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Laundry isn't much of a chore these days, because being able to run your own laundry room for your home without stressing out over if the clothes you've left hanging are blocking anyone's is a major relief (for the record, I sometimes leave mine hanging for over a week - sorry I'm busy with life ok)! Keeping the space neat and tidy has also been a huge priority of mine to help ease the mundanity of washing your clothes; and choosing the formulas you put into your laundry plays a huge part in that too.


I've just upgraded from my laundry softener to a new set sent over by Laundrin which comes in 4 different scents - this one is No. 7 which reminds me of the ocean. All Laundrin softeners are suitable for indoor drying, which basically is how I do our laundry all the time so that it doesn't get musty (fear of laundry falling is real, guys)! One thing I learnt is to never use softeners with your exercise clothes (like my precious lulus) as it removes their sweat wicking ability. Other than that, use them away for awesome smelling laundry! Laundrin's formula has added dust-repelling benefits that not only enhance comfort during wear, but also keep the clothes fresh and scented even after month's of storage.


The Classic Floral is my personal favourite scent because of how light it is. I've always taken the use of softeners as part of my laundry routine but it's interesting to note that the Laundrin softeners help to protect delicate fabrics so that your expensive clothes like my silks and chiffons to retain their shape, which in turn, prolongs their lifespan if one doesn't always have time to hand wash them. They also contain 100% plant-derived softening ingredients, protect your hands, and are gentle on sensitive skin if you do ever choose to use it to hand wash your delicates (which you can use the softeners to do too!)


I finally found the time to clean up my service yard and get all the cleaning tools in order. It truly was a mess, but having a clean and open space really makes all the difference! While we received an iron for our house warming, we kind of don't have an ironing board yet (oops). Apparently, laundry softeners make ironing clothes much easier. Laundrin has an anti-wrinkle formula that reduces the need to iron - so I guess our helper will thank us in the future!


These are the last two scents from Laundrin - Classic Fiore and Romantic Flower. It's akin to wearing perfume for our clothes and the scent is strongest when you first open up the washing machine, so it does make hanging your clothes a little more fun.

Doing the laundry is definitely much more bearable having your own home, but it's great to have a little extra oomph to elevate your fabric care game. For now, I can't wait to keep adding more useful storage to our service yard to keep it even more organised than it is now!

We've been living in the house for more than 5 months but we finally found time to have our very first lunch party - and a make-your-own-chirashi-don at that! When it comes to throwing parties at home, we try to go for pre-prepared food (like the grazing table for our house warming) that doesn't require much cooking since there's only 2 of us getting ready, and it was super manageable!


As always, Justin was in charge of food and I was in charge of decor. While it seems kind of scary to let your friends eat over your white linens, domestic life and the power of stain remover has convinced me that no stain is too stubborn if you clean wash the cloth straight away, ha!


 
The early birds helped with the prep! Always thankful for the extra hands. Throwing parties is LABOUR INTENSIEVE.

I'm pretty amazed that we're here at all, renovation ready and finally getting the finishing touches to make our home liveable - i.e. our mattress from European Bedding!


Full disclosure: We were gifted their Heveya Mattress, but Justin and I are crazy about it! Buying a mattress for our first home is a very personal choice, so we still did a bunch of research on different types of mattresses and materials because we didn't know the first thing about them. I'm going to share with you guys more about what I found out and hopefully help you guys understand about the mattress industry more to help with your decision making (and I'll try not to be too biased, but we really love our mattress, did I say that already?)


What comes to mind when mattress shopping is usually showrooms blindingly lit with fluorescent lights and rows of mattress after mattress for you to lie on and attempt to tell the difference after an awkward 5 minutes of a salesman staring at you.

On top of that, the mattress industry is notoriously opaque, and it is generally known that no mattress model in one showroom is ever the same as another showroom. This is to intentionally confuse consumers from price matching and keep the margins high, which sucks for us!

It's so nice seeing European Bedding shake the industry a little and change my perception of what mattress shopping could be. Their showroom in Tiong Bahru is all kinds of interior goals and we were directed to just one simple option to try: The Heveya.


One unique selling point about the Heveya is that unlike most mattresses which are made of a mixture of springs, foam, memory foam etc, it is completely made of Latex - and not just any latex but 100% natural organic latex made from sustainably managed rubber trees in Sri Lanka!

Even if you don't consider yourself to be a greenie and just want to get something that is good value, 100% latex mattresses are considered the most durable of all mattress materials on top of being breathable, naturally dust mite and mould resistant, AND it conforms to your body shape, which is something that foam and spring mattresses do not do as well (a lot of mattresses are a mix of all materials though, but I'll talk about that more in a bit!)

I had to search hard to find bad things about latex mattresses because I really wanted figure out why more companies don't make them since the benefits are so outstanding, right??


So, the material of a Queen sized latex mattress requires the sap of 12 acres of rubber trees and 8 rubber tappers to tap the sap for one whole day, which is a lot of trees and not a small number of people for one mattress.

Simply put: Manufacturers rarely make 100% Latex Mattresss because it is just too expensive for them to mass produce and also get their margins. Hence, more cost-effective filler materials like spring and foam are often used, which is totally fine if you are on a budget and need an affordable option. Do beware that a lot companies try to ride on the wonderful benefits of latex by adding a thin 1-2 inch latex mattress topper above to sell it as "natural", so do check the composition of your mattress before purchasing!

I know it seems like Justin and I love finding cheap deals, but in actuality, we love finding value deals (i.e. we don't mind paying for things that are worth more than what we can get our there in the market). European Bedding's Heveya starts at $3.5K for a Queen and $4.5K for a King, which is not any more expensive than other "branded" mattresses, but the difference is that you know exactly what materials you are getting... and you are getting 100% all the good, quality stuff.


Of course, everything has its pros and cons and it wouldn't be fair not to share about it! The downsides to Latex are that a) it is considered heavy b) it is comparatively expensive c) there is some motion transfer.

I would say the weight of the mattress is compensated by the fact that it is actually split into several layers and zipped together in their all natural bamboo mattress cover, so the weight is very manageable. Moreover it can be rolled up when moving, and honestly, how often do you move your bed :'D

Price is relative, but I think I covered why it is a value buy earlier, and since you'll be keeping your mattress for 5-10 years it definitely is worth much consideration!

Motion transfer wise - yes, it is quite bouncy initially when you jump onto the bed, but having slept on it for a week already and being a very light sleeper, it honestly does not affect me, but I'll let you guys know again after 100 days (because European Bedding lets you have a 100 nights free trial for the mattress in which you can return it if you don't like it!)