I was able to drop by what is now one of my favorite organic farms to date. We were given a tour before (during my first trip there) around the entire perimeter and the ins and outs of the farm (as well as it’s operations) were explained to us. I loved the meals (sort of like a buffet) that I was able to try out there immensely because all of them were delicious, had no preservatives (even the dessert!) and everything was quite fresh and organic (all picked from the farm itself). I also love going over the different produce that they were growing there, as well as the herbs which the owner handpicked himself and asked us to taste right off the bat. Don’t worry, it was quite safe to do so actually because they don’t use chemical fertilizers and sprays, which means that we can simply pick some arugula or even some mint, wipe them off a bit (even the side of your shirt will do for the wiping, just make sure it’s clean! Haha.) and stuff them in our mouths. The taste and the flavors of produce are simply amazing when they are grown the right way and are quite fresh. Big difference there. Gazillion pictures below.

Georgia loves her naps (I love mine too! Haha.) and she usually has them in the afternoon. When I am out of the house the whole day, I am told that she doesn’t really do a lot of her naps and she ends up going up to our room. She “knocks” on our door to check if I’m just inside. She’s beyond cute! ♥

But when I am home, I make sure she can enjoy her naps. She cuddles right next to me and immediately goes to bed. She has in fact (for the most part) gotten used to still napping while I’m working on stuff (her favorite thing to do is come up to me while I’m in the midst of sketching something and she has the  tendency to lay down on top of my work. Haha.). She isn’t too keen about me facing my drafting table for a very long time though.

Also, she looks totally adorable when she is asleep. Sometimes she barks in her sleep or she wiggles her tail  – I sometimes would think that she is dreaming about her treats when she does the latter. The end. Haha.

P.S. When I am having a tough day, it helps to look at cute pictures – this is how I ended up writing this post (and talking about Georgia’s naps) in the first place. Such a weirdo, Pau.  But yeah, you can never go wrong with too much cuteness. Haha. Love you Georgia!

P.P.S. She had a shorter haircut than usual but it’s her “summer cut”. Quite perfect for the hot weather.

Rainy Tuesday. Another food log – I’m thinking about doing this, the logs (I mean I love food documentation plus the actual meal itself. Haha.)

Just a couple of quick iphone shots of some of the stuff I had today. I felt quite faint after (haha) but company was beyond awesome.

 
 
P.S. I’m excited for my stools (!), flooring option experiment and I’m listening to awesome music
 
 
 

Jihyun Ryou’s project focuses on the present situation of food and how to preserve it. As quoted from her (and what I found particularly interesting), “I’ve learned that we hand over the responsibility of taking care of food to technology, the refrigerator. We don’t observe the food anymore and we don’t understand how to treat it”.

Basically, the cool thing about this is that the concept is actually very simple and quite basic. It is something we have easily overlooked in this modernized world full of technology. This is also my belated “Green” tribute to St. Paddy’s day. A very good example of Green Design, that addresses an aspect of the overuse of energy and food wastage. Enjoy!

Verticality of Root Vegetables

Keeping roots in a vertical position allows the organism to save energy and remain fresh for a longer time. This shelf gives a place for them to stand easily, using sand. At the same time, sand helps to keep the proper humidity.

Symbiosis of Potato+Apple

Apples emit a lot of ethylene gas. It has the effect of speeding up the ripening process of fruits and vegetables kept together with apples. When combined with potatoes, apples prevent them from sprouting.

Breathing of Eggs

An egg has millions of holes in its shell. It absorbs the odour and substance around itself very easily. This creates a bad taste if it’s kept in the fridge with other food ingredients. This shelf provides a place for eggs outside of the fridge. Also the freshness of eggs can be tested in the water. The fresher they are, the further they will sink.

Dryness of Spices

Rice absorbs humidity easily. The spice container with rice inside helps spices stay dry without forming into lumps.

Humidity of Fruit Vegetables

We tend to think zucchini, aubergine, cucumber, etc. as vegetables. But they are biologically fruits. This shelf gives them a space to be outside the fridge. Also through the ritual to water them everyday, they will stay fresh.

P.S. Really cool ideas that we can try to apply in our own kitchens and in how we store some of our goods. Doing our part in minimizing the use of energy will be a good thing to do for our environment. Cheers!

P.P.S. In addition, you can check out a video about it below. Functional and absolutely brilliant design!

Another thing that I dearly love – old houses/heritage/ancestral houses. I did part of my design thesis  on one, how to conserve the existing structure itself and how to renovate a more recent addition structure to make it part of the existing.  It was actually more complicated than that of course, with the space undergoing various transitions over the years. But I loved every minute of it actually, even crawling under old and dusty framing to take measurements. Haha.

So it certainly was a treat for me to be able to visit another awesome ancestral house, the Balay Negrense. At present, it is now a museum of sorts that represents the lifestyle of Negrense Sugar Baron during the late 19th century. Ancestral houses here in the Philippines are classified according to certain periods and foreign influences (ex. American Colonial Era, Japanese Era, etc.).

Though I can go on and on with this the whole day (I really find it interesting!), I’ll leave you with a brief account of it Architecture-wise and then class dismissed for now. Haha. So, here we go.

This house is an example of a bahay na bato (which literally means “House of Stone”, I can explain further on the history of the bahay na bato another time if anyone is curious about it). It’s lower storey which is typically the stone part of the bahay na bato is actually made of concrete. As typical of old houses, it’s floors and foundation posts are made of a sturdy local hardwood. It has a good high ceiling for the second storey and wide open windows.

Pictures below. Class dismissed.

 
 
 
P.S. A couple of moi pictures too. I had a lot of fun, had to control looking giddy being in the house. Haha.
 

 
 
 

I love pancakes a great deal and I could eat a couple any time of the day (it’s not limited to just breakfast food for me). I even went through a phase wherein I would make them every single day. Haha.

Even though I think I am already done with that phase at present,  I still get the occasional cravings and when I do, I like to be creative with my pancakes. The pancakes above are quite delicious and healthier (in a sense). I make them  when I am craving for some pancakes and a bit of apple pie – these babies address both concerns. What an invention! I’m a genius! Haha.

No eggs in my pancakes and I add a bit of oatmeal and flax too. I made some apple cinnamon (which I really really love. By the way, you can bake it for awhile in the oven as well), they do have cinnamon sticks that you can use and I don’t use sugar either. If you must, do use an organic substitute.

Perfect for the weekends, complements the much needed R&R and I find them comforting. Have a good weekend everyone!

I was quite worn out for the last couple of days, with all the design stuff  (plus a couple of appointments) that needed to be done, attended to and crossed out in my to-do list. An example from yesterday’s to-do list was giving out specifications for stools and a table I had someone customize for me among other things. I had a lot of fun though! (and a bit of a headache. Haha.) 

Anyhow, here are a couple of hasty shots from the Green Design Talk I mentioned a few days ago. It was quite an awesome talk by  Archt. Joy Onozawa (an awesome lady and a Certified Green Building Designer), packed with so much useful information about our environment, the situation of our planet at present, how we can incorporate Green Design in architecture and interior design.

For those who aren’t familiar with Green Design, its basically environmentally conscious design. When applied in interior design, It’s about us designing responsibly by thinking of the environment as well, of us helping our clients use spaces that respect the environment. It was certainly quite interesting to learn things like how we can use our country’s humidity to our advantage when we are designing or how by simple reconfigurations in our  design we can already make interiors a lot cooler without using too much energy (i.e. air conditioners or electric fans).

We were also given a tour of Greenovate Corporation’s Green Model Unit, an earth-friendly home which incorporates an environment-friendly design concept and built using affordable pre-fabricated materials which acknowledge the concept of minimizing the negative impact on our environment (ex. It allows its occupants to save on water and electricity). Yup, I enjoyed listening to the talk beside a nifty solar-powered air conditioning system.

I can go on and on about this (I think I’ll do a separate post all together about Green Design) because its beyond awesome but I think I’ll stop up to here for now. A couple of pictures below.

 
Definitely one of my favorite places here in the Philippines. It’s simply beautiful and it definitely took my breath away. ♥

To quote Luci Lizares-Yunque, “Like a lady wooed by her man, the Ruins play with your emotions especially at sunset with its orange pinks and purples hues. He charms, tickles and romances you. But at sundown, the Ruins take a different persona. With blue and golden sights emanating from nooks and crannies, it is now a lady, teasing, flirting, a temptress confident of her beauty as well as her majesty.”

A couple of cool facts about it – 1. This was built in the early 1900′s by a Filipino sugar baron for his wife (their initials M and M were molded onto the mansion’s posts). Only their unmarried children were allowed to live there as well, 2. This was intentionally burned down during World War II, 3. It is of Italianate Architecture with neo-Romanesque columns, 4. The walls were incorporated with egg whites mixed with cement which gives it a certain sheen/gloss.

 
 
P.S. I definitely had a lot of fun taking pictures under the heat of the sun. I had no idea pictures (one of them below) where taken. Paparazzi, stop it. Haha. I kid
 

 
 
 

I am at loss for words at the moment. I do have a lot of photograph backlog so I’ll work those. I also have to finalize two designs for armchairs I’m working on at the moment and finalize a color scheme. I have to move my butt and start getting a couple of things made. In some ways, I have come to realize that I tend to use this journal as a receptacle for my to-do lists. I’ll have to try and stop doing that and just stick to paper like how normal people do it. Haha.

Green Design talk pictures soon! I thought I was gonna be able to post them today but I still lack a couple more. Also, I have a long Georgia to-do list as well. She isn’t due for her other annual shots for a couple more months but I do need to get her a couple more things. I’ve been doing some research on stuff that would be best for Georgia. Talk about that next week when I pick up one of the big items.

Anyhow, I’m off for a snack. Toodles!

P.S. I guess the words start coming back when I get started ticking off things from the top of my head. Silly Pau. Haha.

I am definitely liking these pictures (below) a great deal – I have always loved this concept. It’s super fun!

This is Ikea’s baking book which contains classic Swedish recipes (from small biscuits to large cakes). As stated, the idea of this book became to tone down the actual baked goods and put the ingredients as the main focus (they presented the recipes in a totally new fashion). It starts out with graphic still-life portraits of the ingredients and then culminates to the picture of each finished product. Such fun art! ♥

P.S. I was able to attend the talk scheduled for today about Green Building Design. We were also given a tour of the model unit that was built based on this concept. I’ll post a couple of pictures before the week ends hopefully and talk about it some more. It was a lot of fun!

I had a really good and productive day today. Finally decided on the outdoor furniture that I needed for a project, got those today. I also got a couple of really cool pieces. Picking up one of my favorite chairs later on in the week. It was quite hot (i.e. very very hot) today and I got a minor headache from driving around in this heat but I had a lot of fun getting things done and I’m quite excited. Yey!

By the way, beautiful drawings above by Yellena James. I really, really love them. I have always had this affinity for this kind of art. Simply surreal, rich,  organic, dreamlike and in some ways, reminds me of the sea.

A really cool concept by Dutch designer, Lucas Maassen and his three sons. His Furniture Factory Collection is a fresh collaboration, Maassen employed his sons Julian, Maris and Thijme to paint the pine wood furniture in their factory.

Don’t be outraged or be alarmed about this if you are a parent because as noted in the contract between the boys and their father, they may only work three hours per week as allowed by Dutch child labor laws. I would also like to think that this helps them learn about the concept of hard work and dabble in their creativity.

I’d love to participate in something like this. Paints, brushes and leave me in the Studio – awesome! Check out a cool video about it below.

Film by: Mike Roelofs
 
 

I know, I was away for quite some time. *doesn’t make eye contact*  – Haha. I was actually nursing a tummy pain problem and when I eventually got better, it was this design journal’s turn to experience problems of its own. Anyhow, I’m very very happy to be back. (Insert megawatt smile here).

What better way to start this month than by sharing an experimental concoction I came up with? Cool beans!

During the beginning of the weekend, I was told that they got some fresh scallops for me and I can do whatever I wish with said scallops.  The thing is,  I get really excited when I experiment with cooking. It reminds me so much of designing, you can play around with different ideas and apply creativity. I also like taking advantage of fresh ingredients because the flavor they possess is simply awesome.

I definitely had a lot of fun doing this and I knew what I wanted to come up with – a savory scallop dish. Though I wanted to use some cooking wine that was especially good for seafood, I decided to just go with an alternative so that in case my mom will eat it, it’ll  be completely safe and non-alcoholic.  Also, I won’t do a step by step thing but will instead discuss how I sort of did it (i.e. a paragraph or two). On to the cooking!

 I do love ratios and stuff but with this, I made my own proportions in a sense. I decided to steam the first half of my scallops (I want to try something different with the remaining half. Perhaps do a play on oriental flavors for the next batch). Steaming is actually a good and healthy cooking option. To start things off, I seasoned the scallops with some salt, pepper and garlic beforehand. I then infused the steaming with some fresh lemon grass and a lemon for some subtle zest. Quick note, cooking time for the scallops is about 8-10 minutes when you steam them.

Do take advantage of the natural “fresh-from-the-sea” flavor of the scallops (I wanted that particular flavor to be the focal/base flavor) and keep things simple. Use the remaining scallop juice/drippings from steaming and make a thick, rich gravy of sorts. On low heat, add some evoo and mix in a couple of cloves of garlic (chopped finely), stir for at least a minute. Add in the drippings and simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken. You may add some cooking wine at this point to deglaze the sauce  but since I wanted this alcohol free (even if its just wine), there are wine alternatives that work as well (examples include white grape juice, water, etc.). Add some fresh herbs (think of herbs that would complement the taste that you are going for) and some fresh chives towards the end. Don’t forget to season with some salt and pepper. Plate your dish and acquaint with your tastebuds.

This is quite a rich and savory dish that is really good (I loved how it turned out) and would also be perfect for Lent. Have fun in your kitchen and make some art of your own!

I was able to work on a couple of things today and I’m happy about that. I’ll be sourcing for a bunch of stuff hopefully next week. Excited to finalize the floor layout and tiles as well as a bunch of other things.

On to a different matter, Georgia has been enjoying her new haircut (Yup, we went to the groomers last weekend) as of late and I did notice this. She seems to have an extra spring to her step and she has been eating a lot lately too. Yey, mummy’s happy. Haha.

