Memories Of A Swing

Do you know that this swing is already more than 10 years old? This was my gift to my daughter Mikz when she was about 3 to 4 yrs old. That time, we were still staying on our first house and since she's always left at home with my Mom and her nanny, as I am busy at work, I've thought of buying this swing so she could have something to play with when bored. If I can remember it right, I just bought it for less than Php6,000, but now, it's so shocking that the price has gone up to about Php12,000 to Php15,000. Luckily, we were able to maintain it by repainting it every two years. Actually, this swing was already repainted with all the possible colors you can think of (lol).

Anything that you bought, if properly taken care of will surely lasts a long time. This is perfect not only for her but for all of us who usually sits here whenever we would like to get a fresh air outside the house. This is also the first place that my kids friends would normally go to whenever they visit the house.

Would you like to have one, too?

Happy 2012 !

Kim Chiu's New House

Few days ago, I had the chance to see the video footage from Kris TV featuring Kim Chiu's new house. Prior to this, I already bought YES magazine which also featured some photos from Kim Chiu's new house. Since, I am running a home blog, I'm always excited to see celebrity houses being featured. Not only they are inspiring but you could also get a lot of ideas on interior designs.

Here are some of the photos of Kim Chiu's house featured on YES magazine:

Here is the front view of her new house :

What you can see inside the house:

This is the walk in closet of Kim and you can see how organized she is with her personal things. She has a huge collection of signature bags and shoes and all her clothes were neatly arranged per color. Even her watches and accessories were all properly and neatly arranged. When I watched Kris TV, Kim explained that she loves to collect signature bags and these served as a reward to herself during a hard day's work.

The area outside the house:

Her elegant bathroom complete with a steam room and jacuzzi:

It's very inspiring to see how a young girl struggled to build such a beautiful house for herself and her family. Unlike the others who just content themselves with the luxuries that life can offer while still earning big, Kim Chiu proved to be an exception. She was able to build her dream house with such a short time and as what she said during the interview on Kris TV, she had a painful experience in the past which involves her family and she can very well see how their family struggled paying off their debts and this is one thing that she never wishes to happen again.

Merry Christmas To All!

Home Sweet Home would like to greet you all a very merry Christmas! May peace and love of the Lord be with us always.

Tornado Mop

Just came from Clark at Pampanga to process my OEC at POEA. It was fortunate that we've finished early and had the chance to pass by at SM City Clark to have our lunch. While we were looking around the home and kitchen section, I happened to see a sales lady endorsing the tornado mop. After asking a series of questions, I was convinced to buy one for the house. I am planning to buy a mop actually as our current one looks like over used already and cleaning the floor would no longer be efficient. I think this is a good buy especially that it was on sale at 50% off the actual price.

This is the actual photo of the mop that I bought:

To give you an idea of what pushed me to buy this mop, please watch this:



I find that this tornado mop is user friendly and would certainly make your task really easy. No need to touch the mop with your hands when washing and drying.

We haven't use it yet, so we'll see....

Kitchen Storage Cabinet

Found this cabinet with 5 layers shelves on sale. I bought it for Php1,600. I was actually looking for a storage cabinet for my grocery items but I am looking for something tall and slim that would fit the small space beside the refrigerator. Upon seeing this, I just thought it's perfect for my requirement. The materials used are considered of good quality and I like it's color.

Bath Room Organizing Ideas

When we had our windows replaced with tinted sliding glasses few months ago, there were left over brown glasses and since these glasses are quite expensive, we might as well maximize it's usage. So, instead of just leaving these unattended in the storage area or just throw away, we've decided to fabricate organizer racks for the bathroom out of these left over glasses. These racks were used to store some toiletries for easy access and storage.

It was just perfect as it matches our previously installed brown sliding door which actually divides out toilet and bath room. I really loved it's bamboo design which created an elegant look.

