MY OWN PURCHASE

I moved to a new flat just over a month ago but little could be done right away because Chinese New Year was about to start - so it gave me time to get organize and brainstorm. 

The other good thing is to live in the place awhile and get the feel of it.   You start to realize what you do and don't need. 

 We downsized - by loosing my office - so it's now located in a corner of my living room.  That's not bad because even though we downsized - the new living room is much larger - and I have plenty of room for both.  I also have a wonderful view out the window. I can look down at the American Club and see all my friends playing tennis while I'm typing away with my broken wrist. 

My son's bedroom and bath are just off the living room so he has no privacy.  I'm getting 2 unique cabinets I spied on my last trip to China to create a small hallway to his door.  Now he can come in and out of his room unnoticed. 

They're very narrow - only 12" deep - so perfect for books and magazines.   They told me they used them for chickens. I love the warn patina color - not too dark - not too raw.  

Then I need to hide all my paperwork and junk.  

Our last flat had all built-ins, so after 6 years here - I NEED MORE FURNITURE!  At least I know where to get it.....

I also spied this cabinet at the same factory. It's very tall but in 2 pieces to fit the elevator.  I'm stripping the stain and having it bleached - also changing out the hardware to something fancier since the cabinet is so plain. I adore this bleach wood look.  VERY BEACHY.

Here's something I saw in LA this summer.  I do like to decorate like the California Beach look. 

So I'm stripping the wood inside and out.  I will take the doors off on the top piece and paint the inside a light turquoise - leaving the shelf the raw wood. Now I can display a few more items there and still have storage below.  

Here's the color finish I'm after.

There's a great blog that wrote about the bleached reclaimed raw wood.

The Enchanted Home

I'm also designing a kitchen cabinet in the french style in pine looking stain. 

MY KITCHEN

 Here's our much smaller Chinese style kitchen.  I have that area in the corner where I need to put a microwave.  They already located my dishwasher in the laundry room.  

So I found this piece on the internet and I'm redesigning it to raise the shelf a little higher for the microwave and maybe another shelf below that.  There is still room for the dog dish on the floor below.  I like the idea of glass doors - I need some sparkle in this room. 

Yesterday I went to Shenzhen and worked on my draperies for the entire flat.  That was about 10 windows on my last count.  Some small and some large. But I didn't want to break the bank on this since I may have less than 2 years here.... but that's another blog on how I did it.  My trade secrets.