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Wish list

Before I continue with my Rome posts, let me just say… it’s October and it’s my birthday month! Yippee!

It’s a big birthday this year and I’m celebrating it in a big way with the trip to Istanbul. And since I’ve (surprisingly) actually made enough friends here to throw a house party, I’m thinking of doing just that.

While I must say I’m pretty content, there are a couple of odds and ends I’m obsessing about at the moment. It’s been a while since I put together a wish list; I think my birthday is a good excuse to do it!

  1. Adobe Photoshop (the only time I ever miss having a PC is when I think of all the cracked software I used to have)
  2. An Apple mouse
  3. The pretty Missoni scarf I saw at De Bijenkorf
  4. An English-Dutch, Dutch-English dictionary (to further my language studies)
  5. Parisian Chic by Ines de la Fressange
  6. Design Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney (one of my favorite blogs, now in print)
  7. Love, Chloe perfume
  8. A Flickr Pro account (thinking ahead for my blog)
  9. A nice book of easy patterns for knitting or sewing
So many books on my wishlist! And I told myself I wouldn’t buy any new books until I read every last one of my 38 (yes, you read that right) unread books. But if new books are gifted, that doesn’t count right? Right.
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Posted on October 2, 2011
Category: Uncategorized · Labels: ,

Wish list

The living room is next on the DIY hitlist (Marlon and I are painting it this weekend), but before we leave the bedroom, there are a few bedroom bits left to share.
This was the main inspiration for the current look of the bedroom. No mood boards or anything, just this image. I can’t remember if it was from the now-defunct Domino magazine or from Design*Sponge. We kept the window moldings white as well; looking at this picture now makes me think of buying faux molding for the ceiling (to cover up our masking tape messes).
The bedroom still needs a few more touches, so I also made a mood board after we painted it. Well, it’s really more of a wishlist. I don’t have Photoshop, so I apologize for the jologs Powerpoint.

Hindi uso ang fluorescent ceiling lights dito. (How do I know? The Dutch love leaving their curtains open, exposing their homes for all to see.) It’s all about beautiful fixtures and soft lighting, coupled with multiple, smaller task lights. I would love to change our boring ceiling light to the Icarus lamp by Tord Boontje for Artecnica, which you see here “hanging” from the ceiling.

Marlon and I both fell in love with it, but he worries that Rogue is going to attack it from the bed. He’s probably right *sigh* My Rogue-safe alternatives are the House of Mayflower’s Sky floor lamp for that industrial look, plus Nicolette Brunklaus’ modern take on the chandelier (first and second from left on my mood board).

Marlon, in a rare show of consumeristic desire, really loves the Block Lamp by Harri Koskonen, on the side table in this mood board.

He rarely goes gaga over little house things like these so I figured we should get it. This is why we kept the bedside tables simple and modern. It seems a little small though (madaling matabunan ng kalat) so I need to see it up close before I decide.

Hmm, I think I am officially obsessed with photo print. Because I am madly in lust with this owl pillow from Mikkili. It is the Puss in Boots of pillows!

Big Eyes + Feathers = Love

I think it would go perfectly with the cobalt blue and white color scheme without being too matchy-matchy. And, it makes me think of Ladyhawke. Yes I know Michelle Pfeiffer turned into a hawk, not an owl, but I can’t help it. Okay, maybe Legend of the Guardians would be a more appropriate reference. The only thing is it’s 60×60 cm, which is rather… huge for a throw pillow. Marlon’s suggestion: “Just put it behind the pillows we use for sleeping.” E di anong point ng owl?! Pfffft. Men.

We leave the kingdom of lust and enter into practical everyday territory, because the bedroom also needs a chest of drawers for Marlon’s stuff. My mood board just shows the Ikea chest that matches our closet, but Marlon gets the skeevies at the thought of any more Ikea in our bedroom. So we’ll probably go for a second-hand equivalent.

And the metal side table you already met in a previous post.

