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space matters: apple and jesse’s home

Our first feature is interior designer Apple de Guzman’s startup home. In her own words, she explains the concepts behind its design:

When we were planning for the house, our goals were simple, practical, and straightforward. My husband and I wanted a home that would suit our needs—a simple, functional, comfortable yet safe for the family, especially for the kids. We wanted a house that had a lot of natural lighting and good air ventilation.

Being the cook in the family, my husband wanted a good-sized kitchen space.  We had only one child that time but we built bedrooms for us, our son and a future daughter, which we eventually had.  I also wanted a den which could double as a home office at the ground floor.  Storage is another requirement that we consciously integrated throughout the house.

When we were designing the house, Mediterranean homes were very popular, so there is a hint of that in the facade.  We didn’t like bright Mediterranean colors, though, so we opted for muted earth tones. Being the interior designer, I was on top of everything, from design to construction, down to furnishing and decorating the interiors. But my husband, Jesse, also collaborated with me. In fact, he did the general layout of the house. I only improved on it as we went along.

Because my husband and I are both from UP, we naturally wanted some Filipino features and textures. We used clay bricks to clad the front columns and the foyer wall, reminiscent of the Spanish Colonial bahay na bato.  We also used an indigenous material called arurug for the lanai’s high pitched ceiling together with solid Yakal posts, giving the outdoor space a resort-like atmosphere. We were fortunate to “inherit” some old Filipino furniture from a cousin who migrated to the US, adding to the Filipino character of the interiors. There’s the galinera in the foyer, the escritoryo under the stairs and the solid wood dining table at the lanai.

We opted for a high ceiling in the living room to give the illusion of space and to bring in a lot of natural light. For maximum ventilation, we used large casement windows in the ground floor since we knew that installing an air conditioner for the public areas is out of the picture.

The narrow balcony at the second floor, connecting the bedrooms on both wings, allows us to see what’s going on in the ground floor from the second level.  From that same spot, a glimpse of the Antipolo mountain range could be seen through the clerestory windows across.

The design approach for the bedrooms is both practical and personal. The strategic location of the masters’ bedroom gives us a good vantage point of our gate to see who comes in and leaves the house. The space has a minimalist arrangement, avoiding possible visual clutter, to maintain a relaxed ambiance. But we were more “adventurous” with the kids’ rooms. Aside from using color for the walls, we also added wall patterns, done by my sister and a couple of friends, for a more upbeat look.