Comfort without clutter - Lagom in the bedroom

386

Scandinavian
HDB (Resale)
~700 sqft
2 br
Couple Living

We generally subscribe to the Swedish idea of “Lagom”. While not minimalist, we like the idea of having just enough - something more sustainable as a lifestyle than trying to be minimal. Not gonna lie, this ladder that hangs our not clean but not dirty enough to wash clothes isn’t always this neat. Most of the time, it’s a mess. But we’re sharing photos, so paiseh, put something less embarrassing lah. Pose a bit.
The layout of our master bedroom is such that it will feel claustrophobic if we have any kind of cabinet built in… blame HDB for the weird toilet layout that leaves a dead space by the entrance (where I stood to take this photo). But that actually helped us keep to our belief of having just enough. We have a queen sized bed since we’re pretty small built. And let’s face it, queen sized sheets are also cheaper haha! I think it’s important to note that we mostly use ambient lighting in our bedroom since we don’t do anything that requires bright lights. So in case of emergency, we have a fan with light that’s more than enough for this small space. Our bed features light sensors that will turn on when (by whichever side) when it senses movement. So for this pic I had to disturb the sensors, run back and take the shot. Much effort. The headboard light is turned on via a hidden touch button.
Because we got the bed from Taobao, the plugs can’t be used (unless you use electronics with the Chinese plug. But the usb feature is very handy for charging phones etc… we use it for our Muji inspired scent diffuser, since we already have plugs on each side of the beds (something to plan for if you’re renovating!).
Since there’s no sufficient space for bedside tables (hdb why you like that), we made sure ur bed frame has space for knickknacks like our specs, books (featuring the husband’s current read), remote controls, lip balm (mine), and our PHONES.
Okay this is when everyone who visits our home asks, “huh! Not dusty/messy meh, you hang your clothes in the open?” The answer is… no leh. It isn’t dusty, mess wise… yeah it can be but nothing a few boxes and drawers can’t hide. I think the fact that somehow our choice of colours in clothing are exactly the same helps things look more coordinated. It wasn’t planned, we basically gravitate towards black, white, navy, olive green shades. The trick is to keep the hangers consistent and hang clothes of the same shades together. Then hide everything else in the drawers. This entire wardrobe system is from IKEA (Elvarli) and is customisable depending on what you need/want.
We didn’t hack anything since our resale is pretty new and in original condition, so we laid tiles over instead to save cost. Since we didn’t hack, we also didn’t want to re-pipe anything, we had to make do with the layout. Don’t be fooled by how large it looks, it’s just the angle. If you’re wondering how things are holding up without a door, it’s okay. The toilet bowl gets partially wet but otherwise all good. Had we attempted to install a door we won’t be able to properly move around while showering. Lighting wise, we have both ambient lighting (boxed up the pipes and put in led strips on top, also led strips under the sink area), and a main light. We find the ambient lighting sufficient and rarely used the main light which we find too bright for showering, but perfect when washing the toilet.
Here’s another angle from standing in the shower. Now you can see how tight it is. We did change the toilet bowl though. And through research, we realized that expensive doesn’t mean suitable. We literally sat on a whole bunch of them to decide if our butts fit well. The one thing that we’ve learned and can be applied o any toilet bowl model is to get “rimless” models where there isn’t the traditional overhang that traps dirt, and to get the “tornado/whirl” flush model where the waters flushes in around like a vortex cleaning everything as it goes along.
Being first time owners, we tend to get overly excited when we shop because everything looks like a good idea. But we didn’t want to end up with a storeroom full of things we only use once or twice and never again. This belief has been very helpful when we were renovating and deciding on what we need to get for our home. Comfort without clutter. (: