Fabric Samples

One of these options will go on the sofa:

And here's what I've chosen for the curtains:

 

I'm not really into plaid or the color yellow, but somehow this is what will end up on one of the wing chairs:

The fabric pictured above are all from Larry's Hitex Division, Inc. (formerly Larry's Curtains) in Divisoria which is currently having a sale. They're getting rid of old inventory to make way for new stock. But even without the sale, their rates are way cheaper than the prices found in the SM Megamall branch (Php 350 versus Php 950).

According to one of the sales agents, the family that owns Larry's Curtains have divided the stores. So the Divisoria branch is owned by one brother, the SM Megamall store is owned by another brother, and the one on South Expressway is owned by yet another brother.

Note: The ones I bought range from Php 150/yard (curtains) to Php 485/yard (sofa).

A Guide to Hanging Photos

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I found the link for these from a local chat group. To view the original images, you can click here and here.

Seeing Red

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Yup, we're painting the front door red. Originally, I was leaning more towards dark green but when I checked online for pictures of blue houses, I saw that most of them had red doors. Considering I've always loved the color cherry red, I thought it was perfect.

Currently, our front door is painted white but I've noticed that it gets dirty very easily and I have no wish to spend most of my days wiping the door down.

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Then again, the green below also looks good:

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Oh dear, I can't seem to make up my mind...

My Head in the Clouds

I had so much fun thinking of what we hope to do for the house this year that I've decided to take my daydreaming a step further! This post will be about the stores that I would love to shop in once we win the lottery...

But first up, my pick for interior decorator: Celerie Kemble. In some parallel universe, we are able to hire Ms. Kemble to fix up the house. Sigh. I loved her book, To Your Taste, which (to quote from the back cover) "...teaches you how to think like an interior decorator and create rooms that tell your story - with substance and style." Here are a couple of pictures of her work that I like best:

The following establishments have almost everything needed for the house - furniture, tableware, bed & bath items, lamps, home accessories and even wallpaper - so I'll just list them in alphabetical order:

Laura Ashley

You can view their online catalogue here.

Pottery Barn

You can view their online catalogue here.

The great thing about their websites is that they've already hired decorators to help showcase their products so you'll easily get an idea how to arrange things. In fact, they offer their design services so you can hire them for your house (that is if you live in their area).

And with the Pottery Barn, they have a section on decorating where you can try out their room planner and check their gallery of room ideas.

By the way, I am not connected to any of the stores mentioned in this post. It's just that I really love the style they represent so I've decided to feature them as I hope to be able to re-create the same look in our house. But since we can't hire them (they are not in our budget range or in the same continent), I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

UP Lantern Parade

You may ask, what does the University of Philippines (UP) Lantern Parade have to do with the house? The answer: six or nine. Pictures that is.

I've decided that we will print out six or nine of the photographs taken last night, frame them in white and arrange them in a grid. These photos will then go in the lavender room:

The plan is to decorate the whole house with framed photos and each set will be about a specific subject. The ones for the staircase, for example, will come from our recent vacation, the green room will have a series on our wedding, and so on. It will be like the house telling our story which is not only more personal but also easier on the pocket.

Color Schemes

I recently changed the look of this blog - it used to have a yellow and green polka dot background. But when Blogger came up with new templates, I decided it was time for Two Storeys to get a make-over.

The colors chosen for this new look represent the colors that we are planning to use for the house. Here are the color schemes for each room:

Ground Floor

The picture on the left is for the living, dining and kitchen areas. We also plan to extend this scheme to the stairwell and the second floor hallway. The color shown on the right is for the bathroom in combination with the tiles shown here.

Guest Bedroom

 
 

Study Room

 
 

Master's Bedroom

 
The ivory color you see on the left will be used in the bathroom to be paired with the tiles shown here. The bluish green color on the right is actually the color of our current bedroom. We're going to use it again for our new bedroom as Earl says it makes him feel calm and relaxed.

Note: All images shown here were obtained online over the last three years. Thus I can no longer pinpoint the websites where the images were taken.

DIY Inspiration: Young House Love

I love what this couple did to their house and the best part is, they did it themselves!

Sherry and John's blog "Young House Love" details how they transformed each room of their first home on their own.

Admittedly, the local scene is not as conducive to do-it-yourself (DIY) than in the United States. And oddly enough, considering our economy, it seems that the Philippines is more of a "hire someone to do it for you" type of culture. Probably because labor is cheap?

But what they've done gives me hope that it is possible to have a nicely decorated house without hiring an interior designer. Here's a sample of their home make-over:

BEFORE

AFTER

For more before and after pictures, check our their House Tour.

Design Folder: Idea Files For Your Ideal Space

There's a plethora of western websites and blogs on interior design but hardly any local ones. So it was a pleasant surprise to find out about Design Folder.

While they still feature foreign photos, there's a lot of information on local design, furniture stores, art, etc. Here's a quote from their first post:

"Some may argue that there are already a lot of foreign websites dealing with design and decoration. The problem is that their information, suppliers, and design ideas are often not applicable to our local setting, aesthetic taste, and budget (let’s face it, most of us can’t afford to execute many of their design tips).

Design Folder would like to fill that virtual spot."

Happy reading!