For the past 8 years, the interior design students of UP Diliman have traded the traditional design exhibit project that most ID programs annually organize for a more realistic and “hands-on” endeavor of rehabilitating spaces that cater to the less fortunate Filipinos.

While interior design has always been viewed as a service that only the rich can afford, the ID program in UP (UPID) hopes to change that by allowing the Filipino masses to benefit from well designed interior spaces, one project at a time. This is not only in line with the University’s thrust towards public service, but also in accordance with the real principle behind the professions of interior design—“to contribute to the enhancement and safeguard of life, health and property and the promotion and enrichment of the quality of life.”

Before, UPID’s annual design projects have been focused on the rehabilitation of underserved institutions such as public hospitals, public schools, and orphanages to name a few. This year, the students took the challenge of improving actual residences—real homes with real families! In one of Gawad Kalinga’s communities in Quezon City (Gawad Kalinga-Laura), the students have chosen 7 residences with different family profiles.

One of the students, Carlo Miranda, Associate Head of UPGRADE, shares with us his batch’s experience during the duration of the project:

After more than three months of psyche-breaking brainstorming, numerous design proposals, and stressful fundraising schemes, our batch, collectively called UPGRADE, is now ready to share the seven completed homes at the Gawad Kalinga Site, Laura Street, Brgy. Old Balara, Diliman, Quezon City.

In taking part in the design and construction process, we realized the impact of what design can do — that it can promote environmental awareness, upgrade spaces, enrich lives, and help improve the people’s outlook in life. Our batch saw this project as a great challenge, not only on how small spaces can be maximized and how to creatively use our very limited resources, but also on how well-designed homes could possibly lead to better lives, better individuals, better families, and better communities.

Below are photos during the project turnover last September. Next week, we’ll share with you the dramatic before-and-after photos of the homes that the students transformed in less than three months. df

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I know how difficult it is to put an order to a messy stockroom aka bodega. But I’m sure many of you will agree that it has a lot of potential to be more than just a room that accumulates old, unwanted things. If clearing and cleaning a stockroom is considered a challenge, transforming the dreadful place into a beautiful, functional room would be more of a dream come true. So, I can just imagine the fulfillment that df reader Ina got from the makeover that she did for their mess room. What used to be their official tambakan is now their home office/library/exercise room. Read more about her makeover story here.

Here are some of the things we particularly love about her decorating project:

• Personalized wall décor: framing 5 of the most expensive and powerful Magic the Gathering cards (scanned images only) for her husband
• Random arrangement of wall displays that looks creative and spontaneous (tip: wall frames are from sm homeworld ranging from P200 (small fames) to P600 (large frames for posters)
• Steel file cabinet used as a message board with magnets

Thanks Ina! -ardel

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“Busy” is not enough to describe this week. At least for me, it’s more of a hell week! Unfortunately, my room is also keeping up with the hell week theme with books, magazines and brown envelopes piled on my desk. Talk about stress!

Unlike me, our friend Nina, is already enjoying a more relaxed after-work life following the recent renovation of her bedroom. From a disorganized (nina, sorry for the description!) pink-and-purple girl’s space (top), her bedroom now sports a fresh and clean image with a dreamy white ensemble.

Her bedroom’s main problem is the lack of storage space to accommodate all of her clothes, shoes, and bags. So, key to finding order in her room is the conversion of the adjacent vacant bedroom into an integrated walk-in closet. She also wanted to update the character of her space into something that’s still fresh, youthful, and feminine but a bit more grown-up.

The existing wall-to-wall built-in closets in both bedrooms (above) were removed and a sliding door was made to provide a direct access from the bedroom to the walk-in closet. What used to be the space occupied by cabinets is now the area for a desk/dresser and an occasional armchair (below).

As for the colors and furnishings, Nina wanted a white room with some gray and lime green accents. To get the look, everything was simplified. The walls (except for the warm grey accent wall) and the ceiling, including the mouldings, were painted in white. The wood flooring was just re-varnished. All furniture pieces, a combination of traditional and contemporary silhouettes, and soft furnishings like the curtains and bed linens, were also in white. Apart from the accent wall, warm and cool grays were introduced through the cotton pillow cases and microfiber blanket, silver wall frames, chrome bedside lamp, and glass table lamp with pleated shades. Lime green and pink were added sparingly through the accents pillows and lime green photos.

See all the photos of the bedroom in the gallery below!

This is just the first part of Nina’s bedroom transformation. On Monday, watch out for the second half of this makeover! {Thanks Nina!}

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I can’t believe that it’s already my 6^th year in my graduate course. I breezed through my subjects, finishing all the required units in just three semesters. Why haven’t I graduated??? I haven’t finished my thesis! I already have a topic and have begun doing library work. But all these years, between projects and writing assignments, I didn’t have enough time, energy, and free brain cells to start writing the study.

