simply n*amoured

2018 - Out with the Old, in with the New!

2018-02-15T23:46:00.002-05:00

For a long time I had been considering reviving this blog that I started in 2012. It wasn't until a series of milestone events in my personal growth that I was finally motivated to act upon it.

I would like to awaken my long-dormant creative side by updating this blog, continuing to share my DIY projects, some of which may not be recent but are still relevant and inspiring. I want to continue sharing my passion for travel along with other personal interests such as fitness & beauty and maybe a blog or two about what I've learned about myself as I try and overcome some incredibly challenging hurdles in my personal journey.

Cheers to second chances!

Tablescape: Going Coastal

2013-02-26T17:05:00.001-05:00

With Spring around the corner I was in the mood to update the tablescaping on my repurposed IKEA Lack table. Here's what I put together:

Found the starfish and shell on sale about 2 years ago.

I also use the shell to store our 3 remote controls - decorative and functional!

The coral was purchased at a pet store last year. Keeping it in tact with a 3 year old is proving to be quite the challenge. I stacked a few Louis Vuitton boxes underneath for added height.

I broke off a few twigs from a small tree to frame the tablescape.

Voila! The outcome? A quick and simple change that is also reflection of the island girl that I am.

Recent Changes

2012-09-27T14:05:00.001-04:00

There's been so much going on in our lives in the last few weeks. We're in the middle of moving out of our apartment, I started a new job in a field I never thought I'd find myself in (and loving it!), and most importantly my little man N started school! Here is a pic of us mother-son duo on the first day of school:

On Litte N: Gingersnaps shirt, GAP Kids sweatshirt & jeans, Skip Hop lunch bag
On mommy: Ann Taylor LOFT sleeveless shirt, J Crew sweater, Stradivarius bottoms

DIY Baby Shower

2012-09-15T05:30:00.001-04:00

Back in May I helped throw a baby shower for a sweet friend of mine who was due to have baby boy Can (pronounced Jon) a month later. I was responsible for decorations which I was delighted to do, when I had my baby shower I came across so many beautiful DIY shower decorations that I couldn't wait to try my hand at them.

Right away I started to sketch ideas (yes I was so excited I sketched out how I envisioned it would look) and went online to find tutorials on how to make the things I had in mind such as banners, pom-poms, diaper cake etc.

I was most looking forward to tackling the hanging pom-poms because I knew they would have the most dramatic impact in the space. Pom-poms are easy to make if you have tissue paper, but where I live tissue paper is not available (*gasp*), so I had to make do with the closest thing available which was crepe paper. It's thicker, more crinkly and doesn't hold folds and creases like tissue paper, but it was all I had to work with.

My first try at making pom-poms

The color options for the paper was limited to the most primary of colors (think a child's first box of crayons) which was a good thing because when H told me her favorite colors were orange and blue I didn't have to spend hours going back and forth between what shades of orange went with what shades of blue. The decision was already made for me - there were only two shades of blue, one intense orange-red and some white to balance the orange, sold! I never left a store so quickly in my life lol.

With the leftover crepe paper I made two smaller pom-poms, taped them to some wood dowels I had leftover from an old project and put them in some extra white vases I had laying around.

Voila, DIY floral arrangement

I also used the extra paper to make baby onesie banners. I folded the paper in half, cut out a shape of a onesie making sure to leave the top shoulder part uncut so I could just hang the onesie over a string of ribbon instead of taping or glueing it to the string. This saved me a suprising amount of time and I love the 2D look of it. For Can's name I printed the letters, cut them in a circle and taped them on the banner.

It's a boy! Welcome Can!

No baby shower is complete without a diaper cake and H's shower was certainly no exception. I've seen the playful type of diaper cakes that are overflowing with toys and gifts but I wanted this one to resemble a real cake so I stuffed the gifts in the inside centers of the cake and kept the outside clean and simple with just ribbon details. I was so amused when guests walked into the shower and thought it was a real cake lol.

My first diaper cake

Found the perfect cake topper - it's a shampoo bottle!

I didn't know if I would have time to take decent pictures of everything set up at the shower, in fact I hadn't even been to the location prior so I had no idea how everything would look in its actual space. So for the blog I decided to take pictures of everything set up in my home before heading to the location. Thus the pictures I'm sharing are of just the decoration and other small things I prepared for the special day like the cupcakes and toppers.

I printed the toppers on cardstock and cut them to shape.

I was also in charge of baby shower games so if you're wondering what the jars of baby food are for, it's props for the games, we're not feeding guests with baby food lol.

That concludes my baby shower post. Check back soon because I plan on sharing tutorials for the banners and diaper cake.

And here she is... my first legit publication

2012-09-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

I know it's been two months since the July 2012 Real Living issue came out featuring Noah's Room. When my mom visited last month she brought me a few copies from the Philippines but with all the traveling I couldn't get it up here until now.

But anyway, here are the pictures of the actual magazine, in July I posted pictures of the electronic version. Nothing like the real thing tho :)

Obviously the cover page

Page 24... first cover story of the lot!

Et voila! Noah in his jammies lol.

The write-up... if you can read it :)

Noah lounging in his chair. That hair, yeah, that's why I stopped cutting his hair, so he won't hate me for the rest of his life haha.

If you click on the image above (or any of the other images) a close-up of it will pop up for easier reading.

Thanks for joining me in this fun ride of creating a happy space for Noah. In the next month or two we may be moving out of our current rental and into another home... which means another kids room challenge may be in the horizon!

