Month: November 2017

Venetian Vibes: Luxurious Wall Finishes With Echoes of the Italian Renaissance

Vasari Malaysia presents a natural alternative to paint – with the near-limitless possibilities of expression and exquisite effects in Venetian plaster.

Composed of finely crushed marble, aged lime, and natural pigments, Venetian wall plaster has been used to sculpt the exterior and interiors of buildings throughout Europe for centuries. The fine details on walls plastered in antiquity can often still be seen today, their timeless quality being the likely reason people still associate architectural features of the Italian Renaissance with the epitome of luxury. “Though Venetian plasters have been used for years and proven for their beauty and longevity in Europe, it is still uncommon here in Malaysia,” said Jack Lee, the general manager of Vasari Malaysia – the sole distributor of the world’s premier Venetian plaster.

Unlike other forms of architectural finishes such as textured paint, Vasari’s Venetian plaster is composed of completely natural, odourless, and non-toxic ingredients, resulting in an ecologically friendly surface that is easy to maintain and resistant to deterioration by biological agents such as mildew or fungus. Thanks in part to their naturally occurring and water-resistant ingredients; Vasari plasters can be applied to a wide variety of surfaces, from ceilings to the walls of wet areas.

The availability of three different grades of Venetian plaster from Vasari Malaysia enables a range of effects that can be achieved by craftsmen with minimal training. The three plaster options: Sheen, Matte, and Sandy, are formulated with different proportions of sand to produce a variety of finishes. The Sheen formulation is typically applied in thin coats on interior walls for delicate details or polished smooth for a marble finish. On the other end of the scale is the Sandy variation, made durable with a higher proportion of sand for exterior applications. The Matte variant of Vasari plaster contains an intermediate measure of sand for creating matte finishes on both interior and semi-exterior walls.

All three different grades of Vasari plaster can be easily applied using a spatula or trowel to smooth out or create textures in multiple layers as needed. The first coat typically serves as surface preparation to bond with the second layer which will bear the textures. The resulting textures are dependant on whether repeated or randomised movements of the trowel were used during the application of the top-most layers.

When moistened, a wall covered in Vasari plaster can be modified by the addition of more plaster, making maintenance and repair, even changes in colour or texture, simple and quick. When fully cured, Vasari’s plaster is breathable, water-resistant, and easy to clean – thanks to the porous and hydrophobic qualities of the ingredients, which allow for dirt to be removed effortlessly with the aid of a damp cloth.

Vasari Malaysia
A-07, Emerald Avenue
Jalan PS 7, Prima Selayang
68100 Batu Caves
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

+6012 727 1962
info@vasarimalaysia.com
http://ift.tt/2zDISqj
@vasarimalaysia
vasarimalaysia

Read about water-proofing your property here, or about other architectural finishes here.

Images by Vasari Malaysia
Article by Kevin Eichenberger

The post Venetian Vibes: Luxurious Wall Finishes With Echoes of the Italian Renaissance appeared first on Malaysia Interior Design, Home-living Magazine.

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Industrially Fresh: X Two Concept Crafts a Nautical-Themed Café With a Fusion of Vintage and Raw Materials

This café is enticing with its fun features and quirky décor, where its eccentric vibe is enhanced by a fusion of classic and vintage pieces, raw textures and vivid colours.

Inspired by the urban and hipster subculture, culture, creativity, art, fashion and music are all united into the design of space, where each element has been eccentrically integrated, creating a unique ambiance in this café. Raw materials and textures are fundamental to the design, where a polished concrete floor acts as the perfect clean slate to design around and merge contrasting décor together to create an extraordinary vibe.

Upon entering the grey coloured café, it is anything but that. An old-fashion treasure map canvas spreads itself across one side of a wall at the entrance, where the coffee stained effect stands out against the grey tones. Naked bulbs hang from the ceiling at different lengths via knotted ropes, where intimate coffee tables, of different styles and shades of wood, are complemented by colourful chairs and stools, bringing in a vintage feel to the space.

Mismatching décor and furniture is used throughout the whole café, creating a chilled-out and casual atmosphere. In one corner of the café, a skylight helps to depict an outdoor-nautical scene. Wood table and stools are styled together forming a picnic style dining area, which sits in front of red brick wall. Contrasted with nautical lifebuoys hanging on the wall, ropes that droop from the skylight and geometric lights, the mismatched setting is amusing and quaint.

