Thursday, January 24, 2008

Vintage Living

Ron and i are Lovers of Old Things :) and growing old ourselves, we Love each other too...hehehe! we enjoy having our friends over and many of you who've been to my place know how we live. some would even phrase it like a "Museum" which sounds Cool but really, it's a home mixed with old and new. can't have old bathrooms *yikes* but we've got a number of knick knacks mostly collected since we were young! we're meant to be with each other? *wink*

Ron loves scouring for antique pieces and...this would be a VERY long post if i start "showing off" what we've got. some friends said our home is worth alot just having all the good old stuff in it :D we're just Thankful and Happy to have a home
:)

so here you're seeing our teakwood flooring which covers our whole house besides the entrance and our kitchen. these ceramic tiles are truly ancient! when Ron used to work @ Alkaff Mansion, they did some renovation to the mansion and took out some of the old tiles. he asked if he could have them and how great that we have a piece of History in our home :)

Short History of Alkaff Mansion
The Alkaff Mansion is located at Telok Blangah Green encompassing an area of 780 square metres and overlooking a beautiful park of 19 hectares with the sea down below. Thus the Mansion commands a panoramic view.

The Mansion was owned by the Alkaff family whose ancestors arrived in Singapore from Indonesia in 1852; the first to come was Shaik bin Abdul Rahman. The Alkaffs were great traders who had a lucrative business between India and Indonesia in spices, coffee and sugar. Later the Alkaffs were also involved in property business.

The Alkaff Mansion was built by Syed Abdul Rahman Alkaff who came to Singapore from Yemen. Located on Bukit Jagoh (the old name for Telok Blangah Green), the Alkaff Mansion ws built primarily as a retreat for the Alkaff family and also to entertain their numerous clients and guests of different races. Sometimes the hill was referred to as Mount Washington by the American guests who were entertained there by the Alkaffs. Not only a variety of food was served to their guests but entertainment with floor shows and music was provided in the terraces of the Mansion.

It is not clear why the Alkaff Mansion was abandoned after World War II and the Mansion went into a state of disrepair. In 1986 the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board became interested in the Mansion and awarded the restoration of this unique Mansion to Hotel Properties Limited to restore the past glory of the Mansion into a restaurant and yet retaining the old world charm of the Alkaffs.

Alkaff Mansion was where Ron was headhunted to work at and if you've been up there, the Gardens and landscape was maintained by him. although it's been years since it closed down and Ron doesn't maintain it anymore. beautiful place, a gorgeous historical site in Singapore :)

*here are white orchids which my husband will get for me every time he's in town and to decorate our simple home. fresh flowers ONLY allowed *wink* can you see the antique glass lamp shade on the background? they're cute :)


old tiffins for display and an old water filter. not sure why those batteries are there! hehe... we also collect old soda bottles :)

so those are just a few of what we've got. will take more shots and perhaps some stuff we've got might bring you down Memory Lane :)

Happenings
it's been a lovely day :) met some friends for lunch and Aysha & her friends came and join us too. pretty hard to stay longer as our kids need to be fetched by 5pm. but the 2 hours we've got is ample time to laugh at ourselves and catching up. we even managed to pop by Lina's and Thanks for letting us in! hehe...

Thanks for the ride home Jenn & Ed :) i was a little late fetching my Little Ones but that doesn't happen very often *i hope not* got home, settled kids, sorted out some stuff, made a grocery list for Ron and let me show you what's hanging above my scrapping area...

Ron used to go for Bike Races ala Lance Armstrong...


he was in JB, our neighbouring country Malaysia and got us these...Yummy!
these aren't available here :(




spent our evening watching them. the auditions are fun to watch. can't understand why those who can't sing gets really upset when they're rejected? i'm sure they're good @ other areas besides singing. but this is good and fun entertainment :)

it was a Good Thursday :) hope yours was good too!

8 comments:

Natália Rosin said...

Hummmmmm donuts... You let me willing them! I think i'm going to the mall next my job to take one of these... Yummy...
And American Idols?! This is very fun at all!
kisses,
natzº

Cathy said...

What a wonderful post. I love seeing inside your home. It is nice to learn more about your friends over seas.

I never watch American idol.

Unknown said...

we don't have dinkum donuts here either but they are at the Melbourne and Sydney Airports... so when we came home from Melbourne, on one trip, we got a dozen just to see what the fuss was about ;)
Love all the photos!! Love your purchases ;)

Stephanie said...

Ed..i really enjoy reading your blog."wink". oh...yummy donuts!!!

its always fun to meet up though the time is short but its really worth it.(:

haha...should ask the east come to the north onece a week.LOL...........

Stephanie said...

Ed..i really enjoy reading your blog."wink". oh...yummy donuts!!!

its always fun to meet up though the time is short but its really worth it.(:

haha...should ask the east come to the north onece a week.LOL...........

Wati Basri said...

Ed,gld u hd a great thurs!

suryani said...

Yummy Donuts!!! i love them too.

I love American idol too but have been watching it over at channel 5 cause i dun have cable at home =(

Of all the 3 judges, i love Simon Cowell =)

scrappermimi said...

Such a fun post! Your breakfast looked yummy and my family is watching Idol too! Pre entertainment, LOL!
Your decor is wonderful so pretty and has character. Thanks so much for sharing!