The Floors at the Vatican Museums

I'd been to the Vatican Museum a couple of times in the past: once as a teenager when my parents took the whole family to Europe, and then again when I was in college, on a month-long art course to Italy.

When Old Becomes New

The "before" picture

These are our dining chairs--or more accurately, these were what our dining chairs looked like before. Underneath that baby blue layer of paint is solid narra (Philippine mahogany) wood.  When I first saw these chairs, I had a hard time visualizing them in our house, but I saw potential in the fluted legs and the mother-of-pearl inlay on the cross rail. Proportions were not bad either on this typical Federal style dining chair. We rescued 12 of these chairs from hubby's bodega.

Sitio Remedios, Ilocos Norte

Last summer the family drove up north from Manila to Ilocos. A ten-hour drive. We prepared the kids by saying the trip was as long as a plane ride to Hawaii, but easier since we could stop along the way. They were happy with that, brought a ton of books in the car with us,  and behaved all throughout the trip! We stayed in Vigan, but also visited Laoag all the way up to Pagudpud stopping by all the little towns in between.

Collecting Candlesticks

I love these sterling candlesticks I got on Ebay. I like setting the table with candles when I entertain but the kids get mesmerized and play with the melting wax leaving the coffee and dining table in a big mess! Instead of nagging them to stop playing with the wax every time we have guests, I decided to solve it at the source and keep melting wax out of reach.

One Long Table

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I love the idea of long-table seating as opposed to round table seating. I think a long table is much more intimate--you can talk to the person on your left, on your right, and the person right in front of you.. The people also diagonally across you can also be included in the conversation. The setting has a way of engaging all the guests.

The Study Room

On my long list of to-do's is fixing up the study room of the girls (before they graduate from high school--haha).  I haven't really paid attention to it in the past year, so things are dumped there with regularity that it is now a stockroom of sorts.

The Allure of a Gallery Wall

I love the look of a gallery wall--it's casual, relaxed, intimate. I definitely like it more than one big painting. With a gallery wall, there are so many "stories" that can be told, making it much more interesting.

The current post on this blog reminded me that I have to hang up my frames. I have nothing up on the walls yet after being in this house for a year now, plus I have 4 or 5 places where I can create these art walls.

Do You Own a Garden Stool?

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It's versatile and it adds a punch of color. These Chinese garden stools have been around us so long that I've never really paid attention to them. Doesn't help either that I only remember them in blue and white or glazed green.

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Then since a couple of years back, they kept appearing in shelter magazines and in design blogs. They were being used for everything else but the garden.