My Summer 2012 Travel Diary: Paris Part 2

2012-09-03T17:38:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the continuation of my Paris holiday, the first leg of summer travels. For Part I of my Paris trip please click here.

Where were we? Oh, on one of the days we took a cruise along the River Seine. It was a nice way to see the major sites without exhausting ourselves.

I took this same cruise with my husband after our wedding years ago. Funny to think that I've returned with a son in tow!

During the cruise we passed Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge made out of metal. See all the padlocks attached to the railings? It's a tradition for lovers to wish for everlasting love by securing a padlock to the railing and throwing the keys in the water. I'm suprised there weren't any vendors selling locks nearby.

After the cruise I explored these stalls along Pont Neuf, the Seine's oldest (rebuilt) bridge. The vendors mostly sold vintage goods (books, magazines etc) and souvenirs. I ended up buying several fashion magazines (Circa 1920-40s) and vintage posters which I can't wait to frame.

While walking the streets of Paris one thing I kept admiring was the application of gold and bronze gilding on everything and anything possible.

It's as if they've adorned the city with jewelry.

How majestic is this?

It wasn't enough to have one winged horse dripping in gold, no, they had to have another one on the other side too.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said there was gold everywhere!
In fashion the French may be masters of understated elegance but when it comes to architecture "understated" it is not.

I also loved the random bursts of color in a sea of grey structures.

Another thing I appreciate is the attention to detail in the mundane things. Check out the beautiful carvings on this lamp post. Apparently the French left nothing untouched.

Paris was indeed a feast for the eyes. Even Noah agrees, here he is admiring Gucci's window display.

Uhh Noah, your taste is too expensive for a 2.5 yo. Plus, you need a job to buy those.

Speaking of window displays, I was amused by this storefront display on Rue de St. Honore.

The sheep was a witty way to represent Fall season/collection.

Now here is a feast in the literal sense.

Why wait in line for an iphone at the Apple Store when you can have these?

And that my friends concludes my Paris adventures. I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. If you couldn't get enough, visit soon for pictures from our next destination, Roma. Ciao!

My Summer 2012 Travel Diary: Paris Part 1

2012-08-30T13:00:00.000-04:00

Now that summer is coming to an end I thought I might share my summer activities with you. Brace yourselves for a photo-heavy entry :)

This summer we had made plans to visit Boston. The husband and I spent a good chunk of our lives there so it's like a second home to us and we miss it dearly. Unfortunately, as summer approached we ended up having to shuffle our plans around and postpone our Boston trip :( Buuuut I wasn't completely devastated as our new vacation plans involved visiting all of Italy, prefaced by a stop in beautiful Paris. Hip hip hooray!

Our new itinerary was made even more special because my mom joined us all the way from the Philippines. She met us here in Turkey and together we flew to Paris with my 2.5 year old Noah. This was my first time flying without my hubby so naturally I was feeling anxious about being a solo parent for a week. Thankfully travelling with Noah turned out to be a cinch, he adapted to the change in environment really quickly and with minimum fuss. Phew!

But I digress, back to Paris. My first visit to the city was a few years ago, in the heart of winter and it was so brutally cold I ended up getting sick at some point during the trip. Despite the illness, I fell in love with the city and have since wanted to re-visit.

Pic taken as we were driving past the Eiffel

In this last visit my love for Paris was rekindled. I adore everything about the city - the immaculately preserved historic monuments tucked in every corner, effortlessly chic Parissiene ladies walking down cobblestone sidewalks (and kudos to French men who are not afraid to wear bright colors), the mouth-watering pastries (who new a plain croissant could taste so darn good), or little details like the perfectly trimmed trees that line the streets. All these little things give the city so much charisma, its impossible not to fall in love with Paris.

The first thing we did was dump our luggage in our hotel room and walked over to the Louvre.

Even though we were exhausted and disheveled we couldnt resist taking pictures.

We were enjoying the area so much we almost forgot to eat! We opted for a light dinner around the corner at Le Ruc Cafe.

Before we knew it, it was well past Noah's bedtime but the adults weren't ready to go down. So we took a short stroll to L'Opera de Paris.

Stayed long enough to take our pictures and then headed back to the hotel to attend to some much needed beauty sleep.

Day 2, beauty rest accomplished, ready to take on the city. After devouring some croissants from a nearby boulangerie, we returned to the Louvre with the intention of visiting the museum only to find out it was closed for the day.

We stayed a little and soaked in the ambiance.

My mom having a little fun with the pyramids.

And Noah having his share of fun dipping his feet in the water

The Louvre was followed by a visit to Champs Elysees.

Champs Elysees perfectly trimmed trees made my heart smile.

One of many human statues along the avenue but this one gets extra ~~points~~ coins for originality.

A big grin from a happy shopper.

L'arc de Triomphe

Miniscule standing next to the massive columns of the Madeleine.

The next day our first stop was Notre Dame.

See the lengthy line behind us? Wasn't in the mood to wait in that line so I opted to linger outside with Noah while my mom went in.

Being goofy while waiting for grandma.

Trying to get my little man to nap in his stroller before heading off to our next destination.

Next stop, the Eiffel Tower. I thought the line to see the Notre Dame was bad, well it didn't compare to the 2 hour wait to get to the top of Eiffel. We debated about leaving our place in line and moving on to other sites but at that point we had already invested an hour of our time waiting so we stayed and waited another hour. On the plus side we did get to chat with some interesting travellers who were in line with us and of course, the views from the top of the Eiffel were a pay off.

