I ADORE

You will surely love the newest Australian online Home Magazine...ADORE!  This is the perfect company for the weekend.  A wonderful magazine that is packed with fresh ideas, amazing colors, and a peek on the inspirational homes of some of the famous designers and bloggers.  Click here to view the very first issue.  Go ahead, find the perfect spot in your home and start flipping clicking the pages!  Happy weekend everyone!


I would love to hear your thoughts!

Green and Turquoise

As a newbie in blogging, there are times when ideas just keep popping on my head and countless inspirations are drafted one after the other to be shared to my readers.  But there are also times when I just stare at my computer screen, and can't seem to decide on what to blog about.   Times like this, I would turn to magazines, books and blogs to be  inspired and get in the zone of blogging.  One of my favorite is PDB (Pepper Design Blog).  Morgan of PDB has captured the interest of women like me who loves decorating, entertaining, organizing, plus bits of crafting!  She is just a year old in blogging, and yet her blogspace looks very professional!  Please visit her, I'm sure you will be a fan too!

Morgan has kindly agreed for me to share with you some of her posts.  Right now, I'm into doing my home office, and I'm loving the color green (and turquoise!).  Look at these nice images from PDB! 

  

Images above from PDB

I am not a big fan of country homes, but I would not mind staying in these beautiful cottage, themed in green and turquoise!

 

 

Photo credits here.

Go here for more images of this eco-friendly cottage make over.  Happy Wednesday!

I would love to hear your thoughts!

My Long Over Due Project

I am totally feeling the guilt of procrastinating!  If there's one project at home that has been a victim of my laziness and indecisiveness, it's the study.  When the house was being made, I purposely left the study to be bare, as I still cannot decide on how to make it my most special corner of the house.  I wanted so many things and my design theme just kept on changing by the day.  One time, i just felt it was soo bare, so I decided to put on some of the Ikea frame stickers I was supposed to put in my daughter's bedroom.  ( I know it's a bit tacky!) But I thought It should at least cover some of the the blank white wall, temporarily.  Unfortunately, the "temporary" filler I put up dragged to a permanent fixture for the past five months!  Wish me luck as I attempt (again!) to work on this overdue project!

I want wall paper. I'm liking this collection from here.  I can't decide though if I like a palette of green or blue. My chair is upholstered in light blue with swirls of brown velvet brocade so I'm leaning towards blue.  But the green is so refreshing and nice too!

Photos via Amy Butler

I've always wanted a huge inspiration board like this, but frames in gold with the cork covered in fabric.

I found this ruffle-edge cork board from here.

And I think I will have more shelves made, maybe something like this..

This photo from here.

Hmm..so I guess I found the colors that will tie everything together..blue, gold and black.  Now I'm excited!  I can't promise though that I can finish this project fast.  Hopefully I won't lose the momentum.  Have a good week ahead!

Modern and loving it!

Years, years ago, my first take on design and decorating was achieved with a country look for our first home after getting married.   Then after living in Indonesia, I became a huge fan of Asian tropical.  Who does not fall in love with teak wood and anything Balinese?  Then I started to be fond of the laid-back, all-white, feminine interiors.  And in between I fancied vintage too!  And I thought it will stay that way for sometime.  But I was wrong... just this week, it looks like modern has taken center stage!  I love the clean lines.  With modern look, various shapes and texture seem to marry together and create a striking but subtle elegance.  Now Iwonder how long i will be on this phase.  For the meantime, here are some of my finds.   Enjoy and I should be posting more photos of this kind soon!  Happy weekend!

Glass, steel, wood and concrete...so different on it's own but put together, it's seamless!

Love that pattern on the carpet!

Sharp , defined, clean lines from the walls, to the stairs, to the table!  Love it!

Exposed beams, polished concrete floors and an exceptional ceiling treatment.  PERFECTION!

Travertine, travertine and a stand alone bath...what else would you need?  And oh, did you notice the very sleek fixtures?

Photos via mulimrahman

La Femme

I kinda married early, and never got to live on my own.  When I saw these photos, I thought this is how my house would have looked like if I had the chance to live on my own before getting married.  But don't get me wrong, I have no regrets, my husband and I had our own little nests that we fixed and decorated together.  It's been five houses in the last 15 years! Five beautiful lovely homes with my loving husband! I am so blessed!

WHITE.  FEMININE. LIGHT. FRESH. INSPIRING...

Who said White is Boring??

I just discovered a  brilliant interior designer, whom I think will be my favorite for a long time!  Her name is Tine Kjeldsen, from Denmark.  Her creations are a mix of different styles,  (I won't call it eclectic.)  and not confined to a particular look.  Such talent to be able to put together lovely pieces of different texture  and yet complement each other!  It's contemporary, clean, and organic!  It's WHITE but nothing close to boring!  It would be a shame not to share this with you.  This is her HOME...Enjoy!

The two black round thingy on the wall are old baking sheets used as blackboards now. 

How creative is that? 

