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).
I’ve been up for a few hours now (Good Morning!) and let me tell you that it’s still quite early (and I’m not even a grandparent yet! I kid. Haha.)
The little one (Georgia) is awake now as well – I just hand fed her, gave her some vitamins and some water. She just needs to do her morning poop and weewee before we are good to go (I apologize for even discussing this. I guess it’s still too early for my brain to work. Haha). Basically she’s settled and good which is great since I have an appointment in a few hours and this will be a crazy (good crazy and busy) day for me so I want her to be comfortable while I’m gone for the day.
Back to business/ serious mode on
This post will include snippets about how the design concept for the gallery exhibit took shape. Let’s get into everything. I sort of did an outline so that it’ll be more comprehensive. Enjoy!
Design Concept Options
Here are a couple of options that we initially came up with. You will get a clear picture of how the design played out and evolved.
We provided two color options for our own consideration – You can see the effect of color and how it projects a certain feel/atmosphere (For this particular example, it’s settle but it’s there.)
These are more recent revisions made by taking certain aspects into consideration (ex. availability of resources, budget, art center management requirements, what would really work for the space and it’s intended use, etc.)
Prior to Ingress
While securing everything and making sure all the necessary parts comes together (amazingly of course – we had our fingers crossed). This involved lots of long hours, meetings, sun/the elements/heat exposure, meal deprivation, coordination, etc. We also had to work with the management and the hours the mall keeps – this translates to paint works being done after mall hours (think 9 pm to beyond 2 am and a few more hours for drying) and installations done before mall hours (think 6 am to before 10 am).
When working on things like these (or being in this profession in general), you (have to) expect that a lot of things will definitely go wrong (it might even be frustrating to a certain extent) before it’ll be alright. Things will definitely go wrong – only cream benches are available at the last minute instead of the black ones you requested and one of those is at a really far away branch, wines weren’t coordinated properly with catering, lighting fixtures aren’t available, no delivery truck for the freestanding lamp, lettering in the wrong color, you have to pick up platforms and be back in time to see to another delivery (this time for the console table, the plants, etc.) – I can go on (haha) but we’ll end there for now. You just have to take things in stride, squeeze in a meal at some point and focus on what can be done – on how problems can be solved.
Exhibit Floor Plan
Painting customized wall panel installations in the shop with brushes on hand (Original Artwork by Paula and Bernie – haha.) This was definitely messy – paint in your hair, everywhere (but a fun stress reliever). I am very proud of how the wall paneling turned out, they are definitely awwesssooommee *surfer dude accent* (Haha)
After sixteen hours – you can definitely do some smiling already because things are starting to come together quite nicely. Haha.
Above all, this is an entirely amazing profession and the exhibit was great. I felt a sense of fulfillment watching the gallery (and your design concepts in general) take shape and seeing the potential of the space being brought out and executed – interior design and all it entails amazes me still and I think it always will. It is possibly the nearest thing to giving birth we suppose (for Bernie and myself that is. Haha). I am also very grateful to everyone who helped out one way or another. Thank you!
If you wish to see pictures of the launching and exhibit (part one), you can find it here. If you have time, do drop by for a visit. The exhibit runs until today. Cheers!
It has been a few days now since a massive earthquake (said to be the fifth largest earthquake ever recorded in its history, according to Experts) shook Japan. The tsunami that followed thereafter and the recent situation with Fukushima’s nuclear power plant caused further devastation. It greatly saddens me when disasters such as these happen because it leaves great grief in its wake – Japan casualties’ death toll is expected to exceed ten thousand, thousands are still missing, and a lot of people are left without access to food, shelter, water and clothes.
I don’t want this post to be a sad one but I just want people to be aware that we should try to help out and show these people that we care and we are willing to offer our assistance. It makes me happy to know that Japan remains strong and being the advanced country that they are, they’ll be able to get up and stand once again. An update I read yesterday shows just that and its great. We should all learn from it – may we be victims of the calamities or not.