My little man enjoying the ride to the top

Views atop were nothing short of magnificent

Symmetry makes my heart smile

At the top of the Eiffel

Eiffel from the lower level

Well folks this is where I abruptly end Part I entry of my Paris adventures. Stay tuned for another photo-filled Part II entry!

***Update: For the second entry of my Paris blog please click here***

New Year's Resolution & Bucket List Accomplished!

2012-07-09T02:50:00.000-04:00

Last year one of my New Year's resolution was to get one of my home projects published in a legit magazine. Well, I couldn't make it happen last year, but that's completely irrelevant now because I made it in this month's (July 2012) issue of Real Living magazine (Philippines publication)!!! And a two-page spread at that! Not bad for a first timer :)

There's my darling N sitting in the chair that I added nailhead trim to.

Early this year I finally got around to taking pictures of Noah's room. I've blogged about it here and here so I'm not going to kill this topic by going into it again. Back in May Real Living contacted me about featuring the room, of course I agreed and the rest is history.

I ordered a few copies of the magazine from my mom who will be visiting me from the Philippines very soon so I have yet to hold the magazine in my hands. Naturally I couldn't wait for her arrival so thanks to a copy I found online, I get to read the article for myself and see the picture of Noah my mom spoke of over the phone.

Here is a close-up of the text. I think if you click on the image, a better quality of it will pop up.

LEFT

RIGHT

Another reason why July has been kind to me - a few weeks ago I got to cross off an item on my bucket list! Confession: I've never been to a real live concert. When I say "real concert" I'm not counting the times when up-and-coming bands performed at my college, nor occasions when major DJs like Tiesto and Paul Oakenfold made appearances at Avalon in Boston (yup, I was once a frequent clubber), and certainly not the days when our local church choir had a X-mas concert. No, I'm talking about true stadium style seating concert with mega-crowds by the thousands flocked to witness and be wow-ed by an iconic singer's (only the kind that could fill a stadium) performance.

So when last-minute someone was trying to get rid of tickets to Madonna's concert in Istanbul of course I grabbed them without hesitation. I figured I lost any chance of witnessing in person the genius of Michael Jackson, and gone along with him was the chance to hear the gifted voice of Whitney Houston. I wasn't going to pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity to witness equally influential Madonna perform her latest album and (more importantly) her 80's hits to fans in Turkey. Even if it meant hauling myself (and my family) all the way to Istanbul for her MDNA Tour. She may not always be known for her voice, but in her 30+ year singing career she's managed to maintain her position at the top of the crop, and at 53 yrs old she's still hitting the charts. God bless her!

Here are some shots taken as we were entering the stadium.

A few feet in front of us Turkish paparazzi was snapping shots of local celebrities. People watching would've been a joyous activity had I known who these celebrities were.

Crowds slowly flocking in. Was surprised that no one dressed up as Madonna. The next thing closest to dressing-up as her was seeing her face on t-shirts.

So that's more thing crossed off my bucket list I wanted to share. Let's hope I can keep this momentum going :)

Window Shopping

2012-04-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

Came accross this window decal today at my favorite furniture store here, Mudo Concept:

I love it, I want it! But I dont know where I would put it. Perhaps our bedroom? I recently resumed my bedroom makeover project which was on hold all Winter. Now that Spring is here I've been feeling motivated to work on it again. We have one free wall where I could put this decal, but I just wonder if it's too juvenile for the look I'm going for in the room? Oh well, a little bit of whimsy cant hurt the space :)

Color me Spring!

2012-03-20T20:24:00.000-04:00

Left and right I've been receiving welcome reminders that today marks the first day of Spring. What better way to celebrate and embrace this breath of fresh air than to share my archived inspirational looks from my favorite apparel brand, J Crew.

To help me get through dragged-out winters (like the one we just had), I occasionaly peruse through their monthly catalogs and archive my favorite pairings. I guess you could call it closet therapy. It gives me something to look forward to and takes my mind off the dreary weather. You'll see what I mean in these images.

Some of these outfits below look like candy, in a good way. The colors get my heart pumping for Spring!

Now I personally don't have the courage to walk around wearing hues taken from a bag of Starbust candies, but what I do is take one bold element from the look (a bright color or wild pattern) and pair it with something neutral.

Since I no longer have access to their stores (please go international!), I use their lookbook as a shopping guide. Their styles are refreshing, chic and comfortable, I love the way they use just the right doses of colors, patterns, textures and scale to create bold and unexpected pairings, and the way their styles strike just the right balance of soft and edgy.

One of the trends that started two years ago ago is the denim shirt. Every season it keeps coming back and with that is proving to be a wardrobe staple. I really love it for its versatility and the way J Crew paired it in the images below makes me want one asap (hey at least we know the catalog concept works - it SELLS!).

Unfortunately for me, because of my petite frame I cannot for the love of god seem to find a denim shirt that fits me right - they're either too big on the shoulders, too tight around the mommy belly, or they go down to my knees. Oh well. If I did own one here are the more casual ways I would wear it.

Well, I hope you found spring wardrobe inspiration. I for one am glad to be able to bid my black and grey closet farewell and say hello to COLOR!

What are some of your favorite trends/pieces or what do you look forward to wearing the most this Spring and Summer?

Room Tour: Noah's Room

2012-03-14T01:00:00.000-04:00

Almost a year ago I blogged about painting a tree mural in my son Noah's room. Well, I've finally taken photos of not just the finished mural but also the rest of the space.

With all the possibilities for Noah's room, I really had a hard time honing in on a concept. Shopping one day, I came across a rug (pic above) in neutral colors which tied in nicely with the existing flooring in his room. It had a playful tree bark texture which gave me the idea of incorporating nature and the outdoors. Slowly a concept for the room started to come together.

