Doing My Own Home Makeover

Here's one of the more successful makeovers I have done with the help of my mother. The interiors of our house are still "evolving" (read: undergoing one re-arrangment after another) so let's start with the garden.

BEFORE:

AFTER:
See what a couple of bags of cement, sand and gravel can do? I wanted paving blocks but it's just not something we can afford right now even if we install it ourselves.

These garden chairs I bought second-hand for almost a song. They're cast-iron and held together by screws. Definitely classier than the "usual" garden chairs being sold nowadays.
I trimmed some of the plants, re-arranged the potted ones and made use of the pieces of "tinibag na semento" from a previous project to give a few of the pots some height and cover the exposed soil as well. White or colored pebbles would have been the desirable option, but again our budget cannot accommodate it.

Tadaaaahhh!!! Our garden looks so much nicer now than in the "before" pic, doesn't it?

I was desperate to improve the look and feel of my "dungeon", that I finally decided to join the Ultimate Makeover contest of Real Living magazine... the only magazine I followed since its inception and continue to buy even with the last 150 pesos I have. Although, these days I only get to buy back-issues, the 60-80 pesos I spend is still good money which I could have spent on something else... but since their magazine brightens my day and gives me some semblance of "hope", I continue to "throw" my money on buying even just their back-issues.

Anyway, the contest ended last May 31, and the following weeks saw me eagerly awaiting to be announced the big winner. Ever since I found out about this year's contest I have had this feeling that I will win... I didn't know why but I felt I only needed to join and I will definitely win.

Well, so much for gut-feel. It looks like it has failed me completely this time, because it's now July 1, and still no call, text or email from the people of Real Living.

My hopes of being the Ultimate Makeover winner has been eroded by even more feelings of despair. The very reason I decided to join.

You see, part of the contest entry requires contestants to write a 50-word essay on why their space deserves an ultimate makeover. This is what I wrote:

"What I need is nothing short of a miracle right now. I feel depressed and
suicidal. A space makeover would definitely make me feel that I made the
right decision to stay home and take care of my family. Please, please help
me make our house feel like a home."

Oftentimes I do feel depressed and yes, even suicidal. A lot of times I feel nothing but regret for leaving the well-paying job I had in the government just to be able to start a family. Also part of this overall gloom is the feeling that I am trapped and imprisoned in our house, amounting to nothing but a fulltime houseMAID despite having post-grad units in law.

Thinking that Feng Shui can do something to remedy the negative vibes my life was overflowing with, I would arrange and re-arrange everything in our house countless times. Be it at 12 midnight, early afternoon, or immediately after waking up, everytime I feel like "re-arranging" I would. It didn't even matter if I had to drag and carry every piece of heavy furniture all by myself because my husband thinks what I'm doing is a waste of time and energy considering I do it quite often... sometimes every week.

Maybe it's because I need to feel that I'm still in control of my life... that some things are still within my power to change and improve... even if it's just by how my surroundings look.

I am still hoping that Real Living re-considers and gives our house a much-needed makeover, even it's not the ultimate makeover I was praying for.