All Things Felt: Heartfelt crafts from Nepal (and our cosy corner)

We have an attic, which is currently serving as our homeschooling room. Usually I try to school Junior J and Lil J together at their desks, while the younger two are playing at the side. I've been trying to make the play area cosy for the little ones, so recently I set up a little corner for the kids.

The tent was a lightweight one that I purchased months back from Cotton On Kids, while the cushion was from Typo. I planned to get a rug for that area, since it makes it so much more comfortable for the kids, especially the baby who is crawling and sometimes still topples over. I am not a fan of foam playmats, and the younger kids tend to yank at the pile on carpets, so both were a no-no for me. I happened to chance across these gorgeous felt ball rugs over at All Things Felt while browsing Instagram, and decided that this was IT.  

I contacted Divya to find out more about those lovely rugs in her little shop. Divya hails from Nepal but is currently staying in Singapore. Her story was a most heart-warming one: All Things Felt was set up in the wake of the Nepal earthquake in 2015, to share the beauty of handmade felt products. Her business seeks to empower women by preserving these artisanal skills, while providing work for them.

Source: All Things Felt FB page

Her shop stocks various felt products, ranging from garlands, wreaths (perfect for the upcoming festive season), to puppets and baby mobiles. However, the felt ball rugs are probably the stars in the shop, as you can customize them into any colour combination you want, and there is a huge range of colours to choose from.

Source: All Things Felt FB page

Imagine the possibilities! 

Source: All Things Felt FB page

Source: All Things Felt FB page

I chose my colours with some advice from Divya. She informed me that it would take 3 weeks or so to make the rug, as the process is a long and tedious one. I was happy to wait (but do note the production time if you are thinking of ordering one as a gift for Christmas!), and the wait was worthwhile because it came exactly as how I pictured it. 

I love the colours, and how wonderfully textured and inviting this rug is to little hands. The felt balls are sewn securely together, and this rug is very comfortable. The baby loves sitting here to play, and it is reassuring to know that the dyes that are used to colour the felt are non-toxic. 

This rug doesn't slip easily since it is heavy. However, if you find that it does slide about, using a non-slip layer underneath solves the problem. I was a little alarmed initially, as I noticed that there was a fine layer of dust under the rug each time I lifted it. However, Divya reassured me that this was just soap silt from the felt-making process, and that this problem resolves with time. And indeed, there is no more dust underneath, now that the rug has been laid out for two weeks. 

One point to note though if you decide to get one of these: ensure that you keep a sharp eye out for non-potty trained toddlers, as well as toys with velcro on them (such as play food that you can cut). The former might have an accident on the rug, while the latter tends to stick and damage the felt. That aside, we are loving this rug! These rugs cannot be washed, but can be wiped clean or gently vacuumed.

I was intrigued by Divya's story, as well as the process that goes into making these felt ball crafts, so I thought I'd let her share more:

Jus: Hello Divya! I would love to introduce you to my readers. Are you local? How do you like staying in Singapore?

Divya: Singapore has been home for two years now, but I’m originally from Nepal. I grew up there, but moved to India to study when I was 13. I then went on to work in Mumbai, India, before shifting to Singapore. Singapore, in many ways is very similar to Mumbai, where I’ve lived for seven years in the past, and that is one of the many reasons I love staying here!

Jus: How did All Things Felt come about? Could you share with us some background to your little shop?

Divya: The Nepal earthquake in 2015 saw the world come together to help its people stand back on their feet. With help pouring in from all directions, I decided to do my bit. With firm belief in the craft and the wide variety of the products that could draw consumers in Singapore, I hope to open a new door for the artisans of my country. I see this is a sustainable way of assisting the artisans, who are mostly women. Nepal, with its snow-capped mountains, idyllic rivers and streams, pagoda-style temples, intricately terraced rice and paddy fields and market courtyards, has a timeless atmosphere that is simply captivating. 

With the intent of bringing the splendour of the Nepalese hillsides to homes in Southeast Asia, All Things Felt hopes to touch more lives with the magic of its products. Various kinds of handicraft are a reflection of a nation wrapped in various ethnicities and cultures. Production of handicraft is an age-old practice in Nepal. Handicraft—both textile (pashmina, hemp, silk, felt, etc.) and non-textile (silver, handmade paper, wood, ceramics, etc.)—is an important source of foreign exchange for this otherwise poor country. Each handicraft weaves with itself a beautiful story—one in which the artisan is taught with utmost precision and love the art of making by one of their own. 

