Not your typical home

Besides a passion for good food, blogger professes to being an antique lover.

Sun, Sep 25, 2011
The Star/Asia News Network

By Daniel Sim

Lim Eiling, better known as 3iLing in the blogging sphere, enjoys the finer things in life.

Antique-filled home Click on thumbnail to view

As a regional merchandiser for Mars food, it is hardly surprising that the 27-year-old lass enjoys trying out different types of wines and chocolate. She admits that she makes it a hobby to tell the difference between authentic dark chocolate and the commercial one.

"My friends and I usually explore our taste bud by doing blind tasting - we do this is to know whether we really like the wine for its taste and not because of its label," she shares with this writer.

Besides a passion for good food, Eiling professes to being an antique lover. Her house is decorated with antique furniture made from bronze,Chengal and Teak wood. The most expensive piece of antique in her house is a large cupboard made from teak wood (said to be the strongest wood in the world), which cost her RM7,000 (S$2,867).

Recently StarProperty.my visited her 1,800 sq ft double story terrace house in Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam.

A touch of royalty

Stepping through the strong wooden door, one will be enchanted by the cosy ambience in the living area. Here various kinds of antiques such as the ancient Chinese flower pots and bronze Buddha statues are placed snugly in visible corners of the room.

"My parents bought a set of wooden chairs from an antique collector in Ipoh, who claimed that it belongs to one of the Perak royal family," says Eiling. adding that the set came with a rectangular marble table. Islamic motif can be found on each side of the chairs. The chairs are woven with bamboo which makes it very cooling to sit on even during a hot day.

Her favorite piece of furniture in the living room is the Opium bed that was crafted in China. The craftsmanship is remarkable given that even without any screw or bolt, it remains firm and durable. According to Eiling, the Opium bed is also her most memorable piece of furniture since moving to this house a decade ago. She also says that this unique furniture reminds her of her hometown, Ipoh.

Ring back to the 1950's

Making a phone call from Eiling's house is somewhat a little unusual as they still use an antique phone made way back in the 1950's. Although modern cordless phones are available now, she and her mum wanted a phone that fits the overall concept of the house.

They finally manage to get one that is in working condition after her mum painstakingly requested for it from a leading telecommunication company in the country.

Unique and priceless

Eiling lead us to an antique furniture, which has been uniquely engraved with traditional Chinese characters. It is a Chinese medicine cupboard that has an air of the retro Chinese drama of the olden days. According to Eiling, the name of each herb has been engraved in every box of the cupboard.

A look at the letters shows that it is indeed a priceless work of art, as none of the letters carved has the same texture and structure, and each has been painstakingly hand engraved and painted in gold color.

She decided to display her personal collection of wines and whisky on top of this medicinal cupboard.

Meanwhile, little miniature tortoises are found around the house. They come in different shapes, sizes, colors and even materials such as wood, stone and marble.

According to Eiling, there is a collection of over 100 tortoises around the house. Her father is an avid tortoise collector and would usually ask close friends who are travelling to buy back tortoise for him as a souvenir.

Like the Chinese folklore of the race between the rabbit and the tortoise, her father believes in the motto "Slow and steady, wins the race!"

Property investment

Investing in something that is tangible, where the value will appreciate over a period of time, is what Eiling has in mind. She purchased a RM420,000 double storey house last December, which is just a door away from where she currently stays.

Although it is not a new property, she says the marble flooring in the house was what attracted her and prompted her decision to purchase it. Currently she is renting out the house and plans to move in when the right time comes.

"We used to stay in Ipoh while my dad worked as a civil engineer with Gamuda in Petaling Jaya.

At that time, the company was building a housing project in Kota Kemuning and he decided to own a house here so that we can spend more time together as a family. On top of that he was able to purchase this place at a discounted staff rate," says the eldest of three siblings. There are three rooms on the second floor, and one room on the ground floor. The room on the ground floor has been converted into a study area, from which she does her blogging.

Other interests

Eiling, who studied business in INTI College, started blogging about her experience on fine dining and wine when she met a group of friends, who also love eating and drinking. She did not expect that anyone would care to read about them and was surprised to find that the readers requested for her to recommend places for good wine.

Besides food and drinks, this lass is also talented in playing traditional Chinese musical instrument called Gu Zheng, which is a piece of Chinese plucked zither. Her proudest moment was when she scored grade 8 at the tender age of 12 and has since been performing around the country for a while now.

She stops performing recently as it clashes with her working schedule, which requires her to travel frequently around the Southeast Asia region.

"I am a person who loves to have my own space, therefore I would like to invest more in landed properties in the future," she shares. Eiling also does not discount signing up for an apartment if it is near to her work place.