Our bath room color motif is blue, so we did our best to coordinate all the colors of the bathroom accessories with a shade of blue from trash can, to floor mat, to wall mirror frame, to wall clock. Everything that you could see in the bathroom is blue or at least have a shade of blue.

We were able to save a few bucks by recycling the left over glasses which were used for our windows. Practical idea, isn't it?

Linking to:

Figurine Collection

I was cleaning the living room yesterday when I decided to check my figurine collection inside my curio cabinet. Those Buddha figurines were purchased from Cambodia and those Vietnamese lady figurines were purchased from the Tan Soh Nhat Airport during one of my trips. The calendar girls collection and the blue jars were purchased from a relative who used to sell ceramics from way way back. The last jar was a gift from a friend during the time that I'm still working in the Philippines.

I actually had a number of ceramics in the house as I loved to collect them but now, I already stopped since I work overseas and I hate to see that there's always one broken everytime I get back home (lol).

What I love to collect now are paintings since these are cheap in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

How about you? Do you love collecting things too?

Green Outdoors

The family had decided to retain the green theme for the outdoors. From the fence, gates, terrace, outdoor wall paints.

Well.... it should be fine though coz I've been a "green fan" ever since and I just love the "cool effect" of this color to the surroundings. With so many plants and flowering plants around the yard, this definitely gives an exciting view for everyone to see.

Son's Room

I would like to commend my son for having neatly arranged his blue themed bedroom. He was able to fix his book shelf and entertainment corner as neat as possible. He himself framed all his posters in the room. Naruto is his theme for his bedroom and his color motif is a combination of light blue, white and black.

Hmmm...way to go son! You're slowly adapting my passion for decorating. I'm sure we have a lot more projects to work together when I reached home by Monday.

My Dream Bathroom

When we built our second house almost 8 years ago, we did not have much time to prepare and design every room according to how we like it to be. Over the past years, we were trying to introduce improvements to the house and just use our imagination and sheer creativity to make the most out of it. We have done minor changes, make overs and the likes but there is one project that has always been left behind and that is the construction of an additional bathroom. A bathroom is one of the busiest rooms in the house, thus I am thinking of a bathroom design that is complete with all the basic amenities, clean, simple but elegant.

There are lots of modern equipment that were already introduced in the market and all what we need to do is just to choose one that best suits our requirements. A heated towel rail is one example. Modern bathroom designs now often consider this as an essential piece because of it's functionality, not to mention it's accentuating effect. How do you like the idea of having your towels always warm and bacteria free? You can always choose a design that perfectly fits your bathroom. The overall theme and bathroom size are some of the things to be considered. As for me, these are the designs that I would like to have if I would have the chance to purchase one for my future project.

I think there are more available designs to choose from ranging from the simple and traditional to the most sophisticated.

The use of durable and high quality materials in building our bathrooms is another important consideration. A bathroom is the most used space in the house so the quality of the materials to be used in the construction cannot be compromised.

Wet room kits can be ordered online and saves you time and effort as these wet room kits complete packages are already matched for compatibility ensuring quality and low cost purchase. Each kit normally comes with detailed instructions thus, making the whole installation process fast and accurate.

Building our dream bathroom need not necessarily be a painful task. All that is required is an appropriate budget, proper planning and careful choice of materials. Before you knew it, you are already set to start building your dream bathroom.

Looking For Ways To Earn? Sell Online...