I specifically wanted a neutral palette so I decided to paint white birch trees on the wall. Using various images of birch trees I found online, I began to paint the walls to resemble a forest (or more like 4 trees because I didn’t want them to dominate the small space). The outcome not only added life to the room, but also gave it a sense of depth, thus helping an otherwise very small area appear larger.

Attempt at panoramic view using my phone so not the best quality picture here

After the paint job was done everything else pretty much fell into place. I dug out the box that housed a moon light fixture which we had bought even before knowing what we were going to do with Noah's room. It was a risk at the time, but it was one of the first things both my husband and I fell in love with for his room during the furniture hunting process.

Love the pop of color from the moon light fixture

I also had a sunburst mirror which I bought on clearance. It kept traveling from one room to another until I saw it was the perfect fit in Noah’s room. We had the moon light fixture installed so why not hang the sunburst mirror to complement it.

The wall accross the tree mural is where his toys are stored.

I sewed black out curtains to hang in front of a glass door in his room (3rd and 4th image from top). To add a playful boyish touch I made tie backs for the curtains out of sisal rope which was inspired by an image of a Pottery Barn tie-back I had seen. I then found a table lamp and a picture frame both of which had the rope detail to coordinate with the curtain tie backs I had made.

Other items I DIY-ed are the bird mobile hanging above the convertible toddler bed, the decorative letter ‘N’ (pic above), the fitted sheets + pillowcases, the bunting flag, the nailhead detail on his tufted arm chair, and of course, the tree mural.

Bird mobile above Noah's Bed. At night it casts shadows on the wall which makes the birds come to life.

The bunting flags are attached to the rope with miniature clothing clips I found for $1 per pack (score!). Using removable clips allows me to change the colors and shapes of the bunting flags any time, in fact at some point I had numbers hanging up.

Even faux nailheads are a challenge to install!

This elephant chime won me over when I first saw it at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

I thoroughly enjoyed the hands on experience I had with putting Noah’s room together. The most rewarding part for me is that he really loves being in his room.

Some days I find him sitting in bed flipping through his books, other days he is at his toddler desk working on a puzzle or pretending to cook, but most days he is playing on the floor in front of the shelf that stores his favorite toys which are his bulldozers and firetrucks.

And that is the end! Hope you enjoyed this tour. I'd love to hear your comments, thoughts, and/or if you worked on similar DIY projects and how it turned out in your space. I'll also be posting tutorials on some of the things I made so do check back from time to time.

IKEA Lack table Rehashed

2012-03-07T11:05:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I was browsing through some really creative repurposed IKEA products on Ikeahackers.net. Being an IKEA hacker myself, I was inspired to submit my repurposed Lack side table. I waited, and waited, and waited for my hack to be posted but it never showed up, that is until yesterday.

A more recent picture of the table

Some readers left comments and questions about the table which I thought I could respond to here. I want to preface by saying I wish I had done a better job documenting the process but at the time (over a year ago) I was new to DIY blogging, thus clueless about explaning and photographing the step by step process.

The table before the makeover

I owned two very old Lack side tables that desperately needed to be replaced. I had seen a few high-end tables with a wood top and metal frame and wanted something similar. Unfortunately for me I couldn’t find a similar look at more affordable price so I decided to repurpose the top of the Lack tables. The legs unscrewed easily so I already had the first component - the wood table top.

My assistants removing the leg screws

As for the metal frame it had to be outsourced as I obviously didnt have the tools to build it. For its design I went for an ‘x’-shaped base in the bottom (I didnt want an exact duplicate of Crate & Barrel's tables). So 'x' bottom, and a square at the top to support the wood top and to distribute any weight that might go on top of the table.

Metal formed in a square at the top to support the wood top.

I found a metal/welding shop and showed them my sketches which unfortunately I never got back from them so I cant share it with you (lesson learned). The owner showed me some leftover scraps of metal in different sizes, I picked the thinnest square tubes (about 1cm thick) because I wanted the table to have a light and airy look. I asked for the frame to be painted in black semi-gloss. I also gave him the Lack top so he could affix it to the frame.

Nothing complicated here, screws keep the top in place

Total damage was around $50-60 which compared to the designer tables is a steal, but for that price I feel like the quality was compromised. In what sense?

ALL the welded joints were left ungrinded.

Well they failed to grind/sand the welded joints, its uneven and noticeable from up close. I think if the frame hadn’t been painted black it would've been more obvious. The frames are not a true 90 degree angle, from some sides its easy to see that one or two of the vertical supports are leaning further in that the others. These two issues aside am pretty happy with the results, obviously it was a matter of paying a bit more and finding a more skilled welder. Do you think it's reasonably priced?

1-2 metal legs aren't at a true 90 degree angle

Without any metal cutting and welding equipment this project is not doable on your own. If I had to make it with readily available materials I might use pre-cut square pcs of wood available at any large hardware store, saw the corners, glue them together and leave it clamped for about a week. The Lack tabletop is not at all heavy so just make sure you buy thick enough square wood strips to support the structure above. If you do go that route let me know how that works out for you!!!

If you want to read previous posts about this table click below:

This where I found design inspiration.
And this was what came out of it.

The Resurrection!

2012-03-06T19:39:00.000-05:00

Hello! I know it's already March but since I've disappeared for a substantial number of months I first want to wish you a Happy 2012 and hope that your new year started on a high note!

