We’re embarking on a project of renovating the house this year. First part of the project is the roofing. It’s summer time and it’s the perfect time to fix the roof so it’ll be ready for the rainy days. 4 years ago we had people, well okay, neighbors, who built their houses on the left and right side of our house and since the house is only one storey high, they stepped on our roofs while they were constructing their houses. And of course when the rainy season came in, some parts of the roof started to leak. Well, don’t get me started anymore on how I had to talk to them about sharing the expense in having it fixed. I swear it wasn’t easy.

Well, going back to the plan, we’re also thinking of having the house checked for termites. Next to that, we wanted to get a stainless undermount sink. And finally build a home office. Although how we’ll manage to finish all that this year is beyond me. We aim to finish at least two. And hopefully before the year ends the other projects have been started as well.

Aside from rest and recreation, weekend also spells out house repairs. This is especially true if there is a need to hire someone to work on the repairs. We are unable to do so during weekdays as we are out for work and it is only during the weekends that we are able to watch over the hired help work over the repairs. Fortunately, we only had to work on the leaky bathroom faucet this week, which my husband can work on, saves us money! Which reminds me that I have to have the roof repainted this summer. Oh well, that’ll have to wait I guess.

Our house is a bungalow 2 bedroom house with 2 toilet and bath, a typical choice for starting families. We’re actually renting the place from a relative. Yesterday, I saw a friend’s house through her Facebook albums and it was just really inspiring how she transformed their house into a really cozy abode from a simple bungalow house. Then, I thought of suddenly embarking on a house makeover project. I guess not this year, but perhaps next year. We have to finish up paying all our liabilities for now and start building our savings. There are a lot of things that I wanted to design, like a contemporary sofa, a book shelf, side tables, kitchen cabinet and so the list goes on. That is why it would be wise to put it off for now, and better break it down to smaller, achievable plans. Dang, I’m still talking about SMART goals even if I’m talking about things to do at home. Anyway, for now, I’ll just have to do with reading through back issues of Real Living magazines.

image taken from topazhorizon.com

I work right in the center of Cubao, and my office is situated between two malls and one huge grocery store that also markets furniture and different appliances. And so yes, window shopping is absolutely inevitable. One thing that I haven’t had the chance to cross out my wish list is a gas range. I wanted to learn how to bake and so I’ve been trying to check out different brands of gas range. La Germania and Elba are the most expensive and also most functional and durable brands out in the market. And between the two I’m gravitating towards getting an Elba gas range. Although, the specific model that I want comes with a very pricey tag price. It’s so posh, it looks like the kind that you’d see along rich people’s kitchen, with equally posh granite counter tops and smooth and functional kitchen sinks. Oh well, may be next year…. Until then, I’ll have to contend myself with window shopping.

If you guessed that we finally bought a TV, you’re absolutely right. The husband was giving me the puppy eyes while looking at our old tv set, when his ps3 games are not playing in colored. So about 2 weeks ago, prior to going to church we decided to look around and check out the deals of electronic stores. Lo and behold! We found one that is absolutely a good deal. Since we’ll be using it inside our bedroom, we decided to go for something not more than 30inches. We bought a Ganzklar 24inches LED TV, the husband is absolutely ecstatic! Since the price is really good for a LED TV, no freebies were offered despite that we were paying for it cash. But it was a sweet deal really, it comes with 2 usb drives and is capable of full HD, something I cannot describe. I’ll ask the husband to blog about it in detail though. Everything is good, the only thing we don’t like is the sounds, good thing we can always opt to get an Altec Lansing pair of speakers to go with it. Oh and if you have reservations about the brand, like we were initially, well don’t worry because it’s made in Germany.

