My space
.
In this little old wooden cottage I call home, I am surrounded by furniture and things that tell a story. Each chair, table and cabinet comes with memories from my husband's and his parents' childhood. Things that belonged to my own ancestors are temporarily held in my aunts' and uncles' houses. We had to stash them away when we couldn't go back to the Philippines after the revolution. Then I figured I have enough antiques in my current house to furnish another house. So no more antiques for now.
When I first moved in, everything was wooden and carved. In the almost-seven years I've lived here, I've slowly and carefully made our house... ours. I painted the front door red...
Me and my door
Red door, with door knocker Patrick got from an Arab flea market in Haifa, Israel (As a war correspondent, he gets to do some shopping on the side. I have a story about a beautiful carpet he bought for me from Pashtun farmer in Jalalabad, Afghanistan).
and the hallway became pink.... (yes, we are not afraid of paint)
This wall is now back to white.
As I've shared in Urban Zone and in Homestyle magazine, we went through painful but worthwhile renovations last year. We re-did all the bedrooms and bathrooms in the upper floor. And now our rooms are the only soft spaces in our house. They're all white, from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Exactly how we wanted it. But as you all know, one is never really completely finished fixing one's house. There are still so many things I want to do here. We just need a breather so we could live normally.
One of my favourite "rooms" is my little closet. It's the only place where I can have clutter. But I try to keep it constantly edited. Late last year I got rid of 50% of my clothes and 80% of my shoes. I only kept the ones I love and use. Life has been so much easier since.
I ordered new furniture from Kenneth Cobonpue. They arrived two weeks ago. And we are still in the process of rearranging furniture in the living rooms. But one chair goes to my closet. No one really gets to see the beauty of the piece, but I sit on it every day and every night. And every time I do, I fall in love with it even more.
My closet. Renovated August 2008. I used an antique slipper chair in its original floral upholstery.
The new chair in my closet. By Kenneth Cobonpue.
My chair is called "Manolo." Can you see the shoe inspiration? It does remind me of a high heeled shoe. Kenneth named it after Manolo Blahnik. It usually takes Kenneth a year to two years to develop a product. This chair not only looks so "sexy" it actually is very comfortable and ergonomic. The seat has a slightly forward-angle and forces you to keep your back straight and not slouch. But should you want to lean back, the arm rest and back rest are curved in such a way that supports the rest of your body.
Genius!
As for the rest of my house, its going to take me weeks to figure out where to put the rest of my Cobonpue pieces.
.
In this little old wooden cottage I call home, I am surrounded by furniture and things that tell a story. Each chair, table and cabinet comes with memories from my husband's and his parents' childhood. Things that belonged to my own ancestors are temporarily held in my aunts' and uncles' houses. We had to stash them away when we couldn't go back to the Philippines after the revolution. Then I figured I have enough antiques in my current house to furnish another house. So no more antiques for now.
When I first moved in, everything was wooden and carved. In the almost-seven years I've lived here, I've slowly and carefully made our house... ours. I painted the front door red...
Me and my door
Red door, with door knocker Patrick got from an Arab flea market in Haifa, Israel (As a war correspondent, he gets to do some shopping on the side. I have a story about a beautiful carpet he bought for me from Pashtun farmer in Jalalabad, Afghanistan).
and the hallway became pink.... (yes, we are not afraid of paint)
This wall is now back to white.
As I've shared in Urban Zone and in Homestyle magazine, we went through painful but worthwhile renovations last year. We re-did all the bedrooms and bathrooms in the upper floor. And now our rooms are the only soft spaces in our house. They're all white, from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Exactly how we wanted it. But as you all know, one is never really completely finished fixing one's house. There are still so many things I want to do here. We just need a breather so we could live normally.
One of my favourite "rooms" is my little closet. It's the only place where I can have clutter. But I try to keep it constantly edited. Late last year I got rid of 50% of my clothes and 80% of my shoes. I only kept the ones I love and use. Life has been so much easier since.
I ordered new furniture from Kenneth Cobonpue. They arrived two weeks ago. And we are still in the process of rearranging furniture in the living rooms. But one chair goes to my closet. No one really gets to see the beauty of the piece, but I sit on it every day and every night. And every time I do, I fall in love with it even more.
My closet. Renovated August 2008. I used an antique slipper chair in its original floral upholstery.
The new chair in my closet. By Kenneth Cobonpue.
My chair is called "Manolo." Can you see the shoe inspiration? It does remind me of a high heeled shoe. Kenneth named it after Manolo Blahnik. It usually takes Kenneth a year to two years to develop a product. This chair not only looks so "sexy" it actually is very comfortable and ergonomic. The seat has a slightly forward-angle and forces you to keep your back straight and not slouch. But should you want to lean back, the arm rest and back rest are curved in such a way that supports the rest of your body.
Genius!
As for the rest of my house, its going to take me weeks to figure out where to put the rest of my Cobonpue pieces.
.