This is the dining room.  I love the contrast of the white table next to the bamboo chairs.  Very organic!  The chairs look like Filipino pieces, right?  I won't be surprised if they come from here.  Tine owns a store  with outlets around Europe, Japan and Philadelphia, USA.  When I was reading about her store, I started to miss KAYU (home store in Eastwood I used to co-own with 4 other friends.)!  Been thinking of putting up another home ware shop soon!  Calling Annette and Aura! 

I don't mind having this for my study!

Another play on texture and color...brown leather handles on wooden cabinets. 

Such a delight to work in this kitchen!

Can you tell this is a bathroom counter at first glance? 

What do height, texture and a bit of color bring??

Understated elegance!

White on white...I was never a fan of an all-white interior.   But this one I like!  It's modern, but not spartan-white.  It's organic, but not country-white.  The whole thing just spells

L-O-V-E-L-I-N-E-S-S !

Hope this brings inspiration to your weekend!

Beautiful photos credit here.

A Bit of Styling: Bathrooms

Today, I thought I'll let you peek at a couple of rooms in my house, and share with you some simple touch ups to spice up those little corners in your own home, that are sometimes neglected. 

The guest bathroom -- as it is, the counter looks good already because of the hard-wearing block of wood.   Clean and simple.  But I still feel it lacks the warmth I want my guests to feel when they use it.  So I added some greens to make it look and feel warmer.    And it made a difference!

I didn't even have to spend on anything.  I found those greens about to be thrown away by my neighbor who just trimmed his plants.  At night time, candles are necessary to complete the warm,cozy feel of the powder room!

Next is our master's bathroom. We have a his and her sink, so there's really space to fill up on the counter.  If my husband will have his way, this is the perfect counter for him.  Clean, uncluttered, with just a potted plant at the corner.  But for me, it lacks personality.  It can be any one's bathroom.  So, scroll down and see how our counter really looks like.

A bamboo tray in the middle holds the aroma sticks, a bowl of hand towels and a starfish tealight holder made out of bone.  Now that feels homey!

 

This tray is pretty and functional at the same time.  It's something that I change from time to time, depending on my mood.  It can be a group of candles, rolled towels, my Chinese hanger of accessories, or maybe a jar of collected shells.  I'm sure you also have your own stash of little bits and pieces you can use to spice up your bathroom.  You only need a bit of imagination to make a personal space look appealing and inviting.  I hope I was able to inspire you to do a bit of your own styling.   Have fun!  :-)

Doors, doors, and more doors!

DOORS, doors, dOoRs...

some are big, some are small

some are red, some are green

come take a look at what kind of doors

i have made

 

'tis the door

that lets you in

welcome to the tour

i begin...

we leave our shoes

that's what we're used to

they go inside here

in their own special place...

  

i dare not leave this door behind

it's been with us since Jakarta time

come in if you need

to take a leak

friends and family

are all welcome

this door will lead you

to your room

the favorite handle

goes to the favorite person

of the family

take a peek at yaya bel's room!

these are the doors

that keep precious trinkets, secrets and treasure

of one of our angels...

can you guess who?

books, trains, planes and cars

that's what you'll see

when you go through this door

need i say more?

the biggest and grandest of all

that's what Bianca would call

to ferdie and me, it's simply doors

these doors keep all the plans, the dreams

and joy our family brings

No two doors are the same in our house.  Each one has a unique wooden handle, handpicked and designed by me!  We are blessed to have found all these beautiful wood, they don't come by easily these days, you know. 

hope you enjoyed looking at our doors

come over and knock anytime soon!

irene

My School Bag

In my third post, I said I missed Singapore.  There's another thing I miss about Singapore...the time I spent in school.  Two years ago, I went to a design school to pursue my love for interior design.  Unfortunately, we had to move back to Manila, and I was not able to complete the two year course.  Now that we're all settled, the house is finished,  I'm thinking if I should finish the course here in Manila.

My black, big and heavy schoolbag which contains all my sketch pads, rulers, pens, etc.  And the small "manicurista" kit that houses my paint and brushes.

The first residential plan i made, the stick figure at the right was my inspiration-model.  That's why the lay out of the house has very sharp, unpredictable and irregular shapes.   

More rulers!

I love these water-based paint!  So easy to use for amateurs like me!  The drawing where the bottle sits on was my first colored 3D drawing!  Now I'm not sure if I can still draw and paint like that! 

Yesterday, I was just looking at my wonderful supplies.  It was nice to look back and remember all the fond memories it brings.  More than the school, the paint, sketches and plans, I miss my classmates.  It was such a small, dynamic and multi-cultural class.  Three of the eight (including myself) didnt' get to finish for personal reasons while the five, I recently heard graduated last June!  Congratulations!  Hope you get to read this!

In one of our class party..
(L-R  Brendon, our very young teacher, James, Adrianne, ME, Anne Marie, Maude, May, Ashraf and Ahmed)

My two girlfriends, Maude and Anne Marie.
We were fondly regarded as the "aunties"  (how Singaporeans call the older ladies) of the group!  Hahaha!!