BLIMS furniture store is holding a mid-year sale. The said is known to sell upscale furnitures both for home and office use. My place of work is right across their store in QC area. There are bed frames, center tables, cabinets, office tables and modern sofas at the lobby where they placed their marked down items. The sale period is up to August 31st and the marked down items can have discounts as high as 70% off.  I was told by the office lady guard that she saw Donita Rose sometime last week shopping for some items. Last year, it was Korina Sanchez who bought from the said store.

Well, I’m holding off on spending right now. May be some other time I will buy there too.

Aside from a beautiful wedding which every couple is entitled to have, one of the basic things that a couple would have to save up for is a home. Ideally, before starting a family, it is best to have a home to call your own. No one would like to live for the rest of their lives in a rented home, where the rent goes up every so often and when you are restricted in terms of making modifications on the house. On top of that, once a couple have kids, there would be a long list of things to pay for and save up for. So it is really ideal to have a home immediately after marriage.

Some of the basic things you need to consider when choosing where to live would be the location. It is best to live within a stone’s throw away from good hospitals, good schools, malls and of course, your place of work. Living in a home situated right in the middle of all these things truly spells out a good work-life balance. It is the same notion that Avida, an Ayala company, has in mind when they came up with their Avida Towers project in the Fort Global City.

============================================================================================

Avida Land Corp. recently marked another milestone with the launch of Avida Towers Global City, its first foray into one of the country’s most sought after addresses.

The Avida Towers Global City 2-bedroom model unit.

Read more…

Moving is a tedious job, especially if you have tons of stuff. Just the thought of moving to another house is absolutely tedious. There’s the business of packing up all your stuff, and then transferring it to the truck, cleaning up the empty house (yes, we do!) and then of course the entire carrying and unpacking and arranging your stuff all over again in the new house. Some of the things that are tedious to move are bed frames and bed mattress, huge pieces of furnitures like antique drawers and cabinets, grandfather clocks.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to give you pointers on what to consider when looking for hauling services.

• Ask around for referrals, as they say the best form of marketing is word of mouth. You want to use the services of a company who has already provided satisfactory service to someone you know. If that is not possible, check out online forums and read  on the feedback provided by former customers.
• Check the rates. Some companies would charge you an arm and a leg and will not include other services like the actual carrying of your stuff. Make sure you know everything before finally making up your mind.
• Check out their vehicle and their people. Their people should at least be in uniform and have proper identification and the trucks should look well maintained.

Oh well, hope that helps

Last Sunday as I was browsing through the classified ads of the Manila Bulletin, I was surprised to find an ad that sells truck houses. Basically they will build you a house from truck compartments. Each unit, not sure of the measurement though, is said to cost roughly PhP 99k. Their selling point is that it is low maintenance, termite-free, rust-proof and durable. They can also sell you multiple units so you can stack it up if you want a second floor and so forth. Interesting eh? And how very ingenious don’t you think? Too bad I don’t remember if they have a website. I’ll try to check later and see if they do, so I can post pictures here from their site. And who knows some people might actually be interested.

Reminds me of the time when I was still little. I used to pester my dad whenever I’d see rvs (roving vehicles)  in American films. I wanted to live in one. I wonder when they can have used rvs for sale here in the Philippines. We’d probably be the first ones to buy.

There has been natural disasters left and right – super typhoons causing flooding, earthquakes etc. Most of which are caused by our own undoing. These calamities are the environment’s way of shouting Enough, of the abuse we are subjecting it to. In our own little ways, we can find ways in order to do our share and help out. We need to find ways to constantly think about how to reduce waste materials, especially the non-biodegradable ones. We need to recycle our waste materials.

Speaking of recycling, I’m extremely fascinated at this cool truck that was restored and completely improved and re-designed by 3 Japanese buddies. The said friends were not even engineers to begin with. But somehow, they managed to salvage this sorry-looking truck…

to this cool one that could give Optimus Prime a run for his money.

It may look like any other small truck, but don’t be fooled because the said truck can transform into a two-story mobile dwelling unit. Wondering how that happens and how it looks like, well check out the pictures and be amazed too.

Read more…