"Top Design"

I'm still not over my "Top Design" phase and still not satisfied with how my apartment looked. Last weekend, I again stayed up most of the night cleaning and rearranging stuff in my house.



The hanging lamp (shaped like a lotus flower) is an IKEA lamp (costing P2,100 in Ikea Makati retailer), the painting I bought in Greenhills a few months ago (I originally planned on buying a painting with blue and green as dominant colors for my bedroom but the allure of the jewel tones and reds made me purchase this). I covered a piece of glass found in the apartment with black sticky paper (I don't know what this is called but it is generally used for lining drawers and cabinets).

I also like some modern metal musician figures I bought from Landmark (I think about P200 each).





The black jars I bought from One Price in Waltermart Makati for P99 each. I just love jars with the metal thingy for lock. I use the three for storing my coffee sachets, coffee stirrers and iced tea powder.

I also added shelf near my refrigerator and used this to store and display my Melaware plates (they would not fit in my dish rack).



I bought the shelf wood from SM, sawed some part off to get the appropriate length. I bought the "terrace" wood from Japan Home Center, drilled holes in the shelf wood and put the "terrace columns" in the holes.

Long before I took these pictures, I realized that something's wrong with the orchid flower. Only upon looking at interior design magazines late last night did I realize that the flower needs to be bent a little (rather than pointing straight up).



Right now, I'm still not satisfied completely with the apartment. I will add another set of shelves near my bedroom door. After completing the living room/kitchen/bedroom floor, I'll be doing the top floor which has the bathroom, a walk-in closet (actually a small room where I put all my clothes) and a roofed outside space for doing laundry and as an additional storage space.

I went to Evangelista last Sunday to look for some stuff that I can use. I found nothing. Most of the items sold there are like really old, or are Victorian in style (which is not my style).

I also went to the antique arcade in Kamuning (near EDSA). I only liked some classical sculptures (head of David by Michaelangelo, a bust of a Roman Emperor or a Greek/Roman god, busts of some other Greek/Roman deities or historical people). I liked a sculpture of two bearded men wrestling but I found it too gay. The men were naked and one guy is holding the other's sizable penis in his hand. Too much of a giveaway.

When doing and reading for my "top design" work, I realized:

1. Interior design is not cheap.
2. Minimizing (or hiding clutter) is the best way to go.
3. Buying small tchotchkes is not a good practice. They clutter a space and makes a small space even seem smaller. Buy select pieces in the appropriate size. As for me, I'll just be saving to buy paintings and sculptures that I like.

This long weekend, I'll be coming back to Ikea Makati (Ikea Kamias is a big disappointment - not too many products sold), going to Dapital arcade (in QC) and probably to Megamall, Greenhills and Tiendesitas.