Now that everything is going very well with my family, I have the option of taking a “partial leave” this semester from design work (of course, I won’t be abandoning existing projects) and limiting writing assignments to maybe two articles per month. This way, I think I can already focus on my research.

To further help me concentrate, I decided to make myself an office/study at the stockroom behind our house. For the longest time, I have been working in the dining area. I have a desk in my bedroom but I feel claustrophobic and sleepy (because of the presence of the bed) working there. Unfortunately, working in the dining area means having to deal with constant distractions and interruptions.

Last Sunday afternoon, I cleaned the stockroom and converted a corner of the room into my office/study. Here’s a list of what I did:

1) ACCENT WALL – I wanted to paint a part of the existing white wall to define my space without using any dividers. Apart from cleaning the room, this was probably the only time-consuming part of the makeover. I initially wanted a bright color like lime green or yellow for the accent wall but decided against it because the color might just cause migraines. Instead, I mixed a dark khaki paint color using white base + burnt umber + black. To make the wall less sleepy, I made a series of slim branches by sticking ½” masking tape before painting the wall.

2) COLOR - After removing the tape, I realized that the white-and-dark khaki combination was too strong for me. To soften the white, I lightly brushed over the patterns with a pale blue-gray paint.

3) OLD FURNITURE + NEW ACCESSORIES – When the paint was completely dry, I positioned my old drafting table, mounted two cork boards on the wall (P88 each from The 88 Store), and brought in the new table lamp which I got for only P795 (from Robinson’s Department Store). I also added a small potted plant where I can stick reminders and to-do lists.

4) CHAIR SLIPCOVER – I didn’t want to spend on a new desk chair. To complete my one-day makeover, I just made a slipcover for an existing monoblock chair using a large scrap fabric.

For this makeover, I only spent around P1,160 for the paint colors (i used my dad’s leftover white latex paint for the base), paint roller, cork boards, and table lamp (the only expensive item).

I already started working in my new workspace yesterday! I just hope that all my efforts will finally lead me to a research proposal by the end of August and to a finished thesis by March. Wish me luck! -ardel

Today, I’m working on an article about “gendered designs”. The premise is that there is a noticeable difference between the design of a male architect/interior designer and the design of a female architect/interior designer. Many times (but not always), spaces done by female designers have a certain “softness” in them, while the designs made by male designers appear quite “structured”. Probably, these are natural and unconscious inclinations of both genders. I am not sure, but there must be some scientific explanation to this.

Here’s an example to demonstrate my point. My female friend re-styled this condominium unit originally designed by a male interior designer. The only requirement of the client was to give it an updated, clean look.

Originally, the interiors have a masculine character dominated by dark colors and rigid lines.

When the unit was re-styled, it was a given a brighter look by just adding lots of whites and creams, plus some fresh and personal details.

Together with fine textures and a few streaks of subtle colors, the spaces were given a softer new look without looking too girly or too dainty.

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[Have you given your space (or furniture) a makeover? Share it with us! Email us about it with before and after pictures at mydesignfolder@yahoo.com. ]

We went all the way to Los Banos to visit a family whose living room just had an impressive makeover. I say it’s impressive because with the use of very simple strategies, a huge change was created, turning the previous lonely living area into a cozy and inviting entertaining space.

The house has a good foundation to begin with—well designed, naturally-lit home interiors. However, their living room furniture was a collection of antique pieces that do not exactly go together, not to mention too bulky (particularly the upholstered sofa and armchairs) for the limited space.

The Solutions:

1) Make the furniture pieces look coherent. Because the wife’s mother was having her home renovated, needing additional furniture to fill up the big house, the couple gave up the antique sofa set. This allowed them to replace it with a less bulky and more contemporary looking fully upholstered three-seater sofa. The wife chose white for the upholstery to provide a clean and basic contrast against the rest of the wood pieces.

2) Improve the furniture layout. The furniture pieces were pulled away from the walls (to open up the view of the windows) and laid out in a closed arrangement to encourage conversations. The existing printed area rug was replaced with a flat weave plain rug in a neutral color. Apart from the new sofa, the rest of the pieces are existing furniture of the family, such as the antique dowry chest (which was made into a seat with pillows) and hunter’s chair, both from Orientique.

3) Add accent lighting. Like what I always say, lighting is everything. It’s one easy way of changing the look of a space. By just adding floor and table lamps around the living area, an interplay of light and shadow is created, introducing depth and drama to the composition.

4) Accessorize. Accessories (or decorations) are like icing on the cake—they make or break the design. Because of the limited budget, the family simply went through their existing stuff to look for things that would go well with the chosen Asian theme. Coffee table books and framed black & white family photos make inexpensive accessories. Cut philodendron leaves and tropical yellow iris from their garden were placed in vases, completing the whole Asian look.