Nepal is also largely a patriarchal society in which women are disadvantaged. Traditionally, women from poor families in Nepal do not have access to formal education, and are often marginalised and vulnerable to domestic abuse. Through All Things Felt, we endeavour to empower these women through the preservation of traditional handicraft skills and culture. The fact that we are able to help women in our small way to earn an income, educate their children and to feel more confident in their abilities is what excites and encourages us the most. 

Jus: I love how your shop endeavours to help these Nepalese women, and keep these artisanal skills alive! I know these rugs are works of art and require many hours of labour. Could you share more about the process of making these rugs so we can better appreiciate the work that goes into each one? 

Divya: Felt is a matted mass of sheep’s wool. Most craft producers in Nepal import the wool from New Zealand. The wool is first carded. Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles the wool fibre to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. Carded wool is then dyed into a myriad of different colours. The dyes used are non-toxic and free of chemicals. Unlike industrial chemical processing used to create most felts, most producers in Nepal—us included—use a technique called "wet felting", wherein using friction and soapy water, the natural wool fibre is matted, condensed and pressed to create the material. After the wool is dyed, our artisans make individual felt balls using soap and hot water. The felt balls are rolled until they are roughly 2 cm in diameter. Once done, the artisans put the balls in cold water and rinse them, after which these are dried in the sun. Once completely dry, they are ready to be sewn together to make the rugs. This is the most complex and time-consuming task. The workshop we work with employs only women who work in small groups of friends and families and can opt to work from home. The flexible nature of the work provides a great option for young mothers, allowing them to care for their little ones and families and at the same time earn a livelihood.

Jus: It's great that your workers are able to care for their families while producing these crafts! Could you share your dream for your little business? 

Divya: All Things Felt believes that happiness is handmade. We bring the colour and vibrancy of the hills of Nepal right to your doorstep. We want to create more awareness around the gorgeous felt products and make them more known in Southeast Asia. Not only because we want to help our lovely artisans generate more income, but because we honestly believe in the magic of our products. We hope to bring a little bit of our home to yours.

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Thank you so much for sharing, Divya! Looking at how much work goes into each rug really made me appreciate mine so much more. And I loved how these handicrafts empower women and mothers and allow them to earn a livelihood, while still giving them the flexibility to care for their families. 

If you are interested in learning more, please visit their Facebook Page or Instagram account to view the products that are available, or you can drop Divya an email at allthingsfelt.sg@gmail.com. That aside, All Things Felt would be showcasing their products over at the Boutiques Fair on 4th Nov (0900-2000 hrs) and 5th Nov (1000-2000hrs), at the F1 Pit Building, so you can also pay them a visit this weekend!

Disclaimer: We were sponsored this lovely rug for purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are my own. 

Home 2.0: Our Art Studio

We do a lot of art and craft in our home. In our previous home, we did all our painting and crafting at the dining table (you can view our dining room tour here), and our art supplies were stashed in various places around the home. Our markers and colour pencils were stored in enamel cups that were held up by a magnetic Grundtal magnetic knife rack, while our paints and other materials were stored in a Raskog trolley:

However, I longed for a dedicated space where the kids had room to create, where we didn't need to rush through projects and ensure that we clean up the table before a meal. So after we shifted into our new home, we opted to transform the area between the bedrooms into an art studio, which was to double up as a games room. It was a bare, empty space, so we had free reign when it came to designing and planning! 

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The most important piece of furniture in any art studio is the work surface. We needed a table that could fit all four kids, yet allow for enough elbow room. Having a table at a lower height would help in terms of allowing the younger kids to access the table easily, yet there was no ready-made table that fit our criteria in terms of both size and height.

We browsed the huge range of tabletops available at IKEA, and decided to use two Linnmon table tops in birch effect. The Linnmon range is available in a few colours and sizes, and we went with the one that measured 120 x 60 cm. This way, we could combine two table tops to form a square table measuring 120 x 120 cm, and each kid could sit at one side of the square table and not have to jostle for elbow room. The fibreboard top is hardwearing, and perfect for an art table, since stains can be easily wiped clean.

