Designing Your Home - Having a Space of Your Own

I am a big believer in having a corner for yourself in your home.  I think everyone needs such a space where they can place objects that are dear to them, that they can place things which they use often, which they can decorate any way they want, and a corner to pursue their own hobbies, be it writing, crafting, building or making something, listening to music, basically doing what they like, and be by themselves and be undisturbed and comfortable.  There are so many homes where each member of the household does not have such a corner but make use of communal spaces to do this.  I think communal spaces are great, as they serve a purpose well, and are also the spaces where we interact with one another, other family members.  These are spaces like the living room, kitchen, dining areas, etc.  But at the same time, I think each person also has a deep need for a space of their own, where they can be by themselves and recuperate and recharge and mull over things. 

I think this will help us to live more purposeful lives, and also lead more balanced lives.  With deep reflection and alone time, we can be even more energetic and boisterous and directed in our outside life.  Gosh, this is firing me up.  I have been walking around my house and just cannot find such a space for myself.  I can tell my husband uses his side of the bed for this.  He is often found there in the home when he is not busy with kids or work.  I need such a space where I can put my notebooks, stationery, a Bible and some key books, a laptop or handphone to play music, a surface of a nice height to write on, with adequate lighting.  Hopefully this place also has a view, is not too sunny, and is comfortable for me to sit for long hours....  The difficulty is in finding such a place in my home that has not been claimed by my kids, or my mum for communal study areas, personal areas or play areas. 

After much walking around the home, praying for divine guidance and trying out different corners and surfaces (e.g. balcony, family room, last room, living room, bedroom walk-in wardrobe), none of them worked and this is the final area I settled upon - the space next to my bed and which used to be occupied by the baby cot.  This is my "table of my own" and also my prayer altar.  I will use it to worship, read the Word, pray and journal my thoughts and prayers.  Mainly write.  

  

Designing a Bright Home - Lighting issues

In designing a nice home, the right lighting gives it a warm and cosy feel.  You want the home to be nicely bright, especially for areas where you expect to be conducting detailed work like cooking, working, studying, reading and writing, and just hanging out, but dimmer light for watching TV, handphones and just lounging around.  Warm light is also better than cold light for dining, to illuminate the food better. 

Some tips on lighting - there is a hierarchy when it comes to it.  Natural light is better than artificial light.  That is because we as humans tend to gravitate towards natural light and it also uses no energy at all, it's absolutely free of charge.  Being in natural light makes us feel good, and we probably get a bit of Vitamin D too. So you want to be able to harness it.

For sunlight, indirect is better.  That is because direct sunlight, which is what you get when you have a east or west-facing wall and the sun is shining at your face or back, is very hot and irritating.  The best indirect natural light will be found in spots in the home which are south-facing and near the window.  If you have such spots in the house, bingo!  Situate a beloved activity there, if it is reading, make a sitting area there; if it is studying, put your study table there. North facing spots also give natural light but tend to be a bit darker.  

Place your lighting as close as possible to where you will be conducting your activities.  For example, a desk lamp uses less energy than a light on the ceiling.  Spotlights give a warm glow and if directed at an angle, can be very bright but not glaring, and you can also hang them close to where you are, and not place them up at the ceiling.  Dimmable lights give you additional flexibility on how bright the space gets, which can be great when you want to dim the lights for a movie night and not watch in utter darkness.

Lights shone against the walls or surfaces reflect off a larger surface and can light up more parts of the room in a gentle way, for a more aesthetic look which works as long as you are not doing detailed work.     

How to Design a Cooling, Low-Energy Home

Having worked on promoting energy efficiency for more than 5 years, below is a summary of all the tips I know to have  a cooling home. The temperature of a home is very important - you want the home to be cool, airy and breezy and you want to do it in a carbon-friendly and wallet-friendly way.

