Sharing TV

One of the hardest thing to do is to decide whether you have two TV in the house instead of one. In my previous place, I had two. One in the living room, and the other in my bedroom. So, whenever, my son wanted to watch Playhouse Disney, it is either he watch it in the living room or on my bed. And usually, I will be on the other side watching my show.



In my new place, I have decided to have only one TV in the living room. I bought a new TV, bigger screen... and gave away my previous TV to both my in laws and the new owner of the previous place. And ever since, we have been teaching my son learn to "share" the TV. It was a great experience, where there is a need, he will come and ask, "PaPa, you need to share the TV, you know..." At the same time, we also teaching him "How many hours you have watch TV?" to give him a sense of time and limitations in regards of watching TV.

And I am no longer feel tired, as the TV is not in my room anymore. Because if it can be conveniently reached, then you will lie down there watching TV the whole time, do nothing until you are dead tired and sleep. So, I guess the Feng Shui is right after all. You should not put a TV in your bedroom unless it is necessary!

And now, the family bonding increases where we all watch TV together... Of course, when Jay is around, only Playhouse Disney is available for watching... nothing more...

Ken @ 6:24am

Feng Shui - Home Office / Study Room & the Bed

Today, we talked about home office or study room.

Yesterday, I was discussing with my buddy about having a bed inside a home office or study room. Here are some of the collections of thoughts thru our conversations which I think is interesting to share...



1. I don't think one should place a bed in the home office or study room. the reason is very simple. When you work or study, in front of you, you see a bed. There is this seduction force will seduce you to lie down on the bed. So, it will de-focus you, and you will lose concentrations gradually. So, it is no good for career or education. Basically, it will make you lazy.

2. However, if you have no choice and wanted the home office or study room to serve as a guest room when friends or relatives come over. Then, I suggest you put a sofa bed instead.

3. Of course, the buddy argued, he may also sleep on the sofa bed. So, the correct thought is... yes, it is a sofa, and it is comfortable to sleep on it.. But you will sleep on a bed more longer than sleeping on a sofa. So, having a sofa bed is fine if you think it this way. Btw, the sofa of course is a reading corner. So, don't treat it like a bed. But if you use a bed instead, in front of you is a bed. Visualize it and connect it with lazy.

4. My buddy already married and he wanted to have a kid soon. So, my advise to him is to donate the bed away as soon as possible. The reason is very simple. His home office is on 3rd floor. His bed room is on second floor. Sometimes you dozed off and sleep on the bed inside the home office is OK. But if you do it too often, it becomes a habit. So, the lesser he will sleep on the bed in his bedroom with his wife. How can make baby like that? Hahaha... Think further, that means he will spend lesser time with his wife, so, the relationship may become very far... So, it is no good if you are married.

5. Of course, if one is not married, he/she can do whatever he/she wants lar. But when one is married, it is a different story. Especially if his/her job requires to travel a lot, plus do not have a fixed office, then he/she should really think about that bed in the bed room.

Here, I would really hope that my buddy can have a "Rabbit baby" by 2012. :)

As for me, I will make sure my home office or study room will have a sofa bed instead of bed. And the home office or study room will face East for good luck.

Remember, all my thoughts on Feng Shui are not superstitious, but it is purely based on natural thinking and common sense. I only believe in common sense. My buddy told me that during his younger days, he is sort of rejecting Feng Shui by coming up with scientific method to proof it wrong. So, I said to him, try the reverse way, use the scientific method and common sense to make some sense out of Feng Shui. Once you thought about it, and if it make sense, and it will make you feel better, then, that is what I call Feng Shui... Good Luck...

Scratching my heads on the design

(Originally posted at Notes @ Facebook on Aug 10, 2009)

When it comes down to the design of the new place, I am scratching my tiny little brain, and how to make everything works... We need big room for the 2 boys, we need guest room for in laws and friends, we need a play room, and not to mention a decent place for the maid to sleep... we need a big living room, we need a place where mommy can have teleconference without disturbing every one, we need a place to watch movie, etc. etc. etc... Wait... we also need a place to put Mommy's pottery throwing wheel and kilns... scratching my heads ar...



