Parrot on a PorchA Journey Toward the Little Mansion Dream

Many people believe that keeping their home clean is too difficult. With mountains of clutter to overcome and inches of grime to conquer, just getting started can seem completely impossible. Keeping your personal space clean and orderly will not only improve your house, but it will relax your body, soothe your mind, and replenish your soul. Getting your house in tip top shape does not have to be a Herculean task.

The first place to begin is the kitchen. You need to eat and if you don’t have clean surfaces, you cannot prepare food that is safe. If you only have time to fix one room, start with the kitchen and make a routine so you can do a little bit of upkeep each day.

The bathrooms come next. Start with the sink, moving on to the toilet. The bath or shower should come next, then the floor. If mold and mildew has taken over and a good scrubbing can’t do the entire job, clean it as best you can and then make an assessment. Perhaps you need specialty cleansers for areas like tile. Check your caulking to see that it is in good condition and no grime has grown in its crevices. It may need to be stripped and redone, which makes a huge difference in the appearance of your bathrooms. If your shower tray is cracked or beyond help, consider replacing it and possibly your sink as well.

Next move on to tackling clutter in the rooms you use the most, whether a living room or den, followed by the most used bedrooms. With the clutter gone and reorganized, dust and vacuum, then tackle the windows one room at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and an especially messy house will need more time. Just segment the mess and maintain what you have already cleaned and you’ll be there in no time!

Wouldn’t you want to stay in the bathroom all day long if it is designed similarly to any of these:

Aren’t they all just grand and astonishing?  These are the bathrooms that really stand by the meaning of the other term coined to them: “comfort room”.  Because it’s truly pampering and relaxing just lounging by the tubs and jacuzzis.  The interiors are lovely and these are the perfect areas to relax after, let’s say a tiring day or after going through a stressful reviews of your expenses like bills, term life insurance dues, mortgages, taxes, etc.

I fancy the first bathroom’s fireplace and the LCD TV perfectly positioned across the tub.  I love the modern Balinese style of the second bathroom as well as the inviting recliners.  I love the simplicity of bathroom number 3.  Squeaky clean and purity are the instant perception.  The lighting effects of the last bathroom plus the carpet-like look of the tiles and the comfy seat makes you think that you’re in a living room and not inside a bathroom.

If I win the lottery and construct a new house, I’ll make it a point to design the bathrooms exactly as the pictures above.

**Pictures snagged from http://www.freshome.com.

Vessel sinks or sometimes called, Glass sinks, are my dream bathroom sinks and the hottest current trend in bathroom design. It is coined as “vessel” sink because it adapts the shape of a vessel. Aside from the aesthetic charm, a lot prefer go for this type because it occupies very less space both width and height wise. It only contains a small sink with vessel faucets and a beautiful stand matching in color and design with the bowl. Another advantage is the control on the setup customization like the bowl and stand can be changed and the vessel faucets can be replaced with a single one type. Shapes and designs come in great variety, too. They make great bathroom vanities and give you a feel as if you’re in luxurious and posh hotels.

It would be nice if our dear Little Mansion can have these vessel sinks for the two bathrooms. Price wise, they’re a little steeper than the regular ones so I’m not sure if our little budget can still accommodate this upgrade if ever.

The developer who happens to be our wedding principal sponsor (thus, the complaisance and flexibility) gave us the go signal to canvass in a local construction supplies and tile shop for Little Mansion’s walls and flooring. Together with the husband’s aunt interior designer, they went to Wilcon Depot last month and here’s what they tentatively came up.

This isn’t the final list as we’re yet either to go back to the shop or browse online for the two bedrooms’ flooring which might probably parquet floor types.