Also, I don’t know why but I’m sort of feeling under the weather. I mean I’m still laughing and I’d love to eat some ice cream right about now but I’m nursing a tummy ache plus I feel sore everywhere (except the hair. Haha.). I’m turning in now and will hopefully be much better tomorrow.

Yup, random musings as of late and making to-do lists (mentally) it seems. Haha. By the way, I went over some of my files and found this picture of a fun night I once had (and I wasn’t feeling under the weather then at all). Yey for getting well motivation pictures.  Haha. This was a lot of fun and I miss these amazing ladies. That’s it for now.

P.S. I guess being sick makes me more random (and extra chatty) than usual? That’s my excuse for this post. *Cheshire cat grin*

I dropped by a drugstore today with my sister because she was in need of a couple of things and it was conveniently near where we had a prior appointment and where we grabbed some lunch. I did a quick scan of the shelves and a whole row of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo bottles caught my eye. It immediately brought me back to memories of my childhood when my mom would wash our hair with No More Tears shampoo. Nostalgia made me grab a bottle and after an amazing run a couple of hours ago, I had one of the most awesome showers of my life. It was with one of the most amazing shampoos in the world and my childhood.

It’s funny how the little things make all the difference at times.

P.S. I love vintage shampoo ads a lot! ♥

P.P.S. Yup, I know I say “amazing” and “awesome” a lot. Let’s be friends still. Haha.

I guess I’m still riding out my “love/romantic theme” for today. For this post, I’m featuring a summary of Dr. Deborah Anapol’s book entitled, “The Seven Natural Laws of Love”.  She’s amazing for writing this.

It’s actually quite insightful and I’m sharing it to everyone in the hopes that we can all learn something from it. The concept of Valentine’s Day isn’t solely about romantic love. For me (in general), it’s the celebration of love and all it’s forms and types. Cheers!

Love is its own law. Let love be your guiding principle. When in doubt, listen to your heart. Don’t allow mental concepts, beliefs, or assumptions that are not based on love to dictate your behavior.

The law of source. You are the source of love. The love inside you is abundant and eternal. You don’t need to beg, control or compromise in order to be loved.

The law of attraction. The more you focus on love and gratitude, the more you will be surrounded by love. If you complain, blame, and dwell on fear, you’ll attract others who are also resentful, angry, and fearful.

The law of unity. Love knows no borders and no boundaries. Love includes everyone and everything. Love takes no position, rising above separation. Find unity within by resolving the conflicts inside yourself and you won’t have to act them out with another.

The law of truth. Let telling the truth about who you are and what you are feeling and thinking be your foundation. Vulnerable self-disclosures allow for empathy and understanding. The more truth is shared the more love grows.

The law of consciousness. Love is a state of consciousness available only when you’re willing to relinquish your defenses. Protection is a barrier to love. Love cannot be given or taken but it can be shared. The vibration of love in you is often stimulated when you come into contact with one who carries it.

The law of forgiveness. Its okay to make mistakes. Very few humans are able to love perfectly. Forgive yourself and others generously and you’ll always have a second chance. Focus more on giving than getting and you’ll have much less forgiving to do.

P.S. I wish to do a shout-out (sort of) to my original Valentine/VALENTINEs. Happy Valentine’s Day Mum and Dad! I love you forever.

P.P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day to Georgia’s dada and to my little one as well. I love you, Georgia! ♥

(Beautiful Prints by J.M. Barclay)

Yup, still bitten by the love bug. What could be more romantic than weddings (I’m a sucker for romantic stuff)? I like going over wedding photographs (I love the set-ups especially) especially those with amazing details and a personalized touch. My most recent favorite set was styled by Gloria Wong. She’s an amazing lady and she executed a design concept with most of my favorite stuff in it (awesommeee). Everything looks so pretty! ♥

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

I got inspired by these cute Valentine’s day card ideas (I picked the ones I liked) over at Martha Stewart. They are super pretty.

By the way, it’s already Valentine’s day in a couple of hours and I just got bitten by the bug. I’ll do a couple more love posts. Just brief ones because I found lots of pretty love things. Haha.

P.S. It’s never too late to make love cards for the people you love. They’ll appreciate it plus making these babies is a lot of fun! Get creative

I was looking for cake design inspirations two weeks ago and came across these illustrations. I’m glad I did because they are super cool and I love them ♥

The illustrations are from a cool children’s book by Laura Ljungkvist about an enthusiastic parrot who visited his neighborhood and ends up making a new song.

I want a copy! Haha.

P.S. I picked the ones above in particular because I love cake and cupcakes (and other tasty bakery treats!) and I love art. Typical Pau. Haha.

I really really love this ad from Mercedes-Benz (it’s really artsy!) and no, it’s not an ad with cars in it. It’s something entirely cool and different (both in concept and design), a really good ad in my opinion. I won’t say too much, just check it for yourself below.

So, which portion of your brain is the dominant one?

P.S. If you aren’t that acquainted with this, here is a quick brief. When a person develops a dominance towards one side of their brain, they tend to have certain areas of interest and even characteristics in common. The left side (left cerebral hemisphere) of the brain is often thought of as the logical, thinking side while right brain dominant people are thought of as the artists and dreamers of the world.  I just want to make it clear though that this doesn’t necessarily mean that if one is dominant in one field, he is quite poor in the other – he simply has strengths in different areas.

Personally, I can’t entirely make up my mind if I am left or right brained. Haha. Yup, I know that I am in the design/arts industry and I tend to gravitate towards it more but I did come from a Science High School (and proud of it!) a few years back . Boggling right? A Science Scholar who pursued  Fine Arts. Haha.  I also find that I manifest things that are done in the left brain (this includes the part wherein they mentioned that Left Brained People tend to be dog lovers as opposed to Right Brained People who are cat lovers. It even made me laugh. Love you Georgia! ).  Anyhow, I’m settling on being a mixture of both but gravitating more towards the right brain.

P.P.S. Want to find out which portion is more dominant for you? Try out this cool test (it’s more of a creativity test really but it does the job), click here. It said that I am more right brained than left-brained. I guess I’m right with my initial assumption above. Haha.

I love Pia Ulin’s pictures, here are a couple of pretty ones for today. I’m definitely posting more of her photography in this journal. She’s awesome ♥

P.S. It’s painfully hot here at the moment, I mean the weather is pretty much like this all year round. I had a couple of errands and for the most part, a good day. I leave you with a picture of one of the awesomest sandwiches out there, it is in fact quite close to my heart. It may look like a bunch of leaves/foliage for the most part  but I love the dressing (it makes me smile everytime) and it is indeed delicious.  Haha.

P.P.S. I can’t believe it’s already February tomorrow! Wow.

I will try to make this brief.

Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Suy) is a traditional Chinese technique which ensures that all things are in harmony with their surroundings. It is a complex blend of fine aesthetics, sound common sense and mystical philosophy. When literally translated, it means “Wind and Water” and these are regarded as akin to certain force, called ch’i (meaning breath, current or air). They say that having Feng Shui in the home, for instance, enhances happiness and prosperity.

My take on Feng Shui is geared towards simply being open-minded. As an interior designer and a user of spaces myself, I find it as a principle to be quite interesting and rich in context. I’m not entirely sure if I would observe it in my future space (I do love wind chimes and goldfish though! Haha.) but I do acknowledge that it works for some people and I am happy for them. Just focus on how certain aspects of it can help inspire you to grow/what works for you (and your spaces too!) but do not let it control your life and way of living entirely – I mean you can’t entirely go wrong with this  since it applies to a lot of other things actually. That being said, unto the forecast!

The year of the Dragon symbolizes Feng Shui’s water element while the Chinese zodiac year of the Dragon exudes power and force. They say that the use of the following colors will attract good fortune for this year – dark blue tones, blue green tones and black. The yellow/cream color from the previous Dragon year (which was 2000) will work especially well with this year’s color palette. It will balance out the depth of the dark colors (i.e. black) with it’s own lightness and softness. Gold as an accent color will add a touch of sophistication (may it be through your wallpaper, dinnerware or stripes in fabrics).

They say that the use of this dynamic color scheme for this year will bring about an increase flow of positive energy and attract good health and success. Also, ceramics and wood are considered as good interior materials along with natural fabrics and leather textures.  Avoid metals except those in golden colors.

Check out the simple design board I made below to give you ideas. I wish us all an awesome 2012!

I had a very challenging and hard last few days but I’m just grateful for everything. I don’t want to sound so serious (that it makes readers squirm ) thus I’ll leave it to just that first sentence and will show you an awesome design concept instead.

Below is another cool structure by Herbst Architects consisting of simple but well-made construction using timber and natural materials, it blends in with the existing environment. Made out of kwila (a popular hardwood appropriate as decking since it is quite durable, stable and has  a low splintering tendency) flooring and decking, macrocarpa (timber of choice  today because it is not treated with chemicals and is of high quality) interior lining and cedar board-and-batten clad for the exterior, the main function of the space isn’t mainly focused on providing too much convenience – the homeowners wanted things simple.

All in all, it is definitely a natural holiday home to retreat to from the busy city. I want one too!

For those who were wondering how birds look like dressed in military wear, here you go. Awesome illustrations by Sato, a Japanese artist. Absolutely brilliant!

I had a hard time choosing which one is my favorite among all of them though. They are just all so brilliant and dashing and “secret agent” cool. *sigh*

Today has been a good day so far, it’s a holiday here in the Philippines to mark the Chinese New Year. I was pretty proud of myself for finishing the design concept and the perspective I was working on (finishing up) the night before – still basking in the aftermath. Yup, all those long hours and times when I was just a blank that I avoided my drafting table all together eventually came to an amazing conclusion – it turned out quite good actually. I’m a genius! Haha.

I had a late lunch and since I wanted something “meat free”, I decided to create some sort of concoction with the stuff I was able to find in the pantry and the fridge. It turned out to be really good actually. I made a mental note of said spontaneous recipe for future consumption. Behold, my button mushroom toppings! I added in some veg and some herbs and some awesome garlic (and a couple of secret ingredients. *winkwink*). So creamy in consistency and yummy!

But my culinary wondrousity did not end there. After a couple minutes, I thought of something else. (awesome!) I guess I decided to take advantage of how gastronomically inspired I was. (I’m joking with the statements above. I’m not really full of myself. Haha.) Lo and behold, amazing pancakes as an afternoon snack. I decided to try out this new pancake flour thingymajig and added in some blueberries and cranberries as well as some oatmeal and vanilla (Yup, and some secret ingredients). I paired this with some raspberry jam – I swear it was delicious! Gone in a couple of minutes. Amazingly, everyone was quite enthusiastic and cooperative with the eating. Haha. 

P.S. Look who we have here. Its the little one! Hi Georgia She decided to stretch out on top of my sketch whilst I was tinkering with it. Yup, on top of my drawing of all places. You are just the cutest Georgia Porgia ♥ I had to take a picture.

By the way, we are off to the vet tomorrow for her follow-up. She wasn’t feeling well early on the year and it was scary (Should I do a post on this?). Yup, a couple of x-rays, some stuff and we are slowly going back to normal I hope. If she appears to be a little scruffy to you (she’s certainly not alone. I feel scruffy too. Haha.), it’s because her doctor is putting bath/groom time on hold until she gets better.

I’m inviting everyone who are in Cebu for Sinulog to drop by if you can and if you want us interior designers to paint stuff (works of art really. haha.) on you. I for one am not comfortable painting stuff on people’s faces but overall I’m sure its gonna be fun. Haha. We have been doing this for a couple of years now and proceeds will go to a beneficiary we choose. Pit Senyor Everyone! I wish you all an amazing Sinulog

P.S. January was just all over the place for me so far and thus the lack of entries. But you are all in my thoughts and I wish you all an awesome weekend.

P.P.S. Curious about Sinulog? or about our face painting event? For an overview (sort of), do click here.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I’d like to consider this year as a fresh start and would love to share this with all of you as well. It’s the lyrics of another personal favorite/best-loved song (it wasn’t  a song to begin with, it started out originally as an article from an awesome lady’s column) for many years now actually (I used to listen to it in the car after school) and I would love to use it as a guide for this year and the years to come hopefully. I wish all of us an awesome 2012! Enjoy!

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’97

Wear sunscreen.

The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded.

But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are not as fat as you imagine.

Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Sing.

Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind.

The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults.

If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.

Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.

Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.

Dance – even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions., even if you don’t follow them.

Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old.

And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

P.P.S. I’d like to ask a favor from all of you. Please do pray for my mom, we continue on with our battle. She has a challenging procedure and we will be at the hospital on the third. Thank you.

First Post for 2012 (sort of). Awesome!

P.S. It’s a little treat for all of you. I hope you love it as much I do. ♥
P.P.S. I’m off to bed now. It’s already morning! Haha. Happy New Year Everyone!!! Yey!

Yup, you are done with Christmas decór.

But you can still check out my article with tips if you’d like. Yey! Haha. You can also find the rest of my Christmas Photography in the article as well. For part one and two, click here and here consecutively. Fanks!

P.S. I know I’ve been talking about this a couple of times already but please do extend a helping hand for the Victims of Typhoon Sendong. I cannot stress this enough but they need all our help. It makes me teary thinking what they are going through, to have lost all that they worked for (some their whole lives) in just a flash (plus while they were sleeping) and having to stand up and start over again. Sometimes we can’t appreciate the food we have on our tables or the numerous clothes we have in our closets while they have trouble figuring out where to get their next meal and praying hard that it won’t rain because all the clothes they have left are the ones they are wearing. There are different drop centers in the metro and I heard that LBC offers free shipping for the goods  (they need clean drinking water, blankets, clothes, etc.) you plan to donate (however, I still have to confirm this). You can also volunteer for Red Cross if you have time and the resources to spare, click here. Thank you!

Every cafe or hotel owner wants their establishment to be the eating place of choice for all the trendiest customers. They want to be known for their top notch service, serene ambience and sumptuous food, among many other things. This, in the eyes of many, may look like a tall order to fulfill because it all reeks of money. In our current recessionary times, nobody wants to spend money on things that they may still be unsure about. In the hospitality industry, it may not be about the money but about combining creativity with the little things that say a lot.

