writingaboutpaintings

I just saw this quote on Pinterest the other day. The sun at home warms better than the sun elsewhere.Indeed, thoughts of the sun has not engulfed me as much as recently as we have gone through months of thunderstorms and now the classic Singaporean heat is back in it’s full scorching glory.

This post is however, not a weather report. I am here to shout out that I have bought a place and created a home where the sun indeed warms better than anywhere else. Of course the heat in Singapore has been as incessant as heat that one can experience fully to the composition of a Vivaldi and his distaste for the summer in his iconic Four Seasons.To take things positively I am indeed blessed with sunlight that is reminiscent of mediterranean terrains that I so adore. Yet I am painfully aware of how the landscape of my concrete jungle contrasts so differently from the breezy naturalism of Greece or Italy.It has always been my dream to live among the azure blue aegean sea, walking up and winding down with the fiery red sunset of Fira. Before that dream could ever become a reality, I wanted my home to reflect my travels and experiences of the other side of the world.

I began my research few months back and noted how people in general seem to think that just by adding a splash of blue and white make everything ‘Greek’ or Mediterranean. I don’t want to sound like a snob but just adding blue and white tiles in your toilet doesn’t make it Mykonos. I am no interior designer , but are there not variations in these interior styles as each country of the massive coast would vary greatly.I have included this link that briefly outlines some of these interior nuances and variations by geography. Aside from being different country to country from Portuguese to Lebanese, there would also have various sub themes such Old World, Coastal, Byzantine , Ottoman, Revival etc.

It was on my recent trip to turkey where I visited the beautiful Cappadocia and its wonderful underground cities that sent me gravitating towards the naturalistic effects of fairy chimneys and cave houses. I was also on the hunt for something timeless and non specific. Something simple, clean and almost so natural. I finally stumbled upon Modern Med or minimalist Med design, where it is organic, natural , rustic minimalist yet still very intrinsically traditional. It is a perfect marriage between the classic and the contemporary, and creates a space where it promotes relaxation, meditation and rest. This style is not ostentatious, but is deeply elegant effortlessly through its anonymity and unassuming beauty.

My house was originally in a headache-inducing shade of orange and in terms of decor, was everything I did not want. It was cluttered with Asian elements, and showed great confusion in terms of decor. I purchased this house due to it’s great location, good condition and the house did give me an aura of cheerful brightness when I first came to view it. Over time, everyone came to call it (before it was given a makeover) the Hermes House due to the inside joke that my agent was incredulous that I did not like the colour of the apartment because it was exactly the corporate colour of Hermes.

A Hermesfit Centre at Orchard Road.

To be completely honest , I was not so sure about how everything would turn out. Obviously I was bound by many restrictions in terms of renovations. I had to manage my own expectations too that my urban apartment in Southeast Asia would never look like the Mediterranean as much as I wanted. Above all, I was very low on budget. I didn’t get a contractor in to renovate my house because it also meant that I would not have 100 percent control over things. So I decided to do everything single-handedly to the best of my ability. It hadn’t been an easy journey, but I have to say that I am very happy with the result. It hasn’t been an easy journey, and I am happy to share with you the lessons I learnt from this massive personal project I had to see to alone other than having a full time job and handling other matters in my already busy schedule.

Colours – Set Up Your Perfect Canvas

The first thing that had to go was the Hermes orange.I deliberated on the paint colour for so long. I also greatly despised white walls as I spent three years renting at a place completely decorated in white, and that experience was not good. In line with the theme, I searched for earthy or neutral tones that mimic the tones of stone, clay or linen. I was torn between the various shades of sand and finally decided on the lightest one so that my white furniture would blend nicely into it. Although I had some bad memories with white, since I had to select neutral tones such as beige, sand, grey and other naturalistic tones, 0ff-white furniture was a natural choice as a consequence. After much deliberation, I went with a shade of light beige called Ivory Stone with Nippon Paint ,and chose Foggy Gray as the colour of the door. Foggy Gray turned out to be a gorgeous light neutral grey and looks beautiful paired with Ivory Stone. The cool colour also went beautifully with Vintage Vase , the other pinky clay tone that I selected for my other room.

