Organizing: Blog and Home

I promised an "at least one entry" monthly. And this month has been a lot of realizations to me. As much as I wanted to blog daily and talk about the things that happens here and what I think of them, I am keeping my rants on my twitter because I don't want to bore you with my endless complains about my career and homemaking (or the lack of it).

On the home making area: I am taking things one step at a time and tackled last month our tiny refrigerator. Yes, tiny. I can't keep more than a week worth of frozen goods in our small freezer that comes with the ref. And a less than a week goods clutters the very small space that the ref offers:

I went to the dollar store (Japan Homes store) and bought this pack of life saver for a dollar (around 66 pesos):

and turned the tiny refrigerator into a more pleasant looking cold storage. Of course I wipe it down clean before returning everything.

It is looking better now.

Do you feel better after cleaning/organizing? i do!

And since we are talking of organizing, I recently removed the chat box in this blog because it became a venue for spamming. Honestly, I understand the need to promote your blogs or websites but spamming my chatbox with links that are totally different from what you are trying to imply on your messages left on the chat is can really dent my great day.  (there, I let it out. i have been unhappy with those leaving messages pretending friendly link up only to find out that they are selling products or services.)

Joining the party at:

 

2013: A New Leaf

Hello, Readers.

Hello, 2013.

I hope this post is not too late. Even if it's been weeks past the New Year, there are still adjustments going on in our small abode.

I am glad to be back.

One of my resolutions is to be able to post more.

But with a new baby girl that demands so much of my time, (and the lack of househelp), I am targeting  posting of blogs at least twice a month.

Here are the new things in our life for the new year (it's actually more of continuation of what we have started last year):

1. We are going more green.

- I breastfeed.
- We use cloth diapers
- We line dry our laundry ~ bought something similar to this from a local hardware for P800. It has a slot for shoes on the two feet:

source

2. Organizing our small place

- "created" a dedicated pantry in one of the cupboards
- purged my size small clothes. (I can't let go yet, though I gave away few during the Christmas season but we are going there. I already hid two shelves of clothes in boxes)

source

- G's room is clean and slightly decluttered but I am still hoping to make it more kid friendly.

I miss writing here and on my other blogs. The husband gave me last Christmas a tablet but instead of blogging, I end up reading ebooks which is good.

Pictures will be posted soon. Keep updated.

DIY Obsessions

With our homeownership still on hold (we are paying for the lot first, plus we are considering the expenses of having a new baby) it still did not stop me from looking for DIYs and other interior designs that comes up in the web. Below is another inspiration that I want in our house someday (for G's plan, someday is two years from now):

I love it! White subway tiles, window on sink, closed cupboard (we are currently living in a state of clutter visible to everyone with our mixed open/close cupboard system), a pantry on the side and stainless steel counter! Husband and I have been talking about considering stainless steel (or SS) counters that are sold to restaurants (we always passes by a shop that sells/displays ready to install SS counters) because we believe that hygiene-wise, they are the best option. You have to believe me about the hygiene part because the hubs works in a food company and I worked for one before too!

Above is their less-empty photo. By the way, the owner of this photo did their kitchen DIY. I am not sure if we can do that (labor is less expensive than buying our own materials and equipment to do DIY) but you might be interested to know how they did it on their own.

Are you DIY'ng something lately? Have a great week. I am still resting because I am still coughing badly. I will probably be going back to work tomorrow once I feel a whole lot better.

photo credits: The Home Project

Cheap DIY Wreath for Christmas

We (I) have been busy with the decorations.
This is one of the many things I have done in the house.
It was easy and cheap because there are lots of stuff to choose from.
I bought the materials from the local dry/wet market.
The salesgirl offered the cheaper, not assembled wreath materials, but I told her I prefer the one already shaped into a wreath since it was relatively cheap and will save me time.
Then I bought the other three decor for around $1.

Here is the breakdown cost:

$1 = 43 pesos (you can do the math, but basically its around $2 in all)

After 5 minutes, here's my DIY wreath on our front door:

I did not use any glue since the ornaments have a wire that you can twist at the back and you're all set.
It's an easy-peasy ornamental wreath, making the holiday preparation stress-free.

Linking this to:  

ShabbyNest 

DIY Showoff 

Chic on A Shoe String Decorating

House of Hepworths

Happy Hour Projects
The ShabbyCreekCottage

DIY: Old Furniture + Spray Paint = New Bookshelf

My first major DIY is this: an old shelf that is a staple on old houses from the 70's.

This is courtesy of my MIL. So it cost me nothing.

