My Future House: In a Making ================================================== One of the most important plans I would like to do when I got back home was building a house for all four of us. Six days before we left Thailand for the US, we bought a small house. Actually, it was our rental house.... The thing was we had no place to keep my wife's piano.... and, we wouldn't like to drag it back to Bangkok... and, this piano was a gift from her father when she was young... So it's pretty important for her... So, we decided to buy that house... It's a one-floored hourse with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom... not very big... but it was sufficient for all three of us in that time. Time passed, we had another family member... So this house looked too small for our family.... Thus, when I flew back to Thailand 2 years ago, I bought another lot of land (app. 200 sq.war)... That's about 3 times bigger than the lot of our old house!! Well, at present, I had no plans... how many bedrooms and bathrooms going to have in this "hypothetical" house. But, I think, we would have 1 large living room, 1 library (or working area), 1 music room (or corner), 1 master bedroom, 2 kids' room, and 3 bathrooms. I loved arts and music.... But, you know what, I had no talents in any of these... I couldn't play any music instruments, I got beaten by my art teacher when I was young because my art homeworks looked terrible, and many more examples of plentiful evidences about that. Well, I couldn't do it, admittedly... But it didn't mean that I couldn't feel it. Sometimes, when I visited some of my friend blogs which you could see them on your left panel (e.g. piangdin, r k i, Rive Gauche, Piglet Yorkie, ruiN, and Vicky). These people shared one thing in common... They all had some valuable talents in arts in one way or another.... These are what I wasn't endowned with... :) I had bad taste in dressing up also... But it didn't ensure that I would have a bad taste in decorating my house (hopefully). Anyway, talent in arts was first problem in decorating it, the second problem is about budgetting.... Hey.... be realistic... I'm only a graduate student, I couldn't buy Van Gogh, could I? So, here we go again... Ebay... A good place for a budgetted guy like me.... At present, I'm watching around 70 pieces of paintings.... Yesterday, I engaged into three paintings on Ebay auctionings... Results? 2 losts and 1 win!! Yep, I got one piece of painting for my music room already! It's an oil in canvas at a size of 24"X36". I won it at the price of 9.99USD, but the shipping cost was a little bit pricy (29.99USD)... Here is its picture; ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Well, today, I will engage myself into Ebay auctions again for some more paintings-- 1 or 2 for the library and a few more for the living room.... For the library, I thought about a painting of ancient sailing ship sailing through a dark blue looming storm or (/and) a painting of a colorful lighthouse in the dark or during a twilight sunset.... For the living room, I'm looking for a relatively large size landscape painting-- to fit with my big fat living room. :) Hmmmmm..... Got any suggestions? Please be my guest to help me build my house!! :) ================================================== Note: Last night (02/19/07), I won another painting from Ebay auction. It's acrylic on a stretched canvas (20"X16") at the price of $19.95 (plus $22.00 S/H). --------------------------------   Create Date : 16 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 8 comments Last Update : 21 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 2:48:08 น. Counter : 470 Pageviews. Share Tweet

Hi k Noon...you are such an active writer...it's kind of funny that like you, a lot of my other friends in science also express their passion in arts in such a way that sometimes seems to be much stronger than their love in scientific routines. As arts offer the other side of creativity, abstract and livelihood that is sometimes missing in science, maybe it is the natural inclination that attract people to seek what they are lacking in order to fulfill their lives. I wanted to share my love in arts too....visit my msn blog for some of my broken mouse drawings na ka. Sorry my visit doesnt bring any constructive suggestive as to what to add to your beautifully-planned future house. At this moment , I can only say congrats in advance and hope to see its pic when it's readily decorated in the future ka. Happy long weekend ..   โดย: namsom (LRRH) IP: 128.125.98.106 17 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 5:25:59 น.

Sounds great. Decorating is fun. It's a lot of work but at the same time very very very rewarding. I painted all the rooms in our house myself so I know how rewarding it is. Watch HGTV to get ideas. They have a lot of good DIY shows that teach you to give your home a face lift inexpensively. A personal library is a must for nerds like us. Get a big comfy couch that you can lounge on and read the night away. If you ask me, lighting and wallart are as important as the furniture itself. I don't like fluorescent lights at all. I think they destroy the whole ambience. Incandescent lamps are my choice even though fluorescent lights are more energy efficient. Have fun decorating. It's a great feeling to own a house. It really is our personal paradise. Don't forget to post the pictures here when it's done. Congrats.   โดย: Rive Gauche 17 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 10:42:09 น.