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[Have you given your space (or furniture) a makeover? Share it with us! Email us about it with before and after pictures at mydesignfolder@yahoo.com. ]

The most significant thing that I learned when I was still a student in interior design is that good design is supposed to be for everyone. It is very sad that in reality, the design practice continues to cater to the elite few of this economically struggling society. I know that having one’s home designed by a professional is definitely not included in the priorities of many Filipino families. I also know that it would be too idealistic to hope that design professionals would lower their design fees so that more people and institutions can afford their services. I only wish that interior designers, and even architects, would organize themselves more often to sponsor (or maybe ask their suppliers to sponsor) projects for the benefit of the less privileged ones. After all, the main thrust of the design profession is to improve the quality of life, right?

Now on its 8th year, the graduating batch of UP Interior Design has been doing design projects to improve facilities of institutions such as public hospitals, public schools, an orphanage, and low-cost housing projects. This is in place of the usual annual design exhibit that most interior design schools organize. UPID thought of this alternative to put the students’ money to a better use. On top of that, it is also meant to support UPID’s advocacy of promoting the value of the interior design as a discipline geared towards improving the lives of people.

This year, the graduating students of UPID, collectively called IDeya (Interior Design by Empowered Young Artists), came up with The Cradle Project, a renovation project for 6 outpatient facilities of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC).

Before the renovation, PCMC looked like a typical public hospital–deteriorated facilities with depressing interiors.

The Cradle Project renovated the following areas: general pediatrics clinic, nephrology, adolescents’ clinic, social services office, nutrition clinic, and children’s library. The design concepts for the areas all centered on creating environments that heal the body, inspire the mind, and uplift the spirit.

Don’t you just love these spaces?! A huge improvement from their previous state. Seeing the renovated clinics is just awe-inspiring. Congratulations to IDeya! I hope that when you go out into the real world, you’ll bring with you the values that you’ve learned from this experience.

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[Have you given your space (or furniture) a makeover? Share it with us! Email us about it with before and after pictures at mydesignfolder@yahoo.com. ]

First up on design folder’s makeover list is UP Diliman’s Office of the Campus Architect (OCA).

Summer of 2002, my friend and I had our apprenticeship in OCA. Sad to say, OCA used to look like our typical government office—office meets storage with an inefficient layout, in a background of two-toned blue and beige walls, blue green cabinet-partitions, very strong exposed fluorescent lamps, and old (and often damaged) furniture pieces. It’s nothing but utilitarian.

It is far from looking like a design office.

But I don’t blame them. Lack of money to improve its facilities is the main culprit. Remember, UP is still a government entity so they have no choice but to make do with what they have. 

Last year, in line with the UP’s centennial celebration, OCA hosted a project entitled “Designing Diliman”. It was a photo-exhibit of the Diliman campus through its 100 years.

Since their office will also be the venue of the said exhibit, they were given the chance (and the funds) to improve their facilities. The renovation was headed by OCA’s incumbent director, Arch. Gerard Lico, together with the rest of the design staff.

The project started with the repainting of the corridor walls using a strong red color to act as the vibrant background for the black-and-white photo displays during the exhibit. It instantly gave the space with an edgy, designer-like character together with the blown-up photos on the walls.

One problem of the main architectural/engineering office is that the space is too congested. Logically, the improvement began with having additional staff offices at the adjacent building to relocate some of the personnel from the main office. This allowed them to adopt a spacious and more efficient layout for the area.

They maintained the open plan layout but divided it into two spaces. The smaller space is the more public conference area which is directly accessible from the two entrances of the office, and is partially screened off with a set of varifold display modules from the exhibit. The larger space, on the other hand, is the more private area for the individual workstations. This layout allowed them to have meetings with contractors, suppliers and clients inside the office without disturbing the rest of the staff.

Apart from the improved layout, the rest of the design strategies are fairly simple. Lighting was improved using fluorescent lamp on recessed housings with louvered diffusers for a softer general lighting. A better color scheme was also adopted using an earth-toned palette of warm olive-tinted beige for the walls and ceiling, maroon accent for the columns, and dark walnut finish for the existing cabinets and partitions.

The timely upgrade of their computers, from the old tube monitor to the new lcd monitor, also enhanced the clean appearance of the space.

On top of these basic improvements, a focal point was also introduced in the form of the spruced up conference area to add a rather corporate character to the office. The area features an accent wall in textured charcoal gray ceramic tiles, a new conference table and a set of new black leather chairs. To add more color and visual texture, a maroon lamp drops at the center of the table and a pair of gold-themed paintings hang from the wall.

The end result is an efficient, confident, and corporate-like, design office.

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[Have you given your space (or furniture) a makeover? Share it with us! Email us about it with before and after pictures at mydesignfolder@yahoo.com. ]