Love week: I Love IKEA

When people talk about IKEA on their blogs it's usually focused on the aspect of design, but my story goes a little deeper, more personal.

This love story begins with a chair...

The Poang chair was my very first purchase from the IKEA store in Carson, California. I remember reading about this fabulous store with stylish, modern and most of all affordable furniture. My siblings and I drove all the way up to Carson from San Diego to shop there.  And every once in awhile we would make it a regular road trip. 

I used to wish that one day an IKEA would open up in San Diego. In 2000, my wish came true. My sister even left her city planner job to work as an interior decorator in IKEA (maybe one day she will talk about how IKEA changed her life on her blog). One of her new co-workers was a guy named Allan...

Do I believe in fate due to a Poang chair? I don't know, but my sister sets me up on a blind date with Allan and the rest as they say is history. So maybe fate just needs a swift kick in the pants to get started. Twelve years after IKEA opened here in San Diego, I'm now married to the love of my life, we have two beautiful children and a home that has it's fair share of IKEA furniture in it...and hopefully, we live happily ever after together like a big plate of swedish meatballs, mash potatoes and lingonberries.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Creepy and Cute

I have a thing for creepy and cute things.

It began when I started collecting Day of the Dead figures. These figures are the skeletons depicted in activities they enjoyed doing when they were alive. The figures are classic in Mexican Folk Art. Skeletons in general are kind of creepy, but when they are playing instruments in a mariachi band then not so much. 

It didn't take long before my next obsession was with Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas." I started collecting the characters: Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie, The Mayor, Lock, Stock and Barrel. Again, skeletons kind of creepy, but when it's a skeleton dressed as Santa Claus then not so much. 

Lately, I've been into the creepy meets cute meets romantic (in an off way).  One of my favorite vinyl figures is my Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love. These characters came from another Tim Burton creation - his book "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy." I'm not sure if this book was meant for children, because a lot of his characters meet untimely ends, but it was just the right amount of twisted for me.  Let's just say a Stick and Match can only love each other from afar because once they touch each other...well, can we say "hunka-hunka burning love?"

My brother recently got me to watch "Indie Game - The Movie." I would definitely recommend this film (and while you are at it rent "The King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters"). One of the games shown in this film was called "Super Meat Boy."  Meat Boy is a boy without skin who has to get passed perilous cutting machines to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl. This boy without skin who would risk his life for the one person who can protect him (her bandages over his exposed body) is pure poetic...

(photo via Team Meat Blog)

...of course the plushies are what I want.

Kids and modern furniture

Used to be in the day that modern furniture and kids did not mix. Sometimes that saying still holds water. My husband and I had purchased a Bo Concept sleek, white, microfleece sofa from one of our favorite modern furniture stores in San Diego, Hold It.  It was our first major purchase for our home. When our son, Milo, was born in 2007, that sofa became a breeding ground for Milo's spit up, pee, and whatever else comes out of babies. We ended up giving away our sofa. 

Although, we learned our lesson about buying bright white furniture when you have little kids who by nature will spill or spit something on them leaving difficult stains to remove - we still did not give up on buying modern furnishings. We ended up purchasing the black Karlstad sofa from IKEA. The kids love it plus it was comfortable, affordable and stylish enough to satisfy my husband and my tastes.

(sorry about the poor quality photo)

Eventually when Milo becomes the next Justin Bieber and Stella the next Taylor Swift, or Steve Jobs since they both know how to navigate the IPhone and IPad with such ease, I will be able to afford more furniture from our favorite modern furniture shops in San Diego. Until then, I will continue to window shop and find reasons to take cute kids on furniture pictures. Recently my family went to Mixture in the heart of Little Italy in San Diego. Mixture is a modern and contemporary home furnishing and accessories store.  It's a 3-story open loft with a courtyard in the back.

I figured out the best way to buy modern furnishing, if you have small kids, is to see what they gravitate towards. My son found the furniture he liked the most and told me to take photos of him on "something cool." So I quickly deduced that my son is (a) a narcissist and (b) has good taste (his little sister, Stella, just tagged along).

(urchin poufs by Christien Meindertsma)

(Livingstones by Stephanie Marin)

(Cake by Swan Italy)

(love their outdoor "Day of the Dead" decorations)

(Sledge by De La Espada)

(Horse lamp by Front)

There are always going to be compromises in one's life, especially when it comes to your children. Our home decor was definitely one of those compromises, but I managed to have fun with it and still find furnishing for our home that kept our sense of style intact and all those spills contained!

Filipino heritage in the home

My husband and I are both Filipino - I was born and raised in San Diego and my husband in the Philippines. We share an affinity for modern design and pops of color, in particular the color orange.  As much as I like the clean, straight lines of the modern design, I also like to bring the personal into the home.  In addition to having our fair share of family photos scattered about, we are attempting to include some of our heritage in the design.

Designer and author, Meg Mateo Ilasco, has the perfect home that mixes mid-century modern, bright colors and her and her husband's Filipino heritage.  

The rattan chairs are hand-me-downs from Meg's mom. The chairs were reupholstered to give them a more fresh look.  The Philippines are one of the top suppliers of rattan products. Rattan furniture are known for their durability and strength.  

Meg's dining room have pops of blue and orange colors that complement each other well.  The macramé planter is another find from Meg's mother.  I like that this room has an eclectic mixture of mid-century, 1970s, and personal touch to it.

In my own home, the biggest and most valuable piece is our original oil painting by Filipino artist Ed Santuangco. We discovered this artist's work when we went to the Philippines for our honeymoon in 2007 where we even had a chance to visit his gallery, Collections of Art, in Angeles City.  We were instantly attracted to the modernity of the painting in regards to his subtle use of cubism and the bright oranges, blues and golds.  But at the same time the theme is very Filipino - the painting depicts a Filipino market and in the background are the ubiquitous Jeepneys.

Of course not to seem too pretentious with this talk about original art in the home, I'll bring it down a notch by saying our Filipino household would not be complete without our "Barrel Men" (and women). If you are Filipino and you do not know about the Barrel Men then Shame on You!  If you aren't aware of the Barrel Men, let's just say that when you lift those barrels up, you will get yourself a little (or big) surprise. That's all I'm going to say.  Mindless entertainment for hours.  

The remainder of our house is comprised of a lot of Swedish furniture. We are not swedish, but my husband works at IKEA...which will be another blog topic for another day...

(top photos by Thomas J. Story via Sunset Magazine)