So in about six months, given our current budget for furnishings, the bedroom should look like this. In the meantime, the Eye of Sauron shall turn to the living room. Halflings, beware.

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Posted on March 3, 2011
Category: House & Spouse · Labels: , ,

Jakpat

Inspired by J’s wishful thinking, I have decided to fritter away my last afternoon at work before the long weekend deciding how I would spend the Philippine Super Lotto jackpot of Php 200 million. Yes, I know some lucky bastard already won it but it’s still fun to dream.

  1. Buy back my childhood home on Hydra Street in Bel-Air 3 and give it a makeover
  2. Barring that, I would buy this old house and give it a makeover. The lot is huge so I would build a detached unit for my mom
  3. Buy beach property or property in Tagaytay, and build a small beach house, resort or cafe 
  4. Spend at least Php 1 million on art. I’d be happy with an Arturo Luz, a Bencab, and a Geraldine Javier.
  5. Buy a car each for me and Marlon. My tastes are simple, I’d want something cute like a Honda Jazz or Mini Cooper. I would love to have a sporty BMW, but flashy cars in Manila are buwaya magnets
  6. Clean out my sister’s credit card bill (if she hasn’t already by now!)
  7. Give my mom a huge balato to spend as she pleases
  8. Hit Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Miu Miu and YSL. Or basta, go shopping.
  9. Plunk a sizeable amount into insurance and mutual funds
  10. Convince Marlon to take his overdue sabbatical from work and gallivant around Europe for at least a month
  11. Make a generous donation to the Ateneo Scholars Fund. I was a scholar and know how much difference the money can make :)

But since some lukcy bastard already won the jackpot — err, jakpat — I will simply have to content myself with a week of cheap eats, shopping and mani-pedis in Cebu, as well as bumming on the beaches of Bohol… because that is precisely what I’ll be doing starting tomorrow!

A note on the title of this post: this word always reminds me of a semi-hot conyotic-looking guy in one of my classes back in college, whom everyone was crushing on. It was freshman year and nobody really knew each other yet so parang cool and mysterious pa siya.

Anyway, one afternoon in class, a spontaneous pocket of silence opened up for a split second, just enough to let the whole class hear him crow, “Pare, JAKPAT!”  

Ngek. Tinginan ang mga elitistang Atenista. Hindi na siya cute pagkatapos nun. 

4 Comments
Posted on February 12, 2010
Category: Uncategorized · Labels:

This old house

I love old houses.

I love the kind that were built in the 50s and 60s, like our old house on Hydra Street in Bel-Air, with adobe walls, crazy-cut flooring, pendant lights and exposed beams.

Even though I am not wild about jalousie windows or solid wood-panelled walls, there is just something about these old houses that speaks to me. Yes, they might have termites or faulty plumbing or deteriorating kitchens, but they also have architectural details you just can’t find anymore. They have a light, a kind of magic about them that you can’t recreate these days. They remind me of my childhood.

Marlon knows about my love for old houses, but the thought of my… special “abilities”, plus what could possibly be lurking in those old houses creeps him out. So he would rather go for a new house. Still, I am hopeful that if we could find the just right old house, I could convince him to go for a fixer-upper instead.

I recently learned about a lovely old house in Mandaluyong, built in the 60s, which used to belong to a person who was very dear to Marlon and myself (and instrumental in our having met at all!). I used to drive by it every day on the way to work and never knew it belonged to that person. It’s been put on the market and when I saw the photos I couldn’t help myself — I inquired with the seller’s agent.

I hope we can afford it. I would get over my aversion to long-term bank loans for this one. And besides, to assuage my husband’s fears, I’m positive the former owner wouldn’t be lurking around the house anymore. Heaven must have instantaneously feted her arrival with a sumptuous banquet.

Photo courtesy of M. Besa Roxas.

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Posted on January 12, 2010
Category: House & Spouse, Manila Girl at Heart · Labels: ,