So, the first design tip is to ensure a wind tunnel blows through your room, and to situate your key hanging-out areas in the flow of the wind tunnel.  For example, if it's a living room, you may want to place your sofas there, or dining table.  If it's a study room, you will want to place your study table there, and in a bedroom, your bed.  

What creates a wind tunnel? As long as there are 2 openings in any room to the outdoors, with the openings preferably north-south-ish facing, you should have a wind blowing through your room during the monsoon seasons in Singapore, which are June to Sep and Dec to Mar.  April to May and Oct to Nov are inter-monsoon seasons where the winds are changing, so you may get some wind during those times if your room openings are facing other directions too.  The openings can be windows or doors, and you can create a wind tunnel through your house if the window of one room faces the door, or the window of one room faces the window of another room or toilet, and you open the windows and doors. The more obstacles the wind needs to navigate to flow through (e.g. furniture, partitions or walls blocking the way), the less likely you will have a wind tunnel.

Another cheap way to cool your home is to have shading.  If you have windows facing the east or west direction, you will have our very zealous and hardworking Singapore sun shining into the room and heating up the floor and furniture half the day, which makes for a very sweaty and uncomfortable environment to hang out in.  I suggest putting up blackout curtains, or adjustable blinds or shades, which you can pull or lower to block out the sun during the hot periods.  The temperature difference in a room that is shaded from the sun vs a room that is exposed is very stark!  And it costs you no energy at all to cool the room in such a way.  So 5 stars for a carbon-friendly way to cool a room.  If you want fresh air to enter the room during the day, try day curtains, or adjustable blinds which you can turn at an angle to block out the sun and yet let air in.  

You could also put solar film on those windows, although that could be more expensive.  That will help for days when you forget to pull the shades or you simply don't want the hassle of doing so every day.  They are effective as well, although I feel they are slightly less effective than blinds or blackout curtains.

If you want to block out the sun and don't mind sacrificing a bit of view, you can also try putting potted plants at the window, to absorb the heat, block out the sun and purify the air at the same time and lend a green, cooling feel to your home.  This might work well for balconies and windows facing busy roads, as the plants can also absorb air pollutants for you.

Next, a great way to cool a room is to install a ceiling fan.  They are more effective than standing fans in cooling a room as they can circulate air over a bigger area, and given the small size of most Singapore rooms, they are usually sufficient to ensure everyone has a share of the breeze.  This is provided your room is not super huge or long-shaped or the ceiling fan is not too small or high up of course. If you have a long room, you may want 2 ceiling fans, or a ceiling fan and some standing fans.  And when you choose a ceiling fan, ensure they are some distance from the ceiling so that they function effectively, as they need to draw air in from the top to blow it down.  Some people buy ceiling fans which have a very short stem due to their low ceiling height.  Just be mindful that this will compromise your fan's efficacy. If you have a lot of areas in your room which are in the 'dead zone' of moving air, which you expect to hang out in, you will want standing fans to plug those gaps.  Still more efficient than using the air-conditioner, which uses the energy of many fans!

And last but not least, if you intend to turn on the air-conditioner fairly frequently for your room, you will need to know the larger the space your air-conditioner needs to cool, the more energy it needs. So you will want to find ways to make the space you need to cool smaller. An easy way is to close doors to other rooms.  Another way is to use furniture (e.g. tall cupboards, wardrobes) or sliding doors or windows or curtains to make the space smaller.  I did that once for a quadrant shaped bedroom I once had.  The air-con salesman said for that amount of bedroom space, I would need 2 split units.  But then because I built a build-in wardrobe which sort of split the room into 2, the space became much smaller and so I only needed 1.  I currently have a large living room which I host cell groups and parties occasionally and turn on the aircon.  I am contemplating installing some Japanese curtains (the type which has 2 pieces of cloth hanging down, which allow people to enter and exit by parting the cloths), maybe cut up from some unwanted bedsheet, or from scarves sewn together, to make a smaller living space if needed!!

Let me know if this has been useful for your home design and may you design a cool home :)