Towards the back of the café, blue and white tones flourish the grey hues. A retro British vibe is present thanks to; the leather chesterfield sofa dressed with throws and pillows, armchairs upholstered in different fabrics, the mixture of garden style chairs and simple framed dining chairs, unconventional art work scattered orderly, random décor and furnishings and characteristic coffee tables. With a chalkboard wall and plenty of interesting and playful elements, the entire space allures with its urban and fresh vibes.

Funky Features: A high wooden table is accompanied by colourful, vintage style stools, where the retro vibe is enhanced by the metal light, a vintage mirror and a wooden art piece.

 

Soothing Havens: Soothing elements fill every space in this cafe. Featuring comfortable lighting, raw features, cement finished flooring, every feature here conveys tranquillity.

Looking for more from X Two Concept? Or maybe you would prefer an inside scoop on another cafe – The Scoop Cafe at Menara Dion, click here to see it in full 360-degree glory.

Perindustrian Baru
Kafe ini menarik dengan ciri-ciri dan hiasan yang aneh, di mana suasana unik dipertingkatkan daripada gabungan kepingan klasik dan vintaj, tekstur mentah serta warna terang.

Diilhamkan oleh cabang kebudayaan urban dan hipster, budaya, kreativiti, seni, fesyen dan muzik semuanya bersatu ke dalam reka bentuk ruang, di mana setiap elemen telah bersepadu secara esentrik, mewujudkan suasana yang unik. Bahan mentah dan tekstur adalah asas kepada reka bentuk, di mana lantai konkrit digilap bertindak sebagai batu tulis yang sempurna untuk merekabentuk sekitar dan menggabungkan hiasan berbeza bersama-sama bagi mewujudkan suasana yang luar biasa. Apabila memasuki kafe berwarna kelabu, peta harta kanvas fesyen lama berada di satu bahagian dinding di pintu masuk, di mana kesan bewarna kopi tampil menonjol terhadap nada kelabu. Mentol tergantung dari siling dengan panjang yang berbeza melalui tali yang diikat, di mana meja kopi dan kayu yang berbeza naungan dan warna yang dilengkapi dengan kerusi dan stools berwarna-warni, membawa rasa vintaj ke dalam ruang.

Perabot dan dekorasi yang tidak berpadanan antara satu sama lain digunakan di seluruh kafe, mewujudkan suasana santai. Di satu sudut kafe, jendela lelangit membantu untuk menggambarkan pemandangan nautika luar. Meja kayu dan stools digayakan bersama-sama membentuk ruang makan gaya perkelahan, yang terletak di hadapan dinding berbata merah. Pelampung nautika tergantung di dinding, tali dari jendela langit dan lampu geometri, tetapan yang tidak berpadanan ini kelihatan aneh dan menarik. Ke arah belakang kafe, tona biru dan putih berkembang dalam warna kekelabuan. Vibe retro British terhasil daripada; sofa Chesterfield kulit dipadankan dengan bantal, kerusi-kerusi rehat upholsteri dengan fabrik yang berbeza, campuran kerusi ala garden, dan kerusi makan dengan rangka ringkas, kerja seni tidak konvensional berserakan secara teratur, hiasan rawak dan perabot serta meja kopi. Manakala dinding papan hitam dan banyak elemen menarik lain di seluruh ruang menonjol dengan vibe urban yang segar.

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What to Do When You Have a Leaky Faucet

There will come a time in every person’s life when a crucial decision has to be made – take on a leaking faucet alone or call for professional backup? We put this comprehensive guide together to help you tackle a leaking faucet on your own, and to help you recognise when a situation is dire enough to warrant giving a professional plumber a call before water damage sets in.

That one drop probably costs a fraction of a cent, but those fractions add up. Image Source

Damage Control
Paying some attention to where a leak is coming from will help you to conduct a quick and effective repair: a dripping faucet may entail disassembly of the fixture to replace a defective component, while a slowly leaking pipe connection could be patched with a few rounds of plumbing tape, but persistently leaking pipe connections likely require the disassembly of piping – which should only be done by a professional plumber.