The tabletops were joined together with metal plates and wood screws (available at hardware shops). We used two Trofast frames as the base of the table, arranged perpendicular to the tabletops and attached again using metal plates and wood screws. These frames are narrower than the tabletops, so that allowed for leg room, while providing storage under the table.

Having storage under the table was extremely useful! We could either slot in Trofast storage boxes of varying sizes to contain various materials (eg. I use one bin to hold random recyclables that they can use for crafting, such as egg trays, bits of cardboard and toilet paper rolls)... 

... or we could just slot in bigger items into the space within the storage unit, such as their work trays and the trash bin. 

We use both Smula trays and Klack trays as work trays (the former are smaller so they are used for the younger kids). Both are large enough to hold a piece of drawing block paper, and using trays minimizes clean up, as we only need to wash the trays once in a while. These are also useful when it comes to messy work such as working with clay, as well as when the kids work with beads, since everything is contained within the tray. 

Once the table was set up, we encountered another challenge: appropriate seating. Using the Trofast frames meant that the table was taller than a regular child's table, so the regular child-sized chairs would not work for the younger kids. 

The Mammut children's chair (his is all colourful because he decorated it with washi tape!) was perfect for Junior J's height, but I had to find something taller for Lil J and Small J. However, most regular stools were too high, while the step-stools were too low. In the end I found a simple solution: we bought the tallest Trofast storage boxes available, and flipped them over to use them as stools! (PS: These come with HUGE stickers that are really hard to remove. We discovered that spraying some WD40 removed the sticky residue easily!)

An art studio needs plenty of storage space, so we reused our old Raskog trolley to store paper, paints and other art materials:

On a side note: I really love this trolley since it's so durable and versatile. We have three of these trolleys, and our beige Raskog trolley has been used as a mobile library in the boys' room previously... 

... and is currently being used as a bedside table and diaper caddy! (It now comes in red brown as well as black!)

Trolley aside, we needed a space to hang up their art aprons/bibs. I wanted easy to install hooks since we already had to drill up a few things and didn't want to have to drill more stuff, so we went with these cheerful, colourful Losjon hooks. 

The hooks were a breeze to fix up: all you have to do is peel off the adhesive backings, and stick them on! The hooks were positioned lower down, so that even the toddler could hang up his own bib. 

And to add interest, we wrapped twine around the Losjon hooks (this idea was from IKEA Hackers), and that also provided an alternative display area for small pieces of artwork by the kids. 

Speaking of display, we set up a gallery wall using Articulate Gallery frames, as well Fiskbo frames. These come in various sizes and colours, and I love how affordable they are! 

One of the issues I have with our current home is the awkward positioning of the electrical sockets. All the sockets are placed right smack in the middle of the wall, where they cannot be hidden behind low shelves. I tried blocking the sockets using a Skurar plant pot filled with twigs (where we could hang some of their crafty creations), but as you can see, it didn't work!

In the end, I framed up a piece of wrapping paper using a large Fiskbo frame, and propped it over the socket. This way, we could easily access the socket if we needed it, but meanwhile it wasn't glaring at us in the face!

And finally, those storage units are Besta frames (in white stained oak effect) and Hanviken doors (in either white for the bottom, or white stained oak effect for the top). We use them to store both art materials, as well as all our games (since we use the art table for playing games as well)! I love how we can mix and match all sorts of colours and patterns to come up with a storage solution that works. We also use Besta frames for our TV bench and media storage both in our old and current homes (you can see some photos here), since they are so versatile. 

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You might have recently read about IKEA's Democratic Design process, which is to make design for everyone. There are five aspects to Democratic Design: 

1. Form: This deals with how innovative the design is, as well as aspects such as easy handling and ergonomics.

2. Quality: This is in terms of durability, child safety and resistance to wear and tear and humidity.

3. Function: This deals with the flexibility, adaptability and relevance of the product in daily life.

4. Low Price: Product affordability, as well as lowering the cost of maintenance and packaging.

5. Sustainability: The use of recyclable materials that are environmentally friendly, and products that reduce energy consumption. 

Good furniture design is really about a balance of all these five aspects, but what I particularly love about IKEA products is their functionality and adaptability. It is this aspect that has made putting this art studio together so much easier, and at a much lower cost than if we were to hire a carpenter to custom-build our furniture. The kids are really enjoying this space, since it works so well for us, and it's going to be a space filled with happy memories!

