Real Living Space

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you’ve probably heard of artist, heritage-fanatic, and multi-talented Manila tour guide Carlos Celdran and his Walk This Way tours. We actually featured Carlos and his lovely wife Tesa’s home in Real Living way back in November 2004. Here are a few pics of that shoot…

Aside from hosting and organizing assorted art events and performances at The Living Room at The Syquia Apartments, Carlos practically turned local guided tours from boring history lesson and tourist trap to a social commentary/performance art/non-fuddy-duddy must-do activity regardless if you were a white foreigner or full-blooded Pinoy. Carlos’ most famous and frequently-attended tour is his “If These Walls Could Talk” Intramuros Tour, so it is but fitting that he opened a gift shop tucked right within the walls of Intramuros itself, called La Monja Loca, which has been open for about a year or so.

“La Monja Loca” actually means “The Crazy Nun,” (ask me another time for the explanation, folks). This little shop carries items that run the gamut from Team Manila t-shirts, bayong totes, tabako coasters, and Imelda terno bags, postcards of Old Manila to actual anting-antings from Quiapo—all references to Pinoy history, pop culture, kitsch, and silly superstitions. Here is a sampling of the stuff on sale (with some actual bomb shells you can use as found-object or doorstop as well):

It’s an interesting stop after visiting Manila Cathedral, San Agustin, or Casa Manila (it’s actually near there). And much like Carlos’s tours, I feel the entire shop is a social commentary of sorts on the richness—and craziness—of the Philippines.

La Monja Loca is located at Unit 3a, Plaza San Luis, Calle Real, Intramuros, Manila, text tel. 0920-9092021 for inquiries. Thank you Pierra, for dragging me along that lazy Saturday, and sorry Carlos, for barging into your store unannounced and publishing all this without your permission—I’m sure you won’t mind, dear. Have a safe Holy Week, guys. (Real Home photos by Albert Labrador)

It seems that with the internet/virtual age, there is this hankering for all things old school, namely paper—who uses paper nowadays, aside from using it to print documents on?

Well I stumbled upon a friend’s new website, Peek-a-Boo Paper, a Multiply site where you can buy all sorts of specialty paper sheets which she sourced from her travels around the world. You can use them for wrapping if you wish, but how can you tear up something so pretty? So you have the option of buying them as a framed wall accent! Check these out:

Or you can buy them in loose sheets—lovely as wall accents, or you can decoupage them on an old wooden furniture piece or screen…

I esp love the heart, cherry and geometric designs! Log on to http://peekaboopaper.multiply.com.

Real Living’s April issue will be out tomorrow, and we’re pretty much excited!!! Here’s a sneak peek at the cover…

In store for you this April: the New Tropical Style (no rattan involved!), how to summerize a boring home, cut back your summer electric bill, plus a simple but stunning Real Makeover that only entailed a new wash of paint, and moving furniture around!

In the meantime, here’s the cover that didn’t make it (styled by Gwyn Guanzon, shot by Miguel Nacianceno, produced by Tisha Alvarez). It’s real sweet, and I believe it shows the essence of summer. But let us know what you think!!! Comments are welcome. (Current cover photo by Toto Labrador)  Real Living is available at newsstands and bookstores nationwide for P140.

I visited the Worldbex construction fair yesterday, and was again greeted by brand new materials, familiar industry faces, skimpily-dressed promo girls hawking security systems and sawmills, and a whole lot of testosterone. The first booth I saw was that of Boysen, where I bumped into friends and editors Vanni de Sequera and Jeff Isidro of Homestyle magazine…

Was lovely seeing you guys! At that booth, I also got to check out Boysen’s brand new KnoXOUT air-cleaning paint, which has the silky, matte quality of their premium paint, but is amped up with pollution-fighting ingredients.

Another cool booth was that of APO floors. Nice design!

I also checked out Akari’s collection of LED lamps. I swear, the future lies in energy-saving LEDs…

…but the real treat was the hydroponic plant wall in the hallway going to the tents. These plants grow on hydroponic boxes that snap into a system onto the wall. Now imagine having a hydroponic vegetable garden, literally a salad growing on your wall. I want that!

