To all the gals out there....

Lets face it, we ladies love pink. Some might deny it trying to avoid being too mainstream or for whatever reason it may be, but deep inside our souls, we are attracted to it.

I had my own love-hate relationship with pink. When I was a kid, I painted my entire room pink. From the walls, to the closets, even the venetian (nakakasugat) blinds I had was pink. Yes, those kinds of blinds was rampant during those days. You can actually still see it today in houses that haven't had any makeover since the 90's. Uyyy.. guilty?! haha... Anyway, as a teenager I had an "I-hate-pink" phase. Feeling cool and all, I repainted everything blue. That was me being cool. Poor child. Now that I am a little older than I wanted to be, I won't deny it, I won't hide it, and I'm proud to say that.. "I LOVE PINK!!"

Unfortunately many men doesn't share our passion for that color. Some might rock bright pink shirts, but only a few of them would tolerate it in interior. 

Once we share a home with the man in our life, how can we incorporate our beloved color without driving your man out?

Here are some compromise that we can do to have pink in a guy-friendly home.

1. LIMIT PINK TO ACCESSORIES

A few toss pillows and small artwork, together with black streamlined furniture and decor would create a space his and hers would enjoy. 

One huge simple abstract artwork with pink hues would do the trick.

AT

This has a bit too many pinks but just change the lamps to a wooden shade (like the one below) and this would be a great "compromise" inspiration. Blue sofa with clean lines, chrome center table, another great neutral artwork  and both of you will live a happy life.

cottages-garden

2. PALE PINK WALLS + MASCULINE FURNISHINGS

If you can't help yourself and wanted pink walls, go pale. Coral even. Nothing too glaring or overbearing. Then furnish your home with stuff he will love.

I can imagine a happy couple having this bedroom. Complete balance of femme and testosterone.

One accent wall and neutral everything. Modern furniture with black accents

sf girl by bay

This is way too feminine, but I really love how they incorporate the graphic industrial wall lamp. Imagine this with a vintage brown leather sofa (see below) and your guy would fit right in. 

elle decor

This will totally man up any room.

retrospective interiors

3. ACCENT PINK FURNITURE

He wouldn't mind some lady accent pieces as long as he's "in" the rest of the space.

Totally warm neutral space having the main piece pink. Not at all man-repellant.   

carolina george

I could see a young hip couple enjoying this loft. All the furnishings have manly shape, even the sofas have clean lines making the girly color not too feminine.

Abigail ahern

Again, a masculine space with a hint of bright pink. 

the lennox

See, you can go bold as long as everything else is to his liking.

Total opposite of the one above. Bright white room with pink thrown here and there. Balancing those hues with black and simple lines.

fry dog design

4. GO WILD IN YOUR PERSONAL SPACE

If he can't really live with it, then just go all out in your personal space. An office perhaps? Or even your closet. Paint the entire interior of your closet any color you love and once the door is shut, he's a happy man.

You see, the key to infusing feminine hues to your home is BALANCE. Combine feminine and masculine elements until you find something both of you will love. 

P.S.

To all the guys out there....

Just let her be! Happy wife = happy life. Haha

After the very gloomy previous post, here's me bringing back sunshine to this blog--a very lovely down-to-earth work space with tons of natural light. Calm, serene, yet creative in its own way. Totally warms my aching flooded heart. haha...

fbd

I've been out of commission lately and this time, I have a valid reason. Our house was once again affected by this massive flooding! I thought the 2009 Ondoy incident was once in a lifetime thing, and would not happen again. Three years later, Habagat proved me wrong.

Oh and this time, it's not even a typhoon (meaning: no name) so we didn't have the privilege to curse it by its name. F U-------?!

AUG 7, 12am

We were all on our toes since the water level is only a few inches before reaching inside. But it subsided big time and we all thought it was over.

5am

 It was up again and this time it's not stopping. Good thing most of us sleep at wee hours so we're all up and alert.  PANIC MODE ON, especially since one light source almost caught fire so we turned off our electricity.

We're all hauling stuff upstairs. Electronics, clothes, mattresses, pillows, my brother's studio equipments, water, can goods, and whatever we can fit into the two bedrooms above sea level. Oh kudos to yaya letty for having the time to cook rice before the house went under. Good thing the BF were with us that time so we had help keeping things moving. Thank you!

My brothers even managed to took snapshots of our house during this time.

7:30am

Hauling is over and we were all upstairs. All 11 of us. We had breakfast (thanks to the newly cooked rice and canned goods) and found nook and crannies amidst all the stuff to settle in and rest. We slept, ate, talk, and waited... waited.... 12 hours later, that flood has not subsided one bit. It would rise a little, go down a little, but it was still there. Our supplies are winding down and we're hoping and praying for the flood to subside. 

Aug 8, 5:30am

Most of us are awake and we're waiting for sunrise to really see what's going on. By the time the sun was up, the water level was down two feet and rescue team came to get us out of house since street flood level was still high. My first time to ride a rubber boat. My dad's waiting for us with lots of food. He didn't make it home the other night due to high flood. Safety finally!

10:00am

We return home to see what this habagat did to our house. 

Furniture all jumbled up.

Mud was everywhere and was on everything in sight.

Didn't even know where to start.