There are a lot of organizations out there who are simply amazing and are doing something to help out – they are asking for donations and help. I know that some of you may already be aware of such organizations and some may have even donated already (kudos to you!) but to give you an idea still of some of these organizations, you may refer to this article and this one as well for other simple ways to show your support. Feel free to constantly update on other organizations that are accepting donations at present.
Let us help Japan out and may this also remind us to not take anything for granted – may it be our own lives, our loved ones or even the simplest things such as being able to enjoy some hot soup. or being able to sleep in our own beds at night. Please offer your prayers as well – this will go a very long way.
Looking at pretty prints cheers me up and I love them a great deal. I love incorporating them in interiors and even in my wardrobe. When I work on interior spaces or concepts, it doesn’t feel complete at all (in my opinion) when I don’t incorporate prints and I can’t seem to resist including prints in the dynamics of things (haha). I also love incorporating prints in my wardrobe – I can’t resist prints on my bags or in dresses or tops.
A couple of prints I am loving at the moment (or perhaps for some time now) are by print designer and illustrator, Brie Harrison. I find her prints to be quite pretty and I have a couple of them below.
Oui, j’aime les fraises (Yes, I like strawberries)! Its a new phrase I learned in french. Cool!
On a side note, I will definitely be posting all sorts of prints in this journal in future entries – I love them immensely.
P.S. Last night’s meeting was great and quite productive. I am very excited for the projects we have for this year. Yey for interior design!
P.P.S. Part 2 of Launch and Gallery will be posted tomorrow (hopefully). For those who weren’t able to check out part 1, you can do so here. You can also simply scroll down to the previous entry. Haha. (Its just that I love putting links and such. Humor me.)
I love doing gallery/exhibit design.
In my previous post, I mentioned an exhibit that we are having at the moment (it’s still ongoing) and I’m providing details (and pictures) in this post and the upcoming posts as well. Bernie (another interior designer and a good friend) and I are the gallery design and launching coordinators. We were basically swamped (we did the interior design for the gallery, sourcing, customized paneling which we painted ourselves, etc. – basically everything down to the execution) and this does take a good amount of preparation, people. It was a lot of fun though. (haha. it’s true!)
Cocktails Night
To formally launch the gallery, we had cocktails night which included the ribbon cutting ceremony and blessing and a formal program. Have fun viewing the pictures below.
If you have time, do drop by for a visit. The exhibit/gallery is at SM Cebu’s Art Center from the 6th of March until the 19th (don’t forget to sign the guestbook).
Please stay tuned for part two! I’ll discuss design details and feature some behind the scenes insight. Rock mode (translation: stay put please).
P.S. A couple of pictures with me in them (i.e. work mode and cocktail night pretty mode. haha.). Balancing – there is a certain art to it.
Note: Bernie and I have been working on ingress for 16 hours already when this picture was taken. We don’t look too shabby if I may say so myself. (haha)
P.P.S. Our launch advertisement in the local paper.
Yup, its March. Wow. It’ll be summer soon and more hot weather it will be (sigh).
Today is “no meat” day since it’s ash wednesday and we are preparing for lent. This used to be a struggle for me when I was younger since I am a meat girl. But at present, it’s not much of a big deal anymore in the sense that it isn’t as trying for me anymore to go on a full day without meat. That’s a yey healthwise.
Earlier on today, I was able to drop by and view a couple of units (thanks Franie!) and pick up tips here and there. I took a couple of pictures too. (Note: I didn’t do the interior design for these units but I am posting them so that you can pick up some ideas or whatnot.)
There you go and I am not ending this post without food pictures – take note, no meat. Hearty soup is definitely a favorite and the rice pilaf was really good. Yum.
The past few weeks have been quite crazy (translation: busy and surreal) but good and fun. I have been working on a lot of stuff and we do have a gallery on exhibit at the moment. I will do a post on this soon. For now, au revoir and have a good weekend ahead.
