DAY THREE. I think guitars are not only photogenic, they’re also awesome decorative elements wherever you place them. Truckloads of photos, coming up! :)

3/30. Collecting Guitars and Displaying Them

[The guitars in this photo: Acoustic guitar -- the only one that is actually making any sound -- from Rico; the red toy guitar made in Cebu, from Ivy; and the two guitar magnets -- the bigger one I got from the Detroit Metro Airport during a stopover from last year's US trip, and the smaller one from my brother who got it also from Cebu.]

I have not played my guitar in a long time (and have stopped being guitarchic, too, if you haven’t noticed, lol) but I’m still fond of anything guitar, mostly because I like taking photos of them and seeing them displayed. And okay, playing them once in a while.

Collect and display, there goes a rule to live by. If you have guitars in your house, whether you’re using them or not, take them out of your closets and display them.

Let’s try visual now, shall we? Here are two ways to use guitars as decorative elements.

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Last Thursday, I went to the mall to look for an extra rack for my clothes because my stuff won’t fit in my closet anymore. The intention was pure, I needed to de-clutter before snakes would start nesting on clothes that were scattered on the floor and in the corners of my room. Clothes rack, check.

What I failed to do, however, was to resist looking around and buying a few more things that I don’t really need.

And it all started with this wall clock. (Isn’t it the prettiest thing?)

I don’t know how it started, but this crazy obsession with typewriters and anything vintage (-looking) came to me with this sudden fondness of wall clocks. (Not too long, I also took home an old Coca Cola Wall Clock from Vintage Pop’s clearance sale.) So yep, this vintage-inspired clock found its way to my shopping cart in no time, as if I needed more reminders that time is ticking away.

This was shortly followed by the floral printed curtains, which were on sale. The huge floral pattern look like something my grandmother will appreciate, which is exactly what I love about it. And I like how I didn’t have to take down my old red curtains because as it seems, the printed pattern looks perfect against the two-toned red anyway. Surely, red and olive green look lovely together, Christmas or no Christmas.

And then there were just a few more things: fake flowers on a porcelain pot, scented candle contained in a jadeite metal pail, and a cheapo table cloth with orange and red stitches. Voila, instant living room overhaul.

I got home from the mall yesterday feeling a bit guilty for splurging (again) on things that were not in my budget to begin with. Tonight, however, as I spend time in that little corner of this place I’ve come to know as “home”, I knew that I could justify my impulse buying again and win in court.

I needed this change.

For freelancers like me, who spend most of our days confined in such a small space, little changes like this spell a lot of difference. Work places affect productivity, after all.

Old items: (1) Love seat/two-seater couch from SM Departmen Store; (2) Red throw pillows from Our Home; (3) Red two-toned curtains from some supermarket, I can’t remember which one; (4) Lamp from Ikea; (5) Red adjustable round table from Dimensione; (6) Vintage make-up kit and coffeeholics mug from Vintage Pop; (7) Accounstic guitar from Rico.

Recent additions, all from SM Department Store: (1) Floral printed curtains (P375 each x2); (2) Vintage-inspired wall clock (P299); (3) Red table cloth (P35); (4) Scented candle on a pail (P239); (5) Fake flowers in a porcelain pot (P149).

P.S. Daily doses of Decor8, plus the habitual bloghopping through her blogroll, did this to me. Thanks, Holly. :)

Not like you’d take culinary pointers from someone whose diet includes instant noodles, and canned foods, and fried everything — fried egg, fried fish, fried chicken nuggets — I know.

But I’m trying to help here, cut me some slack, because I believe in my heart that somewhere out there there’s someone like me who’s struggling with trying to get a decent meal something new on her plate once in a while, I mean, you’ve gotta give your body a break from Lucky Me Pancit Canton too, right?

So. Before I start my workday, I’m going to educate you about the amazing things you can do with Century Tuna, and 30 minutes of your day in the kitchen.

