Day 358-Our Doll House, The Workroom

This has to be my single most loved item in the workroom; this little radio given to me by my dad specifically for use here. The sight of it could bring me back to a time when I was just as little, frolicking with my sisters outside my granny's house; while my dad and uncle sat on an old canvas folding bed with a radio that looked almost like this one, playing night music. 

It's almost a ritual now; once I am at the door, I'll switch on the fan - and yes, blessed are working fans even if they are noisy 

or terribly rusty-

and right after switching on those fans, it will be the radio and then I'll light an incense or a mosquito coil in a clay burner that I bought from Little India as long as 10 over years ago. 

This type of burner has been in use since my mother or maybe even her mother's time and I am glad they are still commonly found in shops near my home today.

Then as if the mosquitoes cannot be more poisoned, I'll also burn some aromatic mosquito-killing oils in My Maharajah's Palace burner.

This is the other side of the room, dominated mainly by the ingenious bench-bed designed and built by my cousin Ko who also fixed my fan. On it lay an antique kilim runner bought when I was in Pakistan in the late 90's. The cushions are covered in tatami. By day, they served as seats on the bench.

By night, the bench can be extended into a bed. This means that the workroom can also double up as a guest room which translates into more blog friends visiting. This piece of furniture has been neglected and left outside in the corridor for a long time but I stubbornly refused to have it thrown away. Never if I can help it and now there'll be no reason to because it finally has a home.

This replica Ban Chiang pot was acquired when SuZ started working at a designer furniture store shortly after her graduation.They were then selling limited numbers of these pots and it was at her insistence that I bought two. Made in the style and tradition of ancient Ban Chiang earthenware, the original of these pots were found to associate directly with human burials. As it was a custom in the ancient times to bury the dead with their prized possessions, these pots, which could have been used for storage or cooking, were commonly treated as part of funereal wares. The earliest pot to have been discovered is believed to date back to 3500 B.C. Ban Chiang, an archaeological site in Thailand where these pots were found and therefore so named after, has been declared a UNESCO heritage site since 1992. 

Currently, this Ban Chiang pot, which came from my old office premises, is serving as a glamorous bin for us to store some materials and day old rubbish. 

Finally too, is a proper place to display some treasured gifts from friends. The little gnome house was a gift from Ascension when I was in Spain this year. It has suffered a little from the long distance travelling but I will make sure it be repaired soon so that I can show off Ascension's wonderful creations to you. The magnificent and very distinctive tree was made specially for me by Eva and she gave it to me when she and her family visited Singapore last year. I just love how they look together in this corner on the planter stand.

Rosanna bought this miniature bonsai at a shop in Marina Bay Sands when she was here this year. She bought it because she knew I loved it and she gave it to me just before she left Singapore. I was at the shop with her when the shopkeeper told us this was a real plant preserved and shrunk to this size using some kind of patented method. I still remember Rosanna and I studying the plant in disbelief and exchanging notes on why we thought this could be handmade. One day, I will break the plastic case holding the bonsai so I can have an even closer look. 

The top of this cupboard holds some of my waiting-to-be-bashed doll and animal collection. As you can see, this side is for elephants and the one I prized above all others is placed right in front. This bejewelled creature was bashed by Birgit for me after she read my post on the elephant parade that was in Singapore.It was a birthday gift moons ago and along with it came loads of marzipan and other gifts. Those gifts that are not already in my stomach, I will show in more appropriate posts.

If you are wondering where I store all that stuff in the old cupboard I threw away,I am pleased to share that quite a fair bit was thrown out with that cupboard.

For the rest, the not so pretty things I kept inside this cupboard. The Mac laptop box underneath as well as the small hemp sack on top hold my tools and the mini oven next to the sack belongs to Cindy.

Here are the pretty ones which I display according to colour and use. I was surprised that they took up so little space once they were neatly arranged. I even have room for a memento like this card which I bought from Krakow when I was with Ewalina. 

With that, I believe you have seen almost all of this small workroom of ours.

A cacophony of the discarded, much neglected, the very old, the pretend to be old,

if there is indeed a decor style at all for this room, it will have to be reduce-recycle-reuse-chic.  

Asuka has taken to calling this space Our Doll House and I think there are no better term than these three words to describe how I  feel about this precious space.

  

It's late now. 

So goodnight, Our Doll House!

Till our next meet!