I've been busy with quite a few activities while I was MIA. We did some traveling - we visited Copenhagen, Berlin and Cyprus for the first time, we re-visited Antalya (Mediteranean Coast in Turkey), and most recently we spent almost 2 months in the Philippines. I'll be sharing some of my favorite pictures from our vacations soon.

In between traveling I worked on some projects around our home so I currently have a backlog of DIY projects I'm eager to write about. The highlight is probably the completion of Noah's room. Well, there will always be something new that I want to do to the space, but I have to draw the line somewhere right? I'll be sharing pictures of his room with you in the next blog or two.

There so are many more projects, finds, inspiration that I cant wait to tell you about so I'll cut my first 2012 post short and get to the good stuff. Visit again in the next few days to see what's new.

Short getaway trip....

2011-06-29T16:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while. We went away on vacation to Antalya, Turkey's Mediterranean coast. We caught up with my in-laws who were already there on vacation. I tell you, what a difference it is to have family around when you're on vacation - I actually got a break from my little darling. It was a short spur of the moment trip and boy are we glad we were spontaneous for once! Here are some pictures from our getaway.

~ A few hours after arriving we hit the beach ~

~ Building castles with his cousin ~

~ My little man got his first knee scratch at 1.5 yo! ~

~ He was all smiles the entire trip ~

~ Turtle sighting! ~

The highlights were the weather (90's F which I'd much rather than the 60's temperature that we returned to, wearing an extra layer at the end of June is not cool, no pun intended :)), watching Noah play in the sand was mesmerizing, and watching Noah having a blast with every family at the resort made me really happy. Hubby got a much needed break from work too. I think our only regret was not extending our trip! But that's okay because tomorrow we leave for Copenhagen and Berlin for another vacay. It'll be our first time visiting both cities. I'm most looking forward to trying local dishes and shopping!

I'll be away from my 'desk' on the 4th of July, I hope you guys enjoy your long weekend, I'll be missing Boston's 4th of July fireworks :( so for those of you who are in the city, enjoy it for me!

Magazine Files: Mediterranean Villa

2011-06-14T07:14:00.000-04:00

The other day at the bookstore I picked up this month's UK edition of '25 Beautiful Homes' magazine. I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the 25 homes featured is located along the mediterranean coast of Turkey (representing!). Very rarely are homes in this part of Europe featured in international shelter magazines so this is a big deal, for me anyway :)

Coincidentally, this villa is located in Kalkan, a vacation town I visited with the Mister a few years ago. According to the article Kalkan is supposedly the "Beverly Hills" of that part of the Mediterranean which I didn't know at the time I was there. I'll include my pictures from that my, but first I want to show you this villa.
This 8-bedroom home was built from scratch by a gentleman from the UK. It took 2 years to be completed because local restrictions prevented him from doing any construction work in the summer. Interesting fact. Of course my favorite thing about this place is the spectacular view of the turquoise water, or turkuaz as locals would say. Here are the photos of the villa and a glimpse of one of Turkey's many, many gorgeous summer destinations.

~ That view, that view, that view! A-mazing. On that note, I think I would have preferred to see glass balustrade to maximize on the view of the sea from those comfy looking lounge chairs ~

~ An infinity pool like the one above is definitely on my list for my future home ~

~ Doesn't that wood dining table adds some needed warmth to the space? ~

I love the villa's clean, fresh white interiors. It really allows you to focus on the highlight of the house - that sea view with mountainside backdrop.

~ Love the stainless steel appliances and the modern stools. Did you notice there's only one overhead cabinet? Tells me the owner doesn't use the kitchen frequently :) ~

~ The chandelier hanging in the stairwell is the most exquisite thing. The owner had it shipped from the UK~

~ Here's another space I wouldn't mind spending my days. It feels so cool and calming. Those beautiful marble floors and walls in the bathroom really do the job of adding texture to the space, not to mention it looks like it's worth a million dollars. ~

~ Another clever solution to add texture to a room - part plastered, part stone walls. It almost looks like it could be wallpaper doesn't it? ~

~ This room reminds me of a typical room at Turkish resorts. There's that view again! ~

~ Another guest room, I love the feminine accents ~

That concludes the tour of our Turkish Mediterranean villa. While its not furnished to my style, I appreciate the space and don't get me wrong, I would still stay here! It just so happens to be available for rent if anyone wants to split with us :)

And before I forget here are pictures from our trip to Kalkan in 2008. I forget the name of the hotel where we stayed, we were only there for 2 nights I think, we went with a tour group.

~ Just arrived at the hotel after an overnight bus ride to Kalkan ~

~ Lot's of cute vacation rentals in the area ~

~ View of the bay from a resto ~

~ Glimpse of town center which consists of mostly restos and souvernir shops. ~

~ Our last day ~

~ Leaving Kalkan ~

Tutorial: Graphic shirt for kids

2011-06-08T13:23:00.000-04:00

Now that the weather is finally starting to warm up I've been hitting the stores and stocking up on shirts for Noah. The shirts I tend to pick out for him are ones with silly graphics, like the Paul Frank shirt below with a jacket and necktie graphic.

Baby Gap makes a lot of these humorous outfits like this tool belt onesie I saw last season:

I also saw this at the baby section, a lifeguard whistle tee which quite honestly I'd buy for myself if it came in my size.

The girls section always has the most adorable clothes, check out another graphic tee I love, it's inspired by Chanel handbags.

Anyway, I'm getting carried away here. You've probably gotten a gist of the type of graphic shirts I like to buy for Noah. For a while I had been wanting to make a similar humour shirt for him and I finally tackled it a few days ago. First I cheated and purchased a ready made shirt. This one is from Zara Kids.