BEFORE

 AFTER

 Our new place's wall  was painted white and my goal is to introduce pops of colors through furniture. For this project, I have chosen a spray paint color of sky blue. It cost me less than $2 (99pesos) for the can of  paint, nothing more

Here's how I did it: 

1. I wiped it with a damp rug and let it dry for at least 30 minutes. It was a sunny day on this part of the globe so drying is not a problem. 
2. Then I started on spraying the entire thing.I am lazy and the materials for DIY are not available ( MIL do not DIY) so I did not sand or primed it. I just sprayed. The husband even joined the fun! 
3. I left it to dry for few minutes.

Warning though, you have to do it outside where ventilation is good because spray paint really smells. 

I did not distress it because there are sides where the brown paint seems to shows off, giving it the distress look  that I want (another bonus for me).

I had fun doing this project because its my dream to recycle/reuse something. and it cost me $2 for a brNS new looking furniture!

I will be linking this to the following Linky Party :

1. Today's Creative Blog

2. My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

 3. The DIY Showoff
4.Coastal Charm 
5. Tuesday Time Out

Going Do-It-Yourself

It's good to know that we will have our own place before the year2012 starts. And I can finally incorporate my own style on our new home. For my first two projects of DIY here are the plans:


1. Re-upholster an old sofa.


    Sources:

• Sofa: MIL's old rose-colored sofa
• Fabric: I have been eyeing Ukay-ukays (Goodwill version of PI). There are several stores near the market that opens only during Saturday. Or a new fabric from Divisoria.
• Paint: Will buy (I don't have stash of paint somewhere since we are starting on clean slate. No accumulated things for us).
• Instructions: Little Green Notebook, Design Sponge and Apartment Therapy. They seems to have posted instructions about re-upholster at almost the same time {though AT has referred to Little Green Notebooks DIY that lead me to the blog}. Below are snapshots of their works:

 both made the project look I easy to make. Something that I have to decide once I started the project.

2.  DIY Curtain {Print Using Stencil}

     Sources:

• Curtain: Thrift Stores or Fabric Stores whichever cost lower. On thrift stores, I am hoping to buy old bed sheets. On Fabric stores, I am eyeing plain, cheap fabrics.
• Paint: Will buy
• Instructions: Apartment Therapy, here and here.

These are the pictures from AT:

the projects look easy to do, I hope they are. :D

Hello Monday. Goodnight Sunday.

A storm is probably brewing on the lower part of our country again. Although it was a wet Saturday, we were able to catch up with our sleep yesterday. It was cold and raining every few hours, sleeping is necessary.

After the Sunday service we went to the mall to pay to our internet provider. We got hungry and ate some of this local delicacy: Bibingka:

locally grown coffee + hot bibingka + rainy morning = love

Sorry about not posting a photo that I actually took. Photo was from their Facebook account. It was really delish.

The husband has finally talked to the InLaws and we are officially anticipating the Moving Out within the month. We are looking for househelp, so we have to wait a little bit. But all plans are already laid out.

For the interior inspiration, here goes:

from here

Love the color combination.

photo here

Wont be able to have the same look on my small kitchen but this is a very nice kitchen that I can't get out of my head.

from here

This is my favorite. I'm not sure if this is the second time I have posted it here in this blog. I love this DIY.

Good night Sunday, Hello Monday.

Have a good time this week.

White and Wood for My Kitchen

We are trying to fix the things that went wrong last month. So even if it seems that our home ownership is postponed, we are looking forward at the rental of our first new house. It is probably a small one {honestly, we have seen a vacant space near our in laws house} but we are still excited. Because I am scared of clutter, I asked my friends and relatives to skip the dinner wares when planning for their gift on our wedding. I am glad I did because they will probably not have survived a year.

Inspired with our ongoing plans, I went blog surfing of course. Although not a blog, I often visit Etsy. Even if there are only few selling their stuff at our local Etsy here. Here are the beautiful things I found:



jar



stoneware covered casserole

ceramic plates

potential DIY bench?



don't you love them white and wood?

DIY Inspirations

I caught some bug two weeks ago but it did not stop me from reporting to work and blog hopping for things that can inspire our "put on hold" home.

Here are the things that I might ask a local carpenter to do for me {since pottery barn and other stores like these are not yet available here in our town}:

clean lines, wood + white drawers underneath = love. found here.

photo credit

The white sofa is my all time favorite. I will probably reupholster MIL's rose-colored sofa to white. The wicker baskets are cheap buys here. I remember buying something like that when I was in college for a P100 ($2).

dining table from Target

I love white and wood. Finding that dining table available here locally and affordable would make me one lucky homeowner.