Tasteful comfortable furniture

Although this may look like an obvious choice, it is often taken for granted and overlooked. This is because; the type of cafe furniture that an eating establishment has can attract or repel customers. Despite limitations in budgeting, if a cafe owner is willing to look around they can be able to find just the right kind of furniture they are looking for and at the right price. The main idea is not to be in a great hurry in this area. The furniture must also be suitable for the space provided to ensure easy movement for both the cafe staff and their many customers.

Targeting a specific niche

When opening a cafe, it is essential to have the ideal customer in mind. This is the person who will be able to appreciate the cafe surroundings and service enough to be able to afford to keep patronizing the cafe at will. The quality and quantity of the offerings at the cafe should be affordable and economical to their ideal customers. They should also be in a geographical location that is easily accessible by many of their niche customers. In the hospitality industry, it is easier to focus on acquiring business from a specific niche customer class than targeting all customers in general.

Interior design

The layout of the cafe chairs and cafe tables is very important in determining whether a first time customer becomes a repeat customer. This is because, many cafes are rather cramped and this impedes movement and compromises on personal privacy. This problem can be forestalled by using a creative layout for the furniture keeping in mind easy access to and from the establishment, easy access to and from the sanitation facilities, and easy access for waiter movement between their many customers. Since space is a premium when it comes to cafe layout, creativity is a bonus when it comes to cafe design.

Color selection

Colors say a lot about the personal taste of the cafe owner. A beautifully designed cafe with special emphasis on color co-ordination talks about an owner who takes the time to create an unforgettable setting for his current and future customers. It also talks volumes about the quality of food that will be served at the cafe. Although the main objective of visiting a cafe is to eat and drink, it is also important to do so in settings that are comfortable and visually aesthetically appealing.

Lighting choices

Cafes ideally should operate virtually around the clock and the type of lighting provided can make them habitable or not. This becomes apparent during the night time because being a public place, the ability to see clearly becomes very important. On top of seeing the kind of food served to them, customers also like to be able to see their surroundings clearly. Lighting can also make a cafe appear cozy and comfortable or shabby and drab depending on the type of lighting devices and their positioning within the cafe.

Samantha Devlin is an interior designer working within the hospitality management industry. She advises her many clients in the hospitality industry on the most fashionable designs for cafe furniture. These include the proper settings for specific styles of cafe tables and matching the most suitable cafe chairs.

P.S. Thank you very much to Sachin of Adage Furniture for sharing this to us and to Samantha for her tips. I hope you found this article helpful (for any of your present and future design endeavours). Have an awesome week everyone!

“Lou Lou Who: I’m glad he took our presents. You can’t hurt Christmas, Mr. Mayor, beacuse it isn’t about the… the gifts or the contest or the fancy lights. That’s what Cindy’s been trying to tell everyone… and me. I don’t need anything more for Christmas than this right here: my family.”

“The Grinch: It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
Narrator : The the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
The Grinch : Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…
Narrator : He thought
The Grinch : …means a little bit more.”

Merry Christmas to you and to your families, Everyone! ♥

P.S. This may be the awesomest Christmas I ever had to date. I am very very grateful for the gift of family and loved ones!

Haha. Indulge me with my post’s title. Well, it is an awesome gift guide.

We all love to shop for presents during Christmas for our families and friends. Though this gift guide is posted just a few days into Christmas day, I highly encourage doing Christmas shopping early (slowly buying gifts throughout the year and getting them ready for December is a good idea as well) to avoid the hustle and bustle, as well as the stress and long lines at the counter and having more options available.

These are just ideas for presents you can get for the people you love. I love personal gifts and those out of the ordinary. I also love presents with an artisan feel to them, they have a lot of character in my opinion.

Details:

1. Handmade Fleur de Sel Caramels (1/2 lbs. in a Mason Jar)

- I’ve been eyeing these for some time now and unfortunately they are sold out already (*sniff*). They would make an awesome gift, melt in your mouth caramels hand wrapped in natural unbleached parchment paper. I tend to associate Christmas with getting scrumptious baked goods in festive packaging (cupcakes and apple pies!).

2. Colorful Vintage Seltzer Glass Bottles

- Something perfect to add to your collection plus they are really pretty.  I love vintage bottles! These babies were found in a flea market in Paris, France. Check them out here.

3. Decorative Pear Pillow

- For something cutesy/plush and definitely whimsical. They are adorable gifts for both adults and kids. They are also handmade (Coolio!). You can find them here.

4. Mug by Hangyu Kim

-Jazz up the mug present option with this. It is incredibly clever and cool. Borosilicate glass and porcelain handles. The handles are detachable and thus drinking coffee wouldn’t be a boring event anymore. Awesome sauce!

5. Primitive Bunnies

- I always have this affinity for old school stuffed animals. They have more character and will be an awesome keepsake for your child. They can also be used as decor for a nursery or a child’s room. They are made from natural fabrics and you can find them here.

6. Botanicals

-This is a cool gift for friends or people who love plants (Trivia: I love terrariums! ♥). You can even make these on your own as well and they wouldn’t require a great deal of care at all.

7. Versailles Fluò by Selab

- I love these pieces, truly eclectic pieces that you can add to your China cabinet. They are made out of fine porcelain and they remind me indeed of Versailles. I love the pop of color!

8. Gourmet Chocolate Bars

- I love these! They come in chic designs and awesome flavors. A truly classy present, I’d love a couple of these babies. Premium Belgian couverture white chocolate infused with ceremony grade matcha green tea. An awesome balance of bitter and sweet.

Your options are quite endless actually, that’s what I wanted to point out with this post. I wanted to inspire you in some way to go and look for more original presents. The recipients will really appreciate the thought.

More importantly though, let us not forget though that presents are simply secondary to what Christmas is really about. A really awesome gift is to help out others by offering your time (join a feeding activity or spending time in an orphanage or a nursing home), that is simply priceless. )

Merry Christmas Everyone!

P.S. It would be awesome if we can help out the victims of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. If you have extra time, money, food, clothing, do share them and drop them off at designated drop off areas all around the metro. Thank you!

P.P.S. I read this posted around the web, “Convert your fireworks and parties to food, clothing, etc. for the Typhoon Sendong victims in CDO and Iligan”. It is a good thought.

Christmas is indeed a very busy season. I have been having a busy couple of days. I was quite pooped yesterday (and today as well). Dawn mass (seventh day later; we do that here in the Philippines and if you complete the whole nine days, they say that any wish you ask will come true.), hospital for some tests, dropped by PRC to take care of some stuff before they close for the holidays (one thing to cross off my to-do list), awesome hunt for beddings for a king sized bed (I love the stuff I was able to put together, awesome  awesome threadcount too! I could post pictures after the set-up.), ham shopping (prime cuts make a big difference), I found some sage as well and some errands for mom (presents, etc.). I also have been having a bit of the sniffles, I hope I don’t get sick entirely. I’ve been taking lots of Vitamin C. Lastly, Georgia has a “situation” and I am frazzled lately because of this (She’s all grown up! *sniff* I miss her Dada too. ). Also, her fringe/bangs are in need of a good trim because I can barely see her eyes  now and she doesn’t like clips so we have to visit the groomers soon. But in entirety, she is alright and I am thankful.

Design/work-wise, I have a couple of things that I need to finish and get over with (Urgent tab for added motivation). On a different note, Gift Guide post up tomorrow!

Yup, random thoughts. Haha.

P.S. I’ve been spreading the word on Typhoon Sendong. It really saddens me that this had to happen, let us all help out in any way that we can. My family and I are donating as well. There are different ways for you to help out (you can donate relief goods such as clothing, blankets, canned goods, drinking water, rice and anything you think will be of some help to the victims of the typhoon) and I have seen a couple of drop off areas in Cebu. Thanks!

P.P.S. Please pray for my mom as well.

Hi Everyone! This was the article I made for Vécu Magazine (A big thank you to Delina!). This was supposed to be posted earlier, but hopefully it can still help you guys out in some way (for those who are doing some last minute preparations). Enjoy!

A favorite event of the year, Christmas is truly a festive celebration spent with family and friends. Christmas dinners, decorating your tree, tinsels and lights, and basically turning your home into a sparkly yuletide confection – although secondary, are certainly just as significant and have become memorable traditions for most households when December comes knocking at our doors.

Achieving the holiday atmosphere you have always wanted can be quite a challenge. To ensure that your home is “Christmas Ready”, preparation is key and a couple of tips should help you be on your way. Happy Holidays!

Your Basics

Try Out A Theme For Your Tree

It can be somewhat overwhelming when you are just getting started, especially when you don’t know where to begin. As a suggestion, you can pick out a theme for your tree and from there you can work your way around everything else. Some people want to go for something whimsical and thus might even get a pink tree. You can go with a Wild West theme or even an Under the Sea one if you wish to go with something unconventional. You can also stick to something simpler, such as picking a color spectrum (think blue in various shades for example) or two of your favorite colors and build around that.

Decorating Trends For The Holidays

Just like in fashion, you can also acquaint yourself with this season’s hottest holiday trends if that is your preference. You can certainly use that as a guide for ideas. According to the Trend Curve, light shades of green and silver have been paired up together. Masculine influences are also present. Think hunting lodge and deer motifs. For a more urban feel, colors like pewter and metallic gray together with black and beige are used. New applications for glitter and metallics are also added in the mix.

Traditional Christmas décor is trendy still and I believe will always be timeless. The return of classic reds and greens are quite evident. According to Sphere Trending, gold and silver are staples. Bronzes with a rosy tint and silvers with a touch of golden sheen are options as well.

The Technicalities and Observing Practices

Warm Lights and Candles

Incorporating lighting will help provide an exceptional atmosphere at night. For indoors, try looking into LED types of Christmas lights. They are very good investments in the long run, though they may appear small but they actually provide very good illumination and are energy efficient. If you are new to installing lights (these apply for both indoors and outdoors), do start out small. Make sure that you are using lights designed specifically for that certain area and if you are using lights from the year before, test them out first. Add dimension by using different sizes, use electrical tape instead of staples to stick lights in place and make sure to not overload your circuits.

Get some candles and consider tea lights, these are affordable for the most part. They add a homey touch and come in a variety of designs, colors and even scents. You can arrange them in groups with varying heights or get large pillar ones and place them near your window.

Décor Longevity

Consider getting décor that are timeless and thus can be used for many years. Products with longevity are important because the economy today is becoming an integral factor in re-evaluating how we spend for seasonal décor. As an example, consider the use of ribbons and bows because of their versatility. They can be used for plants, your chandelier, stair railings and even chair backs. Choose ribbons in patterns and colors that go with your overall design scheme, they will definitely add to the festive feel. You can even utilize plaids or metallics. To save money, choose ribbons that you can untie and re-tie each year. In terms of storing, this will ensure that your bows won’t get crushed and will be ready for the following year.

For Small Spaces

Small spaces can be quite challenging. That being said, a good imagination and a bit of innovation will help. Move your furniture closer together to come up with a cozy corner for your tree. If incorporating one in your space is not an option, alternatives include getting faux tabletop tree or even a wall decal one. Use clear and reflective décor. Clear pieces such as glass lamps or those made of Lucite lend visual weightlessness and reflective ones with mirror panels help make your space appear bigger.

Bring out the Creativity

Dining and the Christmas Table

Christmas dinners with loved ones are priceless and a beautiful Christmas table helps set the mood for a wonderful evening. Opt for classic and good quality holiday pieces that will stand the test of time. This enables you to try out something fun such as using holiday tableware for every meal in December. You can definitely add new pieces to your collection each year and soon you’ll be able to have one or two settings to use. Start out with classic white dishes and a neutral setting and layer color through patterned textiles and textures in your ornaments. Incorporate pieces passed down in your family such as your Grandparents’ china or pieces from your flea market trip. Add candles, greenery, pinecones and a bedazzled touch by using gem ornaments and some gold and silver.

Indulge in Nifty Crafts

You can always incorporate little DIY projects during the holidays and they can range from doing Christmas tree toppers or doing something interactive with your children such as making pasta garlands. Do try out two of these nifty crafts, they don’t take much time plus they look great. If you have fresh fruit on hand and would like to create a centerpiece, simply use some egg white and sugar to coat the fruits and end up with gorgeous frosted fruit. For a more bedazzled effect and this isn’t limited to just fruits, try spraying food with Food Finish. This is a type of food coloring that comes in various metallic finishes and will definitely add luster to your cuisine.

P.S. I am one of Vécu Magazine’s Contributors for December (Awesome sauce! ♥). Do support Independent Artists!

(Photography by Paula Cañete)

Quoted from The Watchers’ website, “Entire villages were washed away when tropical storm Sendong (Washi) whipped south Philippines in early hours of Saturday, leaving a trail of flattened homes, broken bridges and upended vehicles in the poverty-stricken country. Sendong killed more than 650 people in eight provinces in the southern Mindanao region, which is unused to typhoons. Rescuers are searching for more than 800 people missing.  Flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea.”

Such a devastating calamity to happen especially during this holiday season. Let us all help out in any way that we can. To all the victims of Typhoon Sendong, my prayers go out to you and your families. Please stay strong.

If you wish to help out, you may do so here and more details here. Thank you!

I love Christmas and I love everything about this amazing holiday. I haven’t been feeling the Christmas spirit yet and I sort of lost track that it’s December already (perhaps its also because we have been worrying about my mom being sick). But in spite of this, some of my future posts will be festive in honor of this time of the year. I decided to do a gift guide after all and I’ll also do the Christmas decór guide I mentioned before. Don’t worry, these two things are actually ready – it’s just a matter of posting really.

Georgia is fine, she is still adjusting to her new cousin (my sister’s new puppy) in the house. He got here safe, good flight. I’ve also been having a couple of busy days lately and I do have some email backlog so I’ll work on that as well.  Also, I hope I get to finish the design plans I am working on at the moment so that we can get things done. Sometimes I wonder if this design journal is a planner/to-do list tracker. It sort of is, thus the randomness and the abrupt sentences. Haha.

By the way, I am loving the design concept (for their set) that Ruche is featuring for their Holiday Lookbook. It’s awesome, check it out below!

P.S.Christmas is less than two weeks away. Wow!