For the Living Room:

Romangres Byzanthine Pentelic Porcelain Rustic Semi-Glazed Tile

For the Hallway (Kitchen) – I think this is for the service area (dirty kitchen)

Mariwasa Loft Tokyo Floor Tiles 30x30cm

Flooring, Wall and Boarder for the T & B on the ground floor:

Flooring: Romangres Noble Marrone 25×25cm
Wall: Romangres Enigma Beige 25×33cm
Boarder: Romangres Listelo Ditany Arvada Bisquit 7.5×25cm

T & B on the second floor:

Flooring: Romangres Noble Blue 25×25cm
Wall: Romangres Grey Ceramic 25×33cm
Boarder: Romangres Torelo Oasis Azzuro 3.5×25cm

For the Kitchen:

Flooring: Romangre Inserto Dittany Beige
Wall: Ramongres Marmara Dark Beige
Boarder: Listello Marigold Marmara Beige

When we visited the adjacent twin unit of our dear Little Mansion last time, I got a glimpsed of how ours will look like. The construction of the said unit was prioritized since the US-based owner will be needing it as a vacation house for this month. The house is fully furnished already and is just waiting for the occupants for the big move. We took note of the details of everything and since we can somehow customize to our liking some stuffs like the sinks, cabinets, etc, that following are what we have as options particularly for the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

We don’t want anything fancy like those luxurious sinks in hotels. We want it uncommon yet just simple such as this Overmount Porcelain Vanity Bowl from MR Direct Sinks and Faucets. It’s interesting to note that it’s just $23..so affordable yet dainty especially if partnered with a brushed nickel two handle faucet such as below.

As for the kitchen sinks, we’re amenable to what the developer plans to install. Their choice of undermount kitchen sink satisfactorily matches ours. I can’t find the exact model but it has great resemblance to this:

But seeing these undermount kitchen sinks convinces me to have another type installed in the main kitchen (the one near the dining table as we also have a dirty kitchen in the service area). I find them really unique and I bet my son will definitely enjoy washing his hands in his “own territory” in the middle. Then we can say…”a family that washes together, stays together”.

I love browsing MR Direct’s huge array of bathroom and kitchen sink selection. But what I love more is their economical costings because they manufacture their own sinks and direct sell them to clients. Their offerings are at par with those branded ones but way low-priced than Kohler, Blanco, Elkay, and Franke sinks.

The department store’s home section has become one of our must drop-by points whenever we go malling during weekends. We don’t have news yet from our developer regarding the housing loan approval but it’s never too early to start canvassing home furniture and appliances for our future little mansion, right? All the more it keeps me excited but at the same time, I think, I’m giving myself unnecessary pressure and overwhelmed thoughts because there are just too many lovely inspirations and ideas that I get.

Among the sub-sections, the racks and area for the bathroom has the most limited time visit. Why? Simply because this particular mall that we go to has just minimal options. This convinces me that we might just browse or if circumstances allow, perhaps order online for furniture and accessories, at least, for our bathrooms. By the way, I’m just excited that we’re having a couple of bathrooms in our future little mansion. (We’re used to having just one in our present and even former homes).

I have already bookmarked several websites but so far, Better Bathrooms stands out to be the best not only in terms of their huge bathroom suites selections but their affordable prices and clearance sale rates can not simply be missed. One great thing about shopping for bathroom suites from them is that they also supply the coordinating tiles giving a whopping 20% savings. Now one can practically build and design his dream bathroom with Better Bathrooms.

You know that I go for anything blue so I’m off to check if they have similar border tiles and designs such as shown here in my dream bathroom design:

As previously blogged, I really have a penchant with blue-colored or blue-themed rooms. I’ve come across a site that says the cool color of blue can actually make a small space appear bigger as it appears to recede from the viewer.

Here are just a few inspirations I pooled from my favorite home interior blogs:

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

Sub-consciously, emotionally and mentally, our perceptions of colors affect and influence us. Colors affect our moods.

Blue is calming and soothing. Its different shades can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Interior designers say that blue is a good color for bedrooms because of its cool, calming effect and it can help you sleep. However, too much blue could dampen spirits as the phrase “feeling blue” conveys.

The color blue has always been my favorite.  According to an online quiz that I took, blue is my primary color and it symbolizes that I am a sensitive and reflective person..which is actually true.

Here are some of the blue inspired home inspirations for our future little mansion.

Photo Credits: Coastal Living

I’m sure, my online “purple” friend, Ems, would fall head over heels in love with this bathroom.

Happy Bathroom – (posted via Novello)