Day 20 – 11th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Bed

Checking out the mattress, a Slumberland.

Changing the sheets is something I have to do myself in this hotel room 😂, which felt so weird. But the idea of quarantine is isolation, and being isolated from others means the housekeeping staff can’t enter the room.

Requesting for fresh sheets is done via the WhatsApp messaging app. I make the request once a week which I think is reasonable. That’s how often I change my bedsheets at home, anyway.

As instructed, I pack the used sheets into a laundry bag and seal it (right).

Middle: used towels I wanted changed as well.

Left: used floor mat. I don’t mix towels and floor mats in the same bag, because I’m civilized 😄

As instructed, I leave the bags of used stuff out the door to be collected by housekeeping.

Bringing in the clean fresh sheets and towels that the laundry fairy had left outside my door. Unlike me, they put the towels and the floor mat in the same bag *gasp!* 😂 Just kidding it’s not a big deal.

So nice to have clean fresh sheets 😍

By the way, the mattress is HEAVY, even heavier than it looks. 👏🏽Respect👏🏽to all the housekeeping ladies (and men) for the back-breaking job💪🏽. And I imagine they have to move fast too, to efficiently cover a certain number of rooms and bathrooms. AND they have to maintain standards even as they work fast. My work would probably earn me a big fail even though I was so slow 😂.

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Day 18 – 9th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Television

A 55″, it’s huge. Well for me, anyway. I only have a 32″ at home. I’ve never been much of a TV person, since ages ago when I could start getting news online. And at anytime I want instead of at a fixed time. And enjoy different viewpoints because I could access many different websites.

I also live in a tiny apartment, and the bigger your TV, the more space there should be between the TV and your self for viewing comfort. So yeah, 32″ was just about right.

55″ Samsung in the hotel room. I love the sleek niche housing it.

But hilariously enough, though, the quality is not only not High Definition, it’s actually pretty bad for a flat screen TV. And it’s the same across all channels. Well, might as well just have a regular, modest 32″, then.

Watched it with the drapes closed so the room nice and dark for a better quality picture. But still not very good.

To make it worse, on some days I think the connection is dodgy or something, resulting in missing chunks of a film. It’s distracting to the point of being annoying enough for me to give up watching a film (The Goldfinch, for instance) because it can happen many times during a film, and for longer than just a few seconds.

What comes up during those interruptions.

Selection of channels.

Thank goodness for the free Wi-Fi.

Covid or no Covid, this is a great idea 👍🏽. I want to plastic-wrap all my remotes at home too 😂. They can get so gross with all the trapped dirt. It’s such a breeze just wiping the plastic!

Day 17 – 8th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Bedside Headboard Light

I love the hint of Art Deco and understated elegance in this simple design. It matches beautifully with the headboard and drapes, while the acrylic cover features a subtle onyx-inspired design which matches the onyx top of the bedside table.

Day 16 – 7th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Painted Pelmet

Another splash of gold, this time more yellow than the shade above the headboard. It’s pretty, but not something I would replicate at home as it’s a bit too flashy for my taste. However, I appreciate it here for the added glittery sparkle to the room, thanks to the swirly brush strokes. It livens up the room in a fun, interesting way.

At first I though it was wallpaper, but I can spot little bleeds of the paint onto the ceiling which, funnily enough, I think is nice as instead of being a defect, it shows the work was done by hand. That makes it more special.

Day 14 – 5th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Rain Shower

Oh my God, I absolutely adore the rain shower set in my bathroom here. I don’t recall bathing under one being as utterly delicious as this one in this hotel room. I try to never linger under the glorious downpour of water, but I can tell you it’s not easy!

And since I’m isolated on quarantine and obviously not going anywhere the whole day, it’s so tempting to enjoy three showers instead of two daily. But I’ve resisted so far 😔

The wide rain shower head. Beam me up straight to Heaven, Scotty

It’s the delicious gush of rain that feels like a torrential downpour which does it for me every time.

The mixer that opens the clouds to utter bliss.
The smaller upper one is the shower selector valve.

I hate to waste water! Sorry, but just a few seconds to demonstrate how gloriously wonderful the water flow is. Refreshes and wakes me up like crazy each time. The water pressure is crazy cool in this hotel.

Day 13 – 4th June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Headboard

The headboard has a mock sewn-in diamond tufting look which nicely matches the diamond pattern of the drapes.

Drapes

The material: vinyl with a linen print.

I rather like the sewn-in tufting (otherwise known as blind tufting) look of the headboard, which does not show buttons or other objects holding the indentation in place. It’s a more modern take on the luxe look, plus I’d worry buttons would get ripped or popped out by naughty, itchy fingers 🤭 children’s and adults’ alike. 😂

Day 12 – 3rd June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Graphic Design

Hardly ever given a glance, but the most important sign in a hotel room is the one detailing where the nearest exit is in the event of an emergency.