Disclaimer: This post is written in collaboration with IKEA. We were given a gift card to purchase some of the aforementioned items in this post, and no monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Home: The Kitchen

I've blogged a fair bit about our kitchen previously, but I thought it's time to bring you for a proper tour of the most colourful room in our home today!

When we first moved into our flat almost 10 years ago, we opted to change the cabinetry as those from the previous owner were warping and grimy from all the grease of everyday cooking. However, because we had just started working, we had a really tight budget, and opted to keep the original tiles. This was our kitchen then:

We loved the look of dark wood, and went dark-everything, which wasn't a good idea. The kitchen was long and narrow, and had only one window at one end, so the whole place looked dark and rather gloomy. (Here are some lessons we learnt from our old kitchen.) We then left SG for a year for hubby's overseas attachment, and came home to a roach infested kitchen, simply because our old chute was faulty! So we opted to do an overhaul of the kitchen and toilets, especially since the kitchen drawers were starting to jam, and the toilet tiles were really really old. (If you're interested to find out more about the tiles, you can read this post.)

Anyway, fast-forward to two years after our reno, and our kitchen is looking a whole lot more cheerful. I love cooking in here! The bright yellow backsplash and white counters and cabinetry really help to brighten up this dark room, and the enamel plates also add pops of colour around the kitchen.

I do love enamelware, because it works so hard and is easy to clean! (And they usually come in such happy colours too!) Here's one of my current favourite pots for cooking Baby J's porridge: the Kastrull saucepan. The enamel coating makes washing off burnt-on porridge alot easier compared to regular stainless steel pots.

Ever since the renovations, we've had ample storage space to store things away, so I like to keep my countertop as clear as possible, as I need space to work. I find drawers are a whole lot more efficient in storing stuff compared to shelves, and we store everything away except for the toaster, kettle and Thermomix. (If you look hard, you'll spot our dim sum bamboo baskets. We use these to store garlic and onions!) Hooks above the sink allow easy access to frequently used tools like our scissors and peelers (We use the Fintorp rail and hooks. The hooks are fixed onto the rail, so they won't fall off unlike regular S-hooks, which is a feature I like.)

A clear countertop makes food preparation go a lot faster. :) (These days, we use the Aptitlig chopping boards, which dry really fast and are not as heavy as some of the other wooden chopping boards. And those Elly tea towels are such a steal, and great to use!)



On the other side of the sink is our display wall, and our little breakfast corner.

The display wall is basically filled up with various things that I love: from tingkats (more enamelware!), a painting done by Junior J to postcards that we picked up overseas. (You can read more about the wall here.) The breakfast corner used to be a huge mess of extra Tupperware and random stuff, but now is a nice place for hubby and I to sit down to chat in the mornings, or for the boys to sit and doodle if they wish.

These postcards are framed using Ribba frames... and even our plants are from IKEA!

The breakfast corner holds a jug of water and cups, so that the boys can help themselves to water when they need it. The tingkat holds crayons for doodling, and the Skack serving bowl is perfect for holding fruit. The Barbar tray makes bringing stuff out of the kitchen a lot faster!

We bought these painted kopitiam chairs sometime ago, and I love their vintage and cheerful vibe.

The breakfast corner is also a nice place for a hot cup of tea. (I just had to get this Jamnt cup when I saw it, since we only have one large mug, which the hubby hogs for his tea. This is perfect for my buckwheat tea!)

And yes, our fridge is still plastered with magnets from all over the world. The collection is still growing!

While we had more storage after the renovations, our storage areas were quite a mess with random Tupperware containers and packets of food, and it was hard to find stuff. Recently, I did a clean-out for these areas and got it all sorted using various containers from IKEA. We got our "drinks cupboard" (for a lack of a better term!) sorted using Krus and IKEA 365+ dry food jars:

Some of our frequently used pastas also went into IKEA 365+ jars:

Finally, we shifted all our other dry goods like flour, rice and sugar into Tillsluta dry food jars. These jars seem the most air-tight, and I love how I can fit these neatly into my drawers, compared to the round containers that we used to have.

And just to prettify them up, I used Hemsmak labels for labelling the containers. I think it looks way nicer with the black labels, compared to using torn off bits of washi tape!

PS: You can read about our living room here, and take a tour of our dining room here.

PPS: This post is part of a series of collaborative posts with IKEA. We were given a gift card to purchase some of the aforementioned items in this post, and no monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.