Category Archives: home interior design

talk about home

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If you have Six Million Philippine Pesos, it would go a long way in the Philippines if you’re planning to buy a house and lot and decorate it besides.

But we’re not based in the Philippines and we have to plan accordingly based on where we are based. Now, Japan. And if you live in the city like we do, and a city close to Tokyo at that, real estate prices really do skyrocket. Our previous researches points to houses with area of ~60sq.m. that’s priced at roughly (tadaan!) 60 MILLION YEN.

And that’s just the house. You have to buy your furnitures and home fixtures and home decors right? Plus the curtains, the carpet, the rugs, the linen. And of course you need to have those home interior goodies coordinate and compliment with each other in terms of colors and theme right?

I was window shopping yesterday in Bo Concept in Queens. I was daydreaming already as I walked around the place (and I’d say they have such a huge place for their display) and wondering how much should we earn for us to have our dream home already. The good store lady gave me a brochure. Guess, I’ll continue daydreaming with that.

Earlier, I was complaining about the expensive furnitures here in Japan with some colleagues and Teof recommended I go visit Nitori in Jack’s Mall. He said though that it would be good to browse their website first.

And boy it was such a good suggestion. The website told me it’s not a bad idea to dream, alright.

Do browse. http://www.nitori.co.jp/en/index.html

I love their digital catalogues. And I most love the kitchen part. Do check out the oh-so-convenient cupboards. Even if you’re of a petite stature, you don’t have to get a chair or a small ladder just so you can access your cupboards.

Ja. It’s 11:45 pm now. I guess it’s high time to continue dreaming about our dream house.

Happy dreaming minna-san (everyone)!

furniture leg socks

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When our dining set was delivered to us, Watanabe-san put some thin brown cardboard on the bottom of each table and chair leg so as to protect the wooden floor from any scratches when we move the furnitures during usage. Alas though, it appears it wasn’t enough.

So I finally bought our furnitures some socks. I wanted the brown-pink pattern, consistent with our house motif, but the packs the shop has for the pretty brown-pink pattern weren’t enough to cover all our dining chairs’ legs. Hence, I opted for this one.

I tagged this as “only in Japan” since it was in Japan that I saw these first, some 7 years ago I think. I do believe though, that these socks are already available in Manila.

 

getting started

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As what Hubbie posted previously, we’re now together, and we’re so thankful for it. Now I just have to secure my reentry visa and hope there’ll be no hitches so I’ll be able to return to Manila to do the last minute preps for our wedding. Both Japan Embassy in Manila and Japan Foreign Affairs here already assured us there’ll be no hitches but still, I want to be on the safe side… 😀 

Will try to post next time all the documentations involved with my migration and hope it’ll be of help to those who are also processing their papers. And I have to make time as well in making a feedback (and I have to find that feedback paper as well for their contact details!) to CFO’s PRISM. The way they handled and have handled Japanese spouses deserve setting aside some time to give my feedback. Please do expect a 2 page letter or so from me. When..uhm…until I have everything settled here.

Now, on to happy things. Hubbie welcomed me with one of my favorite things. Now, already 5 days after, they’re still as beautiful and fresh-looking as on the first day. Atsushi really did treat me like a pricess on my birthday. 🙂

i'm already 5 days old!

We’re trying to get our home organized and styled and it sure can be quite overwhelming!! But I am having a good time so I sure am not complaining. My most notable changes so far are the kitchen area along with the counter area and the bathroom sink (two places in the house that I am most particular with along with the toilet of course – they should be clean always, as much as possible!). Tidy frog can help me do the job.

Yesterday, I went to Maita Ward Office for my alien card registration. Walked from Gumyoji to Maita to try explore the place. Came along a furniture shop and finally found the dining table that I’ve been looking for. Eureka moment, yes! It’s wooden and it has chairs that has a slim, elongated back, which would help us exude the effect of having a bigger place than it really is. The wood color is quite dark but the chair upholstery is white so it’s just perfect. We can also have a light-colored table runner to, again, help us in bringing the effect of a bigger place. It’s quite interesting that the store people used a malong (traditional in Mindanao) as a table runner. It’s a sign?? hehe. It’s quite expensive though! And so of course, I asked for a discount – me in my broken Japanese (or more like one Japanese word at a time) and the store clerk in pure Japanese. We somehow understood each other though. He said that if I buy the one on display (it is in very good condition actually) and not have a new one made, we can have 30k yen discount (we can already buy two cabinets with that discount!). They’re open on saturdays so I can bring Hubbie along this weekend and hope he’ll like it as well so we can have a dining table already.

It’s just funny though, my audacity to do some haggling even when I only know a smattering of Japanese words. haha. Well, bringing along a calculator, or using your cellphone’s calculator is the only secret actually. All store owners, in any language probably, knows the english word “discount” 😀

The washing machine-dryer takes 6 hours to finish though, using the automatic mode. Totally not electricity efficient and not environment-friendly. Have to experiment using the washer only and try hanging the clothes outside. I worry about environment yo…

Hubbie’s plants

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I dearly hope I can see you soon.

Leaning against one of the potted plants is a Mother and Child artwork we bought last Dec 31 in Boracay. Hubbie and I were moved with the story of the kid selling the artwork that we decided to buy two pieces (for a good discount hehe).

On another note, I thank God that I have such a sweet husband.

home interior design!

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Excited and pre-occupied seems like an understatement to how we are these days. But we ain’t complaining of course, we’re loving every minute of it!! “Ichi go ichi e” as one of our favorite mentor and one of our ninong Nagano-san, told us. Make the most out of every moment, do your best with what is at hand because you only pass by this moment once. =)

So on top of beating deadlines, dealing with office drama and finding our way in this engineering maze, Hubbie and I have to process some very important paperwork, prepare for our perfect and beautiful wedding and prepare for ourselves a beautiful home as well. Hence, in between obtaining important documents and researching for good wedding detail ideas, we need to keep an eye open as well on home decor ideas. Got started yesterday. And i sure am loving every minute of it.

Three essential tips on home interior designing that i’ve learned so far:

  1. keep a single theme
  2. for small condos, invest on vertical decors and furnishings that adds to the illusion of length
  3. for small condos, keep light and pastel colors on your furnishings and decors to help add to the illusion of space

I know mirrors do add to the illusion of space, but i’m not too keen on keeping a big one – yes, i’d just get scared with it at midnights.

This one would be great in our tatami-floored living room, in front of the kutatsu, hehe! But it’s at 30,000pesos!! So it probably would remain as just an “idea”.

The cheery brown wood version of this lamp would be perfect on the corner of our living room

Hubbie and I both agree we’ve got to have live green (and flowering if possible!) plants inside our house. This wooden stand with multiple levels having plants and picture frames with our photos alternately decorating its shelves would be lovely on the corner of our dining room.

Plants and a candle atop its rocky ceramic holder would be great on our toilet. We still don’t know what to do with that weird condensate piping though……suggestions are very much welcome.

You got to make the most out of the space you have in your condo hence a couch with drawers underneath would be very efficient.

My dream house in mind has got bay windows in it. Our condo now do have a pseudo-bay window albeit it can’t fit our butts in it. But it has got enough space for a lampshade and a vase of flower hence i’m thankful with it already. Plus, with the lampshade up there, we can have more space on the floor for some other what-nots.

So, till the next home decor ideas hopping! Hopefully my next post is all about entourage flowers. =)