Category: the designer in me

Finding accent pieces at flea markets

I’ve always had a knack for interior decorating. i absolutely love it and I think that I’m also pretty good at it. It seems like the rooms in my house are never really done being decorated. A lot of the time I’ll actually go through and find different pieces to switch out. Sometimes I’ll switch out things between rooms. I’ll also find all kinds of really interesting accent pieces that really come in handy for doing that at the flea market.

I use my Baltimore Clear to track down a whole bunch of creative and unique looking pieces at flea markets and other sales like that. Most for the time though I browse and just find things that will fit in perfectly with everything else in my home.

There are also a whole lot of really interesting looking portrait paintings that you can find. I’ve bought a few of those to hang up as accent pieces. People always assume that they’re deceased family members, but I think it’s pretty interesting to look at these portraits and imagine what their lives were like.

2.15.365 fab find #1


Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: Lucifer VI
Flash: Off
Film: DreamCanvas

such a pretty neat find, for free!!!
i have long been eyeing this fairly famous lamp from Ikea and planned on going there one of these days, but hey! lucky me I found one on Craigslist! just 4 miles away!

next time I’ll show where it ended up in my new home…

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

likeaG6

in my quest for the perfect name for a new internet account that has got something to do with fashion, design and shopping, ‘like a G6′ just popped out of nowhere. then i googled the meaning of the song and wikipedia says…

it is meant to imitate the gangster subculture and the “indulgent lifestyle of jet-setters”,’

—sounds good to me! :P

home decorating flashback

After watching a new favorite show called The Nate Berkus Show, I would do anything… anything at all to be shopping now for beautiful home furnishings and decors. This TV show brings back good old memories when I was still practicing Interior Design myself and he has this simple, practical yet sophisticated ways in solving design issues of different people. He gives them ideas on how to find the finest products such as furniture, paint color, accent pieces, lighting fixtures and even fabric choices in order to have that dream house with much consideration on each and everyone’s needs and personal style.

If I have my own show, it would be so much like his! This is what I love doing and I truly miss it. Although I try to satiate that craving through my own place right now by decorating and redecorating, planning and rearranging even with just the simplest of things such as changing lamp shades, interchanging one from the other or switching the lamps here to there. That gives me so much satisfaction especially when I see the outcome has turned out pleasing to the eye and more importantly when people notices the work that I have done.

Currently, I have this one tiny project in mind and that involves finding the most efficient desk and chair for myself and of course what goes with that is pairing the set with the most convenient and neat looking desk lamp! I can’t wait mostly because I am starting to feel shoulder and back pains again as I am stationed in a very inconvenient work station now, a center table that I am using as a desk and I am plopped on the rug trying to make these cushions as comfy as can be as I blog away and some…:)

silver or gold?

I don’t know why but I prefer silver over gold, whether in jewelries, in decors and even in household fixtures and furniture. Back in the days though, when we used to design royal houses, gold is much preferred as it is a symbol of higher status of sorts. Nowadays, it’s all about pewter, chrome, silver…stainless steel is a better option even for the so called rich and famous.  This is most evident in kitchens and bathrooms, but is also a beautiful modern touch in living rooms such as this blomus stainless steel fire place accessories and what about outside? Come on, these blomus stainless steel mailboxes are the bomb. Any contemporary style designed house or commercial structure will look fabulous with it.

This online specialty store is where you’ll find these fantastic that have this particular finishes like stainless steel fireplace accessories, stainless steel mailboxes, towel holders, soap dispensers, wall hooks, tea light holders, stainless steel bathroom fixtures to dining utensils and accessories and even stainless steel tape measure! That’s pretty cool, huh? Everything is very now and very chic with its stainless steel finish which gives it a sleek and modern touch to it.  You can order 24-7 online or call toll free.  These are even backed by a 30-day money back return policy.

Modern Furniture

We recently moved again, but within the neighborhood only not to worry. The packing and unpacking has been resolved at this point and it wasn’t as easy as we might have expected it to be, even with the one mile or so distance from one house to the other. What made it less easy was the fact that it was the peak season of winter then with the loading and unloading of living room, dining room and bedroom furniture plus heavy boxes on slippery and cold snow grounds.

It would’ve been more ideal if I can just dispose all my stuffs especially the bigger items like beds, sofa set, tables and chairs. That wasn’t the case though. But if I can afford that, I would be very glad to replace them with new ones. More specifically, I am so loving the idea of creating a room filled with straight forward and no fuss modern furniture in a variety of style.

As an Interior Designer who is presently a stay at home mom, moving has been my alibi to constantly change the theme of every single room in the new place. I have collected a lot of chairs and tables with all sorts of color combination when it comes to fabrics, throw pillows and rugs. This time around, I want it all white, including the sofa. I want a plush sectional in white leather. This way, it looks so fresh and clean yet easy to maintain even with 2 growing kids around.