There was just one more thing to solve in terms of colour. Traces of Hermes orange still endured in the form of built in cabinets and tv consoles. It is true that my home has fantastic built in storage spaces, but I obviously couldn’t paint over these surfaces. Hence I thought the next best thing was to vinyl wrap these surfaces with naturalistic textures. To ensure that the colours went well together, I had to go down to the company and take a swatch of Ivory white to ensure that it went with Tundra, the stone effect I chose for my cabinets. Everything came together beautifully and even Alex , the guy who did the wrapping for my furniture was amazed at the outcome.

If I had to give out any advice on the colour selection, they would be these:

1. Even though the colours you choose are all neutral by nature , do note that even neutral colours have warm or cool undertones. For instance, grey is by default a cool colour. However , you can see that the colour of my door is warmer than a cool steel grey and is more neutral because it inhabits some warmth. Due to this , my doorframe matches my clay pink walls because pink itself is a warm hue.
2. Just because the painting company you employ allows selection of up to three colours, do not go crazy and happily select three colours. Think of the overall effect room to room as your house needs to come together seamlessly. Think of the big picture. and as above , try to match the colour temperature whenever possible. I actually went down to the vinyl wrap company and took a picture of Ivory Stone and painstakingly put it against the textures to see if they go together in terms of temperature .
3. When at a loss at selecting colours, just use the Pinterest app to looks for colour schemes. If you were to type the type of colours required next to the term ‘colour scheme’, Pinterest shows pre-generated templates. Trust me , you could do no wrong with the ones shown on Pinterest . Above all, the combinations are bold and creative.

I selected Tundra from a massive catalogue of gorgeous textures.

A typical colour scheme found on Pinterest.com. Kathy Vande Hoef’s pin.

Furniture and Decor

Essential to the Modern Med design, furniture and ornaments should be organic as possible in terms of material and design. To mimic the earthy colour palette that drape the walls, equally organic material should be integrated . These would include stone, rattan, wood, linen and clay. In terms of design , soft forms should be embraced. Avoid anything too geometric and look for pieces with asymmetry or rounded edges. I pre-ordered two Aegean style cupboards in China which arrived very well-packed. These cabinets are vital in any Mediterranean themed apartments. It would be very time consuming to get the permit as well as costly to hack and drill the walls to get the cavelike effect , so trust me that getting these cabinets are the better option. I also ordered these Nordic Cloud Coffee tables on but unfortunately was scammed by the seller as the table never arrived. Here , I attach some generic picture of the table I ordered as I believe they would be great additions for the theme. Weirdly enough, my search for furniture to match my theme has made me quickly realise that all of these are labelled as Nordic. Seriously??? Anyway, other than the weird naming system for these items, the correct keyword is always important for any research right? Although I do not think these styles are nordic in any way, there you go . Your go-to search term for these would be ‘nordic mirrors’, ‘nordic sofas’, ‘nordic tables’ etc.

Image retrieved from Shopee

Image from Cozymatic

To complement the soft natural lines , I was initially eyeing a nordic irregular cream sofa. However, on a shopping trip to Castlery on a Saturday out , I fell in love with their Marlowe moduler sofa in white quartz. It was love at first ‘sit’ and I purchased the sofa on the spot.

Marlowe Sofa from Castlery.com

To add another seating space, I added a rocking chair, which greatly complemented the soft flowing lines that envelope the house. I did not have plans to fill up my Aegean style cabinets, but I did use some of the rattan wall decoration I initially planned to hang on the walls, and placed them temporarily on the cabinets instead. I would really prefer having pottery that is handmade by myself and slowly take my time to fill up the spaces. My house is still definitely a work in progress, but I am ok with that !

