Modern Home Decorating

We have this very difficult client that we didn’t want to work with anymore. Oh well, we just wished we could do it. The god thing about her is that she often recommends us to other friends who also need interior designing. The last project I handled for her is a small hotel at the country. She wants to have a classic looking interiors but at the same time attain a minimalist look. However, she required us to use the traditional wood plantation shutters you’ll find in most Southern homes. She’s a very picky customer but I guess we were able to capture the classic appeal she was looking for.

We’re moving to my mom’s old house. Since he and dad are moving to a new home, she told me I can have it since I’m having prolems with my apartment’s amortization. Anyway, we got into a renovation plan and consulted a few people. There were, of course, a lot to retain and remove. The designer-friend that we tapped said we could just let the wood plantation shutters, patio and yard be since they are still charming. We will just be changing paints and a few fixtures in the house to make it appear a liitle bit contemporary and modern.

My mom’s house is getting sold. Since the parent’s had passed away for over a year now, my sister and I decided to have the house sold. We live in far cities so we couldn’t really maintain the house. So last week, we went there and itemize the stuff we had to keep. We decided not to do anything on the authentic wood plantation shutters since the appraiser thought it would make the house more valuable. We ended up having a garage sale because we can’t keep some of the stuff left at home.  I really love some of the pieces we sold but I hope they found a good owner.

The brothers and I went home over the weekend to see mom and dad. As we were nearing bedtime, Earl thought of a game. We gathered in the fireplace just like old times while mom and dad are in their rocking chairs. We had three games and stuff and nobody wanted to sleep. So, we invented this silly game called ‘as old as’. We need to tag items in the house that are as old as we are. We can’t repeat items. There’s a time limit so everybody had to bow out along the game. John, the youngest, became the winner since we tagged everything in the house but he was the only one to remember he’s as old as the wood plantation shutters. Funny.

We dedicated a play room for our future kids. I got so giddy by it that I purchased some paints and brushes yesterday. Today, I’ve painted the wood plantation shutters yellow. I also played with my brushes and painted one side of the wall. I’m still conceptualizing what I would put on the other sides. I was browsing the Internet and found these art wood plantation shutters. So, I’m thinking of copying them too so that the shutters won’t look too boring when the walls have all been painted on. It’s a good thing my husband is away for the week. He’ll be surprised when he comes back.

I don’t know what got into me yesterday. I went on my usual afternoon jogging in the neighborhood. I just noticed that most of my neighbors use vinyl shutters in their windows. There are those who have classic wood plantation shutters. But, the vinyl ones are the most commonly used. I was thinking if such a case arise because vinyl shutters are cheaper than wood ones. My mother prefer wood ones because they are sturdier. She probably thinks of it as an investment.  After all, we still have the wood plantation shutters we had some years ago. I think that’s a good buy.

My home is designed with minimalism in mind. It is for this reason that I opted for minimalist pieces for my house. When it came to my windows, I opted for vinyl shutters because they very much go with the current theme. Barely a year after I moved in, I now find myself looking for a replacement for the shutters. It is so disappointing. A carpenter-friend told me that I should go for the traditional wood plantation shutters instead. They very much provide the durability that I’m looking for. He said that I would just need to go for the ones that have thin slats and frames to still achieve that minimalist feel.