Childcare teacher Sisi and Elgin, who is a director of photography, live in a home they call ‘organised chaos’ with their dog Lucy. It is punctuated with greenery, pops of colour and art that is offbeat yet fun. The centrepiece of their home is a large open shelf of trinkets, collectibles and novels where the affable couple squabble endearingly over real estate to display their own prized possessions.
“We actually had quite a laugh when we first created our mood board on Pinterest for our home. Elgin’s photos were all bright coloured walls and furniture (think childcare centre) and mine were all white, neutral sandy colours with timber and rattan. It was quite a joke!”
“We had our ROM in our house last September and moved in that very night. It’s been about 7 months and it’s a miracle our house turned out to be so perfectly... us. A touch of colour but not too much, warm and inviting. Elgin says it reflects him, because it’s organised chaos. Haha!”
“At first glance, the place looks straightforward, but it’s actually fan shaped so it was quite challenging for our interior designer. He did a great job."
“We do a lot of shopping together and agreed that since we are so different, we’d only buy pieces that we both liked and thankfully, most of them worked out. Save for a few things that Elgin sneaked in without my knowledge!”
“These gorgeous Buster and Punch switches, however, were an instant mutual consent. We wanted gold as a colour swatch in the house and the switches were a perfect touch.”
“We, or rather Elgin, loves things that are quirky. He likes art that doesn’t take itself too seriously. One of his favourite sculptures is exquisitely made by top Chinese sculptor 潘柏林 (Pan Bolin). It has that fun element of a husband trying to steal a kiss from his wife. Kinda like him in real life.”
“Many of our home items have small and meaningful stories behind them, and many are gifted by people we care about. There’s glassware by my sister, paintings by Elgin’s friend and Godson, and peg dolls of our dog, Lucy and I, hand-painted by my student’s mom.”
“The sum of our home is truly made up of our friends and loved ones that we are lucky to have in our lives. We just love the idea of a home made up of more than just us.”
“All our stuff is really a collection of things over time and from all sorts of places. One of our favourite paintings would be the beautiful mess of colour hanging behind our dining table. It’s painted by our talented friend David and he named it “Paz” which translates to “Peace”.
“Every day, it’s telling us to find perfect peace in the midst of a riot.”
“I love my kitchen nook. Elgin cooks more than I do so I wanted a kitchen that would allow for us to be social, so that I can accompany him as he cooks, and we can chat about our day. Sometimes, my mom comes over and we bake together. We would sit at the table to eat the first batch! Haha.”
“Lately, we’ve been making small changes to the way we live and are trying to swap out household cleaners and personal products for non-toxic homemade ones.”
“Elgin has flexible hours depending on which days he has to shoot. When he’s not working, he spends his mornings watering our plants and then chilling in our ‘fake’ balcony. It’s his favourite nook where he reads, works or just admires his plants.”
“We’re both into plants and he really wanted a balcony. That was one of the things we looked for while house-hunting. But we both fell in love with our current house even though it didn’t have a balcony! So we just made one. The plant shelf that sits in the balcony happened because we could not find one with the right height, dimensions or colour. So he made one out of plywood and PVC pipes sprayed in the yellow that I refused to allow him to paint on our walls.”
“One of Elgin’s most sentimental plants in our home is this Whale Fin Plant from our beloved friend who has since passed on. Even in her late stage of cancer, Perryn was the kind of person who would think of us through her pain.”
“Today, it’s standing in front of Danny Yung’s 天天向上 (Tian Tian Xiang Shang) sculpture to remind us to keep our chins up each day.”
“Now that we have our own space, we don’t go out as much as we used to. We also enjoy nature and spend a lot more time outdoors now because of the park connector nearby, where we cycle and take walks with our dog.”
“Having that bit of green makes so much of a difference.” 
“I like to be covered and feel cosy and warm in bed, but my feet get claustrophobic and hot so they tend to stick out from under the covers. I also enjoy the feeling of cool sheets. Elgin is a bit more particular about sheets. They have to be flat, soft and cool with absolutely no crinkles!”
“Beneath SOJAO sheets that are luxurious in every way, we like the underlying story of a company that stands behind fairness. It doesn’t hurt to be kind and it sure doesn’t hurt sleeping on sheets that we don’t wanna wake up from.”
“This year, we are looking forward to our wedding celebration in June and hope to be able to reunite with family overseas.”