Pantone’s color forecast declares Tangerine Tango as the color for 2012. It is a reddish orange shade and it exudes a certain vivaciousness feel. As quoted from Pantone’s article, “Sophisticated, dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenalin rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibilty, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy”. To add, “This luscious reddish orange adds sensuality to fashion, flair to accessories, verve to cosmetics, and lively luxury to interior surfaces and appointments”.

Tangerine Tango hopes to provide the “energy boost we need to recharge and move forward”. According to Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone Color Institute’s Executive Director, “Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it. Reminiscent of the shadings of sunset”.

Do not be intimidated by orange, Tangerine Tango is a good shade to try out if you wish to apply a certain design trend in your space.  Add some zest in your interiors by incorporating this color in some way, start off  with accessories such as  pillows, tabletop knick knacks or incoporate it by getting patterned textiles in this shade. Add some spice and interest by making a bolder move such as using this shade as a wall color, it will work as an accent wall in your kitchen to stimulate appetite. Good neutrals to pair with this shade include a graphite color, cream and even black. Check out the quick mood board I put together below as well as a couple of interiors I picked out from the internet for some ideas.

P.S. I guess this is my first post with a mention about the new year to come. Wow, I can’t believe this year is almost over. Time is beyond fast lately.

I have received some good feedback with regards to a previous post about Interior Design, more specifically the post on why one should hire an interior designer. I decided to post another excerpt from our Directory and Sourcebook simply for educational/informative purposes and to address this particular concern in a sense. The text is by Archt. Ma. Daisy Mah, an Interior Design Lecturer from the University of San Carlos and a very supportive mentor.

Many misconceptions surround Interior Design, the most common of which is that Interior Design is only for the wealthy. Interior Design actually attempts to make man work efficiently in his space but more importantly, feel good about himself in it. For this reason,  the designer makes an attempt to know his client very well, understanding his needs and wants. Providing his needs results in a functional space while providing his wants end up in enriching his living. Such is not only for the wealthy. The nature of the job of an Interior Designer is often misunderstood too. Many make the mistake of calling themselves Interior Designers when they simply spruce up the place with new paint, rearrange the furniture, change the light fixture, and accessories here and there. Though tastefully done, this is simply Interior Decorating.

An Interior Designer’s job is more technical, more detailed and more comprehensive. This is the reason why an aspiring Interior Designer is required to finish a four-year course, Bachelor of Science in Interior Design and pass the Professional Regulation Commission’s Board Examination. Another involves the time it requires for the designer to arrive at an accurate design solution. Clients don’t realize that the creative process takes longer than usual, simply because it involves intangible  immeasurable qualities such as beauty and originality, yet tempered or compromised by practicality, function and convenience.

Do not forget the economic feasibility of the budget. Such strong considerations challenge the designer to reach his best solution. Perhaps the blame falls on the designer himself. His approach or manner by which he presents his seemingly simple design has inadvertently made the client think of the ease by which his design was conceived.

(Image Credit – Working Drawing by Paula Cañete)

1. I received an awesome email from Tari of Shopaholic and I really appreciated her sweet thoughts about The Sea Green Journal. By the way, they included The Sea Green Journal in their blogroll. Yey, awesome sauce!

You can check them out here. They post articles and tips on a variety of things, so far I’ve checked out their “Pampered Pets” section. *blush* I’m Georgia’s mummy after all. Haha.

Yes, I’m checking out “Design and Decor “next.

2. Got invited as a participant for the first Industry-Academic Forum tomorrow. It’s at the College of Architecture and Fine Arts theater at the University of San Carlos. The awesome professors/coordinators want to initiate a dialog between Cebu’s Building and Design Industry and the City’s Educational Sector. Do check it out!

December is one of my favorite months of the year and I have always loved Christmas since I was a kid. There is something magical about it and I love looking at sparkling lights at night.

I have been getting reacquainted with my drafting table as of late (we have an amazing bond for a couple of years now, we even went to Manila together for review and boards.). Things haven’t been easy lately as well but it’s alright and I just hope things will turn around for the better eventually. Anyhow, I will definitely be doing a post on holiday interiors for your home and perhaps a gift guide of some sort (I’m still contemplating the latter).

Do stay tuned and I wish you all a Happy December!

P.S. I am loving the pictures/works of art in this post. I wanted to save posting Pantone’s Christmas balls for this month and thus here it is. I actually love them and they would look quite awesome hanging on someone’s Christmas tree.

P.P.S. Georgia’s cousin (i.e. my sister’s puppy) is already aboard the puppy plane and we will be meeting him on Wednesday at the airport. I wish him a safe flight and I do admit, I’m a bit anxious for the big change but I do hope they will become awesome friends.

(Referring to the first photo below) – Where is this cool place? Better yet, what is it?

We had an awesome time at the Island Paints Showroom yesterday when they invited us to come by for a visit. I got acquainted with their paint basics (and the colors they offer) and their line of paint products with more focus on architectural and interior paints and finishes.

I have always loved paints (I mean I love color to begin with) and I do get so enamored with ranges of paint and product lines. I especially want to try out their Concreto Bond (Ok Pau, showing your nerdishness again. Haha.). Basically, it’s a plaster and waterproofing compound.

They also gave us tips on how and when best to apply their paints, as well as how best to prep and do surface preparation. They were quite informative with ratios (ex. amount of their cement polymer mix to how many kilos of concrete to mix together for optimum strength and durability) as well as how to apply some of their other products (ex. their stone coating system by means of a mortar gun). They also talked a bit about appliance paints.

They were quite awesome as well for doing a great deal of demo for us, I am quite into stain finishes and beautiful wood (Yup, that explains just a little bit why I have quite a number of pictures of their demo).

P.S. Yup, paints come in various “stages” (I can’t seem to find a better word at the moment.). You can get them in gloss, semi-gloss, satin (or an egg shell finish) and flat (or matte). Do know when to use solvent based and water based paints and what best to use for a certain surface (ex. wood, concrete, metal).

P.P.S. Bernie (I love you and your armpits. Haha.) and I were able to get a picture taken together. Awesome sauce! I’ll add it to this post once I get a copy. Oh, Happy Bonifacio day as well if you are in the Philippines

This is sort of the continuation of my post from last Sunday with regards to my Bacolod trip and bombarding you with my pictures (Haha. Sorry about that.).

The cool thing about going on a trip is that you not only get to know more about a certain place, you also get to know more about the people you are traveling with. What made up for an even more awesome adventure such as this is the good company. Here is to more trips in the future. Cheers.

Yup, no “brief narrative” for this post. Haha.

P.S. I might do a quick add if inspiration and more words suddenly hit me. I might but don’t hold me to it. Oh, I hope you all had an amazing weekend (Sundays are for laidback posts ). Though we don’t celebrate thanksgiving here, I am thankful for all of you and this design journal. ♥

P.P.S. Credits to the group pictures (basically the pictures with people in them) goes to Khe2x. Thanks Khe!

This is an excerpt from our Directory and Sourcebook, basically a Publication from PIID-Cebu (Philippine Institute of Interior Designers – Cebu Chapter). Do get your copy!

Who needs an interior designer, one might say, when you know what you want and think you have the eye for it. A sofa you’ve been eyeing comes on sale so you rush to purchase it only to find it is way too big for your room and is now blocking your doorway.

Or, seeing tiles that are on sale, you rush to purchase them and have them installed only to find you are missing a few more pieces but the tiles have been sold out and discontinued.

Hiring a professional interior designer may cost a bit, but it’s more costly to make one mistake after another. PIID-Cebu would like to share some reasons for hiring an Interior Designer:

1. An Interior Designer is client-oriented and designs spaces based on the client’s budget, needs and lifestyle.

2. An Interior Designer is a problem solver and he does it systematically.

3. An Interior Designer pays attention to the littlest details.

4. An Interior Designer can plan, schedule, manage and see formidable costly mistakes that may incur in the long run.

5. An Interior Designer can anticipate a long-term view of the situation, not merely a current snapshot.

6. An Interior Designer can present unique and custom furnishings that cannot be found everywhere else, he can also give you access to furniture showrooms that are not open to the general public.

7. An Interior Designer can pull together spaces that are aesthetically pleasing and functional – he can maximize space and make it more efficient.

8. An Interior Designer can translate your vision into paper, making it easy for contractors to execute the design.

9. An Interior Designer has a wide database of vendors, contractors, and other service providers; thus simplifying the client’s life, as designers can have samples brought to the client instead of having the client go out of his way to check out materials.

10. An Interior Designer is acquainted with a wide array of surfaces, materials, finishes and products, and can recommend the most appropriate one for the client’s needs.

(Image Credit – Paula Cañete, A Quick Perspective Sketch for a Café)

Fresh Oysters?

Nope, not in my tummy (I have nothing against oysters but I don’t eat them). We ordered some as well for lunch. By the way, today is an awesome day (although it’s not over yet, we had a long morning) and I am very grateful to God (Thank you!). I am full and contented and have decided to do a quick “What’s in my tummy log” of some sort.

The Crème Brûlée sampler was quite good and the serving was just right since everything was quite rich. I also enjoyed the Churros Con Chocolate. We also had some tuna sisig and yes, I took pictures (just a couple) as always. I liked the place where we had lunch and they do shark feeding. How cool is that (in a sense)?

Georgia and I both were able to take awesome showers as well and are now squeaky clean. That’s all for now with the randomness, General.

Quick Add: Ate Tatie had about 14-16 oysters.Yeah boy! Haha.

I was able to finish working on the pictures for this particular trip (Finally, Pau. Haha.). But before moving on to set below, I would just like to include a couple of details first. (A short personal narrative hopefully. Haha.)

Known as the “City of Smiles” here in the Philippines, Bacolod is also the capital city of Negros Occidental. It is said to be the cleanest and greenest urbanized city here. For the most part, I love Bacolod. I love that they are focusing on organic and healthier ventures (i.e. vegetables, produce, their well-known Muscovado sugar). The hotel we stayed at was amazing, they are  going green advocates. They even have an extensive vegetable and herb garden at the back where fresh produce used for some of our meals were harvested (Hello freshly-picked tarragon for my tea). On a related note, a cool structure there was their mud house and the bunch of interior designers that we are, we pretty much examined every nook and cranny. I for one was quite fascinated by the technicalities of the building aspect. It has been said that the mud house is quite a strong structure and will last for many, many years. It is also quite cool  (temperature-wise as well) once you are inside, if I may add.

We had a very long itinerary (Aside from immersing in the arts, food and sampling the cuisine was also a main priority for us. Shameless. Haha.) and that definitely included stopping by highly-recommended Pasalubong (Translation: the Filipino tradition of a homecoming gift) stores, they had a cool selection of jams which are grown and made  in Bacolod (I got some all natural passion fruit and sweet kamote jam for my mom. They also had some watermelon varieties!). I was able to get some organic black rice (which is really good actually) there as well. Since we are on the topic of food, they also have the most amazing and  the best-tasting cheesecakes (hands down) I’ve tried to date (Hello Calea!). I also love the Napoloeones at Pendy’s! ♥

For those who know me, I love heritage houses and antiques and awesome artifacts. We dropped by some of Bacolod’s awesome heritage houses and sites. It has been said that Bacolod is comprised of prominent families (from a tour guide’s brief at one of the sites, haciendas and hacienderos are common words there), thus the antique collections in most of the said houses are extensive. Though I got quite dusty and sweaty, I definitely had a ball during the tour!

I had fun taking pictures immensely. That also meant lugging my things about all throughout the trip. I was sore and worn out every night. (Haha.) But it was definitely worth it.

I can go on and on with this narrative (I told you we had a long itinerary) but I think I should just stop to here for now. I will definitely do a couple more posts about this trip (which includes my favorite site there, The Ruins) throughout this week hopefully. Do stay tuned for “City of Smiles (Part 2)” over the weekend!

P.S. I’ll try to look for a picture of us with the whole group. Yup, just a random thought after checking out the rest of the pictures.

An awesome structure confection you can find in San Francisco, California. You basically have a good mesh of two things, a Victorian neighborhood and a sleek modern house. Said structure is by brilliant Craig Steely and also features an office and a split-level living area.

Yup, I am (also) drawn to structures such as this (i.e. wood, glass panels, urban feel, angular/boxy look,  etc.).

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

Though a favorite (I loved singing it!) while I was growing up, I had forgotten about this song until today. It is  a comforting reminder and a very big help to me right now.

To those who are having a hard/difficult time at the moment, this song is dedicated to you and to all of us. Cheers!

P.S. If you haven’t heard of this song before, have a listen here.

P.P.S. Perhaps I should make it a mantra of some sort?

Your dining room is a place where you and your family will be spending some time each day. This area is also going to be used when you entertain guests or invite family over for a holiday. So the kind of dining room furniture you buy is important.

Here are some tips to help you get started decorating your dining room-

What type of dining room table will you require? You have to decide whether it is a glass topped one, a regular wood table or whether wrought iron can make more sense. Decide on the shape and the size – round, square or rectangular?

Depending upon the dimensions of your dining area and the size of your family and other requirements, you will also have to decide whether you want a regular 6 seater, a smaller 4 seater or a larger table. Also consider extendable dining tables that can be increased in size when required to accommodate more people or guests.

Consider your chairs – Your chairs don’t have to match your dining room table slavishly. In fact you can create some interesting contrast and combinations using different materials and textures. For instance you may well have a modern looking glass topped table and then team it effectively with more traditional chairs.

Or you can decide whether you want a plain and simple dining table teamed with futuristic chairs of a minimalist aspect. Mixing and matching the dining room furniture in this way can be fun and will offer a highly individualistic and eclectic result.

Consider whether you want stark looking, contemporary designs or whether you want traditional types of chairs. You will also have to decide whether it is armchairs that you want, whether you need them upholstered or not and so on.

What other dining room furniture do you need?  Ideally you should pick out the other bits of furniture after you’ve decided on the table and chairs. Because this will inform you how much space you have left over in the dining area, and will also help you create a central theme for your dining room if you so wish.

Hutches are popular options when buying furniture for the dining room. Again here you need not match the hutch or the side board to the table and chairs, rather try and create interesting combinations. Here as well there are several practical aspects to consider – do you need pull out drawers or cabinets / doors and do the doors have to be wooden or glass paned?

