Home makeover tips

Freshening up one’s abode after the holidays is enough motivation to free the home of all the clutter. Arredare La Casa, Ansons-Ortigas’ new furniture and home accents shop, offers ideas that will help create a more enjoyable environment in time for the Year of the Rat.

•A place for everything, and everything in its place. Furnish rooms with versatile storerooms such as entertainment cabinets, modular steel cabinets, practical closet system, shelf- and drawer-filled wall systems, and double-duty pieces like ottomans with cushioned tops that can be removed to reveal handy storage.

•Choose furniture pieces that suit your lifestyle. When fishing out for prized furnishings, it is best to check out different collections. By going through various collections, buyers not only save time but also avoid acquiring stuff that don’t match or simply don’t fit their everyday life.

•Lounge in luxurious leather. Premium Italian leather furniture is still very much in, as its sleek finish and continually evolving elegant designs still fit a lot of today’s contemporary interior decorations.

•Pick this year’s hot colors. Hues to watch out for are grays like desert neutrals (ranging from nearly white to soft shades of browns and grays), blues (like periwinkle). Light lemon yellow, purplish pink, and deeper color tones like indigo that is almost black are also in for a major comeback. Another color is smudged gray – it complements almost any color, yet it is softer and more sophisticated than black.

•Incorporate flexible designs that are compatible with the current technology. Modern appliances such as home theater and flat screen TVs require built-in features. Other ingenious furniture adaptations that homebuyers need to look into are pull-out laptop desks on the edges of sofas and an entertainment center with a corner flip-down designed to contain and hide connections.

•Integrate sustainable green designs. Recyclable wood installations, soy-based cushions and water-based fabrics are just some of the ways of providing the home with natural designs.

Arredare La Casa is located at the 4th Floor of Ansons Ortigas and has recently opened two more in Makati along Makati Avenue and at Cash & Carry along South Super Highway.