal life: keep it simple, uncluttered, organized and fresh.

Seeing the trend everywhere of incredibly small apartments with even smaller bedrooms and kitchens (have people stopped cooking?) we have to make the most of the space available. And with all the high speed, high tech lives that we lead we really must try to keep it all simple and fresh for our own sanity.

Here I propose a space where we can all share our experiences and learn from each other on how to make our lives a little less crazy, a little more easy to manage, and a lot more beautiful!

Shobha.