Make sure that the sideboards or the hutches you consider are suitable in size and proportion for the area. Also consider whether you will be using it for laying out dishes, for displaying photos, china or artifacts or whether you want it principally for storage of crockery, cutlery, dining linen such as napkins, tablecloths and so on.

Also consider whether you will need dining table furniture accessories such as a table pad, which can help to protect the table surface from heat, dust, spillage and regular wear and tear.

Author bio:

Sarika Periwal represents Amish Furniture Home, a hardwood furniture store where you can buy authentic Amish furniture handcrafted by Amish craftsmen, both online and offline. It is one of the premier furniture stores in Michigan.

P.S. A big thank you to Sarika for providing all these important tips for all of us, they certainly come in handy when you are starting out or doing your own dining room project. On a related note, my family and I love to eat and we spend a great deal of time in our dining area. How about you?

P.P.S. I love putting together and designing dining rooms. Sarika was kind enough to let me pick out the pictures for this post. I definitely had a ball with that and ended up making a sort of collage. Haha.

I fell in love with all the amazing illustrations in this post. I have always had an affinity for Zebras (Yes, I seem to have an affinity for lots of things and when I meet nice and brilliant people, I always end up wanting to adopt them. Haha.). Not only do I enjoy Zebra prints on clothes and my loafers (as well as my Sanuks), but even my online design portfolio was inspired by Zebras.

I find them unique, edgy yet elegant, puzzling (Is it white with black stripes or black with white stripes?) and they go well with pops of loud and neon colors. They are quite beautiful too! Rest assured, when I do settle on what my dream place will be like, Zebras will never be overlooked in the mix. I might even get one if they have teacup ones. Haha.

Enjoy the brilliant illustrations from Jose Luis Romero, a Creative Designer and Illustrator below. Love!♥

P.S. For updates of a more personal nature, I am a busy bee at the moment and my to-do list is a bit long. I hope I can get everything accomplished right away. Since I cannot exactly expound on the serious work stuff on my list, I would love to babble a bit about the not so serious ones. So, I did some cleaning in preparation for Saturday and I am grateful that I had some help as well. For someone so tiny, I have a lot of stuff!

I hope to take some pictures as well for something and Georgia needs a bath as well. I do have to check if she is due for her other deworming medication and she smells like mangoes. She had been eating some during lunch, her whiskers are yellow! How random am I?

P.P.S It’s 11-11-11 soon and I just want to say that you are loved, all of you.

Hi Everyone!

One of the coolest things about doing this journal is meeting really incredible people and having the pleasure of developing treasured friendships even though we are far away. Getting to know Kelly has been awesome and she is an amazing person. She’s really nice too!

It was fantabulous of her to do a feature on what I do (in a sense) and I am very honored that she allowed me to impart some of my own thoughts to her readers. Do check out her blog!

If you are interested to know how I came about being an interior designer (to a certain extent and in paragraph form. Haha.) and see some of my work, you can read my feature here.

Thanks! ♥

I believe this is sort of out of the blue. We are going on a trip/holiday/brief get-away. I don’t know what to call it  really since – 1.It’s not our usual “protocol”, it’s a trip that was made totally out of the blue, 2. We won’t be going out of the country, 3. I’ll be away but it’ll be brief because I’ll be back before Sunday. Do I sound confusing?

I’ll be lugging (haha) my camera along so I’ll be taking pictures. My camera and I are excited. I know I have quite a backlog with regards to pictures that I need to work on but I will be doing something about that.

By the way, I love the lovely, lovely, lovely illustrations above by amazing Gabriella Barouch. I love them a great deal, they exude a romantic and vintage feel about them.

See you all when I get back from my wachamacallit. It’ll be awesome. ♥

How was your Halloween?

We had a long weekend here and it passed by so fast. It’s already November! I was planning to watch a horror documentary (and munch on some chips) with my sister but we had to cancel that because she got scared (haha).  Enjoy the fierce and eerily fashionable pictures by Jeff Orgina above.

P.S. I find it cool that the model was holding a Philippine flag in one of the pictures

P.P.S. I was able to enjoy a couple of beautiful mornings by the beach and spend some time with special friends. Oh, it’s been raining here as well.

Hello Everyone!

I have yet to work on the pictures I took while I was away on a trip the other weekend. I hope I can post them soon. A favorite quote from Kelly with regards to delays, “Life happens to us all”. I am not trying to be cheeky but she is right and I found that simple statement to be quite profound.

My sister came home for our mom (went to pick her up at the airport this morning) and I am quite happy about that. Yey!

By the way, Georgia is a natural when she gets her picture taken. I am such a proud mommy. Haha. *puffs chest out with pride*

Note: I can’t seem to string a couple of sentences at the moment and the thoughts above are quite random stuff, right off the top of my head. I will get some sleep for now and perhaps update this post tomorrow? (i.e. Add a couple more paragraphs). We’ll see.

Goodnight!

Quick Add (I am feeling a bit serious at the moment): With regards to the shoot above, I felt like doing it because it reminds me of Regina Brett’s  beautiful statement. I am at the most trying time of my life at present, with my mom being sick, but I try to constantly remind myself of Regina’s profound statements. The most appropriate one for this post being, “No Matter How You Feel, Get Up, Dress Up, and Show Up for Life”.

P.S. Please excuse my retard look with Georgia above. We were doing a quick smooch for the camera. Haha.

P.P.S. Happy Halloween! I’ll do Halloween posts (perhaps I’ll do one or two) in the next few days.

Super cool right?

Yes, it’s made of paper. These exquisite and highly detailed designs and paper sculptures (i.e. works of art) are by Calvin Nicholls. It is quite evident that he has a great deal of passion for his art and he says that he finds great satisfaction from exploring various techniques in paper sculpture.

More of his pieces, below. I for one enjoyed going over them immensely. Enjoy!

P.S. I (for the life of me) didn’t know these (referring to the paper sculptures) were even possible. I am simply in awe by his talent and if ever he welcomes apprentices, I will definitely fall in line. Haha.

P.P.S. My personal favorites are the zebras and the owl ones simply because I am partial to them. (Haha.) But in totality, I love all of them, amazing detailing! ♥

Yup, this is another Georgia update.

It’s funny how I said just yesterday that Georgia needs a haircut. That’s one thing off our list already, we went to the groomers today. It didn’t take too long for this particular visit because she just needed minor trimming plus the works. Her hair was starting to cover her eyes and when I call her, she has to sort of raise her head to look at me. She came out looking pretty  (she’s fabulous to begin with), smelling like flowers and her nails were neatly trimmed as well.

We have been going to the groomers for a long time now and I just found out today that they can also brush your pet’s teeth for you during the grooming. Too bad I wasn’t able to bring Georgia’s toothbrush (She has a blue one) and toothpaste (Poultry flavored. Awesssoome!) along.

I also had to get her some more food (She loves her biscuits lately. Hurrah!), vitamins, dental bones (As presents for when we get home. She loves treats.) and some veggie dent. When we were almost out the door, they asked us if I wanted to enter Georgia in the upcoming Halloween Fashion Show for Pets and their Owners. It sounds like a lot of fun but I’m not sure if Georgia’s up for it in a sense, perhaps another time. Georgia is asleep right now, she’s worn out.

That’s it for now. See you guys later.

A Funky Tuesday to Everyone!

To continue on with the “funkiness” of this post, here are a couple of pieces which I am in love with at the moment (I want one of each please. Haha.)

Dubbed as the “Trip Collection” by Italian lifestyle brand Seletti (who came up with the designs as well), this furniture collection actually does a reinterpretation of classic pieces – adding an edgy/funky modern touch. Definitely eye-catching pieces made from MDF with silkscreen prints. The prints include trendy  pied-de-poules and polka dots.

This brings two words in mind – Baroque and Versailles.

“(R)evolution is the only solution”

P.S. These pieces made me think of Marie Antoinette (for some weird reason) as well. I am definitely doing a post on her too!

P.P.S. My new favorite drink at the moment is Aloe Vera juice. It’s light and refreshing. I love it ♥! By the way, Georgia is due for a haircut and I hope to be able to bring her to the groomers this week.

It’s up! I’m glad I was able to meet Aimee (in a sense) and she was really nice – plus, she gave me the freedom to go crazy and do a post for her blog. Haha.

The pictures (lé visuals) I prepared for my post at her blog – I am posting them below as well for those who wish to do a quick inspection. For the full post (I assure you, I made it short and sweet), do check it out (and Aimee’s blog as well) here.

I love color a great deal but I also love using neutrals for spaces. Some people find beige to be boring or the use of a neutral palette to be bland but this only happens when you aren’t maximizing the potential of browns, creams, and neutrals in general. We had to render an interior in watercolor using only white once and believe me, there is a very thin line between the interior turning into blah and it becoming quite tasteful and interesting. You can create depth with neutrals and by striking a good balance, you can end up with an entirely elegant and timeless space. This I can assure you.

A couple of really quick tips I put together to help you out -

1. Play around with darker and lighter neutral colors

When utilizing neutrals, you can go ahead and utilize your beiges and your tans but remember not to use said colors for everything. By doing so, it makes the space boring quickly. This translates to you avoiding going crazy with  white and utilizing it for your walls, your ceiling, your floor, your furniture. Play with darker and lighter neutral colors for contrast. The lighter ones add a calming effect while the darker colors add depth to the space.

2. Incorporate patterns and some texture

Mixing textures will definitely add interest in a heartbeat (but remember to not overdo this). Utilize a variety of surface materials such as slate against a smooth tile or flat veneer with organic wood branches. Patterns work too. Think stripes or utilize a damask fabric.

3. Lighting is key

Lighting plays an important part as well in terms of adding a certain effect to the space and it is very important. No harsh white light here. Keep soft and warm lighting in mind (i.e. table lamps for some task lighting, accent lighting to highlight a wall installation perhaps and some soft overhead ambient lighting).

I went over beautiful interior photography by Moris Moreno and picked out a couple  of his interior shots which I really liked. They are good examples (color-wise) of achieving a good balance when using neutrals. Do check them out (as visuals) and I hope you can pick out a few key pieces when you can incorporate in your own interiors.

P.S. Many people think that neutral options are quite limited and only comprise the standard whites and browns. But there are choices available actually, we even have warm neutrals and cool neutrals. If you are lost and can’t decide on which choices to go for, here are a couple of popular selections that can get you going. Quick tip for the selection below – Remember to not think of the color in solitary  terms but rather a mesh of two or more colors to give the space definition and some character. For example, Wheat is a trendy color at present. To make this beautiful hue work for you, complement it with a dark tan shade. Think wheat for walls and placing an armchair upholstered in rich tan leather next to it.

P.P.S. On a lighter and less academic note, Hi Everyone! Haha. I was attending to a couple of things over the last few days and I am slowly working on stuff to get them done. I do hope you like this post and find it informative. A big thank you to Mr. Wonderful for his help with redirecting sites. Also, pictures about my trip from last weekend – I’ll be posting them over this weekend. Yup, my sentence construction and thought formation is weird (but I do make sense!) Haha. Stay tuned!

Hohum.

How’s everyone? I just got back last Sunday, I was away on a trip over the weekend (i.e. interior design- related). I was supposed to do a scheduled post that I had planned to publish (here in my design journal) while I was away but amidst my crazy packing session, the scary weather post the storm and the sudden unpredictable internet connection, I wasn’t able to do so.

When I did came back, I was settling in (I still have a pending to-do list and a couple of emails to work on. Eep.) and feeling a bit weird (from the warm weather there/the trip itself/our itinerary/all of the above – I’m not sure), I just hope I don’t get sick at all. Don’t worry, I will get back to doing regular posts hopefully in the next few days. Stay tuned for posts with a gazillion pictures about my trip (Yup, I was lugging my camera with me). Yey, I’m excited! Haha

Have a great week everyone!

P.S. It’s back to an overwhelming reality for me but it’s alright. Onwards with the battle! (Please do pray for my mom! Thanks.)

P.P.S. Yup, I’m just lurking…for now.

This particular work of art will leave you in awe. (At least I hope it will. It left me in awe and scared me just a bit. Haha.)

Jacques Louis-David was a very influential French painter (i.e. considered to be the most distinguished painter of the era) and his paintings were of the Neoclassical style. His name is forever embedded in my brain not only because he was a revolutionary artist but also because of my Art History class – we had to identify all his paintings! But I am certainly not complaining (re: identifying all his paintings) because they are such magnificent paintings and I believe any knowledge gained is priceless (Yey for school!).

Back to the main agenda of this post, one of his iconic paintings, “The Death of Marat” was chosen as the inspiration for the staging of André Cheniér for Bregenz Festival 2011. A spectacular production which consisted of a famous floating stage on the shore of Lake Constance, the image of Jean Paul Marat (as he was stabbed in his bath tub) became the  stage set. It stood over twenty-four meters above Lake Constance.

The amazing people responsible for this monumental production are Keith Warner (Director) and David Fielding (Stage Designer). The amazing music for the opera was provided by Umberto Giordano. Their opera “André Cheniér” was set against the background of the French Revolution.

P.S. If you wish to see a clip on the construction of the stage set, you may do so here – Bregenz Festival 2011 – Andre Chenier . It’s awesome!

P.P.S. ♥ -  I love the Opera (I’d love to be part of one too!) and my favorite one is The Phantom of the Opera (I listen to the songs while I’m on the treadmill. Yup, I am an unusual girl. Haha.)

Hola!

It’s been a rainy week and we are experiencing a storm as well. I watched the news earlier today and travel ports (sea and air) have canceled trips for everyone’s safety which I think is the best thing to do at the moment.

I wanted to feature some color in this post to counteract the gloominess of the weather at present. The spread below reminded me a great deal of Frieda Kahlo, a well-known Mexican painter who featured  a good number of self-portraits for her paintings. I will definitely do a post on her and some of her paintings one of these days.

I love the vividness of Mexico, the passion in their colors. I also love the concept for the spread (for  Plaid Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011) below and the set decor (Trivia – Interior Designers can also design sets too! I’m one of those who get excited with regards to this. Haha.) More inspiration for everyone below and Viva la Mexico!

P.S. Rainy days are quite stressful for Georgia, they scare her. With regards to the storm – Be safe everyone!

