Keep It Simple, Sweet

WHEN East meets West, keeping it simple is probably best, especially when it comes to nesting. For Kiss 92FM DJ Maddy Barber, who is married to Yorkshireman Wez Barber, this means sticking to neutrals and naturals such as wood and stone when it comes to decorating their home in Loyang Avenue. It is, however, something that Mrs Barber had to learn the hard way.

After moving into their 2,000 sq ft ground floor apartment just over a year ago, like many women, Mrs Barber started to accessorise the home. "I like a little bit of bling," she says of her tastes. So she bought a shiny green ceramic ornament the size of a basketball and shaped like a huge asparagus tip. She proudly displayed it on the sideboard in the dining room but within days, it disappeared. "My husband said he hated it and he waited for me to go out one day and he went and hid it," she reveals. She only found out recently that it was tucked into a corner in the common bathroom.

But Mrs Barber did get her own back.

After buying a gold-framed mirror with a sunburst design, she waited for a day when her husband was away on a biking trip before she got it delivered and installed in the dining room. "Of course, when my husband saw it, he said it was awful," Mrs Barber adds with a laugh. This time, however, the mirror stayed, not only because it is quite securely fixed to the wall but also by democratic process. "The kids like it," Mrs Barber adds with a laugh of her two daughters' veto.

Still, with such disparate tastes - "He likes simple, comfortable, country . . . but of course not granny country!" quips Mrs Barber - it just seemed safer to stick to neutral colours and natural materials whenever the Barbers go shopping for furniture. "Everything we buy gravitates towards wood. It's something we won't fight over," she adds with a grin. This includes the standing lamps made from recycled wood to the eight-seater dining table the couple found second hand on Craigslist. Even the aromatherapy machine puffing out a floral scent is faux wood.

With all the timber accents and a feature wall in the living room made of rough-hewn stone (which suggests a fireplace), the home is simple and comfortable, without any hint of country or bling. But because the apartment is on the ground floor, the full view of the condominium grounds with its lush greenery does give this home a distinct resort feel.

Over 30 years old, the red-brick, low-rise condominium called Loyang Valley has a bit of history with Mrs Barber. "I remember going past this condo as a child on the way to Changi Village and thinking that I liked it because I always thought it looked like holiday chalets," she recalls. This image of a perfect home was stuck in her subconscious because when the Barbers decided they wanted an upgrade from their three-bedroom executive condominium, nothing seemed to satisfy them until they saw Loyang Valley. "We looked at many modern condos but when we looked at the space, we realised that we would have to throw away a lot of things and that did not feel like an upgrade. This place is twice the size of the other apartments we saw. It was a breath of fresh air . . . funny that an older apartment was a breath of fresh air," she adds.

The apartment may have been old but the previous owners had taken very good care of it. "They were a German couple without children so everything was like new," says Mrs Barber. The only additions made when the Barbers moved in were the stone feature wall and the timber patio and fence (to keep their French bulldog in). In fact, they have generally not spent a lot of money on their home. "Over the years, we have probably spent about S$30,000 on furniture. I am ok with vintage and second hand stuff," adds Mrs Barber.

Of the few exceptions that are bought new are the paintings done by Mrs Barber's mother. "She used to be an art teacher in a secondary school," she says. The three paintings that now hang in the living room are from an exhibition that her mother was a part of. "One was a gift and we bought the other two," she adds. She also believes that her mother's creative gene runs through her family because her daughters paint too and their artworks hang in their rooms.

As for herself, the last time Mrs Barber tried painting, her husband threw it out and she has yet to pick up a paintbrush since. But an earlier painting she did with her flatmate when she was living in Bangkok before she married in 2005 has survived and is now hanging in the dining room. Mrs Barber explains that this collaborative effort came about when the flatmates were looking for something to screen off one of the bedrooms. The painting, which was sponged in red paint to create a texture and then splattered with gold paint to represent "good fortune", adds a splash of colour to this home. The two colours do not mix but achieve a sort of happy equilibrium instead, which is as much as anyone can hope for.