Over the past years, the booming online business has made it possible for almost everyone to earn a decent income even while staying at home. Well, this is a good news for stay at home Moms. Now, having a family and kids to look after is no longer a hindrance to earn additional income. Lots and lots of people are now getting hooked to buying and selling online. Why not, it is the most convenient way to do things even in the comfort of your own homes. As a working Mom, I so loved the idea that I can pay my bills and do online banking just by a click of the mouse. The time that I was able to save doing these errands can be devoted to more productive activities that can contribute to the growth and welfare of the family. Likewise, shopping online enables me to visit hundreds of stores and choose the best bargain without having to spend for transportation. The advent of technology coupled by the booming online businesses had made it possible for everyone to earn extra income with just a little capital and a basic know how. To be honest, I am also thinking of putting up a business and sell online. Though I am having a fixed income job at the moment, I am also welcoming the idea that sooner or later, I would prefer to stay home with my family and find other ways to earn. But most people out there would normally feel the pressure of setting up an online business without the necessary technical skills. There are so many things to be considered like designing your site and putting up a well defined payment and shipping system. However, the emergence of ecommerce solution has made it possible for a newbie to start from scratch and allows himself to bring that dream business into life.

Well...I'm loving all these ideas and given the proper time and opportunity, I would definitely go for one. For a start, I just have to find what my passion is and venture into that dream business in the future whenever I'm ready.

Disclaimer:

I am participating in a blog campaign for Bucks2Blog for an ecommerce solution company and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are one hundred per cent my own.

Christmas Decors

I would be home quite late to set up Christmas decors by myself, so I feel happy that both my son and daughter took the initiative to do it. My son just sent me these photos to gave me an idea of how they decorated the front area of the house. He said necessary "finishing touches" would be up to me. He informed me though that they put up Christmas lights around the house until the area surrounding our pocket garden. He was proud to say that it really looks good at night time.

He also informed me that cleaning and decorating the mini fish pond will not be possible at the moment since his gold fish had just produced a number of cute baby fishes(lol). That was actually a surprise to me coz numerous times in the past, our gold fishes die one by one before they get bigger in size.

At any rate, I am looking forward to see everything that's new in the house. I was not there for the past 6 months and the thought of being home once again definitely excites me.

Storage Solution

Your growing stuff in the house will never be a problem if you had already mastered the art of organizing. In today's modern homes, space is always a problem. Most of you might be living in condo units or apartments where the space is very limited and organizing your things as well as your kids is always a challenge. The solution? Some storage furniture are designed to address that problem. Let's take a look at the following options courtesy of pottery barn:

I specially like this storage rack for books and magazines. This can be placed somewhere in your living room and this can be moved or transferred anywhere and anytime you want. I love the flexibility of this organizer.

How about these cottage house book cases? I think these will perfectly fit on any corner of your room.

This storage rack is perfect if you have small kids at home. I especially like the idea of having those separate baskets for the stuff that will be use each day. This will make things easier to keep and easier to take out when needed.

And if your girl's room is quite spacious, why not take this design? This is a one piece wall unit that will store all your girl's stuff in one accessible storage area which is not only functional but decorative. I find it so cute! :)


Take your pick!

My Next Wall Art

If you are frequenting this blog, then you might probably recall my newly painted wall murals on a bright orange wall at our dining area which is actually a part of our home make over.

Well....this time, I'm eyeing on other wall art and this is going to be my next design. Hmmmm...probably in the bedroom.

This wonderful wall art was featured at hgtv.

Don't you think it's lovely?

Repainting Works

We have the GROTTO and fence of our first house repainted with a "touch of green". How do you find the color combination? Our first house was quite neglected over the past few years since we have rented it out to my current tenant for more than 4 years now. That house needs a lot of repairs and renovations. However, I have chosen to do it step by step as the high cost of materials and labor is such a pain in the neck. Luckily, we have managed to have the exterior of the house repainted as well as the fence, the gate and the Grotto. At least, it doesn't look dull anymore. Additional plants were also planted all over the yard. I hope my tenant in that house would be pleased with our efforts to give the house a better look. However, I'm not yet totally done with the repairs. I'm just half way through it. I'm crossing my fingers that I could do most if not complete all the major repairs that need to be done on that house by next year. We are bit hard with he budget because we also had a "make over" on our second house where we currently reside.

Anyway, with God's grace, I am hoping that we will be able to finish all our projects by 2012.

Wish me luck! :)