The TV Area Project: Finale

As always, let's start with a quick recap, shall we?

 BEFORE

AFTER

As you can see, I took out the shoe rack and replaced it with a revarnished antique galinera, which was originally part of the old living room. This is where we usually put on/take off our shoes.

The TV Area Project: Overview

Hello, I'm back! So to continue with my renovation series, I now present to you Project #2: The TV Area! For those who missed Project #1: The Living Room, simply click here.

For a complete lounging-in-the-living-room experience, of course you need a nice entertainment system, and I'm not just talking about the appliances. Sure, you have a 46" TV and state-of-the-art sound system, but you must see to it that the area doesn't look like an appliance store. In short, you need to treat the space as a whole--the shelves and what you put on it matters, too. Again, to relate it to fashion... having a designer bag is useless if you're pairing it with a ratty duster and flip flops. 

This is how our old TV area looked like:

HOW TO: Photo Wall

Perfectly painted walls are cool, but it doesn't stop there. Just like fashion, a plain tee will look much much better if you put on some bling. You can easily bring character to your space by hanging some artwork that best reflects your personality. Paintings are top of mind, but for some (like us) who wants something more personal, photo walls are a much better and cheaper alternative.

So how to begin? First and foremost, know your proportions. How big is the space and how many frames do you want to include? Here are sample layouts to choose from:

Source

The Living Room Project: Finale

Welcome to the final installment of the living room series! Here's Part 1 and Part 2 if you want to know more. For a quick recap, I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Before

Progress

Are you ready?

The Living Room Project: Progress

Now that we're all set with the concept and costing, the first step was to remove the mirrored cabinet.

It took 5 men to take it down

Initially, we thought the whole thing was antique, and we were surprised to find out that only the doors were made of narra and the rest of the structure was just ordinary plywood. So we just preserved the doors and stored them upstairs, just in case Mitor's mom wants to rebuild it.

The Living Room Project: Overview

Let's start, shall we?

Remember when I said I was sooo excited to decorate? Well, let me give you a short brief first. 

This townhouse is owned by Mitor's parents--a simple, techie couple who's more into function than design. As long as it works, they're fine. You need something to sit on? Here's a random chair. You need to cover the windows? Here's a piece of cardboard that you can use (I'm not kidding). So when the family decided to move here about 10 years ago, they brought most of their stuff with them and tried to squeeze everything in. Case in point: the living room.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

So the living room's main attraction is that huge antique mirrored cabinet which was owned by Mitor's great grandmother (hence, the sentimental value). The two armchairs came from an old office, then the wood bench is antique, too.

HELLO, WORLD!

Hi, my name is Kabbie and I am a design addict. Actually, I'm a fashion editor by profession but I've always had a secret love affair with decorating ever since my parents built our home in 2005. I was raised in a small rented townhouse in the city with my two older siblings, our dear yaya, and three dogs. Yes, that's a total of nine warm-blooded creatures (with puberty issues) cramped in a 3-BR, 2-storey home and naturally, the perfect formula for chaos. Aside from having too much stuff and not enough space, there were also lots of fighting over the TV (we only had one), the bathroom (also just one), and the computer (you guessed it right).

So chaos was something I grew up with, but thanks to mom, she turned our home into a beautiful mess. She has a knack for making things look pretty and organised without spending a fortune, and I guess that's where I got my bargain-hunting skills and semi-OCness from (yes, I'm not yet a Monica, but I love her to bits). So even if our house was small, it looked nice, comfy, and very homey.

But having a new and bigger abode was something that we've always dreamt about. It really was our family's biggest dream. And then as fate would have it, we moved out of the apartment and built our very own house when I turned twenty.