Now I have been in this apartment several times.
Hilarious. It stunk. Literally stunk. Like Cocaine.
I've been to this dump.
This girl has no taste.
Picasso on the wall.
Copy!
Andy Warhol Soup dress, tacky and cheap.
Like you Celine
March 9, 2008 11:23 AM
Anonymous said...
Writer, fashionista, entrepreneur and (reformed?) party fixture Celine Lopez moves into her new place—where no one's allowed to party, smoke or spill wine on the carpet.
Some 27 stories above the bustling city of Makati, in a newly built high-rise address that's as modishly quaint as it is unconventional, lifestyle journalist and fashion entrepreneur Celine Lopez has finally found a cozy space she's been proudly and happily calling home since August. It has an awesome view spanning the coast of Manila Bay and the hills of Montalban, and is just a stroll away from Makati 's mall.
“I've always meant to move out of my family's house. Then, one day, I just decided and said to myself, ‘Let's do it!' I looked at so many places and this was actually the last I checked out. When I saw it, it was perfect,” she recalls one Tuesday afternoon, between sups of a suspiciously sweet iced drink, served by her daytime maid Paz. “Boy, uou can really taste the Splenda,” she cracks.
This isn't the first time that Celine is living on her own—she's done that abroad—but she still enjoyed every single moment of moving in, especially with good friends like architect Chut Cuerva and interior designer Miguel Rosales around to help her out and be her “voice of reason.” By next year, she says happily, some friends will be moving into the building, too. “It's going to be like Melrose Place ,” Miguel jokes.
Celine originally wanted a crazy color scheme for the two-bedroom space, but decided on neutral tones instead. Easier to decorate and re-decorate, she says. “I already kinda knew how I wanted the place to look, I had a good sense, an abstract sense of how it was going to be.”
The result is something that clearly reflects Celine's fashion awareness, strong sense of style, and lust for life. Frame photos of her with friends are displayed prominently in several corners—a constant reminder of her “scandelilah” life, a word she invented and popularized in her newspaper column. It could mean anything, really.
The interior design is sophisticated and at the same time playful. An antique chandelier, which she got from her mother, illuminates the cream-colored living area. A small frosted glass lamp with the silhouette of a bent shade, bought in Bangkok during a recent trip, lights up the bar, where two crystal decanters stand.
On the walls, she mixes the old with the new. An artwork by young artis Geraldine Javier (a gift from her boyfriend) is placed alongside a Picasso lithograph (again from her mom) and interesting avant-garde pieces by Olan Ventura. The latter she considers her most precious pieces because they were the first paintings she bought with her own money. Both have won at the Ateneo Arts Awards, where Celine sits as a juror.
Other people, when they move into their own space, may want major things like a Jacuzzi, library or home theater. Not Celine. She simply wanted a nice television set, DVD player and functional kitchen. Not many know it, but she loves to cook, and actually prefers eating homemade meals, although when she's coming home from a late night at the Philippine Star office, where she edits the weekly YStyle section, a 24-hour fastfood joint across her building comes to the rescue.
She painted the walls of her bedroom chocolate brown because she wanted it “to fell like a cocoon.” It's there, on her big white bed, that she likes to lie down, catch up on her reading, and veg and tune out on her nothing-to-do days. Hanging on the walls are a huge black-and-white photo of her by Victor Consunji, a “penikula” poster and another photo, this time taken by the artist Kiko Escora, of Celine with her dog.
The other bedroom she's converted into an all-white office, currently her favorite spot. She chose the color to emphasize the furniture and furnishings inside—that include a Karim Rashid chair and array of little antique toys, wooden toys, rubber duckies, and stuff she bought in flea markets (a favorite pastime). It has a perfect view of Makati and gets flooded with natural light, making it conducive to writing. It's also a perfect place just to zone out.
“I write here,” she explains. “My office in Legaspi Village is now for Loungerie Lux and the T-shirts,” referring to her recent businesses ventures. “I've made it a habit not to take work home. I lived in a house where people were constantly working and the stress levels were always high. Writing is a different thing, though. I don't consider that work. It's a release.”
Known for loving the night life, Celine says she is now scaling down. She used to be an afternoon person, but now wakes up at nine in the morning. The first thing she does is eat her cereal—and then watch CNN. “I'm quite a homebody. I've definitely been staying home a lot more. I'm really enjoying it.”
And, believe it or not, her house rules now include no partying and no smoking. And don't spill wine on anything, or she'll kill you. “I love my place too much to trash it. This is definitely not a party place as opposed to my other place, which was purely for parties.”
Asked which cosmopolitan city she likes living in the most, she answers, “ Manila forever! I've been around a couple of other cities and they're lovely to visit and everything but, I don't know, I just love living here for some reason. Sunday brunches every weekend, cheap home massages every night. I just love it here!”
Her tip for those who'd like to live on their own> “Say no to drugs and fluorescent lights!”
Is this all a big joke to you Lopez?
