That message board is an ingenious way to add charm to any home office, it will look amazing in other color as well (mustard? charcoal? red? soft pink? Okay you get my point). The possibilities are endless! I just wish we have some shutters hidden in our load of crap garage.

I went shopping for fabrics at Divisoria.  This is like the heaven for fabric lovers who are cheap! Haha.. It has around 4 buildings filled with all sorts of fabric. And yeah, the price they first tell you is almost always not the price you'll pay for. Haggling is the main game here.

I learned my lesson and tried my hardest to focus on what I need: curtain for the living room, slipcover for our couch, and bright fun print for throw pillows.

I'll be needing 70 yards (70!!!!) for the curtains so my main goal here is to find the cheapest there is!  I even joked before going that I'll find something worth P30/yard (around $0.68/yard).

That is what I went home with. So what is the price you ask? A ridiculous P22/yard. That's $0.50/yard! My total for 70 yards of fabric is only P1540 ($35!!).  Crazy I know. I originally like a much thinner chiffon fabric, but it's double the price, which is still low. But I can't say no to this crazy crazy deal (it's called Gina Silk btw), and I can put the remaining money to other use.

Which is these:

I bought a navy denim fabric for slipcover. Talk about durability. This is much more expensive at P95/yard ($2.16). But it's for a sofa so fabric strength is key. The fun printed fabrics for the throws comes at around P50/yard ($1.14).

But the ADD in me can't help but to steer a little towards other unnecessary fabrics, that's why I bought these:

I love the bright cheery colors, I'd probably make it into accent pillow cases for my bedroom. Still not sure, I'm just trying to formulate a plan so I'll have an excuse for the purchases. Haha.. and I tell you, I held back real hard. There are tons of other fabrics I'd love to bring home!

Here's a peek of the the ridiculously cheap fabric I bought used in one of our many windows:

Pretty decent huh? I love how it glows in the morning!

And here are the remaining windows that still needs a little dress-up:

Yes we have a lot of windows. Different sizes at that. Can't wait for all the curtains to be up, it will totally unify the space! (UPDATE: the curtains are already up. See them here)

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DAD: why is the color so dull?? (referring to the curtain)

ME: We need a neutral simple backdrop for all the bright colors we'll be having around. And can you imagine a super bright colored curtains covering all our walls? We have tons of windows, It will make you crazy.

DAD: why is it sooo long??

ME: Pa, a short hanging seared curtain is not cute okay?

haha!

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And a big props to Yaya Tas, our all around house help who happens to be an amazing sewer. Lucky lucky me.

That is our make-shift cutting table. Looks familiar? :)

This is the last installment of our house's DIY frame gallery series. The first one is my bedroom, then the living room, and then this. This is actually puny and uninteresting compared to the other two. (okay, I don't think that is the best way to entice people to read on! But still you'll read this right? right.)

I just bought 14 pcs 4R frames (the cheapest I could find), and spray painted them black.

That is how our frames looked like for about a month. I told you I have to nag bro#2 just to choose photos. So we just scrape our name in there for the meantime. We actually found additional names from visiting cousins who took the liberty to add themselves on the list. haha.. That might actually be a good idea on some other wall. :)

After the daunting task of choosing just 14 photos, and editing them to have the same look (high contrast, low saturation, with a hint of yellow), this is how the wall looks like now:

We at least have a small gallery in the formerly very neglected space. You'll see the neglected status shortly.

But I wanna show this first:

My favorite photo of the bunch. Haha! Bro #1-3 played with an eyeliner (I know we're all childish! It's in the genes!) and took some funny photos.

BEFORE and AFTER

So here's our hallway before:

I guess neglected is an understatement.

Here it is now:

Don't mind the wires, we'll be fixing that soon. And by "we" I mean my dad.

That's the lifeline of the whole house, the router. :)

This shot shows the color theme of the whole living space. Pretty bright huh? I LAVET!

EDIT: Bro#3 corrected me, it's not eyeliner they used, it's permanent marker! Why oh why would you put marker around your eyes? That's why I remember them sporting that look for a couple of days.

WARNING: This post is not your typical "woohoo look at my room" reveal. It's more like I kinda screwed up and this is where I'm at now.

Remember this room from our "before" house tour?

This used to be the boy's room which I hijacked from them. Here's the room now:

Definitely a lot better, but it's doesn't scream my name. I want my room to call out to me! The problem all started when I didn't follow my moodboard while shopping for curtain fabrics. I got distracted and took home this tropical vintage fabric. It's pretty, and I still love the print, but not for the bedroom.

There's no way I could incorporate fun and bright accents (which I soo love) without clashing with the drape, so I'll be changing it to a more neutral one. (as originally planned! why oh why do I get easily distracted anyway??)

,

This is the other side of the room:

Which is where my home office is today. Supposedly that is! I almost always work on the bed, unless I really need to use a mouse. Yeah, I even do some design work lying down. Bad habit I tell you!