P.P.S. On a more upbeat note, Happy Birthday Miggy! I definitely ate a lot of ice cream tonight (i.e. we have five gallons for the party), I hope I don’t get a tummy ache. Buenas noches!

It has been a good few days since Steve Jobs’ death and I wanted to pay  my respects to him and his family. He was a brilliant person who utilized that brilliance to make an impact in the world. A man definitely ahead of his time. Cheers to you, Mr. Jobs!

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be dramatic, but it is quite true.”

- Steve Jobs

(Credits – All Beautiful Pictures from the Internet)

Since I was a little kid, I had always loved chocolate. Before my affinity for ice cream, cupcakes and dumplings – chocolate was always at the forefront. When you break off a piece of the chocolate block, and as you take a bite, all that lusciousness and that richness, that sweet chocolatey goodness creates a lovely symphony in your mouth and your taste buds would mutter a thank you. Plus it makes you happy too (haha).

Over the course of my existence (how profound! haha.), I have tasted quite a number of varieties (I’m not saying I’m an expert) and I am in love with all of them. I usually prefer the milk chocolate ones, the ones with almonds at times, with honeycomb, with rice crispies, with toffee, with mint in them or with caramel or the biscuit ones – Ok, I love almost all of them (haha).

They say that chocolate has chemical properties that may be responsible for those hard-to-place feelings of contentment and happiness. When feeling a bit blue, do have a bite or two but do so in moderation. Lately, I’ve been indulging myself with some dark chocolate and I suggest you do too. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants and is good for your heart as well.

Two things to remember about chocolate – 1. If craving for some , do try eating dark chocolate instead, 2. Keep them away from your pets since chocolate is harmful to them and considered poisonous.

What are your chocolate favorites? ♥

P.S. I had a mellow weekend with the family and I am thankful. I also ate a lot. Haha. On a side note, if you have some time on your hands and would like to know some fun things about chocolate, do click here.

P.P.S. Visiting Guylian, this was a very amazing day. I had fun taking pictures as well.

Amazing photography and concepts by Jeff Orgina Photography. A partnership in collaboration between David Tortora and Jaime Travezan, a Peruvian and an Italian. I have been fascinated with fashion and though it precedes interior design and design for me, it still inspires me a great deal.

Jaime and David describe their outputs as “anti-minimal” and “realistic but categorically non-real”. I love their pictures because it pushes the envelope in the creative process and they know how to utilize image manipulation in a tasteful manner.

P.S. It doesn’t hurt either that there are cute doggies in some of them. (I’m such a girl. Haha.)

P.P.S. It was still a rainy day today but things are alright.  I miss drinking coffee, I miss drinking tea too!

Today's guest post is from Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting (a fantastic online resource for gorgeous light fixtures and lamps for the home).


There is an interesting mix of contemporary and rustic styles in design these days. Have you seen it? Do you love it? Hate it? Rustic walls give contemporary spaces, especially minimalist spaces, added texture and pattern. Using reclaimed wood, barn doors and wood paneling in new ways, these rustic walls in contemporary spaces feel very chic. Here are some of our favorites:

This rustic wood wall feels contemporary in this minimalist bedroom. The simple colors and linear lines of the wall are in keeping with the contemporary style of the rest of the room.

This reclaimed wood wall is a DIY project. Love the simple lights as wall sconces that add illumination but keep the space feeling contemporary. The headboard project could be continued over the entire wall for an even more rustic feeling.

Barn style doors in this contemporary farmhouse kitchen add rustic style while hiding storage. Barn doors are great in contemporary design for their simple lines and functionality.

An all white contemporary space gets some color and texture with this barn door to the bathroom. It almost has an industrial feeling to it.

An old barn door makes for a rustic accent wall in this contemporary nursery space. Reclaimed wood is a great way to add rustic style to a contemporary space.

This contemporary foyer has natural stone walls that are more typical in a farmhouse style space. Natural elements, wood, stone, plaster, that are more typical of rustic décor look fantastic when paired with contemporary furnishings and light fixtures.

This contemporary bathroom has gorgeous wood paneling that is more chic than rustic. Wood walls, typical of rustic style, give warmth to sleek contemporary spaces.

This chic contemporary bedroom has a cool rustic wood wall that almost looks like pallets. The horizontal slats have a fantastic graphic look to them.

These contemporary spaces with a touch of the outdoors are clean, classic and cozy. If you’re looking for more inspiration, visit Arcadian Lighting’s website for design ideas and a brilliant array of lighting fixtures to choose from.

Images (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

P.S. This is The Sea Green Journal’s first ever guest post. Thank you very much to Susi for putting together such useful information. I do love rustic walls, they add texture and a certain character to any space.How about you?

P.P.S. It’s a rainy friday for me. Georgia and I saw a couple of birds and their nests in our front yard today. How cool! ♥

Have a great weekend ahead, everyone!

A color scheme you can try out (I actually love it, love color ♥). It adds warmth to your space and will let you transcend from one style to another in a very manageable manner. In a way, it reminds me of the tropics and hot warm days while sipping lemonade.

Remember, do not be afraid to use orange and blue together. When done properly, they can produce dramatic results and don’t forget your neutrals. The interior above is still a very good example even if the use of said colors is done quite sparingly.

Before I go, I just realized that this is my 100th post! Wow, cool beans

P.S. Good news made me very thankful today and we go on. On a different note, Georgia needs a bath and I just made a really good soup concoction. Would you like a recipe?

P.P.S. A guest post tomorrow by Susi (a writer from Arcadian Lighting). Stay tuned!

I have always loved anything Mediterranean – the cuisine (I even love watching cooking shows with amazing ingredients influenced by cultures near the Mediterranean Sea), the details in the design style (Sparkling sunny days, vibrant produce, vivid turquoise waters), it is basically relaxed design and nature is quite apparent in the architectural elements.

I will expound more on Mediterranean design in a separate post for those of you who wish to know more about it or wish to incorporate in your interiors.

A good example of an interior concept that I am especially in love with right now is the Blanc Restaurant and Lounge of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona. It exhibits a settle Mediterranean feel in a more contemporary setting (I love it! ♥).

Patricia Urquiola, the brilliant designer for the space, made use of creative spatial layouts and a dramatic openess through the ceiling decorations. The palette is mainly neutral and oh so refreshing (to the point of making me gush even. Haha.).

P.S. Yup, having lunch here someday is definitely in my bucket list. (Lunch is between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. – Noted. Haha.)

(Steak Salad Photo Credit – Thomas J. Story)

Hey Mister. Happy Birthday.

“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that people who have the most live the longest.”

-Larry Lorenzoni

P.S. Georgia is gorgeous.

A really great day actually with all sorts of good things – penguins!, cupcakes, chips, manatees, turtles, jellyfish, funky music, mermaids (I love The Little Mermaid!), touching shark eggs, among other things.

I clicked away and thus the bajillion pictures below. Art and design inspiration everywhere. All these beautiful colors. Awesome sauce ♥

Have a great weekend everyone!

I am a bookworm and one of my favorite things to do is read. I could go on for hours (or for days) reading  especially when I have a good book in my hands. When I’m reading, it’s as if everything else around me seems to just fade away and then its just me and my lovely book in the room. I don’t mean to alarm anyone with this of course. I mean – 1.reading on the train, 2. or while waiting at the visitor’s lounge, 3. or hanging out at a coffee shop are just some of the exceptions (We still have to aware of things around us when hanging out in such public spaces, dude. safety first! *wink*).

Aside from good recommendations, or a favorite author or just really good content and plots or that “i-just-know-this-is-a-good-book” feeling, there are times when I get drawn to a book simply by its cover. Yup, I also love really good book cover designs and since I love you all very much (awwww), I’m sharing one of my favoritest book cover designers. I love Coralie Bickford-Smith. Her designs are simply gorgeous *singsong voice*. The designs really get me going, bursting with design inspiration. I hope they do the same thing for you.

A couple of her book cover designs below.

Lovely aren’t they? The beautiful cover designs make me want to buy all of them (no surprise there. haha.). Before I end this post, I’d like to include a little background about the amazing lady responsible for such awesomeness. Coralie works at Penguin Books where she has made a couple of series designs as a senior cover designer. She draws inspiration for other brilliant design ideas she researches on and  she does a lot of sketching and playing around with images to come up with her concepts.

Hurrah for clothbound books! ♥

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

- Dr. Suess

P.S. Yup, I am a Self-Confessed Bookworm and proud of it! How about you, what books are you reading?

P.P.S. On a side note, you can find a previous mention of Coralie Bickford-Smith by clicking here.

First off, what are Pohutukawa trees? They are basically evergreen trees native to New Zealand, a favorite, thus inspiring the name  “New Zealand Christmas Tree”. A Pohutukawa tree can spread to as much as 40 feet in width and it can grow up to 70 feet in height. 

How did said trees fit into the design problem? Well to start with, Architects and Interior Designers are constantly presented with challenging circumstances in terms of design and our example for this post is one of those said challenges – working with the existing environment. Herbst Architects was quite successful in dealing with such a factor and coming up with an amazing collaboration of – 1. The celebration of nature and working with what nature provided them with, 2. The good meshing of a sleek modern structure with firsthand connection with trees and the beach (the site can be found near the beach, not far from Auckland).

How did they do it? Well, they basically looked to the trees themselves to clue them in. The site which was covered with about 90 percent of mature Pohutukawa trees didn’t make it easy at all. They divided the house into areas which they can work around with the trees and they utilized materials that stick to the feel of nature – freshly cut wood, timber.

P.S. I wouldn’t mind living here. Not at all

P.P.S. Happy Birthday, Karl (a.k.a. Darth Vader)!

Nope, this is not a clothing/fashion wishlist (at the moment). I was browsing through Urban Outfitters and I fell in love with a couple of stuff (Ok, a lot. Haha). I then decided to sort of list them down for future reference of course (haha).

I basically love (love, love, love) color and certain prints thus anything that fall in said categories tend to catch my eye.

Such pretty, pretty colors! All this color is cheering me up Yup, I’d love to get all of them and make a house where I can place all of them in. Uhm, I’ll live there too. Haha.

Which ones do you like?

P.S. Back in college, I thoroughly enjoyed the design subjects that focus on color. Err, I loved all of my subjects then. I guess I’m a design nerd *insert nerd smiley here*

P.P.S. Leo the Owl Bank ♥ ♥

My dearest three-year-old, Georgia. *A Mummy’s sigh*

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

For those who have been reading this design journal, you might have an inkling (or more like an in-your-face-big hint) that I love to chronicle Georgia’s birthdays and I try my bestest to celebrate it the best way possible. Though it really breaks my heart chambers, I was out of the country still when Georgia had her third birthday (this was beyond my control, believe me). Nevertheless, I called home to make sure that a mass service was arranged as a thanksgiving for her day and that she gets fed some ripe mangoes (she just loves them!).

Fast forward to the happy part in this post -

When I eventually got home,  I made sure that Georgia got to blow her birthday cake (this has become a yearly tradition which I hope we will continue to observe in the years to come). I got her a yummy dog cake  (from the same baker for all of Georgia’s cakes). She is able to eat said cake only during her birthday so that she’ll (hopefully) associate the taste and the cake itself as something that she gets to experience on the most special day of the year (and she really loves it! The other doggies, yes you too Max darling, love it too!).

A couple of pictures below (By the way, this is a long overdue post. Georgia’s birthday was last month.). Sweets, don’t grow up too fast *Sniff*

I love you, Georgia (my little lady)! ♥

P.S. Curious about Georgia’s first and second birthdays?  Yupyup? Then click here and here respectively.

“Prayer is communication with the Divine. It can be whispered or chanted or written or expressed in the work you do. However it is expressed, it is never in vain.”

- Donna Wilk Cardillo

“Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, 1862

“For every mountain there is a miracle”

– Robert H. Schuller

P.S. I continue on praying that we win our battle, please help us with your own prayers. Thank you.

How’s the weekend so far for everyone?

It’s quite warm here and we went for a road trip (I simply love going on said trips). I had a fabulous time visiting some of our properties (I’m not trying to be a snob but I can’t seem to come up with a better term at the moment.)

Yep, I brought my camera along and a sun hat – you know the rest (haha). Here are a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

There you go (for now). I especially love this particular set – the colors are quite lovely and I am quite grateful to be able to capture them in some form. Nature never ceases to amaze me with it’s profoundness and settle beauty.

I’ll continue on taking pictures – I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did while taking them

P.S. I went for a more laid back/casual look. This drive was a last minute one. (Haha. I love jump shots. )

P.P.S. I also love good company, salsa music and taking more pictures. (I love the colors in this post! ♥)

Do you by any chance have a “chair question” ?

I wanted to do something fun with this post and thus will present a couple of stuff to inspire you (design-wise) and give you some ideas. Any element can change an interior’s atmosphere – for this particular post, the element at hand would be furniture, more specifically chairs.

What sort of flashed in my head was the word “Stereotypes”. We basically define stereotypes as fixed and most of the time oversimplified images of a particular thing or even person. Chairs have their own stereotypes too (i.e. Classical Chairs are to be utilized for formal dining settings, Outdoor chairs are strictly for outdoors, etc). I can go on and on but basically people have this preconceived notion of furniture and their (very very limited) limitations in terms of usage. Most people would base it on the look (ex. They would think that minimal/streamlined furniture are solely for contemporary or modern concepts), or material (ex. They would think that metal furniture would work best solely for a dentist’s office or a factory) – you get the idea.

From my personal design preference and how I do spaces, I don’t like to limit myself nor do I like to limit the possibilities – I like to play around more with design, which is probably why I love art and making art as well.

I got thinking and decided to give you a couple of ideas for the question below.

The answer to said question is a very big YES and since I love you all and I love what I do, I decided to not only answer this question in writing but decided to do so as well by showing you. (Wow, clever. Haha.)

I randomly picked out five, very different (in material, shape, style) chairs – so they sort of represent random stereotypes and will show you how you can incorporate them in five corresponding spaces as well. I created a couple of design concepts that will hopefully inspire you and give you ideas and options for your own chairs and spaces. Enjoy!

1. Random Chair No. 1

First up is a Classic Dining Chair with Windsor Arched Seatback and Turned legs (in Whitewood finish). How can you possibly utilize this particular piece besides buying a couple and using them for your dining table you ask?

