Flipping through interior design magazines and I've often found Patricia Urquiola's furniture designs on an Ad page or in a featured interior. She was born in 1961 in Oviedo, Spain. Her outstanding designs were chosen for the Italian Design 2001 exhibition and for the International Design Yearbook 1999 and 2001. She designed her first furniture pieces with Vico Magistretti at the De padova furniture company in Milan. On her own, she has also designed for B&B, Molteni & C, Moroso and Kartell to name a few.

Here are some of her works that I like.

I had the powder room layout revised from the original plan in order to have more space and clearances for maximum comfortability inside the room. The original layout was much much smaller and the concealed entryway was occupying way too much space.

I wanted to give the room a spacious and fresh look since there wouldn’t be any allowable window openings designated for it. I chose to propose beige or off-white polished tiles accented by a cool light turquoise color. The accent color will give the fresh look needed for this room. The vanity unit will serve as the dramatic focus. The lighting will be in warm yellow, just enough for an ambient feel.

a niche with a colored glass panel is featured to give life to an otherwise blank wall.

Sweetgreen is a food hub offering it's customers all-natural salads and frozen yogurts in a biodegradable packaging. The Washington, D.C. café is the work of Core Architecture + Design exhibiting panelling and custom furniture made from reclaimed wood and re-purposed from bowling alleys.

 

The small space is powered by wind and promises fast dining to it's patrons. True to its cause. It uses only sustainable materials and re-usable utensils. If you want to know more about their green endeavors, visit their blog here.

This is probably the easiest way to spruce up the look of any room without spending too much and worrying about construction details. Just be sure to use real flowers instead of fake ones. Although the fake ones might last longer, nothing compares to the color vibrance, smell and elegance that fresh flowers bring to a room.

Tip: For a longer bouquet/ floral display life, use moist floral foam that can be easily concealed in  opaque decorative vases or if you're using transparent ones, lukewarm water with a little sugar.

Choose colors that complement each other and not those that clash if you want them to be the accent in the room. If the room already has an accent color, choose flowers that are a shade lighter or darker to complement it.

Adaptations.

Liven up a table setting by setting up an array of flowers as the centerpiece. This could tie in the whole theme of table setting together.

Instead of using vases, use bowls or platters instead and try to arrange the flowers in a ball for a unique look.

Spice up a boring mantle with colorful flowers.

With a little crafting skill, you can try embedding the flowers on white candles to add a splash of color and revitalize the accessory.

Decorate a corner with a little pendant of dried flowers arranged into a ball.

Get creative with unique containers. This could add drama and depth to your flower arrangement even if you use just simple flowers.

*most photos courtesy of Country Living magazine.

I always come back to this showroom if I'm looking for furniture pieces that are modern asian in style and utilizes full use of locally available materials here in the Philippines, like bamboo, abaca and coco shells.

The furniture forms follow simple modern lines and contemporary style with the use of indigenous materials makes their selections perfect as accent pieces.

There lamps are great too.

This project is for my godmother's house. I haven't seen my godmother since I was very small and she was pretty surprised to see that I'm all grown up now.   Again, like my Verdana Homes Project, this one also has the construction part well underway and I also have to design and make the construction drawings while work is being done at the site. As you can tell, both projects are really stressing me out because I think if my estimates are correct, they'll both end at around the same month. And all this while I'm keeping a full-time job. Whew! After this I'm really taking a long vacation.
The design style for this house is modern asian and again I'm given full-control of what I want to do with the interior, the challenge here is, they're working on a tight budget. So in order not to sacrifice the look of the design, I have to find suitable alternative materials that would fit with the design and be on their budget as well. The other challenge is the fast pace of the project, I really have to think fast and conceptualize on this one or else construction will be halted and that's the one delay I don't want to happen.
Like in the Verdana Homes project, I will also catalogue here, the various design obstacles I've come across and share it with you my readers for an insider's peek and firsthand knowledge of troubleshooting. So stay tuned for the next coming weeks.

I've recently taken upon the task of designing the interior of a home located at Verdana Homes. The house is currently under construction and I've been conceptualizing and producing construction drawings coinciding with the progress of the house. So it's really been stressful for me and yet I have a feeling this is going to be rewarding.

The interior style will be a mix of contemporary and asian themes. The owners were kind enough to entrust me with the whole look of the house. The biggest hurdle with this project probably is the fact that the owners are really far away. They're currently residing in Dubai. We've been only corresponding and collaborating ideas through email. Sometimes it can get really frustrating.

Since this is the first introductory post for this project, I'll just have to say that more interesting peeks and inside views on what designs I have for their home are coming in the next few weeks. I'll be posting the design challenges that I encounter in each area of the house so that you'll get also an insight on how to troubleshoot when it comes to practical design applications.

I can't wait for the final stages and I can't wait to post here, the final photos of my hardwork.

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