Mariko hosts her doghouse tour

This weekend, my favourite furniture shop delivered my latest piece of indulgence. So I thought it was time to open my indoor lawns (carpets) again. Everyone at home is now toilet-train...so, it is fairly safe. Mariko roused from her nap with the commotion from movers and the carpet-laying...so, she decided to play hostess to her home.

Over to Riko....

This is my living room. The coffee table inherited from Grandma while the fern is just a prop for the photoshoot. It goes right back to the patio because Momma says we shouldn't kill anymore plants prematurely. Momma wanted to keep the original louvered folding doors and retro grills from this 1970 house. So, she had them all restored...which is a good thing for her but, it makes it impossible for me to escape outside.

Momma loves that everything is in order in this room... so, it's usually for guests. But, Ruki and I think it's ok to be here when we play toy-tugging. We usually end up jumping on the couch simultaneously ...which makes it skid a few inches just for fun. The Turkish patchwork rug is back as Ruki's primary indoor lawn.

Momma opened these rooms up to let in more light to the middle rooms. But, we know that she knocked the walls for us to run from room-to-room when we play indoor chase. Originally, the room on the left was the kitchen. The right was a bedroom. She didn't want to go totally "open concept", so the huge sliding doors can be drawn for privacy, if needed. This creates a problem for us when we want to chase each other in circles.

This is the couch where I sometimes sleep on while waiting for momma to finish her work. I'm lucky to sit on this cicim, a Turkish hand-embroidered rug because momma will only roll it out for special occasions...otherwise, Ruki will make this his secondary lawn.

Momma's study used to be here. It's now our napping cum reading room ..as you can see by the shelves of books. The little pencil-leg side table is one of Momma's favourite pieces.

Momma always wanted a smaller dining room. So, she decided to set one up after finding a charming high sideboard recently. This room doubles up as her study. Her desk usually covered by piles of books and papers...so, she decided to un-clutter and store some items under her canteen bench. She has to be careful what she stores down there because Ruki just snitched her writing pad and ripped it to pieces in the garden yesterday!

This is our favourite morning room. It's where we have breakfast and guests congregate while meals are prepared.

This sideboard stores Momma's rose pyrex, her hand-painted ceramics and Chinese cigarette girl posters from Shanghai. She gets a bit nostalgic over her small collection...but, we think that she's living her second childhood because there are more yet to be unpacked for a storage box. Recently, she unpacked some art pieces collected from her travels, to hang them near the living area. It's still a work-in-progress because momma still travelling and collecting.

She also hopes to perfect her Childcraft set one day...even though she knows we can't read. She looking for her favourite volumes 1, 2 and 11 for a start.

Now, Momma's taken to growing her cactus indoors! I wonder how long they will survive on the shelf. Hopefully, she'll remember to water them since they are right in front of the study table where she sits everyday.

The patio has the best short-cut for me to get to the backyard in a flash. This is the place where Grandma and Grandpa sit over coffee and dessert after dinner. The cushions hide a big hole I made a few months earlier. I do check the hole by pulling out some stuffing from time to time to make sure it's still there.

You asked me where I learn this mischief from? Ask my brother Haruki, who is seen running away from all the questioning. Our once intact chair looked like this when my brother wrecked the patio last year. But, that was before I was born.