geminipicks

[geminipicks]

Arts, Home & Lifestyle Picks turned 1 today!

#tumblr birthday #tumblr milestone

[geminipicks]

Forty Winks and Heveya

I have been seeing Forty Winks for sometime now but have never entered their store. It looks so expensive and way beyond my budget so I never really bothered seeing what’s inside of that facade. Turned out this store sells the best mattress options around and at reasonable prices too.

Then I discovered the Heveya brand. They sell organic latex mattresses which looks really comfortable and inviting. The price tag, on the other hand, is not quite budget friendly as it reaches the 6-digit mark. Still, I researched. And the more I did, the more I get to like it.

“Latex is the best all-natural mattress material that Mother Nature can give. It delivers supremely comfortable natural springiness for a restful night’s sleep. Heveya latex mattresses are made of 100% natural organic latex. Contrary to other foams, such as high resilience foam or visco-elastic foam (memory foam) which are made of a chemical reaction of petroleum derivatives, Heveya latex is purely a natural product. This means you do not have to worry about toxic gasses being released during the night while you sleep.”

More on latex - it does not deform or sag. It is dust proof, bed bugs proof and feels cool to the body. Being natural and organic, it is also hypoallergenic.

[geminipicks]

An Audiophile at Heart

My first purchase for the house was in early 2018. January to be exact. I visited Bang & Olufsen while window shopping and found out hey have an ongoing sale. I asked what sound system for the movie room would they recommend. They pointed out on the big speakers with the blasting sounds. Really good. But I have no space for them. They were really humongous and expensive. But even if I have the budget for them, which I don’t have, the lack of space would still not allow for those big items.

Then I found a small and unobtrusive pair of round speakers that looked like the ordinary desktop speakers. The sales guy said it’s a home theater speaker so I asked for a demo not expecting much. It comes with a subwoofer. maybe it’s not too bad at all. Then they connected to the tv playing a movie and I was dumbfounded! The sound coming out of those small speakers is unbelievable. It seems like something coming out of some very big speakers. Amazing! I decided to buy it even with an indefinite date of when the house will be finished. I told the sales guy it’s for indefinite storage and they agreed to keep it for me. So there. I have my first house purchase - the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay S8.

[geminipicks]

I’m living my life, not buying a lifestyle.

Barbara Kruger

Beyond my wildest dreams

Just like everyone else, I have only hoped for the best in life. The beautiful life. Life started as a struggle emotionally. And financially. Everything I chose was in proportion to the meager amount of leftover cash from the household needs of a growing family. Income was limited and the expenses were never ending.

It was about fifteen years ago when business started to take off that we started traveling and seeing different amazing places. The children grew up and started finishing college one by one. They also started to leave home and build their own families.

The idea of building a home came in 2008. So we started looking for the ideal lot in the ideal location in the ideal neighborhood. It was not easy. It took us more than five years to find one. And another three years to finally decide to build on it. By mid of the second half of 2016, we had began planning and by August 2017, we had started construction works.

It was a humongous task I took on. We planned, revised and modified, several times before we arrived at a final design to submit for building permits. My architect and contractor is a trusted cousin who gave me the leeway to design and be creative as I like. The feng shui expert gave the clearance after several revisions. The interior designers acted as just consultants and provided the necessary technical specifications for the benefit of the architect and all those involved in the construction works.

After the initial construction phase, the arduous task of selecting and purchasing for the interiors began. It was a hard but fulfilling work entailing total dedication, long hours studying unfamiliar choices and technical details. Comparing all available choices, consulting with interior designers, local experts in their fields and reading reviews and discussing with friends who are actual users.

I pulled it through and I am proud of my work. The outcome was more than I hoped for. And I am happy.

Now I can truly say that this is the life. And I am finally living it.

Architect’s perspective of future home