Well, as a possible option for you , I decided to utilize this chair for either a home office or even a design office. This piece would greatly add a dash of creativity in your work space and it’s not your conventional office chair either. Don’t worry, it has a good back support system and the wood seat would be just as comfy for those long hours (if not, a neutral seat cover can be added).

I usually go for interesting pieces, some good color (this will bring some zest in spite of the work load)  and some good storage of course. Check out how I designed the envisioned space below.

2. Random Chair No. 2

How about a vivid-colored chair in red? Would you love to get a couple of Verner Panton S Chairs? To answer the latter – If they are too expensive for you, a couple of not as expensive alternatives would be the Reno Chair Set by Target. To answer the former – don’t be afraid of strong colored chairs. You can definitely utilize them in any space, trust me.

Verner Panton is one of my favorite designers (I remember sketching his chairs for my furniture design class a couple of years back). His S chairs are classic pieces and are stackable and made out of plastic (a new material then). For the design concept below, I decided to use two of the pieces for a unique breakfast space.

Light and easily moveable, these pieces are not solely limited as accent pieces and are definitely not  just limited for more modern concepts. I decided to do a fun mix and I must say, I’d love to eat breakfast in the interior below.

Those are my first two looks/concepts and I hope I was able to inspire you in some way and was able to provide you with information you can utilize for your own design needs. Interested to see the rest of the spaces I designed utilizing the other three chairs?

If yes, then definitely stay tuned. I’ll post “Part Two” soon. Have a good weekend!

Do you enjoy sitting down on chairs? Upholstered ones? Wooden ones? (Why do I ask the weirdest/not at all profound questions?)

Myself? It might seem weird but I always go back to sitting in this manner (kindly refer to visual below) at times. It’s not that we don’t have chairs in our house (how witty! haha), but strangely enough this is quite a comfy way of doing some sitting.

When I eat a sandwich (nutella on toast!), I sometimes crouched down to this. Or when I need to think over certain things (making to-do lists in my head), I do this. When I go sightseeing and we do a quick stop, I do this (that’s the story behind the picture below). Hmmm, funny why I decided to do a post on just this.

But hey, some people do posts on paper clips. I guess I belong in the bunch

Nope, this post doesn’t pertain to grandparents or older people at all. (By the way, my grandfather turned eighty-two today! Cool beans ♥)

Work of art below – a really cool concept which I really really love. It’s by Grandpeople, a Norwegian design studio.

It’s actually a CD cover that they designed for a band called The New Wine and their debut album, Waves. They incorporated a wooden cube as an organic element and added PVC-Film into the mix which was then “peeled off” in the shape of waves. This is a great representation for the band and the evolution in their music.

It would be really cool to use a couple of these cubes for an exhibition display or accent pieces in a room. I’d love a couple in my own room. Haha

I just heard a talk from a brilliant individual (and designer) who I wish to adopt (Please don’t ask me why I wish to do that, I don’t know the answer either). By the way, his name is Thomas Heatherwick. His talk was about projects that he and his team have come up with, the design process and their final outputs. Let me just say that I am simply fascinated by people who come up with structures that go beyond one’s imagination, it’s simply amazing! *boggled look*

He has done amazing projects (which I will do posts on in this journal) that exhibit this  but one particular project which I am in awe with is his entry for the Shanghai 2010 Expo – The Seed Cathedral.

Sample pictures below (which I found from Time Magazine) so that you’ll get what I mean.

The Specifics

The Seed Cathedral is Heatherwick’s entry for the Shanghai World Expo. It is formed from 60, 000 transparent rods, each rod 7.5 metres in length. (With seeds embedded in them! In Heatherwick’s talk, he mentioned that they got their inspiration for this from the film, Jurassic Park . Remember the mosquito trapped inside a piece of amber and how beautiful it looked?)

The structure is 20 metres in height. The rods (each and every one of them) are simply fascinating for they were designed to draw daylight inwards during the day to provide illumination for the interior. At night time, the said rods serve as optic lighting which makes the whole structure “glow”.

This amazing work of art creates an utterly dynamic effect because when a gust of wind is present, the building itself and its “optic hairs” gently move with it.

Curious about the seeds? Heatherwick teamed up with Millenium Seedbank project (another amazing group whose mission is to collect the seeds of 25% of the world’s plant species by 2020).

Construction-wise (and as quoted),  “The holes in the 1 metre thick wood diaphram structure forming the visitor space inside the Seed Cathedral were drilled with great geometric accuracy to ensure precise placement of the aluminium sleeves through which the optic fibre filaments are inserted. This was achieved using 3D computer modelling data, fed into a computer controlled milling machine.”

Do you wish to adopt him yourself now? Haha

P.S. I’d love to visit this amazing structure myself someday!

I thank God for an amazing day and for creating amazing places like the one above so that I can take pictures of them.

I also love going on trips, eating lechon manok (roast chicken with minced garlic, lemon grass, onions, soy sauce, lemon juice), eating strawberry-flavored  fresh milk ice cream, dancing to funky music and being with family.

How was your weekend? ♥

“You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair”

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.”

- Chinese Proverbs

(Beautiful Print Credits: Juri Romanov)

Rewind to the day before my birthday. *Rewind/Wind Swooshing/People rotating in a funny way*

I would have posted this. (I apologize for being a weird girl who makes weird/random posts at times. *blush*)

Yup, in a couple of hours I turn a year older (hello there by the way). It seems quite surreal actually that a year has passed already since I wrote a post about last year’s birthday. Just like how I was then and in spite of what my family and I are going through, I am excited for when my birthday comes (Some things never change it seems. Haha.). But then again, I prefer things this way still – birthdays are meant to be celebrated and to be acknowledged. The year that passed had been a very challenging one and it certainly brought about change after change. Let me tell you, change is hard but I am hoping to be able to get through it a stronger and better person.

I do not know what tomorrow awaits for me but it’s alright. I’d still be the luckiest girl alive because I’ll be in the company of those who matter most in this world – and basically, that’s what matters in the scheme of things. Yup, they matter more than presents

Here are a couple of pictures from my birthday last year, I’ve been reminiscing.

Lunch with Bernie and Joh

I love this place no matter what. Eating Stroganov makes one a happy birthday girl Bernie and I ordered the exact same thing! Haha.

Dinner with  Family

I love eating here too (why is it always about food?). My family is amazing and I got serenaded with a reggae birthday song. Cool beans! Haha. Oh, I ate five sets of crepe and took a picture of only one of the said sets.

Birthday Condiments

I loved my birthday cake last year and Georgia was patient enough to blow the candle with me. I think she smiled! Thanks sweets ♥

Birthdays are amazing. Cheers! ♥

Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Yup, I am indeed destined to do a post related to this 1961 romantic comedy film starring Audrey Hepburn. I enjoy watching the movie, I love her, I love Tiffany blue (the color) and I love her classy outfits in the film. This post is simply inevitable.

I am not doing a movie review actually but am talking about a particular space/interior inspired by the film. It is awesome and I’d love to stay there myself

This gem is at the fourteenth floor of the St. Regis Hotel in New York which  they aptly named as their “Tiffany Suite”.  It has just been revamped recently – the old suite in 1991 then described to be corporate and “imperial”. A couple of specifics include the sizes being 1, 700 square feet (for the one bedroom) and 2, 300 square feet (for the two bedroom), a dining area that sits ten, a view that faces Central Park. A sample floor plan below.

Design-wise, the interior lends a whimsical yet opulent feel to it (with it’s crystal decanters, silver, streaming pearls) and utilizes a timeless color palette of neutrals (such as charcoal, whites, creams, silver) with Tiffany and Co.’s signature Tiffany color as the accent color. A  couple of pictures of the beautiful suite below.

I definitely fell in love with this space and I love the lovely mounted wall ornaments (they look so delicate and feminine). I love the Barbara Barry Fretwork Lounge Chairs (with mirror finishes and lacquer)by Barbara Berry for Mcguire.

The person responsible for this is John Loring (Design Director Emeritus of Tiffany and Co.). He wanted to redesign the suite for a young and fashion conscious audience. As quoted, “The style of New York (in the late 80′s and early 90′s) was anything but young, and fresh, and hip. It was rather ponderous and the suite was aimed at a very different audience than today”.

Definitely taking the Tiffany experience to another level!

P.S. With regards to the movie, I definitely love this iconic dress, especially the back detail ♥

to me ♥

P.S. Yup, I was born today and I had an especially amazing day. Three cheers for my awesome loved ones. Georgia blew her cake as well!

P.P.S. I love the prints above.

Hello Everyone! How I have missed all of you and this darling design journal. My family and I are still fighting an ongoing battle, do pray for my mom (thanks!).

On a more lighter note, its August and I love this month ♥

The Sea Green Journal turned a year old a few days ago (thus I wanted to make this post extra special) and I can hardly believe it. This has been a lot of fun and I do plan to continue on writing and pouring my design thoughts here.

More randomness, here are a couple of things I love (I have a lot actually, stuff that I love I mean) -

Lunch (Something I whipped up, it turned up to be quite tasty actually. Cool beans!) Egg white Omelette with Oregano and Basil, Lean Beef Sausages with Herbs and some fresh English Baby Spinach. Yum!

Definitely someone I am grateful for, a really cool friend over the net – Belinda! She was kind enough to do an interview  with me  about what I do (this mention is long overdue), it was a lot of fun. If you wish to check it out, you may do so here.

Yup, it’s the little one. I believe she’ll be in all of my lists (haha) and in lots of my future posts. Its my little Georgia – I love her ♥

P.S. Advanced Happy Birthday, Nikko Biko!

How was your Easter?

I am quite thankful that I had a good one – I was able to do some reflection about things and spend time with my family. Here are a couple of pictures that I find are quite cool (and adorable. haha.)  – in the spirit of Easter.

Aside from fluffy bunnies, other stuff that I love about Easter include – 1. Chocolate Eggs from Cadbury (Since I was a kid, I can finish a whole tray of this!), 2. Easter table settings and Easter themed parties, 3. Pastels (you can incorporate these darling colors in your interiors).

Speaking of Easter table settings, I find the setting and design by Wendy of Green Beansie Cards really aweeesssooommme =] A couple of pictures below. Enjoy!

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with the amount of visuals in this post. They are such pretty pictures, I just couldn’t resist ♥

I’ll talk more about my Easter soon. Have a good week!

Definitely a cool way to say happy birthday – do it in french (haha)

Now this part (below) will make me teary. (haha)

This surprise post is in honor of my sister, Ate Tatie, as she celebrates her birthday today. I know I have said this often (and I will be saying it a great deal more than often too), but it has been a pleasure and a great honor to be your friend and your sister. I don’t know what I did  to be given such an amazing gift but I am forever thankful to have such amazing sisters (Yup, I’m talking about all three of you. *slurpy kisses* Haha.) and during days such as these, your birthday, I am greatly reminded of how amazing it has been to have known you all these years.

I wish for a lot of things for you – that may you achieve all your dreams (I know you will!), may you touch more lives, may you be given more blessings (all the best that life has to offer), a Siberian tiger (haha, I want one too!), blue roses – a lot of things.

To more memories we will be making, to more food we will stuff our tummies with, to more words (per millisecond) we utter in our conversations, to more adventures, to more years of being sisters. I am proud of you and I love you, my poppet ♥

Cheers mate!

P.S. Since she has a great fondness for Spanish -  “Que cumple muchos años mas!”. This translates to, may you have many more birthdays! (Yup, this post is starting to resemble language lessons. Haha.)

P.P.S. Yes, I love presents very much and I love opening presents…even those that aren’t mine and even when it isn’t my birthday. (Haha)

Thanks for being a sport, dude

I got a call awhile back (while I was at the embassy – a different story for a different day) and got invited to head on down to Cebu Bionic to check out their new products. I am more familiar with their other store, Steel + Stone (and love their tiles) which is their high end retail store. They are still undergoing renovations at the moment but I was able to take some pictures and view some of their products (I love going to hardware stores).

Cebu Bionic is a builder supply/hardware store and though I am more acquainted with their architectural finishes (they have european tiles – they carry Bisazza; they also have asian tiles; bathroom fixtures – Toto and American Standard), apparently they also have door and window hardware and building tools.

Big thank you to Vina (she is in their marketing, she gave me a tour around and introduced me to everyone; Sir Bernard, their family owns said builder supply, was able to do a quick chat as well) and I will drop by again once everything gets settled. Quite random but I am ogling their shingle roofing options (haha).

P.S. Yup, I just couldn’t resist. (Haha).

A big kiss to everyone and I hope you are having a great weekend ♥

P.S. I attended a really cool design seminar yesterday on sustainable design. I’ll do a post on that soon.

Taking pictures of the little one is one of my favorite things to do – I will never get tired of it and I believe Georgia has already gotten used to her mama’s “fondness” for this. (Thank you for being a good sport, Georgy! *kiss*)

The little one is almost turning three (they grow up so fast *tear*). At present, we are almost done with all her annual shots (the last one will be two weeks from now) and she’s just busy living her life (exploring, sniffing, trying to lick random stuff, barking at repairmen who come to the house, naps, etc.)

When I took this shot of her, I had this brilliant idea of us trying out the “getting in touch with nature” option since I figured that I want to be able to let Georgia experience a whole lot of things (thus the grass and the surroundings you see in the picture) but it didn’t turn out to be such a good idea after all. I got a great deal of rashes on my arm and it wasn’t pleasant. So it’ll have to be no to nature for now – at least for mama, Georgia was fine and having the time of her life with nature. (Traitor. Haha. I kid.)

Georgia has given me so much (as a person and basically my life in general) – so much laughter, so much joy, just so much. When you are out battling in the world, it’s good to know that when you do get out of the car at the end of the day, this tiny being with her cute little paws wags her tail for you and gives you a kiss.  *greatest feeling/experience in the world*

Cheers to my bestest friend. I love you, sweets ♥

P.S. Her whiskers/hair was quite wet because we had a couple sips of water prior to mommy’s nature idea. Haha

The Queen of Love Armchair by Linvin. I want one. Actually, I want a couple. (Haha)

If I have somehow piqued your curiosity about it, this cool armchair which I love is made out of recyclable linear polyethylene – it is thus suitable for both indoors and outdoors (!). I love it for three reasons – 1. The Louis XV style of the design (“An ironic revisiting” as quoted), 2. For a million more reasons which will comprise a paragraph or this entire post itself (haha), 3. For the simple reason that I can’t seem to explain why I love it point-blank. Yes, I am confusing.