Some of the things I have learnt while building up on the ornament and decor:

1. Embrace soft , irregular organic lines.
2. In line with the minimalist theme , do not over decorate. The breezy coastal effect of modern med really means less is more. Fortunately I have been pretty low on budget so I had to be really careful with my purchases. This was also when I started to realise incomplete actually seems…adequate.
3. Do not get swept away by ‘pretty’ things that do not resonate with the theme . I frequently see beautiful tings that I would like to purchase for the house, but most of the time they look pretty when placed in a correct setting. Stand your ground (aesthetically).
4. Linen or cotton curtains work best with the modern med theme. I make the mistake of installing blinds in my room. It did not add on to the coastal charm of the place and made it look like what it really was – an apartment in Singapore.
5. Just because your house is Mediterranean themed, it doesn’t mean all things Mediterranean would fit inside this naturalistic setting. I was considering a carpet with greek meanders , as well as other objects with marble prints. They seem like they belong , but they actually don’t. Stick closely to the theme of naturalism. Do not stray! Greek meander carpets would maybe fit in a Luxe Greek theme or the home of Versace. Not here.
6. Do not be upset if an item arrives and it is not exactly what you wanted. I ordered this beautiful mirror that was labelled as Mediterranean Blue. Sounds good right? It arrived and was in a shade of gorgeous Prussian blue, but the problem is, Prussian Blue is not Mediterranean Blue! I decided to get creative and sand off the colour before painting over a coat of acrylic colour in cyan.
7. Some sofas, even though they fit the theme (asymmetrical with soft lines), come with gold or rose gold legs or accents. I suggest looking for furniture that do not have any of these accents, or with wood accents. Pretty as these furniture with gold or rose gold accents would be, they cancel out the naturalistic effect of the coastal breeziness of Modern Med. These accents are more luxurious in feel and would not belong. Small details matter. In the same vein , some of the asymmetrical sofas come in velvet. Velvet again, have the same luxurious effect. The Mediterranean climate can be pretty hot in summer and cooling materials are embraced. There is no place for velvet in a Greek oikos.
8. Go for arches. If in the event you cannot have arched doorways and windows in your home, look for mirrors with arches or paintings of arched windows. I did mention that this was the poor woman’s guide to a Modern Med house didn’t I?

Me getting to work to fill my shelves with pottery.

My simple altar that I kept in line with the entire theme. Note that it is in the classic arch that Greeks adore.

The beautiful amphora vase I purchased. This is called the Corfu vase.

A picture paints a thousand words. These thousand words would be this sentence repeated many times over. DO NOT INSTALL BINDS, THEY DO NOT GO WITH THE THEME.

I was really unhappy with this dark blue colour, which was labelled as Mediterranean Blue.

After a little magic. Now this is Mediterranean Blue.

On a side note:

I wanted some variation in the colours of the room, and went for the colour Vintage Vase in my common room as well as my service yard. I was also inspired by this muted warm clay shade when I chance upon a shop on one of my shopping trips. It had the modern med design I was so in love with , but the interior was an unconventional warm muted apricot shade.

This shop decor inspired my choice of a warm colour.

My common room is now just an empty canvas, just as I like it …for the moment. The description of Vintage Vase was ‘muted clay’, but it turned out more pink than expected.

An acrylic painting I worked on as a homage to my new home.

I am so in love with my house and if you so desire a similar design (or any design for that matter), Pinterest would be a good place to start . Any dream starts with a vision, but you need references for that. I was not able to find many references, and I have to admit that this is a style that seems to be bit of a diamond in the rough.

I am by no means an interior designer, but I am living proof that art is useful in more ways than you can think of in daily life. So if you do not know where to start, I suggest you begin with a vision and solidify that vision with heaps of solid inspiration. I started with my own vision board on Pinterest.Here is a link you might want to look at to start that mental journey to coastal place that is sun-dappled, comfortable , breezy and reflective. If you can dream it, you can make it. The best part is you do not ever need to have to take a flight for rest and relaxation the Mediterranean way again.