This area is now dubbed the "lonely place" 'cos I rarely sit there. And it doesn't normally look this neat, this is where stuff pile up most of the time! So that table will soon move out, and will be replaced with a secretary desk that I can shut close if needed -probably all the time! I already bought an old one that I will refinish, if only I know what color to paint that thing!

Now this is what I love about my new bedroom:

The closets! I now have three big ones as opposed to one. I only had one closet before, and it's always overflowing even after I organized and removed unwanted stuff. Though it's still a mess behind those closed doors, at least I've got the space to work with.

I have big plans (but definitely on a budget) for this bedroom. My madeover bedroom will experience yet another makeover. Which I will of course share as it progress.  I can't wait! Gawd how come all this decorating is soo tiring? 

Here's another before and after for you. Or I guess before and 'almost' is the appropriate term.

Bid this bedroom goodbye, 'cos you'll not recognized it when I'm done! (That's the spirit Elle! Now go and get to work!)

okay, maybe not me, but my projects are!

It all started when I posted my DIY chandelier, and Brittany from Gallery No. Eight told me to submit it! (and how sweet of you Brittany to be the first comment on the D*S feature, thanks girl!)

Now two of my favorite projects are on one of my favorite site. What a great day! This should give me the push to work on my long list of pending projects!

Head here to see the feature.

Huge thanks to Kate of Design*Sponge! You made my day! ;)

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Welcome to any of you stopping by from D*S! Look around and feel at home. :) You can see all of my favorite projects on the right sidebar. We are currently making over our home and you can read about all the progress here. As to what our house looks like before, you can take a peek at your own risk! :) Thanks for dropping by!

You've see this picture before, and probably noticed something weird.

So here's the story...

I received an email from MOMents (a local tv show on a cable channel here about moms, of course) asking me if I would like to do a segment about home DIYs.  

Here's what's going on in my head after reading the email...

"WHAT?? ME?! speaking on TV? No.. no... ummm... no.."

You see, I've had some not so nice experience taping for a segment before for my clothing shop. My shop was featured and of course I was interviewed. At one point, my mind literally went blank and I stared at the rolling camera for a whole minute without saying a thing! The crew just look at me and said "Whenever you're ready.." How embarrassing!

But I just put my shameful past behind, and send MOMents a reply. What do I've got to lose? Even if some more taping mishap happen, it will not be shown on TV anyway! That's what the editing team is for! :)

And shoot we did! I just tackled few of the projects I made and shared some tips, that I'm sooo sure all of you already know! Yes, I've had a lot of bloopers that I hope no one else will ever see, but it was fun. Everyone's so nice! A big thanks goes out to Anita and the whole crew!

If you're from the Philippines as well, this particular episode will be shown on Feb 5 (tentative) 6:30pm on Net 25. Please please don't make fun of me if you do watch! I think I've said some things that doesn't make any sense. :D

P.S.  I love how their lights make our living room so bright! I wish I could borrow those once I'm done with this place so I could have amazing pictures. Our house is coming along well don't you think? Definitely a lot better than these gruesome before shots.

House of Honey Interiors lives up to their name when they created this office, it's so amazingly suuhwweeet! It's so cozy, personal, and fluffy. Yep, fluffy! I just want to flop down on that chair and chill work.

I saw this room while browsing 10rooms (great blog!) and was immediately smitten. Turquoise, yellow and a touch of pink? Lovely.

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Another great free printable calendar from ThriftCore! Head over there and get yourself a copy of this masterpiece. I say masterpiece 'cos it was designed by yours truly, you gotta love your own right? ;)

Thanks Van for the opportunity to make this for your fabulous readers!

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and lastly...

Rhiannon from From the Heart and Brittany from Gallery No. 8 awarded me this. Thanks ladies!

So I guess I should share 7 things about me, here you go...

1. I can't walk in heels more than 3" high! I try, but ended up sitting all night, or changing to flats in no time. I love how they look though!

2. I have the sweetest sweet tooth there is! For me, a meal MUST always end with anything sweet. Or I'll end up craving the whole day.

3. I love LA. My mom and bro#3 lives there, and I'm hoping I can go back for a visit this year or early next year.

4. I'm cheap. I don't buy shoes or bags amounting to more than P800 (around $18).

5. I love watching TV series! My current shows: Greys Anatomy, Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, How I Met your Mother, True Blood. Past shows that I still watch when I get the chance: Sex and the City and Friends. I LOVE Friends, truly, love them! 

6. Oh more on TV, any show that involves solving a crime I'll watch.

7. I've had a fashion blog prior to this. You know those blog where you post the stuff you wear? Yep, that one. I shut it down. Even though I love clothes, the blog felt more of a chore. And I'm too embarrassed to let friends see the pictures to even keep the blog online. haha

But since you all have been nice to me, I'll share one shot. Just one! 

That's it!

Sharing this to some my blog friends...

1. Thriftcore

2. Meridian Road

3. Almost Never Clever

4. Bella Before and After

5. Type A Decorationg

6. Homemaker on a Dime

Watch out for my bedroom reveal, our hallway before and after, and the camera crew story. ;)