Of houses and decorating.

I've been living independently for three years now, could you believe that? Even I myself find it hard to believe, but yeah, here is a post I wrote back in 2008 to prove it :) The past three years of living on my own (the first two were spent with housemates though) are filled with lots of staying out late, Internet-induced sleepless nights, quite a few house parties, a number of financial strains, several new closets and clothes to fill them with, and of course, lessons on life. Though it gets hard sometimes because I only get to see my family on weekends, I cannot deny that I have grown up a lot.

Now let me tell you that the most important thing in declaring independence is the house where you will live in. Safety and security of the place should be your priority when choosing a place. As for me I live close to the office so I save a lot on transportation costs, as compared to when I used to take a cab all the time to and from my family's house in Navotas and my office in Quezon City. I also live near SM Fairview, SM North EDSA, and TriNoma, so I don't run out of malls to visit during idle afternoons ;)

You can choose the next most important thing, but for me personally, it is how well you like the place you will live in. Whether it's a condo unit, a studio-type apartment, or even a bedspacer, comfort should not be sacrificed because it will serve as your abode for the next few months or years (or until the lease runs out). I've lived in four other different apartments ever since I moved out, and it is only now that I am in my fifth house that I am free to customize what the house looks according to my liking. (The previous houses didn't give much leeway when it comes to creativity because of conflicting tastes with housemates, contract with the landlord that prohibits us from "customizing" the unit, and space constraints.)

I want to prettify my current apartment so badly, even more so after Ana and I visited Jak 'en Poy (An Interior Design Exhibit of Sustainable Proportions) at the former SuperSale Club of SM North EDSA a couple of weeks ago.

We were invited by Raleene to check out her and her Philippine School of Interior Design batchmates' final outputs for their class, and we were blown  away!

Jak ‘en Poy centers on twenty different spaces designed in creatively planned solutions. Stone, steel, concrete, paper, glass, wood, bamboo, rubber, plastic and clay will be given a totally new meaning as it goes beyond the usual applications and break barriers to focus on totally different take on interiors. Jak ‘en Poy celebrates integral concepts in design and strengthens the bond between the academe and the interior design industry as it unfolds a new interpretation of sustainable materials, this time making it analogous to unique, ground-breaking and stylized interior designs.

We weren't allowed to take pictures so I guess you have to go there to look at the 20 different rooms ;) Or if you live far away, you can check out the photos on Raleene's blog here. The exhibit is ongoing until the end of the month so if you are able to, make sure to check it out! :)

My future house will have a chandelier as pretty as this, I promise :)

Seeing what great jobs they did inspired me to revamp my own apartment-decorating as well. Right now I'm excited to decorate Camp Krissy in time for Christmas! I will put fairy lights all over and I swear it's going to look amazing :)

I really hope I can have time to visit the exhibit again before it ends. I assure you they're all worth a second visit so I hope you guys can take a peek next time you're around the area!