Nurul Aini Doesn’t Allow Anyone To Use Her Bathroom In Her House — Especially Not Her Husband
One of the perks of an upgrade from a 5-room flat — his and hers toilets.
“I am a clean freak,” Nurul Aini tells 8days.sg. “I get very annoyed when the house is in a mess or when things are not placed properly, so every morning, my helper makes sure all the cushions are neatly arranged, and before I go to bed, I check that the house is spick and span.”
We speak to the actress, 39, who recently gave #JustSwipeLah a tour of her three-storey terrace house in the east. And it’s pretty clear that the Lion Mums star keeps her Scandinavian-style abode, where her family-of-five has been living for almost four years, quite minimalist and uncluttered. She also refuses to share her private bathroom with other people (more on that later).
Pass the patio and front sliding doors and you see the roomy living space where the family spends most of their time, and further in, the dry and wet kitchens.
The bright and airy space is all about muted tones and clean finishes. The white and light wood scheme lends a sense of warmth, while the marble tables and counters give the home a luxe feel.
You won’t find a lot of bulky furniture in the house. Nurul likes her home spacious so her three kids, son Shan Ehan, 11, and daughters Shaista Eman, nine, and Shania Eva, two, have plenty of room to run around.
But it almost didn’t turn out this way.
Nurul, who was previously living in a five-room flat, was so excited about moving into the sprawling property that she wanted a different theme for each of the six bedrooms and four bathrooms.
“My interior designer was like ‘No, you don’t want that ‘cos you will have a headache. It should be cohesive, and you have to stick to one theme, and it should follow through for all the rooms.’ I am so glad that I listened to my ID, or I’d have to renovate my house again,” she confesses.
While it may sound a little extreme, we wouldn’t put it past Nurul. After all, she almost gave her ID a nervous breakdown when she wanted her feature wall, where her TV is mounted, changed at the last minute.
“When we were renovating the house, I told my ID that I wanted this marble effect kind of feature wall. It's white with some grey motifs and I was the one who chose it. It was already fixed, then two days before we moved in, I told my ID to change it into something plain,” says Nurul.
“It’s actually quite plain but if you looked closely, you'd be able to see the grey motifs and it was an eyesore. I think I’d get a heart attack if I had to look at it every single day,” she explains.
She’s now very pleased with her plain wall
The second floor holds three bedrooms and a home office
On the second storey are their bedrooms. As Nurul didn’t want to be separated from her kids, she insisted on getting a house with three bedrooms on one floor.
“My friend, who stays in landed property, told me he rarely sees his children as his room is on the third floor while his kids’ are on the second. I didn’t want that to happen, so I told my husband we all need to be on the same floor. I am so happy that all the rooms are a good size,” she shares. So spacious is the house that they could carve out a home office for her property agent husband Sofian Roslan.
The master bedroom
The white and wood theme carries on to the master bedroom. Nurul got the idea of the platform and recessed headboard for her bed on Pinterest and had it custom-made.
She also got herringbone flooring on the second and third stories despite warnings that it would be difficult to maintain.
“Gaps developed a few months after we moved in,” she laments. “I was so annoyed ‘cos I could see the original flooring underneath. And it’s still happening, so it's just something that I have to live with. The flooring is beautiful but if you’re thinking of getting it, just be prepared that this could happen,” she says.
Nurul’s daughter, Shaista Eman’s bedroom
Her son Shah Ehan’s room
The area where the bed sits was originally hollow. The previous owner added a floor and platform so the small bedroom could be extended.
Nurul’s “getaway level”
The third floor, which houses Nurul’s work room, walk-in wardrobe and private bathroom, is where she spends most of her time.
She calls it her “getaway level” ‘cos it’s where she goes to get away from her kids.
“When I tell them mummy has got work to do, I will come [to her work room], close the door, turn on the aircon and watch dramas,” she laughs.
This used to be her daughter’s nursery
The room used to be a nursery for Nurul’s younger daughter, who was only a month old when they moved in. The child never used the room, so Nurul had it converted into her work room. She added a custom-made desk and wallpaper so it doubles up as a studio for her shoots.
“It was a very pretty nursery, but my baby has never slept in it simply because it’s on the third floor. If she cries, I'm not going to have to climb all the way to get her,” Nurul says matter-of-factly.
The couple’s enviable walk-in wardrobe
Adjacent to the room is the couple’s massive walk-in wardrobe. Not only is it something Nurul had always wanted, converting the space into a walk-in wardrobe would ensure that all in the rooms in the house are utilised.
“We considered keeping it as a guest room but I believe you shouldn’t leave any rooms empty ‘cos there will be spirits living there. Seriously! So, I insisted we do something [with the room],” says Nurul.
Which is just as well as Nurul admits that she and her husband have way too many clothes. Her clothes take up 80 per cent of the wardrobe and is hidden behind closed doors, while her husband uses the open closet.
“I have so many clothes and my side is always messy. And because I am such a clean freak, I don’t want to see mess, so I close the door. You will get a shock of your life when you open it, there will be an eruption of clothes,” she laughs.
Nurul’s bathroom is out of bounds
The ensuite bathroom, however, is a different story.
The space, which Nurul claims is “always the cleanest and smells the nicest in the house”, is her private bathroom. It’s the only toilet she uses in the house and she refuses to share it with others — especially her husband.
“It's mine! I don’t share my bathroom with my husband ‘cos boys are disgusting. He has his own toilet, which is in the master bathroom, and it’s always wet,” she exclaims.
“Whenever he wants to use my toilet. I'll be like, ‘NO!’ But if he still uses it, then I will immediately spray or clean it when he’s done.”
Perhaps she should get some tips from Carina Lau on how to get her husband to abide by her house rules.
“I used to go crazy when I had to share the toilet with him when we were living in our flat. I would constantly nag at him and had to clean it after he used it. He was somehow cleaner in that toilet. I think now that he has his own personal toilet, he doesn’t [care anymore]," she says rolling her eyes.
She adds: “My children share a toilet, and I will scream at them if it’s dirty, so they are very careful. But not my husband ‘cos [he has been like this] since he was young. I don’t even clear his work desk ‘cos every time I do it, it will be messy again after 10 minutes. I can’t be bothered anymore.”
Watch #JustSwipeLah for a tour of Nurul's home.
Photos: 8days.sg, Nurul Aini
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