Dining Chair Slipcovers

Our dining chairs are made of mahogany wood. Noticed though that there were scratches from buttons of pants, nail marks, etc. and they're barely 3 years old. Repair of one chair costs PhP2,000, according to our supplier!

So I decided to ask our ever reliable mananahi (sewer) to make slipcovers from good quality canvas that we got from Larry's, Buendia. The buttons are made of wood that are available in Divisoria. Carolina's do not have them. Throw pillows are spare pieces from our sofa, all from OUR HOME.

Our house feels much brighter, unlike before which was quite dark due to the mahogany hue.

Why our house smells LOVELY

This is not a paid advertorial. I just would like to share this all around cleaner that I discovered months ago at S&R. I just have to share this product because my mother in law and husband swear by the lovely smell it leaves behind. The fragrance lasts really long, and the OC homemaker in me feels accomplished.

One night, hubby went home late and he asked me why the halls smell so fresh. Sounds like a TVC but it's a real testimonial! Last week my mother in law used our powder room and asked our helper about the refreshing smell (Take note: my mother in law is a loyalist when it comes to products. She's been wondering for the longest time why I do not use CHAMPION, her favorite washing machine detergent). My mischievous helper (mana sa amo) just said "SECREEET!"

Mother in law was serious in finding out when we were at her place yesterday. O sige na nga, it's just ZIP!



I am yet to try their dishwashing liquids.


It's a product of Malaysia.

Decluttering: So much wasted space in the house!

Last year, my mission was to make our living room and helper's room clutter free. So I decided to throw and donate a lot of stuff to charity and to people who might put these items into better use. Fortunately, my cousin who just had a baby girl needed hand me downs of clothes and baby gadgets, which I suppose was a relief because somehow I knew that my daughter's old things will go to a deserving recipient. We also donated 3 boxes of old clothes and toys to 2 charities last Christmas.

After giving birth, I felt that I became so forgetful of where I kept my things. Our house has good storage but the items are not organized. Decluttering is quite draining, so what I try to do is do it one step at a time. One by one, I'm beginning to locate where I kept some of my goods.

For my daughter's toys, I decided to make our attic her new space. It used to be that she plays at the helper's room because it's near the center of all the activities in the house. However, the helpers have this tendency to dump all my daughter's toys everywhere. So what I did was organize the toys according to function or make. For example, all art materials will be in one plastic box. Other classifications included: wooden toys, mechanical toys, coloring books/ paper, and role play toys. Since there's a TV in the attic, my daughter also gets to watch Playhouse Disney there, then at anytime she can shift to coloring when she pleases.


Inside cabinets that my daughter can safely open.


All art materials here!

Today, I'm cleaning up our guest room. There's a nice bed, but the mess is embarrassing. We kept our old magazines and a big bulk of the inventory of my toys business there. I'm still trying to figure out how to clean up the mess. I have the whole day today to sort and throw away the stuff. I just realized that a lot of our things are just not in their proper places. So what I do now is make different centers in the house. That I'll share in my next post.

Off for lunch then declutter time again.

Decluttering One Space At A Time

Since I am still in the midst of recovering from surgery, I promised myself that I will be taking things easy. First thing I did was stop taking orders from my online shop and my distribution of Ecobloks-- quite challenging because I really enjoy transacting with fellow moms and it was part of my commitment to BiD Network and Philippine Business for Social Progress to grow Ecobloks.

But that's just work. If there was something I realized during my on and off confinement at the hospital, I have more important commitments for my husband, my daughter and to myself. Yes we need the extra income, but let's just say I am more willing to be frugal now.

Of course, I just don't lie down in bed at all times. While being more focused in planning the menu of the family and preparing hubby's baon daily, I promised myself to declutter at least one space at home per day.


Our pantry. There was a renovation done at our kitchen hence the bigger storage space.

It was very therapeutic. I was so happy when a guest told me that my house now has a different vibe. It used to be a bit gloomy because the design of our interiors was very minimalist with a limited palette of gray, brown and white. It looked good in pictures but felt cold and unfriendly in actuality. Aside from the new orange wall as suggested by my husband, I re-arranged our bar and removed the unnecessary clutter (old toys, bills, etc) and enhanced the living/ dining area with some interesting details (i.e., a plant, artworks).

My husband was against showing pictures of our house, so I just shared some spaces where I did some decluttering, such as the medicine cabinet and our pantry (well, we're nearing month end so it's close to empty).


Aside from organizing the medical items, I also threw away expired medicines.