Then I picked out my graphic. Cool and simple was my motto for this first attempt so I went with these right on trend aviator sunglasses. Do you like? I then printed out the image on plain paper to make sure it was the right scale, I wanted it to look proportional to the shirt and Noah's frame. Voila! Looks cool aready!

Once I was happy with the scale, I printed out the same image on a sheet of transparency (hunted for stencil sheets to no avail), and then I cut out the shape with an x-acto knife and proceeded to paint using fabric paint.

My big 'oops' moment was when I accidentally painted right over the bridge of the sunglasses so it completely disappeared. With a single stroke of my brush the sunglasses went from cool aviators to also cool futuristic sunnies. I can easily envision Kanye West sporting this pair at the Grammy's hehe.

Even though it looked cool even without the bridge, I still really wanted the aviators. So I had to go buy white fabric paint and paint stripes over the black area to get the bridge back. It was tricky but I think in the end I hid my mistake pretty well, what do you think? Here is how it looked after I was done painting, bridge in place this time.

And of coures, this post wouldn't be complete without my Noah modeling the final outcome. He wore the shirt today and I overheard a mom comment to her daughter that she thought the sunglasses were really hanging on his shirt. Noah's grandpa thought the same thing. It made me smile to see it was getting noticed.

~ Side note, we just bought a junior stroller for Noah and am thinking of maybe sewing a new fabric seat or painting the bars. This means possible stroller tutorial to follow in near future. ~

In the meantime, below is the tutorial for this graphic tee. I think it would make a really nice gift, am thinking Father's Day perhaps? Maybe do one for your son/daughter and one for Daddy? Or make one for your BFF with rhinestones??? So much room to play with this!

Things You'll Need:

Shirt
Fabric paint
Brush
Transparency, stencil sheet, OR freezer paper (never tried this but heard it works pretty well too)
Graphic image, printed on transparency
Tape
X-acto knife

Simple Steps to Follow:

1) Print your image onto a sheet of transparency. If applicable, make sure your image is proportional to the shirt by doing a trial print out on plain paper.

2) Cut out the shape with an x-acto knife.

3) Place the cut transparency where you want the graphic image to appear on the shirt. Tape it in place.

4) Before painting make sure you put something beneath the fabric so the paint doesn't seep through. I just used a plastic lid from the kitchen. Once everything is in place start painting, stroke the brush from the outside edge of the image towards the inside to minimize the bleeding of the paint in the edges.

5) Let image dry and follow instructions on fabric paint, in my case it was to iron the dried paint after 24 hrs. And last but not least, wear with pride!

Oh, I should probably add that if I were to do this again I would paint just one really good, thorough layer and that's it, let it dry. I ended up doing a light coat in the first round, and then a second coat, and god knows how many coats of paint later and the black area started to look sloppy. And if you've done this before I'd love to hear some tips for future reference!

Seat Cover for Boys

2011-06-01T06:40:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I met a mom and her son who is only a few months older than Noah. We became dear friends but sadly she is leaving the country for good. The other day I accompanied her shopping for a booster seat for her son to sit on in the plane. She found what she was looking for, it was light and compact, however it only came in pink and it was as girly as they come.

~ This is what we found but they sold out of the boy version and this was their last piece ~

So I offered to sew a more boyish looking cover thinking it would be easy to whip up. At first I was just going to sew together some left over fabric to go over the existing pink cover, but as I was working on it I decided to customize it a bit and add her son's intial to the cover.

After doing that I felt the blue needed to pop out more so I added some piping (it also hid all the messy seams, shhh ). It was my first time sewing piping, the idea sounded simple but the execution in the end could have been better. It was partly sewn in by hand and there was some gluing involved because I decided to add it in the end. Eek! Oh well, the cover is removable so no permanent damage done here. In the end I enjoyed doing it, am happy with the overall results, and for a first attempt by an amateur sewer its pretty good. Here's how it came out:

~ Not bad for a first try ~

~ And here is Noah testing it out for me to make sure the seams dont rip *grin* ~

I think this took me 3 nights to do because I kept redoing some parts over and over again. I had been fantasizing about sewing slipcovers for our chairs and sofas, but seeing how I struggled so much with this 'simple' cover, I'm definitely going to think twice before attempting anything bigger in scale. Paying to get it done might be the better route :)

Ikat Invasion

2011-05-27T13:24:00.003-04:00

Not all interior and fashion trends in the States make their way to Turkey. The color 'grey' for home interiors, and Pantone's color of the year 'honeysuckle' for example have remained on the other side of the pond, for now anyway. Hence I was really surprised to see a lot of ikat prints appearing in shelves of home and fashion stores around here. Bathing suits, tea cups, trays, rugs, you name it, its got ikat all over it.

I think more than any other print this season the ikat stands out the most to me because I studied the technique in a Textiles class. I won't bore you with the details (well, that and I cant remember the exact process), but naturally when I walk into a store the print is the first thing that catches my attention. Anyway, here are pictures of some ikat items that I've come across in my window shopping expeditions, starting with a bikini below...

A catalogue picture of the bikini

And here it is on display

Of course my camera phone doesn't do this bikini set any justice. It's by Oysho, the same Spanish company that owns Zara. Below is another ikat bikini by the same company but I couldn't find it on their website.

I'm going to sidetrack from the ikat topic here because I just have to say how much I am loving this store, Oysho. They sell affordable, good quality, great fit, and fun printed clothes. In fact I ended up buying 2 bikini sets from them and this perfect summer top with beautiful embroidery detail on the chest. The catalogue picture below doesn't do the details on the blouse any justice. It's the white one on the right.