I like the whimsical aspect it projects and at the same time I like the fact that it can be a really good statement piece for any décor – simply put, it is surprisingly versatile. Surprising in the sense that it does possess intricate detailing and exaggerated contouring. To add more to it’s amazingness, it is seamless, it resists color fading, it is scratch, shock and weather resistant. It’s composition makes it eco-friendly too.

Gah, there’s more?! (Haha)

Yup, it comes in all these fun colors ♥

I know, I know – all those words for just an armchair. I mean it’s not just any armchair – it’s an awweesssomme chair. (Haha.)

As quoted from the designer, “Linvin’s The Love Collection was born from a simple idea, aiming to become a symbol of positive and free way of being. These beautiful designs project you into the future while remembering the past; a prism in which the light goes through and turns into a rainbow of colors, becoming itself the energy that it’s a symbol of LOVE.”

A couple of these babies it is (and Georgia can have one too if they have a baby version – how cute!). I rest my case

Now, back to my essay. Eep.

As quoted from the CFIF (Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Inc.), “Responsible for over 60% of the Philippine exports, Cebu is recognized as the furniture capital of the Philippines.  To date, the Philippine furniture export industry, with Cebu as its biggest contributor, ranks among the top ten import source countries of the USA. A big 70%  of the total furniture products of the country are exported to the US, and the remaining 30% distributed to the European, Middle Eastern and Asian markets.”

I have always taken great pride in the amazing designers we have here in Cebu – I get inspired by how they have gravitated towards pushing the envelope in design limitations and the innovations they constantly come up with. Being in the interior design field, I had always been exposed to this even when I was still a student in university and my fascination hasn’t wavered even up to now.

Cebu designers and manufacturers make use of indigenous materials such as arorog and butay (coconut twig), rattan, bamboo, sea grass, abaca (manila hemp), tree bark and even termite mounds – I’m telling you, it’s amazing!

A good example of a furniture company – I was able to drop by for a visit to Murillo’s showroom (they have a really cool one) not too long ago. I have always found a liking to their pieces and I love (the opportunity of ) being able to drop by different Cebuano furniture showrooms – I could spend the entire day just ogling their pieces. (True story. Haha.)

Looks cool doesn’t it?

Quick Details about Murillo’s Export International -

1. They define their brand as – “Innovative ways of interpreting tradition”. This company is engaged in design and manufacture of high quality furniture and accessories.

2. Murillo furniture, accessories and art works are hand made inside their factory in Cebu, Philippines.

3. They utilize rattan, wicker, leather, iron, aluminum, wood, abaca, sea grass and other natural materials mixed with man-made ones. They like to play around with subtle contrasts on colors and textures and they lean on clean fluid lines and excellent details.

They were nice enough (and super cool!) to lend us some of their pieces and they have really good service. (Big thanks to Sir Allan Murillo and Lorelyn!)

I will definitely post more about other furniture designers here in Cebu in the future and a big kudos to the Cebu and Philippine Furniture Industry! Let us all show our support

The last time I got full bangs like this was when I was really small (probably around like six years old) so it’s definitely something new. Yes mister, it is.

It might seem silly or mundane to some, (Come on, Pau. Just bangs, dude. Just bangs.) but this new “blanket for my forehead” definitely empowers me in a sense. It’s not just the fluff of hair per se, it’s the thought behind it – the thought of you embracing something new, a change and finding that even something as simple as getting bangs can turn things around (may it be just your day or your week).

I definitely look more  and more like Georgia every single day. Haha.

It’s not a bad thing actually – Georgia is gorgeous ♥

What do you think? (I think it turned out alright.)

P.S. Now, let me see if they have essay-making powers too. Hahaha.

Just two things for this post:

1. Here are a couple more pictures (above) from the shoot I did.  I hope you like them. Georgia looks so cute ♥  (Quick add – Wow, it’s April already!)

2. I am contemplating on a lot of things as of late and I can relate greatly to the following -

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

- Howard Zinn

“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”

- Alice in Wonderland

Georgia and Mummy time ♥

Bohemian (Definition)

1. a native or inhabitant of Bohemia
- Nope, this doesn’t apply to me.

2. a person who has informal or unconventional social habits, esp. an artist or writer.
– Nope, this doesn’t apply to me or perhaps it does a little. So I guess I fit in this definition in a certain sense.

I have always been fascinated by gypsies and the bohemian culture. I mean I will never ever lose that fascination – I remember wearing loose curls in college (on certain days), being into woven flipflops with intricate beading, being into flowy skirts and big printed totes and donning a great deal of woven bangles. People might view me (and know me) as starchy/prim in manner . I am for the most part, I follow rules and I take tasks seriously (Yup, totally not a free spirit there. Haha.)

I love the character in all things bohemian and the carefree-ness it represents and though I might not dress the way I used to (I haven’t worn flipflops or curls or skirts) but I still have the penchant for it and there are still days when I go for it. I may dress up seriously now as a professional but I still inject bits of this fondness – will never get tired of loosy tunics, printed/flower polos, beanies, maxis and gypsy dresses.

It kind of reminds me of interior design as well. It is a discipline that focuses on the arts so it can also lean on the unconventional, the artsy-fartsy and being just out there but at the same time it is also starchy in the sense that it is also a science, you have the accuracy to observe when making technical drawings, in doing measurements, etc.

Paula = Interior Design (Haha.)

On a different (but still cheery) note, yesterday was a very good day. It was a day for amazing blessings in our family (I got an amazing blessing and so did Ate Tatie). I will talk about it once things are already more concrete and definite but for now (All your prayers will be much appreciated), I am over the moon and am very grateful to God.

The picture above is one of the outtakes for a self-portrait shoot I did a day (or two) ago. I love it very much because it was fun and Georgia is in it. My little sweetheart was giving me a big kiss. Haha. So incredibly adorable! ♥

I hope you like it and I will be posting the rest over the weekend (Time goes by so fast lately. It’s almost the weekend and its already April tomorrow too! Shocker. Haha.)

Note: Wow, how did this post get so lengthy? Am I that chatty? *blush* (Haha.)

P.S. My good friend, Vane, had her birthday a few days ago and she said that it was happy/crappy. A big shout out to her (and I hope this makes her smile) I won’t post her childhood picture here because she might (hurt)me. Haha. Advanced Happy Birthday to Nikki as well

P.P.S. If you are new to this design journal, some shameless plugging here, here and here. (Haha.)

I love going over the results of interior design awards. The winning designs/interiors and the designers themselves are very inspiring. I enjoy going over the creative outputs that they come up with and I learn a great deal from them too!

Big congratulations to this year’s IIDA Interior Design Competition winners. (IIDA stands for International Interior Design Association and this year’s competition is their 38th.)

To quote Sara Robertson (in her More Than Meets the Eye article), “Interior design competitions are far more than mere beauty pageants – they involve a complex system of entry and judgement and lead to much more than an award in name for all those involved.”

I agree with her statement that there’s no refuting that interior design is a visual profession BUT that it is not just limited to that. Aesthetics are considered (surely) but what they focus more is the idea being presented and the quality of it’s execution. It is a learning opportunity for everyone involved.

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the winning entries. Enjoy!

Project Title: One Shelley Street
Project Location: Sydney, Australia
Firm: Clive Wilkinson Architects, West Hollywood, CA

Project Title: Nokia
Project Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Firm: Gensler, San Francisco, CA

Project Title: Bar Agricole
Project Location: San Francisco, CA
Firm: Aidlin Darling Design, San Francisco, CA

Those are just three of the six award winners. The Best of Competition winner will be announced in June. Mehrdad Yazdani, the Principal Interior Designer of  Los Angeles-based Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design and a winner of the IIDA’s 36th Annual Competition, says that  one has to be “simple,  powerful and concise for a judge who only has a few minutes to grasp your project.” Submissions have to be as effective as possible and it should be conveyed a strong manner.

To inspire you, I end this post by quoting D.B. Kim (an independent designer in New York and has judged several competitions) – “It’s not just about mimicries of the trends. The competition is all about the details – I’m looking at the future.”

P.S. I am also including a picture of a dish I have great affection for particularly (I mean I love food a great deal ♥ Haha.). I am most certainly a risotto girl and the one below is a really good one – it was creamy and had just the right consistency (the mushrooms were juicy and flavorful as well). A very good meal for a busy day

Sprinkle a bit of pepper and introduce to your tastebuds. Yum ♥

P.P.S. Before March officially comes to an end, I just wanted to say that The Sea Green Journal is already seven months old. Yey! To the upcoming months and more posts – cheers!

There is no typical day for an interior designer (you learn something new or get exposed to something different every single day). Yes, you will deal with the “usual” –  floor plans, technical drawings, furniture, sourcing and they might seem to be the same thing over and over again for some people but they don’t for me (for the most part). I am still venturing out and I believe I still have a lot to learn and discover out there – but I find it very exciting and its something I look forward to constantly. (Yes, I am weird.)

This day is something I would like to share because it’s a sample of how my day, as an interior designer, is like (to a certain extent). It’s fun and I love it (In spite of extreme heat exposure at times, the dust – Ok, I’ll stop. Haha.)

We decided to get something to eat first (and continue our discussion on the things we needed to get done), we initially thought this would be a more laid back day. I didn’t want something that resembled breakfast during this particular breakfast (I have those days). I had the adobo flakes/adobo rice (Adobo is a popular dish in the Philippine cuisine. You basically marinate and cook meat in a sauce of vinegar, garlic and soy sauce and then simmer it said sauce after. Yup, this is typically yummy.) The one I had was alright after some doctoring, I added pepper (I put pepper in everything these days. Haha.) and some sauce. I also had a glass of their frozen lemonade.

We stopped by to inspect and check on the paneling and bookcase – to check on how they are turning out and discuss painting stuff. They turned out quite nicely. I fell in love with the furniture and the shop – their wood was beautiful period and were also beautifully made. They had really cool pieces that I wanted to get for myself (Haha) – the chairs above are good examples. I love furniture shops (and not just showrooms but the actual shop where pieces are made and you see saw dust and hear tools whizzing).

We went to two different plant/landscaping centers to check out the plants they have and decide on which ones we will need. It was quite hot and a bit muddy but amazing nevertheless. There were some really pretty ones and it’s amazing to see so much green in just one setting. We dropped by a home building center before this to look for some paint and check on some lighting fixtures.

We decided to take a short break at some point and went to this cool cafe for lunch. I will never get tired of this particular dish at all. I love food breaks – I always look forward to it (haha). Energized and well regrouped (we made calls to coordinate with deliveries and specifications), we continued on to our day and tasks.

This picture was taken for my friend, Pongee (haha). By this time, we had already dropped by three fabric stores and another hardware store to look for the ever elusive paint color we wanted (they didn’t have it) and thus we had to drive to two more different hardware stores after this.

By the end of the day – I was tired, looked like a wilted flower and in pain. (Ok, that was an exaggeration. Haha. Or not.) For fortunate days such as this, I am very grateful. Keep them coming.

P.S. Georgia news – her right eyelid is slightly swollen and I am freaking out (or was freaking out). Most likely an insect bite, worrying that she might be uncomfortable and dealing with the unknown made me quite teary. I gave her a bath right way (a couple of hours before this post was up) and used some of her skin treatment shampoo on the affected area in the hopes that it will relieve the spot. Georgia doesn’t look uncomfortable thankfully and has slept right after her bath which has calmed me a bit already. Off to the vet as soon as possible and here are a couple of pictures of her after said unplanned bath time.

I love you, little Georgia ♥

P.P.S. If you have time on your hands and would like to read something design-related/design project – Click here, here and here (in said order please). Haha. Thanks!

Have a good week ahead, everyone!

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”

- Bob Moawad

” Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.”

- Stacey Charter

I love tea ♥

This is the last part of my “Launch and Gallery” post/series (Reader – Thank God!, Pau – *sad face* Haha). This post will feature more pictures design-wise and just show bits and pieces of the exhibit. We officially ended today in terms of egress and it was a good one(both the egress and the exhibit). Feel free to go over the pictures below. Enjoy!

Have a good week, everybody!

P.S. Yup, that about sums it up (haha) – they left me alone with my camera. If you wish to check out part 1 of the Launch and Gallery, you may do so here. Curious about how this came together and would like to view some behind the scenes snippets, do a clicky here.

P.P.S. I had to get a souvenir shot. (Come on, dude. Haha.)

A new twist – we have heard about this before or have seen in a movie or perhaps have experienced it or are experiencing it at the moment. I basically associate “new twists” as something fresh to bring to the table, something different to fuel up your creativity or something that makes things simply interesting.

It could be something as simple as a new ingredient in your usual ice cream order (Chocolate chili ice cream?) for example or even a little umbrella or some watermelon flavored ice cubes in your lemonade (What am I saying exactly? Haha). As always, this is not just limited to drinks or movie plots but it does materialize (a lot of times) in the design world – may it be the use of new material for a lighting fixture or a different interpretation of design styles.

Here are a couple of kids (to preteens) rooms (and kids furniture) that I love at the moment and are good examples.

Look A

Look B

A play on kids rooms and furniture has happening for some time now (awhile now actually) and I have taken a liking for the ones above because of their baroque feel – I love all things baroque! (Haha)

This particular line was a collaboration of Di Liddo & Perego with Naj-Oleari for the latter’s 2009 Spring-Summer Collection. They wanted something young, fresh and extremely colorful. I love the romanticism feel that the line exudes and wouldn’t mind having a few of these pieces in my own room (they are quite pretty!).

P.S. I have been experiencing “new twists” of my own at present and it can be scary when you have no control over the outcome/s but it’s alright. I try to take things in stride and do what is best for the situation. Wish me luck!

P.P.S. Georgia’s new twist at the moment – sipping/licking fresh fruit juice (we put fresh fruit in the juicer) from her green bowl and I have to say she likes it and she looks really cute! (Haha).