At first, we thought of the design to have 5 rooms (this will makes all the room very small).... later, come to think about it... may be we should stick with 4 rooms... 1 for the master bedroom, 1 study room for mom to work, 1 bedroom for the kids (yeah... 2 boys bunk in together), and 1 playroom/guess room... How to make it look big... scratching my heads... with this design, we will address 2 big issues... a guest room as well as the study room for mom's late night conferences...

Next, human rights issue, where will be our maid going to sleep? So, let's design a cozy little place for her, with attached bathroom, a bed with storage area for her, and to have windows and of course a small working area for her to read books and write letters... OK... that's done. Although it is at the back, but as long as it is cozy, I think she won't mind... by the way, she will be sleeping in the apartment's primary fortunate area (according to the Feng Shui)... I leave this huge task to Loo (our faithful contractor all these years) to work on it...

Since now I have chosen and pay for the Sofa I want... the next thing I need is to see where to place it, and how to make it look nice. Since the Sofa looks very oh-biang! Ha Ha Ha... This Sofa is really good and comfortable... so, Living room will be design according to suit this Sofa... headache again....

To have a small pond or not in the Balcony?? I need to have some living fishes there... How How how??? I think have to go look see around to find something that is suitable... Of course, to expects lots of greens in the Balcony... like the existing place...

Since we are adding one more room, not really sure if we can have a comfortable dining table set in the middle without blocking everything... Got to hunt for a good dining table... this time, I want a round dinning table since going to have the second kids coming... A round table ... a real family table, a round table of knights... those that is spinning spinning one...

Now, which room is for study and which room for the boys? if facing Ave 6, it will be noisy.. so, got to sound proof the room, if facing the north, is is a smaller room... hmmm... have yet to decide that yet... Put them in the East or put them in the North?

Master bed room, again... have to expand the toilet... make it big big... that will eat into the room area... and what shall I do about the balcony area? sealed it? I think need to think hard again on that... Room become smaller now if the bathroom expands ... where is my cozy corners? and not to mention the TV... should I put TV in the room, Feng Shui say no, but thousands of my brain cells telling me to put a TV in the room... I have yet decided on that... I'm going to miss my TV in the room if I chosen the Feng Shui way... arhhhhh...

Conclusions.... I think... the upcoming design of the house, has to be comfort living, not good looking... I am very very sure of it. When my in laws and my mom are here, I make sure there are 2 rooms for them to stay (converted to guest room). The kids must feel like a very family place... a home... it is most likely that I am going to have one TV only this time... or two... (have not decided yet)... not to mentioned we need to make the whole house "Green"... save energy, save water, and save the world...

Now, the most important thing is to wait for the arrival of baby "K". Jay ("J") has been asking mommy when baby "K" coming... we are still waiting... while I have some times, I will regroup my thoughts of the design again...

Me & Sofa

(Originally posted at Notes @ Facebook on August 2, 2009)

Last week, I was at Sungai Kadut and fell in love with a Sliding Sofa chair... It was soft, comfortable and nice, especially the sliding part... Almost wanted to pay already...

This week, just came back from the Furniture Mall, and have been wondering in a shop for almost 1 hour, just looking at this very O-biang Sofa... It is a reclining sofa, and it is I would say very very comfortable sofa... Was trying to leave the shop, but I could not... have been making a lot of mistakes in buying sofa for the past few years... So, should I buy this or not?

There was this guy... very familiar face... also trying to decide whether to buy the same set of sofa or not... so, he asked me a question, where do I want to put the sofa, I told him in my living room... and he noded... yes, it will be O-biang... he wanted to put it in his room... so that he can have a place to read book, etc. He told me, he also been choosing a good and comfortable sofa for long time, and it is impossible to get "Good looking" sofa and "very comfortable" sofa together... He too, spent about an hour in the shop...

I suddenly remember who is he... Samuel Chong (张永权)...



So, after exchanging opinions, and then keep trying the sofa, sitting on it, sleep on it, I finally place the $500 down as deposit... to take the offer to enjoy the 30% discounts... and then I will decide in 2-3 weeks time which one I want to get... Worst case, I will just spent the money to buy the 1 seater recliner sofa...

I think Samuel is right, "good look" and "comfortable" really does not come together.. and I want to make a decision that I want to get a sofa chair that I really like and spent time sitting on it to watch TV... instead of getting somethings that looks really nice in my new place...

As for Samuel Chong, he too end up buying the recliner sofa too..