And below is a cute ikat beach dress from the same company. I'm all about printed dresses, it hides all my body's flaws and stands out.

Now moving away from ikat fashion and on to home goodies. Check out this beautiful tableware set, what a way to add color and texture to your dining table. I saw it at a department store and have to say it looks even better in person, the colors just pop out at you.

And of course, one of my favorite destinations for home decor - Zara Home. How lovely are these round storage boxes? Now if I could just find a place to display them in our home.

And below are ikat curtains in various colors, although I think I like the pattern in small doses as opposed to something like curtains or a rug where it would be too much.

Well, you're probably getting tired of looking at it so I'm not going to post all the other pictures. That was just a peek of the ikat invasion that made it's way accross the Atlantic. So what do you think, will you be adding it to your home or wardrobe?

Last but not least, Happy Memorial Day weekend to all of you!

DIY: Tree Mural

2011-05-16T12:54:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: This tree mural is finally complete!!! If you want to see a more recent blog about this please click here.

I wanted to share with you a sneak peak of a project I've been working on for Noah's room.

For the longest time I didn't know what direction to go in his nursery. It wasn't until recently when we finally found a decent rug for his room that I felt like I had a good starting point. The rug (pic below) is neutral and has a playful texture similar to tree bark.

I liked the idea of adding tree decals to the empty wall in the picture above - it would tie in with the rug, and add color, dimension and interest to an otherwise boring wall. I researched some tree decals and came accross a variety of styles (below):

Image courtesy of Cuttingedgestencils.com

Image courtesy of Womantribune.com

Image courtesy of Modernurbanbaby.com

Don't you just love the last one! When I checked prices for similar decals they ran at about $100, plus shipping, and waiting 2-4 weeks (since I live outside the States). Instead of dealing with that, I decided to paint the trees myself - at least it'd be customized to his room, I wouldn't have to wait a couple of weeks to see results, and I already have in my possession the materials needed to make it happen (except the green paint for leaves).

So I embarked on the journey of painting my first mural, I started a few days ago and have been working on it for an hour or so a day. First I sketched the trees which surprisingly didn't take long. Then I whipped out the brushes and that's when the fun began. I'm still in the painting stage and so far I'm really happy with the results. I hope Noah likes it as much as I do. I know he loves the birds because everytime he walks in he get's excited and keeps pointing at them and saying "bird" over and over again. Anyway, enough talk, here are some progress pictures of my tree mural:

Sketch of one of my favorite sections - two birds sitting on a branch

First coat of paint

After a few layers of paint...

We have leaves!

Bird #1 is painted on

Loving the birds and falling leaves

I'm hoping to be done in the next few days and when that happens I'll be writing a post on guidelines and tips for painting a mural.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

(Belated) Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T19:30:00.000-04:00

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."

Although a day late, I still want to wish all my mommy and mommy-to-be friends, family and readers a Happy Mother's Day! Hope you were spoiled on your special day.

We spent a good half of the day lounging around in our pyjamas. My little man and I watched a bit of TV.

For Mother's Day my two boys surprised me with a beautiful necklace + snowflake pendant!

In the afternoon we went to visit hubby's family. Noah got all dressed up for grandma. He had a hilarious moment where he was having an intense discussion with their cat, hands flailing and all.

What has being a mom taught me? It taught me what unconditional love is all about it. It also taught me the value of time and to appreciate and cherish every moment of it. It's not until I had Noah and witnessed someone grow so quickly that I truly understood the concept of fleeting time and to make every moment worthwhile.

DIY Project: Napkins to Throw pillows

2011-05-06T15:45:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy to blog about a DIY project I recently completed. The other day I was looking around Zara Home and came across these table napkins with a unique ethnic print. As soon as I saw the pattern I knew they would make the perfect throw pillows to update our tired sofa. Table napkins to throw pillows you ask?

I recalled a blog from Centsational Girl (check out her blog for some seriously creative DIY projects) where she sewed napkins to pillows. I followed her simple instructions and was done in no time. Minimal effort, optimal results, and a really affordable project. The total dent to my wallet was $6 per pillow. No damage done there!

Love the subdued colors and eye-catching print.

Overnight transformation from above picture to this...

Voila!

What do you guys think? I'm so thrilled with the results I keep looking over at them as I'm doing chores around the house. My husband's compliment was "Are you going to start selling them?" :). Do you think you'll try this?

Oh and side note, I blogged about these curtain tie backs a few months ago and in the last picture you can (sort of) see them installed in case you were curious what I ended up doing with them.

Hello 2011 and New Year's Resolution!

2011-02-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was to start heading to the gym again. The last time I was on a treadmill was last summer, so I really, REALLY needed to get back to addressing my post-pregnancy weight gain and building muscle to carry my little man around. Ironically, as I'm typing this I'm uncontrollably stuffing my mouth with mini eclairs fresh from the bakery.

One of the amenities at our residential community is a clubhouse complete with fitness center, pool, sauna, etc. When we left for the Philippines, it was still under construction and we were told it would be done by January. I have been looking forward to its completion because I was ready to get started on my resolution. Well, a month came and went, and when we returned it was STILL being built.

But alas, a few days ago, we drove by the building and saw it completed, and residents seemed to be using the facilities. So today hubs and I decided to see it for ourselves. M has also been itching to go to the gym since we moved here but we weren't prepared to pay $2.7k annual membership for the nearest gym (I kid you not, thats how much it cost a year), when a few months later one would open at no additional cost to us, and a mere 30 feet from our front door.