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: hip to be SQUARE

square-1

Square (slang), an unhip person.

…but in food presentation and other food styling methods, this four-sided- four-angled shape has found it’s way as to being considered as ‘hip’ for years now.  This is evident in hotels and up scale restaurants mostly and even in food related television shows.

square-2

I was also hit by the bug once, when I bought every single square plates, bowls, serving platters and even condiment containers and bottles that caught my fancy, in different sizes and colors. This Gourdo’s white ceramic cup and saucer set was bought 3 years ago during our last visit back home at the Living Well Store, Podium in Ortigas. Since it was still a bit pricey then [and heavy], these square tableware….so I only grabbed 4 sets.

Having said that, I normally use them during the weekends and when we have guests as I tucked them away on the top most level of my cupboard. It would be difficult to get a replacement of these square saucers and square-based cups, so I don’t want to risk breaking them.

square-3

So…what’s square in your agenda this Sunday?
Lapis-SQUARE is a weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!  Happy and hip to be SQUARE!  Enjoy your week!!!

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: from my kitchen…to yours

kitchen2Being a self proclaimed foodie, I have learned to love the kitchen most since I spend more time in it during the day and sometimes until late at night.  This also lead to the fact that I rarely shop for clothes and other personal items nowadays, instead I am always in the kitchen department whether in store or online. Now I realize that this cooking to blog and/or vice versa, proves to be as expensive or even more! I hope my recent splurging will keep me busy for a long, long time.kitchen3Now that we’ve moved again, our new kitchen is a lot smaller and has less storage for all my cooking and baking gadgets and I am thinking of installing more shelves just to organize them better. But in spite of this, I like this one a lot more  than our previous kitchen primarily due its more open layout [and an electric hob], with a counter/nook that leads to our dining and living area.  This nook is also where I stay seated most of the time as I can simply turn this laptop around if I am cooking.  As some of you may know, I have a black/white and red schemed kitchen. Now I was left with no other choice but to pull this scheme through the other areas with a brighter, more spring and summer inspired colors of red/orange/yellow, not that I’m complaining.  As I mentioned in my previous post, winter is all behind us now even if we still have a week until it is officially Spring here.kitchenSo now that I have toured you through MY humble KITCHEN, let me see YOUR KITCHEN now! As Paula Dean ends her cooking show…I bid you, see you next Sunday…from my kitchen, to yours!
Lapis-my-kitchen is a weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, PINOY style!

Wordless Wednesday: my artisan

artisan
As previously seen in this chatterbox, I am now a rightful owner of the much sought after Kitchenaid Artisan stand mixer. It may not be in the exact shade that I was originally drooling on which is the empire red color, black on the other hand is next on my list… having a black and white themed kitchen with splashes of red. Now I am thinking…those splashes will come when I feel the need for additional attachments! Wouldn’t that be a cool idea? Hee! and probably an orange and yellow here and there as well…*grins*!

crepe-artisan
Call it basic, but I have test driven this baby with some delicious Frenchies, crepes that is and it works great! Now I am happy.
Those who are so into Ebay would attest to the fact that this is one of the fears that we have when we win in an auction at times, especially when we are talking hundreds of dollars involved. The item might not be as how we expect them to be. Although this is said to be in unused condition, it certainly lives up to the sellers ad and for more than half the original price?…I say, it is well worth the sweat! Literally, bidding and waiting for the last trickle of second until the bidding ends?…exhausting and adrenalin boosting! until I finally received a notice that I won! Whew!

An entry to WW-artisan, which turned out not so wordless, after all! hee!

on invitations and style

Being a graduate of a design related field which is Architecture and having honed my skills working as an Interior Designer as well for years, has been a great tool for me to develop an almost palpable eye for beauty, humility aside. This is very much prevalent in my choices be it in furniture, even food, outfits and accessories. More often than not, they are out of the ordinary because I am the kind of person who do not conform to what everyone has.  On the contrary, I try to be my own self.   Even in small details such as choosing my own wedding, my kids birthday or even special holiday invitations for instance, I will never settle for something that is out of the box, so to speak. I will have to recreate them to show my personal style. This is why personalized invitations for me are truly ingenious. Just like the showered couple invite, that for me has panache. It is out of the ordinary, yet straight to the point and has a design that catches ones attention. Or the belly girl baby shower invitations to make my point clearer…it is simple, has a girly-girl aura yet sophisticated with its minimalistic design. Then again, it is also straight forward. It’s as though, the words in the card are not really as important because the decor in itself gives it away. For all your customized invitation and other correspondence needs, visit Custom Creations by Leslie and you will find a whole range of beautiful designs to choose from.