Thoughts on house hunting

House hunting in SG has been a pain but a pleasure for the vouyerismist (of course the type that loves to see how people have done up their houses) in me. With the idea of living in a perfectly square and big house stuck in our minds, P and I have been unimpressed by well-done interiors, new and therefore spic buildings with jazzy facilities and even by sea views.

All this time, I have been looking for a house with character but alas, the search seems to be in vain. Condos are unfortunately not the places to go to if it is a piece of personality and character you are after. We did come close to our vision in the shape of a standalone house with two floors, a backyard, lots of sun, a hint of colonial influence in its kitchen and a bit of a green patch. It was perfect except it was more than we needed and the climbing would drive away our parents. And so the hunt continues.

The fruitless search, however, has had its benefits. In SG once a tenant serves a notice to the landlord, the latter has the right to get in prospective tenants to view the apartment, even though the previous tenant is still there. As a result, we have visited still occupied condos and embarrassedly stepped into bedrooms, opened wardrobes and kitchen cabinets and peeped in every corner in the presence or absence of the occupants.

While few have been a revelation into how dirty people could be, some have been a visual feast. And few of these happened to belong to Indian families. With space, the imagination gets a chance to run loose. And what a run it could be. Every space has been a window into how diverse and unique the imagination of two people could be but still have the undercurrent of shared cultures and backgrounds.

While earthy shades, dark-stained Indonesian teak furniture, mirrors, Fab India furnishings, bells, Ganeshas and urulis were ubiquitous, there were a few delightful aberrations. An Indian bachelor’s apartment we saw was largely done up in black and white modern furniture with clean lines and a masculine feel. The theme and feel extended to the eclectic set of paintings dotting the apartment without cluttering it and broken once in a while with a splash of colour. One would never have been able to gauge the occupant’s style looking at the main door painted a bright yellow on the outside like the rest of the apartment doors, which gave a sunny, Mediterranean touch to the pristine white walls of the building.

While painful with my swollen feet and protruding belly, the apartment hunt has given me a chance to think more seriously about my own likings and design sensibilities and sometimes pause and think about what would I do with a certain space. While the tight space supply and the matchbox layout of my Hong Kong apartment forced me to be frugal and hold the reins of my imagination tight, the promise of more space in SG has made me think and daydream more. In the future my hands and days would be full with the baby, but I am looking forward to casting my magic (I am that confident) over the place we will call home.