Chasing Dreams

I’ve grown to love looking at interior design magazines/catalogs and window shopping for furniture as much as I love shopping for shoes and clothes. In fact, I’ve invested so much on furniture since I moved out 4-5 years ago, and now that I’m moving back to my parents’ home (and to a smaller room space), I have to let a bunch of my *cough* investments go.

Imagine how I drooled over the 2011 Ikea catalog that came out just recently (Thanks to Mariel for the blog alert!). I have yet to get my hands on the real glossy thing (I’m counting on you, Mae, for my copy!!), but I’m enjoying the online version in the meantime.

I like looking at home office inspirations as I have been working from home for almost 2 years now. I always believe that one’s working environment affects productivity big time, one of the reasons why I rented an apartment with an extra room I can convert to a work space. These are some of the my favorite home office layouts in the Ikea Catalog:

When I discussed with my mother that I’m coming back home, we talked about constructing a home office for me–not a bedroom–thinking that I could just squat in her room. But upon realizing that I have too many clothes and shoes and stuff to fit in her extra closet space and cabinets, we decided that the home office would now double as a bed room with a huge closet that can house all my clutter as well.

I love Ikea’s organized closets, but since we don’t have Ikea here in the Philippines, my Mom and I had a floor-to-ceiling closet custom-made back home that looks pretty much like this:

And of course I already said that I want my walls painted blue, and I want it vibrant/dark blue, not pale (because pale just won’t work with the dusty and polluted Manila air). Also, I want vibrant accent colors everywhere, pretty much like this room right here:

Finally, I love their new collection of blue furniture! I don’t think I ever noticed these blue stuff before!

Why don’t we have Ikea here in the Philippines again?

We do have Five Corners as the next best alternative, they import several Ikea pieces to sell here in Manila, I actually bought a couple of items from them in the past. But nothing still beats the real mall-size Ikea showrooms and warehouses that other countries enjoy. I remember my trips to Sydney, Los Angeles and New York included visits to Ikea, yeah, like a tourist.

We may be in Asia, alright, but why do China and Singapore have Ikea and we don’t??

Someone please explain this injustice to me.