The Zen of Shifting Home

If I have not informed you earlier, I have moved out of Pasir Ris. The primary motive was to get closer to Trisha’s school. The other objectives include sniffing, if not rejoicing, some finer things in life. You know, like most filial Eastern men, I had dedicated half my life for others. So I shall make my ‘fine list’ now before its time to make the ‘bucket list’ soon. This house was love at first sight and my mind refused to even flirt with the other choices. Its bigger, brighter, windier, has sea views AND fits my thin wallet. After all, finesse is directly proportional to how much one can pay through his nose.

So we bought this house and the rest of the story is me fulfilling my artistic quest. I drew inspirations from cubism, Zen interior design and minimalism. Cubism is Picasso’s post modern response to breaking traditional patterns in painting. It is simplification of natural forms into cubes, cylinders, spheres, and cones (And there is a lot more to it. Beer session topic!). I have taken cubes from that list. You might notice the cubes everywhere – even in the electrical light on the beam and the bath mixer (sorry for the low quality photo there). Sujatha was very agitated with my obsession to cubes but she was given very little chance to unsettle me on this.

Zen interior is to give a soothing tranquility. This can be achieved with reduced color palettes, clear spaces, reduced clutter and a harmonious furnishing. Minimalism is stripping it down to fundamentals. Nothing ‘bling’, nothing that grabs attention or tries to impress. As you can see, I have restrained from using more than 3 colors and filling up the wall and space with things. It was a happy shopping, spending and managing the contractor not to disturb the concept. You may click the pictures to see them big.


But coming to the moving phase… man, that made me cough bricks. And that is where I learned a great spiritual lesson about life. Next post is on that.