Worldbex will run Philippine Trade Training Center will run until March 21, Sunday, at the World Trade Center, Pasay City. Also check out Real Living’s booth at the Philippine Trade Training Center right next to the Tent.

After a long search, I was finally able to find the exact kind of fabric I’ve been looking for…

You’d think fabric with evenly spaced black and white stripes would be easy to come by, but it isn’t. Years ago, former assistant stylist Issa Villar and I chanced upon a scrap of fabric in some bargain bin in Divi, but there was very little of it left. Flash forward to Feb of this year, on a trip to Kamuning Market. I was looking for cream jacquard (another not-so-easy to spot item) when I chanced upon an entire roll of my coveted black-and-white tela! The plan is to cover some of my sofa’s existing cushions with it. Will post pics once I find the time to do it!

Check out the re-vamped sister URL femalenetwork.com and click here to read selected Real Home articles and tips from past RL issues! It was such a pleasant surprise for me to see some of my favorite homes, such as that of Frances and Vince Sales:

It’s nice to see websites reborn after a really long time. I still remember logging onto forums as a twenty-something in the old femalenetwork way back in 2001 ! (Dial-up connection pa!) My, how things have changed!

Yup, it’s that time of the year again! If you have your copy of the March ish, then you may have come across our big announcement. Folks, get your pens/computers/sob stories/cries of desperation ready (I kid) and join Real Living’s ULTIMATE MAKEOVER 2010!

And peeps in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Bulacan–y’all are in luck! We’re opening the contest to these nearby provinces this year! So read the instructions carefully and send in your entry! You’ve got til May 31, 2010 to do so! Go on, give it a shot–you might just be this year’s oh-so-lucky winner!

Yup, that’s where I ended up last Friday—at the brand new Howards Storage World at Robinsons Ermita. Now being a basurera at heart, proper storage containers have become sorta like the Holy Grail for me, because most of them look boring, and whenever I visit the specialty stores here, one peek always makes me fall asleep.

Not so with the Aussie-based Howards Storage, because they have a wide variety of container and organizer designs and colors at friendly prices. Look at these throw-everything-in-it bins in jelly hues…

…oh and I love their catch-all baskets in sophisticated architectural shades—charcoal, lemon yellow and celery…

…and a wide variety of bathroom accessories; I especially love their pellet-flecked toothbrush holders and tumblers, the surface looks like pebble wash…

…of course I stocked up on lots of hangers—these foam and velvet-flocked one keep evening dresses from slipping off. Affordable too—these start at P179 for a pack.

What I wanted to get were these knobby hooks. They start at P899, and the best thing about it is that you can paint the balls over in candy colors to look like one of those Charles Eames coat hooks!

Howards Storage World is located the the 3rd floor of Robinsons Ermita, Midtown wing, Manila.

The March issue of Real Living Magazine is out now! Woohoo!

It’s our Color and Paint Special so it’s full of tips to make your home colorific! Check out our step-by-step guide to injecting color into your space–there are baby steps for the less adventurous, and big, bold moves for the color-courageous! (You might also see a somewhat familiar face within those pages…) We’ve also got three color palettes that can inspire you to play around with color in your home–the cover features a monochromatic palette, for starters!

While we’re on the topic of covers, we had a bit of a debate here at the office about this month’s cover. The one above won out (it had my vote!), but the runner-up was:

What do you think? Which cover do you like more and why? Let us know!

Before you head to your Friday night gimik with your friends, you might want to check out Space Encounters along F. Ortigas Jr. Road (formerly Emerald Avenue) in Pasig. This colorful store is having its grand opening tonight, 6 p.m., with a 10% discount on all furniture and accessories! Check out these snapshots of the store:

Space Encounters’ furniture and accessories

Hand-painted wallets, P760

Assorted Korean stickers for the K-pop fan

Read more about Space Encounters in Real Living’s March 2010 issue. For more information, log on to www.spaceencounters.net. (Photos by Christian Halili)