Week 21: Getting the House Ready for Our Soon-to-be Family of Four

I thought getting married would be the end of my apartment-hopping. Guess not. Less than a year after my husband and I moved into our first home, we’re packing our bags again. At least we’re not changing our address; we’re just moving to a bigger unit in the same building, one with more space to raise twins.

That also means we’re saying goodbye to the roof top we’ve grown to love. But how can we complain, right? I’d take having more space for the twins over having a pretty roof top view anytime. And it was just the perfect timing. We’ve been praying for a bigger space, and suddenly a tenant was vacating one of the units, which makes it, yay, available for us. God answers prayers just in time.

And so the new apartment is like a clean canvass for me to play with. We’re definitely adding more furniture and shelving, and colors! Times like this, it’s always a good first step to start with an inspiration board. Here’s mine:

I know I’ve always complained about not having Ikea in the Philippines, but just this week, I found that there are a few shops selling Ikea items here in Manila. Say hello to Ikea Source Philippines, Invicta, and (this one’s been around for a while) 5 Corners! We scheduled to visit their showrooms this week. For now, I scouted their websites for some major items I consider getting, added some pegs I found here and there, and put this inspiration board together.

I think yellow is a really pretty, gender-neutral accent color, yes? We don’t know yet what our babies’ gender are, but even if they’re girls, I still don’t think I’d pick barbie-pink colors for our home. Whether the twins are boys, or girls, or a boy and a girl, I think my turquoise and apple green color scheme fits just right.

On the other hand, as I was finishing off my inspiration board, I found these really nice *pegs from Pinterest..

..and thought heeyyyy, orange and pink looks good too! I didn’t want to consider these colours at first, but they could work!

So maybe I’m getting some coral pinks and orange too. Like fake flowers, vases, and pillows maybe?

Ahh, the Martha in me is crazy. excited.

Next up: pegs for the babies’ nursery!

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Some notes on the board: (1) Ikea Rast Drawers, to be painted yellow maybe? (2) Ikea Expedit Shelving/Divider, or some alternative; (3) Ikea Bursjon storage/stool; (4) Ikea Rexbo Shelf, a phased out Ikea item which I happened to already have – mine used to be red but now it’s black; (5) Fab Manila Storage Boxes; (6) Black photo frames, fake plants, new curtains.

*Feel free to view my pinterest board to see the sources of these photos.