Our First Flat 🏠

Hello, everyone! Right now, as I write this, it’s a Saturday, and it’s been more than a year since the lockdown, and we are stuck at home yet again because the COVID-19 cases here in Singapore are rising once more. This prompted the government tighten the restrictions. I am bored so I thought of writing something; I have not written a proper blog post in a long time! Anyway, how’s the situation in your area, wherever you are?

I initially wanted to finish one of the posts I have started before related to my previous travels, which have been sitting in my drafts for god-knows-how-long, but it just made me sad because I miss travelling so much. Haha. But then, I remembered that I wanted to blog about our first home together as this is such a big milestone for us.

Wow, that’s quite a long introduction. If you are still reading — thank you! I will stop blabbering now, and I will move on to the topic on hand…

Looking and Packing Up Phases

My then-fiancé and I have decided to move in together before our ROM (civil wedding). We figured, we wanted to get settled and get comfortable together before we get married. We started looking for flats around November 2020. It was still in a middle of the pandemic, but around that time, the situation was much better, and the restrictions were eased. We were able to actually come down to the flats and view them personally instead of just virtual viewings.

We wanted a flat near the city for accessibility and convenience. We did not hire an agent as we don’t want to pay exorbitant agent fees, and one of our friends has suggested to search flats on Carousell, which we did. We have viewed flats in Hougang and Clementi areas before finding and settling in our current flat which is in Queenstown. And it’s the best decision we made; we love our area!

On to the packing up situation — on my side, I had to pack up more than 5 years of my life in Singapore. Packing was not fun, and it was so difficult. I didn’t know I had so much stuff! I had to go through everything and decide whether to keep them or let them go. When I finished packing, which was the night before we moved it, I ended up with 5 boxes, 2 luggage, 2 big Ikea bags, a bookshelf, and a table and chair. I also had to bring with me all the new appliances and stuff we have bought for our new place.

Move In Day

We got our keys to our flat after the New Year, 2nd January 2021. New year, new home! But we actually moved in the next day.

We hired a lorry to bring all our stuff from Kevin’s place and my place to our new flat. Then my dad drove us to our new place. Before leaving my dad’s place, I called my mum and told her that I am officially moving out. It was quite an emotional moment; I think my dad also shed a few tears. It was so sad my mum was not here to actually see me move out. I really hate this pandemic.

Anyway, my dad and my sister helped us to fix some of our things. Our living room and one of our bedrooms were filled with huge boxes! They also went with us to Ikea to shop for home items. We finished quite late, so we had dinner together before they left and finally leave us on our new place on our own.

The Flat

We have two years of lease in this flat. As I earlier mentioned, it is located in Queenstown area. It is quite accessible to many places — 9 minutes walk to the Queenstown MRT stations; 10 minutes walk to Ikea Alexandra; NTUC Fairprice is right on our block; the nearest wet market, Mei Ling Market, is just a 5 minutes walk; and there are a lot of F&B places nearby.

The flat itself has 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It’s quite old but it was well maintained, and the size is just right for us.

Living Area & Kevin’s Workstation 

This is our living area, and a part of it was dedicated for my husband’s workstation. 

We initially wanted to use the 2nd bedroom as our office, but because we really have a lot of stuff, all of the items which we haven’t sorted were put away in that room. It has been almost 5 months and we haven’t got around organising them; we actually don’t know what to do with all those things. Haha. We will get to them eventually! 

Going back, we have an L-shaped sofa which Kevin particularly requested, and we have a console with our TV and gaming consoles. This is my favourite part of the house as I love to lounge here and watch my favourite shows.

Dining Area

This is our dining area. Since the area is small, we opted for round tables to maximise the space. We have also tucked in my bookshelf on the other end of the area.

Bedroom & My Workstation

This is our cozy bedroom, and this is where my workstation is located. 

Kitchen & Pantry

These are the areas where you could see the flat’s age. Haha!

The kitchen area is quite roomy, and I spend a lot of time here as I have found myself enjoying cooking. We have made a makeshift pantry area where we store our food supplies.

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So, there you go! This is our humble abode we call home. :)