It's been a week and it's still not back to normal. TOO much cleaning to do. It's in a better state but that stinky water smell is still there. But everyone's on high spirits and taking it on stride. I'm just hoping that no ondoy nor enormous habagat rain would ever do this again. But unless someone do anything about it, drainage system, proper garbage disposal, etc etc, then one could only hope. 

So my dear clients, please bear with me. I'll be fully yours again shortly. :)

While dreaming about my future home, a place that is only real in my mind, I thought about doing concrete flooring. Not because it's the most amazing choice, but I'm dreaming about a house I can afford to build. Yes, I want to build a house! I can just imagine all the custom stuff I can put in there instead of  updating a cookie cutter townhouse that is insanely expensive. I want a place that is really cost efficient. 

No tile/wood flooring = lesssss cost!

I'm not into the really pristine look, so I won't mind the imperfections a concrete floor might bring. Just worried about the "coldness" of this choice, but you can cozy up the space in other ways. To be honest,  I'm loving this. Whenever I went to showrooms with concrete floors, I'm falling even more in love with it. Haha...

You know my stand, what's yours?

Love it or Hate it?

interior design

With its neutral color, it will pair up well with many hues. Add some wood elements to warm up the space a bit.

naturally modern

When you think of concrete floors, your mind goes directly to industrial design.  But you may take it in another direction. Using traditional and feminine decor and furniture will transcend the industrial and make it glamorous. 

home to decor

Lots of white and punches of colors looks great with these floors too.

idt

Or take its macho character and go with it. Some industrial finishes and sleek vintage wood furniture would be great for a bachelor's pad. 

design attractor

Another thing that I like about it is I think it's so low maintenance. It's used in home depots and garages for a reason right?

inspiralia

Concrete + black + wood + tons of white = lovely

positively beauty

And for those who love it that much, take it up the wall.

jam

I think I'm sold on going this route if ever some miracle money comes my way and I can finally build a house. But if the miracle is so miraculous that I won some sort of millions in lottery, I'm pretty sure I'll be installing wood. :)

So, love it or hate it?

I can finally share the details and sets for this shoot we did a while back. :) We did 5 layouts using their extensive range of furniture and decor. It was fun decorating with a lot of pretty options within arms reach. Feeling ko nag lalaro lng ako promise. I have all my "toys" (as in books, jars, decorative pieces, etc etc!) around and piecing them together to create a set. That is my kind of game. :)

These are behind the scenes and the published catalogue. 

The Vibrant Reading Nook.

All you need is a pop of colorful chair and accessories to bring any room to life.

These two were shot separately but were used to interpret how one key piece (sofa) can by styled differently based on your style and personality.

The Fun Casual Chic

Streamlined Glam

*On the set making sure those shades were straight straight straight!

One sofa, different style. Both feminine, but totally opposite personality.

Femme Glam

Slated Elegance

I really like this seating. Its formal but comfy as well. The neutral color would be great for any room.

Urban Jungle

You won't only see animal prints on the runway, you can find it in home furnishings too. 

Here they are all together. These were shots from my camera. Super excited to see the final outcome so I edited these the moment I got home. Haha

Styling for Crossings Home was a fun experience. Thank you Ms Xandra and Renee for letting me do this shoot. :)

Visit Crossings Home (Quezon Ave, Trinoma and Shangri-la) to see their collection. You can also grab a copy of their 2012 catalogue at their branches, or like their facebook page.

'Til nextime! :)

Oh hello... So the changes I was referring to are my twitter handler, instagram name, and email address.

From switcheroom, they are now elleuydecor. 

I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I finally did it. I had a few people misspell switcheroom a couple of times before, and its really hard to say my email address over the phone.. 

Me: "switcheroom@gmail.com"

Other line: "come again?"

Me: "SWITCHEROOM@GMAIL.COM"

Other line: "switch....? room?"

Me: "S-W-I-T-C-H-E-R-O-O-M"

Other line: "slower please"

Me: "elleuydecor!!!"

Hahahaha.... that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it really does happen. 

And since we're in the story of confused phone conversations, I have another one.

Other line: "Can I get your name please?"

Me: "Elle Uy"

Other line: "ELOY?"

Eloy????? k fine bye. Haha...

Anyways, I will still be checking my old email add, but will be corresponding via the new one. If you've got inquiries, hit me up. elleuydecor@gmail.com

follow me: http://twitter.com/ElleUyDecor

:)

Since that's out of the way, here are a few snapshots from my current projects. These are actually instagram photos, so if you follow me there, these will be all too familiar.

MORE THAN A STARTER HOME

Here are the frames we hang at their living room. 

The custom-made yummy tufted yellow sofa. Envious.

Powder room wallpaper and mirror

TOWNHOME CHARM

Here's the walk-in closet wallpaper. Shimmering. :)

A very affordable glamourous chandelier for the walk-in.

Living room lighting and sheer white curtains.

Custom tufted sofa and orange throw pillows. Love the patterns.

Bedroom light and the black & white stripe curtains. Very dramatic. 

This is from a yet to be posted project. But I just wanted to share this bar table I designed for this house.  The left door opens to a mini-fridge. Wine rack underneath, and that tray in the model can pull-out like drawer for easy access. :) I so love it.