A Sneak Peek into Our Home

Our house was used as a backdrop for GH's main fashion story for June (yup, June! For us, in the magazine world, summer is over!). Since everyone will probably be staring at the gorgeous model when the issue comes out, allow me to give you glimpses of it sans pretty girl.

Our sofa normally stands in the middle of the first floor, defining the edge of the living area and effectively separating it from our dining area. But for the shoot, we pushed it against the wall under the stairs, because I wanted to give the beautiful antique mirror from my family home its 15 minutes of fame.

I once thought of spray-painting this mirror, but my husband convinced me not to. He likes the aged feel of it, and it looks like it's got more character. I'm glad he talked me out of another DIY project.

At the top of the stairs is that wall I painted with stripes. We have since added a set of frames, hung by my husband. Photos: the two of us in Indian attire at my BFF's wedding; at our wedding; in Ilocos; during one of my first tournaments; in Bohol; and in Bali, bungee jumping!

That chandelier still makes me smile. And I still stop and look at the pics sometimes.

We shot one layout in the dressing room. It's actually meant to be a small bedroom, but since there's just two of us in a three-bedroom place, and not enough closet space in the master bedroom, I kind of commandeered the room.

My sister-in-law got me that print from Etsy. It's by this talented artist.

That mirror is something I got from a department store. It had a wood laminate frame, but one weekend I decided to get busy...

That, my friends, is what happens when your husband goes surfing for a couple of days and you decide to stay home to keep your freckles from being coaxed out by the sun! I so wanted to do a how-to post, but since I can't find my Blackberry cable, I can't download the photos from my BB.:( It's just pretty gift wrapper cut into little segments and stuck onto the frame using a mixture of glue and water. (Tips: Use a paintbrush to evenly apply the glue on the wrapper. Get dried-up glue off of glass using nail polish remover.)

I've seriously been thinking about buying an industrial-style shelf from Handyman.I spotted one at Preview creative director Vince Uy's cube and I wanted one for myself! This shoot gave me a chance to give it a test run. (Hullo, pullout!)

The white urn was supposed to be on that stack of books on the bottom shelf, but the photog wanted something to break the line of the top of the shelf, so...

Verdict: I am definitely buying! It's perfect for our guest room/study (we might need a longer one, though, to accommodate the books we have here). Handyman has it in other colors; I'm most likely getting it in white. Oh, that gold chair from Dimensione (love) is normally in the living room. What we have in the guest room is an antique-y-looking carved chair with upholstery that has seen better days. I intend to have it refurbished just as soon as my designer friend's sched allows. (I've already got the fabric for it! Will post a before and after once it's done!)

And finally, the master bedroom.

That normally isn't what my side table looks like. On a non-shoot day, I have a small lamp from Ikea (this lovely lamp was given to me by Regalong Pambahay and will find a place in the guest room), a stack of books, eye cream, phones, etc.

In true OC can't-sleep-in-an-unmade-bed fashion, this bed was perfectly made up for the shoot, but photog Sara Black wanted a more casual, rumpled look. I do think it's quite lovely! Makeup artist Omar (who did my makeup on my wedding day!) joked that I put a lot of effort into painting the headboard--but unlike the striped wall in the hallway, this was done by the pros!

So that concludes the grand tour! Just a few more touches here and there--a ginormous plant in the living area (still iffy about this since tiny Spike the Cactus is dying in my care :s), frames in the dressing room, stuff to make an interesting coffee tabletop tableau... Getting closer to the day when our house could appear in Real Living and be a star on its own!