First off, the ingredients:

• One can of Century Tuna (Lite, if you’re worried about getting fat)
• One 150g pack of Del Monte Tomato Sauce (or whatever brand you prefer)
• One small can of Libby’s Vienna Sausage (an alternative to ham, bacon, or salami)
• Your favorite brand and type of pasta (penne, linguine, angel hair, alphabet noodles, whatever suits you)
• Butter (fine, get the Lite version too, paranoid!)
• Salt, and pepper (just for kicks)

Optional:

• Parmesan (if you’re like me who stocks up on Parmesan and mozzarella cheese in her ref as secret ingredients to everything — I should teach you that Cheesy Fish Fillet recipe of mine next)
• Green bell pepper (I wasn’t able to buy some because I didn’t really plan on making tuna spaghetti yesterday)
• Tomato Paste (if you like the somekinda-sour Italian style rather than the sweet-Filipino taste)
• Herbs/Spices, i.e. Rosemary, Italian Spices, or Basil (I think I put in some basil in there)

What?! I didn’t say it’s going to be preservative-free, don’t look at me like that. Tsss.

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Note to self: never take naps at 7:00PM to 12:00MN if you want to have a decent good night’s sleep.

I really shouldn’t have slept. Not only did I miss having coffee with M, I also woke up with several missed calls and texts from my Mom and brother, telling me they were planning to drop by to visit me but didn’t, because I wasn’t replying. There goes my Sunday night, wasted over sleep. Hello, pancit canton for midnight snack.

And now it’s 5am, the sun is already up, and the week is about to begin, and yet, I still haven’t slept. My body clock is so screwed up.

Anyway. Somewhere in the middle of whiling time away, and surfing, and letting the Twilight movie play in the other computer screen (I sometimes let a random movie play in the background in lieu of playing music), Bella’s room caught my attention and suddenly, a light switched on in my head.

At the risk of sounding like a Twilight fanatic, I started searching for photos and DIY overhauls and replicas inspired by Bella’s room. The best source I could find was this squidoo page. Not that I want to replicate her room, I just think that some of the details in her room are worth the second look.

Some interesting items inside Bella’s room:

(1) Blue & purple bed sheets. I think I’m going to start seeing purple in a different light. And I say this for the first time in my life — I think purple is beautiful. And it looks pretty with blue, too. Woot, I’m crossing over.

(2) Corkboard with lots and lots of pictures and posters and post-its and junk. Now this one is not so hard for me to replicate. In fact, a messy corkboard has been a standard item in my bed room since college. Here’s one of the few times one can say that messy is a cool decorative element.

(3) Vintage desk with lots of artsy stuff and junk. I don’t think I need more junk in my desk, though.

(4) Vintage dresser and a vintage lamp on top. And wait, are those boxes on top of the dresser jigsaw puzzles?

(5) Light blue sheer curtains that allow day light to come in.

(6) Japanese paper lantern, and a shelf full of CDs and other cutesy stuff. (Oh look, she’s still holding that cactus.)

(7) Purple pillow cases and comforter with intricate velvet floral details, which, apparently, are being sold in ebay.

Apparently, the walls in Bella’s room were green, not blue. It did look blue in the daylight because of the blue curtains and the blue bed sheet that were major elements in the color scheme. The green hues were more obvious in the night shots, though.

For the thousandth time since I moved to this condominium, I wish I could paint my walls. Or that I had my own house I could paint colors with. But right, for now, I have to make the most out of the (dirty) white walls that this condo unit came with. (I’m starting to get excited about the possibilities).

Like I said, I’m not about to replicate Bella’s room. Except for maybe three things:

(1) The purple and blue combination.

(2) The japanese paper lantern.

And (3) the dragonfly lights. (Or christmas lights, which I’ve ranting about for a while now.)

Okay, four things.

(4) The photo mural slash cork board. (Time to stock up on polaroid film!)

It’s time to make my bedroom look less dull, and then maybe I’d start spending more time in bed and getting some sleep! I’ll post an update on this one. c”,)