Most of our paintings are made by my eldest daughter ka ^ ^. We scan it with the high resolution at FedEx Kinko, print them in the canvas paper and frame them. Some pictures was too big so we split it in to small frame. This could be some idea for family fun as well. You could make some project and paint it together. It doesn't have to be beautiful but you will be proud of you master piece. $9.99 is so cheap ka, I used to ask one artist to paint the picture of our house an it costs almost $600 - -" We actually enjoy Thai art as well. I bought several of hugh art work from Jatujak Sunday market. Thai artists have variety of great works. We fold the canvas and carry them without in the airplane. I was awkward but it surely worth it ka. This could be one of the cheaper alternative na ka. I totally agree with Khun Rive Gauche about the lighting ka. If you have any interior designer friend, I suggest you to beg for their opinions about lighting ka. It will make room look amazing. Decorating is so exciting and frustrating at the same time   โดย: Piglet-Yorkie 18 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 0:00:25 น.

เลือกของถูกมาแต่งบ้านเหมือนกันค่ะ มาเสริมว่าถ้าอยากห้องสว่าวนอกจากใช้ไฟช่วยแล้ว สีทาในบ้านมีส่วนอย่าวมาก บางทีต่างกันเฉดเดียวก็เปลี่ยนบรรยากาศได้เลย ได้มาถูกดีจังค่ะ เก้าเหรียญเอง สวยดีด้วย เราก็ซื้อเฟอร์นิเจอร์จากebayเหมือนกัน ไม่ไช่usedนะคะ ใหม่แกะกล่อง ถูกมาก เป็นเหมือนกันค่ะ ชอบทางศิลป์และดนตรีแต่เล่นไม่เป็นวาดแค่พอถูไถ ได้แต่ดูแฟนเล่นดนตรีเพลินๆค่ะ เลยอยากให้ลูกเล่นดนตรีเป็นเพราะเราไม่เป็น (ถ้าลูกรู้คงงง ว่าเกี่ยวอะไรเนี่ย)   โดย: kanu_memphis 18 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 14:25:49 น.

ยินดีด้วยค่ะที่ชนะ bid ของ ebay ได้รูปสวยมาแต่งบ้าน รูปนี้สวยจริงๆ นะคะ ส่วนที่แพ้ ช่างเถอะค่ะ เดี๋ยวก็ bid ใหม่ได้ ชอบรูปวาดมากเหมือนกันค่ะ ที่นี่มีตลาดเก่าเลยไปเลือกซื้อได้ แต่ราคาคงไม่ดีเท่าอีเบย์ของอเมริกานะคะ เมื่อซักเกือบปีที่แล้วชอบอีเบย์มากเลยค่ะ ซื้อแทบทุกวันเป็นเวลา 3 เดือน ส่วนใหญ่ซื้อเสื้อผ้า (กะซื้อเสื้อผ้าเท่ๆ เอากลับไปใส่ทำงาน)ไม่รู้ซื้อมาทำไม เพราะปรากฏว่ามันเก่ากว่าเสื้อผ้าที่เรามีอีก แถมตัวใหญ่ใส่ก็ไม่ได้ ตอนนี้เลยเลิกแล้วค่ะ ไม่เคยแวะเข้าไปอีกเลย   โดย: the Vicky IP: 81.243.238.25 19 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 5:02:51 น.

Congratulation on your winning the bid!!! I should really try bidding sometimes. 5555   โดย: ruiN 19 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 18:38:08 น.

ภาพสวยดีค่ะพี่ a.t. ราคาก็ไม่แพงด้วย (แต่ค่าส่งก็หลายอยู่เนอะ) ไว้ว่างๆไม่ลองวาดเล่นกันเองบ้างละคะ สนุกดีนะคะ พี่ a.t. อย่าไปเชื่ออาจารย์ศิลปะในวัยเยาว์มากค่ะ วาดเล่น สนุกสนาน เพลิดเพลิน ดูแล้วชื่นใจอะไรก็สวยได้... ทุกอย่างมันสวยและมีเสน่ห์(สะกดแบบนี้รึเปล่าเนี่ย?)ในตัวมัน แต่งบ้านให้สนุกนะคะ   โดย: r k i 26 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 2:31:59 น.

How long since you haven't checked back on your wife's piano? I left my beloved piano in Thailand too. The first time I came here I stayed for one and a half year without going back. Many things happened to my piano. I called the piano technician for repair work....well, there so many things he told me. The most important thing is Thailand is very humid, and that's the major factor to ruin piano. My piano started to rot because of humidity though I always keep my piano in the close room. Luckily, I found that in the very first stage. Since then I have to install the heater and ask my maid to turn it on almost everyday....even longer period in rainy season. Hope this help!!   โดย: Guiness Draft (Guiness Draft ) 27 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 11:07:07 น.