From a place called home

I'm going to take a break from interior design, to allocate more time to photography. Since the "night photography" class with Richard Rothman, and since ICP (international center of photography). I fell in love with black and white film photography. No, as a matter of fact, I was in love long time ago, but I never feel so committed.

One of these days, I'll start a photo blog with my black and white stuff. I start to see things in black and white. I feel wonderful.

The day after the lily trick, nini also helped me to carry back this table from Urban Outfitters (one of my favorite stores) from the upper west side. It's a special item at the store (a real antique piece, not a remake) and it was love at the first sight. nini warned me on the style and it was true that it was quite different compare to the rest of my kitchen, but I decided to take a chance. The result: unlike other pieces, it didn't merge in the room, it stood out. The look is refreshing yet there is a sense of the past. The dark green paint on the surface of the table is fading, and that gives the table a washed-out quality. We have a true table for two now. We've had lots of yummy meals and fun chats in this small corner.

Nini bought me this beautiful stem of lily to apologize: it was Friday and he promised to be home early to help me to rearrange the book shelves, but he was home pretty late. He made me wait and wait until I was out of patience and ended up doing it all by myself. I was tired and starving and I felt stupid because the bookcases were quite heavy. I almost stuck in the middle and it would have been a big mess. So I didn’t forgive him even with the flowers. Until the next morning I started to realize how beautiful the lily was and I couldn’t help but to take a few shots of it. Plus, the shelves balanced out with the rest of the furniture this way and nini did nice clean up work. Nini is OK.

The setup

After bringing back the projector from Japan, my favorite past time is to watch film/photo against the wall. I feel I had two improvements in life:

1. dumped the TV
2. got the projector

It's all decision making baby.

The entrance

The bed

The chair collection

The tall metal chair w/ black leather is also from the street. It is an old timer, having been around since my parents' first visit. We were taking a walk in Hoboken one summer night, and this chair was next to a tree and garbage can, full of dust. This became one of my mom's favorite stories to tell other people about nini and me that we have so much harmony. "They saw a disgusting chair, and without any discussion, just one look at each other and a consensus was reached! I hadn't even seen clearly what it was, and the two of them had already carried it home!" I always get a bit embarrassed by her story, although I know what she meant. Her audiences mostly haven't seen the chair and have no idea about what it's like. I see them smiling, but I wish my mom can choose another example.

The short metal chair w/ black leather, guess where I got it?





....from the street, of course! It was broken and sitting sadly in the rain when I found it in Hoboken. I brought it home anyway and nini fixed it. After we moved to New York a few months ago, I was in the very stylish and prestigious Takashimaya store on 5th avenue when I saw exactly the same chair on the first floor, next to the finest Japanese scarf collection. I was laughing secretly and called nini right away.

The living room

The light, the windows and the arches are my favorite







I like this room more with the couch that I found in the Chelsea flea market. I'm happy about the result of my spontaneous decision-making. Yellow is not my favorite color, but it works out nicely here. It's warm but gentle, not dominating. The couch is long and slim, and can easily accommodate a comfortable nap. It's soft yet solid, with its 60's styling and cold war mystery.

The kitchen

I want a kitchen to be functional, but not just functional. I want a kitchen to be independent, but not totally isolated, so when my guests talk in the living room, the chef (normally I) doesn't feel left out.

I want to have space right here to sit down and have a nice conversation over tea or snacks.

I want a kitchen that not only works, but also offers a good view, which I can enjoy while waiting for my soup to boil, or washing potatoes.

I prefer food not to be taken out of the kitchen except for special occasions.










My vision has come true now�after tons of work, including relocating the entrance from the north wall to the east wall, changing the layout from parallel to L-shape, laying down new electricity wires, getting rid of oven, and downsizing the fridge.

It has all paid back, since we now spent lots of time in the kitchen. I used black marble for the kitchen walls and the kitchen floor to tune down the clutter in the kitchen. I used marble Bianca for countertop with its beautifully patterned grain.

The dinning table is again from our friends Kate and Carlos, and yes we actually are using it for dinner (although we are looking for a bigger table).

The bathroom

I think the bathroom is the most important room in an apartment, and it has to be windowed. I kept telling that to my brokers, trying to make them understand the kind of space I was looking for.


Once I was very unsure about what to do with this room. I wanted it to be unique, but given its importance, I didn't want to do anything too risky. After talking to the super, I learnt my choices are very limited. The complicated pluming rule simplified my choices, but that didn't make the search for each individual piece any easier (I'll write another story about it, when I have more time).

The left bathroom wall steps forward near the toilet. It's not perfect, since the step-back portion around the door is too wide and the stepping is too shallow. But I still put it into good use. The shelves I added are thin and long. They are intended for magazines and books, but good for other small stuff as well. It's now a sweet spot for most of my cuties.

The toilet is a little pricy - another German-made. But since I can't (and prefer not to) have too many things, I have to pay more attention on the quality and design of the necessities. I like to keep the seat and cover down for extra seating. It's quite pleasant to sit here and read when the toilet is not in-use. It's next to the window, and if I raise my head, I can see myself right there in the mirror in the dressing room. It's almost like an extension of the study and I spend lots of time here.


The bathtub is a good-old cast iron tub. It's as big as I wish it to be, but still in good proportion to other elements. I finished my reading of "The fountainhead" here! It's a wonderful and essential item of my apartment.

From a place called home

From a place called home

The shelves

Our friends Kate and Carlos gave us these shelves. They are build-in shelves in their apartment when they moved in, but they have other big ideas for their space so they were about to trash them.


These are simple shelves made of good wood, and the quality beats IKEA’s. Since both of us are bookworms and all our books need a home, and since the shelves are unique, we kept them. We also felt good about recycling something.


When my father in-law saw these shelves in my previous apartment he thought we saved too much and suggested for an upgrade. I know eventually I'll do that but now they’re just fine. The last thing I want to do is to have the shelves outshine the books. But they are not. They look nice and humble