The first and most crucial phase in the management of any disaster is to limit the damage. If you are faced with a persistently dripping faucet, whether it is an intermittent drip or a torrential waterfall, the first and safest thing to do before attempting any repairs is to locate and shut off the water supply for the affected fixture. The last thing anybody wants is for that trickling leak to turn into an unplanned fountain once the fixture comes off.

This is not the kind of water feature you want in your house. Image Source

Disrupting Supply
Sink faucets tend to have their separate supply valves located directly beneath the countertops, so shutting off the water supply for these fixtures is often as simple as opening the cabinets under the sink and manually turning the valves clockwise (right turn to close or tighten and left turn to open or loosen). Other fixtures such as showers, tubs, commodes, and ablutions may not have independent supply valves, or their shut-off valves may not be visible, so locating them may require a familiarity with the inner workings of your property.

If the water supply valve for a specific fixture cannot be located, or if the leak in question comes from a pipe connection rather than a faucet, one can always fall back on shutting off the water supply valve located just after the water meter on a landed property, or in the cold water riser of a high-rise development.

Look for one of these on your property and turn it clockwise to stop the flooding. Image Source

Site Preparations
With a leaking pipe or faucet identified and the water supply interrupted, one can begin to prepare the area for repairs. Preparations should entail wrapping the teeth of pliers or wrenches with thick packing tape to prevent scratching fixtures, blocking drain openings with a rag to prevent the accidental loss of parts, and setting out a flat surface for placing disassembled parts.

Because finding this little guy on the floor is less fun. Image Source

Affecting Repairs
As most water-dispensing fixtures and their pipes are composed of metallic alloys, leaks may present from imperfect gaps or the worn threads of connections between metal parts, especially in old pipe connections. Slow drips coming out of these pipe connections can be temporarily resolved with a few rounds of Teflon plumbing tape around the joint, but symptoms may reappear as pipe connections continue to deteriorate over time. If you find yourself continuously patching leaking connections along the same length of piping, this would be a sign to call in the professionals to replace the pipes.

Just a few turns around a leaking pipe connection with Teflon tape, plumber’s tape, or pipe thread sealing tape should do the trick – at least for small leaks. Image Source

If the leak does not originate from a pipe connection but rather from a fixture itself, the most likely reason could be traced to an unassuming piece of synthetic rubber that plumbers call an ‘O-ring’. Most faucets for homes are fitted with O-rings that come in a standard range of sizes, meaning that getting a replacement is a simple matter of bringing the defective O-ring to your neighbourhood hardware store.

An example of what the O-ring in your faucet may look like. Image Source

Replacing the ‘O-ring’ is a relatively laborious task involving prying off a fixture’s decorative caps with a blunt screwdriver and removing a variety of metal and plastic components to get to the O-ring, which necessitates taping over the teeth of tools to prevent scratching a fixture’s finishes. As there are many different ways of putting water-dispensing fixtures together, the task of replacing an O-ring can be made a little easier by having the manual for the affected fixture on hand. In lieu of a generic manual, we found a couple of videos detailing the process of fixture disassembly for your reference.

Inspections
Professional plumbers advise returning the water supply to a repaired fixture gradually, as the sudden change in pressure could cause another leak or even damage the internal components of your fixtures beyond repair. To check on your work, open the water supply valve slowly by turning the handle counter-clockwise, then operate the fixture as normal while observing for leaks.

Slow leaks from pipe connections should be easily resolved by following these steps – but if a fixture continues to present leaks after replacing the O-ring, careful study of the fixture’s manual would be required to determine if other components need replacing. The options after this point would entail getting replacement components from the fixture’s manufacturer, or replacing the fixture entirely if multiple components are suspected to be defective. Either way, we highly recommend consulting a professional before expending any significant sums of money on replacing fixtures.

You may also be interested in reading our 6 Tips on Buying Shower Pipes and taking a look at some of the elegant fixtures Hansgrohe is offering.

From tap to waste drain: brushed gold optic from the AXOR FinishPlus. Image Credit: Ulrich Stockhaus (Zürich) via Hansgrohe Singapore

Did this article help you sort out that leaking faucet, or did we just make things worse? Let us know on our Facebook page.

Article by Kevin Eichenberger

The post What to Do When You Have a Leaky Faucet appeared first on Malaysia Interior Design, Home-living Magazine.

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