My aim is to have less cluttered house, living in the conditions that we have right now. We are not sure when will that happen but I know its gonna be soon.

Life is a Blessing

I have been down with a flu but worked the entire week after taking a one day break to let my body heal a bit. It's not an excuse for not blogging, my target is to blog at least twice a week but it is impossible right now. So many things has been  keeping us busy.

photo from flickr

Our home ownership seems to be on hold again.

photo source: unknown

And we are keeping our fingers crossed that things will work according to the (revised) plan: buy the smaller lot and pay for it before the month ends. Then we will be paying for the funds that we borrowed to pay the lot in full. for two years. so two years of no house of our own yet. Then we will start building.
or maybe, we will be migrating somewhere, outside the PI. New Zealand, maybe?

image from flickr

WE are still considering a small house. A rental perhaps so that we can play house like real family. Well, let's hope that the lot acquisition pushes through first, then we will have our teeny tiny rental house for two years ( we've asked around and found a small house we can rent for awhile).

I am still inspired. and will continue on dreaming of having my own space.

For now, here are the photos that keeps me planning, doing and working on something we will own someday.

From Apartment Therapy, of course.

I love this simple bench. from here.

another angle, facing the bench (behind the white sofa)

I love white sofa and white walls. Don't you?

Home Ownership in the Philippines

We are in the process of waiting for our home loan application results.

The ad says processing of the loan will take five days. 

The home ownership is putting us into another level of planning and organization. I have failed terribly on the planning part. At least around 25K has been lost from my poor planning and maybe we will have another dent on my planning ability when we are done paying to the realtor. Silly me have forgotten the registration process right that comes after paying the whole amount. according to some website the transaction cost comprises the following:

1. legal fees
2. local transfer tax
3. deed of sale 
4. Capital Gains Tax
5. Real State agent 's fee
6. document stamp tax fee

the last three items will be shouldered by the seller and the first three will be the one the homeowners will have to prepare for. Based on the computations, legal fee such as notarial will cost around P200 per document, local transfer tax will depend on the zonal value imposed by the municipality government and the documentary stamp tax will cost around P15 per P1000 (value of the property, i assume) or 1.5% whichever is higher. House and lot with value of 2.5 Million below are VAT-exempt so mine will fall under that category. To give an idea of how much a registration cost will be, the example on the website provided a computation of around P28,898 for a 12M property. If the zonal value is not that high, our house  and lot processing fee will probably cost around 4k.

Inspiration of the Day: Stamping (DIY)

I love crafting. Although time is scarce these days because of the new job and other things that keeps me busy, bloghopping is still my favorite past time. Today, this one caught my interest:

Hand Carved Stamp Tutorials!

hop on to Genine's blog.

That is where I found the photo and tutorial.

This is going to my to-do project list for sure.

and another discovery from her blog: Craft Gawker.

How did I miss that site? It has the best diy that are doable for people like me. 

Go on, visit the site and do some craft like this one:

fabric lanterns found through Craft Gawker.

found original photo here

Homemade Eye Candy

Its going to be a cold summer here in the PI and I love choco + marshmallow combo! I found this homemade recipe today and will probably make one over the weekend:

HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOW

image and recipe from  here.

recipe inventory checklist:

3 packs unflavored gelatin - will buy

granulated sugar - check

light corn syrup - will buy

kosher salt - will buy

vanilla extract - check

confectioners sugar - check

I am a fan of Apartment Therapy. I have been waiting for their small/cool contest this year. Here are some of the early entries at the moment {my favorites so far}.
 
SMALL/COOL 2011

i ♥ white and black motif

 

i ♥ white kitchen with a dash of color 

sans the huge sofas, I ♥ the built-ins.

Special Note:

These past few weeks has been a very busy for me, with job hunting and such. We are looking forward to finishing our payment for the house so that we can start moving in. For the meantime, be inspired by my internet finds.

Time Fly Fast!

I am on a mission. 

As the February started there are several issues that I have to deal with. 

One of them is my career. 

Although my status is still on the waiting side, the date of my last working day with the company has been decided. 

Two months from now, new challenges and environment is a welcome buddy. 

With the decision over holding on to a particular job been settled, I am on the roll to depersonalized my office space and remove all my things out of there. 

My target date of complete clean office {no personal things that would not fit my purse} is until the end of month. 

It means returning all gadgets to the office as well,like USB and portable HD. 

And since we expect some financial changes for this new stage in my life this blog will be more active as I realized its use for times like this. 

 Today, there are changes on this blog.

