Sourcing Ikea in Manila

When is Ikea going to set up shop here in Manila? When am I going to be able to just stroll into one of their 40,000 sqm warehouse shop and just shop? I am begging Ikea to please, please open a store here, and I promise I will be shopping there every weekend - even if they were to put it in Nuvali, I would drive all the way to Laguna just to give them my money!

I have been busy fixing my office before we get conveyed to the condominium corporation in Park Terraces. I'm currently concentrating on finalizing my office's receiving area, my Head Concierge's office, and, of course, my little office-oasis.

Organizing and decorating is starting to become such a fun past time lately, and I've been quite happy finally having discovered a shop that sells Ikea furnitures at reasonable prices in Metro Manila.

I really, really wanted to place a Lerberg shelf in my office. I was so looking for a red Lerberg shelf, but was willing to work with the dark gray or even white variant.

Going through Facebook, I was able to contact Furniture Source Philippines - they sell mostly Ikea furniture. They had Lerbeg shelves for PhP 1,800.00, so one workday, I gladly traversed the 2 hour drive from Makati to Quezon City just to be able to shop in their store before driving home.

The sacrifice was well worth it. Sharing below my Lerberg shelf, and a little bonus I was able to pick up also a set of Lennart drawers.

Let me share also pictures of the items in use, plus a sneak peek of my 3-month old office. Please don't mind the carpets, I'm still trying to have them replaced because I'm afraid that shade of blue has a tendency to be mucky.

The floor lamp is also Ikea which I ordered online - it was a gift from Kim.

The orchid I purchased from Market! Market! from when we were buying orchids for my lobby's reception area. It was quite affordable at PhP 125.00, the pot is actually more expensive at PhP 200.00. Since I was challenged to not use Selloums as office plants, I sought out alternatives to this, and it looks I will be going the orchid route. On Sunday, my Head Concierge will be purchasing arrangements of orchids to put in the administration office's receiving area.

I got so inspired fixing up my office, especially since I only have one wall left to jazz up, that I ended up fixing my Head Concierge's space. Well, fixing is a bit of an understatement. I practically dragged him out of the dingy storage room he insisted holding fort in, and dragged out some of his beautiful furnishings which were garbage about to be thrown out by one of our residents because they were "damaged", even though the desk is Crate and Barrel and the wooden side tables are West Elm -  and then I transferred him to a cubicle that isn't being used yet, and forced him to transfer.

After I fixed up his furniture and gave him a proper area for his visitors, he ended up falling in love with his new office. His office is a nice halfway point, to be honest, from my door to the pantry.

I know the styles for his office are a bit mixed up right now, just making do with the furnishings that we found about to be trashed and saved them. It is a rather good quality table and set of drawers. The lamp I got from home, an old lamp I purchased from the bazaar of One Serendra, and dressed up with a new shade.

If you're interested in purchasing Ikea products, pay the shop I discovered a visit. Give them a call and ask if they've got what you're looking for!

Furniture Source Philippines
Open Mondays to Sundays, 9:00AM to 8:00PM
38 Granada St., Villa Ortigas II, Brgy. Valencia, QC
tel. no. 410.7159 and 404.1141

Owndays in Estancia Mall

One of my favorite haunts currently is Estancia Mall in Capitol Commons. Kim and I absolutely love it there because there isn't that much people milling around. Most of the stores are SSI - they have Pottery Barn, Marks and Spencer, they have Old Navy, and Debenhams.

Kim and I also love eating in Jipan in Estancia. Parking is easier compared to Megamall or Glorietta, easily accessible to Jipan from the parking area, which makes walking to the restaurant easier for me.

One of the most recent shops to open is Owndays. I wasn't quite familiar with the shop - it sells sunglasses and prescription eyeglasses. Since I was due to purchase a new pair of eyeglasses already (I replace my eyeglasses annually) I checked out the place. Prices ranged from PhP 2,990.00 to upwards of PhP 10,000.00. The price, however, is inclusive of the prescription lens already. They also guarantee that the eyeglasses will be done 20 minutes after payment.

Now, usually, I don't get my prescription, it just isn't readily available, even in the most established optical shops that I've purchased from, so I wanted to see if Owndays could guarantee that I would receive my lens within the day.

Kim and went there last Saturday, I brought an old pair of eyeglasses I had so that it would be the basis for my grade - lo and behold, they do have my grade available. It took me longer to choose what frame I wanted to purchase, and I ended up grabbing a pair of Wellingtons for only PhP 3,990.00.

I was so happy with my purchase. Who would've thought that my unique grade would be readily available!

Owndays is a Japanese eyewear brand that was recently established. Their first shop was opened in 2009, and their expansion to other Asian countries in the past couple of years can only be described as aggressive. They don't sell branded eyewear, the glasses that they have are all original designs, manufactured by them, including the lenses. They also collaborate with eyewear designers for some of their pieces.

It's been a couple of days that I've been using my glasses, and I love its weight. It isn't as heavy as my older prescriptions, which may be seen as a con for others, but not having additional weight on my face is definitely a plus for me. Even if it is light, though, the build is just solid. They really have a good manufacturing arm, and the Japanese quality is prevalent in the end-product.

Don't take my word for it though, feel free to visit them in Estancia Mall, and try some eyewear for yourselves.

Owndays Optical Shop

Level 1, Shop 132 Estancia Mall, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City

tel. no. 02.9973061