I digress. So today we FINALLY toured the gym, and since I've been in this "interiors" mode lately my heart fluttered when I saw the sauna and group exercise area. This clubhouse really exceeded my design expectations. So what about it made my heart smile? Check out this lounge area in front of the saunas (and please pardon the quality of my phone's camera):

This space is in the basement level so the hidden skylight above is such a spectacular solution to bringing natural sunlight into what otherwise would have been a dark and dreary area. It's hard to tell from the photo but water runs down from the top of the lit wall. That and the greenery they added to this space gives off a calming effect and makes it one of the more exemplary examples of "bringing the outside in".

Forget using the facilities, next time Noah has a temper tantrum this is where hubby can find me, curled up in one of those lounge chairs.

This skylight, wall water fountain, lighting, shrubbery, wood floors combination has me dreaming about Bali. In fact, I think it's where the concept originated because I remember going to a restaurant (albeit in Jakarta, not Bali) and marvelling at the soothing ambiance that these simple elements create. Here's a pic of the Indonesian restaurant I'm referring to:

And now on to the other room that I can't wait to use - the studio.

This is one of two studios, both laid out the same way. This is again in the basement level but you would never guess from the way they brought light in via skylight and all the greenery. I've been to a few gyms/sports clubs in all shapes, sizes, and budgets, but never have I seen one with a garden view! I LOVE IT!!! I don't meditate, but I just might start with a room like this, especially if I could have it all to myself.

So anyway folks. With a place like this to work out in, I don't have any reason not to follow through with my New Year's resolution... all year round. What do you think? Is it too much for a fitness center, or do you think this is the direction that all sports centers should be going?

Friday Night and We're Live!

2011-02-11T16:41:00.000-05:00

It's Friday night and while there are a ton of other things I should be doing like cleaning up the chaos in Noah's nursery, finishing up a job application, or a hundred other things (I'm trying not to remember), here I am on my laptop, desperately looking for ~~excuses~~ websites to divert me from the more urgent tasks awaiting.

But then I had a better idea, instead of passing time by reading other people's blogs, I thought it might be more productive for me to write on mine - something I've been wanting to do for the last couple of weeks. I've been doing so many DIY projects (some successful and some not-so), and seen some really fancy things that I've been wanting to share with you through this blog. So the time has come. We are live again!

And please do pardon my extended absence. You might be wondering where I've been, or not, but either way you're going to hear the reason for my disappearance :) I've been having too much fun! Two weeks after my last post about my Mediterranean vacay, we went on another vacation to the Philippines. Although we spent a month there, it flew by really quickly thanks to all the festivities that took place - Noah turned 1, hubs and I celebrated our wedding anniversary, my brother got married, and then of course there was Christmas and New Year’s.

I still have to upload a good 80% of the pictures and since our time there kept me away from blogging, the whole vacation really deserves its own post. Until then, here are pics of Noah enjoying his favorite past time during our vacay.

My muscle man with Papa on the first day we arrived. He wasted no time getting familair with the pool.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, allow me to post my first blog of the year!

Vacation, vacation, vacation!

2010-11-16T19:42:00.000-05:00

The last week has been so hectic. Starting with the unpleasant - it started with a minor fender bender at a mall parking lot. Fortunately nothing happened to our brand new car and no one was hurt. The owner of the other car was talking on the phone during the accident and she continued talking for a good couple of minutes even after the collision as if nothing happened! Tsk tsk.

Then we found out our old washing machine was leaking to the floor below so we replaced it and upgraded to one with a higher capacity. Hooray to being able to wash more in one load. Makes such a difference in time efficiency.

On the brighter side our shipment finally arrived (yay!), so I've been busy unpacking and setting up our home. It's so nice to have Noah's things like his high chair, feeding gear, strollers etc. A little pat on the back for my packing skills - I shipped this Crate & Barrel dinnerware set and none of them broke, in fact all the breakables stayed intact!

Shipment aside, a few furniture pieces we ordered online arrived as well so we've been frantically putting the furniture together so we would have additional storage space.

Last week came and went in the blink of an eye. Today we left for the Mediterranean coast. Up until the plane took off I was fantasizing about staying behind so I could finnish up my list of things to do before going on another trip in 2.5 weeks. But now that I'm here at this gorgeous resort and basking in 80s weather (high 20s in Celsius) I have no regrets.

We are staying at a seaside resort, our room has a stunning view of the Mediterranean and tonight I plan on falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing. Projects? Things to do? Psshh. Pure relaxation is my goal in the next few days.

This is the view from our room, unfortunately my camera phone doesn't do this place any justice.

Starting with our right side

I was trying to capture our view of the outdoor pool, lounge chairs by the beach and the dock. Too bad you can't tell from this picture.

Was impressed by the garden (background) on our way to the indoor pool.

Precious father-son pic at kiddy pool

The next few days are all about rest and relaxation.

Where is your favorite place to go for R&R?

Noah's Photo of the Week No. 3

2010-11-09T20:26:00.000-05:00

There's something about baby feet that I've always found absolutely irresistable. I rememeber when my sister was a baby I loved playing with her feet. Now that I have Noah, I once again have perfect little feet to play with, or more like attack.

I cant get enough of smelling Noah's sweaty toes, and munching on his feet and tickling them. I love watching his toes curl, or even better, when they fan out and separate like a garden rake. What a skill! When he's older I'm going to miss being able to hold his entire foot in one hand and having unlimited rights to sniffing and biting them at my will.