I changed layout.

Added Feeds and used Feedburner. I even maximize all of its feature. 

{I will be writing a full post about tweaking blogs for better traffic later} 

For tomorrow, here are the things that I have to do:

1. Finished the " Favorite Links " page
2. Add this blog to Technorati
3. Grocery Day 
4. Financial /Home Management Organization
5. Credit Card Payment

That's for a busy Sunday. 

We will be attending the Sunday service and will probably visit the organic market near the lake later. 

Have a Blessed Sunday.

Drawing on a Friday and some Decluttering Activities

My interest is a mix of art and science. 

Today, while resting from decluttering activities {it's more of removing papers that will be candidate for the shredder from my boxes under the office table} it downed on me that it is the best time to start with my drawing lessons online. 

Actually, it has long been decided that I will be taking online lessons but my memory failed me again and even if I have searched all of the computers in the house, there is not trace of the drawing website that provides the exact lessons that I want. 

Today, I found it. 

And I will get myself listed this very minute. 

On the blogging world, I want to do a project like this on our home-to-be:

from here and here.

It's been an emotional week but with the great people who are showing their love and care, this week is still a great week with minor challenges. 

Crazy Hats

It was a very busy month. Since the housing project was already settled: house chosen, deals closed, interior and exterior plans making on progress {read: internet search and items on sale hunting}, and down payment source almost settled, we are now on the roll for the work related activities. 

And yes, no Christmas shopping was ever done yet and it is still on the least of my priorities. We might hit the malls few days before Christmas, and I think like last year, there will be midnight shopping on some major malls where we usually shops.

My {former} classmates on masters had a get-together party and it was themed Crazy Hat! Will be posting photos on weekend. 

Together with my colleague, I conducted talks for universities and will be flying to Cebu tomorrow for another talk and will be back on Thursday morning! These things happening amid migraines that I am suffering from lately. 

Here are some photos from the net that I found on my files:

small space kitchen

photos from www.myhomeideas.com

Have a great week, people. I will try to post photos from Cebu once I get the chance.

Link it up

Here are for the homeowners who are leaning towards green living:

I wanted a home with minimum risk of sickness due to toxic materials. Glasses will be used instead of plastic containers (for the kitchen) and we will probably plant our own vegetables and fruits. {we are already doing that here}.

lady palm

Plants inside the home will be another thing we are planning to include and you can find the list of plants here together with the compounds that they absorb for you. Just to give you an idea, inks and detergents release Benzene. Benzene causes skin and eye irritation {and much more} and carcinogenic. Chinese evergreen is excellent on absorbing both benzene and toluene. And aloe vera {we happen to have a plant that needs replanting because it is already too big for its current pot} will soon have a new place indoors because it absorbs formaldehyde from wax papers and facial tissues.

chinese evergreen

photo credits: indoor tropics

We are not computing our carbon footprints yet, but if you know me well, expect that we will be doing that soon.

Daydreaming

I was staring at the photos of our "new home" this weekend. I am so inlove with it that I created a new account on my SIMS 3 game using the house model. 

With the SIMS 3, the hubby was able to get a visual on how the place will look like and it is very wonderful to see the big difference after the curtains are hanged. It gave the place the coziness that we want. 

(the SIMS 3 model of the house was a perfect duplicate except for the roof on the front porch. I can not find the same model that have an arch on the entryway. I used same color, same shelves, and floor plan)

The floorplan is great, the materials are not substandard however there is an issue on the kitchen. 

The kitchen sink and counters are located at the far right corner of the room, near the door. The adjacent room is the masters bedroom. Since the counters were installed near the door in L-shape, the only space for the refrigerator and oven is the wall (adjacent room is masters bedroom). We were thinking about renovating the area, demolished the counter near the door and install there the oven but assuming that we have to pay for the down payment, there will be no budget on that for the mean time. Sigh. That's my dilemma. 

To come up with other ideas i went surfing! Mostly on Young House Love and Apartment Therapy. I realized that the house is 66 sq.m. only but it is big enough for us since we are not planning to have lots of kids. the three bedrooms are big enough for us because privacy and immediate moving is our number one concern. We hope to start paying for the mortgage because we want to finish it early on (we did our math).

Inspirations From Young House Love:

perfect for halfbath

I have seen this pantry at Katie's blog and have been obsessing about this for a long time. It appeared again on one of Young House's House crashing :

another half bath:

and the lawn, i think we can have one like this:

I also found some great ideas from Apartment Therapy and BHG wasn't able to bookmark them. So here is all I have for now. Have a happy Monday.