Clear with big, easy-to-read fonts, and uncluttered with just the essential info.

I don’t think most people bother to read the evacuation plan, but if they’re scrambling to do so because the fire alarm had just been set off and had jolted them into shock and panic, the information offered here can be absorbed quickly and easily thanks to its clear and straightforward display.

Digressing a bit. I like to look at layout plans, having an interest in interior design. Here I can see that Units 9 and 10 are the most spacious and look to have a separate sitting area. Nice. And some units at the end of each wing are probably the smallest but possibly with more windows which could mean better views.

Moving on to the safe, it’s great that the instructions on how to use it are succinct with such few words.

The only thing I would change is to put the ‘leave safe open when checking out‘ sign on the outside of the safe door too, to better remind the departing guests. I have read of previous hotel guests leaving safes closed and therefore locked, causing an inconvenience to the next guest and the staff.

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The bathroom, while still featuring sparse minimalist graphic design, offers a bit more variety in colour and mood courtesy of the amenities.

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  I love the design and these colours together, very Muji.

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  Unlike the shampoo which I find weak, this fragrant ginseng soap is a joy to use.

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  These rich, deep greens are a welcome respite from the elegant but sedate neutral colours all around. I feel a bit  more alive looking at them.

Same for this shock of red from this sign and cutlery holder. Also, the lightly cursive and handwriting style of the font is almost whimsical and a friendly wink in a room of mainly simple black and white signs.

Two of the utilitarian signs below:

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Day 10 – 1st June – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Bedside table

What I like most about this table is how unexpectedly well the white onyx top goes with the rest of this barn-inspired design. It certainly elevates the simple, laid back look with some elegant polish.

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The onyx is so pretty, with an almost mystical quality to it. 😍 I love it.

The base design, hmm, it looks lovely but to be honest I’m not crazy about furniture parts other than the legs touching the floor. Why? Because I want to easily do my weekly cleaning of the floor (sweep, vacuum, mop) without having to move the furniture.

And I suppose it’s drawerless for the crate look, for the barn feel or shabby chic idea or whatever, but I would give it a drawer. In wicker. Or, to match, the material already in use at the open wardrobe.

Yes that’s the one. The bottom one.

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  The table without stuff

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  Lived in. My personal pharmacy 😂

It looks bigger than its 45x45cm (approx.18″) size. In a layout drawing, that size would look squeezy and might be cause for concern, but as I’ve seen and experienced here myself, it’s really comfortably big enough.

Day 9 – 31st May – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Open Wardrobe

I like this clean, crisp design. Maybe some people might call it Scandinavian or whatever, but it brings to my mind the traditional Japanese house with its sliding doors.

Lived in

I don’t like having to look at this clutter, which is why I don’t like open wardrobes. Unless I’m staying at a budget hotel like, say, an Ibis, then it can’t be helped because the rooms are a lot smaller. But this room is spacious and I don’t believe this is a budget hotel 🤷🏽‍♂️

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The dedicated closet for iron and its board is neat, but wasted space when hung in the middle like this. They both could be moved to one side, making space for small drawers or cubbyhole storage.

Especially since there’s not a single drawer in the whole wardrobe to put underwear and other small items, which is my main negative feedback about this wardrobe.

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The safe is not deep enough to store my 17″ laptop, unless I prop it up at an angle (as shown in the last photo above), and I wouldn’t be comfortable having to leave it like that for long periods of time.

And yeah this is the laptop that went into a coma on me and which I can’t use until I’ve changed the hard drive. What perfect timing! Three weeks stuck in this room and I can’t even use my f**king laptop. Argh!! 😤😭🤬🤯🤮

The aluminium rail looks nice, but the clanging sound of the metal hook of a hanger against it annoys me. (Yes, sorry, I’m rather anal about noise) I would line the rail with velvet cloth or vinyl, for a quieter, gentler clothes hanging experience 😌🤫 *bliss*😂

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I love the colours and materials used, including the minimalist lines of the black metal frame and especially the linen-like wallpaper covering. Elegant and soothing to the eyes. Once again, it makes me think of a Japanese traditional house.

Day 8 – 30th May – Quarantine Room Design Notes – Electrical Socket with USB charging port

This is pretty neat and reminds me that I really should change some of my electrical sockets at home to those with USB charging ports like this one. That would free up the main socket for another device.

There are three in this room: one at the desk, and one on each side of the bed. The ones at the bed are also international power outlets, an added convenience factor which makes them even cooler.

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